CHAPTER 2 - A CRIMSON SUPRISE

6 MONTHS LATER...

Mira hastily packed a quick breakfast combo consisting of a BLT sandwich, a banana and a bottle of water into her bag. Rushing down the hall, heading for the front door, she informed her mother, "Mum! I'm heading out for school, okay?!"

An elderly woman emerged from the from the kitchen, a nostalgic smile playing across her lips, "Calm down, my little girl, you won't even let mummy see you off."

Mira paused after she reaching the door, rolling her eyes in a light hearted manner. "Mum, I'm not a little kid anymore."

Her mother closed her eyes and chuckled, "Oh that's right, my girl's all grown up now and is studying medicine in the university." She walked up to Mira and took her hands, she looked up at Mira, her eyes revealing possessiveness. "I know that you'll soon become a fully grown woman and start your own life, but please don't grow up too fast." The elderly woman requested.

Mira put on a comforting smile, her voice soft and reassuring. "I'm not going anywhere, mum." She added in a light hearted tone, "And you better not get old too fast and leave me either."

Her mother laughed, "I'm not going anywhere, my dear. In case you didn't know, when your father left he put me in charge."

Mira laughed as well, "Yes, I know, mum." Mira casted her gaze down slightly. She added empathetically, "Dad was a good man."

Her mother paused for a moment. "Yes dear, he was." She said in agreement looking into empty space.

An awkward silence echoed throughout the room for a few moments.

Her mother perceived the mood change in the room, she quickly changed the topic as casually as she could, "Well not not start with any sad talk before you leave for school, you're going to be late if you don't run off now."

"Oh that's right," Mira said before turning the doorknob. "I'll see you after school mom."

Her mother waved as she watched Mira on her way out, "Alright, be safe, okay?"

Mira turned back to wave back at her, "I will, mum." She faced forward and found a bus to catch to school.

She arrived at her university, Stanford University, California. She walked into the school premises and hastily went to her faculty building.

Right before she entered the building she checked the time, her wrist watch read eight minutes to nine. "Damn, I'm over twenty minutes late." Regardless, she reluctantly pulled down on the doorknob and walking in.

The lecturer who was writing on the chalkboard, turned to look at her, his eyes scanning her from head to toe as if searching for something. "Mira Forger, you're exactly 23 minutes late this time" He returned his gaze to the chalkboard and added, "It seems you may be trying to set a record for yourself."

Mira casted her gaze down in remorse, her lips tightly pressed together, "No sir, I promise I won't be late next ti-"

"That's precisely what you said last class," he immediately said, cutting her off. Mira kept quiet, avoiding direct eye contact.

"Or am I lying?" He added.

"No sir." She responded in a feeble tone.

"Don't be late again, or it's coming out of your attendance marks." He finally showed her a bit of mercy.

"Yes sir." She responded.

"Have your seat." The lecturer said as turned to face the class.

Mira walked up to her desk, her movements restricted and uneasy, she could feel the weight of the entire class staring at her as she did. "Great" She sarcastically thought to herself.

The lecturer after seeing her off to her seat continued his lecture, "Alright class, let's proceed with the anatomy of the human heart. The heart has four chambers-"

After all the lectures she had for the afternoon, Mira went to the food stand to buy something to eat, on her way there, one of her good friends, Tracy, an average height, brown skinned girl, met up with her. "Girl, you have got to start coming to school earlier, that man almost blew a fuse on you back there."

"I know-, I know, but it's not my fault. I don't live very close to school, even you know that, plus, I may have overslept, so putting those two together I was actually quite early." Mira said, trying to justify her tardiness, a sheepish smile playing across her face.

Tracy chuckled and removed her gaze from Mira. "And there you go again, trying to justify your actions, which we're clearly your fault."

Mira raised and eyebrow, a mischievous grin played across her face, "Hey, don't blame me, blame the girl who sent me all the episodes of that new series I binged all through the night, The Chosen Ones."

Tracy laughed and returned her gaze to Mira, her eyes widened in disbelief, and her tone light hearted, "Oh really?, you're gonna blame me now?"

The two girls laughed as they made their way to the food stand. Eventually, the sun cast it's orangish red beams on the buildings and trees as it began to retire for the day, leaving space for the moon to take it's place, evening time came, and Mira was having night time classes as well so she had to stay for them.

After she had all her classes, she began going home. As she walked to the bus stop she lifted her head, gazing upon the twinkling stars lighting up the bluish black night sky. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, speaking to herself, "I feel so lonely." She suddenly remembered her boyfriend, Alex, who she replaced me with months ago, a flood of memories washed over her, her voice laced with nostalgia and a hint of sadness, "He wasn't supposed to die, what kind of car was he driving that even led to that?,". Then she remembered her father, more specifically-, his death.

Mira began to recall what happened on that faithful night, "I know what I saw." As she started to remember everything, her eyes widened in distress, her tone of voice betrayed fear and certainty, she repeated, "I know what I saw."

Her breathing started to increase, becoming heavier by the second, her eyeballs jittering around in her skull, "I know what I saw, I know what I saw..." She repeated that phrase over and over again, like it was some mantra. "It wasn't suicide. I know what I saw, I know what I saw!" Tears started rolling down her cheeks, she grabbed her hair, gripping her head tightly like it was going to explode.

Finally, she took in a deep breath and let it out, she was able to calm her mentally unstable state but she was still shivering. She tried to forget the thought and finally boarded a bus back to her house, she was in a more calmer state at last.

Once she got home, she knocked on the door and called out, "Mum?, I'm home."

There was no answer behind the door.

She knocked harder and called louder, her eyes already flushed with fear, "Mum? Mum open up."

At last the doorknob turned, the door opened, and Mira was shocked and relieved to see that her mother was still there, okay.

Her mother had confusion etched on her face, she asked Mira in a soft tone, "My dear, you're back. What happened to you, you look like you had just seen a ghost. I'm sorry I couldn't get to the door sooner, I just finished preparing dinner, you were knocking like you needed something urgently."

Mira looked around the house from outside, she scanned the hall as though looking for something. "Uhm...mm... Sorry mum, it's nothing really."

"Are you sure?, if there's anything bothering you at all you know you can always come to me. At any rate, come inside, drop your things, it's a bit chilly out." Her mother said, she closed the door after Mira had come in.

Mira and her mother eventually ate the dinner which her mum prepared. "Thank you, mum. Dinner was great as usual." Mira said with a satisfied look on her face as she arose from her chair and carried her plate into the kitchen.

Mira's mother put on a bright smile, "Thank you, my dear. Now go rest, you don't want to be late for school tomorrow again."

Mira moved her gaze to her mum and smiled, she said light heartedly, "Yes mum, I'm going to bed early this time."

Mira went up to her room and went to bed, reluctantly being held captive by the criminal known as 'sleep'.

Suddenly, in the middle of the night, the sound of a ceramic object crashing to the ground stole Mira's attention and awoke her from her slumber.

She instinctively got up from her bed and looked around the room, everything seemed normal, she then heard footsteps from downstairs. "Mum probably knocked over something, like a vase." She said, consciously trying to convince herself.

She left her room and proceeded down stairs, her movements precise and careful. She got to the bottom of the staircase and looked around. At night, the house was only dimly lit, so she couldn't see much, she proceeded to the living room, still keeping her movements careful and precise, she was on high alert.

She had grabbed a vase that was sitting on a table somewhere near the living room entrance, as she walked into the living room, she realised that she was stepping in a thick gooey liquid. "What the hell is this? Was she preparing something for herself?" She thought to herself.

Finally she had reached the end of the room where the lamp was kept, she turned it on.

And she couldn't believe what the hell she saw.

Besides the silver pieces of a shattered vase scattered around on the floor, she realised that the thick gooey liquid was a crimson dark pool of blood, puddled up on the wooden floor, and what it was surrounding was her mother's lifeless corpse laying on the ground with a kitchen knife in it's chest.