LAYAL:
"Suicide to escape legal punishment after attempted murder."
That was the permanent branding of twenty-two year old Kiarra Perra, the girl who sacrificed herself to save me. Tainted as a murderer.
"You've been staring at that for three hours now." Tahira sighed.
My eyes scanned the investigation report one more time before tossing the file aside, feeling frustrated that I couldn't spot any loopholes to demand reinvestigation, and furious at the horrific criminal profile developed for Kiarra.
Bully, drug addict, psychopath, narcissistic personality disorder, etc.
Name it and it's there.
"Do you honestly believe this bullcrap of an investigation report?"
Most of it was made up. Some allegations were downright groundless.
"Of course! who wouldn't? everything written there is all Kiarra. Hell, I think they even left some things out to preserve whatever little dignity she had left." She remarked, bitterness and hatred evident in her words.
I stared at my roommate as though she'd grown two heads, because where did the compassionate and poised Tahira disappear off to.
"Not you too, Hira. What on earth had that poor girl ever done to you people? Ahmed, Salma, and now you. YOU of all people. That's especially unexpected, because I don't think you two were close enough to get into an altercation or did I miss something?"
The others I understand, but I found Tahira's bitterness towards Kiarra a bit off. It had me wondering if this was a newfound scorn or a decade long grudge.
"The question is, what hasn't she done?! Kiarra was a bully, rude, entitled, and an over-the-top class-A bitch. Now, now, I expected you to know this better than anyone Layal! or shall we take a little stroll down memory lane, huh?!" she raged.
It's true Kiarra wasn't the nicest person out there. Indeed she was a bully and everything else Tahira mentioned. She and I had an unpleasant history but we were able to sort our differences and arrive at a resolution. Also, I'm not condoning bullying in anyway. My point is, no matter how evil a person may be, death is never a solution. You should never claim another human's life regardless of what they've done. No one has that right aside God.
"I get you Hira, but her death was gruesome. She burnt to ashes." I counteracted, the memory still fresh on my mind.
"As she should. Goodnight." She snapped, switching off the lights.
Maybe I went too far. What had Kiarra done to get Tahira reacting this way? what if it was a traumatic experience, and I just drizzled salt to the wound?
I was on a train of thoughts, ransacking my brain for all possible answers before eventually deciding to apologize.
"I'm sorry. I was just too engrossed in finding answers that I failed to consider your feelings. That was selfish of me."
I meant it. Tahira was more of a sister to me than a roommate or close friend.
"The problem isn't you seeking answers. It's about how you're willing to bypass someone's wrong doings just because they died. What about the victims? don't they have the right to vent their agony? are they just supposed to act like nothing happened? what annoyed me the most is you constantly grumbling about respecting the dead. Did you ever ask yourself if that said dead person lived a respectable life? You reap what you sow, Layal. Karma is real."
"I know, I'm sorry." I had no words to add onto what she elaborated, for that was a "carbon copy" of the truth.
"It's alright, I won't shave off your eyebrows." She chuckled.
"You wish." I'm glad we made up. Were we still on the same page? No, but hey, 1am is rather an odd hour for bickering, don't you think?
"Now that you've cooled off. What's your take on the investigation result? Think from a law student's perspective." I queried, making sure my words were wisely chosen so she isn't ticked off.
"You want my honest answer?"
"Yes." I nodded.
"Stop playing Detective. Go pee and sleep."
This nutcase. What was I expecting anyway. It's Tahira we're talking about here.
"Goodnight." I gave up on the brainstorming as my body's resistance to sleep was growing weaker by the second. My heavy lids weren't helping either.
"Goodnight, kid." She yawned.
I switched off the study light and hopped under my duvet, succumbing to darkness.
_______________________________________________
"There are no quizzes for this course, but you'll have review questions to answer and submit via Teams on a weekly basis. A debate will also be held during the last four weeks of the semester. You may refer to the course outline on LMS for the percentage allocated to each assessment. Any questions?" Our Bioethics instructor, Miss Green eyeliner informed.
Now before you judge, allow me to defend myself. My very kind roommate decided to mess with my alarm and so here I am, attending Ethics 20mins to the end of the lecture. So yeah, I kinda missed the self introduction session.
"Will the exams be classical questions or mcqs?" Some student at the back inquired. I need to start learning names. Can't go around calling people random parts of speech.
"Classical questions." Collective groans resonated around the class upon her response.
"If there are no more questions, you're free to go. Thank you for your time and see you next week. Bye!" She dismissed.
I like her. She's cute and friendly.
An arm draped around my shoulder the moment I walked out of class, but I didn't bother checking whose it was because those chicken skewers belong to only one person.
"Break point!" Salma drawled, beaming with excitement. That's so much energy than I can keep up with at 10am. I'd love more than anything to dash home right now but I don't have the strength to banter with this breathing power bank.
We met Ahmed already seated upon reaching breakpoint, with two extra coffee cups aside his. Bless this man.
"You've been suspiciously kind lately, Ahmed. What's the catch?" Salma voiced my thoughts.
He tilted his head in confusing, as if waiting for further explanation.
"You bought us dessert at LOCAL, and now coffee." I clarified.
His eyes widened in realization then he went into fits of laughter.
"Oh boy. You've got it all wrong sweetheart. This is the third cup I'm sipping this morning. Getting a little ahead of yourselves I see." He chortled, discarding the two cups into the bin to put his point across.
"Believe me now?" He mused.
I flipped him off and dragged Salma to the canteen. If I don't consume caffeine anytime soon I might lose it. We got cappuccino and some triangle sandwich thingy Salma recommended. Honestly, it was giving raw chicken stacked into cold bread, looking as unseasoned and bland as her taste in men, but I kept my opinions to myself. Don't wanna provoke the sleeping serpent.
"Damn, she made you buy this prison food too." Ahmed exclaimed when we returned, earning a scowl from her.
I was about to sip my coffee when Ahmed's voice halted me.
"Isn't that, Hella?" He not so discreetly pointed at a brunette standing at the door of Deniz bookshop, seemingly on a phone call.
"Kiarra's cousin, yeah." Salma confirmed.
"Damn, she got some guts showing up in school after everything." He asserted.
"I heard she transferred, but clearly not." Salma added.
I kept a keen focus on her while deciding if I should approach or not, because right now she's my best shot at finding clues related to the case. After weighing my options for some time, I decided to fill-up on courage and approach her.
"I'll be back." I informed my friends and left before they could interject.
"Hey." My greeting came out more as a breathe than words. First impression flushed down the drain. Well done Layal.
"My my, look who we have here, and to what do I owe the pleasant visit." She smirked, sarcasm dripping down her voice.
Well that went down south fast. I plastered on a fake smile and gathered my shattered dignity. I was the one in need, so pride aside.
"You're Hella, right?"
Well duh girl. What's wrong with me.
"The one and only."
"Can we please talk?"
"We are." She shrugged.
This is hard, I thought to myself while breathing in and out for self control. I am temperamental and easily triggered by people with unnecessary attitude.
"Not here, somewhere more private." I motioned for her to follow me and lead us to an isolated bench at the far right corner of Break point.
"First off, my deepest condolences for your loss. It m....."
"Cut to the chase." She deadpan, shutting me up on spot.
God help me.
"With all due respct Hella, don't you think you're making this unnecessarily uncomfortable and harder than it already is." I stated as calmly as possible, keeping my fury at bay.
She tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear and looked away, completely disregarding my statement. I thought of walking away as my pride couldn't handle anymore bruises but when I think about Kiarra and the injustice she faced, giving up sickens me to the core.
"I reviewed the investigation report on Kiarra's case and couldn't help but perceive how absurd it was. She was wrongfully judged and it's now up to us to unveil the truth. Justice needs to prevail."
She gave a blank stare for a good minute before bursting out in laughter.
"Woah, you sure can pass as an actress." She seethed.
At this point my ego was no different from steam, evaporated and disappeared into the clouds. I patiently waited for her to calm down, not uttering a word.
"You've got some nerves, Layal. No, you're truly unbelievable." She snarled.
"What do you mean?"
She quirked a brow and scoffed, as if taken aback by my question.
"What do I mean? that's a little cheap and shameless coming from you, don't you think?"
"Hella, I don't know wh....
She stood up and slammed her palms on the table, momentarily startling me.
"Are you bipolar or something? because this can't be the same person who posted that blog on Instagram five months ago." She snapped.
Blog? Instagram? who? five months ago?
My brain suddenly became a Whirlpool of perplex as I struggled to process what she said.
"What? you're gonna pretend you don't know about that too? You've caused my family enough pain. What more could you possibly want?" She exasperated, her voice cracking at the end.
"I swear I don't know what you're talking about. I'm so lost Hella." I was in desperate need of explanation but she just kept speaking in parables.
"The shitty blog you wrote about Kiarra on Instagram five months ago. How you're glad she died and a bunch of other crap. I can't believe you. Here, take a look." She shoved her phone in my face.
An audible gasp involuntarily escaped my throat as I read the post, every word feeling like acid on my tongue, and indeed, it was posted five months ago. FROM MY ACCOUNT!
"I neither wrote nor posted this, Hella."
"Yeah sure. Let's say it's a unicorn with five heads an....
"Because, I was in coma five months ago." I affirmed.
"wh...at?" She stuttered.
"I slipped into coma from that night and woke up only three weeks ago. The whole school knows about this."
She lost her balance and staggered backwards.
"This is bad." I whispered, feeling my stomach churn in terror, for it could only mean one thing.
The culprit is still lurking.