CHAPTER FOURTEEN: A LETTER

Their conversation got cut off, the nurse went in and told me that I am okay and ready to go.

Zhena gently shakes my body, trying to wake me up. I was pretending to be asleep. But I slowly open my eyes and pretend I’m stunned to see her and Tyler facing each other.

"The nurse says we can go," says Zhena, wearing a poker face. I look at Tyler who's looking deeply into Zhena's eyes.

Oli suddenly comes in with one big paper bag that I'm sure is filled with food.

"Oh great! Everyone is here. We should eat before we leave," says Oli,

Tyler looks away from Zhena and she sighs as though she’s happy to feel that Tyler is no longer looking at her.

I can still think of a reason why Tyler knew about the letter. There's something inside me that suspects that Tyler, was the one who planted that letter, and that he was only using alias Joe's name. But, surely, it can't be true. The moment I read the letter was the moment when alias Joe showed up, and why would Tyler scare Zhena like that?

"Are you okay, Lara?" Oli asks, and sits beside me. He is busy unpacking the various foods from the paper bag.

"Yes, I’m fine" I lied, "I’ve had a good quick nap. I'm getting better. But it's still traumatized me," I answer

"I have to go," Tyler suddenly announces. Both Oli and I turn to look at Tyler. He looks me in the eye; it's as if he's trying to say something, but he can't speak.

"No," I stop him, "Eat with us, Tyler." I said, forcing him to stay. I still haven't talked to him, I want to thank him for all he’s done.

"No, I have other things to do," he says, edging towards the door,

We fall into silence. Tyler just smiles at me as he slowly turns around and leaves the room. Before he can reach for the door knob, I call him. He turns to face me. I give him a genuine smile.

"Thank you," I said, really meaning it. Tyler's smile is brighter than mine. He nods his head and leaves the room.

"He just visited here to say he had other things to do?" Oli asked, curious.

"Nope," Zhena answers. I turn to face both of them again; as Zhena sits on my bed, cross-legged.

"He came here to check on Lara. But she was sleeping so..."

"He left because I was here?" Oli asked once again,

"Nope," Zhena answered once again. Oli raised his left eye brow as he handed me a packed lunch, bought from a fast food chain.

I took it and opened it wide. My stomach rumbles as I smell the chicken aroma. With my bare hands, I took the chicken leg and ate it,

"Wow, you're that hungry?" Oli commented, shocked by the way I'm eating. He stared at me and blinked several times.

He turned to Zhena and changed the subject, "Anyway… I heard Dean Ilya and a policeman talking on the hallway. They said that they would keep this a secret if you tell them exactly what happened,"

"Why would they do that?" Zhena asks.

"The police reasoned that it will be much safer if it remains a secret. The parents might panic and blame Zhena," he slowly explained,

"Thank god," I commented,

"It's okay if they blame me, Lara's parents needs to kno—"

"No," I protested, interrupting. "I know my Dad; he will do as he says. The important thing right now is that... I'm safe, we're safe. That's all that matters".

Both of them fall silent. I just look at them, wishing they would change their mind. Oli sighs and holds my hand. "But you can't keep this a secret; you will tell them about this someday, huh?” he said. I slowly nod, and smile at the two of them.

"Fine," Zhena finally agrees as she takes one pack lunch from the paper bag. Oli did likewise. We all start eating together; I don't know whether it's lunch or dinner; this room is like very isolated and there's no window. The light bulb on the ceiling is the only source of light in here.

"What time is it, by the way?" I ask Oli. He wipes his mouth before answering; "I think it's three in the afternoon".

"What?!" I ask in full surprise. Zhena chuckles and shakes her head. Oli chuckled a little, and continued eating.

"How about my class? I still have presentation in history, a math quiz on board...gash! Why did I oversleep”I ask frantically.

My hands begin to shake and sweat leaks from my head.

"Don't worry, Lara. You are excused, lucky b*tch" Zhena says, laughing.

I sigh as if a thorn has been pulled from my chest, "Thanks to Professor Kristoff, who fought your other professors, just for you to be excused," Zhena then added.

Oli snaps his fingers 'cause he agrees with Zhena’s words.

"True! They were literally fighting in front of our dorm room earlier," Oli says, still eating.

"I was amazed how he protected you. Prof Kristoff is truly your hero," she said, wiggling her eyebrows and laughing hysterically.

"Well, aside from Tyler, who punched alias Joe straight in the face!", Oli added.

Zhena and I had stopped laughing now, and we're looking at Oli in full surprise, "He did?" we ask, in unison.

"Yes! In his dorm room. The police tried to catch alias Joe from the windows, but he escaped again, leaving only his filthy socks", Oli explains. I fell silent, thinking more about what Oli said.

"...But, he told the police he had never seen his face, but he said that he could tell that his nose broke the moment he punched him”.

"That's another clue for them," I said as I slowly chew on the chicken leg.

Oli sighs and eats his sandwich. "I want him dead, to be honest," he said,

I quickly look at Oli, I suddenly feel the urge to slap him because of what he had said. But I couldn't do it. I couldn’t really justify it.

"What? geez! why are you looking at me like that?" Oli asks, laughing. I smile and shake my head.

Every second, every minute I spend, I get weirder. I blame that on the kiss that has never been erased from my memory.

After an hour, the three of us leave that room, and now we're being interrogated by the investigators.

I chose to do this, so I had to tell them everything.

While waiting for the investigators, I eye the place up. It is a dark room, it has only one lamp bulb on the ceiling. There's a table with two chairs on the other side and one chair on the other side.

I walk slowly to the table, pull out one chair and sit down.

I feel anxious. My hands starte shaking again. Sweat is soon everywhere. I clench my hands, desperately trying to calm myself.

I hear the door open. There, I see Professor Kristoff and one police officer, who is probably the investigator. Strange? What is professor Kristoff doing here?

He stopped right in front of me, sighs, and suddenly hands me a squishy. I looked down to it, I was surprised by this squishy thing, but I couldn't wait any longer.

I looked up to him and smiles, I took the squishy and mouthed him 'Thank you'

He smiled once again and nodded. He salutes the other policeman as he waves his goodbyes to me.

The other police man startled me by the way in which he clears his throat. Because of that, I wasn't able to look at professor Kristoff as he left the room. But I hear the door close, so he's probably out now.

I sit down properly as I squish the squishy tightly.

It was actually very sweet of professor Kristoff to hand me that squishy, he must have remembered that I suffer from anxiety. I smiled.

The policeman interviewed me about my personal details first. Now that we're on the formal stage, the questions are related to what happened earlier.

"What time was it when you entered the room?" the policeman asks. I shifted my gaze as I am trying to remember what time it actually was.

I remembered that I have ended the call with my sister at 7:10 am,

"Probably 7:10 am, sir," I responded. He nodded, and wrote it down.

"Did you notice anything weird before you entered the room?" he asks. I furrow my forehead and nod, as I remember that the reason why I ended the call with Lorraine was because the door was suspiciously a little open.

"The door...it was slightly opened. The three of us hadn't been around for two days and one night. Before we left, we made sure that the windows and doors were locked" I replied.

"Where were you during the two days and one night that you were gone?"

"At Zhena's...Mayor Adam's burial to be exact," I answered. He nodded and stared at me blankly, writing down the things I'd said,

"When you were on your way to your dorm room, where were your friends?"

"They’d gone to the cafeteria. But I chose to go straight to the dorm because I was planning to make a phone call to my sister”.

He nods his head and clicks his tongue; he looks up to me once again and asks,

"When you entered the room...what did you see?”

"A very messy room. All our things were scattered. I don't know if anything was lost or stolen...but despite that messy room, there's one thing that really caught my attention"

"What was it?"

"The letter"

-to be continued...