Sparks Of Hatred

9. Something She Saw

For Zana, Hilda is a friend who is always there for her. After her friendship with Alice broke up, she was alone with Hilda. According to her, Hilda is much better than Alice. From her point of view, Alice is not a true friend, just because she has covered up a lot of lies. Plus, she is a thief whose presence is very dangerous.

Zana realized that her and Hilda's actions towards Alice about the plan to trap Alice with the cellphone theft were indeed wrong and unjustified at all, but they did it just to prove and corner Alice. The truth is that Alice is a good liar and has long arms, aka shoplifting. But look at Alice now, she doesn't accept what Hilda and Zana did to her.

And now, Zana feels alone because there is no more Hilda. Her friend is completely gone, and she can't see her anymore. Hilda has joined the stars in outer space.

What makes Zana angry is that Hilda died because she was killed. She didn't accept her best friend being treated like this. But she was confused about who to complain to. All she could do was cry and keep crying, without knowing what to do. She felt lost. Hilda was so kind to her and always lent her expensive things. The rich Hilda wanted to be friends with her, who lived a simple life. Hilda often picked her up to go to school, and she even took her home.

All this time, Zana thought she was the only one who was a bit unlucky to have a family. Hilda's family was very rich, as was Alice's (before she found out that Alice pretended to be rich). She felt inferior because she was not like them. Once, she asked herself if she should be friends with them. That is, they were different from her. But that doesn't mean she's unhappy with living a simple life. She loves her family.

And when it finally turned out that Alice had been lying all along, that she was poor and always pretending to be rich, Zana actually felt somewhat equal to Alice. But Alice's attitude doesn't reflect how she really is, making her and Hilda start to get fed up. Plus the fact that Alice had been lying about it all along. It was beyond their expectations. They fell for Alice's lies. Alice was so good at covering everything up that she didn't get caught. Really great acting.

To hell with Alice, Zana hated her former friend. Now, she was crying at the funeral. Hilda had just been lowered into the grave, now she was buried by the cold ground. She hadn't expected this, hadn't even thought about it. It was so shocking that Zana wondered if she was dreaming, but no, this was real, her best friend was dead.

Neither Zana nor anyone else knows who did this to Hilda. She hoped that the police would act quickly to investigate this case. The innocent Hilda should not die and be embraced by the ground. Even though she is guilty, death is not something that should happen to her. Zana was so sad, the sadness she felt was so deep-rooted that her chest ached.

Justice must be served for Hilda. The murderer must be caught and tried properly. Appropriate punishment must be meted out to the person responsible for Hilda's death.

Everyone had left the cemetery, even Hilda's parents had returned to their home, only Zana remained. She squatted down, touched the ground, and cried. Her tears were a silent witness to the fact that she was so hurt, sharing Hilda's pain and suffering.

The cold wind blew hard, making Zana look up and stare at the cloudy sky. The rain was about to spill. Her hair flew where the wind went.

Realizing that she had to get out of here quickly because the sky was about to cry, Zana stood up. Once again, before she actually stepped away from her best friend's new home, she looked at Hilda's grave.

And although it was difficult, Zana tried to smile. "I'll go first, I'll be back later. You don't have to worry, I'll make sure that the person who did this to you will be punished accordingly. I'll do what I can."

Once again, Zana wiped her face that had just been covered in tears, and then she said, "Goodbye, Hilda. May you rest in peace."

In the end, Zana left, she stepped against the wind that flew so fast as time passed. She left Hilda alone.

***

"This is really a terrible incident," Angie said as she sat on the white-painted garden chair.

Thomas sat next to Angie. They had just returned from Hilda's funeral, which was attended by quite a lot of people. And when Thomas suggested going to the park for some small talk and rest, Angie had no reason to refuse. She agreed without saying much.

"No one expects something like this to happen, but we don't know anything. Tomorrow is a mystery that we don't know, anything can happen to us," says Thomas.

Angie looked at the boy beside her. Then she nodded because she agreed with Thomas's words. His words were right.

Angie said, "I can't get this event out of my head."

"Switch your mind, think of something else, things you like, whatever it is."

"I've tried, but it's not easy. Especially since I saw her in that room."

Thomas narrowed his eyes. "Did you see the hanging of Hilda?"

"Yes," Angie replied with a quick nod. "I was in the crowd of curious people when Zana announced it to everyone in the hall. I was in the front row."

"I didn't see it."

"It was horrible. Her body was covered in blood, especially the torn neck, not to mention the ties that were wrapped around her neck as well, making the blood pour out even more." Angie shuddered as she hugged herself. She shuddered as she imagined the incident again, plus the cold autumn wind made her suddenly long for a thick blanket.

"You don't have to think about it anymore. I'm sure the police have moved quickly. I'm also sure detectives have been deployed to investigate Hilda's disappearance. All the answers will be revealed in the end."

"What do you think happened to Hilda? I mean, there's no way someone would kill her for no reason, right? There must be a motive behind the incident."

Thomas was actually feeling a bit miffed with Angie. She said that she couldn't get the incident out of her brain, but she kept bringing it up instead of trying to forget it. However, Thomas didn't make any comments, opting instead to engage and respond briefly to Angie's remarks.

"Um, I honestly don't know. I can't think of anything."

"It can't be a random murder, right? That possibility is definitely there, but I don't think so. Someone did have the intention of killing her, but I don't know what the motive behind the attack and murder was."

"Well, that would be the detective's job to find out. Not your job."

Angie replied, "Do you think Detective Anna will take the case again? Just like before?"

Thomas shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. We'll see how it goes."

Angie let out a long sigh. She looked down, staring at the red, brown, yellow, and orange leaves mixed with the soil. Leaves fell from the branches, filling the garden with scattered leaves.

"Hey, how—"

"Thomas, do you know that many people now consider Starlight High School a cursed school?"

Thomas's lips parted as Angie cut him off so abruptly. He exhaled slowly.

"Because there were two deaths that happened there?" Thomas asked, trying to guess.

"Yeah, that's the reason. I watched the news on television. I don't think they're making it up. Isn't it too creepy to have two dead bodies in a school? Especially in such close proximity. I think it's too unnatural. I'm scared."

"Angie, you don't have to think about this anymore. I know it's shaken you, it's shaken everyone, but it seems like you're overthinking it."

Angie didn't argue with Thomas. It was the truth.

"I think you're right, I've gotten carried away. I just felt sorry for Hilda. She's a poor girl."

"Yes, for whatever reason, she didn't deserve to be killed like that. Let's just wait to see what the results are from the police." Thomas then stood up, and said, "Come on, we'd better get out of here, you look cold, unfortunately, I didn't bring a jacket. I'll take you home."

"Home? But I don't want to go straight home. I'm bored, I have nothing to do at home. What do you have to do?"

"No, I don't have anything to do. I'm also free."

"So, why do you want to take me home?"

Thomas felt confused for a moment about what to answer, but an idea that popped into his head made him grateful. He found the right answer, "Then how about we walk leisurely? We might as well buy some coffee to warm up, what do you think?"

"Good idea, I agree."

Thomas suddenly extended his hand towards Angie, making the girl feel transfixed for a moment. But, she felt the urge to accept his helping hand, and that's what she did.

A smile instantly crept onto Thomas's lips when Angie agreed to join hands with him. He grasped her cold hand. Then, the two walked side by side.

They passed in front of Hilda's large house. She did come from a rich family. Her house looked very nice and luxurious. Angie wondered what it would be like to live in such a big house.

In the end, something caught her attention.

"Thomas, wait a minute." Angie stopped Thomas in his tracks.

Confused by what Angie was doing, Thomas asked, "What's wrong?" He saw Angie's face looking at Hilda's house.

"Look up there," Angie said. Her finger pointed to the large window on the top floor of Hilda's house. She looked at Thomas to make sure that he was following what she was seeing.

"What are they doing?" Angie asked with a furrowed brow.

And Thomas blinked his eyes as soon as he saw what Angie was staring at right now.

In Angie's opinion, it was an interesting and strange sight that she and Thomas were now seeing. It created a bubble of questions in her mind.

What is going on over there? Angie wondered with eyes that refused to move from the strange thing she had just seen.