Song of the Chapter is Walls could talk by Halsey and Nico Collins.

-13-
-Zoya Afreen-
-Present-

____________

St. Davis Street
18 November, 2019
7:26 pm.

The night's fresh air brushes my skin ,crisp and cold against my shivering body as I made my way home from Avinash's house. It breezes through my midnight pitch locks, tickling my scalp and dancing its way to my bones. Nights in Delmore are similar to what resides inside its citizens: cold, unrelenting, dark. The weather is bad; well, as bad as it can get for a November night.

Down by the end of the street underneath the gentle glow of the moonlight, I see a flickering lamp post. The light flickers for a while and then goes off. I scoff; what could I possibly expect from this hell of a place?

October had long gone , in shades of autumn, and November had returned. But nothing had changed for me. Life had been a bitch to me for every day since the day I met Alishka Malhotra.

I always knew I hated Alishka Malhotra from the moment she spilled juice on my skirt deliberately in kindergarten. I have known her for as long as I could remember , yet I couldn't feel even a hint of remorse for her death. She , since kindergarten , hated me as anyone could hate a person. And I tolerated it for as long as I could. She spread rumors about me, I retaliated back and this vicious cycle continued.

And then middle school came along. As friends became strangers, I got lonely. But it was bearable. But not for Alishka , of course. She couldn't stand the thought of me living in peace. So she took this as a perfect opportunity to have some fun.

Fun , yeah. That's what she claimed it to be.

Alishka may have been an angel to her friends and her brother; but so was Lucifer, wasn't he? I was in the seventh grade when she decided to start a rumor about me. She convinced most people that I was a whore and that I slept around with many guys. In seventh grade, when even talking to a boy seemed like a unbearable offence, she had convinced half of the school that I went around sleeping with guys. I was in the seventh grade, Alishka joined me at my lunch table. Her friends had gathered around too, laughing and giggling amongst themselves. I tried to leave , but accidently had ended up spilling milkshake on Alishka's skirt.

Tit for tat you would think, but that wasn't the case.

" I'm sorry, it.." I had gushed.

Saina had stepped forward from her position beside Alishka, flinging her brown locks over her shoulder. "How could you do that, you bitch!"

" I said I'm sorry!" I had repeated, my horror struck gaze moving from the stain to Saina's electric gaze.

" I've got to attend the club meeting today!" Alishka had hissed. The cafeteria had quietened to an extent. People here always craved for drama. And that day they got what they want.

" Well, sorry isn't going to fix this, honey," Alishka had looked at me, dead in the eye and had said, with no whatsoever hesitation, " Give me your skirt."

" W-what?"

" Your skirt," Saina had jumped in. Her lips had pulled up in a condescending smirk, as if she truly had believed I was that stupid. " Give it to her."

" Oh, of course," I had stammered. " We could go to the bathrooms and swap-"

" I don't think I can wait. It's urgent." Alishka had said to me, with a devilish smirk on her face. "Give me your skirt now."

There was a dramatically long pause, as the rest of the cohort held their breaths.

" Um...here?" I had asked. Oh how naïve was I to think she would actually be joking.

"What else, bitch?" Saina had asked. " I'd hurry up if I were you."

"And anyways, its not like its your first time stripping in front of people. Considering the whore that you are, I'm sure you have done this earlier, no?" Alishka had said. And just like that, she had crushed me down into a single spec of dirt. Just like that she had destroyed my self esteem in seconds . And just like that I had complied to their bullying.

No , I hadn't stripped in front of the whole school. But I had fled away from there like a coward, crying. Those giggles and whispers in the cafeteria still gives me nightmares to this day.

I had gone home that night and bawled my eyes out like there was no tomorrow . I despised my vulnerability in that moment. Or whenever I was around them. I hated myself for not standing up to them. I despised them, I despised her. I despised everyone that liked her. I despised everyone who tried to defend her actions.

When it was time for us to be promoted to high school, I decided to make myself better. Well , not exactly better, but not vulnerable. I decided that I wouldn't give them what they wanted . The satisfaction of making fun of me and my reaction to the vile rumors that she spread about me. If I had to deal with her, I'd have to beat her at her own game. And that was exactly what I did.

If you knew Alishka Malhotra, you'd know that there was one thing in her life that she held dear to her heart. And that was her twin brother, Kartik Malhotra. Their pride rested on each other and thank goodness, they did. Cause it was only with the help of Kartik that I got what I wanted.

I beat Alishka in her own twisted little game. And she couldn't do shit about it.

Oh the satisfaction that I felt as I watched her sneer at the sight of us sitting or laughing or kissing! Yes, I did feel bad for using Kartik as a ploy, but I had to do what I had to do. And it was not like it was easy. It wasn't easy to convince Kartik about my made up feelings for him. But then again, I had my charms and he was a bit dumb. Those factors contributed to my plan to ruin Alishka.

And needless to say, I succeeded.

Once in front of my house, I took my keys out. Our car wasn't in the driveway, so my parents weren't home. I unlocked the front door and nudged it with my shoulder, the door clicking shut behind me once I was in.

The house was too silent. A chill ran down my backbone as I flickered the lights on. I breathed slowly. I could feel a presence , other than mine for some reason. My gut told me that I wasn't alone in my house. As I slowly made my way to the entrance of the kitchen, I heard footsteps upstairs. My heart stopped for a millisecond. I looked at the ceiling. The sound was coming from my room.

I panicked. "Mom?"

The footsteps stopped for a second. I gulped. Then it started again. I slowly and tentatively made my way upstairs. My room was at the far end of the corridor. I grabbed the flower vase kept beside my parents' room and held it over my head as I slowly made my way to the room. My hands trembled as I unlocked the door to my room, almost expecting a man dressed in black with a kitchen knife, ready to kill me.

I stormed into my room in a swift and found no one. I looked around just to double check if they are hiding in the closet or the bathroom. But to my fortune, I found nothing. Just as I was about to turn back after checking my bathroom, my gaze landed on the mirror at the far corner of my room. I gasped. My whole body trembled . It felt weak, like I would collapse any moment now.

On my mirror, written with a wine red lipstick, were the words:

'You should've listened.'

I staggered back in horror. Suddenly the phone in my hand vibrated. With trembling hands , I clicked on the new notification.

It read: ' You didn't take me seriously so here's a taste of my venom. Enjoy .'