Starlight Souls ✦

00:06

The library was mostly quiet, except for the few sounds of boots against the floor, flipping pages of books, and the clicks of pens. Half of the seats in the library were filled given it was evening and almost everyone was done with their lectures for the day.

Candace, who was sitting opposite Emrys on a table made for four, pulled out a letter from between her books. Talita was sitting on her left, and opposite of Talita was Denzel.

'What is that?' The latter one asked, in a tone louder than he should have that made most of the eyes in the library turn to him with anger inside them.

'Shh!' The librarian, as well as the rest three of his friends, said to him at the same time.

He raised his eyesbrows a little bit, muttering an apology, 'Sorry.' After a few seconds, when everyone else had turned their heads back to their work, he proceeded to ask in a whisper, 'But you didn't answer my question; what is that?'

'It's a letter from Sirelle.' Candace answered, also in a whisper, 'In the first sentence of this letter, she wrote to open this letter once all four of us are together, so that is why I decided to open it now.'

'When did you get it?' Emrys asked in a low tone.

'This morning.' Candace replied, only lettering her voice to be as loud as it was enough for her friends to hear.

Denzel asked, 'Was it meant for you or Talita?'

'For Candace.' Talita whispered. After that point, the whole conversation went by whispers.

Denzel clicked his tongue. 'It's been what, year, since somebody wrote a letter to me?' He rested his chin on his arms that were folded on the table.

'That's because Candace can keep them secure; she's trustworthy.' Emrys said.

'I can keep them secure too!' Denzel raised his tone just a little bit, which made all of the eyes in the library turn to him once more.

'Mr. Sinclair,' The librarian, who was a middle-aged lady with curly blonde hair, snapped at Denzel, 'If I hear another loud word from you, I would have no option but to not let you enter the library for two weeks.'

'I'm sorry.' Denzel said as the librarian turned away, heaving out a deep breath as she walked. He turned back to his friends and started in a whisper once again, 'I'm saying I can keep them secure too.'

'Okay, okay, I'll write you a letter, but stay quiet first and let Candace read out the letter for us.' Emrys told Denzel. Denzel wanted to protest further to Emrys but chose to keep his words in his mouth for another day as Candace cleared her throat to start reading the letter out loud, just enough for the four of them to hear.

Dear Candace,

I wish for you to read this letter out loud in the presence of Talita, Denzel, and Emrys.

I'm writing this letter so as to inform you all of what actually happened. I already wrote one to Professor Ginger explaining why I won't be back for a week and am now writing one to you to give you insights on the situation here. The letter that my mother wrote to me didn't specify how my sister died, so I'll do that for you. My mother and father went to the house where my sister and her husband were living after they got married to drop off some things that she needed while they were going to visit my aunt, who was sick. They found my sister lying in the middle of the living room floor, with her heart carved out of her chest, the settings looking as if someone—her husband—had practiced witchcraft on her. Cleary, she didn't die because of the witchcraft but because of her heart being ripped out of her chest. It seems like a case of brutual superstition followed blindly. Her husband had already run away before they could catch her, and the police are still searching for him. I have already given my statement regarding what the police asked me about a few hours before I wrote this letter. The information regarding the killer isn't actually enough, but the police are trying their best. We only know about his full legal name, how he looked, and his personality; the last one is clearly fake, but we know nothing about him except these few facts. He told us that he is an orphan with his only living family being his younger brother, who was away for his studies elsewhere and couldn't even come to the wedding because of some problem. The atmosphere here is very dark and gloomy, but I hope for things to get better. Just hope the culprit is found as soon as possible. I'll be here for a week to support my family through this hard time and lean on them for support too. I'll see you all a week after this letter reaches you.

With love,

Sirelle Emerson.

The four of them looked at each other, minds full of surprise, hearts full of fear, and eyes full of terror. Their words were stuck in their throats, unable to come up any further. The weight of their selection of words over the situation as explained by Sirelle was so heavy that they had to swallow them back. They didn't know what to say, more like they couldn't say what they wanted to. Either way, they stayed quiet for the whole hour that they spent at the library doing their own things before each of them left for their respective dormitories.