Toby was still wondering if he was hearing voices when Tina cried out for him again, “Open up, Toby. Please…” Toby focused once he heard her cries, and he knew it wasn’t a dream.
He got out of bed and turned on the lights before he went to the door. What greeted him was a woman with disheveled hair and torn clothes. He froze up for a moment, frowning. “Tina?”
“Toby…” Tina looked up at him tearfully.
When Toby saw the state she was in, his face fell. “What happened?”
Tina puckered her lips sadly, and she cried even louder. She was about to hug Toby, but he took a step back reactively. When Tina realized what had happened, she stopped crying and stared at him angrily. “Did you just avoid me, Toby?”
Toby knew he must have hurt her pride, so he coughed and explained, “Sorry, Tina. You know I’m a germaphobe.”
“Yes, but—”
“Alright, Tina. Tell me what happened,” Toby interrupted.
Tina bit her lip. “Someone took me away in a sack and beat me up.”
Toby felt like laughing the moment he heard that, and he did. Well, it was just a smile, but Tina caught it anyway.
“Toby!” Tina stomped her foot angrily. “How could you laugh after someone did this to me?”
“Sorry.” Toby coughed again and stopped smiling. “Who did this?” he asked calmly. Surprisingly, he wasn’t too mad that Tina was beaten up.
“It’s Miss Reed. They asked Tyler to lure me out, then they knocked me out and put me in a sack. After that, they took me to the turf club and beat me up. Just look at me, Toby, I’m injured all over.” Tina rolled her sleeves up to reveal the bruises on her arms. “This is what they did to me. And they even drenched me with water. You have to tell them off, Toby, This is too much.”
Even though Tina was bruised, Toby still wasn’t too angry, though he said coldly, “I understand. Why don’t you go take a shower for now? I’ll talk to Tyler.”
“Okay.” Tina nodded and shuffled back to her room.
Toby looked up at the stairs before going upstairs. “Get out, Tyler!” He knocked on Tyler’s door, looking inscrutable.
When Tyler went to take the door and saw Toby standing before him, his heart skipped a beat. He was scared, but he yawned to cover his fear. “What is it, Toby?”
“Tina got beaten up. Did you play a part in it?” Toby gazed at his brother.
Tyler couldn’t lie, so the moment Toby glared at him, he started stammering, and that was answer enough for Toby.
Toby’s face fell. “I can’t believe you actually did that.”
“She deserves it. She tried to kill Sonia.” Tyler harrumphed.
A frown creased Toby’s forehead. “So you guys did it to get back at her.”
“Yeah. So what?” Tyler muttered under his breath.
Toby looked at him coldly. “You’re not getting any allowance for three months. Think about what you did.” Tyler protested, but Toby ignored it and went to knock on Zane’s door. A short while later, everyone on the third floor was gathered in the corridor.
They looked at each other, and though they said nothing, they knew why Toby was here. Tina must have woken up and snitched on them, so Toby was here to interrogate.
Zane stretched his arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Why’d you wake us up, Toby? It’s the dead of the night, and we need to sleep,” he drawled.
“Yeah, what’s the matter with you?” Charles pouted.
Sonia was also leaning against the door. Her eyes were closed, looking like she was asleep.
Toby looked at her for a moment. He was reminded of the dream he had earlier, but he stared down and looked away quickly. “Tina’s beaten up by someone. Care to explain yourselves?”
“Wait, someone beat that snake up?” Charles looked shocked for a moment, then he clapped his hands and laughed. “Great job. Any idea who did it? I wanna give them something.”
Sonia chuckled, but she didn’t open her eyes.
Toby was looking furious. “Playing dumb, are we?”
“Playing dumb? What are you talking about?” Charles shrugged. “Wait, you can’t be suspecting us, can you?”
“Seems like it though, judging from his expression.” Rebecca yawned.
“That’s nonsense, Toby. We’ve been in our rooms all this time. There’s no way we could have done that. And there’s no reason for us to do that either.” Zane had on a sleepy look.
Toby was annoyed that everyone was denying it. “Tyler told me everything, so don’t even try to lie.”
“Hey, that’s his problem, not ours. Why should we apologize for something we didn’t do?” At the same time, Charles glared at Tyler surreptitiously. Why’d you tell him everything? How useless.
Tyler noticed his glare, so he stared down in embarrassment. He didn’t want to tell the truth, but he couldn’t lie, and he was afraid of Toby. The moment Toby glared at him earlier, he broke down.
Toby knew he wouldn’t get anything from Charles, so he shot Charles a glare before turning to Sonia. “Are you going to deny it as well? You did this because she set that snake on you this morning, didn’t you?”
Sonia opened her eyes and looked at him calmly. “Do you have any evidence for that?” she asked clearly, apparently not sleepy at all.
Toby frowned when he noticed how cold her look was. He was frustrated, for he didn’t like her looking at him that way. However, he didn’t know why he didn’t like that.
“Yeah. You can’t accuse us without any evidence.” Charles crossed his arms.
“You want evidence? My injuries are evidence enough.” Suddenly, Tina’s voice sounded.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice. Tina had already taken a bath and changed into new clothes, but it didn’t cover up her bruises, so everyone started laughing when they saw her.
Tina’s face fell. “What are you laughing at?”
“Nothing. We definitely aren’t laughing because you look like a pig, Miss Gray, we promise.” Zane was holding his sides.
Hearing that, everyone burst into laughter again. Sonia didn’t laugh as loudly as they did, but the broad grin on her face was enough to tell everyone she was delighted.
“Why you…” Feeling humiliated, Tina buried herself in Toby’s embrace. “They’ve gone too far, Toby!”
Toby looked at everyone coldly. “Enough!” he growled.
Everyone stopped laughing immediately.
“Sorry, Toby. We didn’t want to laugh, but she’s just too… Well, you get the drift.” Zane shrugged apologetically, but the smile in his eyes betrayed his thoughts.
Charles asked, “Miss Gray, you’re saying your injuries are evidence, yes?”
“That is correct.” Tina stepped back from Toby and nodded.
Sonia sneered. “To be honest, that’s no evidence at all, Miss Gray. Just because you’re injured doesn’t mean we did it.”
