Eyes Around Us

11

alexithymia
(n) An inability to describe emotions in a verbal manner
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Later that day...

Kiara's POV:

Around 5 pm, I anxiously awaited my friends' arrival. My dad wasn't home but it wasn't a rare occurrence. I always wondered where he stayed when he didn't come home. I mean I doubted that he was sleeping in his office.

Glancing at my phone, I half-expected a message from Eden, possibly bailing on our meeting. Due to the so-called conflict, we had yesterday.

I started thinking about our investigation and how complicated it would be.

Being a student juggling school, homework, and study sessions all while trying to pursue an investigation was not easy.

Balancing these commitments left minimal time for our meetings, which we aimed to squeeze in after school as much as we could.

The advantage of doing it after school was that after or before our meetings we could study and do our homework without stress.

The doorbell suddenly rang catching me off guard. I walked towards the door and twisted the door handle open to not find Layla and Imani, but to find Eden to my surprise.

"Hey! I didn't know if you were coming today," I admitted, cautious not to resurface any lingering tension from yesterday. Eden, seemingly unfazed, responded casually by saying "Why wouldn't I come? I'm the only one helping you after all".

I furrowed my brows and then opened my mouth to say something but then I closed it, opted for a smile, and stepped aside from the door, hinting for her to come in.

Judging by her nonchalance I guess we were gonna sweep yesterday's dispute under the rug.

We sat on the couch in the living room. "So first things first, I just wanted to let you know that I have two other friends helping us on this case, and they should be here any moment now,"

I said. She gave me a look that practically screamed 'Are you stupid?'. "And how can you be so sure that you can trust them? I mean, what if they're the killer?" she asked in an accusatory tone.

"My friends aren't really 'killer material' and I trust them a lot, so I know I can count on them for this." "And what if they drop out of the case and report it to someone?" she asked.

"They're the ones who decided to help, so they know what they're getting into, and like I said, I trust them," I retorted. "Alright, whatever you say," she replied in a dismissive and unconvinced tone.

Later, we heard the door open, and Layla and Imani walked in. I guess I forgot to lock the door after Eden came. "Who's this?" Imani asked upon seeing Eden sitting on my living room couch. "Her name is Eden. She's the one who convinced me to start this whole investigation, so she'll be helping us as well" I answered

They all then sat, and I pulled out Violet's pink diary. I gave it to Imani so that she and Layla could take turns reading the diary entries out loud, just like Eden and I did.

After they finished, they both simultaneously released a deep sigh, clearly overwhelmed, just like when we first read the diary.

They all sat, and I pulled out Violet's pink diary. I gave it to Imani so that she and Layla could take turns reading the diary entries out loud, just like Eden and I did. After they finished, they both released a deep sigh, clearly overwhelmed, just like when we first read the diary.

"Ok, that was..." Imani started. "A lot," Layla finished. She continued, "Wait, you never told us how you two even found her diary." Layla inquired.

We then briefly explained, not wanting to reveal too much just yet. I then said, "But before we begin debriefing, we also found something a bit strange to us, though it might seem insignificant."

Eden then pulled out the necklace we had found in Violet's room from her pocket and raised her hand so that we could all see. We asked if they recognized it buth they both said no.

I glanced at Layla, who had a weird look on her face upon seeing the necklace but I quickly dismissed it."Moving on, let's begin the debriefing."

They all nodded in response.
"Obviously, in cases like these, everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise, but using what we read from the diary, we can narrow it down to a few suspects."I said.

Eden then spoke up "I assume those suspects would be her dad, Ivy Graham, whoever Emma was, , and..." she stopped. She seemed like she wanted to add another name to the list but stopped herself. "And...?" I inquired. She then dismissed me, and we moved.

"Logically, we should start by interrogating the person we have the easiest access to, which is Ivy," Eden said.
"But how will we get her alone? She's always surrounded by her little minions," Layla asked.

"Well, I happen to be tutoring her in biology," Eden replied.

"Really? Since when?" I asked.

Eden glanced at me, gave me a blank look, and said, "Can you not ask useless questions?"

Geez, that girl didn't have much of a filter. I rolled my eyes in response but stayed silent to let her continue.

"We have a session after tomorrow, so I'll interrogate her then," Eden said.

"What if she blows up on you and decides not to answer your questions?" Imani inquired.

"Let's just say... she owes me a favour."Eden reassured.

"Alright then, I think we should stop there. After the tutoring session, you need to tell us everything," Eden nodded.

I went upstairs to my room to store the diary in one of my drawers and then went back downstairs to join my friends.

We took advantage of the fact that we were all here to help each other study. We studied for about an hour before they all left and went home.

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