Keiba walked back to the dorms. Slowly. She was thinking about how a person got to be like Meaghan. How she could commit mass murder, intentionally or not, and still go about her life without feeling any guilt. It was unfathomable. She shook her head, still in disbelief.

She unlocked her door and entered, closing it softly behind her. Min-Kyung was taking a shower in the bathroom. Steam seeped under the door, and Usher and Rick Ross’s “Lemme See” rattled against the wood slightly. Keiba nodded her head to the song as she took off her shoes. She tossed Ben’s phone onto the bed before she went to her drawers and changed into a black tank top and black shorts. After, she flopped on her back on the mattress and stared up at the ceiling.

Min walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later fastening a white towel around his waist. He jumped when he saw Keiba lying on the bed.

“When did you get back?” He asked.

“Maybe five minutes ago.” She looked at him and grinned, biting her lip. “I think that’s my favorite look on you, baby.”

“I know.” He grinned back. “Why didn’t you call me? I would’ve walked you back.”

She shook her head. “I wanted some time to think.”

“About Aina?” She nodded. “How was it?”

She sighed, putting her hand over her face. “The is crazy.”

“Why? What’d she say?”

“You know, she doesn’t even go by Aina, she—” Keiba paused, then smiled wryly, removing her hand. “Maybe you should get dressed first.”

He slipped on a pair of boxers and then a pair of basketball shorts under his towel before he removed it. Then he lied next to her.

“Min, why don’t you ever where shirts to bed?” Keiba asked.

He turned toward her on his side. “Do you want me to?”

“No.” She replied, as though the very thought of him covering his washboard abs was some kind of torture. “I was just curious.”

“I used to sleep in shirts.” He replied. “But I find sleeping with you is better when I’m not wearing one. It’d be even better if you didn’t wear one too.”

She considered that. “Mmkay, after we have , I won’t wear a shirt to bed anymore”

“Chincha?”

“Does that mean ‘really’?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Well, yeah, I’m serious.” She laughed.

He grinned. “It’s a deal.”

Keiba sobered. “But about Aina…” she shook her head. “Maybe I should just play it for you.”

Keiba felt around the bed for Ben’s phone, and her fingers skimmed across something she hadn’t meant to touch. Min winced.

“Ey! Watch where you’re touching!” He chastised, writhing a bit. “He’s sensitive.”

Keiba blushed. “Oop. Sorry, babe. I thought the phone was somewhere I could reach.”

“Aigo, I would’ve introduced you to him the first night I kissed you if I’d known you’d be so impatient.”

She sat up and hit him with the pillow she’d been lying on. “Mini, shut up. I said I was sorry.” She grabbed the phone from the foot of the bed. He grumbled something more about her trying to give him blue balls as she lied back and looked for the app. Her finger hovered over the button to play it.

“What are you waiting for?” He asked.

“I just… Min, are you sure you’re ready to hear it?” She asked. “We could wait ‘til tomorrow when Ruth and Ben are with us…”

“Oh? Look who’s worrying now?” He teased. She smiled a little and he took the phone from her. “Here, I’ll play it.” He pressed the button and set the phone on the nightstand.

The conversation hadn’t quite lasted fifteen minutes according to the app, but at the time it’d felt like much, much longer. Keiba stared up at the ceiling as she listened, thinking it was just as eerie to hear it as it had been to be part of it. Halfway through, Min sat up and moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Min—”

He raised a hand and shook his head without looking at her. He was stared fiercely at the wall, but he was listening to Meaghan and Keiba’s voices. He didn’t want to miss anything.

When the recording was over, he shook his head. “You were right,” He muttered. “It’s a good thing I didn’t go. If I had, I’d probably be going to jail right now.”

She sat up. “Don’t. She’s not worth the trouble.”

He said nothing, just ran a hand through his hair.

Keiba sat behind him and touched his back. “How do you feel?”

“Like . I can’t believe Aina turned out to be Meaghan. I never would’ve thought. But at least we got that recorded.”

“I wonder if it’s okay for Sun-Hee to keep being friends with her.”

His lip curled. “I don’t like it, but it’s probably fine. If she hasn’t done anything yet, she might not ever do anything.”

“True.” She moved a little closer and laid her head against his skin. “So, what do you think she meant by that?”

“By what?”

“That I’m just an extra credit assignment.”

Min straightened a little. He hadn’t thought about that in a while—not since the beginning of the year. How should he answer that?

“Min?”

“That… Well…” He ran his hand over the sheets. “Do you remember when we first met?”

“Mmhm.”

“Remember when the principal asked you to leave the room before I took you on the tour?”

“Mmhm.”

“Well, he made a deal with me.”

“What kind of deal?”

He paused, looking for the right phrasing. “You probably know that I wasn’t the best student in the world when you first met me, and my grades showed that. The principal promised that he’d raise my average by a letter grade if I… if I continued to be your friend until you got used to the school and made your own friends.”

“Oh.” She blinked. “Is that all?” She chuckled a little. “I thought it was something way more serious.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Mm-mm. Should I be? I mean, you only did what you thought you should to raise your GPA. I can’t fault you for that. You weren’t using me then and you’re not using me now. You’re with me, right?”

“Yeah.” He squeezed her hand when it touched his. “Yeah, I’m with you.”

“See? You’re always worried I’m going to be mad at you when you tell me things you think I don’t want to hear.”

“Well, when I suggested you go back to your parents’ place, you went nuclear.”

“In my defense, you completely blindsided me with that one. But c’mon, give me at least some credit. I’m not crazy you know.”

“Yeah I know. Although you really make me crazy sometimes.”

“In a good way?”

“Of course. You’re so attractive to me it’s not even funny. Actually, babe I want to give you a massage.”

She sat up. “A massage? That’s random.”

“’Spontaneity is key in any healthy relationship’.” He quoted, winking at her.

She giggled. “You just made that up.”

“Yes I did, but that’s not important. I want to get my mind off of Aina, Meaghan, whatever her name is and since we’re not having yet, I have to find a way to forget in… other ways.”

She blushed. “The way you said that makes it seem dangerous.”

“It is dangerous.” He tugged at the hem of her shirt. “Now take it off.”

“Uhh…” She blushed.

“Oh come on, Rudolph. You’ve seen me with my shirt off plenty of times. It’s only fair that I get to see you without yours, right? Besides, you took it off for me at your parents’ house and I didn’t even have to ask you.”

She looked down, her blush deepening. “Oh, yeah.”

Knowing how self conscious she could be, Min went to turn back around to give her some privacy, but she stopped him.

“It’s okay.” She said. “If you watch, I mean.” Her smile was nervous, but inviting. “You’ll see me like this again eventually.”

He nodded and smiled encouragingly.

Keiba peeled off her shirt and tossed it away from her. When she looked at Min, she saw that his cheeks had grown pink, and she knew why: she was wearing a red lace bra under her tank. She’d meant to wear a more boring black one, but she hadn’t been able to find it that morning. She reached behind her with one hand and unclasped it; the other hand held it to her chest as she lied down. She put her head on her arms and turned her face away from him. Min gazed at her back with hooded eyes.

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo.” He whispered huskily.

The name “Angela” was inked in a cursive script on the back of her left scapula with the date she’d died on below it. Min touched it gently.

“Your mother.”

She nodded. “If she were alive,” she began softly. “She would love you.”

“How do you know?”

She turned her head to look at him. “Because I love you.” She answered with a smile. “That’s all she’d need to know.”

He ran his thumb over the tattoo a few times, feeling humbled. He bent over it and kissed it. Then he mounted Keiba and gave her the best massage she’d ever had.

 

 “No!” Keiba sat up with a gasp. She looked around her room, relieved to find that it had all just been a nightmare. She moved her back up against the headboard and put a hand to her face to wipe at the sheen of sweat that had built up on her forehead.

Min-Kyung groaned and wrapped his arm around her waist. He grumbled unintelligibly and settled back to sleep. Keiba smiled a little and his hair. She looked out the window, thinking over her nightmare.

She was sitting in the first row of a grand auditorium. In front of her was a stage where her cello stood alone in the spotlight. It seemed to be suspended in the air with invisible, intangible strings. She’d stared at it. Then of all people, Darcie stepped onto the stage dressed as a female ringmaster.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she boomed. “It’s time for the grand finale! Allow me to introduce to you the beautifully deadly, cruelly intelligent, snake in the grass Meaghan!”

Meaghan stepped out onto the stage from the opposite side of Darcie, wearing a long white dress and matching elbow-length gloves. Her lips were as red as berries. There was applause from an invisible audience seated behind Keiba.

“She’s got a very special treat for you all tonight!” Darcie continued. “Especially for one person in particular.” She looked pointedly at Keiba.

There was even more applause as Meaghan made her way to Keiba’s cello. Another light , revealing a chair in which she could sit. Keiba tried to get up as Meaghan positioned her instrument between her legs, but couldn’t. When she looked down, she saw that she’d been tied to her chair the entire time.

“Now Meaghan, what will you be playing on Violoncelle for us?”

Meaghan gently took the microphone and replied, “Nothing.”

“Excellent!” Darcie spread her arms wide to Keiba and the crowd of empty, cheering chairs. “Now let’s get started!”

There was an anticipating hush from the audience even though all Meaghan was doing was the body of the cello. Keiba watched intently, hoping that was all she was going to do. Then, without warning, she gripped the fingerboard with both hands, lifted the instrument with inhuman strength, and threw it down on the ground, splintering it into a million little pieces.

Keiba screamed, but she couldn’t hear herself over the roar of the audience. Meaghan’s blood red lips had expanded into a most horrible grin. It stretched across her face from ear to ear, revealing a row of shark-like teeth.

That was when Keiba had woken up.

“Violoncelle.” She whispered. Her dream must’ve been telling her something about it.

She had to go and check.

She carefully removed Min-Kyung’s arm from around her and slipped out from under her covers. She quickly put on the jeans she’d been wearing yesterday over her shorts and a t-shirt over her tank top (she’d put it back on after the massage, but she’d left off her bra, which had made Min happy). She stuffed her feet into a pair of sneakers, grabbed a jacket, and left her room.

She walked quickly out of Crestmoore and made a beeline across campus for the music building, shivering as a cool wind blew across her face. It was chilly at night time. She was glad she’d thought to bring her jacket.

Keiba tugged at the door to the music building, but it wouldn’t budge. That’s a relief. She thought. But what about the storage room?

She went around back. The storage room door was closed, but when she tried to open it, it was unlocked. Heart thudding in her chest, Keiba ventured inside. It was dark. Her hand felt along the wall until it hit the light. The sudden illumination made her blink. Her cello was near the corner of the room, leaning against the wall between the shelves for the violins and violas and the shelves for the brass instruments. Keiba was able to pick hers out immediately not only because she remembered where she’d put it, but also because it was the only one that had been taken out of its case.

And it was the only one whose strings had all been cut.