JADE:
I could hear the loud thudding inside my chest, but I also heard something distinct.
I heard a snigger.
I started to walk again, pretending with all my might that nothing was wrong. All over though, I was slightly shaking. It was a cold day, but I was drenched in a nervous sweat from head to foot.
I could probably be wrong, and maybe this is all in my head. Maybe he wasn’t really following me at all…
So, I tried to test him… I abruptly stopped again.
When I turned around, I started to hear heavy footsteps towards me.
I started to run. I ran like my life depended on it. Well, literally, my life did depend on this! What could possibly happen if he did catch me?!
My thoughts started to run wild too as I sprinted. I remembered the stories about the two female college students who were recently murdered and the other one who had been missing. I remembered what Liam said about going out of my own and not knowing what could probably happen.
Why did I have to get lost today? And why did that blasted man decided to follow me?
I turned sharply into a desolate alley. There was a short wall of mud, and I crouched low and slumped my back against the wall to be able to catch my breath.
If I were lucky, I could lose him. If I were unlucky, I didn’t want to think about the consequences…
I was about to turn sharply away when I noticed something underneath my feet.
I looked intently at my red shoes. They were a deep red and vibrant color, but something darker than their shade was flowing underneath them.
‘W-What’s this,’ I muttered inside my head. Blood was pooling fast beneath my shoes!
I followed the place where the blood came from with my eyes, and so I had to turn around.
That’s when I saw it – a hand, and the rest of a girl’s body, badly twisted, bloody, and dead.
I cannot take it anymore. I screamed.
I screamed for what felt like forever. I was in the initial phase of shock. I stood there frozen, unable to do anything else but yell at the top of my lungs.
After some time, when I remembered the black-hooded man, I started to run away from the scene.
As soon as I took a turn, I collided with someone so forcefully that I was thrown backwards.
The person who bumped against me had swift hands though. He caught my left arm and right shoulder when I was about to fall and forced me upwards.
It was Liam. “Woah, Jade! What are you doing here,” he asked breathless.
I opened my mouth to say something… anything, but no sound came out.
He clutched me on both arms now. “Are you okay, Jade? What happened?”
I opened my lips once again, but something funny happened, and I found myself utterly distracted.
Liam’s face was getting blurred on my vision.
“Jade,” I heard him say.
“Jade…”
“…”
With that, I was swallowed into a void of dark and empty nothingness.
**********************
The vast expanse of darkness enveloped me all around. I thought it was empty, but it really wasn’t.
My eyes started to get accustomed to the darkness. Just then, I saw a figure.
It was a woman in a red dress. Her hair was long and wavy and was badly obscuring her face. Her hands were outstretched towards me.
There was a lot of blood flowing from her veins.
I looked closely at where the blood was coming from, and I saw it was from her slashed neck.
Slowly, the apparition before me started to rise. I trembled uncontrollably.
The woman hoisted herself up, her blood splattering everywhere.
Just when I thought it couldn’t be more horrific, the bloody girl began to speak in a raspy voice.
“Please…. Help me….”
She raised her bloodied and mangled hand towards me.
“Don’t end up like me…”
As she took another step closer, I locked eyes with her, and that’s when I saw that her irises were swollen and bloody.
She came closer and closer, and I found myself getting lost in her eyes and the smell of blood. I can’t help it. I felt nauseous and my ears started to ring.
Despite the growing uneasiness, I could still hear her raspy voice as if it was whispering right next to my ears.
“Please…”
The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes and a bright light flooded my vision.
“Jade!”
“Thank God, you’re alright!”
I woke up to the beautiful and relieved face of Liam and right next to him was Dianna, Ally, and Nina. They crowded in front of my bed and spoke almost in unison.
“What happened, Jade?”
“How on earth did you get there?”
“What were you doing there, of all places?”
Amidst the symphony of questions, I opened my mouth and slowly uttered my own inquiry.
“The girl, where’s the girl?”
Everybody immediately quieted down. I spoke again. “The girl… There was a girl… I need to go to the police.”
“The police came here earlier. I already gave them my statement already,” Liam said softly. “When you lost consciousness earlier, I didn’t know what to do, so I called them…”
“How is she,” I croaked. I remember seeing her in a pool of blood. She must still be warm when they came. Surely she’s okay, right?...
He began to gently stroke my arm. “I am sorry to tell you, Jade, but the girl, she was already dead when we saw her…”
I weakly shook my head. “No…” Tears started to flow down my eyes.
“She… Who is she,” I began to ask when I have calmed down a bit after shedding some tears.
Everyone eyed each other. It seemed like no one wanted to speak.
“Liam, who is she please… Don’t tell me they weren’t able to identify her.”
“No, it’s not that… They were able to find out her identity,” he paused, perhaps weighing down whether to tell me or not.
“Come on. Tell me who she is,” I urged.
He gulped down before speaking. “She was the missing student from our university.”