I am waiting in the corridor; running my fingers through my hair with shaking hands; pacing up and down as I determine to wear out a thin trail in the carpet. I look at my watch and it reads 4:40. "I'm running out of time." I think. At this fact, my anxiety rises: I break into a sweat, my heart pounds while I pace back and forth even faster and stomping my feet impatiently at each corner. I try to calm myself but my heart is threatening to burst forth from my ribcage.

There is a knock at the door, then a second one. I hasten and open the door at the third knock. At the door, there is a lady with a bright ash blonde wispy hair, shoulder-length. She has almond-shaped eyes, framed with deep dark eyeliner; her iris are grey, filled with sorrow. As I look into her eyes I can feel her searching deep into my soul. She has honey-sweet lips. They are lilac soft. Her skin is a fair complexion that glows with a hint of pink; long-necked with broad shoulders. She is wearing a dark velvet fitted shirt into her black cropped pants. I study her with a predator's unwavering attention. She has clutched a huge yellow file.

"Miss Andrews?" She asks

"Yes, it is me," I reply

"Genevieve Lesauvage, call me Miss Lesauvage. I'm your lawyer." She says quickly with a voice filled with strength

"Come inside, please," I say politely 

               She enters with dainty steps, I gesture to the dining table in the middle of the living room.

"Uh okay?" She says and walks to the table

"Why are you so late? I barely have 12 hours before the court." I ask furiously

"Blame Philip, he had forwarded the case at 3 in the morning, yesterday and I was looking for pieces of evidence and witnesses in this pretty short time." She says pulling a chair

I nod

"Please, have a seat." She says pointing at the chair across

               I sit on the chair and she takes out her notebook; a stopwatch and some papers and takes a seat on the chair across me.

"What's the time?" She asks looking at the stopwatch

"4:44?" I answered

"We've to finish the inquisition within 150 minutes, we don't have much time." She says after setting the time

She holds her elegant silvery pen, looking at a place somewhere over my shoulder.

"So tell me, what exactly happened?" She asks making her eyes focused

"But before you need to believe that I'm innocent," I say rubbing my hands

She chuckles,"I have heard it all before at least millions of times. Okay, just go on."

"I believe, but I'm being genuine."

               I cross my arms and rest my back," Danielle and I were together in the hotel room, nothing much happened. I was cooking and she was working. After we ate, I went back to the kitchen to bring the fruits. Danielle was sitting in the living room. When I was in the kitchen washing the fruits I heard her screaming and there were knocks on the door. I wanted to go check up on her but, when I almost turned, someone clasped my hair and boom! Banged my head with the faucet before, I react." I explain

               She writes something in her notebook and then looks at me fixing her gaze, "Okay, okay, how do you explain the fact that your fingerprints were on the knife?" She asks

"Yes, after some time I don't know how long, I was awake: a little giddy; my head was bleeding. I went to see Danielle, there were loud bangs on the door still. I didn't pay attention to them. I saw Danielle laying down in a pool of blood, my heart dropped to my stomach, I didn't feel it beating in my chest. I softly placed my warm hand on her cold skin, she was gone. I glimpsed over the blood-stained knife: the one my friend was stabbed with.  I was anaesthetised by the shock or fear, or maybe a mixture of these emotions, I grabbed the knife and at that moment the cops broke into the room."

She stands up while asking, "So, do you suspect anyone?"

"No, no I don't," I reply 

"Don't lie to me." She says, glaring at me

"I'm not lying." I deny rubbing my neck

"I can see and feel, the radiation for your lies." She says

"Radiations?" I question, "What are you talking about?"

She chuckles, "I'm talking about this."

               After a little while, she takes a paper and hands it to me, then says, "Well, here is a report of the investigations made. There it says that the windows were closed well and that no one would be able to open it, neither the other openings of the room. How do you answer this?"

"Well this what has troubled me, and that is why you are here. I'm innocent and I have been attacked, it is pretty clear from my bandage. I swear I don't know anything." I answer

She rubs her forehead and says, "It seems like, it is a tough case than what I have thought. And the person isn't easy either, right?"

She looks at me as if I knew the person.

I shrug

"I know that you are suspecting someone, you can't deny this because your shrug was the answer to my question. If you didn't suspect anyone, you wouldn't have shrugged. But anyway, to know who is that, we need to see another case."

               I raise my eyebrows, trying to act cool. She slides a picture of a young girl on the table to me. I bite my lips and look at Miss Lesavauge whose breath is on me. Our eyes meet but she breaks it off.

"Eva Davis, 17 years old. She was lost before 9 years, most probably she is dead, now." She says from behind

"And what does this have to do with me?" I ask annoyed

"It does. You know her."

"No, I don't know her."

"Listen, I can't help you unless you're honest with me." She says going back to her spot picking her stuff

"Please, you got to help me. Everyone thinks I killed Danielle, I'm innocent. The whole world will be talking about me, and I'll lose my job." I plead

"The more famous you are, the more interesting topic you are to talk about. People are running out of things to talk about lately, so they can enjoy talking about you." She says, blinking as she fixed her gaze on me

"I'm not lying to you, I swear." I get up from my seat

"Liars are always most disposed to swear." She says walking to the door

I clasp her from arms, "Genevieve..."

She cuts me off, "Miss Lesauvage."

"Yeah, yeah I'm sorry Miss Lesauvage. I'll tell you everything. Sit down please." I say

"So continue please.." she says, writing something on her notebook

"Eva was my friend in high school. Well, Danielle, Eva and I were best friends. We were really close, we did almost everything together. Even people used to say that they were jealous of our friendship." I explain biting my lower lip

"Okay..."

"Eva, she was a beautiful girl with emerald green eyes, a cheerful personality; walnut brown short hair plunged over her shoulder; fair skin. She was in everyone's eye in the school, everyone loved her. She was actual perfection, Eva was the topper in everything and the teachers' pet. No one cared about Danielle and me, but they pretended to like us because we were her friends. I was never bothered about this fact, but unlike me, Danielle was envious of Eva, hate and enmity welled up in her heart, fury itself burning her up, it was ingrained in her tissues. I could clearly see the hate in her eyes gleaming, whenever she looked at Eva.

"Danielle, stop hating on Eva. Animals don't hate, we supposed to be better than them." I told her

"Oh shut up." She said"

                I stay silent for a while staring at the air between us.

"Lying is done with words, and also with silence." She adds to my silence 

               I swallow the lump in my throat and continue, "We had a project, we were supposed to film a documentary, this was exactly before 9 years. Umm.... that time Danielle and I had a little fight with Eva, because of Danielle's hostility. Anyways, I guess on Wednesday afternoon, we three left to the forest behind our school to start filming, since the topic was on wildlife. It was normal, we were talking and joking, all fine. Maybe that's what I thought until Danielle spoke. 

She said, "Eva, Eva, Eva, I'm tired of hearing your name all the time. It is even ringing in my head."

                Eva and I looked at Danielle, whose face was red and her eyes were teary, I felt that she would blow a fuse at any moment. "I hate you, Eva. You have taken everything beautiful from me, my place, my position and everything else I haven't mentioned!" Danielle retorted, grabbing Eva from her collar shirt.

"What's wrong with you!" Eva retorted back

"You!"

"It's not my fault that you aren't good enough, it is your fault. And you are jealous of me because you can't be me, I know." Eva said pulling off Danielle's hands from her shirt

              Danielle grew angry, the volcano of hatred, jealousy and anger erupted. The fire inside her burned inferno. She jumped over Eva and strangled her from the neck.

"You can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself." Eva said almost chocking, and trying to push off Danielle."

                I stop and look at Mrs Lesauvage, she asks, "Why weren't you helping?" 

                My voice starts cracking up," I did, but sometimes I hope I didn't.

            
I darted to Danielle and pulled her away from Eva. She yelled, "Julia, this is none of your business, so stay away!"

"Come back to your consciousness, Danielle!" I shrieked

               While I was quarrelling with Danielle, Eva was running for her dear life. I don't know how but Eva hurtled on the floor and hit her head. I thought that she would start crying at any moment but she was laying there soullessly. I glanced at Danielle whose eyes were teary.  We dashed to Eva, who was laying on her back. Her eyes were shut; she didn't have the appearance of sleeping nor unconsciousness. Blood flowed, thick and sluggish from her head.

"Is she dead?" I asked Danielle

                Danielle lowered and reached her shaking fingers to Eva's neck. Then, she looked at me: her eyes were brown in the middle and bloodshot everywhere else, tears were born in her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheeks. "Are you feeling her pulse, huh?" I asked my voice trembling

She didn't reply

"Tell me, tell me that's she is alive. I'm waiting." I asked her again with a brittle voice seizing her arms

               She started crying her heart out, her cries told me that she was dead. I felt like the world was falling apart. I kneeled beside her sobbing, I wished that she was lying about this, but she wasn't. Maybe, after half an hour or more or less, Danielle spoke up,"Julia, stop your crying, now."

"How are you telling me to stop crying, Eva is dead!" I exclaimed

               She took me, from my shivering hands and said,"Eva is gone, she has left us for a new life, for whatever follows this existence. Now we have to get rid of her body."

"Are you insane?" I mumbled

"I'm not, imagine going back and telling them Eva died. Everyone will blame us for her death and may even ruin our future, do you want that?" She explained

I shook my head in qualm

"So, listen carefully. You take her and throw her somewhere, where a soul can't find her, and I'll go back to school and pretend that we have finished filming, since I have class now, no one will suspect me, after you get done, wait for me under the bridge. We will be fine, I promise." She instructed

"Yeah, we will be fine and no one has seen us, right?" I asked

              We heard something in the woods, it felt like an eye watching upon us. Someone was there all the time. Danielle pushed me and told me with her eyes to go on work.

"Are you sure?" Miss Lesauvage asks, piercing her eyes

I nod

"So Danielle left and she left you alone to get rid of Eva's body." Miss Lesauvage repeats my words

               I bite my lips and sniff, she hands me a napkin. I rub my teary eyes with it and then fold it again to rub my wet nostrils. I look up at Miss Lesauvage, whose eyes are fixed at me with a cold gaze, which makes me feel uneasy.

"Okay, continue." She mumbles

              I take a deep breath and open my mouth to say, "I saw Danielle disappear in the woods, on the way we came from. My eyes wondered at Eva, I wiped off my tears. I pulled her leg, and tried to make her sit up against a tree somehow I managed. Then, I scooped some of the sand and covered, the bloodstain. I turned back to Eva, I threw her over my shoulder. She was really heavy, even heavier than she was, when she was.......alive. I couldn't carry her for so long, so I dropped her, maybe a little harsh. I dragged her instead to the nearest lake. Once when I reached, I left her to lay down there and I took a deep breath, stretched my body and looked around. I heard someone's footsteps in the woods, I froze at this, I darted and held Eva from her waist and swam into the lake. I guess, when I swam halfway to the centre. I left her there but she was floating on the water, I knew it was unsafe and had to rack my brain. I swam back out of the lake and searched for a vine and a rock. Luckily, I found one. I tied the vine with a rock and swam back into the lake. It wasn't easy swimming with a rock. I tied the other end of the vine with Eva's ankle quickly, which pulled her down. I disappeared from that spot like greased lightning. I was wet and blood stained. I couldn't stop crying: the tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down my face. I felt the muscles of my chin tremble like a small child and I looked toward the sky to soothe me. It was cold and the sun was setting, making everything seem dark."

"I don't think, it had  been darker than the sin, you did that day." She says while her lips are shivering

"Don't blame me, please." I plead

"How could you do something, inhuman like this?" She asks fiercely

               I sit there crying louder and louder. I slightly mumble, "I was scared."

"Fear is a disease that eats away the logic and makes man inhuman, quoted by Marian Anderson." She says

                After a little while of cries, she says, "Shakespeare was right, when he said that hell is empty and all the... the devils are here."

"Please, don't make it harder on me,"I ask 

"Okay, please continue, we are running out of time, it is 5:10." She replies

"After that, I went to see Danielle under the bridge as she planned. She was waiting for me there. She ran up to me and hugged me tightly, then crying on my shoulders: making my wet shirt go even wetter.

She cried,"Julia, what did we do? Oh my." She took another breath, "I can't...I can't."

The guilt sat not on her chest but in her brain. She wished that we could undo what we had done, I wished that too. I tried to calm her down, when I wasn't even calm.

"Danielle, shhhh." I hummed

"You know what happened?" She stammered, "I went back to school, right? Anyway, I took my books from the locker, then I was heading to the English class. Guess what happened? I bumped into Madeleines, my books fell on the floor."

"Madeleines?" I asked

"Eva's sister" she answered

"Oh my..." I said in shock, I couldn't finish the sentence,

Danielle continued, "I tried to act cool but my hands betrayed me and they were shivering. Madeleines picked up my books and said, "What's wrong Danielle? Your hands are shivering." 

"No, nothing much. I'm just feeling cold." I replied taking my books from her

"Where are you going?" She asked

"The English class," I answered

"Well I'm going to the Drama class, well it's next to the English class, we can walk together if you aren't in hurry." She said

I didn't know what exactly to tell her, whether I'm in a hurry or not. I was thinking in which way, she wouldn't suspect me, if she came to know about Eva's death. So I tried to act cool and accepted her offer.

"Yes, sure," I said, flashing a fake smile

As we were walking it was normal, but the thought of I was walking beside someone whom I killed their sister haunted me, it disturbed me.

"Have you seen Eva, today?" She asked, breaking the awkward silence

I couldn't control my breathing patterns after I heard her question.

"Eva, Eva, Eva. Yeah, I did, we filmed the documentary together, but then I headed back here. I haven't seen her since then." I lied

"Good. We have made a surprise for her, tonight. Our mum came back from Madrid, the last time, they saw each other was 3 years before. And she has prepared a party for Eva. Well, Eva doesn't know anything, so don't tell her. I can't wait to see the mother and daughter together." She explained

"Aha, cool. I won't tell, I promise." I said, feeling almost dead," But why she was in Madrid, for this long time."

"Mum is a makeup artist. Well, not any makeup artist, a movie makeup artist. There was a movie being filmed there so, she went. Anyway, she is back."

I nodded, while fake smiling. The guilt inside me had got bigger after hearing all this. " I can't believe what we have done." She said."

"How could you sleep at night, or breath, or act normal, after the crime, you did!" Miss Lesauvage retorts

"Who said I could? The regret would come to me in quiet moments, such as when I was going to sleep or stopped to take a lunch break. It would always seep into the foreground of my mind and demand to be reexamined again." I cry

"Okay, continue." Miss Lesauvage says calmly fixing her gaze into my eyes

I take a deep breath then, utter. I say," It was a chaos after everyone came to know Eva's death...."

Miss Lesauvage interrupts, "I believe, it was said that she was lost, or more likely to say she ran away."

I rub the back of my neck and reply, "Yeah, yeah, you are right. My memory just has betrayed me."

"Or you didn't want to tell me. Listen, lady, no man has a good memory to make a successful lie, I hope you're telling me the truth." She says, clicking her pen

I look at her pen.

"Okay, fine what I have understood is, that...you suspect someone from Eva's family." She says, looking into her notebook

My eyes wander around, avoiding Miss Lesauvage.

"Don't run away with your eyes." She says with an angry tone

              I look at her, while she was waiting for an answer,"Madeleines."

"So, do you have any clue, how she got into the room?" She asks

"No, but I believe, it was something planned carefully," I tell her

              Anchored her attention to the stopwatch, she asks,"But how?"

I raise my eyebrows

                She holds the file in front of my eyes, "Here it says that no one has entered or left the room."

I blink with feign innocence.

                Miss Lesuavage chuckles and says rubbing her neck," This reminds of me something. A man who's 5 feet and 8 inches was found hanging from the ceiling, in a room. The room was 5 meters wide and the ceiling was 7 meters high, while the rope he was hung from was 3 meters long. There was a chair 1 meter away from the spot he was hung, but his shoes were on the top of the chair, how did he commit suicide?"

I think about her question for a while, "Erm....I have no clue."

"I know you're smarter than that." She says brushing her left eyebrow with her index finger

"Someone helped him, obliviously," I answer

"Maybe we can take that as an answer for something else but not for this question." She replies, clicking her pen again

My eyes follow the click again, I ask not taking my eyes off," What do you mean?"

"You have just told me, that someone had helped Madeleines in killing Danielle, inconsiderately." She replies

"I was answering your question." I deny

"Pretty sure. Anyways, in this file, somewhere it's said that there was a room reserved by Madeleines, in the same hotel you and Danielle were in." She says

"So, this proves that Danielle was killed by Madeleines, right?" I say excitedly

"Yeah, but this is not enough. You have to tell me something you know about Madeleines if you remember anything."

                I look down, biting my lips," I think before 6 years, there was a party for a friend, Danielle and I were there, well not only us but also Madeleines was there too."

"Did you talk to her?" She asks jotting down

"In fact, she pulled me aside and started talking to me. She asked me to help her find, Eva."

"Didn't she know Eva was dead?"

"She did, she actually meant her.......corpse. And then,

"I have no idea, Madeleines about your sister so please leave me alone," I said

"You, you, you have no idea?" She laughed, "You were the one who was with her."

"So what!" I retorted

"You killed her right? Eva was never lost!" She retorted back at me

"I have not killed your sister!" I replied grinding my teeth

"Then, it means Danielle did it." She said running her hands through her hair."You need to help me, Julia. She should rot in prison."

"Genuinely speaking, I don't know where is your sister, nor I know what happened to her, and even if she is dead....I don't know........" I began and finished uttering, "Who killed her, I'm sorry."

"Really? And then where is she? I know, after you or she killed her, you threw her in the lake like this..." She said throwing her ring inside my champagne flute glass.

My eyes followed her ring until it was submerged in the champagne."  I tell Miss Lesauvage

               Miss Lesauvage gets up from her seat, and walks towards me saying, "Do you know why Madeleines, did that?"

"No."

"She was making sure wether, her sister died in your hands or no. She wasn't sure until then." 

               I close my eyes trying to recall what happened that day, flinch slamming the table.

"Okay, we have 20 minutes more." She says sitting

"So, what now?" I say with a brittle voice

              Miss Lesauvage rests her head on the table not saying anything, whilst I aggressively run my hands through my hair.

"Got it!" She exclaims

"See, Madeleines booked a room for herself in the same hotel you and Danielle were staying. She got into your room: dressed as a chambermaid, before you arrived."

I grin nodding my head slightly, "This makes sense."

"Pretty much." She says looking at her notebook, "Then, when you guys arrived, she was hiding somewhere in the room."

"You are right because I heard weird sounds in the room," I add

Miss Lesauvage shoot me with penetrating gaze probe, I feel uneasy and shrug slightly.

"Whatever, when you went back to the kitchen to get the fruits but instead you got only the knife. You left the knife with Danielle; then, you went back to get the fruits, Madeleines made a move and end the life of Danielle with that knife. Then, she came to you and banged your head with the faucet, she might have killed you too but I think, she didn't have much time. Which means she's still after you...."

"To take revenge." I finish her sentence. 

"But, how did she leave?" I ask

             Miss Lesauvage bites her lips and says,"After you fell unconscious, Madeleines must had hidden again in the same spot; she was there when you regained your consciousness and went to see Danielle who was there laying soullessly, then the police broke in saw you holding the knife. Since she was dressed as a chambermaid, it was pretty easy for her to get out of there without anyone suspecting, right?"

"Exactly!" I smile, feeling relaxed

"Do you have any clue, why the police were there?" She asks

I shake my head, "No, but I think because of Danielle's screams."

"Okay...." breaths Mrs Lesauvage

Then, there is an awkward silence. I'm looking at her stopwatch, wondering how much time is left but I have no worries since I'm getting out of this because there's no evidence that incriminates me, I'm innocent.

"Do you know the fact I haven't lost a single case, since I started this career?" She asks kind of showing off

"Yeah, that's why I hired you," I reply, acting cool

"But you know my little secret." She whispers coming closer

"No," I whisper back

"I'll share it with you." She continues, "I love to see in my opponent's point of view."

"How exactly?"

"I see the case with the point of view of the advocates, or may even use their strategies in thinking, questioning and concluding. This helps me to predict most of their questions at the court, well you know being prepared is half of the victory." She says rubbing her hands on her pants

"True true," I say calmly, finding new a sitting position

"Okay, so far I heard what you have said. What about we see, what Danielle would have said if she was here." She says, resting her elbows on the table

I look at my nails, then to her elbows; following up my way to her eyes.

"Okay, let's see," I say confidently

"Good. If Danielle was here, she would say that you were the one envying Eva and you were the one who was burning up from jealousy. Then, she would add to that you were the one who started the fight with Eva. Aha....and not to forget the fact that you were the one who suggested to get rid of Eva's body. So, how do you reply to this." she grins

I chuckle, "Obviously ma'am. Danielle wouldn't like the fact that she would rot in hell. I believe there's no proof to prove this, gibberish."

"Erm...that's a good point but this can be against you, can't it?"

"No, it's pretty clear, it was Danielle because she is the one killed from both of us."

"If you say so ma'am, how did Madeleines know who's the killer. Umm.....this means you betrayed your partner in crime with Madeleines." Mrs Lesauvage replies back, sarcastically.

I roll my eyes, "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious," She knocks quickly on the table, "Well this explains, everything we pointed out through tête-à-tête."

I scratch my head, "Really? Like what?"

"Erm....."

I can understand that she has nothing to incriminate me because I'm innocent.

"Anyways...let me continue. I bet Danielle would say that she betrayed you with Madeleines and tried to help her. You know with what?"

I shake my head slightly

She continues, "Trying to convince you that you guys should give your hands to the police because.....umm let's just say she was exhausted of something like the torture of conscience."

I nod slightly, trying to understand what she's referring to.

"Simply, then you stabbed her." She finishes

"But if you think this way, how can you explain the fact that I was hearing sounds in the room," I say looking into her eyes

"Maybe you heard something else, or it's your imagination, or even it can be a lie." She says playing with her pen

I rub my right arm, warming it up with my left hand, then crossing my arms.

"What about the fact that Madeleines booked a room in the same hotel?" I reply

"I lied."

My eyes go wide open taking the file from the table. I hasten to open it not taking my eyes off Miss Lesauvage. The pages in the file are blank: pure white as Snow White.

              Miss Lesauvage clears her throat and begins, "What if we predict you killed Danielle, we can explain why the police were there, and the fact no one has neither entered nor left the room; most importantly the fact that...."

I pinch my nose, then rest my hands on the table

"Your fingerprints were on the knife." She completes

"Your barking up at the wrong tree," I say calmly

"You are right! If we see it in your point of view. And you are the murderer according to Danielle's point of view." She grins 

"Julia, you are a wit." She begins, crossing her arms."But I'm not a fool."

"Huh?" I raise an eyebrow

"Which one sounds realistic to you, yours or hers?" She asks, looking closer at me

"This is life, you can expect, everything, everything, everything from it," I explain.

I laugh a little and rock the chair: to and fro trice. I stop the chair harshly, then shoot her dead in the eyes.

"Let me tell you a secret." She says, getting closer."You killed Danielle." She whispers

I raise my eyebrows

"You killed Danielle because you didn't want to go to prison!" She retorts

"I didn't!" I gainsay, getting up from the chair and pushing it back

"Danielle might have killed Eva...well it was more likely to be an accident so it is a kind of not her fault nor yours, but you were the one who killed Danielle, you are a killer!" She yells

I clench my jaw and slam a fist on the table. Miss Lesauvage jumps and puts her hand over her chest. I cry out loud with my head on the table.

"I need your help."

          I rub my wet cheeks and plead, taking Miss Lesauvage's hands closer to me.

"So you killed her?"

I nod, "I was scared, Danielle was ready to give up everything, all our hard work only for her illusionary internal peace or something gibberish similar too."

"But killing her wasn't the solution?"

"I couldn't help it."

               She throws my hands off, then rubs her palms on her shirt with disgust. She walks away to the window. I can see her reflection, a tear is born in her eyes. As she closes her eyes they roll down her cheeks. I stand relying on the chair's arm.

She sniffs, "What's the time?"

                I look down at my watch and reply, "Erm....seven and four minutes."

                Miss Lesauvage turns with an eagle's eyes on me which is coupled with a cold gaze, "I'll help you. Shakespeare was right when he said that the first thing was to be done was to kill all lawyers."

"I really don't care about your probes, I don't have time for your random....eh, rubbish."

She glares at me, "I'll just help because I don't want to ruin my career history. Do you know why I called you a wit, earlier?"

"Because I am," I reply sarcastically

"Haha...indeed. It's just you waited for me to sort out everything before you tell me the truth, but I'm wittering."

I fake laugh, "You ain't easy, Genevieve."

"Anyways, back to the point where we were. As we have discussed everything, things will go. You know what to say, I bet."

"You're not going to betray me, are you?"

"This is not about betraying or not, I want my career history to be neat and tidy and this is for me and not for you."

"Yet all, thanks." I smile faintly

               She looks at me then at the stopwatch, fixes her shirt's collar and says, "Why are you thanking me? We aren't done yet."

I frown and say in my mind, "What now?"

              It seems pretty clear that she hears it although it is in my mind and replies, "What's left is that, you have to tell me where you have threw Eva's corpse."

            I gasp and then with a tight lip smile, hold my breath. I'm getting uncomfortable. She slides a map of my old school and the areas around it, then she places her silvery pen on it, waiting for me to mark, with a puppy eye.

             I take the pen in my shivering hand, and try to fix it in my fingers. I place the pen ball on the map and look up at Miss Genevieve, who's eyes are studying my hand. "Miss Lesauvage, I need to tell you something, before."

She says," Quickly, we have only nine minutes."

"The actual truth, Both Danielle and I did loathe Eva but I did more and what happened was...."

"An accident, I know."

"Danielle did fight with Eva, and Eva fell you know and...."

"And died, what's new?"

               I rub my wet nostrils with the crumpled tissue and utter, "Well it wasn't Danielle's idea to get rid of Eva's body it was mine, I did this because she was terrified and wouldn't stop crying, I was helpless. Eva didn't die when she fell."

              Miss Lesauvage eyes go wide open and light up like a bulb. She asks, "So, is Eva alive?"

I shake my head, "I didn't know that she was alive until I swam in the pond with her. That time....she was getting conscious, I was so scared and as I told you loathed Eva more, so I strangled her from her neck and blocked her air passages. After a series of strangled grasps, she passed away."

"You filthy animal!" She retorts at me with a tight fist

                   Miss Lesauvage turns and she is weeping, I can hear her sniffing. I'm scared that she will quit helping me because now she has the winning card.

"You are not going to tell you about me, right?"

She grins, "No, but I can guarantee you that you are the filthiest person I have ever dealt with!"

                I smile with relief when her stopwatch goes off with a sharp tick. Confidentially, I mark an 'X' on the map where Eva's corpse is. She sticks out her hand for a handshake and so I do with an awkward silence. Then, she hastens to collect her stuff and put it in her handbag.

"Why so in hurry?" I ask, pulling strands of my hair behind my ears

"Ehh...Philip told me he had left out some papers and I'm already late." She says walking behind to the door as I walk behind her

              I open the door for her, she goes out and turns halfway to me, "Julia, remember that there is no sure foundation set on blood, No certain life achieved by others' death. Anyways take care." 

             I close the door behind me and smile with relief. I spin loosely, feeling like a feather. I'm glad about the fact that those thoughts will never creep into my mind every night. 
A little while, I realise that I'm clutching the silvery pen which Miss Lesauvage gave me. The telephone rings, disturbing my tranquillity.

"Hello?" I say

"Hey, it's Philip." He replies

"Oh Philip, why are you calling with the landline?" I ask

"Your phone is off." He answers 

"Really? Let me check it"

"Wait, the wait is Miss Lesauvage there?"

"She just left"

"Hmm...what did you tell her?"

I scratch my head and answer,"...Everything."

"Julia, what's wrong with you! Why did you tell her everything?" He retorts

"I couldn't help it, she asked me about Eva and other stuff. She said that she would help me. I trust her."

"I hope that you don't regret it later." He says with a low voice

"Okay, okay bye now. You are making me feel bad." I say hanging up

               I rub my forehead with my index. Holding my waist, I stand thinking if I have done something wrong telling Miss Lesauvage. But she seemed genuine, I think. I shake my head and check for my phone. When I press the bottom, it doesn't turn on, which means it was off. Once I turn it on, my phone rings as the notifications are being displayed on the screen. There is a text from an unknown number, I open it.

Unknown: Game over - 7:04

Unknown: Video (upload) - 7:04

             I raise my eyebrow; I take a deep breath and upload the video. My index is tapping the side of the phone several times, waiting. When it's ready to be played, a knock is on the door. I ignore it and watch the video.

             It is black in the beginning but slowly lights up. There is a figure of a human; more likely a woman, I guess. It's very vague: I can't see her appearance, but slowly it becomes clear. It is from Miss Lesauvage. She is doing nothing other than staring. Miss Lesauvage pulls her hair, I'm confused. It falls: her hair is a wig. In fact, she has light brown hair; braided backwards. Then, she takes off her right eye lens, it appears her eye colour is a warmer brown than her hair and not grey, her hands run to the top of her face and she pulls off her skin: the fake face mask. Once it is halfway, my hands shake dropping the phone, realising who it is. It's Madeleines.

              My legs can't carry my weight, they begin to shake along with my hands. I try to rely on the chair, while the flashbacks begin to creep into the foreground of my mind:

               When Miss Lesauvage slid a picture of a young girl on the table to me. I bit my lips and looked at Miss Lesavauge whose breath was on me. Our eyes met but she broke it off. 

                Then, when I told her about the fight between Eva and Danielle, she asked, "Why weren't you helping?"

                I remember what Danielle told me about her incident with Madeleines in school, particularly that her mum was a makeup artist when I saw her at the bridge.

               I run my hand in my hair, breathing heavily. I slam my fist on the table while groaning. "They brought up my end."

               I get a flashback when Danielle told me that Madeleines was going to Drama class and all the proverbs of Shakespeare said by Miss Lesauvage. Every time I remember a flashback I tremble more and more.

               I picture Miss Lesauvage's lips when she said, "I don't think, it had been darker than the sin, you did that day."

               When she told me everything that happened as if she was exactly there, and she added the fact that Danielle betrayed me with Madeleines and her mother.

"Ugh...it was pretty clear." I utter

                 The last picture that rolls in my mind were when she was standing in front of the window when I told her everything. She asked me about the time and I replied," seven and four minutes." Which is the time she sent the videos

"Okay, if she knew everything, why..." I ask myself looking at the slivery pen

               I bring it closer to my eyes and remember when I marked the cross on the map with it. Grinding my teeth, slam the pen against the table. The pen breaks, something tiny falls from it. I pick it up and examine: it is a recorder

"She knew everything, but she had no proof, but now." I continue my previous sentence

                  My veins are throbbing out, I can't stop the flashback in the core of my brain, they are on rewind. I walk around the house with hesitating movements, I don't know if I'm mad, shocked or scared but I think a mixture of these emotions is what I feel. 

                The knocks which I have ignored, have become louder and more rapid. I think it is the police. Walking sideways, I unlock the door and fling it open. My eyes fall on a familiar figure: Miss Lesauvage, but this time the real Miss Lesauvage.