THE CONUNDRUM

LAUREN'S POINT OF VIEW

I'm currently doing the homework that I forgot to finish last night inside the library.

I stopped my perusal when I heard footsteps towards my direction. I raised my head and saw Lorelei.

"I knew that I'll find you here." She hissed. "Geeks and their piece of heaven- the library."

"Hey. You're early, that's so unusual of you," I teased her.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

She sat down beside me while I resume writing my homework. I stop when I remember something. "Lei."

She turned to me. "What is it?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

I breathed deep. "I went to the library last time because I was really curious about the past of our class. I feel like I was surrounded by complete strangers, and that's what pushed me to do a research about our class."

I saw how she shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "W-What did you find out?" she asked, obviously tensed.

What are you hiding, Lorelei?

"Who's Astreia?"

I saw fear ran crossed her face but it immediately faded. "L-Lauren."

I sighed heavily. "Lei, this time, I'm not asking just for the sake of feeding my curiosity. That could also solve the current dilemma that we're dealing with."

Her forehead creased.

"Remember the notes that the killer always sends every time one of our classmate was found murdered?"

She nods her head. "Y-Yeah."

"I think those notes can be a piece of evidence, some sort of a clue that will point us to the killer. All of it contains the same words- vengeance and betrayal."

There was a long silence between the two of us. It was only broken when her phone rings out of the blue.

She stood up. "I need to go, Lauren," she said and went out of the library without even looking back at me.

I watched how her figure was slowly reduced into a mere blur after a moment. I heaved out a frustrated sigh.

"Pitiful."

My forehead creased when someone sits in the chair in front of me. I raised my head and look at the person. It's Lucas who's looking at me sternly.

For some unknown reasons, his presence and stares make me really uncomfortable. The eyes behind his thick eyeglass stirs an unsettling feeling inside me- as if it's looking beneath the depth of my soul.

I cleared my throat and look at him. "H-Hey, do you need something?" I asked, resuming my business.

My eyebrows furrowed when he still doesn't speak and continue staring at me shamelessly.

What're wrong with him? He's really making me uncomfortable.

I smiled at him. "Uh, I hope you won't mind but, can you please leave me alone if you don't have something to say? I'm doing my homework and I will not be able to finish this if you continue staring at me," I muttered carefully.

Despite my request, he turned a deaf ears and just stares at me. I tried so hard to focus and ignore him but I could do so much with his eerie presence.

I sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to be rude but-"

He cut my words. "These people around you, do you seriously think you already know them?"

"What?"

He shakes his head. "You're so naive, I pity you."

All the hair in my body stand on its when he smirks.

"All of us conceal a secret, things that we choose to burry with us to our grave. Now, I wonder what is your secret, Lauren."

My forehead creased. "W-What are you talking about?"

His grin became wider. "I know underneath that calm and blithe facade of yours, a turbulent is hiding. There is a raging storm behind that serene emotions of yours. Tell me, Lauren, what kind of a monster are you?"

I tensed up and was stone-cold on my seat. The air inside the silent room seems to thickened, making it hard for me to breath. The fast beating of my heart did not stop.

I shook my head furiously and looks at him. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

The grin on his lips faded, the coldness around him reverted back. "You can never escape those nightmares, Lauren. They will hunt you for the rest of your life."

My jaw clenched. "Stop blabbering nonsense, Lucas. You don't know anything about me."

He stared at me for a fleeting moment. "If you say so," he said.

I bite my lips when I felt my eyes pooled with tears.

No. Stop it, Lauren. You need to move on and forget all those memories.

I realized one thing during my stay in the library this morning. Lucas Skyler is a hard-headed bastard. He never left the library though I pleaded him to do so.

Since I couldn't do anything about it, I just bare with his sinister presence. It's a good thing that he remained silence and stopped giving me cryptic warnings.

I cleared my throat to broke the silence. "Can I ask you something?"

He just throw me a bored glance. "You're already asking."

I rolled my eyes. "About Astreia," I initiated the topic. Maybe I can get some answers from him. "You're classmates with her, right?"

This time, I caught his attention. He raised an eyebrow. "How did you know her?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I read your high school year book."

His forehead creased. "You what?!"

I was quite shocked when he raised his tone. "W-What? Stop acting as if I have done a crime."

He hissed. "Perhaps you have seen my bowl cut hair. I look hideous on our year book, curse that photographer."

I can't help but to laugh on what he just said.

"Why are you laughing?!" he asked irately.

"Nothing. It's just that, I didn't expect that you're self conscious. I feel like it's so out of your character."

"I may be distant and an introvert person, but I do care about my appearance. I will throw hands if some bastards call me ugly."

I stared at him. Lucas can really beat a freezer in a coldness competition. His cold gaze alone can make someone hesitant to talk to him.

The humming birds outside that is drifting through the open window serenade the stillness.

"You probably read her tragic death, didn't you?"

I look at him. "Yeah. I actually tried to asked Lorelei about her but she seemed to be avoiding my question."

"I heard that."

I scoffed. "Gossip Monger."

"I'm not. I was just passing by when I over heard your conversation."

I shrugged my shoulder. "If you say so," I said with a snigger. "Anyway, I don't know if this is alright to ask but, was the suspect behind Astreia's death already convicted? W-Who was it?" I asked with feigned nonchalant, but I'm really eager to know.

"That-" I'm on the edge of my seat while waiting for his answer. I need to know it. "is not something that you need to know," he said with a strange smile.

I gritted my teeth in irritation, but I managed to smile. "O-Okay."

He stands up and fixes his eyeglass. "Stop digging your own grave, Lauren. I told you to be watchful of your surrounding, but I didn't say that you should meddle with other people. You're safe from their wrath, at least for now."

I wrinkled my forehead. "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he turned his back and left me with words that stir a greater confusion within me.

"The lesser you know, the safer you are."

•••••

The classroom is currently veiled in cacophony of frantic voices when I entered, most of them are going hysterical.

"What? She's not answering yet?" Lei asks Alex who is trying to call Sam.

The latter shook her head. "She's not picking up my calls. Damn it."

"Josiah is not responding to my calls either. Where on Earth did they go?" Asher heave a deep breath.

My brows snapped together. Those two did not attend the afternoon class after the lunch break yesterday, but we did not overthink about it.

I walked towards Lorelei. "What's happening."

She looks worried as well. "We couldn't contact Josiah and Sam."

"How about their parents? Did you guys ask them already?" Amber asked.

Alexandria nods at her. "I already did, and they said that Sam's not home yet." She closes her eyes for a moment and looks at us with an apprehensive look. "W-What if something bad happened to them? What if they are d-dead already?"

Silence. What she said is not impossible considering all the mess that occurred for the past weeks. The prospect of Sam and Lincoln being dead could be possible.

"Probably."

We look at Summer. Surprisingly, her face looks so calm.

"Who knows who's been itching to avenge themselves and see all of you gasping for death, cold and lifeless on the floor.

The tension hovering inside the room went through the roof.

"What do you mean, Summer? Do you know something?" Ashley asked.

She smiled at her. "Oh, I meant nothing. It's just my speculation- a hunch. We're being killed one after another, so it's only sensible to think that the person behind this has a very deep reason- and one of it could probably vengeance."

I internally nod my head. I completely agree with Summer. What she said makes perfect sense.

The tension did not simmer down. All of us turn our attention when Ethan and Evan entered the room. The obvious sorrow in their faces alleviates the apprehensive atmosphere.

"E-Ethan, Evan. W-What's wrong? T-They are unharmed, right? Sam and Josiah, t-they can't be dead," Alexandria asked in a trembling voice.

Evan momentarily closes his eyes. "J-josiah was brought to the hospital, but he's in a critical condition."

The entire class sighed in relief.

"Thank God."

"That's one less thing to worry about."

"That's a weight off my mind. At least he's still alive."

They whispered simultaneously. But that moment of solace did not last long with what Ethan said next.

"But Samantha, s-she's dead already."

Alexandria burst into tears as we stared at them in surprise and fear.

"N-No, that can't be," she uttered between her sobs.

SOMEONE'S POINT OF VIEW

In the midst of the despair, I just sits there while staring at the gloomy faces of my classmates. I grinned. "The grievance on your faces is my dose of bliss. Your hell brings me to the seventh heaven."

I roam my eyes around, and my gaze settled on him who's feigning a pained expression, but the fury in his eyes says otherwise.

A smirk made its way on my lips. "Maybe I will play a little with your emotions. That's like a hitting two birds with one stone."