Disclaimer: I don’t own Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. They are the property of Stephenie Meyer.

Japanese Terms:

Baka – Japanese term for stupid/idiot

-chan – a Japanese honorific added after a person’s name as a sign of endearment, usually used between female close friends/sisters

-san – a Japanese honorific added after a person’s surname, usually as a sign of respect among acquaintances or people who are not so close with each other.

PROLOGUE:

I had little time left. I knew at that point that I was risking my life for something I shouldn’t have dipped my toe in. Though with all these hesitations, that of all the past reckless things I had done, I had never felt so right… that of all the mistakes I had made… I had never felt so grateful in entering this chaos I was now in.

T R A C K E D by ParasolParodies

CHAPTER 1

You probably already know my name. You may have either heard it or read it somewhere – somewhere associated with anything weird or completely absurd, extremely absurd. And from what you will learn in this account, I am a hundred percent sure you will understand why it is associated in such a way. Though you may experience shock, some people don’t find it that alarming; weird has never been a stranger to me.

What you will learn in this account holds no mystery though. It is not aimed to bring fantasy too. What is to follow is real – happened in real life, involving real people, happened in real places. I’ll have to warn you though; this is not for the faint-hearted, nor is it for people who crave for happy endings and such. There are no knights in shining armor here, but things which people don’t dare believe, or if ever they had, or did, holds too much sense to think of those as credible.

My life has never been normal. Almost everyone thinks otherwise though. They don’t think being diagnosed of manic depression and possible paranoia as abnormal at all. Apart from that, they don’t find it completely wrong that amidst all this absurdities, my family is acting all cheery about it – too freaking cheery. As if everything’s normal, that nothing had gone wrong. I don’t blame them though; I usually keep to myself. The only time I open up is through columns and opinion articles, though the chance of people getting to know me there is very slim; no one reads the paper at all. Plus, I only write opinions and commentaries, not life stories. Not mine, not anyone’s.

So what you are to read next made this narration an exception to the rule.

My life reached its very pinnacle (so I believed) a few months back during club time. I was in our organization’s office, distracting myself while some of my org mates chattered the afternoon away. They were talking with so animation about this new student who came all the way from Europe. They sounded like monkeys shrieking over some banana. It was all to irritating.

“That guy – I swear has the hottest hair! I mean, where in this city can you find a guy who has natural hair, huh? Where??”

Nicely put, Claire.

“I think you mean, who doesn’t have heavily-styled hair?” Jackie corrected.

“Oh, you know what I mean, Jackie.”

“Nobody knows what you mean, Claire.”

I snickered under my breath.

“As I was saying,” continued Claire, “he really is such a hottie. Have you seen him walk? He walks like a model! I wonder if he did some modeling back in Europe…”

“Claire, that doesn’t exactly determine the level of his hotness. What makes him hot is his braiiin. Have you heard that he was the top student in his university in Europe?”

“Ugh. Jackie, you of all people, isn’t the right judge of what’s hot or not,” Claire retorted, flipping her long blonde hair.

I rolled my eyes. That was completely ironic. Considering Claire, Jackie was at least more sensible than Claire. With Claire’s brain, one is often at wonder how she got accepted as staff writer of a no-nonsense school paper. Bit, taking a second look at her, literally… well, you get the picture.

Sometimes I blame the whole editorial board for voting a superficial jerk to be the editor-in-chief.

“So, what do you think, Kimmy?” Claire smiled that Barbie smile at me, “Don’t you find him hot, too?”

“Well, I haven’t seen him actually.” But I bet he looks pretty much the same way like every male transfer student who has studied in this school: handsome to most since he is new to look at.

“Oh, poor you. Almost everyone has seen him and has completely fallen in love with him… well, at least, in my case,” Claire sighed dreamily.

Stupid, crazy girl.

I was about to say something rational when suddenly the door slammed shut. All eyes turned to the person who just got in and who was now making his way to my desk.

“Midou-san. In my office. Now.” Then he abruptly made his way to his so-called office. As soon as he was out of sight, all eyes then fixed on me with looks of curiosity and confusion. Casually, I got up and made my way to his office. Whatever Wasaki-san was going to tell me, or whatever I did wrong to receive such a hostile summon, I couldn’t care less. Anywhere but with them.

I entered Wasaki’san’s office and closed the door behind me.

“Sit, Midou-san.” He motions towards the client chair before him and his table. Quietly, I obeyed.

“I won’t waste time, Midou-san. We will go directly into the particulars.”

“Um, okay…”

“You are to do an investigation on the murders that recently happened and are constantly happening in this city.”

“What?”

“Surely, you are completely aware of what is happening in this city, eh, Midou-san?”

“Oh, o-of course, but, shouldn’t we leave that to the police?”

“Nope; in fact, you’ll be investigating without the aid of the police.”

I stared at him in confusion, until I completely understood what he meant.

“ARE YOU COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND?!”

“Imagine if a mere freshman cracks the case? Imagine the fame and prestige I – ermm, the paper will have if you managed to solve the cases regarding the murders? Plus, you’ll get most of the credit, since you’ll be the one who’ll investigate and write the article.”

My head suddenly started to spin. I tried to organize my thoughts and breathed deeply.

“Okay. First of all, this is police property. Case Class A. I, a normal college freshman, with no degree yet or license whatsoever, can’t possibly crash the crime scene and take all the glory that easily. Second, this is a VERY DANGEROUS assignment, considering ten murders have happened this week, and that the police believe these to be the works of a madman – a SERIAL KILLER. I can’t possibly risk my life!”

“Midou-san, a true writer is risk-taking. If you don’t have what it takes, then might as well hand over your identification card.”

I felt like taking my shoe off and shoving it in his bad-breathed mouth. Seriously though, whatever did he eat to suddenly become so distortedly heroic and ambitious? I completely understand if what he was asking me consisted only of a report on what the police had found, or a commentary on the possible motives of the killer, but what he wanted was beating the authorities first and killing me through it.

“So,” he continued, “I assume that silence of yours means a ‘yes’?”

“You’re insane.”

“Then it’s a deal?”

“No! Wasaki-san, you have completely lost your mind!”

“And you, Midou-san, have completely lost the guts.”

It all happened too quickly. I felt myself rise abruptly, gripping my chair tightly and raising it halfway towards him, only to stop as I felt my body freeze. It was only then did I realize that I attempted to cripple him. Too shocked to even speak, I slowly placed the chair back on the ground and took my seat in it. There was a heavy, loud wheezing. I looked up to see Wasaki-san sank to his chair with a look of horror on his face. Though the shock still there, I tried to stifle my giggle. The look was totally comical.

“Uh – I’m sorry, Wasaki-san. That was completely out of the line.”

“Y-You…y-you… G-GET OUT! OUT! OUT!”

“W-Wasaki-san, I really didn’t mean to –!”

“Out of this office – NOW!!”

Quickly, I dashed towards the door and to my desk, grabbing my stuff. Through the corner of my eye, I could see people getting up and throwing glances at me. Suddenly, I heard the door open.

“AND DON’T EVER THINK YOU’RE WELCOME HERE AGAIN!!”

Taking my backpack, I dashed towards the door. As soon as I was away from the office, I stopped and sank to the floor. I had just lost my position in the paper. Moreover, I had just lost my place in the paper FOREVER, all because of this stupid temper. If only I had controlled my temper and talked things out instead, then probably I would still be writing articles maybe until fourth year.

Sighing, I felt myself bang my head hard on the wall.

I opened the door and got in.

“You’re late, Miss Midou.”

“Uh, sorry, Mr. Lambert, I – uh… um…”

“Oh spare me from your excuses. Find a working table and take your seat.”

Since the class had already started, and almost every good table was occupied, I went to the table at the back and took my place.

It wasn’t because my excuses were lame. In fact, I had a very good excuse. Out of the blue, I suddenly found myself lying on a bed inside the school clinic. Apparently, someone had found me unconscious and brought me there. I don’t recall passing out though. The school physician then asked me to take several tests to determine what was wrong. After several tests, they concluded of me having a mild concussion. Then that suddenly hit me, I remember hitting my head to the wall. Then, they gave me a clinic pass and urged me to go home for further rest.

Being the good student that I am, of course I disobeyed them.

“Now,” I heard Mr. Lambert say, “to give Miss Midou here a proper introduction, we have a transfer student here from Europe who is currently taking classes with us. Miss Midou, I would like to introduce to you, Mr. Christian Byrnes.”

All eyes then fixed towards my direction. Confused, I stared back. Then, as if understanding my confusion, one of my classmates signaled to my back. I turned around… and froze.

What Claire had babbled about this new guy was a lie. In fact, it was blackest kind of blasphemy. ‘Coz when she said that this transfer student was hot, she forgot to look deeply. Christian Byrnes wasn’t hot; he was beautiful.

I couldn’t make it out clearly though, but it seemed that Mr. Lambert called everyone’s attention for the lesson. I realized that I was gawking at him and quickly averted my gaze. To distract myself, I took my notebook and pen and started scribbling notes. While doing this, I made sneaky glances at him from the corner of my eye. He had dark brown hair, which was a bit unkempt, and it wasn’t too long nor was it too short. I couldn’t see his eyes clearly though, but they seemed bored but intense at the same time. He had a perfect nose, and a rather small, full mouth. Though chalky, his skin was flawless. He was like… like a god.

I let out a deep breath. So this must be what Bella Swan must have felt upon meeting the beautiful Edward Cullen.

He ran his hand through his dark chocolate hair and suddenly fixed his eyes with mine. Quickly, I returned my gaze to my notes and kept myself busy. I could feel my blood heat up my cheeks. This was ridiculous.

Sneakily, I stared at him again from the corner of my eye. What I saw this time disturbed me a little though. Though not clearly, I could see that he became stiff and rigid, biting his lower lip as if he was controlling himself. I noticed that he was gripping the edge of the table tightly. Quickly, I returned my gaze back to what I was writing. Did I smell? I remember taking a shower though that morning. And I definitely remember using a deodorant. I could feel my blood rushing to my cheeks.

Now why do I feel like this is déjà vu?

For the third time, I made a sneaky stare at him. This time, he was looking at me, but his look wasn’t the one I was completely expecting. He was looking at me as if he was going to eat me.

I shifted myself in such a way that my back was facing him. Suddenly, I felt slight fear and a whole lot of confusion. This guy, however beautiful and god-like he was, was weird.

I felt like time dragged itself so slowly that afternoon. I massaged the spot in my head where the mild concussion was, feeling a bit dizzy. I knew I should have gone home.

At last, Mr. Lambert found the light to call it a day. I took my backpack and placed my stuff in it. I glanced back to where Christian Byrnes was and found that he was already gone. Strange. How could he possibly had left so quickly?

I zipped my backpack close and got up, taking one last look at the place where Christian Byrnes was a minute ago. That was when I noticed a dent on the edge of the table, just where his hand was not long ago.

“Hey, I’m ho-.”

“Sshh. The news is on.”

I took off my shoes and slipped on my slippers. I made my way to the working table and placed my backpack on it. Boy, it had been a long day.

“Hey, baka,” Amy called from the couch, “the school clinic called.”

I froze. Shoot.

“Oh, r-really? What about it?” I casually replied as I took the cranberry juice carton from the fridge and drank straight from it.

“You were supposed to be here a while ago?”

“Amy-chan, that was nothing. I just had a mild concussion and –.”

“Geez, Akemi-chan,” she sighed, “what, have you been up to?”

I ignored her remark and took my place on the couch, staring at the TV screen while my mind wandered off. I thought about what had happened during chemistry class a while ago. I wonder what made Christian Byrnes so uncomfortable. I definitely don’t recall doing anything that might make him so hostile. Heck that was the only time I saw him and sort of met him! My mind snapped back to the present as soon as a familiar face was shown on TV.

“Wait. Hold it,” I told my sister as she was about to change the channel.

“Another victim has been added to the growing murder list…”

“OH MY GOD. OH…MY…GOD!!”

“Akemi-chan, are you okay??” I felt Amy’s hands touch my arms.

I couldn’t breathe. I felt my vision swirl. There were weird sobbing sounds and I realized they were mine. Amy said something I couldn’t understand and released me. This wasn’t happening. This was so not happening.

The victim added to the murder list was… Claire.