The Girl Who Couldn't Kill

Chapter 14-Unexpected Spectator

The next morning, Rory walked into the washroom before her class started in ten minutes. She had overslept and hadn't had proper time to use the washroom. It was embarrassing but her exhaustion was beyond comprehension and her mind was elsewhere until she heard the small sobs of a heartbroken girl. It was familiar, similar to how Autumn used to cry when her ex had dumped her. But Rory always questioned why she appeared so upset after the breakup since she never claimed to be interested in him. Of course, Rory had kept that thought to herself and comforted her friend instead. Essentially, the guy love-bombed and pursued her until Autumn finally agreed.

Rory approached her stall with gentle steps of her leathered shoes. "Hey, is everything okay?"

"O-oh I'm fine, I just have some allergies, no big deal!" The voice replied, unconfidently.

"Are you sure? It's quite early in the morning to be locked in a washroom stall with allergies that sound like crying." Rory didn't mean to sound sarcastic but the way she structured her sentence appeared accusatory.

Surprisingly, the girl started to laugh. "That's an interesting way to put it," she said through tears, the door still locked. "Um, I'm just having a tough time, you know...after Adam's sudden death.

The girl stood up to open the door. Her hair was tucked neatly into a bun, though her hair was slicked down with gel, some strands stood out like loose branches. Her face was rounded and her cheeks were blushed red from crying. She was significantly shorter than Rory and stood at five feet.

"I was Adam's ex-girlfriend," she said as tears started to bubble in her eyes again. "My name is Naomi." she introduced herself.

"I'm Rory. Hey, I'm so sorry about Adam. This whole situation is messed up." Although she felt bad to prey on Naomi for information about her ex at such a vulnerable moment, she had to get answers.

"He was my first boyfriend, but we broke up due to the pressure of our schoolwork. He was balancing a part-time job on top of AP and honor classes. His stress got to him and he broke up with me a month ago. The thing is, he never saw or talked to anyone after me, we were truly in love."

The word "love" had always been an unfamiliar word for Rory, especially the romantic kind. But she could sense that Noami was extremely alone at this time. Which was something she deeply related to. She felt stagnant and useless in her position, not close enough to her as a friend to give her the comfort she needed.

But she tried her best.

"It must be hard, Naomi. Had you noticed Adam acting weird up until the breakup?" Rory reminded herself to get too personal and just gather sufficient information about Adam's behavior.

Naomi hesitated but decided to explain, "No, he was fine. We've been dating since freshman year and when problems like this arise, he would always come to me. He was good at communication, better than me most of the time. But before the breakup he switched up completely, telling me about the overwhelming stress of his workload. He had told me that I was the cure to his stress." Her words quivered through her lips. "This wasn't how he coped. There was something that he was hiding."

"Something that he was hiding?" Rory asked.

"He started buying cigarettes from Connor," she said. "At first, I thought it was just a temporary coping mechanism for his stress, but then Connor kept showing up when we were together and I started getting angry with him. We didn't have a huge fight or anything like that, it was disagreements mostly. Although, he had started to text me less, but everything at school was fine." She scratched her head as if she recalled something. "The odd thing is that the cigs didn't look like cigs, they looked like hand-rolled paper."

There was no way Adam was smoking weed. Taiwan is heavily strict on smoking and forbids marijuana and most drugs, so therefore, Rory didn't have to worry that much on the drug aspect.

The rolled paper must be notes or messages from Chrome.

But Connor? Why was he involved?

Could Connor possibly know that he was a target and was somehow trying to communicate to Adam by sending signals? Or had Connor's death somehow been accidental?

Was Adam planning on murdering Connor? But in the end, perhaps he chickened out and killed himself to avoid the trouble.

No. Then the recent note to Rory wouldn't make sense. Chrome didn't appeal to someone who would give up and care to be caught. He loved a mystery game and he would trust the process and let everything play out naturally.

Chrome had to be someone extremely smart and observant from behind the scenes. Adam was smart, too but was he brave enough to carry out this sadistic game of murder? Rory doubted it.

"Connor and Adam. Both acted weird leading up to their death. They must have had a connection, a third party person." Rory said. She did not think Connor and Adam were targets but merely minions that were sacrificed by Chrome. The thought of it made her blood boil, who could be so cruel? Certainly not a teenager, this whole thing was twisted.

"I agree with you. I overheard them talking one night about someone named Cone or Crow. I thought it was a stupid game the senior boys were playing and I hated that they dragged Adam into it. That Crow person seems like someone older, like an alumni?" She paused. "They appeared to fear him."

Rory was baffled by this new information. So Connor and Adam knew of Chrome's existence. Whatever "game" Chrome has tricked the boys into playing, Rory was not going to let it slide.

"Do you think they knew they were going to die?" Rory realized she had asked a rhetorical question. But she risked it anyways.

"Well...I guess Adam seemed more anxious when he was talking to Connor. But it seem like they were something, rather than hiding or preparing for something to happen. I don't know, it seemed complicated and personal."

"Oh, I see." Rory gave this response a moment to gather and analyze Naomi's words.

"Oh and Rory...I wouldn't fully trust your friend Autumn right now."

Rory's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Why Autumn?

"What do you mean?"

"Just once, I saw her lurking in the hallways with Connor. It was quite late and I didn't necessarily know what they were doing. All I saw was the both of them smiling." Naomi seemed to see the expression drop on Rory's friend. "I'm sorry for springing that on you, I just thought you should know."

Woah what the hell Rory thought.

Why was Autumn involved with Connor and most of all, why was she smiling with him? Was it a happy smile or an evil smile? Autumn had never told anything to Rory about Connor, she thought they were strangers since the subject of him only came up when Rory was venting about his misogyny and bullying; and especially his egotistic and narcissistic self.

Rory tried to maintain calm but she knew it was her cue to leave the washroom. Her palms were sweating and the beating of her chest became a wave of fury.

"I see. Thank you for sharing Naomi. I wish you all the best, it was nice to meet you. I hope the NPA will find whoever committed these awful murders." Rory said sympathetically but hurriedly. "I'm really sorry about Adam."

"Yeah. Thank you for your kind words, Rory."