"Mave…?"
Mave didn't reply, she just stayed like that for a while. Nalda didn't know what to do.
On one hand she didn't feel like dealing with her sister right now but on the other hand she also wanted the comfort that came with the hug. Eventually, her annoyance at her sister won and she pushed her away. It wasn't a hard push but Mave seemed to understand that Nalda wasn't in the mood so she let go.
But then she grabbed Nalda by the shoulders and looked to see if she was hurt. Nalda tried pulling away but her sister wouldn't let her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" When Mave said that, Nalda looked up in anger because of the hypocrisy but the moment she saw her sister scrunched up face, almost as if she would collapse if anything happened to Nalda, the anger dwindled.
Nalda didn't like the sight so she looked at the ground instead and stayed quiet.
"Why did you act like nothing happened?" There was a subtle anger in her tone. Nalda wasn't sure if it was towards her or someone else. "Did they tell you to stay quiet?"
Nalda didn't reply. She wasn't planning on replying. She just wanted to go back to her room and sleep.
Mave sensed that no reply would come so she instead grabbed Nalda's arm with the palm of her hand facing upwards. Nalda, confused by this, looked at her sister again. Her sister's face was a mix of anger and helplessness while staring at Nalda's wrist.
Nalda was obviously confused by this so she looked where her sister was looking and saw why her sister reacted this way.
1 M
That was what the murderer left on her wrist to mark when they would strike. The blood had long since clotted and turned brown, it looked like it was already on its way to heal.
Mave was quiet and Nalda didn't know what to say either.
Eventually Mave spoke up in a firm voice. "I'm taking you to school and back from now on."
"What?" Nalda looked at her older sister in surprise. "You work at those hours! You can't do that! Besides, I'm old enough to take care of myself."
Mave didn't waver though. "It's not your job to worry about me, I can handle myself. Even if you're old enough, this isn't something you should be doing on your own. Don't be stubborn, this situation is far too dangerous for that."
That didn't mean Nalda was going to give up either. "No, you can't do that! I said I can handle myself."
She understood what her sister meant and why she was worrying but that didn't mean she suddenly had to start babying Nalda. Nalda was about to become an adult in a month, if she can't handle herself now, she never will.
Mave stared at Nalda with a displeased look. "Look at yourself right now and repeat those words."
Nalda paused and only then did she realise that she was shaking. She was probably pale too and her eyes were wet and red from crying.
"You can't tell me that you're okay when you're like this." Mave continued when she noticed that Nalda was hesitating on what to say. "I know what you're thinking but calm down first. Until I know you're safe, I'll continue going back and forth."
Nalda sighed and looked at the ground again. "Won't you get fired…?"
Mave sighed loudly, almost saying that she was frustrated. "Are you seriously thinking about my job when a murderer is on the loose and targeting you?"
Nalda nodded because honestly, yeah, that's exactly what was happening.
Mave didn't sound thrilled about that though. Still, she answered with a short sentence that held a lot of meaning. "I've done worse."
Nalda quickly looked at her sister's face to see what kind of expression she was making while saying those words because what did worse even mean? What was worse than not showing up at work?
Unfortunately, Mave's face showed nothing and she let go of Nalda instead.
Nalda, happy to be free once more, almost ran away to her room. Just because Mave was trying to help her, that didn't mean Nalda was going to forgive her that easily.
However, before she could run off, Mave spoke up again. "I'm sorry I couldn't prevent it from happening." She said quietly, almost too quietly.
Nalda looked at her sister for a few seconds. She sounded weirdly vulnerable and that was a first. Usually she wouldn't show this side of her. She wanted to understand why her sister was suddenly acting like this but the irritation from her sister practically hiding half of her life from her was still fresh and standing in her way of looking at the situation clearly.
Eventually, she gave up and walked past her sister to go back to her bedroom. Once inside, she crawled into her bed again.
She couldn't sleep but her bed still offered her great comfort. It was warm and soft and it could never betray her or hide stuff from her. It was just a bed after all.
That's how it is.
***
The weekend passed by way too fast and it was Monday again.
Nalda groaned as she rolled out of bed and onto the floor where her phone's alarm was going off. She fell off of her bed with a loud thud and then started to pat around to find her phone.
Once she did, she put the alarm off and sat up on the cold floor. The cold morning air was assaulting her and woke her up.
Before she could get up, Mave knocked on the door to tell her to get ready for school before walking away.
'Right, she's going with me.'
Nalda had almost forgotten that her sister was supposed to bring her to school today. It was easily forgotten because after crying her eyes out for hours on end, she tried to erase everything that happened on Saturday out of her head.
She reluctantly got up and shivered from the cold before choosing her clothes for the day and going racing to the bathroom. It was a little petty but she wanted revenge for all the secrets her sister had kept from her.
'No actually, I think I would have done it either way even if Mave hadn't done anything wrong…'
When Nalda left the bathroom she saw the letters formed on the wall. This time the letters were made by the contrast of light and shadows.
'Be alert and suspect everything on your way. Clues may be scattered around. These clues will be crucial.'
Nalda quickly read the letters before going into the living room where Mave had just finished putting hot cocoa in a cup. The steam was rising out of the cup. It made Nalda's stomach churn in hunger.
Mave obviously heard that and smirked a bit. It was clear that she was making fun of Nalda.
Though Nalda didn't care and instead belined for the hot cocoa but before she could reach it her sister put the cup further away from her. "It's still hot, be patient."
Nalda glared at her sister and sat in her chair by the table. It didn't take long for her thoughts to wander and to completely forget she was supposed to be angry.
"Did you talk to mom and dad?" She eventually asked when her sister gave her her hot cocoa.
Her sister glanced at her and nodded. "You were…" she hesitated for a moment before she continued "well, you probably know better than me what you were like. I didn't tell mom or dad anything though."
Nalda didn't say anything and instead focused on her hot cocoa. She didn't want her thoughts to wander into that topic again.
After finishing she slammed her cup on the table and began devouring the rest of her breakfast. If she wanted to catch any clues today then she'll need all the energy she can get.
***
Timothy Comwell, a science teacher who's known for hud laid back personality amongst the students. Of course there was a limit but it didn't look like anyone had ever reached the limit before.
Except for today because he had reached his limit.
He got a phone call from what he assumed to be an heir of a rich family. They were asking him to keep a close eye on one of his students and to tell them if they did anything strange.
It sounded ominous and now he was involved.
At that moment, the door opened and the troublemaker who got him involved for no reason, it was Nalda Solace.
That kid's usual bright expression was there again even if it felt off. She was looking everywhere around her with a bright but thoughtful expression.
Timothy wasn't sure if he should be concerned or not because nothing good ever came out of kids her age when they were thinking this much.
After debating on the inside on whether or not he should stop her he decided to instead begin the day with a morning greeting. "Good morning? What's gotten you thinking like this?"
Nalda briefly nodded at his greeting and answered. "I'm solving a case."
'Ah, she's up to something again. I better keep my eyes peeled for the next hour.'
Instead of continuing in that direction he decided to ask his actual question. "Did you recently piss off any rich people?"
Nalda turned to look at him and shrugged. "Why sir?"
With Nalda you couldn't always be sure if that was a yes or a no. After teaching her for three years it was still quite difficult but then again he did have quite a few students.
"I'll tell you after you give me an answer."
Nalda looked a bit disappointed but she still answered. "No, I don't think I've pissed Mave off recently."
Timothy frowned. "And your sister suddenly became part of the conversation because…?"
"Because she's rich, of course!"
Now that was an actual surprise. He didn't know that the Solace family was rich. From as far as he knew they seemed to be in the middle class.
"Really? That's unexpected." He said, sounding genuinely surprised by that information.
"Yes, yes rich with attitude and disrespect towards her younger sister." She said full of confidence.
It took him a moment to progress what Nalda just said. "...Are you being serious right now? Is this how you define 'rich'?"
Nalda nodded and began sprouting total nonsense. "It's a matter of interpretation sir. My class is poor because we have no happiness, for example."
Timothy ran a hand down his face. "No, I mean rich as in they have a lot of money." He decided to ask clearly this time because he genuinely needed an answer.
Nalda shook her head. "Irene would never get pissed off by me."
Timothy wasn't sure whether she was doing it on purpose or not. Nalda seemed to do things without realising that they were annoying the people around her.
He told himself not to get angry because the person in front of him was a child, an oblivious child.
"I'm not mistaken when I think that that sounds like a no?"
Nalda nodded. "Yeah, I don't think I've pissed any rich people recently."
He thought for a moment before eventually letting it be. It didn't look like she knew anything and she probably would know anything anyways. She just naturally made people angry with certain questions.
"Alright then. Go to your seat, class is about to begin in a few minutes." While saying that he lazily waved his hand as if to shoo Nalda away.
"Okay Mr. Comwell!" With that, the kid walked away and sat in her usual seat.
Not too long after that, the class was filled and after that the bell rang. He began his lesson a few minutes after the bell rang.
***
When her teacher, Mr. Comwell, asked her if she pissed off anyone rich recently she was genuinely curious, otherwise she wouldn't have asked but in the end, Nalda only realised that she had been scammed after she sat down. He'd said he'd tell her after she answered.
She shot him an intensive glare that he probably didn't even notice. He was sitting on the desk at the front while looking over some papers that seemed like pop quizzes.
'It's not for us… right?'
While thinking about all the ways she could possibly fail a pop quiz on a Monday morning, the letters popped up on the blackboard. This time it was in the form of white chalk. The chalk came from what was written on it before. The handwriting was so bad that Nalda didn't even bother trying to read it.
'You caught a clue. Revise your conversation with Timothy Comwell.'
Nalda read the letters and thought very hard.
'Mr. Comwell's name was Timothy? Since when? Nevermind, the letters are saying that I caught a clue from the conversation. Was it the interpretation of rich? No, that doesn't make sense. Then it probably is that pissing rich people off but what does that have to do with the murderer?'
She looked at the blackboard, hoping that the letters would give her some form of director because she really had no clue.
The letters rearranged into new words.
'Rich person, pissed'
'So some rich person is pissed at what happened? Is that what it is? Was this murder a dispute amongst the rich and I was just caught up in between it all?'
However for some reason that felt wrong. As much as she hated it, wouldn't it have been easier to kill her off in the beginning rather than waiting a month? Of course there could still be a reason for this but Nalda decided to put this explanation in the background for now. There was no reason to completely deny it but neither did it sound correct.
Nalda was deep in thought when she heard the bell ring. It scared her out of her thoughts.
She looked beside her to find her best friend sitting there. She immediately lit up and was about to start a full briefing on her weekend when the teacher began talking.
"Alright, good morning class." Mr. Comwell's class began.
Nalda deflated and decided that it could wait after class. As much as she wanted to talk to her best friend, she didn't want to disturb the class.
Irene seemed to try and comfort Nalda with a soft smile but it came out forced. It didn't really help but Nalda appreciated the thought so she sent a smile back.
"Put your phones away and open the course book on…"
Nalda turned her attention back towards the teacher and paid attention. School was still important for her future, even if her world had recently been turned upside down.