WHAT SHE STARTED .... CHAPTER TWO - by Khadijah Mohammed

I sat in class, lost in my own head.Tessa was on the street. That wasn't where I left her. I turned it over and over, the same questions circling like something trapped. Who found her? How did she get there? Did someone follow me that day? Did someone see me?Maybe a wild animal dragged her there and got scared off when people gathered.I almost laughed at myself. What wild animal? There was nothing in this town big enough to carry a whole human being in one piece to the middle of the road. I needed to get it together.I didn't notice Mrs. Adele until she was standing at my desk. She knocked on the surface twice, sharp enough to make the girl beside me flinch.I looked up slowly."I'm sorry, ma," I said."Where is your mind today, Chris?""I'm sorry," I said again.She looked at me for a long moment, then started talking about focus, about graduation, about how a boy at the top of his class couldn't afford to lose concentration now of all times. I heard maybe half of it. Before she could finish, I was already on my feet, already moving. I didn't plan it. My body just went. The bathroom was empty. I ran the cold tap and held my face under it for a long time.When I straightened up and looked in the mirror, I saw what everyone else saw — tall, dark, light brown eyes that didn't quite match the rest of me. Not handsome exactly, but the kind of face people didn't look away from quickly. My beard hadn't come in yet but my build had, the shoulders and arms of someone who had been training since he was twelve. My hair was short, close to the scalp, neat. I looked fine. I looked completely fine.I ran the tap again. Nurse Lucy looked up when I pushed open her door."Chris? What are you doing here?""Headache," I said. "Bad one."I sat down in the chair across from her and tried to focus on what she was saying but her words kept slipping. Her mouth was moving, I could see that much, but the sounds weren't arriving in the right order. The room tilted. I gripped the edge of the chair and told myself to stay upright, to keep my eyes open, to just breathe —And then there was nothing. In the nothing, I saw Eni.She was sitting on the floor of our living room, our mother behind her, fingers moving slowly through her hair. My father was talking, leaning back in his chair the way he used to, and they were all laughing — all three of them — and the light in the room was warm and ordinary and nobody knew yet what was coming. When I opened my eyes I was on the bed in the nurse's office, staring at the ceiling.Nurse Lucy was looking down at me."I'm glad you're awake," she said."What happened?""You fainted. We tried calling home but no one answered. Your father's cell went straight to voicemail.""His phone was stolen a few days ago," I said. The lie came easily. "He's out of town anyway. My mum's probably not home either."She looked at me the way adults do when they're deciding whether to push. Then she reached for her notepad."I'm going to write you a pass to go home and rest. Can you make it by yourself?""Yes. Thank you, Nurse Lucy."I was almost at the door when she called after me."Chris." She paused. "I'm sorry about Eni. What happened to her was devastating.""Thank you," I said."I've been meaning to speak to the school about doing something in her memory. A tribute, maybe, or —""There's no need." I kept my hand on the door frame. "If they wanted to do something for her, they wouldn't have waited six months."She didn't answer. Her silence told me everything I already knew. I collected my bag from class, handed the note to my teacher without a word, and walked out.The school PA crackled to life as I crossed the courtyard — the principal's voice, calling all students to assembly. I already knew what it was about. The news about Tessa had reached the school. I kept walking. I had bigger things to carry than whatever speech was coming. Home was fifteen minutes away. I made it in ten.I was reaching for the gate when I saw it — small, catching the light, hanging from one of the iron bars like it had been placed there deliberately. A gold chain.I stood very still.I knew that chain.The fear moved through me all at once, cold and total, emptying my head of everything except one thought that kept repeating itself like an alarm —Somebody saw me after all.

Other insights from Khadijah Mohammed

Referral Earning

Points-to-Coupons