Chapter 20 - WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO ELOISE

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🪷 LYRA 🪷

Sienna had insisted she stay back at the dorm and Lyra didn't argue. The truth was, she didn't feel right.

She didn't want any confrontation with that nurse again, her brain was still trying to figure out why she had chased her like a mad person, and why they were stacks of blood in that closet.

She sat on the edge of her bed, fingers tangled in her blanket.

Eloise. The name had lodged itself in her mind ever since she'd seen her.

A cold ripple passed over her skin, Lyra looked up.

"Oh, it's you." Was it a normal thing talking so casually to a dead person?

Her hair shimmered softly around her shoulders. Her features were delicate, blurred at the edges. She was beautiful, how did she...die?

It pressed into Lyra's chest like grief that didn't belong to her.

"What really happened to you?" Lyra asked softly.

"Know?" Slowly, gently, she lifted her hand. Lyra hesitated only a second then she reached out.

Her fingers passed through cold air and then everything shattered into light.

—

She was no longer in her room. She could get use to this teleportation thingy. Eloise stood in the center of it all, alive and glowing.

She laughed with a group of students, teasing someone, nudging shoulders. Her smile was bright and simple. The kind of girl people gravitated toward without thinking.

Then the scene shifted. Eloise was running down a stone corridor, light on her feet, chasing after someone ahead of her.

Kieran. Even from behind, Lyra knew it was him.

He walked with that same unbothered posture, hands in his pockets, shoulders loose.

Eloise caught up and tugged at his sleeve playfully.

He looked down at her, expression neutral, but not cold. Not like he was now.

Lyra watched the way Eloise's eyes lingered on him just a moment too long.

Then another presence entered the scene. Xavier.

He stepped in front of Eloise, laughing at something she'd said, pulling her gently by the wrist.

Before she could react, he leaned in and kissed her. It looked comfortable, like they'd done it before.

They were dating. The realization sank heavily into Lyra's chest.

Kieran and Xavier stood nearby afterward, talking, close enough to hear each other over the courtyard noise.

They didn't look like rivals, they looked more like friends.

Kieran said something, Xavier nodded. Then Kieran excused himself.

He turned to leave. And that's when Lyra saw it. Eloise wasn't listening to Xavier anymore.

Her eyes followed Kieran, not casually. They followed him like gravity, like she didn't even realize she was doing it.

Xavier was still speaking, animated and distracted but she barely responded.

Her focus was gone. It was clear, painfully clear. Eloise liked Kieran.

Not Xavier, not really.

Lyra barely had time to process what she'd seen before the air shifted again.

She was now standing in one of the academy's stone corridors.

Voices echoed ahead, loud and angry. She turned the corner and saw them. Eloise and Xavier.

"You think I didn't see it?" Xavier's jaw was tight, hands clenched at his sides.

Eloise looked shaken. "See what?"

"The way you look at him."

"Xavier-"

"No." He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "Don't pretend. You were holding his hands."

"I wasn't-" Eloise stopped herself. Then more carefully, "He grabbed my hands first."

"And you didn't pull away."

Eloise stepped closer. "You're overthinking this."

"Am I?" Xavier's voice rose slightly. "Because I'm not blind, Eloise. I saw the way you were watching him. Like I wasn't even there."

"That's not true."

"It is."

Her eyes filled, but she held her ground. "I love you."

Xavier let out a humorless laugh. "Then why does it feel like I'm competing with my own friend?"

Eloise reached for Xavier's hands this time, he didn't pull away immediately.

"I love you," she repeated. "Not Kieran."

"You don't even realize it, do you?" he said quietly. "You say you love me, but when he walks into a room, you change."

"That's not fair."

"Isn't it?"

Her grip on his hands tightened. "I chose you." Eloise looked desperate now. "I would never do anything that would...hurt you," she said.

"Then stop looking at him like that."

"You're imagining things! I don't-"

"No," Xavier snapped. "I'm done pretending I don't see it."

"You think-"

"I think you don't even know what you want."

"That's cruel."

"What's cruel is making me feel like I'm standing in the middle of something I was never meant to win."

"Win?" she repeated. "This isn't a game!"

"It feels like one. Maybe you should just go after what you actually want instead of dragging me through this."

"You don't get to decide what I feel."

"Then stop proving me right." He stepped away from her.

"Xavier-"

"I need space," he cut in. "Figure out your feelings before you talk to me again." And he walked off.

And everything shifted...

"Xavier's angry," she said quickly. "He thinks there's something between us." She stepped closer. "I tried explaining things to him, but he doesn't believe me."

"That's your problem, not mine." Kieran said flatly.

"It's not just mine," she said. "You know that." She reached for his hand but he moved back before she could touch him, her hand hanging in the air.

"Don't."

"You're acting like I did something wrong."

"You are. You keep putting me in the middle of your relationship."

"I'm not-"

"You look at me like I'm supposed to do something about it."

"Because you feel it too. If you didn't feel anything, you would avoid me, you wouldn't let me touch you or...or...I can fix it," she insisted. "Just don't walk away."

"I'm not doing this."

She grabbed his sleeve. "Don't leave, please."

"Eloise."

"If you walk away," she said, voice shaking, "I'll tell them what...what you really are."

It was a desperate bluff. Kieran didn't even flinch. What was he? What did that mean?

"Go ahead." The confidence drained from her face immediately these words left his lips.

"You don't mean that."

"I do."

"Fine!" she cried. "Then I'll do something...if you leave me like this, I swear I'll... I'll kill myself."

Did...did Eloise murder herself?

She choked on the words, shaking, spiraling. Kieran finally faced her, but his expression was neutral.

"Don't threaten me with your own destruction," he said coldly. "That's not love. That's control."

Tears spilled down her face. "I just don't want to lose you."

"You were never supposed to have me."

Eloise stood there long after Kieran disappeared. Her shoulders shook. She wiped her face angrily, like she was embarrassed to be crying.

Was that what happened? Did Eloise commit suicide?

Eloise straightened slowly when she heard footsteps from the opposite direction.

"Hello?" she called, trying to sound steady.

No answer. From the shadows near the archway, someone stepped forward.

Lyra tried to make out the person...but couldn't, it suddenly became blurry and everything turned dark. This time, Lyra couldn't see...but she could hear voices.

"That one doesn't break easily," the voice stated, Lyra couldn't make out the voice, it had a vibrating tone to it. "You chose the wrong weakness."

"What are you talking about?"

"You've created tension where there didn't need to be any. You're becoming a liability."

"I wouldn't tell anyone anything, I swear."

"That's not what worries me. You're emotional. Emotional people make unpredictable decisions."

She heard Eloise scream. And then, the memory ripped sideways.

"…it had to be done," the voice stated. "Before she made it worse."

"And Xavier?" another voice asked.

"He'll believe what he needs to."

"And Kieran?"

"Kieran doesn't get explanations."

"Please…" Eloise tried to speak, but her voice barely came out. Her voice came out rough, and weak. Why couldn't she see anything?

"No...no..no!!"

When everything finally came into view, Lyra gasped and stumbled backwards. She was on the rooftop, cold wind slapping harshly on her skin.

She heard a loud scream, and after a while...a loud thud. Lyra willed herself to look down and then she saw her...

Eloise. Stiff and motionless on the ground, blood seeping from every part of her body. Her limbs dislocated and twisted.

"Lyra! Lyra!"

Lyra was yanked violently back into her bedroom. She stumbled backward, nearly falling.

"Are you okay? Oh my gosh, blood...your nose is bleeding. H-hold on."

Lyra blinked rapidly. Her room swam back into focus. Her chest felt tight, like she'd run miles.

Sienna grabbed tissues from the desk and pressed them into her hand. "Hold it. Tilt your head backwards."

Lyra obeyed automatically, her fingers trembling.

"What just happened?" Sienna asked, crouching in front of her. "You went completely still. You weren't even blinking."

"I just felt dizzy," she said quietly.

"Dizzy doesn't make your nose randomly start bleeding."

"It's probably stress."

"From what?" Sienna pressed.

Lyra couldn't answer that. From watching a girl fall to her death. From hearing someone decide it "had to be done." From realizing it wasn't suicide.

"I didn't sleep well," she added instead.

Sienna studied her for a long moment, clearly not satisfied. "You've been pale all morning."

"I'm fine," Lyra insisted, though her voice lacked strength.

Sienna sighed and stood up. "You're not going back to the academy until you're actually okay. I don't care what anyone says."

After a few seconds, the bleeding slowed. Sienna handed her another tissue.

"I came to get my textbook, I have to head back. Let me know if anything happens."

"I will."

Sienna hesitated like she wanted to say more, then finally left the room.

Lyra lowered the tissue slowly, her hands were still shaking.

Lyra stood and walked toward the window, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Who was there?" she whispered. "Who decided it 'had to be done'?"

It wasn't a suicide, it wasn't just heartbreak. Someone removed her. And they made sure it looked like despair.

Was that what...caused the feud between Kieran and Xavier?

Lyra sat back down slowly. If Xavier believed she killed herself and they both never got the truth…then whoever did this controlled the narrative.

What really happened to Eloise.