The Girl Who Couldn't Kill

Chapter 2-Guilt Blooms from a Seedling

You see, Rory was a victim of homicidal ideation. In most cases, she fantasized vividly about the ideology of killing, but would never take the initiative to commit the action. Her dreams and photographic memories consume her mind: a deception of her own moral contradictions. She resists escaping her mind therefore she eats herself alive and dissociates from the world around her. Becoming a victim of masochism and occasionally, a nihilist. What was the point of living if the concept of life itself was meaningless? The realization hit her like an asteroid colliding on hardened igneous.

Connor was dead.

Someone had intentionally killed him and intended for that odd boy to discover, or maybe he just happened to be the first person to stumble upon the calamity. Either way, Rory was determined to prove that Taipei City's most exclusive American School wasn't so lovely and top-tier after all. The thought of waiting for the whole situation to unfold made Rory's stomach churn.

Did his death mean anything?

Shouldn't Rory feel nothing but pity, why didn't she feel compassion? As Rory walked into Philosophy class, the first period after lunch, she was still nauseous and hadn't been able to digest anything consumable since the morning. She tried to eat a banana at least but she felt the contents lingering at the tip of her tongue. She gagged and threw them out, the peel still intact. As she sat in her class, she masked herself with her usual poker face, but this time, it felt more suffocating than ever.

"Good afternoon class, please get into your Socratic circles, the topic today is What is the Meaning of Life," Mr. Volkov said exuberantly, pushing his glasses up his slender nose. Mr. Volkov was Rory's favorite teacher and since he taught philosophy during this period, she felt a bit better. But that feeling didn't last when the announcements blared against her eardrums.

"Everyone, I repeat, everyone please remain in your classroom, we are on temporary in-class lockdown. A student's body has been discovered in the

East elevator. We will not reveal the student's identity for now, but please stay in your class once everything has been cleared." The announcer repeated the message a second time.

Rory scanned the classroom in fear that someone will call her out on sneaking out last night but to her surprise, she found herself fixated on the back of a boy's head who sat in the corner. Ajax Chang. Tousled curly hair, smooth skin, and almond-shaped eyes reflected the horror in his eyes, the same as last night. With the dim glow of light yesterday, Rory couldn't really make out the person who was standing in front of Connor's body but sitting here, Rory knew that the boy who lay in the trauma of a bloodied corpse was Ajax. As Ajax's friend spoke anxiously at him, his stoic eyes were on the clock.

Those were the eyes of someone who made witnessed murder. Rory's smoothed her tongue over her lips, how exciting.

After the long blaring of sirens, Rory's head started to throb, along with her core-wrenching nausea. She kept a straight face but her hands clutched at her core as she flowed through the afternoon buzz of worried students.

"Omg, a student was killed?"

"I heard it was gang-related, that's so scary!"

"What if the killer is disguised right now and is in our school, shouldn't the school

take more security measures? My parents pay a fortune to go here!"

Oh shut up, Rory thought. Those brats were so irrelevant and such tools, they might as well be wiped out last night along with Connor. This was the most exciting event that has happened to this picture-perfect school; everything was a facade and now it's crumbling to its downfall. In the midst of the chaos and fear, Rory's train of thought played back to yesterday night.