GRIEVOUS VENGEANCE

CHAPTER 10

Janine, Jackie and Nurse Jen were having lunch in the school cafeteria when they heard screams from students outside the building.

"What's happening?" Janine asked. She checked the students rushing in.

"A girl jumped from the rooftop!" one of the female students shouted.

"What?!" Jackie's mouth went wide open. "We're not allowed to go there because it's dangerous, right? They are still planning to put up a fence there to avoid accidents."

"Who's the girl?" Janine asked the student who shouted. Her heart is beating fast.

"I don't know her name, but she's the one I saw who was bullied the other day right outside the campus," she replied.

Janine, Jackie and Nurse Jen looked at each other. They have a suspicion. They immediately got up and stormed out of the cafeteria to see what happened and who the girl was.

They went to the site where the girl fell but students are already surrounding it. They couldn't see a thing from behind. Students are still shouting, some are crying.

"Who is she?" Jackie asked the girl in front of her.

"She's my classmate, Sandy," the girl replied.

Janine, Jackie and Nurse Jen were shocked after hearing Sandy's name.

"We just saw her in the clinic half an hour ago!" Jackie exclaimed.

"Did she commit suicide?" Janine can't believe it. She was okay when they saw her in the clinic. "She even had her wound tended so why would she commit suicide?"

"I know," Nurse Jen said. "She screamed after applying antiseptic solution on her wound, why would she jump from the rooftop?"

The school guards rushed to the scene. They placed a barrier to move the people away from Sandy's body.

"Oh my... did you see her? Her skull is opened and her brain scattered!" One of the students said to her friend.

"Poor girl," the other girl said. "She's been bullied. She probably committed suicide because of that!" She shook her head.

"Girls, I have to go first. I need to do my job as a faculty staff," Nurse Jen excused herself from Janine and Jackie.

"Okay, talk to you later," Jackie said. She looked at Janine who's still shocked about what happened.

"Janine, talk to me."

"Y-yes?" Janine replied subconsciously. She was trying to remember her vision last time she held Sandy's torn book.

"What are you thinking?" Jackie asked curiously.

"N-nothing." Janine shook her head. "I think we better go. Our class will start in 10 minutes."

"Oh, right. Let's go!" Jackie held Janine's hand and pulled her away from the suicide scene.

They went back to their classroom. Janine tried her best to focus on their lessons fo the day. She heard cops arrived. Students said they will investigate if there's a foul play. They took her broken phone and will try to see if they can recover its data.

"Today's classes will end early. Go home straight," their professor said. "We're still mourning on the death of one of our students."

"Let's go, Janine." Jackie tapped her arm. "You're not telling me anything yet. Open up later."

"You really know me well," Janine smiled. She's grateful to have Jackie beside her.

"Of course," Jackie replied. "Let's go." She held Janine's hand and pulled her to walk faster.

"Hey!" a male voice shouted at them. "Janine, Jackie."

"Mark!" Janine's face lit upon seeing him.

"I visited uncle and I heard about what happened," he said. He was with another guy, also a student in their school. They actually have a similarity.

"Who's he?" Jackie asked.

"He's my cousin from my father side, Marvin Garcia. He's an exchange student here," Mark introduced him to Janine and Jackie.

"Hi, ladies." He showed a friendly smile.

"We didn't see him during Mina's wake," Jackie said curiously.

"He just arrived from the US and transferred here a couple of days ago. It's a long story." Mark grinned.

"Anyway, are you both heading home?"

"Yes," Janine said.

"Can we have a snack before going home?" Mark offered. "My treat. Then I'll send you home."

That would be awesome!"Jackie's smile went wide upon hearing free snacks.

"Cool! Let's go!" Mark said. They all headed to Mark's car.

Jackie pulled Janine. "Tell me later, okay?"

Janine nodded. "Sure, I will."

They had a snack and chatted for a while before sending Janine and Jackie home. It took an hour before they reached Janine's house.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Janine offered them.

"Yes, Mark," Mrs. Trinidad said. "Stay over with your cousin and have your dinner here."

"Sure, Aunt Trinidad," Mark shyly said. "I'd love to!"

Janine and Jackie stared at each other.

"Is there a problem, Janine?" Mark asked. Janine saw a genuine concern in his eyes.

"N-nothing," Janine denied.

"I know there's something bothering you," Mark said. He took a sip of iced tea. "Tell me. I believe you."

Janine took a glance at Marvin before looking back to Mark.

"I get it. Don't worry about Marvin. He believes in paranormal events and abilities." Mark tapped Marvin's shoulder.

Marvin's mouth went wide open in awe. "Do you see ghosts?"

"Not really seeing ghosts but, yeah, I saw your cousin Mina's ghost once." Janine smiled awkwardly.

"Tell me more about it!" Marvin excitingly asked.

'Yes, Janine. What really happened earlier?" Mark curiously asked.

Janine cleared her throat before speaking up. "The girl who fell from the rooftop..." Janine started speaking up. "She's being bullied before, and we saw it once. Professor Homer was there, too. We helped her and I held her book, then I saw a vision of the bully's death. Someone strangled him. Why would I see it while touching Sandy's book? She's dead now."

"Hold on," Marvin said. "You can see the future event?" His mouth is still wide open.

Janine nodded. "Y-yes, but the vision just pops in accidentally. I haven't forced yet to see the future at my own will."

"That's so cool!" Marvin exclaimed. He almost jumped from his seat.

"You believe me?"

"Of course! I met someone in New York who can see what happened in the past. I mean, that's normal to find special people anywhere, right?"

"Not actually." Janine shook her head. Jackie and Mark did the same.

"Seriously?" Marvin can't believe of what he heard. "I have met a few people with unique abilities."'

"Personally, Janine is the only one I know who can vision the future," Mark proudly said. "She even helped me solve Mina's case."

"Anyway, going back," Jackie said in the middle of Marvin's babbling and Mark's boasting about Janine's ability. "Do you think the future can change? I mean, Sandy's dead now. How can she still strangle... hold on a minute!" Jackie's eyes widened as she recalled something. "Don't tell me she'll return as a ghost like what happened to Mina before?!"

They couldn't speak after hearing it. Even Mrs. Trinidad was speechless about it while listening to their conversation.