Helen and Veronica had been close friends since their secondary school days. Both even got admission into the same university the same year, and were usually seen together going to classes and cafeteria.
It happened that when a campus beauty pageant was announced, both friends indicated interest and applied.
Helen was a soft spoken girl whose gait made men to turn around to have a second look at her if she passed. She was simply a piece of beauty. Looking at her was like seeing the genesis and end of beauty.
Someone had spoken of her, saying that God created her in the evening of Sunday immediately after He rested. This must be why everything about her radiated with unspeakable beauty and attraction.
It was not in doubt that Helen would win the pageant but, her friend Veronica, wanted to wear the crown as the most beautiful girl on campus by any means. She too was beautiful in her own class, except that, as the saying goes, "Where two things are involved, one will be greater". Yes, Vero was beautiful but, Helen was something else.
Knowing that none had a chance of winning the pageant in the presence of Helen, Veronica, in spite of their friendship, hatched an evil plan to ensure the absence of Helen during the contest. She planned with some cult boys to kidnap Helen, and only set her free after the contest.
So, as the contest started, Helen was nowhere to be found because the cult boys had succeeded in kidnapping her, and taken her out of the campus.
In the hand of the cult group, Helen made a desperate struggle of her life to free herself. In that bid, she unexpectedly gave up the ghost. And in an attempt to hide their despicable deed, they took her corpse and dropped in a river under the cover of the night.
A search party went into work to find Helen as soon as her absence became obvious. At the same time, the show was postponed indefinitely. It took four days for Helen's body to be washed ashore and found.
The campus was thrown into a mourning mood due to the death of Helen. Even Veronica, wept uncontrollably because she didn't expect to lose such a valuable friend, more so when she had a hand in such a calamity. The guilt in her heart weighed her down to the extent that she lost the willingness to continue with her education.