chapter 3: The sudden call

After reaching the classroom, Peter sat down and started reading about today's lecture when suddenly someone slapped his back.

"Jade, stop with your nonsense and let me read this," Peter said annoyingly without even looking back.

Soon, a pretty woman with a porcelain-like face and jet black straight and silky hair down to her waist sat beside Peter.

"Peter, you are so boring. It's free time; everyone is enjoying themselves, and you are the only one studying," Jade mocked Peter.

"There's a saying: work when others are enjoying and still work while others are working to be a great one."

"A great one who studies all day yet gets fewer marks than me, who only studies the day before the exam?" Jade laughed.

"You—" Peter was about to curse but calmed down and plucked a strand of Jade's hair.

"Aah! Why did you pluck my hair?" Jade asked, looking at Peter with an aggrieved expression.

"I will do black magic with this hair of yours, and you will soon become my servant. Then I will make you do my housework like cleaning toilets, washing clothes, and mopping the floors," Peter said.

"Humph! You are so bad. I'm not talking to you again until you give me a cocoa chocolate," Jade said and turned her head away.

"I know, I know. Here, your chocolate." Peter took the chocolate from his pocket and gave it to her.

"How did you know you would have to get me chocolate in advance? Do you have divine powers?" Jade asked.

"Of course he would know. You both have known each other for over seven years. More than that, it's almost every day that you guys bicker, and Peter gives you chocolate. So even a normal classmate can tell that he will give you chocolate. So in short, yes, Peter has a divine power known as common sense," a voice came from behind them.

Peter and Jade turned around to see a 1.8-meter tall guy.

"Alex, you back from your trip abroad?" Peter asked. This was Alex, a friend Peter made during his college life.

"Nope, gotta go again. The flight's in four hours. Came here just to say bye; it'll be a long trip this time," Alex said.

They all sat together and chatted. After an hour of talk, Alex bid both of them farewell and went on his way.

"Peter, will you take part in the hackathon?" Jade asked while eating the chocolate.

"Yes, of course I will, and not only that, I will win the first prize," Peter said with a smile.

"Of course, if it's you and Sarah participating, then of course you will win," Jade said with a sigh.

"She's not participating."

"Why? The contest is supposed to be a group of two members. If she doesn't participate, then how will you win?"

"Her sister called her to the capital, so she won't be back till night. Also, I alone can win the hackathon," Peter said with pride.

"As if," Jade looked at him like a dead person. "I will be participating with you since Sarah can't."

"Ok then, let's go win the qualifying round; it's in two hours," Peter said and took Jade to the contest room.

...

Three hours later

"That was pretty easy. We hardly did anything. It was an easy victory; we just have to win three more rounds like this," Jade said.

"Of course, with you, I will win for sure," Peter said.

They were both laughing and happily chatting together, but their joy was interrupted by a phone call.

Peter saw an unknown number and picked it up. Soon, his expression changed from skeptical to worried to fearful to regretful to sadness.

Seeing the change in Peter's emotions, Jade tried to ask what had happened, but soon she saw the phone slip from Peter's hand as he ran away extremely fast.

Jade picked up his phone and went after him.

"No, no, no, no, this is fake. It can't happen," Peter kept murmuring while running.

Soon he arrived at the main road. There was heavy traffic and a lot of people gathered. Peter manically pushed through the crowd. From a distance, he saw someone lying on the ground, a familiar hand and a watch which he had gifted a few days ago.

He pushed through and saw a bloodied corpse. His mouth went dry; he couldn't speak nor think as it was the corpse of his girlfriend, Sarah.

He looked at her and started screaming, "SARAH, SARAH, WAKE UP, SARAH!" but he got no response.

He put his hand to her chest but felt no heartbeat. He even put his head to her chest but heard nothing. He checked her pulse but found no signs of life.

"Hey Sarah, I know—I know you are pranking me, right? These are all your hired actors, right? Just stop acting, please. I am sorry for pranking you a few days ago, please wake up, don't do this."

"SARAH, WAKE UP, PLEASE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Peter screamed, but nothing happened.

"Young man, was she your friend? She is already dead; the ambulance and doctor already checked up on her," a middle-aged man said to Peter.

But Peter looked at the guy with anger and lunged at him shouting, "WHO IS DEAD? YOU ARE DEAD! YOUR FAMILY IS DEAD! DON'T SPEAK NONSENSE. SHE IS ALIVE."

Soon the onlookers came to calm Peter down. They held him and stopped him, or else he would have beaten the middle-aged man.

"Why are you guys stopping me? LET ME GOOOO," Peter screamed.

"PETERRR," a shout came from the crowd.

Peter looked at the sound and saw Jade coming towards him. He broke free from the people holding him and walked towards Jade. He pinched her shoulders tightly.

"JADE, look! WHAT THEY ARE SAYING? THEY ARE SAYING SARAH IS DEAD. WHAT A LIE! She is—she is—she is just acting, right? Tell them, ask them to stop holding me back and let her be taken to the hospital."

"PETER." Slap A crisp slap landed on Peter's cheek. He looked at the person who slapped him—it was none other than Jade.

"Peter, stop it. She is already dead. You can't deny it," Jade said, starting with a shout but gradually lowering her voice to a murmur as she, too, was sad. She and Sarah had been good friends for more than three years.

"NOOOOOOO—"