My eyes widened upon seeing what was written on that folded piece. It is a page from someone's diary stating "I had so much fun hanging out with the school's journalists today. Captain critiqued my piece and pointed out some issues with my writing. She's really kind, and every day I spend with her and the others, I learn something. I hope I can win an award so I could be a part of the school's publications too." -Rayland
Officer Gavia gave me a serious look, making me unable to look him straight in the eyes. "T-This isn't what you're supposed to be asking me, sir,"
"Stop avoiding it, Miss Nase. You knew about the community and my brother, right? That means you knew about his bullies,"
"No, I don't--"
"Stop lying, for fuck's sake!" he yelled, slamming the table near him, which almost made me jump. His glares are sharp, but I could only look away to avoid giving in to the temptation of telling him what I knew because I want to protect Jacob.
"Fine. I know him. I know Rayland. But about that community you've mentioned, I know nothing," I said, trying to look confident.
"How about his bullies?"
"He committed suicide, so stop acting as if he was murdered,"
He was stunned by those words, leaving him staring at me for a few seconds before finally lifting a side of his lips for a bitter smirk. "Crashing or taking one's will to live...is the most brutal kind of murder there is...for me. Can you imagine the pain Rayland must've tried so hard to bear while trying to smile in front of us? Do you even know how much it hurts to keep everything to yourself? My brother killed himself because he could no longer take it--"
"Still, it's his decision. He's a fool for letting those bastards steal his life from him! You're his family. You should've known that he's no longer happy! You can't just blame anyone! Stop dumping your guilt towards others!"
He raised his voice, and I couldn't help but raise mine too. I understand where he's coming from, but I really don't know anything except that my best friend is one of his bullies. I regretted saying those words to him, though.
I saw the tears threatening to fall from officer Gavia's eyes, but as much as I like to console him, I am only reminded of the time when I lost my mother. Just like Rayland, she killed herself because she couldn't take it anymore, leaving me as if her death wouldn't cause me pain.
Suicide victims aren't victims. They are selfish people who only know how to self-pity. I loathe them as much as I loathe the likes of Kier, Cesar, and my father.
Officer Gavia looked down as he tried his best to suppress his sobs from coming out of his mouth. I knew that I had hurt his feelings, and I am aware that I went a little below the belt for saying that. I didn't regret it, though.
"You're right," he said after a moment before sniffing and then wiping off the tears on his face to look straight at me again. "Fine, I'll work for my brother's case alone, but you'll have to help me solve this case since this concerns Elton and because you are the SSC captain."
I sighed and slapped my forehead. "And how do you think an 18-year-old high school student could do that?" I asked.
"I don't know, but I have a gut feeling that there's a reason why the mutilated body got dumped in this school, and you are the only person who knows Elton better than anyone,"
I didn't know how officer Gavia convinced me, but the next thing that I know is that I am standing two feet away from the collected body parts, staring at the initials B.D. engraved in the belly part of the torso that I saw earlier. They weren't simple cuts like what I thought.
"Faye?" officer Gavia called. "I've already talked to Miss Stacey and the principal. They said you're excused for today's class."
I looked at him and nodded. "Thanks, officer," I said before glancing one more time at the mutilated corpse, which officer Gavia seemed to notice.
"Things like this used to gross me out when I was still a rookie cop. It's surprising to see a teenager who could look at stuff like this," he commented.
"It's grossing me out, too. It's just that I have watched so many movies with realistic special effects that I got somehow used to seeing things like this. Seriously, I am literally thinking that this is just a realistic human body model from the school's science lab," I replied.
"I'm sure you are," he chuckled.
"However, officer.." I called, hesitating. I don't know if it's just me, but something's strange about the initials engraved on the body. So, still, with hesitation, I pointed it out to officer Gavia. "What do those letters mean?"
He crossed his arms and looked at it as he answered. "I don't know, but it's probably the key to the victim's identity. Why do you ask?"
My eyes narrowed as I looked at it and mindlessly blurted out the words, "I don't know, but I think I've seen them somewhere. I am not sure, though,"
Officer Gavia's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at me and the corpse back and forth. "Really?" he said and thought.
I tried to remember where I'd seen them but failed.
Soon, another officer, whom I read to be officer Garcia, went to our side and looked at the corpse while shaking his head. "This week sure is eventful, huh. It's been only a few days since we solved the case of the drowned girl. We saved some time when Ambrocio decided to kill himself, but fate gave us another piece of work. Goodness, the life of us, police officers, sure is busy 24/7,"
Officer Gavia laughed at his colleague's frustrated speech, but hearing about Cesar made me realize why the initials were so familiar. I ignored the two officers who were exchanging jokes about the corpse and work and took my phone from my pocket. I opened my browser and search for the news article I'd seen about Cesar's death, and when I found the article, I turned to officer Gavia.
"Sir," I called, which caught both of their attention. "Doesn't this look identical to the letters engraved in that torso?"
I showed them the picture I found on the internet of the cutter blade Cesar used to cut himself, which also has the initials B.D. written on its blade. The officers looked at it, but before they could even give me their thoughts, officer Garcia's phone rang.
"Excuse me," he said before turning his back to answer the call, leaving me alone with officer Gavia.
"Hmm, they do," he said after a moment but shrugged. "This could be a coincidence, but I'll take note of this."
"Yeah," I half-heartedly said. "This could be just a coincidence."
I slid the phone back into my pocket, but I still couldn't let go of the gut feeling I have about the initials. Not long after that conversation, officer Garcia went back to our side and said to officer Gavia,
"Buddy, a garbage collector found the possible victim's head right outside the school,"
Right after hearing that, officer Gavia and I went outside the school to the huddling people a few meters outside the school gates. The crowd gave way for us when they saw officer Gavia, and upon making it to the center of the crowd, placed both of my hands in my mouth in shock.
"Officer, I know him," I hissed as I stared at the human head along with the dirty garbage, which made officer Gavia look at me in surprise.
"Is he a student?" he asked.
I nodded before saying, "He's Herbert Kaharian, my senior,"
***
[EHS UNDERGROUND FILES Black_Dahlia_666 posted a photo. "Goodbye, asshole"]
*Herbert's photo* -B.D.