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Books By The Author: One Last Wish, Zombies Territory: A place of no return and Perfect Murder.

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The loud sirens playing out from both the police vehicle and the ambulance kept ringing non-stop outside the building. The barricade tape sealed the entrance of the school building.

"I heard it's Ashley." A student murmured.

"Who might have done this to her?" Another spoke.

"Oh God. This is bad."

The students were all murmuring at each other as the lifeless body that was covered in white cloth was being rolled out.

"Gosh..." Unable to withhold what was playing before their eyes, some started tearing up.

"Ashley." They cried on each other's shoulders.

Cars of all different sizes drove in with speed. They screeched to a halt a few meters away from the police cars. Ashley's mother hurriedly got out of the vehicle, not waiting a mini-second for her bodyguards to do so, as always. She halted her speedy steps as she stood before the corpse. Her whole body was shivering and trembling, and hot tears hung on her eyes. She swallowed and shut her eyes tight, as if telling herself inwardly that nothing was true. All this is just non-realistic, or it wasn't her daughter. It cannot be right.

After trying her best to convince herself several times, she opened her eyes. Some of the students were also eager to see the corpse if it truly was her. They had their fingers crossed that it couldn't be.

Tears stroked down her cheeks as she slowly reached out to the white piece of cloth covering the corpse. Her breathing kept ceasing severally. With her hands moving as if a great tremor on earth had taken place, she caught a little piece of the white cloth. She swallowed and then slid the cloth from the corpse's face, slowly.

"ASHLEY..." She screamed in pain and lost her balance, but her husband, who had been standing beside her all this time, was quick enough to catch her before she fell to the ground. "Please tell me it's not true. It's not my daughter. Tell me I'm seeing falsely." She cried bloodily, clutching her husband's collar tight. "It's not Ashley. It can't be her." She wails, shaking him.

Trying to hold a grip on himself, he pulled his crying wife closer to his chest. It pained him as he kept staring at the lifeless body of his daughter.

"Sir, what do you have to say at the sudden death of your daughter Ashley?"

"Who do you think might have done this to her?"

"Could it be yours or your daughter's rivalries?"

"Mr. President, we need you to say something."

The press that had been there earlier, flashing their cameras non-stop at the body and the school and everything, bombarded him with ceaseless questions. His bodyguards were trying to push them away from them.

He knew he had to address this case. He had to say something after all. He swallowed to speak. The camera lights were flashing non-stop at him and his wife, and their mics were directed straight at them, waiting for him to speak. They were going live on all news channels.

"As the President of this country and the CEO of Sky Corp., I promise to avenge my daughter's death. We will dig into this matter to unmask who murdered my daughter. For now, we cannot give quick judgment to whom might have done this to my daughter. But this is my promise. My daughter's murderer is not going to be a freelancer."

"Ma'am, being the First Lady of our great country and the mother of your late daughter, what do you have to say about the brutal and unseen death of your own child, Ashley? Do you think the school is at fault for the mismanagement of your daughter's wellbeing? Or perhaps you'll blame her bodyguards, who were supposed to keep an eye on her 24/7, or your rivals? Whom do you think might have caused your family this great sorrow?"

All the words seemed to have left her throat. She just stood there like a statue, watching her lifeless child get rolled away into the ambulance. An old lady who seemed to be her mother also stood by her side. 'They'll pay. Whoever did this to my child will pay greatly. I promise you, Ashley, your murderers won't go free. It's a vow I make as your mother'. That was all that kept replaying in her head as more tears strolled down her cheeks. A part of her was wishing that none of this was true.

When she gave the reporters no reply, they turned to their rolling video camera and started speaking to the audience watching.

"We are here, live at Moonlit High School, where the sudden death of our own president's daughter, Ashley Young, was murdered. News got in this morning after a girl reported her body to the police after seeing it lying lifeless in the bathroom. We have no news about the girl who informed the police. But a little information was given to us, namely, that she was taken to the hospital because of the shock she had just experienced after seeing the dead body of Ashley lying in the bathroom with bruises all over her and torn clothes. We have..."

"Ma'am. Ma'am..." The press suddenly diverted their attention to a woman who had just arrived on the scene. They bombarded her, making it difficult for her to walk.

"Being the principal of MHS, what do you have to say about this murder that took place right in your school?"

She didn't answer any of them but kept struggling to make a path for herself to get to her destination.

"The school is now seen as incompetent for not properly taking and checking out for the well-being of the students in this school. How do you justify that?" Another asked. 

The press kept throwing these questions at her, yet, she still said nothing. All she wanted was to get pass them to the victim's parents.

The moment she reached them, everywhere became quiet. The only thing that could be heard were sirens, the sound of wailing from her mother and other students, and the non-stop cameras flashing their lights on them. The microphones were outstretched to catch every word that was said.

She lowered her head and stood in that position for some seconds before standing back upright. Her head lowered again before she began speaking.

"I'm really sorry for the terrible murder of your daughter, Ashley Young. We assure you that we will dig into this matter and scoop out every detail, sir. None will be left untouched. Please, on behalf of the school, accept my condolences."

His face escalated in anger. "Sorry? Can that bring my daughter back?" He spat in anger.

"I know that, sir. But all I can promise you is to give us a little time as we unveil who the murderer is."

He scoffed. "Hmmm. There's no need to do that anymore. This school is now banned from its activities."

Her eyes quickly flew open, and she stood upright. But Mr. Young didn't waste a single second and disappeared out of her sight after he had spoken those words.

"Sir... Sir... Sir..." She kept calling out his name and running to catch up with him, but he didn't reduce his steps for a second nor did he stop. The press also continued to chase them to get every inch of words and actions.

Shutting the car doors, the cars sped off. She just stood there with crunched brows and worried looks, while the press kept doing their jobs by still interviewing her. Throwing questions at her like fireworks.