She was walking down the middle of the street when she suddenly stopped – a crowd had gathered, with cops standing guard, emergency vehicles parked nearby, and caution tape blocking off part of the road. Did something bad happen here? she thought to herself.

She overheard people talking around her:

"Wow, right? Whoever did this must’ve really hated the person..."

"They really went all out to get back at them..."

"No mercy at all from whoever did it..."

"Whoever did this is like a monster..."

Those were just some of the things Amanda heard. She wanted to peek at least once to see where it happened, but then she got scared – she probably wouldn’t be able to sleep later if she saw it. "Better not," she mumbled to herself and tried to walk away.

She had to get home exactly when Auntie Lucy said – if not, she’d get scolded again. Amanda was controlled by Auntie Lucy and her Uncle Mike, who worked as a detective. She had no say in anything; felt like a doll they were moving around however they wanted. Everything she wanted to do was forbidden by her relatives.

When she got home, Auntie Lucy was already there making dinner.

"Good afternoon, Auntie," she said softly.

"Afternoon. Go get changed and come back down so we can eat," Auntie Lucy said. She didn’t reply – what mattered was she’d heard the order. She headed upstairs right away to take a shower; she’d been at school all day. She was in Grade 12 and almost done with high school. Finally, she’d be going to college – she could leave her relatives’ house and study ARCHITECTURE. It had been her dream since she was little. She loved drawing and designing buildings, houses, and other things too.

After her shower, she went downstairs right away. Uncle Mike was already in the dining area.

"Amanda, there you are. Come on," said Uncle Mike, who worked as a detective agent.

Amanda nodded and sat next to him. She noticed he looked worried – probably had another tough case to work on.

"How’s school going?" Uncle Mike asked.

She paused mid-bite. "It’s okay, Uncle."

"Good."

Is it really okay? she thought. Who wants to study when you can’t do the things you care about in life?

"You’ll be going to college soon. What course do you want to take?" Auntie Lucy asked.

"Architecture, Auntie," she said quietly.

Auntie Lucy dropped her spoon right away. Amanda knew she wouldn’t like it – they wanted her to be a doctor.

"Amanda! Why that one?!" Auntie Lucy yelled. Figures, she thought. They always decided everything for her. If her parents hadn’t died in that car accident, she’d be free now – free to do whatever she wanted. The Millers were her family; Uncle Mike was her real mom’s brother. They had a son named Jackson, who was studying medicine in the city.

"That’s what I want, Auntie," she said softly. She was too shy to say she didn’t want to do medicine – not just because she didn’t like it, but she was scared of blood too.

"No! You’ll study medicine – that’s what’s right for you. And..."

"Auntie’s right, Mandy. Medicine is perfect for you," Uncle Mike added.

What else could she expect? Even though she was scared of blood and couldn’t stand seeing patients, there was nothing she could do. She felt like a bird stuck in a cage – no freedom at all.

"I really want to be an architect," she said a little louder.

"Medicine is what’s right for you, Mandy. Don’t worry – once you finish Grade 12, I’ll enroll you in the same school where your brother Jackson studied," Uncle Mike said.

She had no choice but to stay quiet and go along with it. She just swallowed hard – she was used to this by now.

"Uncle, I walked past a street earlier where something happened. Lots of people and cops were there," she started. She only brought it up to change the subject, so they wouldn’t see how upset she was about her course.

Uncle Mike looked at her with bright eyes. "Oh yeah?"

"Do you have any leads yet?"

Then she suddenly smiled – a smile that seemed to hold a secret.

When she got to campus, two students were still slapping each other. Probably fighting over a guy—she didn’t care. Even if they ended up scratching each other raw, that was their problem, not hers. She had her own issues to deal with, so why get involved, right?

"Amanda Leigh!"

A familiar voice called out to her. She glanced back and saw her friend Lexen Mae.

"Hey, what’s up?" Lexen said as they walked together down the hallway.

What did her friend even mean by "what’s up"?

"What do you mean 'what’s up'?"

"With your life?"

She didn’t answer. Instead, she just shot Lexen a sharp look and walked ahead. Lexen chased after her, calling her name.

"Amanda, I was just asking. Sheesh, you’re so grumpy," Lexen said, pretending to be a little upset.

"I’m fine. Why do you ask?"

But was she really fine? She didn’t think so. Maybe in some ways—she went to a private school, wore nice clothes, and ate good food. But in other parts of her life, she wasn’t okay. Did she ever want to be a puppet for her relatives? Even so, she was still grateful to her aunt and uncle—they’d taken care of her and treated her like their own daughter, probably because they didn’t have a girl of their own.

"Why are you mad?"

"I’m not mad."

She wasn’t the kind of friend who was clingy or affectionate. She often looked angry, but she never hurt anyone—depended on how people treated her.

"On your period or something?" Lexen joked, giving her a sympathetic smile.

"Tch!" she muttered, shooting her friend another sharp look. Yeah, she didn’t like jokes much. She felt like she was boring and hard to make laugh. Was she bitter? She thought so. Who knew anymore—she didn’t even feel like she knew herself.

"Did you hear the news from yesterday?" Lexen started. "That crime that happened yesterday at the—"

"Lexen, I don’t care about that stuff!"

She raised her voice at her friend and kept walking.

"Hey, you’re being so snobby today. Wait up!"

A little while later, Amanda bumped into someone—a guy who looked about her age.

"Ouch!" she yelped; the collision was pretty hard. The guy was wearing a hoodie and had his back to her, and he didn’t even say sorry.

"Wait!" she shouted, but he didn’t seem to hear her even though she was loud.

"I said wait!"

The guy stopped suddenly and turned his head a little, but she couldn’t see his whole face—only half of it.

"Don’t you know how to say sorry?" she snapped.

Lexen tried to calm her down. Her friend knew her well—she hated being looked down on or letting people walk all over her. Especially when someone bumped into her and didn’t apologize.

"Sorry," the guy said, still facing away. His voice was low and cold—like a radio DJ’s. That was all he said before hurrying off. She tried to call him back to say more.

"Hey, hold on a second!"

"Amanda, let it go," Lexen said, stopping her.

"Let it go? Did you see that—he bumped into me!"

"But he said sorry."

"No! I don’t care about his 'sorry'!"

Amanda’s voice was so loud it could probably be heard all over campus.

Who was that hooded guy anyway? Amanda wondered to herself. That jerk—he bumped into me like it was nothing.