Don't Run

Socially Acceptable YES!!!

To say that Hayley was bored was most certainly an understatement. The story always remained the same. Go to college, try to understand what the hell was going on and then get tired and frustrated with the lack of proper explanations and even less understanding, and then end up reading fan fiction under the desk, forget about the teacher. The day ends and then go back home to try to study, maybe and instantly lose interest in it as she took the first step in the house. End up watching TV shows as her parents yell at her in the background to not do that. Go to bed. Repeat.

Hayley walked up the ramp between the college pavilion and the sports field. Music is a constant companion as Taylor Swift blasts through her earphones. She is dancing in her head trying not to show it on the outside. She clenched her jaw in annoyance as a human looks at her when she let a move slip out. 'Why do they have to be like that?' she thought.

Cause they are normal, sweety.

And that would be Pas. Hayley wasn't sure if Pas was a hallucination or just her conscious. And she didn't care. Cause on certain, extremely lonely days she would be glad she wasn't entirely alone. Kinda.

She continued her path to her class as her phone played a Kansas song.

She looked around for Ati already wondering if she is already in the class.

'Something is wrong.'

She looked around as she finally noticed that the usual loud and brash noises were replaced with silence and hushed whispers. There was something in the air. Something that reminded her of dark alleys and closed spaces. She could feel the energy emanating from everyone around her. A dead set gloom was eating up the whole place.

And the worst.

She had no idea.

"Hey!"

Hayley almost jumped at the simple word.

"Ati! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Oh. Sorry"

Now something was definitely wrong. Ati never apologized. That was her defining trait.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"What?! Like you don't know?"

"Know what?" she looked at her in confusion.

"You really don't know?" she studied her empty face for a second an continued, "Fairy is dead."

"WHAT?!" Hayley must have said it a little too loudly, everyone was looking at her.

"How?!"

"She was murdered."

'Yes.'

The jubilant cheer only happened inside her head. On the outside, she had no words that would express anything in a socially acceptable way.

"You really don't know?"

"Nope." Hayley tried saying it in a more morose and somber way, she was supposed to be feeling some level of – bad. Or something. She could never really tell.

"Any details on the case? Who did it?"

"Nothing that I've heard of."

A bell rang and the prayer started.

Hayley didn't register as the day began and before long it was lunch break. The only thing going about her brain was Fairy. Dead. On the ground.

Ati called her obsessed. And she was. How often does something like this happen?

During one of the classes she had managed to read an article about the murder, there were no photos, she was shot six times, 'Overkill'. She did find it suspicions that the murder should take place not much further than where she used to go to school. The lead detective on the case was Inspector Kia Bakshi. Hayley googled her and came across a Facebook account.

"Damn the woman is hot," She murmured. "And decorated." From her pictures Hayley found out that she was in the army before she joined the police force, she got offered a desk job but she didn't want it. She became an on ground inspector, with a hefty cut to her paycheck. "Oh" Turns out she didn't have to worry about that. Her family had old money.

Fairy didn't even live anywhere near where she was killed. What was she doing there?

'Why was she killed?'

She had known the fragility of human life, and it was fragile. Dying was just as easy as walking and if she was being honest both could be done at the same time. Though she knew it, she hadn't expected to experience it firsthand. No wonder she couldn't keep her mind off of it.

But there was something else lurking inside there. Something that was just not ready to accept this as it was.

She wasn't the best-est of friends with Fairy, but she couldn't imagine any scenario where that girl might have angered someone so much they'd want to murder her. Hayley on the other hand could surely annoy someone enough to want to kill, but Fairy, never. She was a small hindrance.

Even if they hadn't been friends for very long, Hayley had managed to profile her quite well. She was simple. But hungry for power. And even though she thirsted for power she was not strong or willing enough to go and get it. She lived within societies rules. She followed her parents and she by herself would not be causing a ruckus. She loved dancing. God, did she love dancing? One of the only qualities that made her insufferable good girl act bearable. She was loyal but only to those she considered a friend, otherwise she was a snake.

That was pretty much how she had been at odds with Hayley. Their personalities were vastly different and the people they liked to hang out with were different. It was amazing they had been friends at all.

But her just dying was something she had not thought would happen.

But who killed her and why?

"Pas" she spoke softly. The voice inside her head finally decided to make an appearance. It had been absent all day until now.

'That isn't my job.' she deflected.

What is your job? He shot back.

'Shut up'

We both know you want to.

'What I want is to be able to focus on computer networks'

Don't you mean operating systems?

Hayley looked at the teacher and what he was doing on the board.

'Dammit'