Stained

Glowing Eyes [Chapter 1]

I sipped the warm black coffee from my mug as I tuned into what was being broadcasted on the T.V. I could feel a small smile creep onto my face, watching the photo of my classmate pop up. 

"21-year-old man found dead Thursday afternoon near Univeristy of Fine Arts, becoming the 5th person injured or killed this week. The man was a student of this school, a senior who was a part of the football team-" The news reporter states as he signals over towards the school, the camera slowly closing on up the school's front entrance, showing its school's name' Cambridge University'. "So far the investigators have not found any DNA evidence but what they reveal is that the death of this man was intentional, possibly a murder. 

I wonder what made them do such a thing? Was it jealousy? For revenge perhaps?

"Also it's only the beginning of the semester and all this shit is already happening" I mutter to myself. The heat radiating off the coffee cup made me feel at ease, for a moment. 

I stared blankly at the T.V screen, not paying attention to the Mcdonald's ad that was being currently displayed as the scenes from last night replayed in my head. I was sure that it had occurred, the moment seemed a bit too real. 

I felt a sharp blistering pain start to arise in my hands. I snap back into reality and quickly place my cup down onto the hardwood floor. Waving my hands around, I jog to the kitchen. 

"Ouch hot, hot, hot, hot-" 

"I'm back!" 

Slamming the door with a loud bang, my roommate appears from the hallway and walks over to the kitchen, finding me with my hands in the icemaker. 

"Hey, Dalili! Whatchu think about that professor? He seemed like a-" 

"A pervert? Definitely" She rolls her eyes before tossing her massive navy bookbag onto the floor. I nod in agreement and chuckle. Retrieving my hands from the icemaker I wipe the wetness from the water droplets onto my jeans. "Just the way strokes his chin makes me wanna run out of the room" 

I catch a glimpse of the sudden change of expression of my roommate. She seemed a bit more alert than usual. The way she looked around the dorm with uneasiness. I make my way towards her and place my hands on both of her shoulders causing her to flinch. "Is there anything bothering you?~" I wiggle her around to make her loosen up from all the tension she was holding onto. 

Dalili's eyes widen and opens her mouth to speak but no words escape from her mouth. 

"No? I'm doing alright...is there anything bothering you?" She lets out a light chuckle and slowly makes her way out of my grasp. 

The awkward tension starts to fill up the room like a pool being filled up by water hoes perhaps an arm floating on the surface of the water, a torn-up shirt stuck in a pile of branches and rocks near the shoreline of a river. 

"I forgot to tell you!" Dalili face brightens up as she looks up towards me, "there was this new guy who had recently enrolled in my chemistry class but sadly he transferred to another class" 

I raise an eyebrow and look away for a second as I try to think of who this new guy could be. "What does he look like?" I ask before she could let out another word, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans. 

"Well he has dark-" She begins saying before the ringing of her ringtone interrupts her. She pulls out her phone from her pocket and brings it up to her face, the light from the phone brightens lightening up her features. 

"sorry let me take this" she gives an apologetic smile before bringing her phone up to her ear. "Oh hey Ryu!-" 

I quietly and quickly slip out of her sight and make my way into our bedroom. I approach my bed and reach under my pillow, taking quick peeks through the open door that gave me a full view of where Dalili was located. 

"Where is-" I hurriedly swiped my hand around under my pillow before feeling a cold metal object glide across my skin. I glance back at Dalili who had her back facing towards me, leaning against the kitchen counter as she talked away with....whoever it was. 

I carefully slide the object deep into my sock, making sure that the sharp part wouldn't pierce through my skin. 

Everything has to go as planned. There isn't room for any mistakes. When would I ever get this opportunity again? 

I examine the room once more, to see if there were any items that could make this task more rewarding. I can feel the adrenaline begin to flow throughout my body the more I gave thought to this responsibility...I should say. 

"Moon, I have some news!" Dalili sings out, disrupting my thoughts. Her footsteps thundered throughout the dorm. I swiftly firm up my posture before turning around and accidentally bumping into her. 

"ah- I'm sorry! I didn't mean to rush in like that" 

I give her an apologetic smile and wave my hands out in front of me. "It's fine, no worries" She returns the smile and nods softly. 

I clasp my hands together and form a plastered smile. "Soooo, What happened?!" 

Dalili reaches for her hair and began twirling around, gazing off into the distance with blush spreading across her cheeks.  "Remember the new guy I was talking about? Who transferred to another class" 

I take my eyes off of her and stare at the ceiling, trying to make it seem like I was recalling the conversation. My eyes widen up and I snap my fingers at her, "Wait I do!-" 

"Okay so-" She lets out a squeal and fans herself, that cheeky smile plastered on her face not going away. "We exchanged phone numbers and have been chatting these past days." 

"And?" 

"He invited me to his party! Well....he said that I could bring a friend so I wanted to ask you if-" 

"No" I sternly respond. She grabs my arm and begins whining, swinging it around which made me more annoyed. I bit the inside of my cheek and broke off our eye contact. "C'mon," She jumped in front of my view and began to pout "You're my best friend and I feel safer when I'm with you," She lowers her head and scratches the back of her neck with her index finger. 

It was a lie. There's something you can just tell occasionally if you know what I'm talking about. Usually, you'll be able to tell how. It was the tone of her voice, the way she delivered the 'news' with a grim smile. She was cheerful and encouraging, yet she was also unfortunate.

"I'm not so sure...I'm really tired and I have loads of assignments to catch up on. To make it up to you, I'll go next time" 

"Please~" She pleaded loudly. I close my eyes shut and let out a deep sigh. "Just-!" I blurt out loudly and hesitate for a moment. I run my hands through my hair as I turn around and walk towards our room. "Just be ready when I finish changing" 

She happily cheered and ran off into our room while I followed. 

An obstacle now blocking my path, I won't be able to play my cards. As I mentioned, what an unfortunate human being. 

I securely lock the door and twist the knob to check if it had properly locked. I hear Dalili yell out my name from below, telling me to hurry up. 

I give her a thumbs up from the top of the stairway and make my way down the stairs.