Chapter 4 Isn't Our Teacher The One Dead

"This morning, Lincoln Downey was found dead at his balcony this morning. He was found by a servant who went over to his room to clean. He had an arrow stuck on his temple and the infamous red butterfly attached at its rear end." A news broadcaster reported.

Amelia who had her head lowered raised it and watched the pitiful face of the man. She must admit, he was quite handsome.

"Amelia, the principal called and begged for you not to be upset towards the teacher who kept you in school for half an hour" Dan said walking into the sitting room.

She nodded in acknowledgement of what he said, then lowered her head.

Dan stopped, stared towards the TV, then asked. "Do you have any idea what happened?"

Amelia shrugged. How could she? She only shot at a distance and didn't know how he died.

"No"

An eerie silence ensued as it seems Dan tried to read an expression out of her face. Seeing none, he nodded then turned around and walked out of the room.

.....

"Did you hear the news?''

Raising his head, Xander signed boredly, "What news?

"Mr Martin is dead'' Collins whispered. His eyes wandered around the classroom and seeing everyone seemed distracted, he added "Everyone suspects the new student"

Xander was taken aback. The new student? That girl look so vulnerable. There was absolutely no way he would believe such.

"You sure?" Xander signed after a minute of silence.

Collins was about to answer when his phone beeped. He slipped it out of his pocket and glanced at the news.

"Just in, A red butterfly was found at the scene of the murder. It was stuck on a wall with a sentence written on it in Arabic" He read out from his phone.

Xander stretched his hands and took hold of the phone.

Martin Hunt was a Muslim and seeing he had a message delivered to him was in Arabic people were already speculating some theories about the murder.

However, only two theories seemed logic and believable.

The first read: Martin Hunt apparently got killed before the paper got stuck on the wall right above his head. If he was alive that paper would have probably been in his hands or flung aside due to the fall of his body after loosing consciousness. It seems to reason that whoever murdered him which we all know, was sent by someone who obviously left a message in Arabic for the accomplices of Marin Hunts.

The second theory: to summarize, it seems Martin Hunt was killed from someone from his religion or someone who had a beef against him and left a message for other Arabians or Muslims as a warning.

It took Xander some minutes to put the words together and get a meaning out of it.

He took out a notebook he always walked around with and wrote something on it. The passed it over to Collins.

Collins took it with a surprised but anticipating looks and read out loud:

"He was murdered by Red Butterfly and it seems to be out of grudge or as they say, was hired by someone to do the act. However, if the latter is the case, the murderer wouldn't make it so obvious by leaving a letter in Arabic. So, my analysis is, someone other than an Arabian killed him"

No sooner had he finished did sound of clap quieten the whole classroom. He raised his eyes to the front of the classroom to see Amelia standing there.

All eyes turned to Amelia. However, she said nothing but walked quietly to her seat.

Collins narrowed his eyes. Why did he see a smile lurking at the corner of her lips? It wasn't in admiration of Xander's analysis right?

His question were left unanswered since he had it buried within him and even though he voiced it out would still be left hanging by the girl.

Soon, a teacher walked in and to the their utmost surprise it was Martin Hunt!

"S–ir you'r–e dead!" One of the students exclaimed.

Martin Hunt raised his eyebrows, then pushed his glasses back in place. Although he had tried hard to look healthy and had concealed the dark circles below his eyes, it was still visible.

"Good Morning class. It seems you all didn't get what my name is? I'll clarify that." He said and turned to the whiteboard.

He wrote two names on it. Martin and Marten. Afterwards, he turned back to face the class.

"I have a younger brother Martin and my name is Marten. The 'I' and 'E' differentiating them."

The whole class let out an 'oh'. So that was it.

Amelia who sat at the back, yawned lazily. Afterwards, her face displayed a lazy smile and her lips curved upwards. Is that so?

Placing a hand on the desk, her other hand supported her head while her fingers drummed quietly at the desk.

Suddenly, Marten's eye flew towards her. The two locked gazes for s few seconds before Marten retracted it.

"Hoping you all have been cleared, let's move to the topic for today" just like that the boring class began and once again Xander watched from the corner of his eye as the girl lowered her head down to her desk.

A thoughtful look filled his eyes as he became more reassured he had met het before but he just didn't know when.

His mind drifted back to his childhood and he tried to recollect or the female faces he had seen but none seemed to match.

After school that day, he hopped into his car and drove home forgetting his daily routine of high-fiving his best friend.

He drove straight to his home and without saying a word to his mom, he fled into his room.

Right on his bed was a shiny camera. Anxiously, he took it and with trembling hands turned it on. He opened the album which soon prompted him to open with a password. With hitched breaths, he tapped away on the screen...