Silent-Crimes

Ace

I heard the doorbell ringing. I saw my twin sister getting up from the dining table and made her way to the door. When she opened the door and talked a little, she looked stunned. 

"Mom!! Dad!!" She yelled out, Did something happen? "What happened, Amy?" I asked her, But didn't make eye contact. I can't hold eye contact. I have this disorder which doesn't allow me to. At least that's what my mama and dada told me.

"I'll tell you first let mama and dada come?" She said, I nodded. I looked around and saw a couple. They weren't looking at me. I saw a box in their hand and also bags. I felt the presence of my parents. 

"Yes, who are you?" I heard my father's voice. "We are from home-school. I am headteacher Mr Liam Hegel and this is my wife Mrs Lily Hegel." I saw my mom and dad bowing to them and Amy followed them. So, I bow to them too. My mom let them in. 

"What brought you here?" "Well to begin with-" "First, umm Ace, Why don't you take a walk outside?" I heard Amy. She wanted me out of here? I nodded. I want to know what happened, but I wouldn't force them. I left.

I made my way to my garden, and I planted trees here with my grandpa. This house was given to us by our grandpa. This house itself holds so many memories with my grandpa and me. I am 17 now but I have been over here since I was 7. We stayed here because it was a little away from the city and we could avoid crowds. I always had a hard time with crowds. Crowds always made me scared, when my grandpa was here he would always protect me. You might wonder who does it now? Well.

Well I was in the public library, looking for some reference books. Because I wasn't close to anyone, everyone just thought I was weird and never befriended me. So I never had any notes from my classmates. 

When I was looking for my science masterkey, I saw a lady coming out of the washroom. She had toilet paper stuck in her pants, Everyone noticed it but no one made efforts to remove it? Why are humans like this? I walked behind her, but the lady started increasing her pace.

Suddenly she stopped and turned around, "What do you want, brat? Why are you following me?" Her voice startled me. "I-I was-was just trying-" "What?" Her voice kept rising. 

"Ma'am, be a little more gentle when you can see that the boy in front is scared of you." It was my older brother, Leo. "What do you mean?" "Ma'am, he was just trying to help you." He said as he removed the paper and showed it to her. "If I was in his place I would have ignored you, but he is special. He noticed everyone ignoring you, so he came forward to help and you here just startled my little brother?" 

"Oh, I am sorry." She bowed as she left. He ruffled my hair, I looked at him. I could only look at him, because he was always gentle to me, he never once yelled at me. 

"You are very strong, Accey." He said, "Big'B?" "Yes?" "Ice-cream?" He chuckled as he nodded, we both sat on the bench with our ice cream. This was the park near our home. "Ace!" The only friend I ever had. Or the one who just randomly was there, Felix. 

"Here comes your savior." "I don't know, why is he over here, Big'B? He doesn't even have a blood relation with me." "Do I need to have a blood relation to be your friend, Ace?" I heard him say, "Ace, friendship doesn't need a reason." "Do you understand?" "Prolly?" I don't know, I don't understand anything. But, after my grandfather there are these two people for me.

Coming back to the present, this was the scene of last week. 

"Ace-Ace, you should come in now." I heard my sister's voice trembling. I made my way in. On the box says the belongings of the late Leo Hunter. "Late? Why does it say Late?" 

The two people who were here are gone now. "Your-your brother, he is dead. He suicide." I heard my mother say. I opened the box, there was a letter, maybe a suicide note.

Hey Mama, dada, M and A.

I believe when you get this letter I will be long dead. Please forgive me. Mama, please do not be mad at me, I'll always be there for you. Dada, forgive me for disappointing you. M, please take care of everyone. Accey, please be strong, I love you, whenever you feel like the world doesn't want you know that you wouldn't be here if the universe didn't need you. Accey, you'll find someone who will understand your heart.

Your baby, Your big'b. 

This is what the note says. I immediately ran to my room with the note, I could hear Amy running behind me.

"Ace, what's happening?" I looked at her, "Amy-" "You can-can look at me?" Oh, yeah…Did I finally find the control over my disorder? I felt her arms wrapped around me. 

"Amy, not the right time." She nodded as I felt her gaze on me, "What is it?" She asked me. "The thing is Leo didn't suicide." "How so?" "The statement he wrote, you wouldn't be here if the universe didn't need you. When the person killing themselves knows this statement they can't take their own life." I said, I saw her eyes widening at my statement. 

When I stepped into the room I saw my older brother standing over there crying and whimpering, I tried to get closer to him, but the closer I tried to get the further away he was going. Suddenly he raised the knife and cut his nerves and took his life away, "Big-B!" I yelled as I saw that…

My eyes fluttered open, it was a nightmare, it was always this way since my brother died last month. Everyone said that it was a suicide case. 

I have a gut feeling that my older brother can never take his life away. I'll do anything to find out what happened that day, my twin sister Amy will help me with this. So I am definitely not alone.

We will have to keep these things hidden from our parents since they have recently lost our older brother and their first child, so they won't like to hear us do these things. 

Very first step in this mission would be to get into Woodlean university. It is known for its best schooling, they train children to survive on their own. The location of this school is in the eastern part of the ELF forest. [ELF: En-loved Forestation]. City is almost three hours away from this university. 

Amy and I are going to try giving the scholarship to get admission into this university, they are usually giving out scholarships easily so we might get a chance to get one of those, it's very important for us to get this scholarship. 

Anyways recently I went out to meet one of the ex-student of that university, we have been onto this mission since we got the news of death, I opened my drawer as I removed a tape recorder as I pressed the play button: 

"25th January 2018, I am Ace and with me is Mr Jermey," "Hi, I am Jermey," "So Mr Jermey, How was your experience in that school?" "Where do I even begin? At first when I joined this university, everything seemed good but till I reached to the second year, the university started giving of negative feelings, somethings always felt off, we couldn't even go to washroom alone, like everything was just too off, we didn't even needed to watch movies because our life itself was a big movie." "What year was it, Sir?" "It was the year 2016." "Why did you never tell your parents about it?" "It was 2016, my parents would never have believed, besides they are always like I am trying to get away from my studies." "And any other case like my big-B?" "Yeah, there is often cases like this, someone always suicides over there." "How? Why?" "What do you mean?" "How does every year there is such a suicidal case? Why do parents still send their childrens there?" "I am afraid I don't have answers to that question." "Thank You Mr Jermey." "You're welcome, little one." 

That's the least I got. Mr Jermey was my father's friend. I got up from my bed at 4:02 Am, but it was of my least concern, I will only get a peaceful sleep once I find who killed my brother. 

I sat down at my study-table and opened my laptop. I googled the university's name as I took out the prints of some of the school's photos, some old newspaper headings about that school, and all the cases about that school were only reported till 1995. After that no cases were reported. 

I got up as I picked up the prints and walked towards my wardrobe. This home was built by my grandpa and this room was his. He always showed me all the secret rooms he had made, he only told me and my sister about it, we were his favorite, Leo knew some of these rooms too. 

The way to one of these secret rooms was from my wardrobe. As I entered, I saw Amy was already there sitting on the couch present in the room, one way was from her room too. This room was basically made for all the books my grandpa ever bought, there were more than 1000 books. My grandpa and Amy have a hobby of reading, the books are from the early 18th Century till present. I hate reading books, it's seriously boring… 

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked, as I cleared the desk in front of the green board, "Yeah," She mumbles, she was reading some new novel she bought, I started sticking all those photos to the board, "What now are we going to find the reason behind everyone's death?" Amy asked, as she saw I stuck the picture of all the recent deaths. 

"Not really, but all of these death were considered as the suicide case, and everyone died in a strange way. Basically everything is connected." I said as I looked at the newspaper columns and holdings, so many people died, yet they all sent their kids over there.

"Did you find the details of scholarship exams?" "Yeah, well they always held the scholarship in the last week of January, so we don't even have 3 days for scholarship," "What do they usually ask for?" "Like you know some survival questions from math, physics and general knowledge." "Survival Questions?" "Yes, that's what Big'B also told me and I have checked all the previous year papers." 

I looked through the previous question banks. Well man, they all seem so hard. The easiest way I can study is by checking the similar questions and highest frequency, since at least it will help me pass. My study pattern is usually to concentrate on previous papers, the most repeated questions always do that first, and to never do the least repeated question, since the chances are low for them to appear, if your luck is bad then they will definitely appear. Anyways this pattern helps in both, MCQ-based questions and written questions. It always works for me to pass and to get good marks put a little extra effort and you will. Since we just have one day, I'll stick to passing options. 

We haven't told our parents yet about it, how can we even do that? After knowing our mother will definitely never allow us. By 7:30 Am, I changed into my tracksuit, and leashed my pet dog, cookie.

We started our usual walk & Jog, It usually takes 40-45 minutes, As we were walking, my legs stopped in front of a old-vintage library, I mean that's what it looks like, Well I did took a new route today maybe that's why I never really noticed this library before, it looked like it was abandoned long ago. My legs started to move themselves to the place, as I reached out and held onto the old-rusty doorknob and rotated it. My eyes widened.

It's a cafe? 

"Welcome, Sir." One blond haired lady said with a smile, she looked like in her early 20s. I smiled back at her. Now that I have already entered, I'll need to buy something too. Aish, Hope it's not some expensive cafe. 

Unexpectedly, it was cheap, so I ordered a coffee. As I paid and stepped out, as I was about to step out of the compound, someone tapped on my shoulders, I turned around and saw a male worker, about six feet tall, I am just slightly shorter, he has brown hair, with a center-parted and wolf haircut. He had Emerald-color eyes, his cold gaze stared straight into my eyes, "Your Change." He said, his voice was deep yet cold like-ice, "Thank-"

Before I could complete my statement he turned his back on me, Rude, All the handsome men are rude and cold, yeah well, I am closeted gay. Like Only My best friend Felix and My twin Amy knows it. 

I made my way back home, he was totally my type- ACE!! No, Don't even think about it! I can't be distracted. As I stepped into my home, I saw the same dull and sad feeling running through the whole house, since our older brother left the world, it's like our parents forgot how to smile.

It's the day of the scholarship exam. This is going to be tough, but at least I know that I'll definitely pass this exam, at least I'll pass. Felix was also giving this exam, but I haven't told him about this plan which I made, I'll do it once we all just get the admission. 

I made my way out of the exam hall knowing I actually wrote such a worst paper, If I just pass na, that would be way more than enough. I sat on the nearby bench, waiting for Amy. She literally knows everyone over here. 

"You seem so happy, it seems like your paper was good, Rat?" "Nah, I messed up." She said with a very big smile. I stumbled upon air as I heard that, "Then what are you so happy about?" I asked as I looked at her, she flipped her ponytail as she smiled, "Because at least it's done." I shrugged my shoulders at her reply, "Can't be my sister," I said, chuckling softly. 

It's already the First week of February, "It's here!!" I heard Amy yelling from her room, it was right in front of mine. I immediately got up from my study-table and ran to her room, "So, Did we pass?" I asked her as I watched her scroll through the web-site, "Man, I did, I passed!" She said with happiness, as she scrolled down. Man, I feel my heart-rate increasing, "Felix passed too." She said, "He is in 12th rank." She added, Oh Man, Will I even pass? 

"Seems like…" "I failed." I said as my last hope died, "No no, You are in 25th that is last rank." Oh Man, Oh Man, Thank Goodness, At least I managed to pass the exam. We both high-five each other, "First Step Clear." 

Now starts are real test, we have to convince our parents to let us go to this university, But as we step out of her room, the way of gloominess hit us, there was the heavy feeling in the air, as we slowly stepped down the stairs, today is saturday, and monday starts the university, "I am scared," Amy whispers, So am I, "Don't worry," I said as I held her hand and we slowly peeked out and saw Dad was watching some old-movie on TV, and Mom was in Kitchen, It's rare to see, since Leo's death Mom barely came out of room. 

As my mom stepped out of Kitchen, Dad immediately turned tv off, mom thinks that whoever is having fun in this house practically doesn't care about Leo, She kind of forget that there is someone who is even more closer to Leo, as my eyes landed on Amy, Yeah she was closest to Leo and She would always understand everything Leo wanted to say without him speaking. But Just because of that, she can't forever sit in a room and cry about it. 

"Should we say?" Amy asked as she looked at me, I nodded as I looked away, " Dad, Mom…" Their gazes landed on me, "I-" Okay, I am scared now, "Amy has to say something," I said as I backed away, I saw her eyes widening, but I can't do anything, I am scared and they might scold me but not her. 

"Ahh- Well," She stutters, "Say." Dad said, his voice holding the cold yet calm tone, "We both got selected in home-" "NO!!" Mom yells immediately, "Why not?" I asked, "Why not? Because your brother died over there." "Ellie, you are overreacting." "Ed, you definitely know why I am stopping them then why-" "Because he suicided there, and these two aren't that weak-" "Big B' wasn't weak." "Amy, not now." "Ed, why stopping her from telling the truth-" "Ellie, Goddamit, Stop acting like a kid-" "Ed-" 

"Mom, Dad, Stop. Stop making Leo's death the reason for your fight. He definitely wouldn't like it." I said, for the first time I talked back to them, it's not something I like doing but making someone who isn't even alive the reason for their fight is disgusting. 

I saw mom going back to her room in anger, "Don't worry about her," I heard Dad, "You both really want to go there?" He asked, "Yeah.." Amy said, "Then go, here you both can shop and get ready for your first day." He said, handing out his card, "Also Ace just because you got your disorder in your control doesn't mean you'll be careless. The old thing will still trigger your disorder, so be careful." 

I nodded, "Don't worry, dada. I am also going with him and Felix would be there too. We will take care of him." He chuckled as he nodded. Amy and I turned around and were about to leave when we heard him say, "You can always ask me for help." "We are good at studies, don't worry, Dada." Amy said, he seemed like he wanted to say something but instead he smiled and nodded at us. 

It's 6:30 Am, Monday. We took everything we needed, my sister loves clicking pictures, and I do think it's a waste of time. We both took our luggage, I took one last glimpse, Dad was busy with his work and Mom definitely won't talk to us anytime soon.

Felix was standing right there waiting for us with his car, wait, with a car!? "Felix. Who's car is that?" "Mine?" "But, how will you drive if you are a minor?" "Don't worry, the path we are going through doesn't have a lot of police officers." 

Well, we can't argue with him. We sat down, I was sitting besides Felix while Amy was laying down on the backseat. She doesn't have the habit of waking up early. I looked at Felix, "Say what you want to say, stop stealing glances." I didn't know I took so many glances that he noticed it. "The thing is..Amy and I are going there to find the reason Leo suicide. Because I am sure he didn't suicide." 

I could feel his eyes widening, "Wait- how and what?" I explained everything to him during the ride.

As we stepped out of the car, we saw the big gate written on it was the name of the university, "Car keys please," Said the watchman, I handed him the Keys, and they took the car away. As I stepped into the big gate, we saw a very huge dormitory building in the right, School building straight ahead, and in the left was a canteen, laundry and small garden.

And three lanes joining all the three places, while in the middle was a dragon fountain. Why does this university give off the old fantasy home-school vibes? I didn't know such places still existed, no wonder everyone dies to be here. All of the area was covered with the forest and gardens. Each building's back side just had tall trees and I could hardly see the boundary of the university even though I am sure it was there.