Bitches Shred In Pieces

01: Lena Keeps Getting Lovely Notes

On a Tuesday early morning, Lena Howard opens her eyes at the view of light peeking through the thin, pink curtains. She rubs her eyes and throws the comfy covers off her. Walking across her bedroom towards the bathroom, she notices her reflection in the mirror from her humongous closet. Brown and dark-red spots scatter around her entire white, denim jeans and black Adidas t-shirt. She gets closer to the mirror, scratching the red stains on her jeans in order to get it off. What was she doing yesterday? And why is she not wearing her pajamas?

There's a blurry image appearing on her mind with a faint scent of woods and metal in her nose. That's when the image clears and reveals her and the others burying a dead body in the Hush Hush woods. The mess on her clothes and the smell of metal is actually dry blood from yesterday's night. Without thinking twice, she runs to the bathroom while snatching the clothes off her. She jumps into the shower even though the water is completely cold, scrubbing many times until the blood covering her fades and runs down the drain.

If only yesterday was just a simple dream, instead of a living nightmare. She grabs the vanilla soap again and washes herself for the second time. Her hair has small twigs stuck in them which somehow she manages to take off. The shower floor has stains of brown from the dirt and a deep red from the blood, but Lena shuts her eyes. She doesn't want to see anything that confirms that, indeed, yesterday happened.

  Once she finishes showering, she wraps a towel around her and puts the blood-and-dirt covered clothes inside a trash bag. The noise of Mrs. Howard's Prada high heels hitting the tiles becomes louder and louder until they stop on front of Lena's door. She knocks. "Lena, you're awaken? Come down to eat!"

"Wait, mom. I'm getting ready," Lena yells back, grabbing a peach-colored blouse and another white, skinny jeans similar to the ones she just threw away. As she's changing and brushing her teeth at the same time, the image of her hands digging the thick dirt continues to bother her.

"Hurry." Mrs. Howard knocks for the last time and wanders away.

Lena sprays her Chanel perfume all over her before finally heading downstairs to meet her parents. His father is holding the daily newspaper on both hands while taking sips from his dark coffee and her mother is adding strawberry marmalade to a toast. Usually, Mr. Howard would already be at work and Mrs. Howard would be checking her curly, blond hair on her phone. Today is not a normal day at the Howard mansion, and that's the fact that her family is together in a peaceful morning eating breakfast.

"Good morning," she greets, kissing her father's cheek.

"How are you feeling?" he asks, gripping her hand. Of course he's still here to make her supposedly feel better after Rowan attacked her.

It's weird seeing her father all worried for her. He isn't a man that shows emotions. "I'm doing good," she lies, forcing a smile at him.

"Need another gauze?" Mrs. Howard asks, pointing at the bruise on Lena's forehead with her long, maroon nails.

"I'm fine." Lena throws her school bag over her shoulder. "Take me to school! I'm already late."

Her mother's eyes widen. "Let me remind you that the doctor ordered rest for you, young lady."

"I don't want to be here," Lena insists. She looks around the kitchen, stopping at the stairs where Rowan Spence, her ex, threw her with such passion that it makes the hairs behind her neck rise. "Being here and doing nothing reminds me of what Rowan did. I need to distract myself from him." And from the body she buried.

"That might be a good idea," Mr. Howard agrees, standing up from his chair. "I'm leaving to work. I would take you, but I'm in a hurry." He refers to Lena, kissing her forehead.

Lena sticks out her bottom lip, blinking with her long and perfect eyelashes at her mother. "Get me the keys or we are going nowhere," Mrs. Howard blurts out, rolling her eyes. Lena squeals in appreciation and excitement as she runs to the living room table and grabs the keys, handing them to her mother as they walk out the door. Honks can be heard around and the smell of their freshly mown grass meets her.

As they head to the Yukon, Lena grips her bag and smiles at her mother. Maybe, just maybe, she can forget what happened last night. At least for a few minutes, that would be enough to make her day.

  The ride to school goes by fast and when Lena least thinks about it, she is adding another layer of her new MAC red lipstick into her big, heart-shaped lips. Her mother drives by the school's drop-off section slowly. Lena looks at her straight, shiny hair for the last time on her phone and opens the door before blowing a kiss to Mrs. Howard. But as the Yukon leaves, she realizes that she doesn't feel like the previous days no matter how much she repeats her daily routine. She still feels different, as if she's in a completely unfamiliar body. In a murderer's body.

"Hey!" Mia Connors, her best friend, greets her in the hallways. She's wearing the light-purple lipstick Lena gave her that contrasts her glowing, brown skin beautifully.

"I look awful, don't I?" Lena mentions, covering the barely-visible bruise on her forehead with both hands. She begs that the Clinique Oil-Free foundation she added earlier hides the dark-purple-and-red bump between her right eyebrow and hairline.

"You can't really see it. Besides, you're still gorgeous," she says, grabbing Lena's hand.

  Mia frowns, getting a closer look at Lena's hands. "Ugh. There's some dirt inside your nails."

Lena's heartbeat increases as she frees out of Mia's grip, hiding her nails in a fist. She looks around her, watching how the students stare at her. "Well, I'm going to ignore those assholes that keep staring at me."

Mia grins as Lena unlocks her locker, starting to talk about how scared she was about Rowan's attack. She opens the door and catches a note on top of her folders and books. Aren't the notes suppose to stop since Rowan is now in jail? But this note is not similar to the old ones. It is completely black and folded in half with a red kiss drawing in the middle. Rather than a messy, notebook sheet, this note is neat and formal.

Lena picks it up, ignoring Mia's conversation. She opens it slowly, expecting some words like "whore" or "slut." Yet those words don't come up. Instead, written in gold, bold letters, it says:

ɴᴏᴛ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sᴇɴᴛ ʀᴏᴡᴀɴ ᴛᴏ ᴊᴀɪʟ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴀʟsᴏ ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ ᴀɴ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴛ ɢɪʀʟ. ᴘᴏᴏʀ ᴋᴀʀᴇɴ.

—xᴏxᴏ

~

A\N: Oops! Someone found out their secret.

Also, I've been occupied A LOT and I still kinda am so I'm uploading a little bit slow... don't worry, not that much.

OVERALL, like and comment please! 💋