Thirty One

CHAPTER 31

Golden High School, 12:40.

Alicia's steps quickened as she passed through the stairs to the second floor (also known as hallway 002). She felt even worse after Nicholas told her everything. Everything Brittany had said on the phone about the other 'Alicia' who had sent her a message through a new number.

The atmosphere, which had been quiet and monotonous, suddenly turned tense when those long legs managed to set foot on hallway 002.

Alicia scrunched up her waist and grunted harshly. "Damn it! How many rooms are there on this floor?!"

Determined to find her best friend, Alicia began walking through the closed rooms on the second floor. The blue-eyed girl opened them and called out Brittany's name to make sure. Occasionally Alicia had to break down some of the locked doors because their owners might still be in the cafeteria.

Suddenly a voice from the dormitory speakers echoed loudly through the hallways. "Attention everyone! Our friend Brittany Scoots has disappeared after receiving a mysterious message from a suspected killer..." It was Ace's voice. "So I'm asking you to look for Brittany in all corners of the dorm, before anything untoward happens. Thank you for your attention and get moving!"

Alicia snorted in amusement. "Did she tell her father?"

And then, the ash-haired girl immediately resumed her movement towards the other rooms. Almost all of the rooms in Hall 002 were empty. But the noisy sounds coming from down there indicated that the other students were starting to move around in search of the missing Brittany.

Alicia decided to continue her search to the third floor (or hallway 003), which consisted of about thirty rooms arranged alphabetically.

"One moment," she whispered to herself. Alicia felt something the moment her feet reached the top floor of the Golden High. Her intuition told her that someone else was there and Alicia began to look around warily.

The hallway, which consisted of dozens of neatly lined rooms, gave the impression of being completely deserted. The wooden doors were tightly closed like the others. There were no other signs of other people there, but the girl named Alicia Perth convinced herself that there was someone in one of the closed rooms.

Alicia continued to walk through the rooms as before. Opening them, partially breaking them down, checking inside and then leaving after not finding Brittany there.

"I wonder why my phone disappeared by chance like this," she said. "Does she want to get rid of me?"

Alicia's thin hands reached the next room. She slowly opened the door to the room labeled Selena and Shena in front of her.

The predominantly white room-just like the other immediately greeted her blue eyes that were still staring warily. The blue irises wandered around all corners of the room before her feet entered the room. "Selena and Shena's room," she said. She took one step after another, advancing slowly toward the center of the room. "Britt, are you here?"

There was no answer. Only silence responded to Alicia's curiosity. But this time, Alicia felt something was off. The girl who tied her hair up in a ponytail sniffed the masculine scent that was usually used by high-class male perfume. Alicia wondered to herself, how could a woman's room have such a strong masculine scent? Had the two of them changed their taste in women's fragrances?

Alicia found this very strange, really strange.

The descendant girl's feet tried to explore the room further and moved to the large window that led directly to the back garden area of the dormitory in the room. Although it seemed unlikely, her intuition was never wrong.

Alicia stopped her steps when she reached the large window. Her eyes widened in surprise as she managed to open the large window--which had been locked tightly for some time. "BRITTANY!" she called out.

Brittany was hanging from the edge of the tile below. Her face looked up and showed Brittany's terrified expression. Her cheeks looked flushed with sweat running down her temples. "Al... Alicia," she said softly.

Brittany seemed to have run out of steam as she hung on for dear life with both hands holding tightly to the edge of the tile. Her lips were pale and her body was trembling. In addition, her cheeks were wet with tears. "Help me," she said hoarsely. "Alicia."

"Hang in there, Britt! I'll find a way!"

Alicia immediately turned around and moved quickly towards the beds in the room. She wrapped Selena's blanket around Shena's, then tried to find another cloth to lift Brittany from underneath. The blue-eyed girl rummaged through the room until she managed to pull together many of the fabrics and form them into a rope long enough to pull Brittany up.

"Britt, I'm coming," she announced.

Alicia immediately threw the rope made of various fabrics at Brittany. "I'll pull you up and you won't have to---"

"ALICIA!"

Someone suddenly strangled Alicia with a wire from behind until the girl staggered in the same direction. The wire began to cut into the surface of the skin of Alicia's hand which was holding it firmly so that it would not hit her neck. Alicia had to survive. She had to stay alive, so she could save Brittany down there.

Fresh blood from her palms began to drip and soak the floor. Believe me, that wire really hurt her and Alicia was losing her strength.

"Asshole!" she swore at the person wearing the face covering. From the posture that felt taller and bigger than her, Alicia felt that the person trying to kill her was a man.

Not losing her mind, Alicia pulled her body towards the window so that Brittany could witness the attempted murder. "ALICIA! ASTAGA! HELP... SOMEONE HELP US!"

Brittany screamed hysterically as the wire came dangerously close to hitting Alicia in the neck. She saw it so clearly, even though her strength was almost gone.

"HELP..." Brittany then looked up, looked into Alicia's eyes once more and spoke to her silently,

.

.

.

"Stay alive, Alicia."