Nobody

Chapter 16

Secrets never die for as long as the body lives. Secrets remain at the tomb of the memory, six feet below like the death trail it left. For Shoji, her secrets were alive and hidden, buried within her.

Nobody knows. Nobody would know.

It was the 13th of August when Shoji drifted off to the Black Olive to meet someone at night. Responding to her anticipation, a faded blue pickup truck pulled up on the parking lot of the local pizzeria.

While the tinted windshield concealed the face behind the wheel, Shoji knew exactly who was behind it. Xoliloqi… Delilah Cooper… the new girl at Penhearte. Out of caution, she threw a glance at the surveillance camera behind her before she walked over to the shady looking vehicle.

The window to the passenger's seat had been rolled down. Beyond the opening, Delilah perched on the driver's seat, her gaze jumping in Shoji's direction. "Hey, darling."

"Hey. Let me in. Please?" Shoji gestured at the door.

Delilah opened it for her. "Right. My bad."

"Thank you," Shoji mumbled as she climbed in the truck and slammed the passenger door shut.

"Are you sure about this?" Delilah asked her.

"Yes, I'm fucking sure. Haley and Maxwell need to pay," Shoji glared.

"Damn. You are terrifying when you're angry," Delilah remarked.
"I have your costume," Shoji told her with a smile. A wickedly dangerous smile. Intentions so dark lingered beneath it. Only Delilah could peer through the masquerade of innocence to see what murderous motives stayed dormant. It was through her that those thoughts would manifest into reality.

Delilah was the vehicle and Shoji was the driver.

"And who would I cosplay for our murder spree? Michael Myers?" Eyebrow lifted, curiosity was aroused in Delilah.

"Much better. Something original to fit Xoliloqi."

* * *

Overlooking Haley's corpse was a white robed figure who donned a golden mask. Under the benefit of murdering her incognito, Delilah managed to achieve the first fallen body of their plan. She lowered herself until she could penetrate the lifeless stare of Haley Stewart. "That's what you get."

She produced a polaroid of Haley and Shoji then she left it there beside her body. Delilah intentionally tainted the scene with a mark that could stir Kioshi into investigation, that is, if he decided he was determined enough to search for his sister. Shoji wanted to know the lengths her brother would go to find her.

And if he failed, Delilah had no choice but to kill him, too.

When Delilah saw the active pursuit in his body to bring Shoji out of the darkness, she went on to inform his sister.

"He's really trying his best to piece together the puzzle," Delilah commented.

"Wow… I didn't think he'd actually do that." Shoji frowned.
"You look sad…"

Shoji rubbed her eye. "Well, I thought so many things. So many impressions. I hated my brother for using me to protect himself from our grandma. She was a real pain in the ass. Whipping us. Hurting us. Making us cry."

As she listened, Delilah felt this gravity in her heart. The gravity of pity.

"Whenever he did something wrong, he'd blame it on me so that the heat wouldn't scorch him as much as it did me. Of course, my grandma would believe him because I was the younger out of us two. Still, that didn't make him immune from the so-called discipline," Shoji told her in a weak voice.