Paige's Club

Chapter 13. Murder In The Bathroom

The girls trembled, gasped, and screamed in terror, astonished by what they saw.

Simone was lying lifeless on the toilet floor with blood streaming out of her nostrils and mouth. Her eyes were gone and her left cheek was deeply injured and bleeding profusely. 

Sobbing, the girls covered their lips with their palms, feeling dumbfounded.

Lexie squatted so that she took a good look at her. " Oh, Simone. W…what happened?!. Oh, my f*ckin' god!" 

"Lexie," Leanna's voice was quivering. "We need to get help. We need to call someone…"

"This is unbelievable, Leanna. We are the only people here. What are we gonna say? That she was murdered when she entered the loo? Who would believe that bullsh*t, Leanna, who?" Lexie wiped her tears with her fingers.

"Oh god! Oh god! What should we f*ckin' do?" Leanna was trembling terribly.

"We need to get the f*ck outta here before someone finds us…"

"What?!" Leanna exclaimed. Lexie was already standing. "We can't leave Simone here…"

"Leanna," Lexie gripped her wrists. "No one is saying we should leave her or whatever holy sh*ts ya tryna show. We are talking about ourselves. Us, Leanna. If you try to help, you might end up in jail. Don't you feel me?!

"Running will worsen the situation," Leanna said. "I'm gonna call someone."

"Damn you!" Lexie said, glaring at her, tightening her grip on Leanna's wrists.

"Someone help! Help!" Leanna called out loudly, trying to pull away from Lexie."Let go! Your hands are too rough!

"Don't do this…"

"I said let go! Let go, Lexie, I'm ain't kidding right now!" She forcefully swung her arms and Lexie lost balance.

Leanna had already leaped a few steps away when Lexie pulled her pink hair hard and she squirmed in pain. Regardless, Lexie held onto the hair. "What are you doing?! You're hurting me, Lexie! Leave my hair!" Leanna's face flushed red while trying hard to take Lexie's hands off, but it appeared Lexie meant this. "Are you f*cking kidding me right now!"

Leanna veered around, gasping in pain, and pulling Lexie's silky curly black hair at once. She did that with all her strength and vein stripe on Lexie's forehead. Face flushing red, Lexie let out a shaky whimper, as tears slid down her eyes.

The girls were pulling each other's hair, panting, before Leanna fastened a terrible blow to Lexie's left eye. 

Groaning, Lexie staggered a few steps backward, placing her both palms on her left eye. She fell on her knees, face down, blinded by the profuse tears that welled up her hurting eye. 

Leanna started walking swiftly toward the passage door with both hands on her flushed aching forehead.

Turning her head to the toilet, Lexie saw a small bloodstained glistening knife beside Simone's head, then she grabbed it and got up.

***

In a few seconds, a group of five girls entered the passage and were startled by seeing Leanna bleeding profusely on her stomach and mouth. She muttered incoherent words and with both hands on her stomach, she was groaning in pain. 

•°•°•°•°

Driving at a high pace, Lexie was breathing shakily, feeling choked. Her grip was firm on the steering and she felt her body twitching horribly. She was trying her hardest but couldn't take Leanna off her mind. Tonight was a whole mess.

And God knows she never meant to hurt Leanna.

Each time she blinked, her left eye hurt excruciatingly and profuse tears were still sliding down her left cheek. And as oncoming cars were blazing their headlights across her face, she had a burning sensation in her eye.

She glanced at the small bloodstained knife on the passenger seat. That knife was extremely sharp. She had been carried away by fear and didn't think where the knife came from.

Yes, she saw this knife beside Simone's head. But, how did it come about? She was sure the unknown murderer had used it to kill Simone. For the life of her, she couldn't just imagine who that person was. Damn! This was the weirdest scene she had encountered in her whole life. Was the person invisible or something?

She sighed, feeling weary. What happened was way beyond imagination, and guessing stuff she wasn't even sure about gave her a serious headache.

When she glanced at the knife again, she remembered how slippery it was when she had stabbed Leanna, and how Leanna had cried. 

Lexie grabbed the knife and flung it outside the passenger window.

Once she arrived home, she turned on the light in the car and glanced in the mirror, sitting up so that she viewed her eyes properly. Damn! She's got a puffy black blood-shot left eye right now. Leanna had struck her drastically and unexpectedly.

She didn't want her parents to see her like this, so she inwardly said a brief prayer as she grasped the doorknob. Hesitantly stepping into the living room, she was relieved by not seeing anyone. It was late, they must have gone to bed.

But the feeling of being in trouble was floating in her head.

***

Damn! What has she done?! What will happen to Leanna? And what will Leanna say about the situation during interviews?

In London, matters like this don't take long to get reported on TV, social media, and newspapers. And, of course, whosoever is involved must be interviewed. She didn't think there was a CV camera there. After all, it was a passage to the restroom.

These thoughts were floating in Lexie's head while lying on her bed. 

If she had listened to Leanna, things wouldn't have been so messed up. 

~~~~

In a couple of days, Lexie was watching TV in the living room when a reporting program started. Heart slamming violently, she steadied her ice-blue gaze curiously on the TV.

To her greatest horror, they reported the case. Leanna had been admitted to a hospital while Lexie Lane was declared wanted. Her picture was displayed publicly on the screen.

For a second Lexie ran out of breath. Her heart had leaped to her throat and was about to swoop out of her trembling mouth.

Lexie was like a fish outta water as she was going to have her parents on her neck like bones. She can't even imagine how to face them and the series of questions they would throw against her.

God! She can't f*ckin do this!

*•°*

Once she got into her room, she saw an envelope on her bed. Raising a brow, she nervously picked it up and read through it.

Lexie, 

I can help you through this if you like. What do you think?

***

Damn! How would she handle this? Lexie thought, sitting on her bed. She was curious, wondering if her parents had heard the news.

It was evening but her parents were not back yet.

"There is just one way to conquer this." A strange female voice vibrated Lexie's eardrums and she almost died flinching.

Gasping, she turned to the direction of the voice but saw no one. "W…who is…is…it?"

"Let me in…"

Upon hearing that, she turned and flinched as she saw a lady in a long black gown standing right in front of her. The lady was looking down at her but her face was obscure as it was framed by her massive hair.

For a second, Lexie blinked, thinking she was dreaming, but it was real. Her brows curved in a frown. "Who're you and how did you come into my room without even knocking?" She lowered her gaze and noticed the lady was hiding her hands at her back.

"I am what I am, Leanna." The lady said. "Your parents are disappointed in you. Your sisters hate you already. Everyone in London has heard the news."

"But," Lexie said. " In a logical sense, I'm not in the wrong here. It wasn't my fault."

"You're going to jail for attempted murder. Matter of fact, there was a CV camera in that passage."

"What!!"

"Yes," The lady smirked. "Alas, no one will hear you out. There is no benefit of doubt for you."

"What about Simone's murder?"

"The camera showed that you are the murder"

Instantly sitting up, Lexie was sure her heart had skipped a beat. She wanted to speak but couldn't find her voice.

"You have a will of steel." The lady said. "I will guide you through all of this mess …on one condition."

The lady stretched both hands, having that same knife Lexie had flung out the window the night she stabbed Leanna, and Lexie’s lip dropped in astonishment. The knife was still bloodstained.

"Take it." The lady said.

Perplexed, Lexie's gaze upon the lady was spectating, and then she lowered her gaze upon the glistening knife in the lady's hand, wondering how this strange lady knew about all this.

*•°••°°•*