I never knew this was how it was meant to begin — in a new school, with new friends and a new life.

My name is Bella Vincent. I am 16 years old. I have long hair and blue eyes that reflect the ocean. I am a little short, with full lips and a body that many boys seem to admire.

I had a good life… before my whole world turned upside down.

Five days ago, I was enrolled in a new school. At first, everything seemed nice, but when I entered my classroom, almost everyone was rude to me.

The only thing that made it a little fun was the handsome boys who kept staring at me. Their attention made the girls jealous.

“Who is this girl? She is so ugly. Look at her shoes — I don’t think she even has money,” one girl said.

I think her name was Liz.

Everyone started laughing at me.

I was so angry that I walked up to her and gave her the beating of her life.

I was already upset because I was new, and she had started insulting me for no reason. I have never been good at controlling my anger.

So I let my feelings out.

While I was beating her, the teachers rushed in and separated us. Liz was crying, and blood was running from both of her nostrils.

They took us to the principal’s office. Of course, I was blamed for the fight, and the principal gave me detention on my very first day.

“Bella, because this is your first time in this school, I will not involve your parents,” Mr. Henry, the principal, said.

I was so relieved.

“Thank you, sir,” I replied.

If he had called my parents, my mother would never let me hear the end of it.

When I walked out of the office, I didn’t see Liz. I think they had taken her to the nurse’s office.

For the rest of the day, people kept staring at me. Whenever I looked at them, they quickly looked away like they were scared.

I guess the fight spread around the whole school because people started giving me a nickname:

“Queen Bella.”

Well, I’m not like the princess from Beauty and the Beast. I’m more like the devil. Evil runs in my veins.

Nobody messes with me.

As school continued, I made some friends: Nora, Goodwick, Rachel, Lovet, and Nake. They can be really annoying sometimes, but I love them.

My classroom was on the top floor. One day, my friends didn’t come to school, so I decided to explore the lower floors, where the senior classes were.

As I was looking at the pictures on the wall, I accidentally bumped into someone’s chest.

It was hard… like a rock.

I was angry, even though it was my fault.

“Can you watch where you’re going? Or are you blind?” I said.

When I looked up, I saw that the boy was very handsome. When I say handsome, I mean really handsome. He was tall, with brown eyes and curved lips that any girl would fall for — and I might be one of them.

I think his name was Kevin.

“Why are you so full of yourself?” he said.

I was shocked by what he said.

“What… th—”

Before I could finish my sentence, he walked away.

From that moment on, he became my crush.

I went back to my classroom and told my friends about Kevin.

“Oh baby, go and tell him!” Nake said.

“But I can’t. What if he doesn’t like me?” I replied.

“Baby, who wouldn’t like you with your body?” Rachel said.

“But—”

“No, Bella. You must tell him,” Nora said.

They all encouraged me to tell him about my feelings.

But when should I do it? And how?

While I was thinking about it, one of the students suddenly came running into the hall.

“Guys! The headmaster said there will be a party next week!”

Everyone in the hall started shouting and cheering happily.

Nora looked at me and smiled.

“Bella, you can ask Kevin to the party.”

All my friends immediately agreed.

“Yes! That’s perfect, baby. You should!”

I looked at them and smiled.

“You guys are right. I will ask him to the party. Thank you.”

The Night of Prom

Sixteen-year-old bella had been nervous for days. She'd finally gathered the courage to ask her crush, Kelvin, to prom. To her surprise, he said yes with a charming smile that left her breathless.

That night, she wore a dress that made her feel powerful—sleek, bold, and beautiful. Her friends gasped in admiration when they saw her. "You look stunning," one of them whispered.

Bella smiled, scanning the room, her heart skipping a beat when she spotted Kelvin across the dance floor. She started walking toward him, but then stopped.

He was with his friends—laughing. She was about to wave when she heard her name.

"She's hot, I'll give her that," Kelvin said with a smirk. "But I'm only going with her to see how far she'll go. Prom night, right? Might as well get something out of it."

Her stomach dropped.

Bella face flushed—not with embarrassment, but with anger and disbelief. Her heart raced, the dress that once made her feel confident now felt like a costume for someone else's game.

She turned sharply, ignoring the burning in her chest, and walked away—tears threatening, but her head held high.

Bella sat alone outside the prom venue, the chill of the night wrapping around her bare shoulders like a warning. But she didn't feel cold. She felt alive—sharpened by betrayal.

Kelvin had humiliated her. Not to her face, no—that would have taken courage. Instead, he laughed with his friends about how easily he could get her into bed. As if her feelings were a game. As if she was just a trophy to show off before tossing aside.

He thinks I'm weak.

He has no idea who I really am.

Bella's expression hardened. That soft, innocent girl who nervously asked him to prom? She was gone.

She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to confront him in front of everyone like some drama queen. No—Bella would make sure he paid in silence.

She pulled out her phone, opened her notes app, and started typing.

Kelvin: Walks home Mondays, Wednesdays after 8:30

Always takes the back alley behind Harper Street

Parents leave town next weekend

Knife in his glovebox, not on him

She'd been underestimated her whole life. Called "pretty but fragile." Now she would use that—play along, smile sweetly, pretend she hadn't heard a thing.

And then she'd strike.

He wanted to use me?

Good. Let him think he won.

For now, Bella went back inside, her head high and her eyes scanning the crowd like a predator in a ballroom of prey. Kelvin met her gaze, flashing his charming, stupid grin.

She smiled back.

The countdown had begun.

Kelvin awoke in confusion, but it quickly turned to terror. The room was cold, silent, and unfamiliar. His arms were strapped to the arms of a metal chair, ankles bound tightly to the legs. A single light swung overhead.

And then he saw her—Bella. Still in her prom dress, no longer smiling. Her eyes were empty. Sharp. Unforgiving.

"W-what is this? Bella? What the hell—"

She didn't answer. She reached into his jacket pocket, took his phone, and powered it off. Location disabled. Contacts untouched. He was now invisible.

"You laughed at me," she said softly. "But I heard every word."

"Bella, please—"

But his plea was cut short as she gagged him. Then she turned to her table—neatly arranged tools, blades, and jars. She took a pocket knife and calmly walked back toward him.

"Let me show you how I deal with liars."

Without hesitation, she cut off his right ear.

The scream that followed echoed through the basement, but no one could hear. Bella had planned for that. The room was soundproof.

Kelvin writhed in the chair, soaked in sweat and blood, tears streaming from his eyes—until she took one of those eyes too, severing it clean and dropping it into a jar.

His vision blurred. His mind broke. But Bella wasn't finished.

With chilling precision, she plunged a knife into his chest and removed his heart. She didn't scream. She didn't cry. She worked with silence and skill, packing each piece—eye, ear, and heart—into separate jars.

She zipped his limp, mangled body into a black duffel bag.

Then she cleaned the room.

Spotless. As if he'd never existed.

---

The streets were empty as Bella drove through the night.

At the school, she parked two blocks away and walked the rest of the way with the bag slung over her shoulder. She didn't look around. She wasn't afraid. This was her masterpiece.

She arrived at the front gates of the school and began arranging the scene:

The heart, nailed dead centre to the gate like a warning beacon.

The eye, strung up with fishing wire, swinging gently in the wind.

The ear, pinned next to a handwritten note that read:

> _"You thought I was a toy.

Warning ⚠ Blood

---

Crimson Ridge High – Monday Morning, 7:02 AM

The first students to arrive didn't make it past the gate.

They froze. Then one screamed.

Another dropped their backpack and ran.

And then phones came out—shaking hands, capturing the horror displayed at the school's front gate:

A human heart, nailed to the centre like a warning. Blood is still dripping.

An eyeball, swinging from fishing wire like a twisted ornament.

An ear, pinned beside a note written in deep red:

> "You thought I was a toy. Now you're a message."

Laid out on the steps just beyond, slouched like a puppet with strings cut—

Kelvin's corpse.

His mouth stitched shut with black thread.

His body was cold, pale, and crumpled.

His eyes and heart are missing.

His phone was still in his pocket — but turned off.

Within minutes, the school was surrounded by police, EMTs, detectives, and reporters.

Students sobbed. Teachers screamed. Parents flooded in.

The chaos had begun.

---

Bella's House – 7:15 AM

Bella sat at the kitchen table, legs crossed, eating cereal.

Her phone buzzed beside her—group chats, exploding with fear and confusion.

Her mother, brushing her hair, glanced at the TV where a live report played:

> "A gruesome discovery outside Crimson Ridge High has shocked the city…"

"The victim has been identified as 17-year-old Kelvin…"

Bella sipped her orange juice. Her face was blank. Peaceful.

"Did you know him well?" her mom asked.

Bella looked up with the softest expression.

"Not really," she said. "He was just…" popular."

She smiled faintly.

10AM

The school was locked down. Police flooded the halls. Grief counsellors were stationed in the gym.

Detectives questioned students one by one.

Bella cried when asked about Kelvin. She gave her best broken voice. "I saw him last week... I don't know who would do something like this..."

No one doubted her.

She was sweet. She was soft-spoken.

She was perfectly invisible.

All eyes were looking for a monster.

No one expected the girl sitting quietly in the third row of English class, doodling hearts in the margins of her notebook.

---

That Night

Bella sat cross-legged on her bed.

The room was spotless. It's lit by a soft pink lamp. Posters on the wall. Teddy bear at the foot of the bed.

She pulled a small lockbox from beneath her dresser. Opened it.

Inside: three sealed jars.

One with an eye.

One with an ear.

Her trophies.

She held them up to the light. Admired them.

Online, the world burned.

Two Days After the Murder

The school halls were silent, like a graveyard.

No one laughed. No one ran. Students walked in clusters, speaking in hushed tones. Armed officers still patrolled the perimeter. Cameras were everywhere.

And then it started.

The rumor.

It was whispered between lockers, during lunch, in the bathrooms. It crawled through the school like smoke under a locked door:

> "I heard Bella did it."

"You mean prom Bella?"

"Kelvin rejected her, right? After she asked him?"

"She flipped. I heard she has a basement... and knives."

"He said he was just using her, and then... this? Come on."

At first, Bella smiled through it. Let them whisper.

She even cried once in the hallway—perfect, timed, theatrical.

But she felt it.

The shift.

The eyes.

The tension in the air.

Even her teachers glanced twice. Even her friends were growing quiet.

Lunchtime

Bella sat alone.

She stirred her soup slowly, listening without looking.

At the next table, Kelvin's friends leaned in close, talking low—but not low enough.

> "The cops need to look at her harder."

"She was obsessed with him."

"He told me she said, 'You'll regret laughing at me.'"

One of them—Nate, Kelvin's closest friend—stood up and shouted across the room.

"Hey, Bella."

She looked up calmly.

"You sleep okay the night they found his body?"

The entire cafeteria went still.

Bella blinked. Tilted her head.

"Better than he did," she whispered. Just loud enough for Nate to hear.

He flinched.

---

SPolice Station – That Evening

Detectives sat around a board full of photos, maps, and strings. And on it, for the first time:

A sticky note with Bella's name.

"She was the last to talk to him at prom."

"She asked him out."

"She has no alibi past midnight."

They didn't have proof.

But now they had a suspect.

---

That Night

Bella sat in the dark, staring at the jars.

The heart.

The ear.

The eye.

She traced her finger down the glass. Thought of Kelvin's friends.

How they were getting loud.

Getting brave.

She smiled to herself.

Maybe it was time for a second message.

One that would shut them up...

Forever.