Chapter 4 LYRA

"Hello Henderson. It's Lyra."

"Woohoho, girl is that really you?" I heard the sound of a bed creak, it was followed by a distant moan then the sound of feet plastering on the floor. I exasperated.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"YOU? Never, buddies before whoes, remember the code?"

I smiled. Henderson and I had been pals since high school. He was a bloody gambler with a unquenchable taste for women but he was also a tech monster and one of the best companion a person could ever have.

"I remember." I said, walking up the stairs slowly. My dorm room was on the first floor.

"Girl where are you? You've become a full time fugitive man. The cops are hunting you, man. Like you've gone from cool to freaking hot, babe." He hyped me with his hippy accent, I chucked. He really was so good at making me feel like there was still a reason to happy in this world.

"Well I did say I would one day do something crazy."

"Oh you did and you meant it. Damn you are so smoking hot right now,"

I started laughing.

"Why did you call me by the way? I know you miss my sexy voice but I still need to know the other reason."

"I need you to look up a murder that happened in Graham College about 4yrs ago. A Jason Rodrigo was the victim."

"Wait; don't tell me you left me in this desolate city to go crime fighting? Come on, you know I love shit like this." He whined like a baby.

"Well I'm cutting you into the action now, so do your job."

"Yes mam."

A big smile tugged on my lips. Henderson is cursed to be a joker.

"Alright, what am I looking for exactly?"

"I need every information police collected about the case."

"Let me see." He was silent for a moment, only his breathing and the sound of his clicking mouse could be heard on his end.

"File is sealed darling."

I raised a brow.

"I know, its odd." he said, reading my mind.

"Can I get it before morning?"

Henderson chucked. "Are you doubting the oracle of awesomeness?"

"Never."

He crackle, like he was a mad genius.

"Okay, let me get to this, Henderson out." The call disconnected. I let out a deep breath; I was here, right in front of dorm room 109; Jason's old room.

I reached for the handle, my hands trembling. I came closer and closer; my heart banging against my chest; memories flashing like blinking lights before my eyes.

I got so close but then; my phone began to sing, breaking the tension I was just in. I pulled my hand away and reached into my bag to find my phone. I looked on the screen. It wasn't a phone call, it was my reminder feature.

On the face of the phone, the reminder note read - June 12 - Anniversary of Jason's death.

My breath hitched, I cupped my mouth, my whole body shaking. I tried to fight back the tears filing my eyes, to bit back a wail but I couldn't do anything. My knees buckled; I grabbed the door handle before I crumbled to the floor. The dorm room opened.

I crawled in, shut the door, curled up, buried my face in my knees and I just wept.

* * * * * * * * * *

TODAY, FOUR YEARS AGO

"HELP ME!" I screamed as I ran though the hallway, banging on every door. I was covered in blood. My hands, my clothes; all damped.

The students opened up immediately, bursting into the hallway but when they saw the bloody footsteps, they ran away, literally.

No one came to help me even when I begged them instead the whole floor emptied before I could make it to the end. Everyone abandoned the little pale-skinned 18 yr old girl in the hallway decorated with bloody bare foot prints. I was scared out of my mind, shivering and traumatized.

I don't know how long I sat on the floor before the police arrived. They led me out, the others pulling their gun and following my trail down to Jason's dorm room. They saw what I woke up to, that morning.

They saw Jason lying on a blood soaked mattress, his throat hacked open and his eyes staring at the doorway. Soon the police were running down stairs throwing up in the bushes. The others, who hadn't gone upstairs, glued their asses to their police cars.

I was sitting at the entrance of a paramedic vehicle, staring into emptiness, tears flowing freely down my cheeks. People were talking to me, but their voices faded in my head. All I could hear was my own voice yelling in my head.

'You were there and he died! You were sleeping while he was dying. You are a monster! You killed him'

I was there when they brought Jason down. He was covered up but it felt like I could still see through the covers, like he was looking at me and muttering 'Why didn't you save me?'

Everything slowly went black after that. When opened my eyes, I was in the hospital. Mother was next to me. She abandoned her trip to Japan and ran over to see me. I held her, squeezed her as tight as a puny 18 yr old frightened girl could and I kept saying, "I killed him. I killed him."

Unknown to mother and I, a cop caught it on tape. Then when they pulled the scrambled surveillance camera in his dorm room and then there was nothing to convince them they had not found their killer.

I was in Jason's dorm, looking over the yellow crime scene tape, when they rushed into the hallway. The cops kept yelling;

"Get down on the ground!"

It was so loud; I panicked and went into frenzy. All of a sudden, I had this monstrous strength I couldn't control. I hurt two offices before I was cuffed and dragged out of the school premises.

All eyes were on me. Everyone was sure I did it until the rest of the analysis on the evidence came out and they discovered that it wasn't me.

Mother posted bail and took me home. But I never really lived after that day. Not for myself, anyways. I lived because I knew I would come back and get my revenge on who killed Jason.