I am SO SO SO happy exams are done and Christmas is in 4 days! Yay! Expect a lot of updates by the end of the year. That sounded funny, but you get what I'm saying. (:
Do I really need to say what I want you to do? ;)
Alicia reopened her eyes to screams and sobs. By now, half the dorm was crying their eyes out, and the other half was stunned into silence.
A tight pain in her head made her wince. When she had fainted, she must have hit her head on something. "Leesh? Can you hear me?"
Massie was kneeling down at her side, squeezing her hand. "That totally just freaked me out. I mean, you just completely collapsed."
The shaky tone of Massie's voice worried Alicia. She never was one to show emotion.
"I'm fine," Alicia lied, her gaze once again locking onto the suicide note. The curly letters blurred and the dizziness threatened to take control again.
She should have known not to stare at it, because Massie caught on to everything insanely fast. Her amber eyes narrowed and she snatched the piece of paper up and scanned over it quickly. For the second time in ten minutes, her face blanked. She caught Alicia's tear-filled eyes and mouthed, "Chris?"
Alicia nodded. She didn't trust her own voice. Massie released the paper and it fluttered uselessly to the ground, landing so that it just grazed Kori's fingertips.
Alicia stayed sitting against the wall stoically as the paramedics loaded Kori's body onto a stretcher, Dean Don showed up clutching a cell phone, and the trail of weeping girls followed them all down the stairs. The very same stairs Alicia had confronted Kori on only hours ago. Had she been the last person to see Kori alive?
Massie firmly pulled Alicia up and hugged her briefly before firmly pulling her down the stairs.
As the pathetic parade traipsed out the door, they were met by a crowd of confused, concerned onlookers. Massie ran straight into Derrick, her boyfriend of two years and hands-down most popular guy at Briarwood's arms, leaving Alicia standing alone.
Gasps and sudden screeches filled the unnaturally still October air at the sight of the stretcher, draped over with a white sheet. The wheels hit the cobblestone pathway and Kori's arm slipped off the side, then hung eerily by her side. The shimmery navy polish on her nails gleamed in the early morning light.
The inky black was just about to send Alicia fainting again when a pair of strong arms encircled her from behind, and consciousness found her once more.
"What's going on? Are you okay?" Chris Plovert demanded, examining her for any signs of injury. His blue eyes were so filled with caring and concern that Alicia just lost it.
The guilty tears spilled onto his shirt, and her thin body shuddered with sobs. "K- Kori," She stuttered, her voice muffled. "She... she killed herself."
Chris's sharp intake of breath sent her on another round of sobs. "Why?" He said simply, more to himself than to her. He absentmindedly stroked her hair, still holding her close.
"She left a note," Alicia whispered. "It said that the only thing she wanted was the one she couldn't have."
Alicia pulled away a mere six inches to gauge his reaction. When he didn't answer, she meekly added, "She meant you."
She instantly wished she hadn't. Chris's normally tanned skin blanked. "You mean... She killed herself over me?"
He let go of Alicia and flopped onto the brick ledge that marked the dorm and buried his head in his hands. "Why would she do that?"
Alicia followed him and curled up against his side. "It's not your fault. Don't feel guilty. If anyone should feel guilty, it should be me."
Chris recoiled. "What?"
The tears started again. "Last night, when I was sneaking out, I saw Kori. She asked me where I was going, I told her I was meeting up with you, she called me a bitch, and I told her she was just jealous that she couldn't have you. She must have gone back to her room and... and... and taken those pills."
Just like that, he was holding her again. "You can't feel guilty either. Something's not right here. Why would she have killed herself over that? It doesn't make sense. She had so much other stuff going on for her... soccer, grades, friends, looks... I mean, it's just not making sense," He said logically. Alicia was suddenly grateful for his solid level-headed-ness. Without him, she would be a blubbering mess on the ground.
Then again, without him, Kori might not be dead.
Amid the hysteria, Dean Don stood atop the ledge and whistled sharply. The chaos instantly ceased right as the ambulance pulled out and the police cars pulled up.
"Students. I regret to inform you that Kori Gedman has died. We ask that nobody leave campus until we have this sorted out. Anyone caught leaving will face drastic punishment. All the young ladies who live in this building, please report to your rooms for questioning. Everyone else, classes have been canceled for the day. Although this looks like a suicide, we are having a complete investigation. This is a hard time for all of us. We will have an assembly tonight in the Performing Arts center before dinner. Thank you," Dean Don sighed, a ghostly look on his gaunt face.
Alicia slowly stood up, her entire body shaking. Chris never let her go, standing beside her.
"They're probably going to ask when the last time you saw her was," He said in a hushed whisper. "If you tell them it was when you were sneaking out, we're both going to be expelled."
Alicia's eyes widened. She couldn't be expelled. She loved Briarwood; loved everything about it. She couldn't leave. Neither could Chris.
"I can't. I'll have to lie. I'm not going to be the reason you get hurt. I had nothing to do with her death, so it doesn't matter."
Chris looked relieved. "I love you."
She tried to smile and failed miserably. "I love you too."
With a quick kiss, he finally let her go, and she reluctantly made her way back up the path to her dorm. Olivia met her halfway there and linked her arm through Alicia's on one side and Allie-Rose's on the other. "This is so sad. I wonder how they're going to tell her parents."
Allie-Rose broke down into another crying fit and ran ahead back inside. Alicia bit her lip. "I can't believe they're interviewing us all right now. You'd think they would wait for a day or two."
Olivia nodded. "I know, right? Plus, it's obviously a suicide. The note, the pills... I mean, seriously."
Alicia bit her lip harder. "It has to be. Or else... it means that one of us," She paused, glancing around at her housemates. Her friends. Her sisters.
"Is a murderer," She finished. "And that's not something I can deal with."
Olivia nodded again, a little more forcefully. "I totally agree. We're all like, best friends in here."
A heavyset police officer thumped across the room in heavy, muddy shoes. "Ladies? We just want to ask you a few questions."
He glanced around the room at the fifteen tear-stained celebutantes. "Who's first?"
When no one answered, he pursed his lips and scanned over the still-sobbing Allie-Rose, puffy-eyed Denver, shell-shocked Skye, and landed on the semi-composed Alicia.
"Miss? With the ribbon? Do you mind going first while we let these ladies calm down?" He stated, not so much as a question.
Olivia squeezed her arm just a little tighter than an arm-squeeze needed to be.
Alicia sighed, already feeling guilty. "Let's get this over with."
Click it.
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