The Witch's Doll ⚢

Chapter 4

It was a hectic week but the school still resumed on Monday with safety protocols implemented within. Evonnie and Alessandra walked to school together that morning due to Evonnie's insistence.

"These are scary times, Alessa." Evonnie grabbed her hand. "You'd never know. Better to be prepared. We should stick together!"

Alessandra's eyebrow rose, attempting to show a genuine reaction to her best friend's corny lines. Still not sure if she should don a smirk, a laugh, or a stoic face. In the end, she decided against all of that.

"Don't worry," she clasped her hand. "Even if a murderer is roaming around, I'll protect you. I won't let anyone hurt you. It's the least I could do."

Alessandra was conflicted. She wasn't sure if nausea forming in her guts was because of the fact she just killed four more boys or that Evonnie was showing her affection.

"Aww, don't mention it, Alessa! You are my friend because I want to! But something is bothering me about Zac's death."

Her hands were turning clammy, and her knuckles turned white. She had to swallow the impending guilt, hoping it wouldn't rise again. "Oh? Hadn't they learned who killed him?"

"I heard that the killer is still unidentified and the murder weapon can't be found," Evonnie whispered. "It's a mystery, the forensics and doctors are now examining his body to find anything."

"Enough about him," Alessandra said, wanting to hear no more of it. "Even in death he still irks me. What about you, Evonnie? Any luck on your magic tricks?"

Evonnie was an orphan like her, but instead of being swept away by child services, her older sister managed to obtain guardianship rights. Considering she was a decade older than Evonnie, Marie Lu had loads of side jobs to pay for herself and her sister. All of it paid off, as soon as she graduated college and earned a job at Fortuna Academy.

Meanwhile, Evonnie had always wanted to become a great magician. Her older sister inspired her years ago when Marie was still working at a circus show. Evonnei's older sister had been nothing but supportive as Evonnie followed her dream.

Evonnie grinned proudly, her usual high energy coming back. "Why yes! Finally, I learned how to bend a spoon!"

Out of nowhere, she conjured a spoon from her school uniform and held it in a way that gave the illusion of the utensil bending as she slid her hand along the handle, which took a lot of practice.

"Ta-dah!" Evonnie threw a little confetti up into the air, some of which got stuck in Alessandra's head.

"You're still an idiot," Alessandra said like she was dead from the inside.

"Well sorry, but it took me years to finally master that!" Evonnie said tersely, huffing as she walked faster.

"Hey, Evonnie!" Alessandra called after her. "What happened to 'sticking together'?"

* * *

"I couldn't believe the rest of Zac's squad killed themselves," Evonnie said, carrying a tray full of different potato dishes. Her face scrunched up, apparent for her dislike of the lack of creativity in the dishes served in the predominantly English cuisine.

Morning classes went by fast for a maladaptive daydreamer duo and are currently having lunch at the school cafeteria.

"Yeah," Alessandra deadpanned. "I couldn't believe you would have the appetite to talk about dead people as we eat."

"Well, sorry for that but it's a hot topic right now," Evonnie said, looking at all the hushed conversations in every corner of the room.

The school was busy for a week after Sergeant Kinsley stopped harassing the students and faculty for his misplaced anger and priorities of his incorrect disciplinary actions when he brought up his kid. But the news that Amani published threw it off of balance.