Thana: After killing Justice
Now, looking at his stunned expression, darting eyes searching for an escape from us, I’m pondering over what this means for him, for us. My brother is an exceptional artist with words that are meant to make you, not break you. I can’t imagine those fingers that have deftly moved with a pencil on a page, wrap around a knife and stab a girl seven times. Twice in the throat without remorse and three times in the chest without a second thought.
“What are you staring at?” Skylar snarls. “You’ve got some nerve looking at us after what you did.”
Nabil blanks and takes a step back. “W-what are you talking about?” he stutters. He’s rehearsed somehow because he looks stoic and confused like he just can’t place his finger on why Skylar is fuming. If she were a cartoon, I can only perceive the amount of smoke billowing out of her ears and nose. “Did you think you’d get away with it?
KeiThanaʼs full name is Thana Roshana Ruiz. That's why she's being called as Roro or Row. It was some sort of nickname.
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Killing Justice Chapter 51
Thana: After killing Justice “Row, what on earth are you doing with those two?” “They’re my friends,” I say defensively. “And I need you to promise me you won’t mention what Justice told you.” “Why?” “It’s complicated. They’d know I lied to them. That I’ve been lying this whole time.” His ringtone interrupts us. We both look at the phone balanced on his lap. Kieran’s caller ID flashes on the screen. “Hold on.” He holds up a finger. “She’s been calling me nonstop. I wonder what she wants.” Nabil walks over to the other side of the space, stands in front of the gaping square where a window should be. I plop down on the slabs, watch as Skylar and Ava, their backs turned away from me, pull out their own phones. Apprehension creeps up my spine and buzzes intensely when Nabil walks back and hands me his phone. “She wants to speak with you.” The fear evi
Killing Justice Chapter 52
Thana: After killing Justice When we don’t say a word, he starts pacing. I watch as he applies pressure to the space between his eyes, one hand on his hip. “At least explain to me why you broke into a hotel room at Circe Creek.” After a long beat, he probes some more. “Girls, c’mon. I know it’s in your nature to cover for each other. Lie for each other. I have nieces, so I’m well aware. What I don’t quite get is why you’re going along with this.” It takes me a moment to realise he’s talking to Skylar and I get the same free-falling effect of someone diving out of a twelfth story building. He’s trying to rip us apart and pit us against each other. “You don’t owe these two anything, especially Ava Hernaez. She’s Justice’s best friend. You don’t run in the same social circle. In fact, you all are the oddest group I’ve ever encountered.” “Are we suspects?” Skylar cuts him off, finally showing some ounce of the same fear zapping through me.
Killing Justice Chapter 53
Thana: After killing Justice The next day, I wake up with panic blossoming in my chest. It’s Monday, I realise, but it takes a while for my brain to remember school is out till they tell us it’s not. I moan into my pillow. All the crying I did last night takes its toll on me. My head is pounding. Kieran comes in seconds later, making me know she must have had her ears plastered to my bedroom door. I scootch to make room for her. “How are you feeling?” she asks, pressing her cold icy hand to my temple. A shiver racks through me and I whimper. “Oh dear, you have a fever.” I kind of figured it out when everything, including my bed, felt like a block of ice. She orders me into the bathroom while I strip my pyjamas and wrap a towel around myself, collapsing on the tiled floor. She returns with a bucket teeming with hot water and readies a bath for me while I wail about how much they must hate me now. “Who hates you?” Sh
Killing Justice Chapter 1
Skylar: Before killing JusticeWe’re good girls, I promise. Thana, Ava and I. We didn’t mean for this to happen; for Justice to die. It was meant to be a joke, some form of payback for terrorizing Thana all year, for being a bitch to me and for backstabbing Ava. You’d think being Justice Ortega’s best friend will make you untouchable. But when fire catches, everything and everyone burns.I can’t grasp everything that happened. The events slip through my fingers like sand. Here’s what I know: Our plan went south the minute I lost my temper. I’m the reason everything went wrong.Ava was supposed to lure Justice to Fox Park. They were to get cozy with the chips and beverages Thana and I laid out for them. Hell, I even brought along The Sound Of Music because, in year ten, I overheard Justice telling Ava she secretly loved it. That she lied to Victor Asante, her kind-of-maybe boyfrie
Killing Justice Chapter 2
Ava: After killing JusticeIf memory serves, killing Justice wasn’t part of our plan, well mine actually since I contrived everything up. It was supposed to be simple, deceptively so.An effervescent charge darts through me as I recall how I manically orchestrated it. It was my job to get her to Fox Park, to a place secluded by witch-looking trees that dip low to kiss the ground as if a giant appeared from the clouds and stomped on them. A place our gated community called the junk room but Justice dubbed it The Crimson Hideaway.It was easy to get her there because I’d used celebrating as an excuse. Justice got the Head Girl position I had been longing for, but I wasn’t angry. How could I when I was going to get even?“It’s been a long time since we came down this dump, huh?” she said when I guided her to the broken and battered building we’d tu
Killing Justice Chapter 3
Skylar: Before killing JusticeWhen people know you’ve taken a life before, there’s a certain way they look at you. I see it in their eyes. Pure fear like a knife slowly twisted in their gut. They think I’m going to snap at any minute and when I don’t, the brave ones pluck up the courage to tell it to my face: killer, murderer, psycho. For some time, you’d think I’ve gotten used to it, that there’s no other colorful way they can break my spirit till they find a way to penetrate each space in my soul with the daggers in their eyes and the pitchforks in their words.You’d think I’ve gotten used to the way they look at me even as my body surges forward, my arms are straight as a ruler as they cut through the water but even this deep in Arden Academy’s swimming pool, I can feel their eyes on me. Hot like a heated knife on cold butter. They can’t touch me any other wa
Killing Justice Chapter 4
Thana: After killing JusticeWe all duck at the same time, knees knocking against the hard floor, our next breath catching in our throats refusing to give us some solace. The light darts over my face, two sharp orbs penetrate through my vision. From the intensity of the light rays, I know it’s only a matter of time before whoever is out there discovers the abandoned junk room.“Nobody should move a muscle,” Skylar hisses from underneath remnants of a window sill. It’s akin to hiding behind a sieve, hoping no one sees through the holes.She doesn’t need to repeat herself. Everything inside me is frozen solid, the blood in my veins, the oxygen in my lungs. I can’t feel anything besides the terror hammering at my chest like a feral animal locked up in a cage. Ava, however, slides from my left, moving out of my view. It takes a while for my brain to register her movement, that she’s
Killing Justice Chapter 5
Anonymous: Before Justice gets killedThe minute she enters the Choco&Cream shop, I know she’s The One. Not that I haven’t had an inkling for a while now but today, looking at her cross one leg over the other on a rattan-style white chair, I know she’s the perfect fit. The perfect girl. I don’t just choose anyone because like I said, everything must be perfect.Every day after school is done for the day, she comes to this little shop no matter how expensive their menu is, she still goes there every day. I know this because I’ve been there myself. I admire her, really I do. One waitress—a pixie sized woman with an upturned nose from what I can see—hands her the note I dropped a while ago. My imperfect scrawl is what her eyes are perusing before she hands it over to the girl I’m watching from afar. Nosy little bitch. The thought eggs me as I watch the little midget saunter off.<