New Neighbours

"Me? What makes you certain that it'll be me?"  Puzzled, Hazel arched a brow at him slightly tilting her head. 

  

I glanced over at Hazel for a brief moment, to see if she's taking in the news well. But to my surprise, she didn't seem tensed at all. Does her death not bother her? Or perhaps she had made up her mind to face the worst and was taking the situation more practically. 

I snapped back from my swirling thoughts when I heard Noel speaking up.

"I'm not certain, of course. It's a hunch. That being aside, if the killer actually wants to kill the ones Rai cares about, he might have a personal reason for committing murder." He frowned, and then turned to meet my eyes, "Rai, have you ever offended anyone so deeply that made someone readily commit murder?" 

I took a minute to recall anyone that would have been hurt by me so deeply but I couldn't find anyone like that from my memories. 

"I don't recall anyone like that." I replied after giving it a brief thought. 

"Then do—" 

Before Noel could interrogate me further, his phone rang. He picked it up from the  bedside table and frowned when he read the caller's ID.

  

"It's the prosecutor in charge of Damon's murder case..." 

 He glanced at us, keeping a finger on his lips as he answered the call. 

"Yes, Prosecutor Elisa?" 

We couldn't hear the voice from the other side but it seemed important and Noel had seemingly agreed to something.

After a 10 minutes call, he ended it and sighed. We peered at him with a tensed expression, waiting for him to relay the news. 

"What did you two talk about?" Hazel asked.

He shrugged. "She wants to come over for a short interrogation related to my assault as well as for a discussion on the murderer."  

"Is she trying to rope you into solving the case alongside her? But you're not a legal prosecutor yet." Hazel frowned.

"Huh? Haven't I informed you two about it?" 

"About what?" 

"That I'll be getting my license soon." 

"Huh?! When did that happen? Didn't you have, like, 2 more years to complete?" 

"I told I was getting into a new law school but didn't say that I was STUDYING there permanently— I am already 22. Prosecutor Elisa had suggested me to observe from afar for gaining more knowledge in one of the law schools abroad. It went on for a few months. After which, I gave the bar exam and passed. My license will be coming anytime soon." 

"All of this happened and you never bothered to even text me all these years?" Hazel's face flushed in anger.  

"Alright, well, sorry." He didn't even look a bit sorry while he said it. 

I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to hold back my laughter while watching them bickering like school kids. But it soon hit me that the problem at hand was more important. 

"I think we're going off the topic." I interrupted them.

Noel blinked at me and then cleared his throat awkwardly after realization hit him.  "Uh, right. So, about prosecutor Elisa. I think we would get better clues of who the killer is if I join in on the investigation. It'll enable me to get access to Damon Michelle's murder scene. I've already decided to help her since I'll be discharged from the hospital within a few days. She'll be coming tonight to interrogate me about my assault so I am planning to tell her about it then. And...." 

I and Hazel began listening carefully to his plan. He himself wasn't sure if it would work out as he planned. He restricted us from leaking any information about the case or the things that he'd explained to us — not even to his own father— since he wanted to keep everything secretive for the time being. After the discussion, I and Hazel went back home. 

The next morning, I woke up with a new start. For some reason, I felt refreshed — as if a huge load of burden had been taken off my shoulders. I brushed my teeth, took a quick shower and had egg toasts for breakfast as usual. I glanced over at the thin window curtains struggling to stay still because of the wind whistling through them. I looked out the window and smiled as the cool breeze brushed past my face. 

"The weather seems nice today. Maybe I should go out for a jog?" 

I couldn't suppress my urge to go out in this fine weather. And thus, I put on my headphones, playing a soft music that would be perfect for the weather, and headed out.The weather wasn't too hot or too cold— just perfect. I zipped up my jogging hoodie and glanced at the moving truck infront of my apartment building. It'd been parked there with professional movers carrying stuffs in since last night. But I hadn't seen who my new neighbor was yet.

"I wonder if it will be a family with kids just like the ones in the floor below us." I thought.

Just then, I spotted two boys — of my age — walking out of the apartment building carrying flattened cardboard boxes.

I froze in place when I realized who it was. 

"Sam and Aleck?! In this big city, they saw only MY building to move into?" I thought as I stared at them, mouth agaped.

I quickly covered my face with my hood, lowering my head and briskly walking past them while they were busy chatting with each other.

I kept jogging for a long while in the park, thinking if it would be the right choice to return back now— if they would accidentally see me. It's not that I was scared of them—not anymore— I just didn't want to deal with their trash when I was in a good mood after so long. They never left a chance to call me names like "freak", "trash can" and worse, but like always, I ignored them. They get the courage to show off their 'manliness' only when Noel's not around. 

After another 15 minutes, I decided to head back home. I lowered by head and began walking towards my apartment while Sam stood outside the building like a watchdog, and Aleck went back inside the truck to get another box.

Just then, I felt a hand clamp on my shoulder. 

"Now, now, isn't this the infamous murderer?"

That annoying voice — I recognized it immediately. I sighed and jerked his hand off my shoulder and started walking again, trying to get to my building as fast as possible. Suddenly, he pulled me by the back of my hoodie and I stumbled backwards and faced him.

"Why are you running away? Are you scared?" 

Sam sneered.

I just stared at him blankly for a brief moment before looking behind him with a bright smile. "Oh, hey, Noel!" 

His whole body tensed up on hearing the name and a small gasp escaped his lips. He immediately looked over his shoulder only to see that no one was actually there. 

"Y-You, piece of!" Realising that he was being toyed with, he turned around to look at me, nerves popping out in anger. But before he could spill another word out of his fowl mouth, my feet slammed hard against his face and he fell down with a thud. 

"Ouch. Was that too strong?" I winced, doubting for a second if he was dead. His limp body laid there with a bleeding nose and no consciousness. I inched closer to his 'dead' body and nudged his face with my foot. I noticed his chest slowly rising and falling. 

"He's fine." I thought as I walked away from the body and went back into my apartment building while humming a song. 

After a few minutes, Aleck came out of the truck carrying a box. He gasped, horrified by his friend's state. The box fell from his hands as he ran up to his friend's dusty body.

"Oh God! Sam, who did this to you?!"