SIERRA'S POV
I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, watching the fan spin from left to right. A little of the scare from hours ago was still lingering. I wanted to deny it. To say I didn't see anything but I couldn't. Not anymore. I'm not Jinx. I'm Sierra Shades. I'm supposed to be… dead.
The questions I really needed answers for right now were how I ended up with this face and who the real Jinx is. I exhaled, turning over and curling up in the pink pony sheets. Tomorrow, I was going to find out. No more pretending. I lived for a reason; I need to know how and why.
My eyes shut for a while, hoping that perhaps sleep could help me pass the time before dawn. It didn't. I didn't blink till morning. The jumbled up pensive feelings of distress and desire, left me so haggard, it scared the ghosts out of mum when I walked into the stairway.
"Jinx sweetheart, have mercy on mother's heart!" Dad yelled from the sitting room.
"Sorry mum." I apologized.
"It's okay but did you sleep at all?" She asked, worried.
"A little, I was feeling a little bit of pain so…" I gave my back a gentle rub. I thought it would make her wear her sad look as usual but instead it unleashed the terror in her. Mum grabbed me and drowned me in hugs and cuddles. I regretted making that move.
"Mum, you will choke me." I wiggled out of her grip.
"Let her be, Flora!" Dad saved me as usual. Immediately she left me, I hurried downstairs.
The morning routine continued, mum and dad leaving for work hours later. Mum kept her phone because it was broken; just like I had hoped. Immediately I shut the door, I raced upstairs.
First things first, how did Jinx die?
I tore mum's bedroom apart, flipped open every book on her shelf, rummaged through the drawer, placed my ears on wall, listening as I hit a perfume bottle on it. Perhaps she hid something in there. I raised the bed too, dusted the sheets, unstuffed the pillows; I found nothing. Everything in her room was just the ordinaries; work files, old CDs, underwear, dresses; nothing more.
Exhausted, I finally stopped searching, finding a seat on the floor in the middle of the heap, breathing slowly. It didn't make any sense. Why would anyone of them hide their daughter's medical reports? Now I became more curious to know what was in that report and who exactly hid it.
I sighed. There was no way I would figure this out myself. Gently, I lifted my ass off the floor and started replacing everything I had misplaced. Midway through the cleaning, I found a family picture underneath the bed frame. It was taken on the beach. Absentmindedly, I sat in the bed to admire the serenity of their smile. Dad had his hands thrown out, covering their bosom when the picture was taken.
I couldn't help but smile, typical Dads, always looking out for their girls, keeping them from violation as if every is full of... Wait a second-"
I scanned the picture again. Jinx's dad was looking slightly uncomfortable, probably because he would have liked if they wore something less revealing. He was overprotective of the both of them. Did Dad hide Jinx's medical report? But why? What exactly happened to her?
I tidied up quickly then hurried downstairs. If he hid them, it would probably be where he could easily have access to it. That place was his study. I hopped through the grey tiled passage way and paused in front of the study. The door was open, as expected. If he locked it, it would look suspicious.
I had time. Mom would not be back until six and dad would return much later. I fumbled through every book, every drawer, and every piece of paper until I found it, hidden under the third shelf by the left, the most unsuspecting piece of furniture in the room.
I found a place to sit on the floor, flipping through the file slowly. The report recorded that she had lacerations on her wrists and thighs, multiple bruises on her face and chest region. There was one report that recorded semen in her vagina and significant evidence of vaginal tearing.
My breathing grew shaky as I went future into the records. It just kept getting worse as the pages went down.
At the end of the files, the doctor left a note. It read;
'These injuries all indicate her body had been subjected to multiple blunt force traumas. Examining the semen we were able to tell that penetration at some time before and after the bruises".
'In short,' I shut the papers. 'Jinx was raped and beaten to a coma… no, she was beaten to death. Damn.'
I closed the file and returned it underneath the shelf before I left the study. My ducky slippers were patiently waiting at the exit for me. I walked past it, my mind in a daze. It seemed almost impossible. Jinx had an extremely boring life. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere other than school. How the hell did she find herself in a position where something like this would happen to her?
'Maybe she was set up?' I thought, sitting on the couch in the sitting room. 'By someone she trusted, most likely. Jinx's father raised her to fear getting defiled. She would never go anywhere that even gave her a hint that there would be Adult Games talk more of sex.'
She was a lot like me when I was still Sierra. Which is why I was certain, she knew the person who hurt her. My mind wondered to the journals on Jinx's bedroom table which I never bothered to read. If she knew the person well then she must have written about him or her before. I floated upstairs, back to her room, picking out the journals from inside the wardrobe.
I flipped through some pages. She was very meticulous, it seemed; didn't miss a day to write on the journal. She even dated them, making it easier for me to find the journal she wrote on last. The latest entry on it was dated September. Unlike the others, it had colours and floral designs which she drew herself. I stared at it for a moment. It reminded me of something; of the change in my wardrobe when I met Wahshen. I think she found someone special before September started.
Carefully I opened up the page. It was half used. The only page she wrote on in the entire book. It read;
'I am happy. I don't know what that felt like but I do now. I regret second guessing my best friend. She was right; he really is the one for me. I thank heaven for a friend like…"
My eyes widened, my lips gaping. Before my eyes were the last words of Jinx Shades, the last name she wanted to remember.
'Katelyn Mayfield.'