The ghost in her smile

Soraya burst into the station, a whirlwind of fury and grief. Her face, usually radiant with warmth, was contorted with a mixture of anger, disbelief, and a deep, gnawing hurt. She stormed down the corridor, her footsteps echoing in the sterile silence, heading straight for the interrogation room.

She stopped abruptly at the doorway, her breath catching in her throat. There, seated at the steel table, her wrists bound in cuffs, sat Leila. The sight of her sister, usually a vibrant source of laughter and light, now subdued and vulnerable, struck Soraya with the force of a physical blow.

"What… what made you do this?" Soraya asked, her voice trembling, a mixture of accusation and despair. The words tumbled out, raw and unfiltered. She took a step closer, her eyes searching Leila's face, desperate for answers, for some explanation that could make sense of this nightmare.

"You used to be… you used to be the source of laughter," Soraya continued, her voice cracking. "The one who always knew how to brighten even the darkest day. With you, there were no mood swings, no sudden outbursts… How… how did you become this?" Her voice broke, the tears she had been holding back finally spilling over, tracing glistening paths down her cheeks. Her face, a mask of anger moments before, now reflected a deep, agonizing sorrow.

"Do you realize… do you realize the guy… my boyfriend… the one you stabbed… he's on life support?" Soraya's voice rose, laced with a desperate plea, a raw, agonizing pain. "He has a thirty percent chance of surviving. You should be apologizing, Leila! You should be praying he survives! You might be sixteen, but if he dies, you'll be charged with murder! We don't have any powerful connections to save you. So… why? Why did you do this? David was always there for us, especially for you."

Leila met her sister's gaze, her own eyes filled with a chilling mixture of defiance and something else… a cold, detached acceptance. "Oh," she said, her voice flat and emotionless. "I thought I might fail, but it seems I might succeed. So, he's on life support? I pray he doesn't make it."

The words ignited a fresh inferno of rage in Soraya. She lunged forward, her fingers seizing Leila's hair, yanking her head back.

"Are you mad?!" Soraya shrieked, her voice raw with fury. "Have you been taking hard drugs?! What is wrong with you?!"

The sudden eruption of violence shattered the strained silence of the interrogation room. Investigator Evans, her face grim, slammed her hand on the table, her voice sharp and commanding.

"What is wrong with children these days?!" she shouted, her voice ringing with a mixture of frustration and despair. The outburst, born from witnessing the raw, brutal fallout of a tragedy, echoed the chaos and heartbreak that had consumed the room.

Investigator Evans, her face a mask of weary authority, steered Soraya back towards a chair. The raw emotion in the room hung heavy in the air, a volatile mixture of grief, rage, and disbelief. Soraya sat down heavily, her legs shaking, the aftermath of her outburst leaving her breathless and trembling. The fury that had propelled her had subsided, leaving behind a hollow ache of despair and confusion.

"Okay," Soraya said, her voice barely a whisper, the words laced with a weariness that belied her earlier outburst. "Tell me why."

Leila, her eyes fixed on her sister, remained silent for a moment, her expression unreadable. Then, she spoke, her voice low and controlled, a stark contrast to the emotional chaos that swirled around her. "You have to see David's mother before I talk," she stated, her gaze unwavering. "I need her here to hear… to hear the kind of monster she raised."

Soraya's patience, already stretched thin, snapped. The weight of the situation, the uncertainty, the agonizing wait for answers—it all became too much.

"Will you just start talking?" Soraya demanded, her voice tight with frustration and impatience. She was exhausted, emotionally drained, and desperate for some semblance of understanding, some explanation that could make sense of the horrifying events.

Investigator Evans, sensing the escalating tension, intervened. Her voice, though calm, carried an undercurrent of steel. "Leila," she said, her gaze firm, "I suggest you start talking. Now. Unless you want to be… persuaded. We have ways of making people talk."

The air in the interrogation room crackled with a volatile energy. Soraya's revelation about David's role in Leila's scholarship had failed to break through Leila's hardened exterior; instead, it had ignited a fresh wave of anger and resentment. Now, Leila, her voice low and dangerously calm, dropped a bombshell that sent a fresh wave of shock and horror through the room.

"Do you know who was really behind our parents' deaths?" Leila asked, her voice barely above a whisper, yet the words hung heavy in the air, charged with a chilling implication. The question hung in the suffocating silence, a dark cloud descending upon the already tense atmosphere.

Soraya recoiled, her face paling. The question struck a raw nerve, dredging up a long-buried trauma. The unsolved murders of their parents had cast a long shadow over their lives, a constant, unspoken grief that had shaped their personalities and their relationships.

Investigator Evans leaned forward, her expression unreadable. The casual mention of their parents' deaths had been a constant, unspoken undercurrent throughout their conversation, a shared tragedy that had shaped their lives. But now, Leila's question had transformed it into something far more sinister, a potential accusation that sent a shiver down her spine.

Leila continued, her voice gaining strength, her words dripping with a chilling certainty. "It wasn't just an accident, Soraya. It wasn't a random act of violence. David… David was involved."

The accusation hung in the air, a devastating revelation that threatened to shatter everything. Soraya stared at her sister, her mind reeling, unable to process the enormity of the claim. The unspoken grief, the unanswered questions, the lingering sense of injustice that had haunted them for years… it all coalesced into a terrifying possibility.

The weight of the accusation settled heavily on Soraya, forcing her to confront the unthinkable. Could it be true? Could David, the man she loved, the man who had seemed to be a pillar of support in their lives, be capable of such a heinous act? The thought was unbearable, yet the chilling certainty in Leila's voice planted a seed of doubt, a terrifying possibility that could not be ignored.