The sister in the dark

Chapter 30

Dinner passes without incident for any of us, which is very surprising. Every time a policeman or teacher walks past our table, I take in a deep breath until they are out of sight.

Afterwards, however, we didn't have such luck. We are walking down a hall towards our dorms when I hear footsteps behind me.

"Hirah Khalil?"

A policeman taps me on the shoulder, and I turn to stare him dead in the eyes.

"Good evening, um, sir," I say, forcing my voice not to shake. "I-I'm not Hirah, she's here."

I bring her over to stand next to me.

"We would like to speak to you about the bodies that you have discovered."

Hirah and I remain silent, which the policeman takes as a sign of confusion.

"I know it must be very hard for your young female brains to take in, but the fact that you found two bodies is very suspicious."

His statement sends my blood boiling. 'Young female brains'? These 'young female brains' are very knowledgeable, thanks!

"If you're going to speak to us like that then forget about it." she snaps, turns on her heel and walks away.

I follow her, because to be honest I would be in as much trouble as her if we got caught. And that isn't something I want, not at all.

Once we're out of sight of the policeman, we both start running. Not towards the dorms, but towards the Gardener's Lodge instead. I feel like Milly and Rose need to know this has happened, just as a precaution.

We sneak past the police cars, towards the treeline, and then start running again. I'm exhausted within a minute, but keep going, staying at pace with Hirah the entire time.

Eventually the warm glow comes into sight, a welcome light in the dark woods. I sneak around, to underneath Milly's window, and begin to climb up the wall. Hirah follows, and we both sit on the window ledge for a few minutes to get our breath back. Then Hirah knocks gently on the glass, and Milly pulls it open for us to slip inside.

"Hey," she says, rocking what I presume to be her baby sister.

"Is she Aderinola?" I ask.

"Yeah."

Milly sits down on the end of her bed, and I finally notice the tear streaks down her cheeks.

"Can I hold your sister?" Hirah asks.

"Sure, just be careful," replies Milly, "there's a bottle in the kitchen, if you want to feed her."

As Hirah leaves, I sit next to Milly, trying not to wake Rose up. She's asleep, and I doubt she would want to be woken.

"Why were you crying?"

She takes a deep breath before talking. "My dad was arrested fifteen minutes ago on suspicion of the murders of Charlotte Grosse, Rose Hyde, Amelia Martell, Emily Caprio and Hamika Driver."

"What?! Rose isn't even dead!"

"Yes, but then Rose would get arrested for the murders of those."

"True. "

"If they find evidence, or make some up, he'll hang."

"Yup."

She sighs and slams her head back into the wall.

"I'm the only one left to look after my sister. They're all gone."

Hirah comes back upstairs and stands by the door, feeding Aderinola with the bottle.

Rose begins to stir from her sleep, and sits up slowly. She's almost fully awake when someone bangs on the front door.

"Police! Open up!"