Page 63 of House of Malice
The secretary stood on the very edge of the building, right between two spire towers reaching towards the gloomy sky. She seemed to be unresponsive, staring somewhere in front of her. Her body was relaxed, her shoulders pulled backwards.
Right then, Professor Gabetown and another professor Blaze didn’t recognize walked up from behind Miss Bellthrove. They were saying something to her, slowly inching closer to where she stood.
Blaze’s heart hammered in his chest, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off the scene unfolding in front of them.
Just as Professor Gabetown took one step closer to the secretary, she took a step forward too.
Everything happened so fast.
One moment, she was standing on the roof, and then Blaze blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, her limp body lay on the stone pavement.
Dark blood seeped from the corpse, her head and limbs twisted at weird angles.
Blaze thought he might be sick. He blinked, trying to process what had just happened. When Alecto’s hand squeezed his, he peeled his gaze away from the corpse and looked at the girl by his side.
Her eyes were wide, her face paler than usual.
“Are you okay, baby?” he asked, caressing her cheek. He pulled her into his chest, squeezing her tight.
Alecto’s voice was shaking. “She just walked off the roof. She killed herself. She was okay just last week. Smiling, being nice.”
Blaze squeezed her harder. It must have been even more disturbing for her than for him to witness Miss Bellthrove’s suicide. Her mother…
“Let’s get out of here, okay?” Blaze said.
Alecto nodded and let him lead her farther away from the crowd.
Once the administration took care of the body, all students and faculty were called into the auditorium for the Dean’s speech.
Everyone was taken aback by what had happened, and so they all sat in their seats, waiting for the Dean to give more details or explain.
Finally, he walked onto the stage at the front and went up to the middle. He cleared his throat, adjusted his tie. Blaze wasn’t sure whether he truly was as shaken as he looked or only pretending.
“Thank you everyone for gathering here,” the Dean said. “Today Venefica has suffered a great loss. As some of you were unfortunate to witness, our dear secretary, Miss Bellthrove, took her own life earlier this morning by jumping off a building on campus.”
A wave of chatter went around the auditorium. Clearly, not everyone had been there to witness the event.
Alecto sat next to Blaze. He had her hand in his, and he squeezed it, trying to reassure her. She offered him a weak smile.
“We are all saddened by her sudden death,” the Dean said. “Miss Bellthrove has worked here for three decades. She has been the sweetest, most reliable person who always strived to be helpful to the faculty and to Venefica’s students.”
Blaze couldn’t wrap his head around how and why the secretary would kill herself. She had always been cheery and happy.
“While Miss Bellthrove always offered a smile to everyone she interacted with, she was suffering in silence,” the Dean said. “She left a suicide note at my office. I won’t go into details about what was in the note, but she was suffering from a depressive episode for quite some time. We will hold a funeral later this evening by Blood Lake. Everyone is welcome to come pay respects, but it is not mandatory.”
“We’re fucking going,” Val said to them. “It is mandatory.”
Blaze glanced at Alecto, who nodded and swallowed.
“Are you sure you want to do it?” Blaze whispered into her ear. “I’m sure Val and the others can go without us.”
“No, it’s okay,” Alecto said. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Blaze found himself unable not to worry about her. Whatever she was feeling, he seemed to feel with her. And that was something very new and unexpected for him.
Something he hadn’t experienced before.
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