Chapter 107: Man in black

Soraya

Everyone had left in the school bus to the sacred ground where our own is buried. Everyone except me. I had on my black dress. My hair was tied up. I sat in front of the mirror and I couldn’t move. For days after I had seen Sarah, it felt like something was wrong with me. I knew telling her goodbye was the best thing, and at first it gave me closure, but right now, thinking about it, I didn’t feel any closure. I just felt so pained that she didn’t get to live out the rest of her days.

Evander walked in dressed in a complete black suit.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked.

I nodded. He offered me his hand. I took it and we walked to the car. He opened the door for me. I walked in. He walked back to the driver’s seat and within seconds, we were on the road.

I had actually never been to the sacred burial ground before. Today was going to be my first time, and my friend was being buried.

When we got there, everyone was standing in groups. Evander was the one who was supposed to speak before her body was laid to rest. But when I held his hand, I felt how nervous he was. Well, anyone in their right senses would be, because this was something very sad and he felt awful because he couldn’t protect her. He couldn’t do better. This had never happened to him before. And whoever was possessed by that spirit was going to get found. I didn’t know how yet, but I was certain that person was going to get found, and that person was going to be—

I walked to where there were less people gathered and I stood there. Evander walked up in front of everybody, and as he began speaking, I saw how hard he was trying not to break down.

I just stared at the ground because that was the only thing right here that wasn’t judging me. Everybody’s eyes, when they found me, there were murmurs, whispers.

Bianca, who I hadn’t seen for days, who had been standing very, very far away from me, slowly maneuvered her way, and now she was standing right beside me.

“What the fuck do you want?” I whispered, making sure my voice wasn’t audible enough for anybody to hear me.

“Why are you being mean?” she said. “I just wanted to ask how you were doing. Good to see Evander is back.” She smiled.

“Bianca, go away. Don’t act like we are friends or family. You didn’t care about Sarah. You don’t care about me. You’ve never cared about anybody. So let’s just go back to how things were, where you act like you don’t know me and I don’t know you. Or do you want people to see that, oh, you’re related to me?”

She shook her head, disgusted. “I am really glad you know that I don’t want to be related to you because everything about you gives me the ick. But we kind of look alike.”

“No, we don’t. We are unidentical twins.”

“Yes, and we have two very different personalities, which I am very grateful for, so stay away from me and you can go back to how things were, okay?”

“You know you’re very proud for somebody who is actually accused of being a killer, right?”

I almost snapped. “You were the one who started your rumour. You started every trend.”

She smiled. “It’s very easy to start rumours. Very, very easy. And it sticks way faster than I expected. You’re a monster, and I hope you die,” I said, not knowing the words left my mouth.

She laughed. “I hope you also die,” she replied quickly. “And when you’re gone—” she looked up at Evander, who was speaking, addressing everybody—“he will be mine.”

“What?”

She kept smiling at me, a massive hat on her head.

“Look how fine he is. Too bad. He got me dead for you. Have anyone told you you’re fat? Like, I know you’re fat, but you’ve been adding way too much weight. Your body is very irritating.”

She had this disgusting look on her face.

“And too sad for him, really. He needs somebody with an hourglass figure just like mine.”

I looked away for a moment, then I looked back at her and smiled.

“You need to grow up, Bianca. You know that, right? In a couple of months, we’ll be turning twenty, and you’re acting like you’re still eleven.”

“You think body-shaming me like you’ve done all my life is going to affect me now? Look at yourself and look at me.”

“I was the one who was meant to be with him, not you. I was the one the Moon Goddess blessed to be by his side, to be his lunar. Not you.”

“You are never going to be a lunar of this pack or any other pack. Because my mate is your father. And if you think your mate is ever going to rule this pack when there’s another twin coming—because my child,” I said with pride, “when I get married to Evander, he’s taking over this pack.”

“How does it feel to live out the rest of your days knowing I beat you?”

She walked away from me without another word, and I couldn’t help but feel victorious. Bianca had always found a way to belittle me, to make me feel less than I am. And for so many years, it worked, but I was grown now, and all the reassurance Evander had given me—I knew I was loved.

And nothing she could say could ever make me go back to who I was: insecure. Never.

The most important person in my life was Evander, and if he didn’t believe that I was a killer, whatever anybody had to say was their fucking business, because he was the only person who cared about me. Not my family, not my sister, nobody else.

And I was going to make sure he didn’t regret it.

I decided to finally pay attention to what Evander was saying, and his speech was beautiful. But that was when I realized that there was somebody who was looking at me. The man stood at a far corner. He was dressed also in black, and he was standing close to Sarah’s parents. He kept looking at me so intensely.

What the fuck?

I decided to pay more attention to what Evander was saying because to him he was my priority and he was the only reason I was still standing. His speech was so beautiful. I hadn’t seen him write anything, but the way he spoke—it was from his heart.

When he was done, he walked straight to where I was, taking my hand in his, holding it tightly like it would anchor him from drowning.

“You did great,” I said, leaning in and whispering into his ear.

“Thank you,” he replied, tightening his hold on my hand.

A lot of people quickly walked to Evander, flooding him with requests, and I just pulled away slowly because I wanted to talk to Sarah’s mom.

But before I could even get the opportunity to step closer to her, the man who had been staring at me earlier walked up to me.

“You and my sister’s roommate, right?”

“Oh,” I said. “You’re Sarah’s brother.”

He kept his hands in his pocket.

“I heard you were the one responsible for her death.” My heart broke instantly.

“I’m not. I actually found her body.”

“Everyone says you’re the killer,” he said coldly. “And I’m going to make you pay.”