Getting blamed for a murder she never committed isn't something Danielle expected when she let her anger get the best of her for once in her life.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Danielle Imchen has always considered her boarding...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Warm sunlight filtered inside the room through the open windows. Rayana was sitting in her usual place, on the windowsill, while humming a song and sketching in her notebook. She looks carefree and calm. Danielle is sitting on her bed- Anushka's bed- while trying to read a book. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't read a single line. The burnt picture of Arianna and that boy, which she had hidden inside the pocket of one of her jackets in her wardrobe, occupied her mind.
Last night, after returning from her late-night rendezvous, Danielle was able to slip undetected into her new room. Rayana had already fallen asleep, much to her relief. The first thing she did was pull out the picture and stuff it inside the pocket of one of her jackets that lay at the very bottom of her wardrobe. As much as she didn't want to, the thought of Rayana being a suspect in Arianna's murder had crossed her mind multiple times but she had always pushed it at the very back of her mind. Today, sitting here, looking at Rayana, the thought came back with a fierce force and this time, Danielle couldn't shake it away. Rayana looked abnormally sane after the gruesome incident. People who weren't well-acquainted with Arianna, too, seemed to have been swayed by the horrific incident.
The walls which once reverberated with joyous shrieks and heartfelt laughter, now echoed the fearful whispers and shivered insinuations.
"I am so glad that you're, now, my roommate." Rayana's voice broke Danielle's train of thought and pulled her to reality. Rayana looked at her with a soft, genuine smile on her face. All of a sudden, Danielle's throat felt parched.
The girl who was smiling at her with deep satisfaction was the same girl she had been suspecting of murder. Danielle felt ashamed. How could she ever doubt Rayana? After all, Rayana was her best friend. She could never do something like this. Never.
Danielle put down the book on the bed and looked down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers. The atmosphere of the room shifted- from calm and serene to tensed and suffocating. Danielle was unsure as to what to say.
Cold fingers grasped her chin and tilted them up. Shocked, Danielle swatted the hand away. Rayana moved back. Her hands hovered a few centimetres away from Danielle.
"It's okay," Rayana soothed. "It's just me." Her voice sounded like the one a person would use when approaching a wounded, feral animal.
Danielle exhaled. "I am sorry. Just got scared."
Rayana smiled. She sat down on the bed, beside her. "It's going to be fine. I don't think they are really going to arrest you."
"You don't know that." Danielle let out a rueful laugh.
Rayana looked at her, eyes full of pity. Before she had the chance to reply, there was a sharp knock on the door. Both the girls' eyes jumped onto it. Rayana's eyebrows furrowed. Getting up from the bed, she asked, "Who is it?"
A male voice replied. "It's me, Ryan."
This time it was Danielle whose eyebrows furrowed. She couldn't decipher what he wanted and why was he there. Had Xavier sent him?
