Chapter 12: The strong intent to kill!

TRIGGER WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME GORY SCENES.

A metallic hand bell was rung several times, it's piercing and reverberating sound became prominent as it echoed through the walls of the room.

Ariana let out a grunt of dissatisfaction in her sleep as she began to wriggle within the cozy and soft mattress, not wanting to let go of the beautiful dream she was having.

She felt something cold splash on her body causing her eyes to abruptly opened. Her face became red with dismay as she stared at her wet clothes.

She was just about to kiss the man of her dreams and they ruined it for her. Now she may never get that kiss. She thought with a pout.

"Kimberly! Bethany!" Gritting her teeth, she thundered.

Both girls giggled with mischief. Kimberly and Bethany were identical twins, the only noticeable difference between them was that Kimberly had brown eyes while Bethany had brown and green colored eyes. That's right she was born with heterochromia, a unique phenomenal that occurs when a person is born with different colored eyes.

"What? It's 7am! Remember we have an early morning class by 9!" Bethany reminded with seriousness in her tone.

"It's still very early, just let me sleep for a few more minutes," she mumbled drowsily and slowly shut her eyes in an attempt to resume her sleep. Hopefully, she could resume her dream as well.

The chiming of the bell followed afterwards. She groaned in displeasure, punched her pillow in anger and glared at the two witches who just wouldn't let her be!

"Wow, you look like you haven't slept in a year. Go, shower." Bethany suggested with an evil grin.

"I hate you two!" She threw her pillow at them in frustration.

"Stop glaring at us like you want to eat us. Mom asked us to wake you up. Get dressed and come downstairs." Kimberly informed, briskly making her way out of the room.

"And don't fall asleep!" Bethany added with a mocking smile and turned to leave with her sister but before she could do so, a pillow hit her head.

"Witch!" She stuck her tongue out in mockery and ran out of the room.

The crazy girls are her best friends and they have been friends since Ariana's family moved to New York three years ago. They were a big part of the family.

***

As she trudged down the marble stairs, the lazy clicks of her heels was heard in the dining room.

She sauntered into the dining room looking all gorgeous, and sexy. She was dressed in a knee length black fitted dress that showed off all her curves in the right places and a red blazer jacket. On her foot, was a pair of red platform high heels ankle boots. Even without heels, she was a perfect height of 5'11.

Her waist-length, golden brown hair was arranged in a cascade of curls. Her face was heart shaped and without flaw, her cheeks soft and slightly puffy.

Her eyes silvery gray and they were as calm as the sea and as elegant and shiny as the twinkling stars of the night. Her lips were pink, full, and pouty, and her nose, small and upturned. She was the perfect definition of enchanting beauty.

"Finally, I thought you were never gonna show up. I'm starving!" Ivy, Ariana's younger sister grumbled bitterly.

"I didn't ask you to wait for me, you foodie!" She mocked, pulling her sister's ears.

Ivy screamed, her screams were fake and derisive as she intended to get her sister in trouble. "Mummy, Riri is bullying me!" She cried out for help.

"Ariana, leave my daughter alone and come seat your butt down!" Dionne, Ariana's mother ordered when she became fed up with her daughter's drama.

"Yes, mom," she grinned and quickly kissed Ivy on her left cheek. She knew she hated it when people kissed her on the cheek, especially when saliva touched her face.

"Eww, disgusting! Mom! Riri kissed me!" She complained, her hands cleaning the saliva on her face with disgust. Ariana stuck her tongue out to her and jeered.

"Good morning mom. Good morning dad!" She gushed, kissing them on their cheeks.

"Good morning honey!" Her father, Nate replied, planting a kiss on her cheeks.

"This morning would be a beautiful one if you'd stop bulling Vee!" Donne reproved through gritted teeth.

"What can I say mom? I try my best."

"Hi Jackie. Happy birthday!" she mumbled with a not so cool wave. Jackie rolled her eyes and ignored her greetings. Of course, they weren't friends, more like archenemies. Despite being cousins, they just didn't seem to get along.

Jackie's mom was Nate's sister but she died when Jackie was eight and ever since her demise, she's been living with Ariana's family.

Ariana being a friendly girl since young, attempted to make friends with Jackie but unknown to her, Jackie had always hated her even before she moved in with them. She hated her perfection, conveted everything she had and wanted to have it all for herself.

Riri was also very beautiful and had always attracted a lot of boys, but even though she didn't really seem to care for them, Jackie hated her for being attractive.

Ariana was also genius and when she was eight, she was almost done with highschool despite being Jackie's age mate!

She later graduated highschool at age nine and was immediately given a scholarship to study Finance at the university of Utah. She was later given admission to study Economics online and at thirteen, she graduated with a dual degree program while Jackie was still in grade 7!

By the time she was seventeen, she already bagged a PhD degree in Marketing making her one of the youngest persons to earn a PhD degree. She subsequently bagged two master degrees in Accounting and Information systems (online) respectively.

Her family moved to New York when she was eighteen and she's currently studying her third undergraduate program in Business and political economy at the NYU. She is indeed an academic prodigy.

Another thing that constantly annoyed Jackie was the rich dude she has been betrothed to since birth after he saved her mother's life twenty years ago.

Although, Ariana has met him a couple of times before, she was too young to remember what he looked like. He always sends her lavish presents on her birthdays and important events like Christmas and valentine! He even bought her first car when she was eighteen!

Although, Jackie also gets presents on her birthdays but it's nothing compared to Ariana's. Ariana was better than her, so fucking perfect that she hated her for it! Why does she always get the good stuff while she ends up with crumbs?

Riri took her seat in between her friends and didn't mind that Jackie ignored her. She wasn't expecting to receive a reply from her anyways.

"Ariana, say grace." Nate suggested with a smile.

"Heavenly father, bless this meal that we are about to eat from your bounty. Amen."

"Amen." Came their solemn response. Vee immediately dug into her food without wasting time.

"Foodie!" Riri teased.

"Riri!" Her mother sent her a warning glare.

"Sorry mom," she pouted. Moments later, when they were half way into the meal, the door bell chimed.

"I'll go check it out!" Jackie rose from her seat and rushed to answer it. She returned with a small box wrapped with a birthday gift wrapper. A smile became painted on her face as she returned to her seat.

"Wow, Jackie who's that from? Your boyfriend?" Miranda, Jackie's friend inquired a sly grin. Of course they both knew who it came from but Jackie made up her mind to make Riri jealous.

"Wow, there's a card attached to it. What does it say?"

"Happy birthday my love!" She lied with resentment pumping in her veins. The note actually read:

Happy birthday,

Blake.

"Awww, who is it from? Tell me! Tell me!" Miranda urged with gleeful and expectant eyes.

"From Blake!" she smirked and Ivy immediately burst into laughter. Her laughter was contagious as Bethany and Kimberly joined her and they laughed to their heart's content.

Dionne clenched her fist in anger and grimaced. For how long would she continue to condone Jackie's er​rant behavior?

She tried her best for so long to fill the gap her mother's demise left in her heart but it seemed so fucking impossible. The only thing that filled that gap was her hatred for Riri as it seemed to grow at each passing day. Of course, she tried to teach her the rights and wrongs of life but she was unwilling to learn.

For years, she's been tolerant with hopes that she would change but now, it was clear that she wasn't ever gonna change. Enough was enough. It was time she put her in her place.

The only reason she endured this long was because of her mother. Her mother was good woman who was filled with love and she had a golden heart.

She wad loved by many even Blake grew fond of her. Sometimes, Dionne would jokingly say that that she was trying to steal her son-in-law. The good old days ended in a split second when she was involved in a car crash. She died on the spot. Blake couldn't save her as the only thing he couldn't reverse was death.

As if noticing her change of emotions, Nate tried to soothe her raging emotions but she gave him a 'Don't try to stop me' look.

"What's funny? Isn't it obvious? Blake has obviously regained his senses and has seen clearly that I'm obviously better than Ariana. The only thing she cares about is books, she know nothing about boys!" She ridiculed with sheer disdain.

Riri ignored her hurtful words and continued eating her food in silence. She was already used to her insults and with time, she learned that ignoring her was the best thing to do. She didn't have time for her ruckus this morning as she still had a lot of reading to do since her final exams was around the corner.

"And what is that supposed to mean?!" Came a loud and outraged voice.

"Look, here young woman. I'm sick and tired of your lousy attitude in this house. What I won't take is anyone trying to bully any of my daughters. If it's so easy, why don't you get your own boyfriend and stick to him, rather than jumping from one man to another!"

"Mom, how could you say that?" She yelled as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Don't you ever call me your mom! If I was your mother and you treated me as such, you would love and respect my daughters and not try so hard to take what doesn't belong to you! Your mother wasn't like you, you're just like your criminal of a father!"

"Dionne! That's enough!" Nate held her hands and tried to soothe her blinding rage. His wife was slow to get angry but when she did get angry, it was even harder to calm her down and she would end up saying things she shouldn't say.

"I hate you all! But I hate you the most Ariana! Why do you always have to be perfect? Why do you always have to take everything from me! You think you own everything. You fucking nerd!" She thundered as tears trickled down her eyes.

She clutched hard unto the fork she held and a strong intent to kill suddenly overwhelmed her. She cast Riri a death glare and let out a menacing growl.

She dashed towards her and drove the fork into her neck in an instant. Riri stared at her wide eyed as blood spurted out of her neck. She made small whimpering sound as she choked on her own blood.

"Riri!" They dashed to her side with horrified gazes.

"Riri, please don't die! Don't leave mummy." Donnie wailed, applying pressure to the wound but that didn't stop the bleeding.

"Call 911. Quick!"

Nate gazed at his daughter as she struggled to fight for her life. He staggered behind as everything felt so unreal to him. Like a nightmare, he just couldn't wake up from.

He became blinded by rage. He hastened towards Jackie and grabbed her by the neck, his hand tightening around her neck as he strangled her. "What did you do to my daughter? After all my family did for you!" He gritted as she choked, her hands struggling to loosen his grip on her neck.

"Dad, Riri stopped moving!" Vee screamed as the tears spilled out of her eyes.