Secrets And Lies [Completed]

46. hide and seek

Song of the chapter is
Hold Your Breath by Ruelle

-46-
-Zoya Afreen-
-Present-

____________

Delmore Local Area
6 December, 2030
11:34 am

Delmore had always been a quiet little town.

For years since it's establishment in 1864, this part of Goa had always kept its distance from the bustling extravagance that was the rest of the city. People had always lived a quiet life in this town, not daring to cross limits, and in peace. A humdrum harmony existed in every part of this little place.

But that was until Alishka Malhotra.

Her death had somehow been able to change the entire trajectory of this town. The streets were never the same, the woods were never the same. But most importantly, our lives were never the same.

The town had gone from being a non-existent part of Goa to the small town making national headlines in a matter of two weeks. It was weird to acknowledge this, but her death sort of put this little town on the map for the entire world to see.

I wasn't sure whether I was glad for it, or otherwise.

That one fateful saturday night had changed all of our lives in ways none of us could comprehend. Part of me was glad for it, mainly because if that hadn't happened, I would've never had had such amazing friends, whom I could so happily now call family. It feels surreal to even think about what would've happened if I had refused to break into school that night with those eight people. What would I have been in life?

Would I have amounted to anything at all? Because who was I, without this 'survivor' label? A rough girl from the wrong side of the tracks, whose parents never gave a shit about her, labelled a slut by the rumors? Bitter and exhausted, driven by petty revenge?

But then again, the other part of me also wishes that it never happened.

In the past eleven years, I had spent countless nights, fantasizing about what could've been.

"I think we should break into school at night. What say guys?"

No, thanks.

"We should play a drinking game while we try to pass time."

No, I don't want to.

"How about a game of Secrets and Sins?"

No.

But would it really change a thing? I could think of a hundred scenarios for a do-over, but what was done was already done. I had made my bed and now I was laying on it.