02. The Stealing Case

"Oh my goodness, did you know that I almost can't come to school today because of the incident last night? It was a total mess, seriously."

"Really? I thought it wasn't true? Mom told me to be careful because there are lots of murder cases happening in our place."

"Half of the school almost got burnt! I bet that girl from the class got high up again and played with fire." Laughter filled the corridor of the school when students walked in with their topics.

"She's really a mess! They should place her in a ward! She's sick, I knew it!"

The pupils were giving rise to mockery with their gossips once again while stepping around the school corridor. What do people expect? Everybody was speaking about the occurrence that had arisen last night which was truly outrageous. Smoke that was induced by a drastic flame was in the atmosphere and is yet visible. Last evening was total havoc in the school area, barely half of the academy got scorched by an enormous fire. Good thing, the students who attended the evening lectures were not injured at all. None was suspicious at that moment.

Everybody was at their classes, so the authority investigators were clueless. But the students seem incredibly confident of the person who has a motive to have done such unpleasant stuff. If you eyed her, it is decidedly unusual for her to make a fire at the campus. She appears to be weak, and always silent, but the other students were accusing her whenever something disastrous went on.

She is now silently strolling down the aisle, alone. Several of the students were making fun of her, glares observing her actions. In every action she takes, it's all counted! They despise the way she is, mumbles have begun to be summoned everywhere. She remained silent but a grin was about to develop on her lips.

"Everyone, look at her!" Someone yelled behind her, but as usual, she didn't reveal any care.

She proceeded to walk until she reached their classroom. The class was loud, every student was doing their business. Everyone is in chaos. Laughter, gossip, and shouts could be heard from the four corners of the room. Some of the class were running and some chose to have their seat and read books.

She stepped towards her row and settled on her chair. But unluckily someone spoke, it is her seatmate who constantly hangs around her side. "Hi, Astrid. A blessed morning to you, what happened to your face? Why am I seeing bruises on your cheek?" Her stares traveled on the lady's face and her eyes rounded, "Look, you got another one near your lips. God is seeing this! Did you get into a fight?" She overreacted.

A girl beside her with a bubbly smile examined her. She looked so worried upon seeing the wounds on Hawthorne's face, she suddenly freaked out when she saw other bruises on the neck. It seems swollen, there were scratches on her arms as well.

"Oh my goodness, Astrid! What happened to you? Those wounds are terribly swollen!" She thought and even tried touching them. She winced as if she was the one who felt hurt.

"Who did this to you? Did someone attack you? You did this to yourself, didn't you?" Her eyes were wide open while staring at the young lady's countenance, she already knew that Astrid Hawthorne is suicidal.

Astrid Hawthorne appeared to be irritated by the turmoil from her seatmate, she did not bother to look at her but she did utter a reply. "Pfft. Hey come on, I'm okay... It's just scratched. It won't kill me," she chuckled and jokingly smirked at her seatmate who looked uneasy.

"Ya! take a grip of yourself, I'm not kidding. I'm so worried, Astrid. What exactly went on to you? You don't know how many prayers I spoke to God just to keep you protected every day," She urged and crossed her arms, pouted her kissable lips, and slightly threw a glare to the young lady beside her.

"Uh, I tripped last night when I was walking from the store, Mace." But Mace seems not convinced. She expects to know the truth, she knows that her friend won't just trip down the way and get all those bruises.

'It would be stupid if that really happened to her,' Mace Leo thought.

She gave attention to the whispers and gossips from the outside and that made her completely disturbed. She knows that her friend cannot do such a thing. She is not a crackbrain, she is too innocent.

"Fine, I was sent to the police station last night because I—" her words were cut off when Mace Leo blurted out with her eyes widened.

"What? Why? You can't commit a crime!" her expression changed and she could not believe what she heard. Her voice was so loud that some of her classmates gazed upon her location.

"... I know, I was accused of doing something I am not even capable of doing. My neighbor, whom I mentioned to you last time, accused me of killing his son," Astrid continued and shrugged.

That made Mace's mouth wide open. "That's bad, I think we need to pray for that neighborhood. The only one I know who is so good at accusing is Satan himself. Probably his spirit attacked her. That old woman must be out of her mind now. The crime wasn't closed yet, it's been six years. She shouldn't condemn someone because of the death of her son," She blurted out once more.

She knew about the said crime, it's unraveling so fast in their area. Numerous tales, various viewpoints, until now it is still unsolved and remains a maze. Men were afraid to depart from their homes, the same as the women and their children as well. The preys were men, but as the case is on the process there were reports of dead bodies of women.

"It's okay, Mace. The officers drove me home safely. I was terrified because of the sudden accusation but I am fine now," Astrid Hawthorne explained.

Their conversation went far enough, it could be seen on her complexion that she is not interested in talking with Mace Leo at all. As time went by, she got used to it. The young girl certainly likes Astrid, she invites the lady to be part of her small bible study group at the school garden every time. Mace cares for her friend.

Because of the deep talks they had, the young girl began to forget about how Astrid got deep scratches and bruises all over her body. By looking at it, it is severe to see and its gashes were deep enough. Some of her bruises look like they are scorched. It's confusing how she got those.

"Oh, by the way. You know Louis, right? Louis Feldirez, the guy who pushed you the last time when Valliree Morgan purposely threw a basketball at you?" Mace could not stop talking the moment Astrid arrived. Right now, she took the opportunity to open up about the guy who recently stalked her friend, Hawthorne.

She likes telling stories and even starting conversations with anyone else. She never thinks if Hawthorne likes her too, but whether she considers her as a friend or not she still wants to win the heart of her seatmate. They talk very often, and share ideas too—Hawthorne is nice, so probably building a friendship together wouldn't be tough.

"What about the guy?" Astrid asked as she fixed her gaze outside the window. Suddenly, idleness starts to invade her. The excitement she felt to attend the class slowly vanished, her wounds sting within which pushes her to go home and sleep all day.

"Well, he's been searching for you since yesterday. You didn't attend the class, I thought you're sick since you haven't talked to me nor even glanced at me, your aura yesterday feels so different! Everyone was scared to approach you, nobody dared to talk with you." Astrid Hawthorne paused for a moment, trying to think about the affair yesterday.

She was clueless about what happened, she can't remember anything about yesterday. Astrid thought that maybe her seatmate was imagining things. Still, she replied. "... Ah. Maybe I haven't noticed your presence. I was really spaced out. Sorry."

Mace just smiled at her sweetly and took out a black notebook. It has wide pages and it was designed for goths. The sheets were colored into black so it's kind of odd to write them down because the written phrases can't be seen in the eyes because of their pigment. It's like writing for nothing, but this kind of note can be helpful too. Writing down your secrets is possible and safe, the only way to read all the writings is to let luminous shine upon it.

"He found your pad. He wished to return it to you personally but he couldn't reach you yesterday. Here, he gave it to me instead and told me to hand it over to you. I made it secure and I really took care of it since I noticed that you loved that notebook so much." In an instant, the notebook was snatched away from Mace Leo's grip. Astrid quickly took it, with a stunning look.

Mace felt confused about the abrupt action of her friend, but she chose not to open up about it. She understands that what's inside the notebook seems important to the owner.

"You're acting weird when it comes to that notebook. What's in it? Why do you value it so much? It seems blank to me." She curiously asked. Glancing at the black notebook.

Hawthorne nodded her head and put the thing inside her bag. "No nothing, it's my diary. It would be embarrassing if I let you read every letter on it." She smiled sweetly at her friend and decided to focus her attention in front.

The class ended. She directly went home since the learners are making rumors again. She doesn't know why the other students hated her, their treatment of her seems not fair. She knew to herself that she never did anything wrong to them, thoughts came into her mind and maybe they were just insecure about her well-being.

She was now sitting on the sofa in the living room while watching the news, and browsing her camera as she waited for the popcorn to be toasted. She was all alone in her home, but that doesn't make it difficult. She's having a part-time job at the bookstore near the division. She received a weekly salary since that bookstore was outstanding and had gained many customers. Astrid has been working there for almost one year and she is fine with it.

Smiles were being shaped in her lips as she scanned the images of her camera. She is done putting out, the hobbies she is into can't satisfy her broadly so she is looking for other things that will occupy her time.

She heard the stove click so she hastily went to the kitchen to get done with the popcorn. As she withdrew to the living room, her attention was caught by the news. She slowed down and paused for a moment.

" ... The West Kaust Museum has been assaulted by a nameless thief which caused chaos in the entire building while the businessmen were in the middle of bidding. The securities were still looking for some traces that had been possibly left by the thief. Everyone around the area was in total shock and burden. Those valuable items that were stolen cost a lot of money."

The screen reveals the area of the museum where the articles were taken. The people there with their costly jewelry and formal attire were in total panic. Some of them got interviewed, the investigators are still clueless since the area was clear as it is. There's no damage at all, and traces cannot be found all over the place.

"Are you really sure that someone stole the items from here? As for the detectives, they are still searching for evidence. But the area seems clear and out of bounds." The reporter questioned while referring to one of the businessmen who was trembling in fear.

"No, I swear to everyone that someone interrupted our bidding and frayed us! Our securities scuffled as they tried to fight the thief. We can't confirm if the culprit is a lady or not. It's hiding behind those masks." The guy answered. Fear could be seen in his movement, he could not behave because of the incident.

The camera took heed of the investigators, they did everything just to know who was behind the scenes. "Have you found something suspicious, sir?" The reporter asked, but the investigators shook their heads and scanned the whole place once more.

"As of now, we're having a difficult time investigating. Tracks cannot be found everywhere, whoever that thief is-he has nice schemes. This culprit will be arduous to search, he's very good at hiding." Disappointment could be seen in his eyes, it is absolutely obvious that they are struggling for the evidence that the culprit may have left.

Astrid Hawthorne, out of nowhere decided to turn off the television and stared at it for a moment. "Another criminal? Interesting..." she became interested all of a sudden, she started to think of having a conversation with the thief, she admired its nice tactics in stealing. She's amazed by the robber's potential.