...

The next few days remained uneventful.

Most of the students spent their time goofing off in class, only to explore and have fun on the island after school.

Even as Friday came along, the upcoming exam did not lay too heavy on anyone’s mind, remaining an inconvenient afterthought.

“Jared, can you remind me what this unit is about again?” Luka let out a little sigh, slumping down on his desk.

“Have you even been attending class?”

“Of course I have. You should know, you’re the one who's been distracting me from learning.”

“…You’re really something else. You know that right?”

“C’mon, just tell me what you know.”

“We were going over verbs, I believe. So I’m assuming the test will be about English?”

“That’s not helpful…”

“And you call me ungrateful…”

“You two prepared for the test?” Ella asked, kneeling herself down on the floor and placing her arms on Jared’s desk.

“Well look who’s finally decided to show up.” Luka said, raising his head to rest on his arm.

“Aww, give me some credit. I came for the last few days.”

“And then left to ‘go to the bathroom’.”

“I still came, didn’t I? Besides, Sun already told me what there is to know from the four days she was here. Guess her nerdiness is useful for something after all.”

“She did?” Luka shot up, looking toward Jared with a grin. “I’ll be right back. Ah, Sun, there you are…”

“How about you, Kai? Were you able to remember anything?” Ella said, as she took Luka’s spot.

“I… think I remember enough to pass.”

“That’s good, how about you, Jared?”

“Ditto.”

“Looks like we're all good then,” Ella said, before taking out her phone. “But that reminds me. Kai, about that song you recommended me-”

With a yawn, Jared put his hand to his cheek, looking around the room. He spotted Luka pestering Sun in the distance, Victoria drumming her pencil nearby. Behind Ella, Allister hung out near his friend, gawking over the latter’s extensive notes. Aria and Dara, situated near the front of the room, seemed to be fawning over a journal, scribbling something every-so-often.

Out of the corner of his eye, something then caught his attention.

Just next to Aria was a boy, who he had not seen before. The previous days, the desk where the boy sat stayed empty, prompting Jared to believe that they were the missing student Ms. Erythra would always mention.

The boy moved a hand over his shaved hair, slouching slightly and rubbing his shoulder. A vacant expression rested upon his face, and Jared wondered if he even knew about the exam that was scheduled.

A soft slap to his shoulder brought Jared out of his thoughts.

“Sun’s a real lifesaver,” Luka said, grinning and leaning on the wall next to Jared’s desk. His face morphed into a frown before saying, “Ella won’t be giving me my seat anytime soon, will she?”

“Doubt it.”

“Figured. But, anyhow, what do you think you will be doing after our exam?”

“I’ll probably be going to Room 203…”

“Again? This is, like, your seventh time this week. At this point, you’re gonna run out of canvases to use.”

“That’s fine. I’m okay with using paper.” Jared shrugged. “But, anyway, have you seen the room? It’s amazing!”

“You literally bring me there, like, every day.”

“It’s great, right?”

“Sure, buddy. Just promise that when you run out of paper you won’t use my face as your next canvas, okay?” Luka chuckled.

“...”

“No.”

“Don’t give me ideas just to not deliver.”

Luka opened his mouth, seemingly on the verge of a retort. However, the bell rang before he could deliver it, Ms. Erythra walking in as the class fell silent.

“Good morning class. Hope you’ve slept well and prepared for today,” the red-haired teacher said as she held a stack of papers, “Our first-week exam will be commencing shortly. Please get out your pencils and erasers and get ready to take your test.”

…

The scribbling of pencils resounded through the room, a clock ticking under the noise. Some students tapped their fingers against their desk, while others fidgeted in their seats. A select few had their heads down, asleep, pencils and tests out of sight.

As Jared approached the last question, he skimmed through the exam packet, hoping for a sudden revelation to spark through his mind.

Palindromes were the ones that could be rearranged to form different words, right..?

A high seventy was in his future, he just knew it…

He let his pencil fall out of his hand, dejectedly.

Whatever. At least he tried.

He stood up, bubble-sheet in hand, and glanced around the room.

…He had quite the long wait ahead of him.

…

----------------------------------------

…

As the last student turned in the final test and the room dropped into silence, the results soon appeared on the whiteboard, names fading in.

—

Lim, Aria: 91

Choi, Felix: 88

Baaen, Dara: 85

—

“You’re mad you didn’t get first, aren’t you, Lix?” Jared heard Allister say under his breath.

—

Hernandez, Kai: 85

Malee, Sun: 82

Song, Jared: 79

—

Figured.

“Enough to pass, eh, Kai?” Ella said with a look.

“Just as surprised as you are, honestly.”

—

Hirai, Olivia: 73

Siu, Allister: 73

Park, Luka: 67

—

“Let’s go, seven more points than expected,” Luka fist-bumped the air. At this spectacle, Aria and Dara gave the most horrified glances Jared had ever seen.

Sun, meanwhile, just shook her head. “Ella, I’m worried. Your name hasn’t even appeared yet…”

“It’s fineee.”

—

Hua, Elise: 67

—

“See, I told you it’d be fine! I got the same as Luka and he attended all five days,” Ella said, nudging Sun's shoulder with a gloating smile.

“Oh, shut up, Elise.”

“Never call me that again.”

—

Lai, Ryan: 67

Feng, Ezra: 64

Han, Victoria: 61

—

A giant, red 'x' flashed on the screen, obscuring Victoria's name with a slash-through. She, however, shrugged in response, fixing her dark hair as she did so.

"I'm… disappointed," Ms. Erythra said, as her heels clicked against the wooden floors. "I was hoping more of you would be taking this class seriously. We hand-picked you, you know. Thought each of you would be the best fit for our curriculum."

A playful timbre filled Erythra's voice as she spoke, the corners of her lips nearing the verge of a smile. Jared narrowed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Victoria, but I will have to ask that you pack your bags. I'm afraid that this curriculum will simply be too hard for you to master."

"That's fine..." Victoria said, barely making eye contact with Ms. Erythra. "...felt a little homesick anyway."

"Very well then, dear."

She chuckled.

"Congrats on passing your first-week exam, everyone else," Ms. Erythra said as she began to exit the door. "I'll be seeing the rest of you shortly..."

Ms. Erythra smiled, walking out of the classroom. As the door slammed shut, a hearty chatter exploded through the room.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Finally, we’re done,” Luka said to Jared, wandering toward him. The former had been displaced from his desk- due to Ella’s stark refusal to move- and sat across the room during the exam.

“Yeah…”

“You said you wanna go to 203, right?”

“I see someone’s excited to have their face painted.”

“...I will actually throw a bucket of paint at you if you try that.”

“Fine,” Jared rolled his eyes, playfully, glancing toward the door. “But, where do you think that girl is going?”

“Home, I guess. Why?”

“They weren’t walking in the direction of the lobby.”

“Maybe they're taking a side-exit?”

“Yeah…” Jared said, before his expression fell. “But that reminds me, a sixty-eight? Really?”

“Okay, seventy-nine, you’re one to talk. Also, it was actually a sixty-seven, so…”

“What a difference…”

“It’s okay, Luka, I think you did great,” Ella said, smiling, though the glint in her eyes caused Luka to scowl.

“Oh, shut up. I bet you were just bragging again about how you managed to get the same grade as me.”

“I would ne-”

“She was,” Sun said and Kai nodded his head along with her.

“Traitors, both of you.”

A whirring sound from overhead interrupted the chatter of the classroom. All eyes met the school projector as a video emerged on the whiteboard.

At first, only a static-fuzz could be seen on the screen. However, as the footage began to clear, a wooden chair faded into view, placed in the middle of a dim room. Concrete walls enclosed the space, shadows stretching down the corners. Creaking came from the pipes on the roof, and the fuzzy footage buzzed in and out. In and out.

Victoria trudged into view, a sack covering her long hair and part of her purple sweater. A hand guided her toward the chair, and after a brief, unintelligible command, the girl shuffled herself into the seat. Brief strands of red-hair appeared on the camera, before disappearing just as quickly.

A distorted voice rang out, interrupted by white-noise.

“Yo- sack- off.”

Victoria did as told and took off the garment without hesitation.

“Than- so uncomf-“

Her eyes widened as her attention directed toward the camera.

“Wh- holdi-?”

Her arm twitched and posture seemed to shift out of the chair.

“Hey-“

A gun fired.

…

Jared switched on a light, revealing the small art room. His gaze met and lingered on a box near a counter, canvases lying inside the box, waiting.

He walked through a row of tables, easels unified into their respective places on top. Water dripped from a sink faucet as he grabbed a canvas from the box, setting it up on an easel nearby. A palette full of paint was prepared next to him, and he took a brush from the table with his left hand. No paint drenched the tip as Jared pushed the canvas with his brush, his head lowering and leaning on the easel soon after.

A ringing filled his ears, and he closed his eyes to try and tune it out. Shaky breaths escaped him as the ringing got louder, morphing into gunshots.

…

A limp body fell from the chair with a soft thump. Blood splattered on the chair below, and a pool drenched the side of her head. Her eyes barely processed what had happened, a state of shock still resting upon her features.

There was a scream, from whom Jared did not know. Silence stretched through the classroom as the scream faded, and the world seemed to freeze in place.

Until Jared ran.

Out the door of the classroom, out of the nightmare.

He doesn’t remember if anyone tried to follow.

He doesn’t care if they did.

…

The ringing ceased as Jared whipped back into reality. The blank canvas stood in front of him, and he let out a sigh. He picked up the brush, which had fallen out of his hand, and dipped it into the palette.

Minutes flew by, as Jared stroked the canvas in a variety of paint, his mind wandering elsewhere. He did not even notice the sound of the art room door opening, or the person’s footsteps as they approached.

“Hey- Jared.”

Jared’s attention darted toward the familiar voice.

Luka stood before him, his right hand rested on his left arm. Jared attempted to make eye contact, but Luka simply looked away.

Jared put down the paint brush, though stood in place. “What are you doing here?”

“I- just wanted to check on you.”

“I’m fine,” Jared said, about to return to painting, but a foreign hand caused him to flinch back. “What?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Please, just-”

“I should’ve listened...”

“Luka, please. It’s not like we can do anything, anyways…”

A silence cut between them.

“Whatcha painting?”

Jared sighed, giving Luka a small glare. After a small pause, however, he scooted over, allowing the latter to see.

“It’s cute.”

Jared let out a short chuckle of disbelief. “Thanks.”

“...what is it?”

“Wouldn’t I like to know…”

A blanket of various shades of red covered the bottom of the canvas, the top consisting of an assortment of blues. Various swirls of different colors scattered the remainder of the portrait, resembling the shape of thorny vines. “I kinda… zoned out.”

Jared glanced away as his vision began to turn blurry.

This did not go unnoticed by Luka, however, and his face changed into a look of worry. “Hey- you okay?”

Jared brushed his eyes with his fists and wiped off the few tears that traveled down his cheeks. He breathed deeply, trying to maintain an ounce of control, but instead found himself choking on suppressed sobs. He let out a quick, involuntary gasp, before he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

“Hey, we’ll- we’ll be okay, okay?”

He cast a smile, and Jared was almost fooled. But the way Luka’s eyes glanced away, a slight heaviness befalling on them, told him all he needed to know.

“Luka…” Jared just managed to say.

The sound of an intercom diverted the two’s attention.

“Plea- anyone… come to the courtyard.”

…

The sun had set minutes before, plunging the Courtyard into near darkness. The few lampposts that surrounded the path flickered as Luka and Jared approached the two girls, Dara leaning on a pole while Aria stood nearby, arms wrapped around herself.

“You called, Aria?” Luka asked as he and Jared came to a stop.

“I- didn’t think anyone would come.” Aria voided his gaze, her voice a near whisper.

“Well, we're here, aren't we? What do you want?”

“We wanted to see if it… was real.”

Luka played with his fingers, looking away as he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause someone would fake a death just for the giggles.”

“We’re being serious, Luka,” Dara ran her hand through her braid, “Maybe if we find the place where it happened, we can gather some information.”

“I’ll come too.”

The four looked back to see Sun walking toward them, her hands in her gray hoodie. As she neared, she greeted the group with a short raise of her hand. “I want to see it for myself.”

“Ella’s not with you?” Jared searched behind her.

“I knocked on her room door. She didn’t respond.”

Slowly, Jared gave a nod.

“Did you happen to see anyone else walking by?” Dara asked, moving off the pole to approach Sun.

“I saw another girl. About yay tall. She said she was coming soon.”

“Must be Olivia,” Aria said. “She’s the only other girl in our class. Brown-hair, right?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, then. Well, until she comes or something, here’s the plan. While you three go investigate, we’ll try to keep an eye out for Ms. Erythra so you don’t get caught,” Dara said, looking behind herself. “After all, she might get mad that we technically used the PA system without her permission. ”

“Is that why you called us? To give us the hard work?” Luka jabbed Dara with his finger. “Why don’t you do it, and we can keep an eye out since you’re so curious.”

Jared put a hand to Luka’s shoulder. “Luka, please. We can do it, don’t worry.”

“Listen to your friend, he seems to have no qualms with it. Besides, Ms. Erythra likes us the most, since, you know, we actually pay attention in her class,” Dara said, putting emphasis on the last part.

“Oh, shut up. By that logic… hey!”

A hand grabbed Luka, pulling him away from Dara.

“There’s no use fighting.”

"What do you mean there's no use fighting? I don't know what you're on but-"

"Luka." Sun let go of him, before muttering. “I just… wanna know.”

The scowl on Luka's face morphed into a small frown, his gaze lowering to the side. He paused, sighing, before looking back at her. “...Fine.”

Luka turned toward Dara. “I’ll- we- will do it, Dara.”

“Good.”

With that, Dara moved her hand as if to swat them away and, after another stare from Luka, watched as the group moved toward the Academy.

“Good luck!” Aria said with a cup of her hands. She stood up, biting her lip with a worried glance. “Do you think they’ll be okay?”

“They’re stupid, not incompetent. They should be fine. Now let’s go, I wanna see something,” Dara said, racing over to the apartment complex.

“Wait, where are you going? Shouldn’t we be-”

“They’ll be fine, let’s go.”

Aria hesitated, looking back at the Academy.

“Let’s go, Aria!”

“What are you doing, Dara…” Aria said, just under her breath, before following in pursuit.

…

“...it’s locked.”

Sun shook the handle once more but to no use. She glanced up at the building, and for a brief moment, it felt as if the school was taunting her.

“It didn’t seem to be locked when we left the art room, though…”

“Maybe that’s because you were exiting the building, Jared.”

“Sorry, sorry. But, there has to be another way in, right?” Jared said, peering around the walls of the Academy.

He looked toward Sun and then to the glass door, before meeting Luka’s gaze.

“Yeah. Maybe if we’re lucky enough the walls will open up if we say please.”

Jared scoffed as Sun cast a quick glare.

“My bad.” Luka held up his hands. “But anyway, why are you guys so hellbent on seeing a corpse?”

“Some people actually like to confront their problems, Luka,” Sun said, glancing back at him as she continued to tussle with the handle. “But, then again, at least you decided to come with us. I don’t even see Dara and Aria, so much for keeping lookout. And speaking of, how did they even make the announcement if-“

“Hey, wait, someone’s there..”

Moving past Sun, Jared pounded on the Academy door, attracting a person’s attention from the darkness. The silhouette stopped to inspect the three from beyond the door, before cautiously walking toward them through the main lobby. They flicked on the lobby lights, the chandelier above the lounge illuminating soon after, and opened the door.

“Hello there. Isn’t it past your bedtime?” The man joked as he gave a short bow. He fixed his gold glasses as they slipped off his long nose, a set of perfect teeth revealing themselves as he grinned.

“You handle the announcements don’t you?” Sun asked as she bit her lip, pointing a finger toward him. “With the megaphone? Mr…”

“Everett.” The guy smiled. “Now, what seems to be the matter for you to visit the Academy so late?”

“We… I believe I left something. Near the cafeteria.”

Mr. Everett sighed before giving a nod. “You wouldn’t be the first. A few students have already asked me- this night, might I add- to be let in as they apparently needed to make some forgotten errands. So, of course I’ll let you in, but please just make it quick. I can’t let Ms. Erythra or the principal know I’ve been letting students in after hours.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Everett.” Sun let out a breath of relief, gesturing for the guys to follow. As they walked in, she paused before asking, “Wait, did you say others? That came here tonight?”

“Yes, quite a few. There were those two girls just earlier, I’m sure you know them, Aria and Dara. They asked to make an announcement, a quite random one I must admit, but I digress. There was also another boy, asking for a midnight snack. I let him in, because the poor boy just looked so malnourished. And there was one more group… Two boys… I believe. One who seemed to desperately need a comb- to put it lightly- and another with glasses. I assume you know them?”

“That sounds a lot like Allister and his friend,” Jared said and glimpsed at Luka for reassurance. “Maybe… we could go look for them to help us?”

“I don’t see any problems with that.”

“I’m sorry, but didn’t you say you were looking for something?” Mr. Everett raised an eyebrow. “I hardly see how finding some of your friends…”

“They’re still inside, Mr. Everett, correct?” Sun said, interrupting his statement with a smile. She briefly turned her head back to the barren hallways, before bringing her attention back to him.

“Ah, yes, they are.”

“In that case, we just wanted to look for them so that we could all be in and out as soon as possible. That’s what you wanted after all, correct?”

“Ah, I-” Mr. Everett put a finger to his chin. “I suppose you are correct. Thank you for doing so.”

“Of course.”

With Mr. Everett satisfied, Sun motioned for the boys to come closer.

“We should probably split up to cover more ground. I’ll go to the left and you guys go to the right. We’ll meet back here if we find your friends or wherever the footage was taken.”

“Wait, isn’t that dangerous, though?” Jared crossed his arms. “What if someone-”

“I’ll be fine,” Sun said as she turned on her phone flashlight, her footsteps echoing away as she continued, “We just need to make it quick, we don’t have much time.”

“Sun, I really-”

“Hurry..!”

Jared could not even utter a response as Sun began her trek through the hallways, the faint glow of her flashlight dissipating steadily.

“We should go too,” Luka said as he powered on his own phone for light.

“Oh, so now you wanna be a hero.” Jared looked back down the path Sun took.

“The sooner we get this done, the better.” Luka said with a shrug. “Now c’mon.”

“We don’t even know where they are. I really-”

“If you wanna stay here that’s fine, but I’m gonna get going, Jared. I’ll see ya.”

As Luka approached a nearby hallway, a sharp tug from behind stopped him from leaving.

“Wait, I’ll- I’ll come with you.”

“You scared?”

“Shut up.”

“I’ll hold your hand if you want,” Luka said as wagged his eyebrows, reaching out his hand.

“Just shut up and let’s go…”

…