Crazed Minds | ✔️

thirty nine

"I can't seem to forget the pain you see me give."
-NUMB, XXXTENTACION
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Alec drops the piece of wood and the fire burns out quickly, making a low hissing sound. He pulls me back and wraps his arms around my body to stop me from seeing Naomi's dead body.

It's a gruesome sight, enough to make someone who has never seen a dead body sick and afraid and almost as lifeless as the body itself.

All it makes me feel is empty.

***

Alec sits me down carefully on the front steps of the school and rushes off to find Rosa and the other teachers. After a moment, they rush out of the building in long nightgowns and pyjamas. Alec explains to them what happened, to which they all listen intently.

After his explanation is finished, Rosa bobs her head and instructs, "Alec, show them the body. Mr Monday, call the police." A short, plump teacher nods and runs inside. "I'll stay with Olivia."

Alec nods, brow furrowed. He leans down and presses his soft lips to my forehead, before rushing away to direct the teachers towards Naomi's body.

I sit with my arms wrapped around my legs and stiffen when Rosa sits beside me delicately. "Are you alright?" she asks.

I sigh. "Why is it always me who finds the bodies? Why am I always in the wrong place at the wrong time? Am I just that unlucky?"

She stares straight ahead, tucking her black hair behind her ear. "I don't believe in bad luck or good luck."

"Then what do you believe?" I say a little more harshly than I intended.

She presses her lips together. "Energy."

"So you're saying I have bad energy. That makes me feel a lot better," I grunt sarcastically, gazing at the intimidating darkness of the woods ahead of us.

"Not necessarily you. The voices in your head, I think they steer you into danger," she explains, and I've got to admit, it does make sense.

"But it means that I'd know subconsciously where the bodies are. And I have no idea," I confess.

She is suddenly extremely silent, like she's caught her breath from realisation. Her back stiffens, becoming almost rigid.

"Something wrong?" I ask cautiously.

She shakes her head too quickly for it to even remotely seem true. "Nothing at all." Rosa stands quickly, her skinny frame towering over me, and smiles. But it's fixed, like someone is in the process of tightening it with a wrench.

"I better go see the body, will you be alright, Olivia?" she asks quickly, stepping towards the back of the school where the woods containing the pit is located.

I nod.

She smiles another forced smile and disappears behind the building where Alec led the other teachers.

Jasper was right. There's something seriously not right about that woman.

***

The next morning, everyone files into the Grand Hall with their heads hanging and shoulders slumping. The Grand Hall is a large room with a high ceiling and a glass chandelier hanging from it. There are exquisite paintings on the walls and a raised platform at the front where a police officer and Rosa stand solemnly.

Chairs have been placed in neat rows where the students are silently sitting.

I sit in an empty seat beside Seth, with Alec on his side and Jasper on my other side. Molly is sitting on Jasper's other side and Sky and her friends are after that. Everyone I know at this school. It's almost suffocating.

Jasper leans in and whispers into my ear, his breath hot, "Are you alright?"

I press my lips together. "As long as this isn't about Naomi, then I'll be fine."

We stare straight ahead when everyone is sat down and the room is silent of moving people and quiet muttering. Rosa intertwines her hands, speaking to everyone in a way that makes it seem like she's speaking to all of us individually, "Thank you for joining us today. You must know about a dear student of ours by now, who passed recently. Naomi was a valued member of the school community. She'll always be remembered." Someone snivels in the back as Rosa continues, "This is DI Andre. He has a few words for you all."

Jasper shoots me a look since this assembly is, in fact, about Naomi.

I can feel Rosa's ice blue eyes on me, but I try to avoid her accusing gaze, because all it's doing is setting me further on edge. I turn around to see Bailey glaring a scorching glare towards me, her eyes puffy and damp.

DI Andre is a well-built man with dark skin and a black beard. His eyes are black and cold and his mouth is set in a straight hard line. His hands are linked behind his back and his amazing posture is admirable, his feet spread a fair distance apart and his back straight. His voice is just as firm as his eyes, "Thank you for having me here today. I'm going to get straight to the point as to avoid taking up any more of your time. A student here was murdered." Nobody says anything. Gossip spreads like a wildfire here so obviously everyone already knows.

Andre sniffs a little and carries on, "Her body was found last night. But her time of death is expected to be as long as a week ago. You must all know that it wasn't an accident, a prank-gone-wrong or anything remotely similar. This girl, Naomi Jackson, was murdered by someone with the intent of making her suffer a painful death. Don't be fooled by the lack of police investigators around your school. They will be interrogating every single one of you if that's what it takes to figure out what happened to this student."

A sheet of hushed conversation settles over the Grand Hall, students whispering about the new information.

I share a worried look with Seth beside me. Rosa's eyes are still on me.

I shouldn't be worried. This doesn't mean anything. I didn't kill anyone and that's the truth.

DI Andre continues in a hard voice, "You should also know that there has been an inspection of the kitchens and collection box which you all put your banned items in when you arrived, and no weapons are missing. Which means the murderer had their own weapon."

Okay. Now I should be worried.