Song of the chapter is
Secret by The Pierces

-14-
-Veronica D'Rosario-
-Present-

_________________

Delmore High
14 November, 2030
7:56 pm.

The soaring cheers and hoots from everyone around engulfed me in a bubble that I never wanted to break.

For the first time in years, my heart felt genuinely happy.

And the credit definitely belonged to my friends.

Whether it was Kartik and Saina's random loud cheers or Zoya's incredible dancing skills, everything had managed to bring a huge smile on my face all evening.

The cultural programs arranged by the organising committee was definitely the highlight of the evening. Zoya had been unable to keep herself from getting up and dancing like a kid at every single item. After a series of those, we were finally able to get some "us" time during the little snack break that the organising committee had planned.

As I watched Zoya and Kartik argue for the unteempth time on who would be the one to bring the other one a drink, I decided to get one myself.

God knows these two could act like such siblings!

As I walked towards the counter where they were serving cocktails, I was met with a not-so familiar face.

I watched as Dhrashti, Moose's fiance, moved her gaze up and down slowly in a way that felt like she was judging me or my outfit. I suddenly started feeling incredibly self conscious.

Fixing the strap of my dress, I gave her a small smile before asking the person behind the counter for a virgin mojito.

"So... you're Veronica..." She uttered coyly, as she took a sip of her drink. "Am I right?"

I gave her a tight lipped smile in response.

"You were close friends with....my fiance, right?"

I felt like I could step on a lego at any moment. "I was....yeah."

"So how did you two...meet?" She placed the question ever so loftly, emphasizing on the last word.

"Uh..." I removed a strand of my hair behind my ear, only for my palms to come in touch with the beads of sweat forming on my forehead. "We had.... mutual friends."

Which wasn't partly untrue. Ahaan was afterall the one who had introduced me to Himanshu officially.

But I couldn't tell her that I knew her fiance from even before that,
now could I?

She made a scoffing noise. "Figured."

"I'm sorry...?"

"I mean...no offense, but you don't seem like someone he'd be friends with. You both....belong to very different cliques that's all."

Clearly, she didn't know shit about Moose's high school history, but I let it slide. I certainly was in no mood to entertain whatever she was intending on starting with me.

"He told me about all of his other friends, you know. But never about you." She said, a disdainful tone laced in her words. "It puzzles me why he would keep you a mystery. There's nothing much....to keep hidden, you know."

The audacity of her.

I felt myself pitying Moose at that moment. How will he deal with her everyday for the rest of his life?

The more she was speaking, the more I was getting confused as to how someone as sweet and humble as Moose could pick someone like her as a life partner? She was everything he once hated in a person. Arrogant, obnoxious, a bitch to be precise.

Then why had Moose made the decision to choose her out of everyone else in this world ?

Had he really changed that much?

No, that was wrong. Moose....the Moose I knew....was still there. Maybe a little lost, but he was there somewhere.

A silhouette of his past self still existed somewhere in those amber eyes.

I turned my head to the right, feeling someone's eyes on me, and damn right, he was standing there, with two other people who were trying to involve him in a conversation he was clearly not interested in.

As his eyes met mine, I found myself staring at them shamelessly. Just for a little bit longer.

"I don't know....maybe it was because I wasn't really that interesting." I found myself uttering, my gaze still transfixed on him.

I heard his fiance scoff in agreement.

"Or maybe," I tore my gaze off him and looked at her. "It was because.... I shot a guy when I was only seventeen, right in front of your fiance."

I watched as her face lost it's gleaming pallor and settled on a shade of unease.

"Perhaps that scarred him too much."

Seventeen year old Veronica D'Rosario would be so proud of me right now.

Over the past couple of years, I had built and rebuilt myself a hundred times, over and over again, with the hopes of making myself concrete. I had accepted my fucked up past, my lack of ability to maintain relationships, my issues and I had convinced myself that those things were a part of who I was, and will always be. I could move to a number of different places throughout my life, but that part of me would always be with me. I couldn't just leave it behind.

Over these years, I had faced a typhoon of tumults, pain, sufferings, loss, heartbreak and yet, I hadn't given up. I had bounced back. I had become the best version of myself.

And I wasn't going to let all of that go to waste by letting some stuck up bimbo patronize me.

I gave her my heartiest smile, and grabbed my drink from the counter. "Have a good night."

Slowly turning away, I sauntered my way back to where my friends were standing, leaving her fumbling for a response. As I approached the group, Zoya asked, "So...did Ms. I'm-too-posh-for-this-shit grill you in any way?"

I took a sip of my drink, smirking, looking back at her.

"Let's just say.... I took care of it."

As I looked back at Zoya, she smirked putting her arm around me. "I'm loving this new version of you."

"I mean you got hot! You became a successful businesswoman. And now you're showing bitches their places!" She exclaimed. "I love this Veronica!"

I giggled.

"I mean it just seems so... weird for Himanshu to like someone like her." Kartik placed, looking at Moose who was now standing with his fiance. "They're just so...."

"Morbidly different." Siya completed. "Well Kartik, it's been a long time since we last saw him. He could've changed over the years you know."

"That much?" Saina's brows knitted.

"It's possible." Siya returned, looking at her former best friend. "He's famous now. He has a reputation to maintain. And perhaps her stature helps with that."

"You mean...you think that he's engaged to this girl because it helps glorify his image?" Zoya raised a brow. Siya merely shrugged to that.

"Come on, babe...." Kartik looked at his wife with a disappointed look on his face. "I'm sure that's not the reason."

"Yeah, Himanshu doesn't seem like someone who would do something like that." Saina agreed, sipping her martini.

I could tell from Siya's face that something had happened in the past few years for her to act this way towards Moose.

The music suddenly turned mellow and Adele's 'When We Were Young' slowly started coming to life. I watched as the couples, Kartik and Siya included, took to the dance floor and started swaying to the beat.

"They just had to do it, isn't it? They just had to play a romantic ballad on the day when I don't have a date to dance with." Zoya complained, throwing her hands up in the air. Saina and I laughed.

"Come on, let's get you another martini." Saina said, finishing her drink and putting her arm around Zoya. "We'll be right back, Veronica."

I smiled, nodding and they took off. As I sipped from my straw, feeling the tangy feeling of the lemon mixed in the drink, my eyes fell on them.

Moose and his dear fiance.

They were also at the dance floor, in an awkward embrace, slowly swaying to the beats. Her back was towards me so fortunately, she didn't catch me looking.

But he did.

We always seemed to have that thing. We could be in a room full of people, and my eyes would always find his, just to find that he'd already been looking.

My heartbeat got faster as I felt his eyes gazing at me, looking right through my 'I'm alright' facade. I feared that. I feared being vulnerable and letting my guard down in front of him. Not now. Not especially when he was finally moving on in his life.

I didn't have the right to do it. To call him mine.

But how could I sustain my heart which took every opportunity to leap out of it's cages at mere the sight of him?

Just like everything in my past, I could never escape him. He was a part of me, and a piece of me would always belong to him.

I lowered my gaze as I felt the music dying and his fiance moving back and looking at him. He tore his gaze off as well, and tried his best to focus on whatever his fiance was saying.

I would die of brain rot if I stayed in here for too long. Gulping the last of my drink, I checked my watch.

It was only 8:30, but it felt like several midnights had passed already.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen! Now it's time to bring out on stage Delmore's very own Velvet Concord!"

Velvet Concord was an indie boy band that had rose to fame in our little town over the years. I knew about them since I had once read an article about how during one of their shows, the entire venue had caught on fire and one of our very old bars had burned down completely. Jen used to keep tabs on what was happening in Delmore despite not staying there, because she felt like she owed it to the place in which she had grown to live a wonderful life.

All of us clapped as we waited for the curtains on the stage to open when suddenly, the speaker made a squeaky noise before playing a familiar tune.

" Got a secret, can you keep it?
Swear this one you'll save."

My body froze. I felt my palms get sweaty and crippling fear erose in my stomach.

"No...."

'Better lock it in your pocket,
Taking this one to the grave.'

"You hear that, right?" Said Zoya, her voice laced with a similar emotion as mine as she and Saina huddled close to me.

"Maybe it's a coincidence?!" Saina voiced, her words filled with dread. Kartik and Siya joined us as well.

' If I show you, then I know you,
Won't tell what I said.'

"No, no, no..." Siya panicked. Kartik clasped her hand tighter. In a moment, Moose came and joined us as well, a similar look of alarm etched on his face. We exchanged a look.

We all waited for the curtains to open, to confirm that the song was just a coincidence, to ease us all from our momentary panic.

But that didn't happen.

Slowly and gradually, the curtains did open. And the spotlights fell on the stage.

But the scene that sat in front of us was something we'd never be able to unsee.

In front of us, the four members of the band sat in their respective places, their lifeless body staring right at us. Their bodies were positioned in a way to make it seem like they'd start playing any minute now.

Charlie, the lead singer, hung from the ceiling, with his eyes open and guts hanging out; the microphone still in his hand.

The bass player, sat on a stool, with several knives plunged into him and his white shirt stained with blood.

The drummer, who sat behind the bass player, had both of his drumsticks plunged into his eyes and his throat slashed.

And the keyboard player, who sat on the right side of the stage, away from everyone else, had his hands placed on the keyboard, but his fingers were all cut off and a knife was plunged into his chest.

' Cause two can keep a secret,
when one of them is dead. '

Chaos and screams filled the auditorium as people rushed to get out of there.

But the six of us just stood there, watching the horror unravel right in front of our eyes.

"Oh my god...." Siya utters, her voice barely audible.

"This isn't happening." Zoya shook her head in agony.

At that precise moment, a message flashed on the screen that was on the stage. We all exchanged a look, already knowing what's about to unfold.

The picture of the same ghostface mask that had been the source of all our nightmares flashed on the screen and beside it, in bold capital letters, was written;

' I'M STILL HERE BITCHES.
AND THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE END. '

________

is it true that i intended to traumatize y'all with that detailed description of the mutilated band?

yes.

do i regret it?

no.

because shit's about to get
a lot more darker, gory-er,
and scarier as the story unfolds.
and not even your baby blanket is going to be able to save you from the heebie-jeebies!

so make sure to stay tuned!!!

and don't forget to vote, comment and share the book as much as possible!!!

love,
Bosedisha