Willowheart was quiet at night. But, not silent.
Mindy Adebayo had traded her stilettos for flat sneakers as she crept through the deserted hall of the Main Building at 3 am.
Raking a hand through her thick bushy curls, she inhaled. If you didn't know Mindy, you'd assume she was terrified- she wasn't. She didn't have time to be terrified.
Ms Meyer's office was right around the corner. She inhaled courage as she stole through the final corridor.
Remember why you're here, Mindy, she coaxed herself.
A sea of memories flooded over her. Rowena. With her long black hair. Her enviable beauty. Oozing her magnetic charm. It would be strange not to be jealous of Rowena Del Rosario.
Yet someone was so jealous, they killed her.
Her hands fingered the handle of the door, slowly twisting as if someone was on the other side.
The door squeaked as she pushed past and headed to the computer perched on the desk. She was presented with a password- easily overcome with a few lines of basic code.
She knew exactly where to go on the domain.
Manuel. Maria. Mercia. Melinda. Mindy.
She found herself among the list of thousands of names. Three numbers, each more disappointing than the others. She was at an unfair disadvantage, mourning the loss of a friend. This was only making it fair, she convinced herself.
Slowly, she erased the numbers and replaced them.
Maths - 89
Physics - 96
English - 98
As much as she was softened by the guilt that pumped through her, it had to be done. Harvard was her ticket out of this hellhole.
She wasn't going to let that ticket dissipate and crumble.
An email popped into Ms Meyer's mailbox.
RE: FUNDING
She ignored it; she had done enough. Hastily, she logged off of the computer and erased any trace that Mindy Adebayo had been there.
***
They had become used to the shadows now.
They watched as a figure slowly trawled through Meyer's computer.
Mindy Adebayo.
What a lying, two-faced, backstabbing bitch. They knew why she was here.
They knew she would do anything to get into Harvard.
It was time to see just what anything entails.
And as Mindy Adebayo unknowingly crept out of the office, a picture was taken.
A picture that could jeopardize everything.
***
Arabella Helado reassured herself. Nobody knows anything. The package in front of her said otherwise.
Somebody was out to get her. On her mattress lay an ornate hand-painted picture frame, but that wasn't what bothered her. It was the picture inside. Taken from her bedroom after one too many glasses of her mother's red wine. Something she regretted and wholeheartedly wished she could reverse.
The thread scrawled on top unsettled her even more. Red cherry lipstick. Her exact shade. This psychopath had stalked her in Sephora or something. Next level creepy.
I know what you did last summer.
Arabella Helado would do anything to not let this picture circulate. It was dangerous for her reputation, especially now Rowena was dead. It would make her the prime suspect. She couldn't afford that. She had shit she wanted to keep hidden.
She gulped down the rock jammed in her throat and steadied her breathing.
All she needed to do was to find out who this creep was. She had her suspects.
Action plan formed, she grabbed hold of the locket around her neck and squeezes it.
Arabella Helado was prepared to fight fire with fire, but first she needed to know who she was fighting.
She scanned the message once again.
I know what you did last summer.
- A friend.
Bile rose up her throat and she ran to her basin to empty her stomach.
And the plot thickens.
YOU ARE READING
Witching Hour // SLOW UPDATES
Mystery / Thriller"The best way to keep a secret is to take it to your grave, bitch." Willowheart Girl's Academy is known for nurturing the bright leaders of tomorrow, if you have enough money to pay the fees, that is. However, after one of the students drowns hersel...
