Chapter 21 — Bloody Mary

ALTHEA kept her average pace when she passed by the school oval. It’s a good thing that the classes were about to start now. Only a few students were around at the oval. Most of them were not paying attention as she walked towards the other side, going to the industrial garden with a wet uniform.

She smirked as soon as she reached the entrance to the industrial garden where Nikki was currently having her first puff of weed. This woman was fearless by making this habit inside the school properties. Althea heard about Nikki’s lousy practice at the industrial garden every morning when Audrey walked past their group at the school canteen. She accidentally eavesdropped their conversation about how so high and euphoric Nikki was the whole day every day with a few grams of weeds she smoked at the industrial park every morning. Audrey just ignored what she heard, but Althea kept it to the darkest corner of their mind.

And now, she has found its purpose. As soon as she stepped inside the industrial garden, Althea smelled the burnt leaves of weeds. She was right. The bitch was here. The industrial park was only used by students during a livelihood subject, and that class only happened thrice a year. For most of the school year, the garden was vacant and perfect for a rebellious student like Nikki to make her bad habit.

Althea started to wonder how did she become Justin’s girlfriend? With her physical appearance and personality, she doesn’t have any of Justin’s preferences. ‘Unless there’s something with Justin that she still doesn’t know…Poor Audrey, she fell for someone that she doesn’t know the real identity.’

Althea scoffed uncontrollably with her thoughts, startling Nikki from a distance. She looked back and immediately drew her brows together as soon as she saw her. To annoy her more, Althea waved at her and smiled.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she asked and strutted towards her.

Althea folded her arms in front of her chest and waited for Nikki to reach her. “Hey, there, little pussy.”

The woman knotted her forehead. “What did you say?”

Althea laughed instead of answering her question. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Nikki looked at her in furrowed brows. “So, you’re looking for me?” She smirked and threw the cigarette butt to her. “You’re just such a pretentious bitch. Your introverted wacko image here on the campus is just all made up.” She laughed and propped her hands on her waist. “Just to get Justin’s attention, you pretended to be a modest girl? How pathetic.”

Althea raised an eyebrow at her. “Yeah, I’m pathetic. How about you? What did you do to be his girlfriend?”

Nikki smirked. “I give him what he wants,” she said and ran her hands down her breasts. “Justin wanted these.” She kneaded her breasts and faked a moan. She even stuck out her tongue and licked her lips. “What he wanted is pleasure, and I doubt that you can give it to him.”

Althea looked sharply at her. This woman is just as annoying as Audrey in a different way. “Are you saying that Justin’s preference is a whore?”

Nikki scowled at her. “Excuse me?” she asked and pushed her to the ground. “I told you to keep your filthy mouth shut!”

Before the woman could get on top of her, Althea got on her feet and stepped away from her. As much as possible, she doesn’t want her hands to touch her. So, she picked up a rock and threw it at her face. Nikki didn’t expect that. She fell backward and held her face while screaming.

“You bitch—”

Althea released another blow again on her head with the rock. Nikki’s head cracked on her third blow, blood leaked on her open cuts, staining the plants on the ground. Althea stood after confirming that the woman was already dead. She then looked at her uniform to see if there was blood splattered on her. She felt relieved when there weren’t. She did it clean.

“I’m such a pro,” Althea murmured as she smiled while looking down at her first human masterpiece. “To see human blood is really satisfying.”

She then went to the faucet on the corner of the garden and put the bloodstained rock under the nozzle. She opened the tap to clean her evidence, then left it there to dry by the wind. Althea left the industrial garden as if nothing happened. When she reached the school oval, it was already deserted. She walked on the bleachers to hide from the CCTV around the center oval. Althea knew the location of every single CCTV all around the school, and she has studied every bit of the school ground. While Audrey was generally ignoring things, Althea was the one taking notes of everything. Because she knew that soon, she would finally possess the body that she owned in the first place.

“I told you, mommy. I’ll be back and reveal your sins…” she said and looked up at the cloudy sky. “Soon, there will be no more good Audrey.”

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AFTER almost half an hour, Justin finally found Audrey’s locker. It was unnamed and full of vandals. That’s why he didn’t see it easily. He didn’t expect her locker to be like this. Justin shook his head as he read the vandals on the locker door; they were calling Audrey a freak.

“When they will stop doing this to her?” he asked as he closed the door, but then he noticed an old notebook inside the locker. He took it out and looked at it. The notebook was dirty, and the pages were a bit yellowish. “Is this hers?”

He was tempted to open it but changed his mind and put it back inside the locker. Other students look at him with a knotted forehead after he got Audrey’s P.E. Still, Justin doesn’t care. And he will stop thinking about other people’s thoughts to Audrey from now on. The woman needs him as much as he needs her.

Justin hurried back to the parking lot and got worried when he didn’t find Audrey there. “Where is she?” he looked around. And when he couldn’t find her, Justin started to get nervous. “Did she switch again?”