The blaring alarm made the throbbing behind her forehead more intense. Throwing off her covers, Danielle sat up. Cracking her eyes open, she let the bright sunlight blind her, momentarily. Her eyes wandered towards Arianna's bed instinctively.

The bed was empty. Just like she had seen before falling asleep. She realised that Arianna didn't return.

Maybe she is staying with Joanna, Danielle thought. Switching off the obnoxiously loud alarm, Danielle started to get ready for the day. She looked at the clock: 6:10

"Wow, I slept through that blaring sound for ten minutes straight!" She chuckled.

Putting her tangled hair in a messy bun and taking her toothbrush and towel, she opened the door. The first sight that met her eyes was a very unusual one. Students were crowded around something in the corridor, some six feet from her room. Hushed whispers filled the air while tensed glances were exchanged. She couldn't see the object of interest but knew something was wrong.

"What happened?" Danielle asked out loud.

All eyes turned towards her and immediately, everyone fell silent. The silence was loud and suffocating. Even the soothing chirps of the birds and the bright sunlight didn't make the atmosphere lighter.

She started walking towards the centre of the crowd. Her eyes jumped from one face to another for an answer. As she started nearing the centre, the students moved aside making way for her. Finally, only two students were separating her from the mystery object. As the two slid away to make way for her, Danielle finally saw it.

Her towel and toothbrush fell from her hands. She took another step forward before her knees gave away. Falling on her knees with a thud; eyes wide and lips trembling, she finally perceived the object of interest. Breathing became a luxury to her as the walls of her throat closed up. The throbbing behind her forehead worsened. Nausea overtook her body and bitter bile threatened to crawl up her throat. Her nails tried to dig into the cold stone floor underneath her. Her body had turned into a cold, stone statue. A single lone tear trickled down her cheek.

In front of her lay the ashen body of Arianna. She looked quite lifeless- arms and legs were sprawled out. Her black hair created an eerie halo around her head. Lips parted slightly and eyes blew open in aghast, Arianna wasn't prepared to see death standing before her. Not a single drop of blood was around her.

A piercing scream brought back Danielle to her senses. Turning around she saw a shocked, pale Joanna. Joanna's lips were trembling. She clawed at Xavier's shirt, who was standing beside her in shock and pointed towards her sister. Tears cascaded down her cheeks. She fell on her knees. The sound of her heartwrenching sobs echoed in the otherwise quiet corridor.

Xavier sat beside her and pulled her into his arms. Joanna clung onto his hand which was cradling her head as she cried into his shoulder. He rubbed her back gently and whispered consolations in her ears.

"Oh god..." Danielle looked behind her to see Ryan. He was shocked like everyone else. Dragging a hand over his face, he let out a scream. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks.

Danielle crawled nearer to the body and hunched over Arianna's face. A vague but strong citrus smell hit her nose. She gently slapped her face.

"Come on, get up," Danielle whispered. Her eyes started to sting and soon, hot tears cascaded down her cheeks.

"Come on! Wake up!" Danielle shook Arianna's lifeless body, vigorously.

"She is dead!" Joanna yelled in a tear-laden voice. "She is gone! She won't wake up! Ever!"

Embracing Arianna's cold, stiff, ashen lifeless body, Danielle cried into her chest. She felt a touch on her shoulder. Looking up, she found a concerned Rayana hovering over her.

She opened her arms as an invitation for Danielle to fall into them. Letting out a strangled cry, she embraced Rayana. Rayana's warm body felt safer than Arianna's cold one. She clung to her best friend, vowing never to let go. Rayana caressed her hair while Danielle cried into her chest.

Another scream rang around the corridor. Danielle looked to see an ashen Anushka standing looking at the corpse. Soon, she doubled over and emptied the contents of her stomach on the floor. Then, her knees buckled beneath her and with a thud, she fell on the cold stone floor. A few students ran towards her and carried her unconscious body to the nurse's office.

"It's your fault, you know," Joanna's tear-laced angry voice reached Danielle's ears. "You're the one who killed her, Danielle!"

Danielle was too stunned to answer. "Wha- what are you talking about?" She managed to stutter.

"You killed her, didn't you?" Joanna spat, venomously. "I heard you last night saying you would've killed her if you could!"

"Yes, I did!" Danielle replied, desperately. "That was because I was furious with her!"

"That's why you killed her, huh?" A mirthless laughter escaped her lips. "You killed her over a petty row. Or... is there something bigger going on?"

"I didn't kill her!" Danielle protested.

"Oh, so, she dropped dead all of a sudden?" Joanna sneered.

Danielle opened her mouth to retaliate but Xavier's voice cut her. "You can't accuse her without any proof, Joanna."

"Is it enough proof?" Joanna asked, desperately.

"No."

"But-" Joanna was cut off by a female authoritative voice.

"What's wrong? Move! Why are you all huddling here? What's the ruckus about?" Sameera Rathore pushed her way through the crowd and came to stand beside Danielle.

"Oh my god!" She gasped. A hand covered her mouth as she choked back a sob.

Composing herself quickly, she ordered, "Everyone go back to your respective rooms. No one should be out of their room unless told to."

The reluctant students trickled back towards their room. Rayana supported the grieving Danielle to her room. Ryan, Xavier and Joanna walked before them. Ryan opened the door and Xavier helped Joanna in. Before the door closed completely, Joanna threw Danielle a glare. Rayana led Danielle to the adjacent room. She unlocked the door and held it open for Danielle.

Once the door closed behind Rayana, Danielle turned around with a pleading face. "I swear I didn't kill her."

"I know, I know." Rayana embraced Danielle. "But the others don't think so I bet."

"Who would kill an innocent soul like her?" Danielle questioned.

"Innocent soul?" Rayana let go of Danielle. Her face was twisted up in confusion and disgust. "Don't call her that."

"Yes, she had been acting weird, recently but--"

"She is the spawn of the devil," Rayana interjected. "If I could I would have burnt her alive. I have been imagining this day for so long- the day she dies. I never thought it would come so soon. Now that she is dead, I can't help but feel happy."

Rayana cackled. Danielle gaped at her. This was not the Rayana she befriended seven years back. That girl was sweet and compassionate. But this girl standing in front of her was unhinged and sadist, deriving pleasure from death. Danielle wondered if she ever truly knew Rayana, the girl she called her best friend. She asked herself if she truly knew any of the people she loved. Were they all hiding behind a façade of lovable persona to hide their true, ugly forms? Maybe but she had no way to know for sure.

"Rayana," she croaked out, cautiously. "What do you mean?"

"Remember in class six, I made a painting of the Living Root Bridge?" Danielle nodded, silently. "And it was torn apart? Well, I knew who tore it. It was that devil's spawn- Arianna. I saw her doing it. She was jealous. She knew mine would have won if I submitted my painting. And she couldn't just take it. She wanted to be the best at everything. When she had her eyes set on something, she would have it by hook or crook.

"I never told you but she hated you too. She put up an act to keep herself in your good books. Remember how you got your first role? Amaya didn't miraculously fall ill. She was made ill. Arianna did it. I saw her mixing something in Amaya's food. And the next thing, I know Amaya is throwing up and sick. Arianna didn't anticipate you coming and snatching the role. I bet she was furious." Rayana broke down. She crumpled onto the floor with her head in her hands. Her heartbroken sobs echoed in the silent room.

Danielle's world tilted. The world she was familiar with, acquainted with was slowly unraveling its deepest and darkest secrets. She wasn't ready for her reality to crumble down like this. Everything she knew and believed to be true was a well-built façade of deception. The Arianna she knew was supposed to be sweet and charming and not malicious and crooked.

"I know you probably think that I am a bad person for being happy at someone's death," Rayana continued between sobs. "But I can't help it! I am after all a human."

Danielle knelt before her and whispered, "I don't think you're a bad person."

Rayan embraced her as she cried into the crook of Danielle's neck. Hot, angry tears cascaded down Danielle's eyes. The betrayal she felt was overwhelming. That one person she loved and respected so much was in the end a deception. Some of the hurt and sadness she felt at Arianna's death vanished away, instead replaced by anger and hatred.

The door opened and a voice said, "Is Danielle okay? Oh!"

Danielle and Rayana, quickly let go of each other. Standing in the doorway was the authoritative figure of Xavier Alvarez. Today, he didn't radiate the power he knew he held. Disorientation and sadness etched his features. His left hand was on the doorknob while his right hand was rubbing his neck, awkwardly.

"Jesus, Xavier!" Rayana snapped. "Do have the decency to knock."

"Sorry, I forgot," He replied without making eye contact with either of the two females in that room.

"Forgot?" Rayana asked, incredulously. "How can one forget to knock?"

"Sorry," he apologised, again. "I will get going then."

He turned around to leave the room but Danielle stopped him. "Wait!"

Xavier turned around. Danielle hated how her heart picked up speed as soon as his brown eyes pierced her black ones. There was a dead body lying in the corridor of the floor downstairs and here, she was swooning over a boy. She stopped him more out of intrigue, though.

In all the times she had known Xavier Alvarez, he was never awkward- at least not since after class six. He always had an aura of power around him. Eyes shining with cunningness, he always knew how to make people cower before him. He was a skilled manipulator who could change the game in his favour within seconds. Even if he didn't hold the power he had, he would've still been able to get whatever he wanted. To describe him in a sentence- he was the devil in the flesh.

"Why were you looking for me?" Danielle inquired. The question Why do you care? hung in the air, unasked.

There was a shift in Xavier's demeanour. He shrugged, nonchalantly. "You're Arianna's roommate. I thought I should check up on you."

"Oh." That's the only thing Danielle could muster to say. He didn't care about her. He just wanted to check on Arianna's roommate- not Danielle Imchen. She scolded herself for even thinking that he cared about her. They had probably spoken once or twice. Moreover, he was a person she should beware of- not someone she should fall for. 

"Since you look fine, I will get going then," Xavier answered. 

"Sure," Danielle replied back, unsure. Xavier nodded before the door closed behind him.

"You like him, don't you?" Rayana asked. She was now sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest and her hands wrapped around them. 

Danielle shrugged, "I don't know. He is quite uh- visually pleasing."

Rayana laughed- the sound was hoarse and gravelly. "That's a nice way to say handsome."

"Don't you think it's inappropriate to talk about boys and crushes with a dead body downstairs and her sister grieving in the next room?" Danielle asked, eyebrows raised.

"It's not like we care about either of them, do we?" Rayana shrugged.

Danielle's face grew sombre. This time she couldn't agree.

SANNAYA!

i just feel like i need to say this- just because a person is dead doesn't mean all their wrongdoings vanish away in a moment, especially when they have ruined your life badly. it's okay to feel not sad about their demise. and it's okay to accept the fact that we are at the end of the day humans. 

honestly, arianna wasn't supposed to turn this evil but i just felt like- what if she was really evil? so, i turned her evil.

ANYWAYS, don't forget to vote and let me know what you think.