Brody

I shudder as the cold chilling breeze of the gloomy night attacks me. The stars in the night sky shine bright like a thousand little diamonds scattered along the border of the clouds. Each one different and unique. Each one unable to shine without the darkness enveloping it. They reminded me of Natasha.

Natasha. A star.

A star that came into my life, but just like any other star, was unable to shine without the domination of darkness.

And when that darkness would fade, so would the blinding glow of the star.

Taking my attention away from the night sky, I think back to my actions a few minutes ago. How had I turned into such a cruel human being? How had I become such a monster? I had never raised my voice at anyone before, but all it took was a split second and I was raging like a bull. I was asked a simple question, all I had to do was give a simple answer.

My mind immediately rushes back to the picture of Maryam's face etched into my brain. The way she flinched. The way her eyes were suddenly filled with fear.

So much fear.

Fear of me.

Natasha's love wasn't healthy. It was toxic. Dangerous. It had turned me into a monster, yet I would still never be able to let her go. After all, a snake bite fills your body with poison to the core, and it was only a matter of time before it would kill you.

I couldn't let this happen. I couldn't let the poison take over my body. I couldn't let Natasha's love become more toxic than it already was. I had to fix this. I needed to apologise to Maryam.

Hurriedly, I turn my body around and begin my descent away from the campus balcony and back to my dorm room.

I close the dory behind me as I sheepishly enter the dorm room. Maryam is sat cross legged on her bed, a book in hand and a cup of some kind of hot drink on the table next to her. She seems to sense my presence, as her eyes trail away from her book to meet mine. Her face is void of emotion and she only looks at me for a split second before she continues to read her book.

I clear my throat as I try to get the words out of my throat.

"Ahem," I say in a very vague attempt to try to get her attention.

Silence.

"Er, Maryam? Hi."

Still no reply.

"So I wanted to say sorry for the way I acted before."

Again, nothing.

"I shouldn't have spoken to you in that way, I-

"Well then why did you?" Maryam asks furiously as she drops her book on her bed and furiously crosses her arms across her chest.

I fiddle with my fingers nervously as I attempt to get the words out of my mouth. "It was a mistake, I got really angry and said a lot of bullshit, but believe me I honestly didn't mean to-

"Wrong," she begins, stepping off of her bed and coming to stand in front of me, "you did mean to, otherwise you wouldn't have said it," she states matter of factly.

"Maryam, I'm so-

"No, Britney, you listen to me-

"It's actually Brody-

"I don't care what it is! Brody, Britney, Brad, whatever the hell you're called. Now I'm going to do the talking and you're going to do the listening."

"But-

"Now you listen here. I don't understand people like you. You say what you have to say, and then you apologise after saying you didn't mean to. Obviously, you meant to or else the words would have never left your mouth!" She exclaims furiously.

"Now, I admit we got off on the wrong foot, but I decided to put it aside because I thought you might be a nice guy really, but boy was I wrong," she continues.

"Now I don't care what you do, because you're right Britney-

"Brody-

"just like me, you're also the roommate I never wanted. So from now on, you won't speak to me, and I won't speak to you. The only thing we will share is this room, do I make myself clear?" Fury is evident in her eyes as she takes a step closer to me and jabs her finger hard in my chest.

"Maryam, I'm really sorry, you know that's not what I meant and this arrangement isn't what I want either," I mutter softly.

"I don't care anymore, Britney, this is what I want, and what I want goes." And with those final words, Maryam turns around and strides back over to the comfort of her bed.

Before I can get any more words out of my mouth, I hear an intense ringing noise and feel a strong vibration in my pocket.

Maryam looks up for a split second before directing her attention back to the book.

Wonder what's so special about that damn book.

Reaching into my pocket, I grab my phone and glance at the screen to see brooks' name flashing continuously.

I immediately swipe right.

"Hey, Brooks', everything alright?" I ask worriedly.

We had just spoken a few minutes ago, I hoped everything was ok.

"No, Brody, I'm going to text you an address, and I need you to be here as soon as possible," I could sense the tension in Brooks' voice.

"Huh?" My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Brooks' what's wrong, you're starting to scare me."

"You'll find out when you get here, hurry, I'm going to hang up now, and text you the place."

"No wait!" I exclaim as a newfound hope takes over my emotions. "Have you found her? Have you found Natasha?"

"No Brody, we found a body."

"Finally, I've been waiting for you. Follow me." Brooks' tells me as he begins walking in the direction of an old factory and I begin to follow behind nervously.

I know this scene all too well.

"The victim's belongings were scattered all around them, and on the phone, we found, you were one of the contacts. We tried contacting the victim's parents for identification, but we couldn't get through to them. You and the victim's parents were the only contacts on the device. It seems they weren't very sociable."

"But who is it?" I question, a sudden fear creeping up on me.

"We don't know, like I said, we need you to identify them."

I begin to get more and more scared as Brooks' leads me towards yet another crime scene

As we reach the crime scene tape, Brooks' holds up his hand to an alarmed looking officer, and I'm guessing he's trying to signal to him that it's ok, I'm allowed to come through.

"This way," brooks' signals me to follow him as he leads me inside the factory towards a zipped-up bag laying on the floor.

We stop at the bag.

"Sam," Brooks' shouts and a small woman in a white lab coat, looking to be in her mid-twenties walks towards us.

"Yes Sir," she asks anxiously.

I don't blame her, by the way Brooks' said her name, I would think I was in trouble too and I'd be even more anxious than her.

"Please unzip the body bag," Brooks' demands intimidatingly.

She nods furiously, "Yes sir, I just need to go and change my gloves, I'll be just a second," she slips her gloves off her hands and throws them in a trashcan nearby as she turns around and walks away from us.

A few seconds' pass by in silence, until the familiar vibration of my phone breaks it. Slipping my phone out of my jacket pocket, I look at the screen to see a new text notification. Swiping right, I open the notification to read the text.

New text message received at 11:30am.

Unknown Number: That's one down Brody, how many more will it take to find your beloved? Let the games begin.

My eyes widen in horror and fear takes control of me as I reread the text over and over in my head. What is this? Who could have sent this? What did they mean by it?

I can hear distorted voices calling my name again and again and again, but I am locked in a trance, unable to comprehend what is happening.

My beloved? Did they mean Natasha? What had happened to her? Who was this?

The questions keep on digging their way into my brain, poising it with unwanted thoughts, and it is only when I feel a tap on my shoulder that I snap back to reality.

"Brody, you ok?" Brooks' asks, confusion written all over his features.

"Huh?" I reply quietly, pieces of my brain still flying all over the place.

"Can you identify the body?" Brooks questions, pointing in front of him, confusion still etched onto his face.

Slowly and excruciatingly, I turn my head in the direction that he is pointing at, and the sight that I see in front of me is the last thing I was expecting to see.

I feel as though somebody has lodged a rock at my heart as I feel it drop to my stomach. My breathing begins to quicken, utter shock and horror taking over my body. I can feel my heart breaking into a million pieces. Tears well up in my eyes; threatening to fall at any given moment.

"Brody, can you identify the victim?"

There, laying in a zipped-up body bag with only their head visible, blonde hair scattered around, covered in gushing red blood, face barely recognisable, drained of all colour and their eyes shut, was the last person I thought I'd see here today.

"Yeah," I croak out, a lump forming in my throat, "She's called Amelia. Amelia Parker."

A/N

Dundundunnn! Who saw that one coming!? I know this is a very short chapter and I have updated after like half a year and I'm so sorry! But I was just really busy with college but that won't be the case now as I've learned to balance both! The next chapter will be up in a few days too! I have a clear picture of where I'm going with this story now so updates will be more regular! Thank you for being so patient with me, I love and appreciate you all more than you could ever know 💜