Anne Pov :

As usual walking down to bus station in our town to deliver a parcel of my boss. As I was moving towards the bus station I walk past the old theatre , a foul rotting smell breaks my trance . The smell is so strong and disturbing as if a animal died nearby or something. I look around to find where the smell is coming from , it's literally 6 am right now. Most of the people in our town joggs in the park . As I look around I notice excessive amount of crows crowding the crown of theatre. I move towards it and try to look what are the crow covering .

As I see up , a gut wrenching scream erupts from my mouth . I dial 911 with my trembling hands still shaken up by the sight.

A line picks up.

"Hello , I am Sarah What's the problem?" A person from other side says.

"There's a ..a b-b-ody , b-b-lo-o-od " I say shivering.

"Ma'am I need you calm down and take a breathe .

What is your name ? Are you in danger?" Sarah's voice echoes in my ear but the sight is still lingering in my head I can't look up. I take a deep breath before answering.

"My name is Anne Bronte , not in danger but I see a body hanging on the crown of the old theatre . There's blood spilling down and crows"

"We have tracked your location ma'am . We'll be there in 20 minutes "

I turn around to go and sit on the bench , far away from the horrifying sight . A ping on my phone brings me back to reality. I look down at the parcel and realise that if police comes I won't be able to deliver this. It's been 15 minutes , I've to leave before they come. I look down on the ground and leave the area . As I reach towards the bus station I see 3 police vans speeding down to old theatre. My bus reaches soon and I go towards my destination.

I took my seat lost in my thoughts , thinking about the body. The way it was hanging up . A horn erupts my thoughts. I try to divert my thoughts and look outside the window. The sky is cloudy , it's going to rain . Soon I reach Mr. Wilson's town , my walk down to his shop was cut short as I hear on the radio about a body found in nearby localities. I stop to hear about it .

News reporter goes on the line , "A New body has been found after almost a month after in the same town . Location: Willowdale . It's the second murder in past three months. No updates on the first .

A Girl called this morning around 6:15am to report about it but police didn't find her near the crime scene. Her name is kept anonymous for her security purpose. As you can see police and the whole forensic team is trying to get the body down .

The body still remains unidentified."

Not hearing further I move towards Mr. Wilson's shop. I knock on the door , after few minutes he opens up and takes the parcel handing me another one to take to my boss.

I go back to the bus to reach my home. I can't take it anymore. I need to go to my home. After the kidnapping I've changed my house , shifted to new  studio apartment. It's small but it feels like home. I bought with all the money from delivery and assignments from my boss. After 2 hours I drop the parcel by Mr.Wilson at my boss's office and reach at my home , its near Xavier's house . As I remember him , I send him a text

Hey, you might have seen the news . Can you come home. I am quite scared right now . I am the one who reported it.

I want to meet you

Bye

He is not online right now. I decided to take a bath and change to some fresh clothes.

Xavier Pov:

The whole morning went by me doing nothing. Due to Sam's murder and investigation we got a holiday , I and grandpa are still not on talking terms and I will never forgive him for hurting the girl I love. I know he cares for me but hurting Anne because of that is not appropriate.

I started my day by doing schoolwork and completing all the due assignment. Around 11am I got a text from Anne to meet her . As I read her text I get confused , why is she scared ?? Did something happen to her? Yesterday night she told me she had delivery today everything was great till yesterday's night.

What is she talking about reporting? I don't understand anything I just changed into some new clothes and ran to her new apartment. After all kidnapping and fight she changed to her new house , and she stays near to my house as compared to her previous house.

After few minutes I reach to her house and start to ring her doorbell like a crazy madman. She opens up with a concerned face yet scared . Relief spread across her face as she sees me.

"Why were you ringing the bell so much?" she ask as she makes space for me to enter.

" You texted me that you are scared , I thought something bad happened. I ran down immediately.

Are you okay ? Did something happen? Someone harrased you? And what reporting you were talking about?" I inquire as soon as I get inside .

" You don't know??" She looks at me puzzled. She turns around and turns on her TV . "Look"

As she puts a news channel , I am shocked . There's again a murder .

"What is this?" I say .

"There was a murder today morning and I was the one who reported it" she says in her low voice.

"What do you mean ? " I am so confused right now .

"You know that I was going for delivery today . As I was going to bus station , I pass by old theatre and I saw a dead body hanging on the crown on the theatre. I panicked and called police but as delivering the parcel was important I left before police could arrive . I am scared now. What if they take me in because I ran away " Anne says to me in teary eyes as I was comprehending all the information.

Anne sat on the couch in front of TV with her head in his hands . I went towards her and hug her .

"Don't worry, no one is going to take you in and even if they do tell them that you got scared and thats why you left or tell the truth, whatever you seem is good for you" I console her , she lays down on my lap . Still weeping , we both look at the News as the forensic takes the body down , they clean it up .

"Wait" I speak suddenly as I noticed the dead man's face. It's still a little recognisable with all the injury.

"What happened?" Anne says as she sits up.

I look at her and then towards the TV as I think of her reaction. I look at the man's face again to make sure my conclusion is right .

"Speak what happened? Why are looking at the body that way? Do you know him? Met him before ? " she says before shaking me little.

"Yes we met him before , not met but encountered before" I say . Anne tries to look at the man's face. Realisation strikes hard as she gasp and turns to look at me. She tries to speak but no words come out .

Finally the words left her mouth and our conclusions match .

"That's the man who harrased me when we met at the old theatre at night , the man you hit because of me ".

And that's when she gives me the look that I never expected , fazed by sudden reveal of the dead man's and our encounter earlier. She give me the look of  The Doubt.

She thinks that I killed him..

And then the words left her mouth , the words that pierced my heart and broke it into pieces.

"You fought with Sam because he bullied me and then he died , this man harasses me , you threaten him and then he dies. The killing started after you moved in the town ,Did you kill him? Are you the killer ?" She says .

And a thunder erupts outside and makes a loud voice that echoes in the house , windows shaking and heavy rain pours down .

______________________________________

Hello everyone

Sorry for the late updates but kind of stuck between writing and studies.

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Hanisha 🎀