The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 61

"Michelle's suicide raised the value of Belfast's female population by fourteen percent," Gina declared to her friend in the restaurant downstairs.

Her companion forced a chuckle. She was one of the few who hadn't taken part in the whole affair and genuinely believed Michelle was a victim.

That was precisely why Gina relentlessly tried to change her mind, describing in lurid detail just how terrible Michelle's actions had supposedly been.

"Isn't that a bit much?" Elin asked, her smile strained, as if she were forced to nod along to a story that held no interest for her.

"Oh, come on! I've told you a dozen times what a bitch she was!" Gina's eyes widened in disbelief. She shot to her feet, her voice rising, and only when the entire restaurant turned to stare did she sink back into her chair, embarrassed. She leaned forward, speaking in a rapid, low hiss. "Are you defending her?"

"But I think you all drove her to suicide," Elin said. A sudden chill swept over her, and she shivered, feeling deeply uneasy.

"Why would you think that? Just because she's dead, does that mean everything she did is forgiven?!" Gina was outraged. She shot to her feet again, and her shrill, distorted voice, loud enough for every patron to hear, echoed across the dining room. "You don't even know right from wrong! I'm starting to reconsider our friendship!"

She gathered her skirt and, under a sea of surprised stares, stormed out of the restaurant.

Elin was stunned. She remained frozen in her seat until a waiter finally approached her table.

...

"Why does everyone see her as some innocent victim?! What was so special about her, besides a pretty face? She did so many disgusting things, and still, everyone forgives her..." Gina hissed, her normally bright eyes now filled with hatred and malice.

It seemed she was trying to drive away the fear that she had destroyed Michelle.

Yes, Gina herself had started the first rumors. The reason was simple: envy.

As the instigator, Gina had reveled in watching the lies she'd concocted spread among her classmates, delighting whenever someone new joined the chorus.

She loved seeing the girl who had once helped everyone, the girl all the boys had admired, now treated with contempt. She loved hearing the increasingly vile stories about Michelle, even if she suspected they weren't true.

But when the news of Michelle's suicide reached her, a cold fear gripped Gina. She realized things had spun completely out of control.

It wasn't guilt she felt, but the raw fear that Michelle would return as a ghost to exact her revenge.

After all, she was the one who had started it all.

Gina knew her own lies were pure fiction, so she clung to the other rumors like a life raft, forcing herself to believe they were true. It was the only way she could quiet her terror, letting her hatred for Michelle overwhelm her fear of her.

This manifested as a near-maniacal obsession with recounting Michelle's "crimes" to her friends, desperately trying to pull them into her narrative.

At first, her friends played along, joining in the condemnation of Michelle. But the incessant talk began to wear on them, and they started to subconsciously avoid Gina.

Gina failed to notice her friends distancing themselves from her. Today, she had even quarreled with her best friend, Elin.

She did, however, notice the cold. Goosebumps rose on her exposed skin.

"Damn weather!" she muttered through clenched teeth and hurried toward home—an empty house just down the street.

She slammed the door shut and leaned her back against it, catching her breath. The familiar surroundings helped to dispel some of the cold and fear. In the entryway, she kicked off her shoes, slipped on a pair of soft slippers, and headed for the bedroom.

Rap. Rap. Rap.

Gina flinched and spun back toward the front door.

Rap. Rap. Rap.

The slow, deliberate knocking came again.

"Who's there?" Gina called out, but there was no reply.

Her parents were at their shop, and she wasn't expecting anyone.

Puzzled, Gina grabbed a wooden cane propped against the wall and crept to the front door, peering through the peephole.

The hallway was empty, shrouded in twilight.

Straightening up, Gina muttered something under her breath.

And in that very moment, an icy voice spoke from right behind her: "I found you."

"Aaaah! Who?!" Gina shrieked, whipping around. She froze, her eyes widening in terror at the figure standing before her.

"Michelle... Aaaah!" she screamed, stumbling backward until her back slammed against the cold metal door. Her hair stood on end.

"You... you're alive, or...?"

She trailed off, falling silent. An icy wave of despair crashed over her mind, robbing her of all thought.

Michelle, her eyes glowing red, seized Gina's throat in an iron grip. The shock jolted Gina's mind back into action. She began clawing and beating at Michelle's arms, crying out in a hoarse voice, "Don't kill me... Please, I was wrong... I shouldn't have done it..."

The grip tightened, the suffocation becoming unbearable. "Why..." Gina choked out. "Why were you so... perfect...? Why did everyone always flock to you?! I didn't mean for this to happen! I didn't!"

The fingers squeezed tighter still, and a sickening pop echoed from Gina's neck. Her eyes rolled back into her head as her legs began to jerk convulsively. She couldn't draw a breath.

Gina prayed that Michelle would ease her grip, just for a moment, that she would say something, anything. But her hopes were crushed. Michelle showed no reaction at all; her face was a mask, devoid of anger or hatred. She simply stared at Gina with a cold, vacant expression, as if looking at a complete stranger.

She had come for her revenge.

Gina's brain shut down from oxygen deprivation. A dark, wet stain appeared on her long skirt, spreading all the way to her ankles. The yellowish fluid soaked her slippers and began to drip onto the floor, filling the air with a wretched stench.

And then, the hand around her throat released its grip.

Gina crumpled to the floor, landing in a pool of her own urine. Her eyes were rolled back, and saliva trickled from the corner of her mouth as she slid limply down the door.

Michelle watched her in silence for a moment before her form began to dissolve into thin air.

Michelle hadn't actually done a thing. She had merely appeared before Gina, letting her dark aura draw out the girl's buried guilt. The hand that had squeezed Gina's throat had been her own.

Gina had brought about her own ruin.