Chapter Eight: Coward

I squeezed the piece of paper in my hand as the distance between me and Rhea seemed to grow less, I was definitely going to get scolded for sure, there was no avoiding the inevitable, I breathed calmly and tapped her shoulder

"What?"

"So… I…" I breathed calmly and glimpsed at the impatient brunette, everything would be much easier if we had any souls to collect last night or earlier this morning, the scolding would be over with right now "Someone knows." She had a confused look and I shoved the paper in her hand.

Her eyes scanned through the paper, she still seemed calm but the aura made me nervous. She looked at me and swiftly raised her hand to hit me, I closed my eyes anticipating the impending impact

"You are aware that's your senior and the school president you were about to hit." The voice seemed dark, ominous and strangely familiar, I quickly opened my eyes and spotted Rhea glaring at a red haired boy standing in the middle of both of us.

The red hair wasn't familiar to say the least but the dangerous aura and lean figure were, it was the same guy I had met the previous day. Rhea huffed and walked away, but I knew better, this wasn't over, we had another soul to collect in about five minutes "Are you okay?" he asked blankly and I nodded, he didn't seem to remember me or he just pretended not to

"Thanks." I stared at him with a quizzical expression, it made him nervous but I didn't stop "What's your name?" the question made him surprised but my expression remained serious, I wanted him to know I wasn't joking

"It's Ben." He turned and left and I huffed, my timer rang and I sprinted down the hall to the girl's bathroom, the minute of my doom was finally here. The girls who were busy applying makeup had frozen in their conversation, I turned to Rhea who stood staring at me calmly.

She quietly put her hand forward and I felt my lip tremble as I nervously put my hand on hers, I needed to close my eyes but anything could happen. I breathed slowly and focused on the vision I had seen three days ago, I opened them and Rhea pulled her hand away from mine

"After all the instructions you still manage to screw up!"

I shuddered "I'm sorry, I don't know how it happened." I wailed. She raised a brow and then her hand and…

~~~~~~~~~~~

I yelped as Tyson pressed the ice pack on my bruised face, I glared at the unbothered nurse who was busy on her phone, the principal said he couldn't change the nurse on such short notice so we were stuck with her till the next semester.

"I can't believe Rhea did this to you." He sniggered and I glared at him

"It's not funny, my face hurts."

"You're still her senior at school, you could have done something but chose to be a coward."

I clenched my fists but squirmed as the ice pack came in contact with my bruised face "She's still your girlfriend, scold her or something." He pressed the ice pack on my face with more pressure and I yelped louder

"I could but you would still be the coward either way." He avoided eye contact as he said that and I could tell he was lying.

I furrowed my brows "Are you scared of Rhea?" he increased the pressure of the ice pack and I held the cry that threatened to escape my lips

"I'm not."

"You're a terrible liar." He eyerolled and put a bandage on the bruised patch on my face

"Don't you have some family dinner at Kyle's place?" I sighed "Don't be nervous, I'm coming too." I gave him a questioning look "Rhea wants to mess with you there."

I eyerolled "So childish."

"If I remember correctly, this is all your fault."

I huffed "If you excuse me, I'm off to the mall" plopped down the bed and slipped my back pack on

"Buy me a snack while you're at it." I ignored him and walked out of the nurse's office. I gracefully walked out of the school and froze in my step for the few moments it took me to find myself in a railway accident I shook my head as I returned to reality, I was pretty sure all these visions would have a negative impact on my mental health.

I opened my car as I arrived at the parking lot and tossed my bag as I headed in. I turned on the car and started my drive to the cemetery, it was a Thursday and I was a hundred percent sure that the gravestone for that grave where I had spotted Rhea was already put up.

I parked my car close to the gigantic gates for the cemetery and I quickly got out of my car and into the cemetery, what I was doing could be considered illegal and criminal in so many ways but I needed to feed my curiosity.

The gravestone was indeed put up like I had thought and I swiftly made my way to it, I could finally learn why Rhea was being more of a bitch, I closed my eyes as if to surprise myself and anxiously opened them

Nikki Brady

I felt confused, this was one of the first people whose soul we had collected, and it finally made sense why Rhea had been sad that day and why she had avoided school when I had told her we were to collect the soul of Nikki Brady. I sighed, I still had so many unanswered questions and I wondered why I thought coming to a grave would answer all of them.

The sound of footsteps put me on alert and a dangerous aura surrounded the atmosphere, I turned to a hooded figure with a lean stature I was very familiar with, he walked up to my dad's grave and silently stared at it, it was very suspicious. I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder

"Lyra." he called as he turned to me

"Why are you staring at my dad's grave?"

He seemed startled "I was just lost…" the excuse seemed vague and highly suspicious but I had also been staring at someone else's grave which also made me guilty of the same act. He cocked his head to a side and asked the already expected question "Why weren't you here if this was your dad's grave?"

I sweat dropped "I…um…I…"

He placed his hand on my bandaged cheek completely taking me by surprise as I stood frozen "I'm guessing Rhea did this to you?" I managed to nod and he sighed as he took his hand away from my face "You're too much of a coward." I blinked and watched as he slipped his hands into his pocket and left.

I felt mad, he was the second person to tell me that and I knew it was true, I watched Ben's lean figure disappear and checked the time on my smart watch. I needed to leave now if I wanted to get to Kyle's house in time for dinner, I sighed and walked out of the cemetery.