Curious eyes peered at the police officials walking up and down the corridor. Tensed whisperers had filled the air.

Danielle was standing in front of the 'DO NOT CROSS' written tapes that restricted entry to the murder spot. She could feel the scorching glare of Joanna fixeted on the back of her head but didn't dare look back. Joanna was standing behind along with Xavier and Ryan. Danielle could hear Joanna's quiet sniffles and Ryan's consolations.

Danielle felt a lot of emotions- angry, sad and scared. But what she felt most was dread. She knew she was in a tight position from the very beginning. But, now, with Joanna accusing her of her sister's murder, Danielle felt that she was doomed.

Inspector Rabha, a tall, intimidating woman with brown hair was inspecting the ground where Arianna's corpse was found, thoroughly. Even from this far, Danielle could feel the confidence and power radiating off of her.

The corpse had already been replaced by a sinister chalk outline etched in the cold, solid stones.

"Madam!" A police officer in his uniform came running towards her. "Joseph has found something."

The fluidity with which Inspector Rabha stood up and faced the officer told Danielle that she was a person to be feared. The police officer stood taunt as Inspector Rabha's eyes fell on him.

"Where?" She dusted her hands on her pants and then, swiped a scrutinising gaze over the crowd. Her expression was of utter serious. The determination to solve this case was evident in the glint in her eyes. She made sure to let everyone know that she meant business with the way she carried her.

There was an unnerving familiarity between her and Xavier's personality. And this made Danielle feel all the more uneasy. From what she had been observing for the past few hours, she had realised that Inspector Rabha was someone to reckon with. She had the air of a woman who knew how much power she held and what destruction she could unleash with that power.

"He found something right under the window of that room." The officer pointed at a door. Danielle's heart plummeted to her stomach. He was pointing at her room- the one she shared with Arianna.

A new wave of whispers erupted around her and hundreds of eyes fell on her- looking at her with disgust and curiosity. Still, somehow and to Danielle's surpirse, Joanna's glare still stood out. Only the blaze had intensified. Danielle stood there like a marble sculpture- too scared to even breathe.

With confident and assured steps, Inspector Rabha walked towards the door. She gripped the doorknob with a firm hand and pushed it open. As she disappeared inside her room, Danielle felt an unknown fear seize her.

A warm hand squeezed her hand. Danielle looked back to see Rayana giving her a sympathetic look. "It's okay. It will be fine."

Danielle was about to reply but before she could, Inspector Rabha strode out of the room and started descending the stairs. The police officers followed her down. The student body soon trickled after them.

Danielle stood like a statue as students pushed past her. She didn't want to go down to face her fate. The fate that wasn't her but had been forced upon her.

"Come on." Rayana pulled Danielle with her downstairs. Danielle followed her best friend, numbly.

The students were scattered around the quad. Hushed whispers buzzed about the atmosphere. The police officers had gone outside the building to look at the evidence that had been found under Danielle's window. The mere thought of it made her nauseous.

Before she could go further with her thoughts, Inspector Rabha came back.

"Whose room is it?" Inspector Rabha asked to no one particular.

Ryan spoke up. "That room is Arianna and Danielle's."

"And who is this Danielle?" She asked, again.

Ryan pointed a shaky finger at Danielle. Inspector Rabha's hawk-like gaze immediately fell on her. There was so much judgment and morbid curiosity in that intimidating gaze that made Danielle cower before her.

Inspector Rabha pointrd a finger at her and said, "You're coming with us."

"What!" Vijay, who had been standing at the side with Sameera spoke up.

"She is only a child," Sameera protested.

"I am the inspector here." Her pointed gaze swept over them.

"Can we please talk?" Vijay said through gritted teeth. After assessing him with another of her scrutinising gaze, Inspector Rabha followed Vijay and Sameera at a secluded corner of the quad.

The whispers and gazes were back again. This time more ferocious than before. The whispers and stares were all closing up on her. Her chest tightened as she found it hard to breathe. Everything around her started to blur. Again, she felt like that lost, scared, helpless child from six years ago.

It was like she was observing everything from behind a translucent glass window. Bits and pieces of hushed conversations reached her ears- as if spoken from the end of a long, dark tunnel she had fallen inside. But she could not understand anything. All she could feel was she was drowning in an abyss of darkness.

She could could vaguely feel someone shaking her and screaming her name but her mind was unable to comprehend anything.

All of a sudden, she saw Xavier's face in front of her. He looked worried and distraught. His lips were moving but she could hear nothing. She felt vague touches on her cheeks but the numbness that slowly spreading through her prevented her from feeling anything more. It felt like she was peering up at him from the depth of chasm she had fallen into. He was standing on the cliff, desperately trying his best to not let her get lost in the dark.

Finally, after what felt like years to her, she felt the numbness fading away. A warm hand rubbed up and down her arm. Xavier's hands cradled her face and his thumbs rubbed softly against her cheeks.

"Breathe," he was saying calmly but with an undertone of franticness. "Breathe for me."

Danielle tried to obey him. The simple task of breathing now seemed like a laborious deed to her. But she did, anyway. It seemed that no matter how much oxygen she took, it never reached her lungs.

Xavier drew her face closer to his. Franticness, worry and something akin to fear swimmed in his warm, golden eyes. But he kept his voice calm and even when he spoke, again, "Concentrate on me. There is no one here- it's just you and me. Everything is fine. You're safe. Just breathe. Just breathe for me."

Danielle felt the tense seeping out of her as she was, finally, able to breathe without feeling like her insides were closing up. Xavier pulled her into his arms. He held her like she was a fragile but precious piece of art- too afraid to hold tightly but scared that if he loosened his grip, someone would steal her away. Danielle broke down in tears. The horror of her situation had finally settled on her. The adrenaline from the past few hours faded away- rapidly exhausting her. Fear had her heart clenched in its vice grip. Xavier's grip on her tightened. She clutched on his shoulders as she buried her face in his chest and sobbed.

"You're safe," he whispered with such firmness that she could help but believe. "I will protect you with everything I have. I will make this right. I promise."

Even though the words uttered by Xavier sounded like a ludicrous dream, it had a bizzare calming effect on her.

Danielle sat upright. A whispered 'thank you' slipped out of her lips. In response, Xavier swiped his thumb across her cheeks, removing the wet trails left by her tears.

A small scream of surprise left her throat as someone wrapped their arms around Danielle, tightly. Rayana embraced her as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"You scared me!" Rayana rebuked. "Don't do that ever again."

"Can't you all see that Danielle is faking it?" Joanna's hatred-laden voice cut through the otherwise silent quad.

"Stop it!" Xavier shouted at her. Joanna's eyes widened. Obviously, she hadn't expected Xavier to behave like this with her.

"Just stop it, Joanna." Xavier walked towards her. Standing before her, he stated, "Nothing has been proved yet."

"Well, I don't see what proving we have do here," Joanna retaliated, standing her ground even though she took a few stumbling steps backward.

"Someone is clearly trying to frame her," Xavier shot back with an unwavering confidence.

"But she did threaten to kill my sister last night!" Joanna yelled. Angry tears laced with the pain of losing her sister flowed down her cheeks. "My sister has been murdered, for god's sake!"

Ryan wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into him. Joanna covered her face in her hands and leaned against Ryan's chest, sobbing.

This time Inspector Rabha's voice quipped in. "Did you threaten Arianna, Ms. Imchen?"

Danielle nodded, wordlessly. She hadn't noticed when Vijay and Sameera had returned with Inspector Rabha. Vijay and Sameera looked at her, worriedly.

"This whole situation doesn't look good for you." Inspector Rabha shook her head in dismay.

"You aren't taking her anywhere," Xavier intervened.

"I am sorry?" Inspector Rabha raised an eyebrow at him. There was a subtle edge to her voice as she dared him to repeat.

Not surprising Danielle, he did. "I said you won't be taking Danielle anywhere out of this school."

"And how are you planning to stop me?" Inspector Rabha glared at him and took a step closer to him.

"You will see." He glared back with the same intensity and took a few steps forward so that the distance between them was only a couple of metres.

Before Danielle could intervene the heated conversations between Inspector Rabha and Xavier, Vijay did. "Can we take this conversation somewhere else?"

He was pointing at the same secluded spot where him and Sameera were talking with Inspector Rabha a few minutes ago.

Xavier huffed and brushed past Inspector Rabha, heading straight for the corner. Inspector Rabha, too, headed the same way after glaring for a few seconds at the empty spot where Xavier was standing moments before. Vijay sighed before following the duo.

Sameera came and stood beside Danielle. Placing a comforting hand over Danielle's shoulder, she asked,"how do you feel?"

"Like a criminal," Danielle replied, wryly.

Sameera sighed. "Sorry. That was a stupid question to ask." After a few moments of silent, she continued,"Vijay and I tried to persuade Inspector Rabha to leave you alone. But she wouldn't budge from her decision. But don't worry, I won't let them take you. Neither would Vijay."

"Neither would I," added Rayana from beside Danielle. "Or Xavier, for that matter."

She cradled Danielle's face in her hands and then, planted a soft kiss on her forehead. Even in the midst of this chaos, Danielle felt warm and at home.

Danielle, Rayana and Sameera turned to watch the trio at the far corner. A heated argument had broken out between Xavier and Inspector Rabha. Vijay was attempting futilely to calm them down.

Xavier said something in whose response Inspector Rabha felt silent and Vijay gaped at him. Inspector Rabha pointed at Danielle's direction and said something, to which Xavier only nodded.

Inspector Rabha pinched the bridge of her nose. Then, looking at Xavier, she said something in an exasperated manner. Xavier just shrugged.

The very next moment, Inspector Rabha turned serious and said something with the same authoritativeness as before. This time Vijay snapped back. He was pointing a finger at Inspector Rabha and was saying something furiously.

This was the first time Danielle had seen him angry. She never thought the mere sight of an angry Vijay would be so intimidating.

"The situation looks bad over there," Rayana whispered. "Even Vijay got angry."

Both Xavier and Inspector Rabha looked at him, stunned. Danielle knew the situation was taking a turn for the worse the moment she saw Vijay snapping.

"Two weeks!" Danielle spoke up. Her shout was directed at Inspector Rabha. All eyes were on her, again.

"Just give me two weeks," she repeated. "I will prove my innocence. If I fail, you can put me behind the bars or do whatever you want to."

Inspector Rabha took steady steps towards her. Xavier and Vijay behind her. Stoppin in front of her, she, once more, pierced Danielle with her gaze. Danielle hated the way Inspector Rabha looked at her with so much morbid curiosity.

"Nice try, Danielle," Joanna snorted.

Inspector Rabha glanced at Joanna, disdainfully. Then, her gaze was again back on Danielle.

"Two weeks," she spoke up. "I will give you two weeks. Prove your innocence and if you can't, be prepared to face the consequences."

Danielle could've kissed Inspector Rabha's hand in the depth of her gratitude but restrained herself.

"Are you crazy?" Joanna's shrill voice rang out. "You can't possibly be serious!"

Inspector Rabha stepped towards Joanna with her signature authoritative steps. Joanna tried to put up a brave front but failed, miserably.

"I am the inspector here," she gritted out. "I know what I am doing. Don't teach me. And stay in the line."

Without giving much attention to Joanna's incoherent stammering response, she returned her focus on Danielle. "Just don't go to the room. The one you shared with Arianna. It's off-limits. Got it?"

"Bu-but how would I?" Danielle stammered.

"That's your problem to solve." With that, Inspector Rabha was already turning around and was striding towards the exit.

Danielle stood there feeling, hopeless and scared. Uncertain of what her future held for her.

SANNAYA!

yay! i am back! my exams are over. anyways, don't forget to vote and tell me what you think. also, any guesses who the killer (ik, it's too early to be asking this) also, what are your thoughts on xavier or joanna? also, what do you think of rayana?