Her Soul

20. the next morning

The leaves and the branches were slowly swaying to the rhythm above them. Riaan did not know the actual time but he guessed it must be midnight. Time flew fast as he listened to Aviana.

When he had asked Aviana for an explanation he had expected a different kind of story. One where she was the villain. Where she had killed someone and was now being chased by people who wanted revenge. But Aviana's story was not at all what he expected. Here she was one of the victims.

"My mom found me in the morning. I was paralyzed by fear for days. My mom decided I need a change. So we moved here and started new. But they never believed me, not once." She had stared ahead the whole time as if she could see all that happening right there.

So she had moved here around last year. He understood what she had been through, why she got scared today. Fear could change you, could make you do questionable things. "Your parents, they did not believe you?"

She gave a nod. That was what Riaan felt was odd, her story was believable. So why did not they believe her?

"Why? There is nothing unbelievable about it."

Aviana swallowed hard but did not answer right away. She still kept staring ahead. "They simply did not. Maybe since I was scared they thought I was imagining."

Riaan did not believe it. She was hiding something, she was leaving out a part of the story, a very important one. He could not force her right now. It was already difficult for her to relive that happening.

"Do drama and death usually follow you around?" Two deaths around her in nearly a year, both unnatural. That must have been traumatic and a horrible coincidence.

"I guess I attract them." She gave out a chuckle, trying to keep it light. But it was clear it weighed down on her.

There was one question that Riaan wanted to ask her. He had totally forgotten about it. Lately, he seemed to be forgetting the fact that, him partnering with Aviana was also a part of the assignment.

"Have you done any wrong. Like on a big scale?" He was trying to get it out of her- the past sins. One important factor for D-Room to seal the case.

She looked at him confused. "I have lied a few times, once thought about cheating but dropped the idea."

That was not what he wanted to hear, he wanted to hear something, anything, in which she was the bad person. "That's all, nothing big?"

"I have always felt guilty I did not report that incident in the forest. The victim's family would never get closure. And that's on me."

There was nothing incriminating from her past. He snorted at another dead end.

"It looks like you want me to be guilty," Aviana guessed by his expression.

"I did not_"

"Forget it." She was plucking the grass and lining it up in a row. "Back at the 'wood burgers' you said maybe I am not killer. So it is still a maybe?"

Riaan looked at her. She wanted validation, his validation. But he can't give it, not yet. As he spent more time with her he was finding more confirmation of her innocence. But he can't accept that. Not to himself and definitely not out. Once you have believed in something for so long, you can't just undo that. At least now he was ready to give her the benefit of doubt. "Go to sleep, you must be tired."

She sat up straight like a knight. "You can sleep if you want. I am going to watch out for them. In case they returned."

She still didn't believe they were just normal people working with the plantations. He was done with explaining it to her. Riaan did not feel sleepy at all. He did not look or talk with Aviana but he was aware of her presence, her irregular breathing. She was still disturbed. As time passed the irregular breathing stopped and was replaced by a steady one. Aviana was sleeping soundly. Her whole body was engulfed in his jacket, only her forehead was visible.