Her Soul

8. he gives her a ride

"You ok?" Riaan asked again to Aviana. She was in her school uniform, her hair up in a ponytail. He had only meant to follow her, then heard the loud voices from the deserted alley. The boy had Aviana pinned to the car. There was no particular reason for Riaan to save her. Though he could not let it be. Irony tickled him, he would have to take her soul shortly.

Aviana stood shaken. Riaan noticed the nail marks on her wrists from where the drunk boy held her, it looked like crescent-shaped tattoos. She did not reply to his question. He had done enough help, so he moved towards his car.

"Excuse me, my car key is not with me." Her voice had a hidden painful strain. Which almost made Riaan feel pity for her, almost.

"So?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Can you give me a ride?"

Giving a ride to a murderer was not on his 'to-do list' for sure. Riaan was about to refuse, but then he agreed. It's just a ride. "Get in." He tilted his head towards the car.

She got in the back seat. She told her address to him. Riaan controlled himself from asking her if Sage's death was a suicide or an accident or a murder.

"What is your name?" she asked looking at him in the mirror.

Riaan ignored her. His inner voice was already questioning him. Did she expect a proper introduction from him?

"Riaan," he replied curtly after what seemed like a lifetime, deciding being civil was not a big issue.

She gave a small nod. "Are you a student in my school?"

"No, I am not! Can you keep quiet, and let me drive," he barked. Don't test me, I am going out of my way to give you a ride. She turned her eyes to the window rolling her eyes at his words.

"Who was that boy? One of your victims?" He looked at her through the driving mirror. She gave him a hard angry stare, her brown eyes bright. She did not answer his question about the boy. Riaan suspected the boy was related to Sage.

They reached her home. When she was about to get out, Riaan asked, "Why did you do it?"

"I did not. Thanks for the ride and for before."

Riaan watched as she walked in. A part of him hated her for how difficult the assignment had become. The other part wondered if she really could be innocent. He shut down that part instantly. His only aim was to take her soul. There was no way she could be innocent if D-Room had sealed this case. She must be very good at acting innocent though.
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Riaan went home after that. Kenya and Jayden were waiting. Dash was still with his father. He fell on the couch, invading it entirely.

"Tired?" Kenya was stroking his hair. Riaan nodded with closed eyes as she gave him water.

"Thanks. So what is new?"

Kenya told about their chat with the witness- Guz. Guz had told them what Aviana and Sage talked about that day.
"It seems he was hiding behind the bush. Then Aviana got in the car and drove away. Guz too went away." Kenya ended her story.

"Wait! We saw a car leaving. That must have been Aviana. We must have missed her by a second." Riaan got excited, remembering the detail. That meant, they now knew her location that day. One step closer to taking her soul.

"Exactly- it's done Riaan. We know where we can catch her." Kenya hugged Riaan from the back.

"Let's call Dash and use the second chance." Riaan got up from the couch, his tiredness fading away. Why waste time? He wanted to get the assignment over with, right away.

"I will call him," Kenya announced. Riaan was going to get the liberator and the article.

"Wait, we won't." Jayden stopped them, holding Kenya by her arm before she called Dash.

"Why?"

"Because there is something fishy about this whole assignment. Let's say we are the history-making first unit to handle a suicide case, but there is a chance it can be an accident. Murder is out of the option; Aviana drove away before the death happened," deciphered Jayden in a rational way.

"There is no way she is innocent. Our system doesn't have errors," chuckled Kenya.

That was true, the Roxos did not make mistakes. It was a carefully planned system, controlled by a superior power. In the beginning, there were only two Roxos. A female collecter and a male traveler. The entire Roxo bloodline originated from them. The first Roxos were buried in the headquarters, upon which a tree bearing violet leaves had grown. The articles would be blessed by the tree before it reached the traveler units. It was the tree's auspiciousness that gave the article the power to travel the units across time.

"Every system has, Ken." Jayden turned towards Riaan. "I know how important protocols are for you. I know what is at stake here but ask yourself, don't you find this fishy. The D-Room sealing a case of a high school girl suicide."

Riaan reluctantly gave it a thought. Jayden was right. Even if this was a suicide, the D-Room could not have sealed a high school prank case. "I hate it when you are right."

Asking around was not gonna help, they all told the same story, it's like a broken record. Only two persons knew what happened that day. One had gone to a place he could not reach but the other one would spill if he asked in the right way.

"Why don't we ask Amos?" suggested Kenya.

"Are you mad! The second they find out we did our own little investigation, our unit will be disbanded," Jayden gave Kenya an incredulous look for asking a dumb question.

Aviana, she was the only one who knows the truth.

"Riaan I think we should do the assignment right away. I am worried about you. You can't have a black mark Riaan," Ken said worriedly, with a hand on his shoulder. Riaan looked her way. He was also worried about his reputation but Jayden was correct, they needed to know more about this case.

"Do you think she is innocent Riaan?" questioned Kenya with a curious look.

Riaan thought about that bright brown eyes, and the strain that had been in her voice. He wanted to say, I don't know, maybe. What came out was, "No, Ken."
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