Deadly Secrets

Chapter 28: The Expert O*

There was one thing Zara hadn't realised until she was a few blocks away from Orion's apartment: in the four years of their unbreakable friendship, she'd never been over once at his place. When she had met him, on the first day of ninth grade, they had clicked almost instantly. Despite being the new kid, Orion had been outgoing and socially confident; if one didn't know any better, they'd think that he'd been attending the school all along, and only now decided to make some noise.

Zara manoeuvred around a mailbox, a smile on her face as she reminisced about her past. When Orion had first seen her, he'd been quick to point out that she reminded him of an old good friend of is; as a default, he'd said that they too would become the best of friends, and that, they did. It had been harder to get Saffron and Aurora to accept him to the group—they considered him a little 'rowdy' for their taste—but they couldn't resist him for long.

In addition to his crude humour and charm, Orion had a heart of gold; it glimmered as soon as he found out about Saffron's problem with bullies. Apparently, Orion had gone through it himself back at his old school and hence didn't tolerate any form of harassment, especially when it came to his newfound friends.

He was quick to teach the bullies a lesson, and Saffron was never bothered again.

Zara's smile fell when she remembered the situation she was in. She hoped with all her heart that none of her friends were involved—they were the only ones she'd ever had, and losing them was like losing part of herself. Over the years, the four had grown and matured together; no matter how suspicious she was of them, Zara couldn't imagine her life without her friends.

The mere idea of going back to a time of isolation and grief was enough to bring tears to her eyes and shivers up her spine. She was fighting for them, not only for herself, and she would fight till the very end. Zara had made a point of this time and time again, whenever dark thoughts started to infiltrate her mind, and she would continue doing so until she could clear their names.

It was seven in the evening and the sky had darkened. In spite of the light pollution and illuminated streets, Zara had managed to take a few wrong turns; the neighbourhood was a maze, and unless one was familiar with the area, everything looked the same. She'd been therefore obligated to swallow her nerves and stop to ask for directions.

Luckily, a young lady—who'd giggled when Zara admitted that she was lost—gave her a few markers to help guide her through. They were easy to remember, and so far, served Zara well. She pulled the beanie over her ears as she hurried across the road and onto another street, mentally ticking off the lamp-post peppered with graffiti and stickers.

Only two more, and I'm there.

Orion lived with his brother in a good neighbourhood; its inhabitants could walk around feeling relatively safe and certainly not armed to the teeth like Zara. In addition to the dagger, she had decided to tuck her pepper-spray and second knife inside her interior pockets. She had run for her life once before, this time, she'd fight.

On the correct street, Zara began counting down the numbers to Orion's building. She passed a small coffeeshop, an antique store, and a cobbler before she reached her destination. At the front entrance, she stopped and turned towards the intercom system. She scanned the list of names until she reached 'Zhou', and hovered a finger over the button.

Actually, I want to surprise him.

Just as she was about to ring someone else, the door opened and a middle-aged couple sauntered out, well-dressed and with smiles on their faces. The male held the door open for Zara, and after she thanked him, she hurried inside the foyer.

They were nice.

She took the stairs two at a time—mentally patting herself on the back for choosing not to dress like a vagrant—and reached the third floor slightly out of breath but grateful that for once things went her way.