Kyla’s Secret

The woman had watched the Hawaiian reporter bind and pack the dead girl in the large container she’d gotten. Then she’d disappeared for the better part of a half hour before returning, relieved but also rattled from what she could tell. She knew she was obligated to report what she’d witnessed to law enforcement, but there was no way she could do so without having to admit how she’d witnessed it. Despite what she’d seen transpire in the tiny room within the dorm, she was unable to ignore the girl’s beauty and apparent cleverness in how she went about disposing of the body, assuming she hadn’t made any grave mistakes along the way. The woman could tell what sites she’d been to and that she was careful of what keywords she had used when doing searches, but she had no way of knowing where she’d disposed of the body. If she hadn’t left any prints, hairs, or other fibers that could be used as trace evidence, then the attractive yet unfortunate girl had done a good job of covering herself. If anyone knew how screwy the laws could be, it was her. The girl probably realized that there was no way to know for sure that she could prove the death was strictly an accident and avoid doing jail time. “I hope you’re prepared to live with this for the rest of your life,” the woman said to her monitor. “Nightmares and guilt may haunt you, my dear, no matter how much of an accident it may have been.” The woman yawned and realized how late it was. She wouldn’t have stayed up so damn late had it not been for… what did she say her name was? Kya? Kyla? Regardless, this was part of what made hacking webcams so much fun. When it came to movies and TV, you pretty much knew what you would get and you knew it was all an act. Not with real-time players of webcam hacking. There the actors could be anybody from anywhere, and they weren’t following some script. They could be ugly as hell, plain and ordinary, or utterly gorgeous. They could bore you to tears or shock the living daylights out of you like Miss Hawaii had. She definitely had the number-one spot for surprises. The woman let her Mac go to sleep as she prepared for bed. She fell asleep that night to thoughts of the dark-haired girl, then had a scattering of disjointed dreams about her throughout the night. The next morning, she woke up and began her usual morning routine. She showered, ate, put Spotty out on his leash, and headed for the campus, wondering if she’d ever again run into the lovely reporter with a certain deep, dark secret on her mind. A knock on the door nearly sent Kyla flying off the bed. She quickly got to her feet, one hand to her pounding heart, the other trying to steady herself. Oh no! The police have already found the body and managed to trace it back to me. Another knock. “Just a second,” Kyla said as she grabbed her robe. When she opened the door, she didn’t find the large group of police officers with their guns pointed at her like she feared, but just one plump girl with hazel eyes and sandy brown hair. “Good morning. Are you Kyla?” “Yes, I am.” “My name’s Patty,” she said, extending her hand. Kyla took it and said, “Oh, hi. I must’ve overslept.” “Well, you missed breakfast,” said Patty with a sympathetic smile, “but you’ve got time to shower and dress before I show you around.” “Oh, you’re going to be my tour guide today?” Patty nodded. Kyla frowned with confusion. “And just what am I to be shown? A girl named Hillary gave me a tour of the grounds yesterday.” “Oh, I know,” said Patty. “I’m just here to bring you inside some of the classrooms.” “Oh, ok. That would be nice. It would really give me more of an inside view, you could say. Well, first I’ll grab a snack and take a quick shower. Where do you want me to meet you?” “I’m in room 43 along the front. Why don’t you just come and get me when you’re ready?” “Ok. Thanks, Patty.” Kyla spent the better part of the morning being shown various classrooms: mathematics, science, English lit… and other basic yet more advanced courses one had to go through before they could go on to med school, law school, or other more specialized schools. “What do you think?” Patty asked her as they entered the cafeteria. “Honestly?” Patty nodded. “Seems like an extension of high school to me.” Patty laughed. “I agree. It is.” “But sometimes you have to go through the thorns to get to the rose, so if you want to be a neurologist, you have to put up with this for a while.” “Yeah, I will, though some of the classes are ok. Ever been to college yourself?” “No ma’am, I haven’t. I can’t stand an overabundance of structure. Some routine is fine, but I’m more of a spontaneous kind of person who likes to go at her own pace.” “Nothing wrong with that,” Patty said. As they took a tray and waited in line to be served, she asked, “What will you be doing here for the next month or two?” “Mostly interviewing individuals that live on campus about their lives here. What their goals are, what they like and dislike about college, what their families are like back home.” Patty selected a ham and cheese sandwich and an apple. Kyla selected a chicken salad and a strawberry smoothie. They made small talk while they ate, and Patty asked several questions about life in Hawaii. “I always wanted to go there,” Patty said with a dreamy look on her face. “Well, if you do, try to go to Maui, where I’m from. It’s much different than the Big Island and much better as well. As a neurologist, you’ll be able to afford it.” “Yeah, I hear it’s very expensive.” Kyla nodded. “Especially Ka’anapali.” A short while later, they dropped their trays off and parted ways. Kyla stepped out into the sunshine. The day was crisp and cool, but not as overcast as the day before. She wasn’t sure what to do for the rest of the day. She didn’t want to do too much too soon. If anything, she wondered if she would even need to be there the full six weeks that was agreed upon in order to interview as many students as she needed to interview. Finally, she decided that since there was no hurry to do anything at the moment, she would return to her room and get some writing done on the previous two days’ events, minus the unfortunate one to happen in her room, of course. Kyla wondered how the hell it was she could function without appearing like a nervous wreck. Whatever the reason was, she was grateful for it. If she was going to go through life acting like a basket case over what happened, she might as well point the cops to the body right now. This didn’t mean that she was forever invincible, but she tried to go through life with the attitude that it was pointless to freak out over what may happen unless it actually did happen. Alone in her room, she tried not to think of the horrible incident that had taken place there and how numerous people believed that one who died violently often haunted the place they died in. But Meagan’s death wasn’t “violent,” she tried to reason with herself. You didn’t stab her or shoot her. She was drunk, and she accidentally fell and hit her head. She spent the remainder of the day exchanging emails and going over the notes she’d accumulated so far. She worked on her article and wrote steadily until her stomach began to growl, and she stopped for a bite to eat. When she began to hear students enter the dorm that had been quiet for most of the day, she knew it was nearing dinnertime. She threw on a light jacket, locked her door, and headed for the cafeteria. People smiled or nodded politely, but no one came up and talked to her as she ate her meal of bland Swedish meatballs and egg noodles. Popping the last bite of carrot cake into her mouth, she dumped her tray and returned to her room, where she continued writing. Once she felt she was caught up in her writing, she decided on tomorrow’s agenda as she unwound with some online games. Her cell phone rang, and she nearly fell over in her chair. She didn’t realize she was that tense. She picked it up and recognized Ed’s number. “How’s it going?” he asked when she answered. “It’s going.” “Like it so far?” “Well, it’s pretty ordinary.” “An ordinary assignment, huh?” “Kind of.” “In other words, you’re bored as hell.” Kyla burst out laughing. “Ok, you got me. It isn’t nearly as exciting as I thought it would be. Things are so laid back here that yeah, it’s pretty boring.” “Want to take a break and go get some pizza with me or something like that?” Oh great. One of the editors in the Cali-based office wants to take me out on a date. “Uh, no thanks. I just got back from having dinner at the cafeteria, and I still have a ton of notes to go over, but thank you very much just the same.” “Ok, no problem. As always, let me know if you need anything.” “Will do, Ed. Thanks.” Kyla hung up. If Ed had been disappointed, he hadn’t sounded it. She rose from her chair and stretched. After sitting for so many hours, the urge to move around came over her. She did some stretching exercises to help keep limber, then hit the floor and did some abdominal crunches, aware that she was lying exactly where Meagan had lain.