Blythe Tatum expected her freshman year at university to be nerve-wracking, though nothing out of the ordinary. The beginning of her school year starts off as averagely as possible, though Blythe soon finds herself caught up in an unexpected and ine...
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"I just can't believe this," Ivy murmurs. "It's only the second week of school."
Her face has gone white as she stares down at her phone, skin growing more clammy by the second. Her expression mirrors what I'm feeling within. When I'd first heard the news, I thought I was going to be sick. The initial shock has worn off, yet I'm still left devastated, unable to wrap my head around what has happened.
"I don't think anyone was expecting something like this," Ben agrees. With a sigh, he drops his phone onto the tabletop before him, leaning back in his seat and massaging his temples as if he has a headache coming on.
"It's sick," I add to the conversation weakly. My phone sits on the wooden table in front of me, though I can't stand to look at it. I don't want to read the post again. I almost wish I hadn't seen it to begin with.
"It's like they weren't even trying to hide her," Ivy states angrily, her disgust quickly turning to rage. "They found her by the lakebed. Just . . . laying there. Whoever did that to her didn't even bother to toss her into the water. Like they wanted her to be found. It's morbid."
By now, I'm certain the entirety of Redwood University has gotten wind of the news. It's not every day a body is found on campus, though especially not somewhere around Creekside. It's a smaller town; a town considered to be safe. Bodies don't just end up laying beside lakes, cold and motionless. It's unheard of. I suppose that's why we're all so shocked and rattled, nerves wired and left on edge.
The news started circulating on Twitter sometime last night. I'd had dozens of notifications by the time I woke up. News of the tragic death was all over my Twitter feed, Facebook wall, and mentioned in the texts Ivy and Ben had blown up my phone with, asking if I'd heard about the tragedy. Kehlani and I had discussed what we'd heard about briefly this morning, though we quickly ended the conversation, not wanting to make ourselves sick. It's one thing to hear about a situation like this on the news. Sure, it's still sad and upsetting, though easy to move on from because it isn't personal. It's another thing to have something like this happen in my hometown, within the campus I'm currently residing.
Though it's only the second week of classes being in session, all lecture halls have been closed today as far as I know of. Police cars started showing up to campus by noon, surrounding the lake with crime scene tape and cutting off any surrounding areas. One thing has been made clear: This death was no accident. Which only makes the whole ordeal even more difficult to deal with.
From what I've gathered so far, a girl was found sometime last night laying by the lakebed. No one is sure yet as to when exactly she died, as the lake tends to be a rather isolated spot amongst campus with little to no traffic. The body has since been identified as Naomi Amira. She was a sophomore, apparently just having turned twenty. She was majoring in health science and training to become a nurse. From the pictures I've seen of her circulating around social media, she was beautiful.
