Finding 'x'

•Seven means?•

I was shredding the image in no time.

"Sheesh Adeoti, calm down." Dave moved closer, probably to stop my actions but I shot away from him.

"You don't fucking get to tell me to calm down Dave! You don't get to tell me what to bloody do." I snatched up my bag with the remains of the shredded picture still tightly secured in my grasp.

"And this," I raised my folded palm to show him, "you'll explain to that hag how you got this. Just stay the hell away from me and if you know what is the best for you, don't you dare follow me." With that I was out of the cafe.

I didn't care how many students deemed me crazy for screaming my head off over a simple polaroid and bolting out the door and bumping ungraciously into people in the process of doing the latter, I just wanted to get away.

Not really getting away from Dave, no. But from the memory I'd tried so hard in the last seven days to suppress. Unfortunately, running like a maniac didn't drive away the image I'd just shredded from my mind. Running didn't relieve my agony as I relived every damn moment of seven days ago all over again.

Running only made me breathless and tired.

I almost collapsed when I got as far as the medical facilities of the school. Thankfully, no one followed and it was just ten minutes into lunch hour, so there was no one around to glare at me as I collapsed noisily on a bench by the door labelled 'sickbay'

I focused on taking deep breaths when I realised my inhaler wasn't with me.

A scratchy noise made my ears perk up and instinctively reach out for my phone in case the need to record would arise. It seemed to be coming from the room I was sitting by, but the door being firmly closed didn't give better access to listen in more closely.

Not fair!

"We can't involve her in this with all due respect ma'am. She has already been through enough as it is." I heard a bold, more distinct and familiar voice filter from the window of the room. I took a few steps closer to the blinded window and tapped the record icon on my phone, hoping it would be good enough stuff to upload on my rather dormant vlog.

"I'll have you know Mr. Otabor that her take on this would be of immense assistance in cracking this case. Somehow the previous deaths have been connected to her one way or another–" the scratchy voice that I recognised to be the hag's was cut off abruptly by the one of the hot cop's.

"This is way worse ma'am, this body is completely severed beyond comprehension. She won't be able to be sane after seeing this, we'll have to find another way around this."

My brain stop registering anything after I heard the word body.

Body…

Body…

Does that mean....?

"She appears tough and all but I am sure she wouldn't survive this. I beg of you ma, spare Ella of this nightmare."

Spare me of nightmare? I was living in one already.

What irked me though was the fact that hot cop thought I was frail and defenseless.

I marched towards the door and yanked open the door with an annoyance that almost pulled out the knob.

Gasps flew about as I gained entrance, with mine inclusive.

The hot cop had almost been right about me not surviving, the sight that greeted me knocked the air out of my lungs.

"Holy crap!"