Till The Count Of Five ✓

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Once upon a time, a mouse saved a lion by cutting his ropes and they became friends. Once upon a time, another little mouse believed the tale and pounced to help another lion. Ever after then, it lost its heart, gulped down by the lion.

Kiara

6th March 2019, Wednesday
16:21

I flipped through the binder and checked the names of all the school candidates and calculated the marks.

"Did we win?" Nidhi Ma'am asked.

I shook my head. "We're fourth."

I did not bother acknowledging her frown because I was just as much frustrated, except my frustration came from the fact that I was supposed to sit at home and study. I had my Boards for Heaven's sake. I patted myself for preparing beforehand. Papa's frown grew in my mind. He had always been against this whole Samaritan thing and by now, I was tired of it too. Maybe I'd skip it next year. I sighed. The voting had already been done and I had won. I would have loved that but not this time. I remembered Ash's face at my decision that clearly said I needed to create time for her.

"Come with me," Nidhi Ma'am said and snatched the binder from my hand. We left the main area of the almost empty reception and went to her office. There were scarcely any people in the school today, only the participants were there who equally were mourning for attending a competition in March.

"What are you doing?" My eyes widened and I stared as she picked up a pen and changed the marks. "That's cheating."

"So was promising Sheereen." She raised her eyes and I looked away.

"That was a year back. Plus, I told you I was going to give her the form."

"I don't care. Just keep your mouth shut. The Principal will swallow me if she finds we lost in five of the eight organised competitions."

I said nothing. She was changing the marks given by specially invited judges, half of whom were sponsors for the event. Yes, she had lost her mind. My fingers wrapped around the back of a chair and I stood on my toes to watch her closely. Just then, I saw a shadow being casted over the couch.

My head snapped to my right and I watched through the window a student walk away. I stepped back and opened the back door. The culprit was a student of our school. Her head turned and our eyes met. Mehak. What was she doing here? She was one of the anchors, a work refused by Vee. I vaguely remembered seeing him earlier today in place of Ash. He had smiled sadly at me. Everyone seemed sad these days. I blamed it on the weather. I lifted my eyes and found Sun still hiding behind the mist. Then, I turned on my feet and went back in.

Nidhi Ma'am stood holding the binder to her chest and a man hovered over her, his back to me. If I was not wrong, he was one of the guards of one of the guests. This guy had ended up in a fight with Ma'am over the sitting arrangement and later kept on giving us wary glances. His instincts were high, I knew that much but she paid him no attention. Now, I felt she should have.

Her gaze shifted to mine and I went rigid.

"I was changing the marks, so what?" she said. "Who the hell are you to say anything?"

She tried to move past him and threw the binder at me. After that, it all happened so fast that I barely registered anything. I caught the binder and turned to leave but the guard grabbed my arm. Through the window, I saw Ma'am grab the nearest pen and shove it in his neck. He yelped in pain and staggered back, almost taking me down with him. She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards her.

"You don't hurt my students," she said and kicked him in the stomach. "Now stay here till this is over." Still holding my hand, she walked outside her office, locking it. "We'll have to erase the footage."

As much as I was thankful to her for saving my life, I didn't like the fact that she said 'we' in every work that she wanted me to do. My lips rose in distaste and I made a mistake of looking back. He lay in a pool of blood, groaning and trying to get up.

"He'll bleed and die," I found myself saying.

"If he isn't already dead," she said. "Do you know he's from my school? We have been friends since childhood."

Sarcasm. I flinched at her tone, sinking away from her in fear.

"Betrayal sucks," she said. "No one understands that better than me."

I then noticed the blood trickling from her wrist. "How did that happen?" There had always been a wound there, one that I noticed never healed.

"His face brings out the worst in me." She took out a white handkerchief and wrapped around the wound. I must have looked like a mouse caught by the lion when I gauged the meaning of her words. She slashed her own wrist. Shit. Shit. Someone save me from this woman.

16:35

"Had I known she'd put the blame on me, I would have done something." Vee glanced over his shoulder at me. We both knew I was lying to myself. What could have I done? Nothing. If I tried to help him, she would have attacked me too.

"We'll see."

I didn't want to. I was surprised he was this calm. The first thing he did was dispose off the handkerchief, wash my hands, pick his ID card from his class and then we finally ventured to the lion's den. She would have found by now. But he believed the applause coming from the auditorium showed she was still busy. I handed him the key to her office and he opened the door.

While she was upstairs smiling at everyone, announcing Dandelion Presidency the winner, herself the winner, this poor guy bled here. This wasn't a competition of schools. It was pure vengeance, done out of spite to mess him up. And she did a fine job. His eyes were shut but his chest rose at the normal rate. I sighed in relief. At least he wasn't dead. Vee walked past his arms and knelt in front of him. He tried to pull the pen out.

"Don't," I said, "he will just bleed more."

When I bent down next to his head, his arms rose and frantically tried to pull me down. I lost my balance and my right hand handed in the pool of blood forming near his head, soaking up his shirt.

Vee grabbed his hand and pushed it away. "We're here to help. Relax."

His breathing shifted and I tensed, my eyes rising to Vee's. "It's okay," he murmured. "We'll get him out. Open the back door."

I did. He tried to pull his body but the loud noise of five inches of heels clicking against the marble floor caught my attention. She was here. My heart sped up. Another creak. She had passed the second door. I stared down at the blood on both of us and the door.

"Let's go," I said and pulled Vee with me. My foot held the door open while one hand tried to separate him from the man and the other pushed his limp body away. "Vee, we need to leave him. She's here."

"No."

I didn't hear his protests. I did not care if he bled. I wasn't pulling Vee into this. She'd come after the both of us. I saw her figure come towards us, her head down as she smiled at this vicious victory. Vee staggered and I pushed the both of us out of the door and finally towards safety.

"What did you do?"

"I saved us both."

"We were safe," he snapped. "That man is not."

I grabbed his shirt when he tried to peek. "Vee, no. She's psychotic."

He still looked and fell back panting. I, out of curiosity, took a glance. She stood smiling over him, her heels resting on both the dudes of his head. She bent and ruffled his hair before twisting the pen further. "You asked for this."

"She's horrible," I said.

Vee shook his head. "We had the chance to protect him. We still have time. We can call someone."

"No," I said and tried to shake off the image of blood. It was everywhere, inside the room, on our hands. We should be grateful it wasn't ours.

"Kiara."

"No," I said again because I did not want him to shed blood, no matter how much it hurt when he called me 'Kiara'.