Sparks Of Hatred

8. She Deserves To Die

Alice was sitting by the river alone. Her mind was immersed in the events that happened last night at Starlight High School. It was not a fancy party that she was thinking about, but an event that involved her, namely about Hilda's death.

Alice currently has two conflicting feelings. First, she felt sorry for Hilda, who was now dead, after all, they had been friends before a conflict attacked them, a conflict that made Alice finally hate Hilda.

Alice's overt hatred for Hilda is, of course, because Hilda ruined her good name by accusing her of stealing her cell phone, which was a lie that made Alice hated by everyone. Alice knew that Hilda didn't do that for no apparent reason, but because she started it first. She told a lot of lies, especially since she had stolen Hilda's expensive lipstick. That's where their animosity started. But still, according to Alice, it was not appropriate for Hilda to humiliate her in front of everyone. So she received scorn, ridicule, and hatred for being accused of stealing a cell phone, which she had not done at all.

That's what made Alice feel hatred towards Hilda. Zana too, actually, but Alice's level of hatred was higher towards Hilda. To her, they were both fake friends, traitors, and she didn't regret breaking the bond of friendship with them, no matter if now she was alone and friendless.

Going back to the beginning, the only feeling Alice had for Hilda was that, in her opinion, Hilda deserved that death after what she did to her. It really cost her a lot.

Alice smiled wryly. Her hatred for Hilda was much higher than the pity she felt for her former friend.

"You deserved that death, Hilda," she said softly as she tossed a pebble into the middle of the gently flowing river.

Alice certainly felt the emptiness in her heart. Now, she felt alone. In the sense of being completely alone. She wasn't close to her parents, and now she had no friends. Hilda and Zana were not considered her friends anymore. Especially Hilda, who is now dead. Oh shit, Alice doesn't have a boyfriend. She is single now. Thomas has left and doesn't want to come back to her, but even so, she still thinks that Thomas is hers. She doesn't want to break up with him.

And one thing that makes Alice upset is that Thomas is now close to Angie, whom she considers to have really become her enemy. She hates Angie, she really hates the girl because, according to her, Angie has taken Thomas from her arms. She couldn't even deny the fact that there were signs that they were going to be together. They would date. Angie will be his girlfriend.

The thought of that upset Alice to no end. She growled, her jaw clenched, and one hand even clenched into a tight fist. In a seething rage, she picked up a large rock and threw it into the middle of the river, creating a huge, powerful splash. She was too angry to remember that Angie was about to snatch Thomas, her boyfriend.

"Hey girl, didn't you see that I was fishing?"

Alice gasped softly. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the person who had spoken to her. A man was sitting on the other side of the river, pointing at her in annoyance for making a scene. The fish, of course, immediately ran away with the impact of the stone she had sunk in the river.

Upon receiving the rebuke, Alice felt her face heat up. Then, she rose to her feet and chose to leave with wide strides. Her current goal was to go to her house.

"I won't let Thomas fall into your arms, Angie. Just watch, I won't stay silent. Thomas is only mine." Alice said to the blowing wind, which blew away her long blonde hair.

Her chest rose and fell as she was still emotionally overwhelmed by what she was thinking. Everything made her angry. She was upset with everything that came into her life.

And when she got home, Alice was even more disgusted when she had to deal with her mom.

"Alice, I was just..."

"I'm not in the mood to be bothered, get out of my way!" Alice said sharply and harshly to Meg, her mom, who was currently standing in front of her.

There was no sign that Meg would move and give way, Alice chuckled and pushed her mom aside, then she stomped into her room. As was her habit, she slammed the door so hard that the whole house shook. She did that too often, making Meg sometimes afraid that the house would collapse at any moment.

Alice threw herself onto the bed. Then Hilda came back into her mind.

Alice felt tired, to be honest. "I don't regret doing that to her, she deserves to die," she whispered to herself.

***

"Hey, what brings you here?" Angie asked the person standing in front of her. He stood in front of the door, dressed in all black, making Angie raise one eyebrow.

"Come with me."

"Where?" Angie stared at the boy in front of her. The guest who came to her house was Thomas. With his sudden arrival without any prior notice, Angie was obviously surprised.

"Hilda is buried today, we should go there. I came to pick you up, I don't want to go alone."

The explanation that slipped from Thomas's lips already explained why he was currently wearing all black. Angie didn't respond immediately, she was just silent, thinking.

"I know it's sudden, but I don't think there's any harm in us coming. You weren't close to Hilda, but I'm sure Hilda would be happy if more people came to take her to her final resting place. I wasn't close to her either, but you know that she used to be Alice's friend, so..."

"Yeah, I know." Angie immediately cut Thomas off. She waved her hand, then smiled faintly. What Thomas meant, of course, was that Alice used to be his girlfriend, so Thomas indirectly met Hilda quite often because Hilda was Alice's friend. He did say that he wasn't close to Hilda, but Thomas's position was much closer to Hilda than to Angie at the moment.

In fact, it seems that Hilda might even hate Angie. Angie couldn't explain why she had such thoughts.

"So?" Thomas looked at Angie again, waiting for her to answer.

"Yeah, I'll come with you."

"Good. I'll wait for you."

"We're not on a time crunch, are we?" Angie asked curiously. If time was tight, she intended to quickly change clothes without much thought.

"We have thirty minutes," Thomas replied.

Angie nodded in understanding. "Alright, do you want to come in and chat with my dad while I get ready to change? Or maybe you want to wait outside?"

"Sure, I'd better go inside, I still have my manners. I have to meet with your dad."

Angie's smile was etched on her lips. Then she opened the door even wider. "Please come in."

"Thanks."

Angie and Thomas walked next to each other into the house.

"Dad, it's Thomas," Angie said to her dad, who was watching television.

Angie's words made Roger take his eyes off the television he was watching. He looked at Angie and Thomas in turn, then smiled broadly.

"Hello Roger, we meet again." Thomas greeted Angie's dad politely, his hand waving.

"Oh, Thomas, you're back here again, what a pleasant surprise. Come, sit next to me." Roger looked excited and enthusiastic as he engaged Thomas in conversation, then his gaze shifted to Angie. "Angie, please make your boyfriend a drink."

Angie was immediately taken aback by her dad's words. She was about to say, or rather deny, that Thomas was not her boyfriend, but her tongue was suddenly stiff, not to mention her dad had already said more.

"Whatever, Thomas must be thirsty. What would you like to drink, Thomas? Tea? Coffee? Or maybe something cold? Just say the word."

Angie let out a long sigh. She had no chance to speak.

"Ah, don't bother, I just came to pick Angie up. I—"

"Oh, I see." Roger nodded while snapping his fingers. He couldn't hide the happy look on his face. "You want to go on a date, go ahead. I won't forbid you, go anywhere that makes you smile and happy. I allow you to bring my daughter. Just one thing, you have to take care of her. Okay?"

"Dad!" Angie immediately rebuked Roger. Her voice was high and shrill.

"What?"

"We're not going on a date, okay?" Angie sighed softly, then she continued, "Thomas picked me up because we're going to Hilda's funeral. She's buried today."

Thomas grimaced softly. And after nodding to confirm that Angie's words weren't wrong, he added, "That's right, that's why I'm here. And thank you for your offer, but I don't need a drink. I don't want to be a bother, I'm not thirsty anyway."

"And I need to get changed," Angie exclaimed, then she turned around and moved with nimble steps towards her room without listening to the response from her dad or Thomas. In her opinion, her words were clear enough for them to understand.

Angie got ready and polished her face with makeshift makeup. She tightened her hairband before going out. Then, when she looked in the mirror and made sure that her appearance was as good as she wanted it to be, she walked out of her room.

"Thomas, let's go, I'm ready."

Thomas looked at Angie, blinked his eyes, and stared at her for a long time. Angie didn't want to be big-headed or overconfident, but the look on his face said that he was mesmerized by her appearance. Angie was only wearing simple clothes, black like him, and she had only lightly applied makeup to her face. Nothing exaggerated.

The look Thomas gave her made Angie hold her breath, she didn't know why he did that. What confused her even more was that her heart was suddenly beating very fast.

Thomas then came to his senses, nodded briefly to Angie, before facing Roger.

"Well, it was nice chatting with you, but it looks like Angie and I have to go now."

"Yeah, I understand. Off you go, just don't forget to be careful on the road." Roger smiled at the end of his sentence.

"Sure, I'll keep your words in mind."

"We can continue chatting another time."

"I look forward to it." Thomas replied, then he stood up and approached Angie.

After that, they said goodbye to Roger, before finally exiting the house together.

Roger's smile continued to spread even though Angie and Thomas had disappeared from his sight. He giggled softly.

Then, shaking his head, Roger muttered, "My daughter has grown up."