Chapter 2

Curious fingertips on dangerously soft skin.

                                              -Unknown.

|I R I S|

I ran faster than I ever did for my life, passing the large trees touching the sky I stopped when the hotel came in my view.

Turning around, I looked for him but there was no sign of the monster running after my life. Still, not letting my guards down, I immediately rushed inside the hotel and locked my room once I was inside it.

Resting my back against the door, I panted everything that happened just a few minutes ago, flashing in front of my eyes.

His dangerous grey eyes holding the coldness of the world and those blue eyes begging one second to be saved and looking black at me with nothing in the the next second.

My heart beat is racing like crazy, refusing to calm down and give me relief. I found myself struggling to breath as if someone's invisible fingers are wrapped around my throat squeezing the life out of me and I can't do anything about it.

Helpless blue eyes.

Lots of Blood.

Terrifying grey eyes.

Gun shot.

Lifeless blue eyes.

Those 5 things flashing again and again in my head and I fell on my knees on the floor, holding my head between my hands begging mentally to escape these thoughts and visuals.

Tears streamed down my face without any limit, without any curb. I cried to the extent that I started hiccuping and soft sobs left my lips again and again until I went unconscious on the cold floor under me.

The terror in my mind overpowered my ability to not feel the coldness my body soaked from the chilly floor.

---

"When did you returned last night?" Tori asked when I was packing my bag to leave the place as soon as possible. I woke up early in the morning with the nightmares of last night. My body still starts shivering whenever the memory of last might hit my mind. My eyes gets glossy and I wanted to do nothing else than curling up in a ball and cry my heart out.

But I composed myself in front of Tori. I am not ready to talk about what happened last night. Specially, not to Tori. She gets scared easily amd I am not planning on passing my terror to her.

"Iris!" She snapped her fingers in front of my face bringing me back into the world of reality.

"What's wrong?" She asked noticing the absent - minded look on my face.

"Nothing." I lied, flatly, while a thousand of thoughts rushed in my mind. The screams I want to let out are eating my brain from inside, giving me a headache.

"Iris, You-" Tori was cut off mid sentence by the announcement that asked all the students to gather in the hall.

Quickly, I closed the zip of the bag before Tori and I headed out of my temporary room with our bags, gathering other 29 students in the hall.

Everyone was chatting in the hall and the noise didn't helped with the headache I was already feeling. I stood without saying a word trying to stay with the people surrounding me and not wander in the thoughts of last night.

"Good morning, students." Miss Clara, the head of our group greeted and all the students greeted back in unison except me. I am too tired to speak or listen.

"Time to get back to your studies." She said with a big smile resting on her face as she directed her words to every student present in the hall.

She started counting the number of students present in the hall. Once she came to the end, there was a confusing frown on her face.

"There are only 29 students." She stated, confused, as she looked around to see if she missed anyone. But she didn't. Everyone in the hall started counted again and all of them finished at 29.

"Who is missing?" Miss Clara asked and students looked around them to notice the absence of that one particular student.

This one incident made me realise how people don't even notice their friend's presence until they are needed to be noticed.

I wonder when will the presence of that boy without blue eyes would be needed. I wonder if they will even find out the body of him. I hope not. I don't want anyone to see what I saw.

"Ray is missing." One of the boy shouted from the crowd and everyone agreed with him.

Ray?

I think I've heard this name somewhere.

But where?

Time to pay, Ray.

The words rang louder in my head to remind me of the incident last night.

Ray!

So, the boy who died in front of me was Ray. My classmate.

"Where is he?" Miss Clara asked, annoyance pretty evident in her voice.

"He went out last night and didn't returned." Another boy from the crowd answered with a loud voice to be heard.

"Boys now a days." She muttered, annoyingly, rubbing her temple with her fore fingers.

The boy she is annoyed by right now, is not breathing anymore. And, his lifeless eyes came back to haunt my reality.

I hold back the tears in my eyes as I fight between the options of exposing the scene that unfolded in front of me last night or should I keep my mouth shut for the sake of another life. My life.

"I can't deal with this right now." She announced with a hint of irritation in her voice.

I witnessed a murder. The murder of the boy who once studied in the same class as me. The boy who was just same as my age. The boy who begged me to save him. The boy who is being misunderstood right now, just because everyone thinks that people who don't obey are rebellious and vainglorious.

What if it was me instead of him? Just the bare thought of being on the receiving end of that bullet sent shivers down my spine.

What if it was me who wanted to be saved? The flashbacks of facing death so close from last might hit me amd sweat droplets formed on my forehead.

What if someone was talking ill when I was dead? I would've wanted to scream to defend myself. I would wanted to be remembered for good. Not mis-assumptions.

I looked around the people surrounding me now. The people who aren't going to end my life. The people I am safe with. He wouldn't kill me between these people. He can't. I ran last night and left him behind, forever.

I gathered the courage to speak out the truth and took a deep breath before starting, "I kno-" my mouth clamped shut and my eyes widened in shock, when a very familiar voice reached my ears.

"Sup, little cat." I heard him whisper in my ear from behind. His voice laced with nothing but danger, froze me in my tracks.