Chapter 26 — Stop Her

“YOU killed Nikki,” Justin said in a low voice. “It was you, Althea.”

Althea looked in his eyes with the same disgust she looked at Nikki’s friends. “Are you sure?”

Justin’s brows furrowed. “I saw the splattered blood on your uniform—”

“It was Audrey,” she cut off and smirked. “I just woke up when the stupid kitten hissed at me—”

“Stop lying, Althea,” Justin told her. “It was you—”

Their order came, and they were both silent as the crew served their order. Justin thanked the guy before looking at her again. But Althea ignored him; she took her frappe and sipped on it as if she wasn’t being accused of a brutal murder a few seconds ago.

“Anyway, it wasn’t important anymore if it was Audrey or me,” she said after taking few sips on her frappe. “We’re in the same body. Whoever took over this body, she will suffer.”

Justin clenched his fist on the table, and Althea noticed it. She put down her drinks on the table and folded her arms in front of him. “Now, if you don’t want Audrey to suffer, you’ll keep your mouth shut.”

“Do you think I’ll just let you get away with this?”

Althea laughed. “Are we really going to talk about that here in the coffee shop?” She looked around and met gazes with other people who were still gawking at them. “We’ve got a lot of audiences.”

Justin calmed himself and leaned on her seat. He heaved a sigh and took a sip on her frappe. “The dean asked me to gather proofs on Nikki’s murder case,” he said, not looking at her. “They’ve checked the CCTV, and they didn’t see anything unusual.”

“Then who’s the suspect?” Althea asked, suppressing a smile on her lips.

Justin looked at her and scowled. “You already know, right?”

Althea gasped mockingly. “Oh, my gosh, was it you?”

“The crime laboratory team will surely find the tracks on the industrial garden—”

Althea laughed. “A lot of students rushed to the crime scene. I’m sure they’ll find a lot of foot tracks surrounding the corpse.”

“They will find your DNA on her body or on the rock you used as the killing weapon.”

Althea wanted to laugh out loud with Justin’s certainty. “Poor Audrey, her boyfriend is accusing her of something she didn’t do.”

Justin looked at her sharply. “It was you, Althea. Why I don’t understand why do you have to commit such a crime? Is it because you knew that you’re not going to suffer?”

Althea leaned on the table and returned his gaze. “Because I wanted to go back,” she said and swept away everything on their table. “No one can stop me, even you!”

Justin caught her arm before she could walk out of the coffee shop, but Althea was strong. She pushed him away and ran out. Justin followed her, but she took a cab and drove away.

Althea leaned on the backseat and smirked. “Sir, bring me to Northville. I’ll visit my best friend.”

______________

JUSTIN watched the cab that Althea hailed drove away. He was about to go back to the coffee shop to pay for the damages when he realized that the taxi had gone in a different direction. Justin knotted his forehead as she realized that it was going on Rose’s residence.

Out of desperation to stop Althea, he called Rose’s number to inform her that Audrey was going to her house, but she wasn’t answering. He then looked for Audrey’s mother’s number and groaned to realize that he didn’t have it. Justin quickly went back inside to pay the damages, then hailed a cab going back to Audrey’s uncle. He’s a psychologist, and he should understand Audrey’s situation right away.

After a couple of minutes, Justin was already in the hallway going to Dr. Edward’s clinic. He kept on calling Rose while on the way, but the woman wasn’t picking up. He knocked on the clinic’s door continuously. Dr. Edward opened it with a scowl, then paused upon recognizing him.

“You’re Audrey’s schoolmate, right?” Dr. Edward asked.

Before he could answer, the door was opened wide, and he saw Audrey’s mother. She looked at him suspiciously as she approached him. Justin started to get nervous, and at the same time, wondering why they were together. According to Audrey, Dr. Edward wasn’t her real uncle.

“What are you doing here?” Audrey’s mother asked him in furrowed brows.

Justin cleared his throat. “I-It’s about Audrey, Ma’am.”

“Come in,” Edward immediately said and let him in. “What about Audrey? And where is she?”

“She’s on her way now to Rose residence,” he said, “and we got to stop her before she could do anything that will make Audrey suffer.”

Audrey’s mother knotted her forehead. “W-what do you mean?”

Dr. Edward looked at him. “What do you mean, we should stop Audrey before she could anything that will make Audrey suffer?”

Justin shook her head. “She wasn’t Audrey now. She’s Althea, Audrey’s alternate personality,” he said and raked his fingers through his hair. “And I know she’s up to something horrifying again.”

“Alternate personality? What makes you say that? And, how did you know about it?” Dr. Edward asked him.

“I don’t have time to explain. We have to stop her now before she could kill Rose—”

“Wait, kill? My daughter can’t do that—”

“She wasn’t your daughter now, Ma’am. It was Althea. Audrey is suffering from dissociative identity disorder, and every time she’s switching to Althea, she is emotionless and doesn’t care if she’s hurting people,” Justin told them. “We’ve got to worry now, please, let’s go and get Althea.”

***