The Suicide Spree

Once Upon An Island

It began,as legend has told it,on one of the calmest nights in the island of Kahuf.

Not a single leaf dared to move and even the moon decided to hide. Many say that this was the silence before the storm,that it was the peace before the rage,that it was the life before the death.

The sun had set and darkness had now engulfed the sky with only the artificial light casting a dim glow.

The day was like no other, it could already be felt. The events of this night would be forever remembered in history.

Let the killings begin.

¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶

Like any other day, Noah Mead was doing what he enjoyed doing the most- Reading. It was quite probably the only hobby that he possessed. Every day after he completed his homework, Noah would make himself comfortable in his bed and would indulge in the purest source of entertainment and would spend hours on end reading. Whether it was fantasy or history, Noah would read anything that he could lay hands on. Besides it wasn't as if he had any friends to talk to or any social status to maintain.

In fact, Noah wasn't even on the popularity hierarchy chart which didn't even exist, but was something Noah had created in his mind. Noah, at the end of the day, was that unpopular kid in most fictitious books whose life changed in a second. The only difference was that Noah was still waiting for his life changing second. It was probably the only thing he hoped and wished that would come true of course not to forget the fact that he still dreamed of getting his Hogwarts letter.

Noah was deeply concentrated upon a murder mystery when his mother announced that dinner was ready.

Noah groaned. Dinner was the one meal that Noah didn't look forward to,which is saying a lot since Noah's obsessed with food. That wasn't because the entire family would come together to discuss how their day went,but because he never had much to talk about except his academic life and about the books he read.

But today was different. As soon as Noah sat down to eat, his mother instead of asking everyone how their day went, she switched on the TV and put it on the local news channel.

Increasing the volume, Mrs Mead told Noah's younger sister, Less, to keep quiet and listen to the reporter who seemed to be worried.

Noah glanced at the television and saw a red flash (no no Noah didn't see Barry Allen, he doesn't exist in the real world remember?) which claimed a breaking news.

In an exasperated voice the reporter spoke.

"Approximately 10 teenagers have committed suicide within the span of just 5 hours, making it the most amount of deaths to ever take place in RippleMount Island in a SINGLE day."

Noah stopped eating his food. He dropped his fork as he tried to digest both the news and his food- which now threatened to escape his mouth. RippleMount was the safest and the most crimeless island in the country. Even the suicide and bullying statistics were considerably low. Multiple deaths were something unheard of.

A slide show then began to mourn the teens who died. As the slideshow continued Noah lost interest and after the first few faces Mrs Mead switched off the TV.

"I assume some of these people were with you in school?" Noah's father questioned although it was more of a statement than a question.

Noah nodded. All of the people who died were from RippleMount High, but it didn't seem to matter as it was the only school on the island.

The news continued to create awareness about suicidal behaviour and how to help anyone who is perceived to be suicidal.

The aftermath of this news was that Noah no longer had an appetite and that he was feeling sympathetic for the teens and their families even though he didn't know them at all.

So to convey his condolences, for the first time ,in an unknown period of time, on a weekday Noah left his premises to go and visit parents of the deceased people. He tried but only managed to visit three houses. (Noah had to look up their addresses which took really long,but it was the least he could do).

Each house he visited, the same eerie feeling of death and sorry hung in the air. In each house the parents were devastated and were in the middle of having fits. Noah, with each passing second, was feeling more and more sorry for the families of the teens that by the time he got done, he was in tears.

Noah was not a very emotional person,but witnessing so many people breaking down, did something to him. To calm himself down, Noah took a detour and started walking past the place that was the central hub of socialising for teens. As he walked past Milk Sheikhs- A popular fast food restaurant which was famous for its delectable milkshakes which also happened to be quite popular amongst teens when Noah heard a loud scream from the inside of the restaurant.

He followed the sound and to his horror, he was met with about twenty dead teenagers sprawled on the floor like discarded Lego's. He looked at the person who had given the deadly cry and realised that it was the owner of the shop.

"How did this happen, Mr Sheikh? " Noah questioned.

"I dont... Don't know. I was gone for ten minutes and then I came back to...this."

Noah walked towards the closest dead body. Although he felt like throwing up, he went near the closest body, namely Kyle Tesmont who was in Noah's maths class, and examined his body. His gaze fell on Kyle's hand which contained a small transparent tube. With dread, Noah realised that it was a tube full of sleeping pills.

He walked past the dead bodies and realised that about five of them had tubes in their hands or within their reach.

"These little good for nothings decided to commit suicide in my store." The owner spoke unamused.

Overdose Noah realised. Even though this looked like a clever suicide, Noah thought otherwise. There was clearly something wrong. Mass suicide was unheard of. What was even more peculiar was that two mass suicides occur within a single night. This was clearly a case of poorly disguised murders. But it didn't make sense that someone would kill so many people that too within one night.

Within seconds the parking lot of the fast food restaurant was filled with ambulances, police cars and the saddest of them all, grieving parents.

Noah was being questioned by the police when his mother called him to get the reassurance that he was alive and well and she also demanded him to return home. After a lot of persuasion Noah was able to convince his mother that he was fine and that a police officer would drop him home safely.

The ride home was all of a sudden a reflective ride. As the wind blew through his hair and as the fact settled that he had just seen about 20 bodies in one place, Noah began to be thankful that he was alive. Already within a single night 30 people, more specifically teens, were dead. This also made him firmly believe that the people who died were not dead because they committed suicide,but because they were brutally murdered.

Why would a bunch of teens commit suicide together? More importantly why did they choose to die within the same day? Were they guilty of something? Or were they just tired of life. Such thoughts ran threw his mind the entire ride.

As Noah left the car, Mrs Mead thanked the officer for dropping him home which eventually lead to the two of them discussing the events of the night.

"So what are the police considering this as?"

"I don't know if I should be telling you this but the police is considering homicide as an option." The police officer elaborated.

"This is quite peculiar, isn't it?"

The officer sighed. "Strangest thing I've come across."

This was all Noah needed to hear. His doubts were confirmed. So it was likely that the teens were murdered. This made him realise that this was it. This was his life changing moment. By solving this strange incident, Noah would change his life for the better, hopefully.

Little did Noah know that detective work only looks good on TV.

Ps Shout out to yeti2018 she's a sweetie! Give her a follow. She makes covers and I'm pretty sure she's great at it!