THE SECRET OF DEATH

seven

It didn't take long for Alexa Brown's figure to get to her dorm room.  After she opened the door and locked it again she walked slowly towards her bed with her cell phone still to her ear.  She enjoyed the voice on the other end, her voice was soft and mixed with worry, making Alexa smile and feel a pinch of longing flowing in the recesses of her heart.  She actually wanted to tell the strange incident that happened to her earlier, but she thought again that if she said it, she would make her mother worry too much about her.  So for now she had to keep it to herself.

Alexa lay down on the bed while placing her cell phone to her left earlobe.  She really didn't talk much because for some reason she ran out of discussion when her mother gave an extraordinary speech there.  She admitted, she really didn't like it when the woman grumbled, but in situations like this she really missed her nagging voice.

"Already?"  Alexa screamed later, when she didn't hear the woman let out her complaints.  Starting to ask about Alexa's condition to asking Alexa to gossip about her aristocratic friend who is remarrying.  "Uh, okay. I'll call Mom another time," after getting a response from there, she didn't hear anything else.  She kept the cell phone away from her ear.  Without changing her uniform, she pulled a bolster and hugged it tightly.

At that moment her eyes caught the things that Sean Thompson brought into her room.  Her black bag is on the study chair while her books are neatly arranged on the table.  Actually she doubted Margaret Clark's words earlier, but when she found evidence, she was able to deny herself has opinion about Sean, who she considered arrogant.

Alexa scratched her head that didn't itch and still looked straight at her things until she got bored.  When her eyes felt heavy and were about to close, suddenly her brain returned to playing the terrible incident that happened to her this afternoon.  This made her eyes widen for a moment.

Alexa hugged her bolster tightly and followed her brain as if turning something that Alexa had to see.  She remembered the look in the girl's eyes earlier, she remembered when the girl approached her, she remembered her hair being grabbed and the pain was still felt up to that moment and she also remembered that the book the girl had torn to pieces seemed familiar.

The book that the girl possessed earlier kept on flashing in her brain, as if she had seen the book before but didn't know where.  And the girl's behavior seemed to remind her of someone.  Her forehead wrinkled for a moment then she took the pillow away from her embrace and she looked at the ceiling of her room as if she was looking for an answer to that.

*****

Alexa had woken up from a good night's sleep a few hours ago, now she is sitting on a wooden chair in front of her study table, before she sits on the wooden chair she first pulls her away from the chair's initial position and is pulled in front of the glass window with the curtains  already uncovered.  She looked at the river below and the trees that looked shady, and far from the creek was a forest that was dense and impenetrable to the eye.

Butterflies danced happily over the flowers on the banks of the river that grew beautifully.  The flowers are blooming even though it's not spring, they are red, blue, yellow and purple.  There is also a trumpet flower with a fat stem.

On the bank of the river there is a deer drinking water.  Alexa was stunned for a moment while chewing the bread that was her breakfast, her breakfast was taken from the front door which was the distribution for dormitory students.  She was silent while reaching for a box of milk that came with the bread.  She sucked up the milk and placed it on the windowsill.

She saw a deer directly, this was the best experience she had ever had.  She could see a wild deer who was now drinking water on the bank of the river without being disturbed, not because she had just seen a deer directly in her life but, she saw a wild deer not a deer in a cage waiting for visitors to feed her through the gaps in the cage.  .

Alexa wondered if the school kept animals but after she saw the many birds coming from the opaque forest she could deduce that the deer probably came from deep in the forest and came out of there to get food.

After she finished her breakfast, she returned her chair to its original place.  She grabbed her bag that was on the study table and looked in the mirror for a moment then she saw her reflection in the mirror and smiled.  But a moment later her forehead wrinkled, she could see the bed beside her bed had not changed one bit.  Is she not coming back again, thought Alexa.  Alexa shrugged and smoothed her tie, she slowly smiled.  Showing a smile that hides something that is trying not to show.

After putting on her shoes she turned the doorknob and closed the door, she didn't forget to lock it either.  She walked away from her bedroom door, unlike yesterday when she decided to go to class early in the morning.  Now she decided to go to her class at seven in the morning.  Along leaving the door of her room she returned the smiles of other room occupants while contemplating thinking about something.

She tried to serve people while racking her brains, figuring out what was making her so angry.

Just when she was about to go down the winding stairs, she suddenly stopped. She snorted in annoyance while patting her head.  That's right, she forgot something to make her angry.  She turned and headed for her room.

"I thought you were going to class already."  Said a curly haired girl with black skin who was currently tidying up her uniform and putting her room key into her bag.

Alexa replied while opening her room, "it was like that. But, on the way I think I forgot something."  Then she smiled followed by the bedroom door that was already open, she pushed the brown door.

"Then I'll go first."  The girl said and left Alexa when Alexa gave a nod and disappeared in the doorway of her room.

Without closing the door she walked into the room with hurried steps and cursed herself for being forgetful.  She looked for something that had been forgotten in her desk drawer but she didn't find it at all, until her eyes caught what she was looking for on the side of a large window not far from her study table.

Slowly she took the object and was ready to put it in the bag but where did her intention come from so that her attention was diverted out the window.  She blinked her eyes for a moment and saw something floating on the surface of the murky river water, even though she clearly remembered that last night it didn't rain at all and this morning when she had breakfast the river water was so clear that butterflies danced around it.

She suddenly shook violently, her throat constricted, the hand that had been ready to reach for her pen was now gone.  She felt like she wanted to scream but her voice suddenly disappeared, only a small step back she could take, she backed away until she really didn't see the scenery outside the big window.

She closed the door forcibly until a loud sound was created between the door and the frame, students who were ready to go to class and some who were ready to lock the door now gasped.  They found Alexa violently closing the door and a furious face showing that something had happened to the new student.

"Someone died.." she said in a somewhat hysterical voice and has lips trembled.  "Someone died!!!"  this time Alexa's voice was faintly heard, several other students had heard Alexa's voice panicking and some said that Alexa was just looking for a sensation, and some even said Alexa had gone mad.

As if she didn't want to waste much time, Alexa ran into her room without locking it.  She ran as far as she could from her room.

Alexa went down the stairs until she was shot with cynical glances several times for knocking several people who were going down the stairs.

"Miss, someone died in the river!"  Alexa explained suddenly to the hairy woman in braids and clothes in harmony with her makeup.  Alexa's body trembled at the words.

Mrs.  Helena, the woman's name, took a step back from Alexa who suddenly said that.  Mrs.  Helena took a deep breath while gently holding Alexa's shoulder, "Miss Brown, try saying what you just said," Mrs. Helena asked casually, her round eyes narrowed as she looked at Alexa who was covered in cold sweat.

Alexa lifted her face, looked at Mrs. Helena who was taller than her, she tried to control herself but to no avail.  "Miss, for God's sake, I saw a dead person floating in the river behind the hostel!"  repeated Alexa whose tone of voice was suppressed.

Mrs. Helena was silent for a moment, lowered her hand from Alexa's shoulder who was scared even Mrs. Helena saw a tear on the side of Alexa's eye which was like a crescent moon.  Mrs. Helana stared at all corners of the school trying to find someone, Alexa didn't know exactly who the woman was looking for but for that moment she was really scared beyond fear when she was terrorized by the possessed girl yesterday.

"Someone died," Alexa said while biting her finger nails, she really didn't expect that if she saw a corpse in person, she could see a corpse through television or pictures on the internet.  She said what she saw was a corpse because of a figure floating down the river wearing a uniform like herself and corn yellow hair typical of westerners and pale white skin that was swollen with water.  "I'm not lying Miss," added Alexa who was still under the pressure of fear.

A few minutes later an old man with lots of keys hanging beside his shabby brown leather ring approached Alexa Brown and Mrs. Helena who was indeed calling him.

"Sir, Miss Brown is shocked to see a female student drowning in the river behind the dormitory, would you please take us there."  She asked Mr.Albert flatly then glanced at Alexa Brown who was still bowed silently.

Mr.Albert also glanced at Alexa Brown, then without answering Albert walked first and was followed by Mrs.Helena who guided Alexa Brown, who now doesn't bite her finger nails.

Alexa immediately realized from her paranoia, she now followed Mr. Albert and Mrs. Helena who led her to the river which is located behind the girls' dormitory.

Alexa's heart beat began to beat irregularly, for some reason she could hear her own breathing because the atmosphere in the halls she passed was very quiet and somewhat stuffy.

The cobbled path that Alexa passed was partly broken, wild gardens grew on the sides of the alley she passed, a few minutes later she could see the light that began to enter her brown pupils, and trees began to appear everywhere even the smell of the fragrant flowers blooming could be smelled.  alone.

Alexa began to feel her heartbeat, which was gradually getting normal. Occasionally she stole glances at Mrs. Helena and Mr. Albert, who had been silent since earlier.

Then Mr.  Albert stopped from his steps between the wild bushes and a large tree on the river bank, "Miss Alexa, is that really your dormitory?"  asked Mr. Albert in his characteristic flat old voice.

Alexa glanced at the large window with the curtain that had been pulled up above according to Mr. Albert's view.  Alexa squinted for a moment to confirm that the window belonged to her dorm room, she used one hand to block the sunlight that was blinding her view before she said "that's right sir, that's my room. And the corpse is in..." Alexa's hand ready to point  the corpse she had seen from above.

Mrs. Helena and Mr. Albert also glanced at Alexa's hand which seemed to be showing something.

Alexa's hand shows the direction of a calm and clear river, flowers are still blooming beautifully, beautiful butterflies are flying here and there, birdsong is a song to entertain the inhabitants of the calm river estuary.

Alexa's hand was lowered, "impossible.." said Alexa with a face that didn't expect it, "I saw it, it's impossible!!!"  Alexa was silent without blinking looking at the calm river.

Alexa was sure that the sight she saw was something real, she was sure.  Earlier when she was going to take a pen by the window she saw someone floating in the river and the river water she saw before was murky and some of the beautiful plants on the edge of the pool were broken, but?  What did she just discover.

The river is calm with clear water and even she can see the riverbed and some fish swimming in it, the various flowers that she saw damaged are now back to the beauty she first saw.  Alexa shook her head, impossible.  She would definitely have trouble sleeping at night considering the strange incident earlier, she could swear above all that she had actually seen a female student die.

"I swear, I saw her! That girl her corn yellow hair and a uniform like me!"  said Alexa, looking at Mr. Albert and Mrs. Helena alternately.

Alexa walked slowly towards the edge of the river, once again she only saw the state of the river like the first time she saw it.

"Miss Brown, I don't know what you were thinking last night, but you can see for yourself nothing, and now you missed ten minutes of your class, and I'm late for class."  Mrs. Helena spoke up then glanced at the watch on her wrist.  "So can we get out of here and I think you have a great imagination."

Alexa didn't pay attention to Mrs. Helena's words there, she was just trying to make her brain calm with what she had just experienced.  She herself couldn't say that what she saw was a delusion because she was sure she could distinguish between delusion and reality.

Alexa swept her eyes all over the place, she wanted to prove that what she saw was real, not a blob or something.  And the most important thing is that Alexa doesn't feel like it was a joke.

"Albert, check out along the river there and see if Miss Brown is telling the truth."  Mrs.Helena's order to the old Mr.Albert.

Without answering Mr. Albert following Mrs. Helena's order.  With faltering breaths she walked down the river with teetering steps, has long hair which was white and mixed with black was not lifted at all by the wind that blew.  A few minutes later Mr. Albert began to disappear because she was blocked by tall wild grass and several large trees on the banks of the river.

Alexa was silent for a moment, playing her memory.  She tried to calm herself from her panic, she panicked because she was afraid of being blamed for falsifying events even though what she saw earlier was real.

"I didn't see a girl floating but I found a dead deer on the bank of the river and it looks like it died a few days ago and broke its leg."

Alexa Brown snapped out of her imagination when Albert suddenly said he had found a dead deer.  Alexa frowned, deer?

What's more, why did Albert find a deer not like what she saw earlier, or did the old man lie so that he could truly be said to be a mad student.  "I've never seen a dead deer, I did see one earlier but the deer looked really fine."  Alexa interrupts Mrs. Helena who is about to say something.

Again she received cynical glances from the two of them, Alexa ignored the glances.

Mrs. Helena looked at her watch again then stared flatly at Alexa who was still alert with her stance, "alright."  She exhaled heavily, "you better choose, stay here or go back to study."  She asked Alexa who slowly approached her.  "But even though you want to be here, you just have to go back to your class! Your parents didn't entrust you to me for this, they want you to study, not to become an imagination."

Alexa Brown looked down and clenched her fists tightly, she snorted softly in her chest that this was the first time she didn't get the trust of people.  She bit her lower lip slowly, trying to hold back the pain in her chest because she felt she was being accused of something she had never done.

"Albert!"  shrieked Mrs. Helena before she really walked away.

Mr.Albert lifted his face, "yes ma'm!"

"Take care of that deer, I don't want any kids to complain about seeing a dead deer or something."  Said Mrs. Helena and she glanced at Alexa who looked down.

"Okay."

Mrs.  Helena took a deep breath, "Alexa Brown, go back to your class!"

*****

Alexa Brown closed the classroom door slowly, then eyes began to fall on her.  She looked down slowly at the bald man sitting on a chair not far from where she was standing, "sorry for my delay."  Alexa said who had not raised her face.

The bald man fixed the position of his glasses, glanced at Alexa for a moment then returned to his monitor screen.  "Sit down!"  asked the bald man.

Then Alexa walked towards her seat.

She walked among the students who were muttering her name, even she could hear if she was said to have gone mad.

Alexa really wanted to get away from this place or shout to everyone in the class that she wasn't lying or delusional about what happened this morning.  But she restrained herself, she pulled a chair slowly and put her bag on the bag hook that was on the left side of her desk, and she sat enjoying the breeze that pierced her ears.  The wind brought thousands of words of blasphemy from the people around it.

She opened the package book page that was in the corner of her desk according to what was written on the blackboard.  She also took out a notebook and she will take a pen.

Her hands fumbled for her bag and pencil case.  Alexa snorted in annoyance, what was wrong with her so that she had bad luck two days in a row and now she is in a precarious situation, she didn't pick up her pen at the window earlier.

Alexa wanted to just go home and get away from this place as soon as possible.  She doesn't really remember when she got the bad luck streak.  She paused for a moment and smiled dryly.

A second later her hand took out a black pen from its drawer.  She relaxed again that she had luck even for a moment, luckily she remembered that yesterday she saw a pen in her drawer.  Even if it's not her but at least she will wear it for a while, and maybe just for today.

Alexa pulled her notebook and didn't forget to press the pen head and started dancing the pen over the blank paper.

 As long as she was doing the assignment, nothing made her worry that she had forgotten about yesterday's incident, earlier, and the murmurs of the other students to her. As long as she was doing her assignments her brain was really thin, she kept writing - writing until the last question.

She felt something was wrong with her, but she quickly cut it off. There's nothing wrong, Alexa told herself.

 Alexa stood up from her chair and walked slowly confidently to the bald man's table there, who had been shouting for the students to collect their assignments but all of them answered in unison that their task was not finished yet. And now Alexa Brown, who doesn't follow half of the material, stands beside the bald man's desk and puts her assignment book there. And Alexa was the first to finish.

 Instantly the bald man frowned, took off his glasses and glanced at Alexa alternately with his assignment book.

 Alexa just stood relaxed and then behind her another student kept her assignment book in front of the bald man relaxed and returned to her seat. While the other students cast alternate glances, who knows what that look means to Alexa, she will never find out.

 After Alexa saw the bald man nodded she smiled dryly and returned to her position.

 "Surely she answered perfunctorily." A female student whispered in a low voice but Alexa could hear the words.

 Alexa snorted softly, she folded her arms across her chest and threw her eyes out the window while playing with her pen in her right hand. She smiled, for a moment.

 At least i have something that gossiper doesn't, she muttered to herself.

 Her gaze for a moment was directed at the pen she used earlier, she frowned. "Violin L" she read. She looked closely at the pen, and tried to find something in her brain.

 So far Alexa her never heard of the name Violin L and she also remembers that in her class there is no one named Violin, and she is also not sure if the pen her an owner. Because since yesterday no one her looked for it, and besides, the pen looks worn out because the body of the pen her been scratched and the pen's hook, which should be gold in color, has turned white.

 Alexa put the pen into the drawer, and told herself that she would keep it. Until the pen is no longer left behind.

 After ten minutes the students were competing to collect their assignment books in front of the bald man. The bald man paid no heed to the students pushing to turn in their assignments. Her eyes are only fixed on one book while massaging her temples, and sometimes she writes on a piece of paper filled with various formulas.

 And from the distance, Sean Thompson looked at Alexa, who had been staring out the window earlier.

 *****