The Girl Who Couldn't Kill

Chapter 20-Lockdown

Noel had been missing since yesterday morning.

He didn't answer his messages, answer his texts, nor did anyone see him for 24 hours. He was reported as a missing student.

Ajax had gone to the office to inform the staff and requested to get in contact with Officer Hong and her team. Noel hadn't seemed like the kind of guy that would MIA due to stress, that guy was practically fueled with anxiety. Nothing really seem to have a huge impact on him other than overworking, which appeared to be a coping mechanism for him.

The school had decided to have a temporary lockdown until the following week. The students were forced to stay in their dorms and can only leave to pick up their food. It felt like covid all over again, a time when Taiwan was heavy on lockdown, masks, and safety measures. The dread started to creep over Rory like a looming storm.

She decided to call Ajax and reconcile their unresolved conflict, knowing that he didn't deserve how she treated him.

For most of Rory's life, she had been an emotionally closed-off person. Even her parents could not help and comfort her, and as a result, they decided to move to Ontario, where her education would be more fulfilling. And in recent years, her parents decided that their daughter should learn her motherland language, so they moved back to Taiwan.

Her life has always been complicated, a chaotic mess of friends in different countries, unstable living circumstances, and surpressed feelings; which made it harder for her to continually mold herself. The outcome was to limit and restrict herself from any sort of influence.

That's when she met Autumn in her freshman year of high school when she had just moved from Ontario. She was the one who showed her around the school and continually showed care for her, even when she didn't reciprocate an effort to be an understanding friend. As a result, she often doubted her friendship with Autumn, and she would ask questions like ,

Why would she be friends with someone that was emotionally available and neglected?

Rory didn't believe she was pretty or talented enough to be friends with the girl who was an aspiring athlete, who would eventually play national volleyball in the future. Her future probably consisted of being an office worker who ate stale bentos and drank soggy boba for a living. A combo of poor healthiness and boredom.

As she let these thoughts sink in and dictate her self-destruction for the past 2 hours, Ajax finally called her back.

"Hey, Rory. What's up?" Ajax said in a muffled voice through the phone. It seem like he had just woken up. It was 9 in the morning and Rory had been procrastinating her studies.

"How did you sleep?" It was the first thing that came to Rory's mind that didn't come off as awkward for a serious conversation starter.

"I had good sleep, I slept for a full 10 hours." He said proudly but paused for a moment. "What bout you?"

"Good, good." She lied.

"What were you doing out on the night of Connor's death? No more lies, I want us to be able to trust each other again."

Rory gave the silence time to settle as she gathered her thoughts. "I was going to switch out Connor's cheat sheets with ones with wrong answers."

"Oh Rory...did he do something to you?" Ajax felt protective.

"No nothing like that! I was just tired of his bullying and cheating with his parent's money. I'd see him bullying people and I'd get so angry, but I couldn't physically do anything about it. I was a coward, and I couldn't stop him. I just watched and let it sink in until my guilty washed over."

"I see. All of us have secrets that would damage us if the truth ever came out. We're all guilty of things we wished we never got involved in. But Rory, It's not your fault, remember that. Everything you do comes with a lesson, you just have to learn from it." Ajax said.

"Thank you Ajax," She said gratefully. "I am sorry for deceiving you and I regret not being more kind to you. I have a hard time communicating my real emotions."

"It's okay Rory, I should've been honest with you too. Take your time with your emotions, I'll always be the friend that will wait for you." Ajax said warmly.

"You're genuinely a good person Ajax." Rory always knew that Ajax was an outgoing person at school, the popular guy at school. But sometimes she wondered if it was just a facade because he was secretly insecure. His words today proved that he indeed had a kind soul, someone who spreads appreciation into the world.

As Ajax started to reply, there was a knock on her door, along with the sweet aroma of home-cooked porridge and lemony tart, it must be her breakfast delivery!

She walked over to the door with her phone in hand and swung the door open, ready to enjoy her hot breakfast, and ultimately the first time all week. But as she looked down, she saw what she had been dreading.

A laced ribbon note card.

She dropped her phone to the ground and hesitantly placed her hands on the soul-sucking definition of horror.

Welcome back to the game Rory! Now with dear Autumn, Ajax, and Noel gone, you are the only one left. Autumn's arrest was uncalled for but seriously, I was rooting for you to win! However, I decided that you are too valuable to receive such an underwhelming reward. You wouldn't want to be locked up for life, would you? So...I shall find another way for you to truly this game!

Meet me at 12 am sharp tonight in front of the school courtyard. Make sure to pick up the candle by the elevator for some nostalgia! Oh, make sure to come alone...see you soon!

—Your friend, Chrome

Rory was once again surprised but not shocked. Her heart was racing but she was ready for Chrome to have his final bow, she was going to catch this murderer once and for all.

Rory picked up her phone from the carpeted floor just in time just to hear Ajax's yell.

"Get away from me!" he yelled. "GAHHH" He screamed in pain through the phone.

Rory's heart dropped to her stomach. Something had appeared weird about the note when it mentioned that she was the only one left.

"Ajax?? What the hell is going on? Ajax?" The static on the other end was growing stronger and Ajax's voice became was muffled by what seemed like another person trying to hold him down.

"Rory, he's h-here. Hey, what the hell? Stop!" Ajax managed. "Let me go you asshole! B-be careful. GAHHH—" The call ended.

"Nooo! Please."

Rory was speechless and so utterly scared for Ajax and everyone that had been dragged into the mess. With Autumn arrested, Noel missing, and Ajax kidnapped, she really was on her own now, abandoned to face the fears she had been dreading.

The visions came trickling back to replay in the back of her mind like a projection

She killed him. Her wrists were bruised from the rope that dug into her skin. Tears were trickling down her cheeks as she gasped for air but her lungs felt like a weighed-down paper bag. Her hands flew to her own neck, trying to force herself back to reality. A dark shape illuminated in front of her ironically, it was faceless with empty sockets and a stitched mouth. Blood trickled from her fingertips and seeped into the open cracks of her palm. One drop, two drops, three drops, until a puddle started to form into a pond of vermilion. Her vision blurred and she—

Rory held her head in pain and sunk to the ground.