MURDER ON THE SCHOOL

"Marilyn, do you realize that lately there's someone following you?" said the girl with black hair with a thin stroke on her forehead.

Marilyn, the girl in question, suddenly looked up while raising her eyebrows. "Ah, no really. Maybe your feelings, Nicole," she replied.

Nicole's eye moves to follow the silhouette of someone she caught just now. But when she blinked, the figure was gone in an instant.

"But ...." Nicole didn't continue, the girl shook her head as if she was forgetting something that was on her mind.

"But what?" said Marilyn still with a confused look.

"No, forget it," she said.

The two of them were chatting under a big tree in the corner of the school garden. The situation at that time was not so crowded, some students had actually returned to class after filling their stomachs.

"Oh, it's cloudy. Just come back, shall we?" asked Nicole, realizing that the weather at that time was suddenly unfriendly. Thick clouds almost covered the entire sky above them.

"Wait a minutem." Marilyn said slowly pointing to the roof of the school, to be precise in the teacher's room, thick black smoke was rising from that direction.

Nicole reflexively covered her mouth. Both of them tensed up, surprised for sure. They stared at each other followed by the school alarm that went off making all students come out of their class. One word can describe the situation at that time. Chaotic.

Marilyn and Nicole ran after the other students into the middle of the field. Their eyes were now focused on the point where the fire occurred. Hoping someone will come out of there, but that seems impossible. In an instant the fire spread, consuming other buildings next to it. And the people who are still in it.

Marilyn witnessed that tragic event right before her eyes. Screams of fear filled the entire school. At the same time she felt Nicole's hand trying to pull her from there. The fire is getting closer. But who knows what Marilyn was thinking at that time.

The corner of her eye caught a figure in a black robe standing on the second floor of the school. So relaxed. She thought then because she realized that soon the fire would consume the entire school building. Unfortunately, Marilyn could not see clearly the effects of the fire which limited her vision.

The next second, she faintly saw an object being floated towards the field, filled with liquid, in a container like a jerry can. Marilyn could only recite a prayer, resigned.

***

Marilyn closed her eyes as she recalled the events of two days ago. Here, she stood staring at her school building which had been scorched by fire. It is reported that twenty teachers, school staff, and the principal were declared dead in the incident.

Marilyn also received a message from her friend Nicole, that several students were victims of it.

"What really happened?" muttered Marilyn in a low voice. She could only look at the building from outside the fence.

Based on the police report, until now there is no definite reason, the suspect and the motive for the incident are still a mystery. The surviving school residents have been questioned by the authorities. Still, there is still no bright spot.

Marilyn reached for her cellphone in her jacket pocket, remembering that Nicole had not contacted her since yesterday. This girl is not normal.

Marilyn immediately called Nicole. First try, no answer. Continuing on to the second attempt, Nicole had time to answer it but not even five seconds later, the girl ended it.

"Nicole is busy maybe, huh?" the parrot guessed.

Just as Marilyn was putting the phone in her pocket, Nicole suddenly called. Without waiting for a long time, Marilyn immediately picked it up.

"Hello? I'm not disturbing, am I?" she asked.

[“No, how are you? Are you feeling better?"]

Marilyn touched her forehead, there was still a bit of pain from the impact hitting the cement on the pitch. Luckily Nicole quickly pulled her away, otherwise Marilyn might have been engulfed in flames.

"That's fine, thank you."

For a moment Marilyn felt silence. Nicole didn't answer, but Marilyn was sure she had just heard the girl whisper something. Unclear.

[“Today I'm moving. My father asked me to go to school outside the city."]

Marilyn was surprised. "Wow, seriously? Good, that means you'll be going back to school soon."

[“You hurry up, Marilyn.”]

"Yeah, I'm still looking for it."

Marilyn heard a noise from behind the phone, her ears hurt a little hearing that, she pulled the phone away from her ear. But when she felt the sound was starting to disappear, Marilyn came closer to her again, apparently Nicole had closed the call.

"Busy times, want to move," muttered Marilyn trying to understand.

"Who are you talking to, my daughter?"

Marilyn was surprised to hear the sound. She turned and found her mother. "Ouch, I just surprised, Mom," she said while stroking her chest.

"I'm sorry, because you were busy talking earlier, so I just rebuked you right away," said the woman who was no longer young.

Marilyn nodded. "So after I talked to Nicole, her father wanted to move Nicole to a school outside the city. It didn't take long for me to talk to her, Nicole immediately cut off the call."

"It could be that Nicole is busy, maybe she is preparing," her mother guessed.

"So what did you say to Mrs. Caroline?" asked Marilyn curiously. Incidentally she came here accompanied by her mother to see the condition of the school more closely. However, seeing Mrs. Caroline's stall, where Marilyn used to eat when she came home from school, Mother asked permission to stop by for a moment to say hello.

"I just asked about her condition, thank God Mrs. Caroline is healthy. Then she asked a lot about you. What did she say, have you got a new school yet?”

Marilyn smiled remembering that until now no school was willing to accept her due to the full student quota.

"I can be frank that until now she is still looking for a school for you. Then Mrs. Caroline said that there are still schools near here that want to accept new students. She then told me the specifics of the schools concerned," explained her mother.

"Oh, did you? So what did Miss Caroline say?" said Marilyn getting interested.

"You know there's no little alley near here?" She asked.

Marilyn nodded. "There is."

"Mrsm Caroline said there was a big school in that small alley, Alexandria High School, the students weren't many, but the facilities were still very adequate. I think there's nothing wrong with you going to school there. While there's a quota of new students, you'll catch up quickly left behind."

"I just found out that there is a school there," she said.

Mother smiled. "I returns to you again, whether you want to or not depends on your decision."

"Sure, Mom. I really want to go to school again," she said excitedly.

"Okay, I'll take care of your files as soon as possible," replied the mother.

In her heart Marilyn gave thanks, finally looking for a school for so long, in the near future she will soon be going to school again. Meet new friends and of course fun subjects.

As she and Mother walked out of the school, Marilyn's eyes detected something. She turned her head and saw Mrs. Caroline from a distance waving at her.

Marilyn replied with the same wave, but after a while she realized something was off.

Mrs. Caroline kept smiling still waving her hand, her pale face made Marilyn clumsy. The smile that widened, made Mrs. Caroline look terrible.

Marilyn decided to end the waving, before turning around she bowed slightly intending to say goodbye to Mrs. Caroline.

She immediately chased her mother who had walked some distance in front of her. Marilyn looked back for a moment, she no longer found Mrs. Caroline there.

Continued...