Someone Else in His Heart

Rain pelted the pavement in angry bursts, soaking his clothes and running in rivulets down his face.

He staggered backward, breath ragged. The air was thick, choking him with guilt, dread, and something else-something he couldn't name yet.

Hesitatingly, he opened the trunk of his car. The lightning struck again illuminating the surroundings for a few seconds as he stared at her body lying lifeless in his car's trunk.

Her body lay curled in the trunk of his car, hair wet and clinging to her pale skin, the necklace he gave her still around her neck-mocking him with its tiny heart-shaped pendant.

He stared until the thunder snapped him back. He had parked off the side of a remote highway, miles from town. Woods stretched around him like a dark ocean. He could bury her. Nobody would find her here.

He reached into the trunk with trembling hands and laid her on the ground. The lightning struck again and with a last look at her lifeless face, grabbing her by her legs, he dragged her into the woods.

It took me a few seconds make sense of my surrounding as I slowly opened my eyes. I sat up, realizing that I was in my room. I had been dreaming and what a dream it was. It felt so real. I couldn't make out their faces in the dream but it felt like I knew the guy.

Soon, my chain of thoughts was broken when my phone started ringing beside me on the bed. It was Harpreet, my best friend.

At seeing her name on my phone screen my eyes quickly darted towards the wall clock. It was almost eight o'clock in the morning. Falling back on the bed, I groaned thinking about the lecture I was going to get today for being late.

The phone rang once again but instead of answering, I got down and ran into the washroom. I'll deal with her later, it is too early for this.

☘︎☘︎☘︎

"So cute!" Harpreet exclaimed at her phone, making me look up from my textbook.

"Puppies?" I guessed.

She shook her head with a weird smile on her face.

Something is surely up.

"Rohit Saraf?" I guessed. Harpreet shook her head again with the same creepy smile still lingering on her face.

"Then what?" I tilted my head.

"Your husband," She teased shoving the phone in my face. An instagram story with a selfie of me and my 'husband', displayed on the phone screen with caption 'I like me better when I'm with you'.

I heaved a sigh before saying, "Yeah, we are cute."

He isn't actually my husband by the way. I'm just 16, its illegal. She just meant he is my boyfriend... or at least that's what they think he is.

Harpreet smiled before moving on to show the picture to Palak. Pondering, I looked around the library. The school's library had been as silent as it always has. Our final exams are coming up so you could see literally every student, trying their best to score good marks.

'Oh wait, I should study too.' I thought.

"Hey, you guys are still going to the dance tonight, right?" Harpreet exclaimed like a small kid.

"I'm going if you guys are going," Palak stated, turning a page of her history book. I don't know why she is always in a such a serious mood. I mean, a smile here and there wouldn't kill her.

"Well, my husband is going so I too have to," I said but there was not even a pinch of excitement.

"Everything okay?" Palak asked but there was no emotion on her face. Typical.

"Yeah,"

"You are still thinking about your moving away." Palak did not ask, more like she stated.

It's been more than two years of us being friends and I'm yet to figure out if Palak is just a very good friend or if she can actually read minds. I mean, their is no better explanation for why she always happens to know what the other person is thinking. She has done this so many times that I don't even get surprised anymore.

"Kind of," I scrunched my nose.

"You're moving away?" I heard a voice full of surprise. "Why?"

I cocked my head up to find Sonal standing near our table with a surprised look on her face.

"Haven't you heard? The whole class knows it." Harpreet said.

"What? Then why don't I?" she looked so shocked.

"How would we know?" Harpreet asserted.

"Right," Sonal tightened her grip on the commercial studies book in her hand as she pondered. I eyed her as she looked around, as if looking for something. I watched her as she walked over to a table next to ours.

"Rohan? Mr. Mehta, is looking for you." she said standing beside the guy. I know him but have never talked. He is in the same class as us but in the science section.

"Why?" he questioned.

"I don't know. Go ask him yourself."

He seemed confused as he stood up and started picking up his stuff. As soon as he left his seat, Sonal pulled his chair to our table and sat between me and Palak.

"Why are you moving? Did you do something?" she looked at me suspiciously.

"What?! No." I frowned.

For some reason, Harpreet found this very amusing. She tried to control her giggle as she said, "Her mom got a job in San Francisco so she's sending her away to her sister's house."

"Isn't your mom a professor?" Sonal questioned.

"Yeah, so?"

"Nothing, just confirming. So, where is your aunts house?"

"Hazelynn."

"What?! That's too far. You'll have to travel at least two hours everyday to get to school. How are you gonna manage?"