I'm so sorry this is so late, I had trouble motivating myself to finish it! But don't worry: I'm back!
"It seems like the weapon used was a shoe…" Piko explained. It had been two days since they discovered Emma's body under a rose bush in the park, and they'd just received the autopsy results. It was a sticky, hot day, and everyone was already miserable even before discussing the details of the murder of a teenage girl.
"With a shoe?" Sugar asked, confused.
"Yep. A women's size 9, they estimated."
"So it's a woman doing all the killing?" Qingxian said.
"It's very likely, because the autopsy also reported that it appears she'd been stomped on, multiple times. Enough to kill her."
Sugar clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god, that's awful!"
"And to think, we were talking with her fucking mother while it happened," Qingxian said. She was angry. Angrier than she'd been in a while. To think that another murder had happened, right under her nose, while sitting uncomfortably on the leather couch of the victim's mother.
If only Emma hadn't decided to fuck off to the park that day. If only she hadn't left her phone behind. If only Qingxian and Sugar had shown up earlier. If only.
That night, Qingxian drove back home exhausted, and frustrated in more ways than one. She felt like she didn't have the mental capacity to care what happened anymore…
...except she did care, deep down. But she didn't want to think about it anymore, that was the thing. Despite the fact that thinking was technically her job. But fuck it. She was home now, she was off duty, she could forget about it until tomorrow. What she really wanted was someone to fuck her brains out, get her nerves all deliciously tingling and overrun her brain so that she stop thinking about how five teenagers are dead and she has no idea who did it and why.
Yes. That would be nice.
It had barely even been a week since this whole thing started, but Haku could already barely remember a time when she didn't feel so guilty and afraid all the time. Her whole life was split into two parts: Before and After. Right now After had her full attention; Before seemed like a faraway dream. It was a dream she wished she could recover.
It wasn't Luo who took a life. It was her. She killed a girl with her own two feet. She killed one of her own classmates, one who had beautiful pale pink hair, two loving parents, a talent for art and drawing…
The book's dull red cover glowed from beneath the pile of clothes on the floor of the closet, reminding Haku that it was there, and it always will be. Even if she buried it in the backyard or burned it in a bonfire, it would always return to her thoughts, never to leave.
Haku turned away from the closet and pulled her bedsheets and duvet over her head. She shivered. She was afraid of what the new day would bring, what would happen tomorrow to ruin her life further. Even Miku's torment hadn't made her feel this bad.
Oh, Miku. Haku wondered what she was doing now. Probably still up, chatting away on the phone with Luka, relaxing with a hot shower, or exchanging nudes with her rugby-player boyfriend from Boy's High that she swore existed.
Whatever she was doing, she probably wasn't upset about anything, nor worried about the safety of her classmates. It was just too much work to care.
Bitch.
Haku could definitely have gone without reminding herself of her bully's existence. Oh well. She had Luo to help her out when the going gets tough.
Luo. Who murdered two people.
To protect her.
Why else?
But her hands weren't clean, either.
To protect Luo. Why else?