Visha means deadly poison
FLASHBACK
Music was pulsing through the room as we all gathered for a night out.
Laughter and lively conversation filled the air as we enjoyed each other's company.
Visha sat across from me, her angelic face barely betraying any dark thoughts that might be hiding behind her sparkling eyes.
-Hey Visha, are you sure you're 18?
-You really have a baby face, mocked another
It's true that she seemed so innocent.
The game of "Truth or Dare" had started innocently, but I began to feel more and more uncomfortable as the night wore on.
Every action Visha proposed seemed to be calculated to put the other players in compromising situations.
Then came the turn of one of our mutual friends Cruz.
-Truth or dare?, she asked him with a smile that revealed two small dimples.
-Action, he replied
Visha tilted her head, as if she had already planned what she was going to ask him.
"I want you to douse yourself in gasoline," she said in a soft but determined voice.
A shiver of apprehension ran down my spine. Douse with gasoline? It was a bit extreme for a game.
-Unless you want to drink the drink we created, said Visha in an innocent tone, but I warn you you risk going to the emergency room or maybe dying
He hesitated but not wanting to appear weak in front of everyone, he accepted.
As someone poured gasoline on him. All the lights went out suddenly without anyone expecting it, I could only watch as someone appeared behind Cruz.
I heard him scream in terror as he realized what was happening to him.
Someone had set him on fire.
Panic gripped the room but everyone was so high from alcohol that they didn't react right away.
It was a hubbub mixed with a total blur, as if everything was in slow motion.
But by the time I tried to try to help him, it was too late. I saw him move closer to the edge of the window before throwing himself into the void in panic.
It was then that I remembered Donovan's words: "Visha means deadly poison".
In that moment of pure terror, I realized that Donovan's warnings were not just precautions to be taken lightly but real warnings.
Visha was not the innocent girl she pretended to be. And I had just discovered this in the most terrifying way possible.
It's a horror scene that freezes everyone. We are all in shock, trying to understand what happened.
Help arrives quickly, but it is too late for Cruz.
The authorities begin to investigate the circumstances of his death, while we are plunged into a mixture of grief, guilt and confusion.
The hazy memories of this night of celebration become nightmares haunted by images of fire and falls.
-Nothing happened, Visha suddenly whispered to us, right?
While I accompany Colette, one of the friends, into the toilets. I notice she looks like she's about to collapse.
It hurts me to see her like that, I myself was destroyed to know that Cruz was dead.
He was my best friend, he knew everything about me and conversely I knew everything about him.
Between sobs, she begins to articulate broken words.
-S-if I had known, how would she say despair?
-If you had known what?, I whispered perplexed
She tries to calm down.
-Go put some water on your face first, I advised him worriedly
She shakes her head, still scared.
-Before the party took place I saw Cruz arguing on the phone, she admitted to me, continuing to sob, he seemed tense
-Did you hear the person he was talking to?, I asked him in a soft voice.
-I'm afraid you don't believe me, she said to me, tears swirling around her pupils.
-Why wouldn't I believe you?, I reassured her
-Because I heard the name Donovan, she finally admitted to me
My minds swirl, shatter and scatter. I think again and again.
But she's right because I really find it hard to believe that Donovan would do something like that. I'm sorry I couldn't believe it.
-You see, she smiled at me sadly, I told you that you wouldn't believe me
That evening my heart suffered two wounds: the first was from losing a loved one and the second from disappointing one of my friends.
END OF FLASH BACK