Under Her Cursed Scythe

Lumpily, she stood up, picked up her chair and embarrassingly left the crowd with it.

"What's happening to her? Why is she always so clumsy?" a girl who was standing on the right of Joshua, groused after Alivia passed by.

"Shouldn't we be asking why she's always so unlucky?" Regina scoffed.

The moment she said that the glass on the classroom door cracked and later shattered into tiny little pieces right after Alivia had closed it.

"Yup, she's definitely jinxed." Regina assured as everyone directed their gaze towards Alivia's face which turned bright red. Some sized her up with disdain and others with sympathy, before she hurried away to find the janitor.

"I wonder whether she's alright." Joshua's voice suddenly popped up among the group and he was half-standing up, showing the urge to trail after Alivia.

"She will be fine. Don't worry about her, Joshua." Regina said tightly as she placed her hand on Joshua's shoulder and added pressure to it. "I'm sure the janitor will help her. You, being there would only get in the way, especially with a mess like this."

"True…" Joshua agreed, sitting back down onto his chair but in an absent minded fashion.

"But we have a greater concern at the moment, right, Ashley?" Regina winked at her friend, urging her to help her with changing the subject and diverting Joshua's attention away from Alivia.

"Yes, the serial killer…" the girl being addressed responded absently. Distracted by Alivia as well but in a slightly different way.

"What's the matter?" Regina queried.

"Don't you think the Jinx…"Ashley hesitated, her hand went up her neck and began rubbing it.

"The Jinx what? Just spill your beans!"

"Okay, it's just this feeling I have about her… not sure how to put it…" Ashley took in a deep breath. "Don't you think she looked a bit too nervous after hearing what Albert said just now?" she suggested out of the blue. "That's why she fell off her chair?"

"You think she has something to do with those 'weird deaths'? No, she fell off that chair because it broke...bad luck. Besides, she will be lucky enough if she's not the one getting murdered..."

At first, Regina didn't side along her friend's suggestion but when she realised Joshua's worried gaze weren't wavered from the direction where Alivia had left, a mixture of jealousy and discontent took over her in that she swiftly changed her mind.

"But... I'm not saying that it's totally impossible for her to be the serial killer !" she amended, colouring thickly. She swirled her head to Albert and asked, "What are the estimated times of death for those cases you just mentioned?"

"Well..." Regina took on Albert's tone. "There's one more thing in common in these cases. Those weird deaths only happened during night-time so the killer only strikes at night." she proposed.

"Well... that isn't really something spe-"

"Alivia sleeps during the day like she doesn't sleep at night." Regina butted before Albert could say anything about it. "I bet she's not studying till night because her grades...well, you know." she joked.

"That's… not entirely wrong." Out of her expectation, Ashley echoed to her joke. "Joke aside, she's indeed a loner and has that frosty and sullen attitude which matches with the personalities of almost every single serial killer that we know of!"

"I totally get what you're saying!" someone concurred. "And she wears that same old sweater to school... It's like 31.7°C right now! Who does that?"

"Umm… that just proves that she has zero fashion sense, not really related to her being a serial killer..." Regina denoted.

"No, no, no..." Ashley interjected, eagerly ensuring every statement could play a role in proving her point right. "What she meant was that the Jinx wears long sleeves all the time like she wants to hide something from the public eye… like bruises or scars…from her victims. Do you get what I mean?"

"Okay, that makes way more sense."

"And…" Ashley who was now scratching her neck, complemented, "She lives in that haunted house. The only haunted house in our town… that was once said to be a gathering place for an occult to perform forbidden rituals! And there were rumours about a deformed corpse being found tied to a wooden stick, presumably being burnt alive! Remember that?" she recalled. "And the urban legends about children mysteriously went missing after going to that house for trick or treat during Halloween, remember?"

"Oh, that's right...yes...I remember now…" others echoed.

"Now that you have mentioned it," said Regina. "My father used to tell me the story about a group of teenagers who went there to explore during one summer but never made it back!"

"That house has quite a representation as a hotbed for supernatural activities." someone informed.

"Exactly!" exclaimed Ashley. "Besides, her mother...have you ever saw her in person?" She began to describe how unusually smooth and silky the skin of Alivia's mother was; how her ginger hair was perfectly straightened while the bounciness of it remained; how her nails were always perfectly manicured; and how she twinkled her dark green eyes as well as her teeth like a real life Barbie doll. Though she insisted she was not feeling jealous, from time to time, the bitterness in her tone was palpable. "But behind that cheeky smile of hers… I find somewhat menacing…" she commented. "My mama always warned me and especially my father not to come close with her family because her mother is said to be practicing black arts and worshipping the…" She paused to create a dramatic effect.

"Worshipping what? Don't leave us in suspense! "

Most of her listeners became very eager to learn the answer in that they all lean in simultaneously with their ears close to Ashley's mouth.