《I know where you roll your dough. 》

This text clearly wasn't about a kitchen table where I used to make cookies. This was about my money. My savings. My only hope to get out of here.

Shock paralyzed me for a moment. My fingers convulsed around the phone. My first thought was to jump out of my bed and flip the mattress upside down to check out my hidey-hole inside its polyester fabric . On second thought, I was afraid I'd wake Lynda up and look like a suspicious weirdo who does suspiciously weird stuff at night while people were sleeping. She'd never believe my warnings about Vivian if I acted like a demented person.

Could it be a random prank text?

My throat tightened, reading the text again and again and again. No way. There was no other explanations. Who else could it be the sender except my recent worst nightmare? The pretty cobra that kept spitting venom in my face every time we'd bumped into each other? And now she was coiling around my neck and sucking the last hope I'd ever had for a normal life.

But where did she get my number? Nobody has my number, except Akram and Ash.
 
My breath faltered, my thoughts racing at the speed of light.

It's three thousand dollars! I'm an idiot! Why did I wait so long to put them in a bank? How stupid and careless and plain dumb am I?

I let out a muffled sob, dropped the cellphone on my lap and weaved my fingers in my damp hair. I felt so helpless and I couldn't even check if my suspicion was true.

Maybe she's trying to provoke me to  expose the stash, but what's the point? She knows I'll change the place. Unless it's not a lie. Damn it to hell, she stole my money!

Sticking my back to the rough headboard, the night passed in a blur. My eyes stung, my muscles ached and I couldn't decide if I dozed for a minute or two, or my eyelids stayed open until the thin slivers of light peeked from behind the window shade.

Miserable was the right word to describe my condition. A zombie would feel sorry for me right now. All night long, I'd been in some sort of catatonic state. Dazed. Thinking about the worst possible outcomes of this little text that would've meant nothing if I wasn't in desperate need of escaping this fate.

The phone clock was past five in the morning when a short squeak of springs sounded from the adjacent bed. It wasn't loud but it made me wince and glance at the waking newcomer; Lynda. I'd been anxiously waiting for her to get up and leave the room to give me some space. One single minute to check if my money was still where I left it. One freaking minute before I lose my mind.

Stretching her long arms, Lynda rolled on her side to squint at me.

"Morning." Her hand reached her glasses. She put them on, shoving her bangs off her eyes. "You're an early bird."

"Uh, yeah. Morning. " I mumbled, trying to smile but my mood was too soured.

"Looks like you couldn't sleep." Lynda sat up on the edge of her bed and pursed her lips. "I slept like a log last night."

"Good for you." I nodded, a bit wary of her friendly chitchat.

"Hey, you mind watching the girls' room for me?" Lynda asked, scratching her head in embarrassment. "I need to tinkle and take a shower and this place is kinda... too public."

"Sure!" I replied with unnecessary enthusiasm. This was my chance to ease my doubts.

Lynda hopped off her bed in enviable energy. Her gray sweats were pulled up to the middle of her calves. She had this lanky, six-feet-tall model figure, smooth tan with cute nerdy glasses and dark bangs hiding her forhead. She looked taller than sixteen, pretty and healthy, probably in the basketball team or some school sports team. She was my polar opposite. It was hard not to feel sorry for myself, even though I wasn't much older than she.

She tiptoed towards me and casually sat herself near the foot of my bed. "By the way, thank  you for the advice, Melody," Lynda said, smiling sheepishly. "I really needed someone to show me the ropes around here. I mean, it's only temporary, but you can never be too careful, right?"

My wariness calmed a little to see how much the girl needed help too.

"Right." My lips twitched, curling my hands around the hem of the blanket. My hands and feet were freezing all night, be it the anxiety or the sleep deprivation, it didn't matter much.

"I'm not staying here for long. Just a few weeks until my boyfriend returns. He's from the Middle East and he travels a lot. He'll take me to stay with him and we're going to get married and get away from all this shiz." Lynda nodded confidently, oval chestnut eyes bright with excitement.

Something in her hopefulness made me want to burst into tears. "That's great." My voice choked. "You better head to the showers before everyone wakes up."

"Yeah." She poked her glasses with her fingertip. "I just want to ask you about this... other roommate."

My muscles tensed at the mention of my nemesis. I fixed my eyes on Lynda, waiting for her question. "W-what do you want to know?"

Lynda crossed her legs and leaned slightly towards me, curiosity painting her features. "Everything."

"That's a lot to recount. I can't really..."

"Is it really bad? Is she like a dealer or something? where is she now?"

"Shhhhh!" I lifted my index finger. "Keep it low."

"Seems really bad."

"Probably worse than you can imagine."

"I have a wild imagination." Lynda countered, raising an eyebrow. "So, drugs? Human trafficking? Cannibalism? Witchcraft?"

I gaped at her. Oddly, It seemed that few things would surprise this little girl. In fact,  she didn't seem little to me right now. It made me wonder how much she'd been through to be so unfazed by this kind of life.

"Close enough," I murmured, pushing the covers away to get up. "You really shouldn't be late for your shower."

"Right." Lynda sprang up. "We'll talk about it later, huh?"

"Sure, " I told her while she hied to get her things from a brand new suitcase next to her bed, which didn't match the drabness of the room.

A few minutes later, once I heard the water running, I left my spot outside the girls' room door and hurried back to the dorm, heart pounding in my throat. Lynda would take at least ten minutes to finish showering with all that thick hair that reached the middle of her back.

The silence was gloomy as always when I entered the room, scudded to the side of my bed, and cautiously crammed a trembling hand into the downside of the mattress. The mattress on my bed was lightweight and spongy, barely comfortable, but now this fact made the prospects even worse. Because of my recklessness, anyone could've lifted it up and discovered the treasure I'd hidden inside.

I let out a sigh of relief when I touched the crumpled paper bag, which was stuffed inside a little slit in the outer fabric.

Quickly, I pulled it out , dropped the mattress and unrolled the bag to check out the contents. My heart jolted in its cage. The bag was not empty, although from the look of the stuff inside, I wished it was. A reeky putrid smell wafted to fell my nose, but that wasn't going to deter me now.

As I chewed the inside of my lip, I stuck my fingers hesitantly into the bag. My Ex-favorite shirt came out first- scrunched up and dirty. I didn't even want to know where it was before, but the message was fully understood. It was Vivian's signature all over it. I tossed the shirt under the bed as if it was the shedding of a snake.

There were several things in the bag that I'd never seen before, except in movies. Things that were easy to guess their nature, even for someone who'd never touched them before; a small, stapled plastic bag with an assortment of pills, another plastic bag with a brownish powder, an open pack of cigarettes that smelled funny and a pink folded piece of paper. The source of the fusty smell looked to be - as shocking as it might sound - a half-eaten rotten apple that spilled a blotch of vinegary juice to stain the base of the brown bag.

My breath caught as I recognized the size of the conspiracy. I tried to unfold the note with clammy fingers. The words were loud and clear.

There's more where this came from. Funny thing is, it's all with your own money so I technically didn't take anything. Even the apple is yours. By the way, I accidentally pretended to be you when I bought this stuff. I guess the cops will be stoked when you try to explain.

P.s. Bluffing is for cowards.

My brain stopped functioning as the words mocked my sanity. Telling me my whole life was a worthless pebble on a precarious cliff. I was now hanging by a thread and the fall was inevitable. I had no doubt It was Vivian. No one else could do this just to heighten the drama and ruin my life.

I stared blankly at the life sentence wrapped up in an old paper bag and I felt nothing as I forced the stuff in the pockets of my pajamas and rushed outside.

I'm ready to die, but I can't afford to faint right now!

*****

Hello lovelies

Did I tell you this before?? Well, I'm telling you now...

YOU'RE THE BEST READERS EVER!

Thank you for being so patient with me and Melody and for the wonderful support you bestow on me.

Questions time:

- did you expect what the text was about?

- what do you think Melody should do next?

- do you like Lynda? Any remarks about her?

-do you think things can get any worse than that for Melody?

***Please share your thoughts on the chapter and vote and comment if you like it.

Thank you for staying with us. See you in the next update. Hopefully soon ;)