Word traveled faster than Hayden's burning marks. They were all counting down to the main number; the lowest number of her targets, but definitely the most guilty of all.

Kelly slipped between students in the crowded hallway, passing two girls with blazing numbers 28 and 27 on their cheeks. They halted gossiping long enough to stare after Kelly as she rushed past them and ducked into a nearby restroom. She found an empty stall and fixed the lock behind her, her numb fingers barely even feeling the metal as it slid into place.

Shit, shit, shit, she thought.

The stall provided the perfect private area to panic, because Kelly knew what so many did not. They had found her. Hayden. They didn't know it yet. To them, it was only speculation. A girl was missing and a body was found. For those that saw that stupid live stream, they knew the missing girl was now a missing body, and a body was found. But nobody except Kelly and Lucas knew where they hid Hayden, where she'd stayed all this time until someone found her.

How? Kelly wondered. They were so careful, weighing her down, going to an unlikely spot, where bushes were thick on the bank, rocks in the water were jagged and dangerous. The kind of place swimmers and fishermen were sure to avoid.

Kelly's hands went in her hair, tugging a bit, lost in her anxiety. When they identify the body, they'll come to the school. They'll question everyone. Someone somewhere would talk. There might be screenshots.

What to do? That damn live feed.

It was her downfall. She knew it. How could you hide murder in 2018? Everyone has a phone these days. Everyone is connected to everyone and someone knows everything about someone else. Nothing is private anymore, not even murder.

Kelly's hand slammed into her forehead. "Shit!" she groaned.

Get a grip, Kelly! They wouldn't dare. They wouldn't betray me. They saw what happened to someone that betrayed me, she thought.

It would all work out. Didn't she at least deserve that? After the terrible way her supposed best friend had stabbed her in the back, she felt she deserved to get away with getting rid of her. Kelly just had to keep calm, everything would fall into place. She smoothed her soft hair and stood up straight. She adjusted her hot pink silk blouse. When she cleared her throat and swallowed, she felt as though sand was being washed away, back down to her stomach where the heavy feeling remained. She pushed it out of her mind and opened the stall.

Hayden was there, unbeknownst to Kelly. Had she seen Hayden, Kelly would have shrieked loud enough to wake the dead. But she could not see Hayden's blackened skin with the little rivers of molten lava flowing in vein designs. She couldn't see her fire-orange eyes. Hayden wasn't ready to be seen.

Kelly stepped forward, out of the stall. Hayden cocked her head, skin cracking, revealing a new lava vein. Her finger brushed Kelly's cheek in a blaze, smoke lifting from the red-hot number left there.

Kelly yelped. For a moment, it felt as if embers had flown off a cigarette and hit her face. She looked in the mirror. In her eyes, her creamy skin was completely normal and unblemished. She couldn't see the fiery number one.

Hayden burst into flames. The flame rose like a giant bonfire in the middle of the lavatory, then shrank down to candle size before it disappeared altogether, taking Hayden with it.

Kelly felt the burst of heat in the room. She startled at the sink and whipped around. Nothing was there, but a sick feeling creeped in, settling in her bones. A dangerous feeling. She suddenly felt the urge to be away from there, with the others. Whatever weird thing had happened in there, she wanted far away from it. She rushed out, bumping into some girl she didn't know.

"Sorry, Kelly!" the girl said.

Kelly didn't like her. She was too fat, the mauve dress she wore was at least three years old, and her mascara was clumped on her lashes, looking like little spiders crowding her eyeball.

"Watch where you're going, dork!" Kelly spat.

The girl looked like she might cry, but Kelly didn't even notice. She was as oblivious to the girl's pain as she was to the number thirty-two on her face, cut right through the girl's thick foundation and powder. Kelly shoved past the girl. She didn't matter. Right now, all that mattered to Kelly was that she had a good alibi when the questions started coming. She was going to have to do something else terrible to hide the awful thing she'd already done.