Shadows

Chapter 7

The wind, that normally howls loudly, died down gradually. The birds that always sing their calming tunes suddenly stopped, and the never-ending chatter of the students, sitting down to eat vanished, until all that could be heard, or rather not heard, was the silence around us.

Blake was frowning and he looked like he was having an internal debate going on, but maybe he wasn't, who knows? Definitely not me. I haven't known him long enough to be able to tell what's going on inside that his mind of his by just glancing at his expressions.

However, the frown was quickly replaced by a haunted pained look as if he was recalling something he didn't want to remember, and then the haunted look was replaced by a blank face that truly hid away all his emotions.

"Well, the police said that they were some signs of struggle in the dorm room. The window was broken, so they assume that she fought whoever that person was before breaking the window and escaping through it," he says, looking far away at the trees behind me. "But it's all just assumptions. No one but Alex and maybe her roommate knows what happened that night." He said impassively.

That's new. A roommate? Why did I not know this crucial piece of information? I'm betting you that she had something to do with Alexis's disappearance. Isn't that what always happens in all the thriller novels and movies?

The deadly stab comes from the closest person to you.

"Her roommate? I didn't know she had one. Where did she go?" I try to ask without seeming too eager.

"Again, no one knows. After the police questioned her, she just disappeared without any trace. But since all her stuff was gone, they say she ran away. Supposedly witnesses say that she was last seen going into the woods, with a suitcase, on the same night Lena disappeared." Now, that's the definition of weird. There must be a really big secret behind this disappearing act.

"Just like for Alexis, there were search parties for her, but she wasn't found. We all thought she had gone home, but when her parents were contacted, they said that the last time they saw her was on the winter break. She just disappeared into thin air. That's why they set a curfew for the woods. She literally went in and was never found till now."

"Couldn't she have been kidnapped as well?" I ask curiously, not being able to keep the question to myself.

That would make sense, but again, it wouldn't. She was seen in the woods with a suitcase, so she must've been planning on running away. But if she didn't go home, where did she go? Unless the kidnapper managed to trick her into going to the woods with that suitcase to try and frame her.

"I don't think that a kidnapper would manage to convince her to pack her stuff up, and go wait for them in the woods," he replied sarcastically.

Well, it's safe to say that Blake isn't always the sweet funny boy I thought he was when he first introduced himself to us.

The million-dollar question is why is there no one talking about her? And shouldn't she be a suspect if she just got up and vanished on the very same night that her roommate got kidnapped?

That's something that I need to look into. I'll try to look up her social media accounts tonight, and then maybe I could try to contact her and ask her what happened that night. But, I'm pretty sure that she won't just open up to a complete stranger, so maybe I could tell her that all the questions are for the purpose of research for my... yes, criminology class.

"Are they still searching for her?" I ask curiously and, when I get a confused look from him, I clarify my question, "Alex, I mean."

"Yes, we used to go on search parties in the woods once every two weeks last semester. We are planning on restarting the search parties. Actually, there's one this weekend, you and your roommate should come." He answers while looking at his phone distractedly. "Listen, I have to go, my lecture starts soon, but I'll see you on the weekend, right?" He adds while getting up and leaving without waiting to hear my answer.