Chapter 75 The Hallway of shadows
Lila felt her legs turning to water.
Two police officers stormed into the corridor, pushing the students back with tight, urgent movements. Their radios crackled with static.
Detective Mara followed seconds later, her expression sharper than Lila had ever seen it. Not angry just deeply unsettled, like she had stepped into something she couldn’t understand yet.
“Clear the hall!” one officer shouted.
“Everyone step back!”
Lila pressed tighter against Asher, her heart pounding in her throat. She didn’t dare look toward the center of the hallway, but her eyes flicked there anyway, a reflex her brain couldn’t stop.
She saw the shoes first. A girl’s shoes. Then the stillness of her legs. The unnatural angle.
Asher stepped slightly in front of her, blocking most of the view. Lila silently thanked him.
Detective Mara knelt beside the body. Her face shifted, just barely pain, recognition, frustration, and despair. Lila couldn’t tell which emotion had won.
“Cause?” Mara asked quietly.
The closest officer leaned in, examining the girl’s neck.
“Strangulation,” he said.
The word hit the hallway like a blade.
Even the whispers stopped.
Another officer checked the victim’s hands. “No defensive wounds. Nothing under the nails.”
“No struggle?” Mara asked.
He shook his head.
“No struggle at all.”
Lila felt Asher flinch beside her.
Students gasped, murmured, shoved each other trying to see. But then the sound of someone sobbing cut through the chaos.
A sharp, broken sound, yet, raw and painful.
Detective Mara stood immediately. “Who is that?”
The crowd parted as she moved toward the sound. Lila craned her neck and saw a girl, small, pale, and shaking uncontrollably crouched near the lockers at the opposite end of the hallway.
Her hands were pressed to her face, her shoulders heaving.
Mara crouched to her level. “Hey. Look at me.”
The girl didn’t respond.
“Look at me,” Mara repeated, softer.
Slowly, the girl lowered her hands.
Her face was red, streaked with tears. Her breath came in short, broken gasps. She looked like she was barely holding herself together.
“What’s your name?” Mara asked gently.
“S–Sara.”
“And the victim?”
The girl swallowed hard, tears immediately welling again.
“She’s… she’s my roommate.”
Lila felt Asher look down at her, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. Her stomach twisted so violently she thought she might collapse.
Mara exhaled through her nose. “Sara, did your roommate tell you anything unusual before she went missing?”
“Yes.” The answer burst out of her.
“What kind of unusual?”
Sara pressed her trembling fingers against her lips. “She… she kept receiving things.”
Mara’s eyebrows lifted. “Things?”
Sara nodded violently. “Yes, roses, most times chocolates. And typed notes, then text messages from an unknown number. I think it happened every single day. They never stopped.”
Lila felt her pulse spike.
A girl behind them whispered, “Just like the others.”
Asher stiffened.
Mara’s voice lowered. “How long had she been receiving these?”
“About a month.” Sara wiped her face with her sleeve. “And recently it got worse. More and more roses. Every day. She didn’t even know who was sending them.”
Mara’s jaw tensed. “Did she report it?”
“She tried to ignore it at first,” Sara said, shaking. “But two days ago, she finally responded. She sent a message to the number that kept texting her.”
Students leaned closer subconsciously, unable to stop listening.
“What did she say?” Mara asked.
Sara squeezed her eyes shut again. “She told them she wasn’t interested. That she didn’t love someone she’d never seen. And that she wanted it to stop.”
Mara lowered her head slowly, like the pieces of a puzzle had just locked into place and she hated the picture they formed.
“And she went missing yesterday?”
Sara nodded into her hands. “She never came back to our room. And when I woke up this morning, her bed was still empty. I thought maybe she stayed with a friend. But she never does that. Never.”
Her voice cracked on that last word.
Lila felt something cold slide through her veins.
Because the pattern was unmistakable.
Roses, then box of chocolates, typed notes and text messages from an unknown number. The gifts came in daily, after the rejection comes disappearance and death.
She couldn’t look at Asher, but she could feel him watching her, his breath unsteady.
Detective Mara squeezed Sara’s shoulder. “Thank you. You did the right thing.”
Sara sobbed harder. “I should have forced her to get help. I should have done something. I…”
“You are not responsible,” Mara said firmly. “Not for this.”
But Lila could tell Mara didn’t believe that about herself. Not anymore. Not after so many bodies.
More officers arrived, rolling yellow tape across the hallway, pushing students back farther.
The hallway slowly morphed into a crime scene.
Lila couldn’t breathe. Not properly. The walls felt too close. The air felt too thin.
She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the floor, trying to ground herself.
Asher leaned closer. “Lila,breathe. Hey, look at me. Just breathe.”
She couldn’t. She didn’t know how to explain that it felt like the world was closing in around her again.
She lifted her eyes to him. Asher looked terrified and that scared her even more.
His inner thoughts flickered across his expression:
This feels familiar. And I should have been paying more attention.
“Asher.” she whispered.
But before she could say anything else.
A guy somewhere down the hallway scoffed loudly, his voice dripping with frustration.
“Honestly,” he said, “the killer would stop if the red-haired girls just dyed their hair.”
The hallway froze.
Every head turned. Every breath paused.
And Lila felt every stare land on her like a spotlight.
Her hair. Her one obvious trait. Her curse.
Asher stepped in front of her instantly, anger flashing across his face.
But the damage like always was already done.
A boy near the back of the crowd let out a bitter laugh. “Well, if you ask me, it’s obvious. It’s Beckett. He’s the murderer. He was involved with that girl who died last year, right? And now another one…”
Lila snapped before he could finish. “Stop talking like you know anything!” she shouted.
The hallway went silent again, but this time because of her.
The boy raised his eyebrows, almost smug. “What? It’s true. He’s the common factor. Wherever he goes..”
“Was Tessa killed when Beckett was around?” Lila fired back. Her voice shook, but her anger didn’t. “Was Ava killed when Beckett was around?”
The boy opened his mouth, then closed it, unable to answer.
Lila wasn’t finished.
“You don’t get to point fingers just to feel better about being scared,” she said, chest heaving. “If you don’t know the facts, don’t open your mouth.”
A few students stepped back from her, startled by the sudden force in her voice.
Asher quickly grabbed her hand. “Okay, enough,” he murmured, trying to pull her out of the growing tension.
She resisted for a second, adrenaline still burning through her veins. Then she let him guide her away from the murmurs, the whispers, the accusing stares.
He didn’t stop until they were outside, behind one of the empty academic buildings, where the noise from the hallway couldn’t reach them.
The cold air hit her face, and only then did she realize her hands were shaking.
Asher turned to her, confusion written all over him. “What was that?”
Lila stared at the ground.
“No,” he said firmly. “Look at me.”
She finally lifted her eyes.
“What was that about defending Beckett?” Asher asked, his voice low, steady but surprised. “Since when do you jump to protect him?”