"Ha—look who we have here. The virgin girl."
Laughter followed me into the restroom before I could even turn. Tyler's hand slammed into my shoulder, shoving me back against the wall hard enough to knock the air out of me.
"please let me go," I snapped, my voice sharper than I intended.
They paused just for a second.
Then they laughed harder.
"Oh, she can talk," one of them mocked.
Tyler stepped closer, looking me over slowly, his grin turning ugly. "Honestly, I don't even blame Darius," he said, his voice dropping. "You're one hot little thing blonde."
Before I could react, his hand came down against me, and my body stiffened instantly.
"Can I have a turn too?" he added, tapping twice against my butt like I was something to knock on. "Knock, knock… let me in."
The others burst into laughter.
"Though, come to think of it," another boy added casually, "Darius probably caught something from her. That's why he didn't show up today ."
More laughter.
My hands clenched at my sides, nails biting into my palms as something dark surged inside me, rising too fast, too violently. For a second, I imagined it, how easily I could break them, how quickly their laughter would turn into screams.
But I didn't move.
I couldn't.
Not here.
A sharp whistle cut through the room, and the boys scattered instantly, slipping out before they could be caught.
Silence followed.
I stood there for a moment, breathing slowly, forcing everything back down before stepping toward the sink. Cold water hit my face, grounding me just enough to keep control.
If only I could tear them apart, I thought bitterly.
But I had to endure this.
I always did.
*****
The next few days blurred into something worse. The whispers didn't stop, they multiplied. What used to be quiet mockery became something sharper, more deliberate. Shoves in the hallway. Hands grabbing when no one was looking. Threats murmured just loud enough to reach me.
Olivia dragged it out the most, stretching every moment, every insult, while Sasha and her group laughed like it was entertainment.
I said nothing.
I watched.
I waited.
Then everything changed.
It happened during third period.
The door opened abruptly, and our teacher stepped in, her usual composure gone. Her face was tight, voice strained as she called for silence. The room quieted, not out of discipline, but curiosity.
"There will be no unnecessary movement between classes today," she said. "No one leaves school grounds without permission."
A ripple moved through the room.
"What happened?" someone called.
She hesitated just briefly.
Then she said it.
"A student was found early this morning on his family's property." Her voice tightened slightly. "Darius Cole is dead."
Silence slammed into the room.
For a moment, no one reacted.
Then everything broke at once.
"What?" Maria shouted first beside me.
"No way" another added.
"Dead?"
"How?!"
"I heard he was found in his garden—"
"They said there were marks on his neck, like something attacked him"
"An animal?"
"In his own house?"
"That doesn't even make sense."
The noise swelled, voices overlapping, panic and curiosity blending into something chaotic.
I stayed still.
Head slightly lowered.
Face blank.
Inside… nothing moved.
By lunch, the entire school was drowning in rumors.
"They said there was blood everywhere."
"No, not everywhere, just around him."
"My brother said it looked like an animal attack."
"But how does an animal get into a place like that?"
"Exactly, that's what's weird"
I moved through it all quietly, listening without reacting, letting their confusion build the story for me.
Sleepwalking.
Garden.
Animal bite.
They were trying to make it make sense.
It never would.
Olivia sat at the center table, but she wasn't laughing anymore.
Her phone was in her hand, but she wasn't scrolling. She just stared at it, like she was waiting for something, anything to prove this wasn't real.
Her friends were quieter too, glancing at her, unsure what to say.
I slowed as I passed.
"I heard about Darius," I said softly.
Her head snapped up immediately.
For a second, something sharp flickered in her eyes.
Anger, suspicion, but it faded just as quickly, replaced by something else.
Shock.
"What about it?" she asked, her voice lower than usual.
"I just…" I hesitated, letting my gaze drop slightly. "I hope he didn't suffer."
The words came out gently.
Carefully.
Almost kind.
Olivia stared at me, searching my face like she was trying to decide if I meant it.
Then she looked away.
"…Yeah," she muttered. "Me too."
I nodded once and walked past her, unbothered.
But as I turned the corner, out of sight, a faint smile touched my lips.
He didn't just disappear.
He was gone.
And no one knew why.
*****
A month after Darius's disappearance, life in college had settled into something disturbingly normal.
The whispers faded. The fear shifted into curiosity, then into indifference. People moved on quickly, faster than I expected. I even had my share of quiet victories again, slipping back into the rhythm of school as though nothing had ever happened.
But not at home.
At home, silence never meant peace.
****
That evening, I was lying comfortably in my room, the weight of the day finally leaving my body, when the door was suddenly slammed open.
Father stood there.
And before I could even sit up properly, he was already moving.
"Father—what—"
The words never finished.
He grabbed me and dragged me out of the bed, throwing me hard enough that I barely caught myself before hitting the floor. Pain exploded through my stomach the moment his plank struck me, sharp, brutal, deliberate. I coughed instantly, blood spilling from my mouth before I could even process what was happening.
My vision blurred.
"Explain this," he said coldly.
I looked up at him, breath uneven, my body still trying to recover from the blow.
Anthony would have stopped him, he always would have but he wasn't here. He had left for college a week ago.
I was alone.
Father shoved his phone into my face.
The screen was already playing.
And I knew it before I even saw it clearly.
My blood ran cold.
It was the video.
Darius.
Me.
That moment, distorted, exposed, inescapable.
My breath caught in my throat as the world narrowed to that screen, every second of it cutting deeper than the pain in my body.
Father's grip tightened around the phone as he watched me instead of the video.
"Do you have any idea what this is?" he asked, voice low and dangerous. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
I couldn't speak.
Not because I didn't have answers, but because none of them would save me.
The silence between us stretched, suffocating.
And for the first time since it happened… I realized this wasn't about school anymore.
This wasn't about Darius.
This was about consequences.
Real torturous consequences!