Kat stared blankly at the front of the classroom. It was only the beginning of the day, yet she already wanted to go home. Everyday was the same: go to school, do homework, go to bed, repeat. She was tired of this everlasting loop, but then the loop ended with a simple twist of a doorknob.

With short blond hair tucked behind her ears, a new girl walked into the room. Her blue eyes focused on the ground, as if she was self-conscious about her figure, she didn’t appear to be an eighth grader. She paused for a moment, at the front of the room, as she kept her head low. Mrs. Noire took this as her cue to give the “new student” announcement.

“Attention everyone, I would like you all to meet our new classmate,” She said to the class. Turning to the new arrival, she asked, “Do you want to tell the class your name?”

The girl silently shook her head and took a seat at the back of the class. Mrs. Noire glanced at her questioningly but went onto teaching her grammar lesson anyway. Kat also took notice of the girl’s strange behavior and thought to herself, maybe today will be different after all.

After what seemed like eons, the class was dismissed to lunch. Kat, surrounded by the sea of apathetic middle schoolers, spotted the new girl. As she walked over to her, Kat’s eyes narrowed at the sight of two kids from homeroom approaching the shy girl. She couldn’t hear what was being said, but whatever it was, the girl didn’t seem to react to it. Before the two kids left, however, they dumped a water bottle over her head. Kat couldn’t believe eyes. She just got here, she thought, how could those bullies lock onto her already?

Kat approached the new girl, as she smiled warmly, outstretching her hand to greet her, and said, “Hey, I’m Katrina, bust most people call me Kat!” Surprised and somewhat startled that someone was being nice to her, the girl nervously fumbled with her fork before it fell to the ground.

“Hi, I… um… I-I’m… my name is Lena. I need another fork for my salad,” she helplessly managed to say, with the last part mostly to herself. Lena timidly shook Kat’s hand, as Kat dug into her lunch-bag, retrieving a spare fork for Lena.

“Here, take this. Loneliness equates to nothing, but now that I’m here, you’ll at least have a fork. Oh, and I’ll go get some napkins as well” Kat said.

Kat and Lena talked all through lunch. They got along well and quickly became friends, despite it only being after a couple of minutes since they started talking. Kat ended up giving Lena the nickname “Len.” The two were talking about their favorite books when they were interrupted by the school’s bell, signaling that they should get back to class. Arm in arm, Kat and Len walked back to class together.

A week passed, and their friendship grew stronger. They frequently visited each other. Len was currently visiting Kat’s house as she done her homework. Kat was silently watching T.V., when the breaking news report came on. A string of murders was said to be associated with two adults and their missing child. The murder weapon: a knife, found with the fingerprints of an eighth-grade student. Kat quickly recognized the names on the screen.

“Len, that’s one of the jerks who bullied you during lunch,” Kat exclaimed, “I knew they were mean, but I didn’t think they were capable of something like this.” The report continued, identifying the victims, while Kat and Len stood in silence. “Len, are those your- “Kat stopped when she noticed the tears streaming down her friends face and ran to get her some tissues. She did her best to comfort Len, and after an hour, she asked her what she was going to do. “Your parents… well they… anyways, the news said that the police think you’re missing and- “

“No,” Len cut in, “I can’t go back there. All my relatives are really far away and you’re the only friend that I have had in forever. What if they send me away to live with one of them? I can’t leave… I-I can’t!” It was at this point where Len started to burst into tears again. Kat looked at the pathetic state Len was in.

“Fine, you can stay at my house for tonight, but tomorrow we have to go to the police,” Kat replied.

“Together, right… you won’t make me go alone right?” Len questioned Kat.

Kat nodded, responding with a simple, “I promise.”

Later in the day, Kat set up a sleeping bag in her room for Len when she smelled mac and cheese, assuming Len was still eating dinner. After the exhausting events of the day, she was ready to go to sleep.

During the night, Kat woke up to a sharp pain in her hand. She woke up in a panic with the sight of Len holding a kitchen knife, eerily illuminated by the moonlight shining through the window. Before she could do anything, Len pressed the knife against her throat.

Speaking with uncharacteristically confidence, Len said, “Oh, good, you’re up. You know, I tried waking you up ‘normally’, but I guess you’re a pretty heavy sleeper. Hmm, what’s that face for?” She giggled. “I’m pretty good at acting, but I guess I owe you an explanation: you were a good friend, after all. I wanted to get back at those ‘jerks’, as I believed you called them, so I managed to get a knife from one of the houses- don’t ask- and I just used a glove when I committed the murder. And, well, there’s two of those bullies, so I got another knife from the other’s house. You were going to turn me in, now that wouldn’t be fun at all.” She pressed the blade deeper into Kat’s neck, starting to draw blood.

“Oh, stop squirming and fighting back. It will be over soon. Promise!” And with that, another victim was silenced.