A phone flashlight gleamed through the dark hallway, scanning various room doors as it ventured further into the school. Stopping at a four-way intersection, the pale glow sweeped back and forth, and the student controlling it, a boy with glasses, looked back at the boy behind him.

“You know,” Felix said, narrow eyes fixed into a glare, “This would be a lot easier if you would just walk by yourself.”

He raised up their intertwined hands.

Allister, meanwhile, ignored the statement, using his other hand to tug on his navy-blue drawstring hoodie. “It’s so hot.”

“It’s night. And we’re inside.”

“Still…”

“Well, maybe if you took off your hoodie and ten other layers…”

“That’s a lot of work.”

Felix just sighed once again, gazing back down at his phone. A measly ten percent was left on the phone battery, and the boy wondered if they would even find what they were looking for before their only flashlight died.

“Do you seriously have no charge on yours?” Felix asked, using his chin to point toward the other’s pocket. With a pointed glare, Allister took out his phone, tapping it and facing it toward Felix.

“See. Won’t turn on.”

“Maybe if you weren’t on it all day…”

“You sound like my mom.”

“Whatever. You sure didn’t see anything I could’ve missed?”

“I saw nothing,” Allister said and flicked a strand of his hair away. “Can we just try again in the morning?”

“Just five more minutes.”

“Lix-”

“It won’t take long, my battery's almost dead anyway.” Felix shook his phone for emphasis. “So just a bit longer, please?”

Allister’s expression froze for a brief moment, before he turned away and clicked his tongue. The reluctant nod, however, did not go unnoticed as Felix smiled.

“Thanks.”

“Hey, over there.”

Allister motioned to the beam of light to the left of them, the sounds of a conversation just audible.

“-told you, nothing’s here…”

“We’ll find something, Luka.” A gentle voice echoed as the two students approached the intersection. As they turned the corner, the speaker stopped in his tracks, gaze widening as he noticed the two boys ahead of him. “Hey, uh, Allister!”

Allister bowed his head in recognition.

“Hey, are you guys looking for the- you know- the room too?” Luka asked, hands sliding into his pocket.

“I am. He, however…” Felix said, yanking Allister forward, though held his tongue from there.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Luka pointed at the boy hesitantly. “You’re… Felix, right?”

“That’s me.”

“Have you found anything yet?”

“We’d be there if we were, wouldn’t we?”

“Sorry, my bad…” Luka said, biting his lip. “Do you think it’s even here in the first place?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it could be somewhere else, couldn’t it?”

“Where else could it be?” Jared said, crossing his arms. “This is the only building in the area besides the dorms, and I don’t think it’d be there.”

“That building on the cliffs. It could be there too. Luka turned his head toward the building’s general vicinity. “When they took Victoria, they seemed to be going in that direction anyway.”

“You- you may be on to something...” Felix adjusted his round glasses back into place. “We should check it out, Allister.”

Allister let go of Felix’s hand and sighed. “I’m tired, Felix. Can’t we do this tomorrow..?”

To this statement, Felix frowned.

“Fine, go back. But when you get murdered in the morning, because you decided to go to your room alone, don’t blame me.”

“Lix…”

As Felix walked away, he heard Allister click his tongue once more, before the reluctant echo of footsteps followed him.

…

Moonlight shone down onto pruned palm trees, casting vague shadows on the white, sandy beach. A stone-path led to thick foliage ahead, towering trees obscuring parts of the rocky cliffs that held the dome-like building. A wooden bridge lay between a hollow brook as ocean waves crashed nearby, funneling into a small stream through the gap.

“The building doesn’t seem too far away,” Felix said, floorboards creaking as the two stepped on the bridge. “We’ll be out before you know it.”

“Sure.” Allister gave a yawn. ”Sure…”

As they made it through the end of the bridge, they noticed the path had disappeared, replaced by wild grass and ferns.

“Oh no. Guess we gotta head back.” Allister turned on his heel, about to make a break for it, before he felt himself being pulled back by his hood.

“Not so fast.”

“Screw you…”

Allister regained his footing as Felix let go, crossing his arms around himself.

“I mean, if you want to go back alone you can. Sure, we’re all being murdered and it’d probably be best to stick together, but if you want-”

“Shush.”

Not saying a word more, Allister rubbed the side of his neck.

“You okay?”

“What do you think?”

“I was just asking,” Felix said, pushing away a branch that dangled in their way. He looked up to see the dome building hanging just above them now, before continuing his sentence absent-mindedly. “You keep touching your neck like it hurts.”

“It does hurt. Probably from all this walking.”

“Your neck can’t hurt from walking, that’s silly. You probably-“

Felix stopped mid-sentence as he came face to face with the cliffedge. Behind him, Allister stood on his tiptoes, trying to peer above the taller boy.

A metal frame was engraved into the cliff-face, what seemed to be a keypad located right next to it. The keypad settled on top of a small podium, a blue light emanating from a narrow slot.

“What… do you think that is.”

“Looks like a door.”

“No, that’s-” Felix said with a pause. “I meant, how are we gonna get it to open?”

As Allister sighed, about to point at the obvious mechanism sticking up from the ground, Felix continued, “I mean, how are we gonna get the keycard required for it to open?”

“We could steal it…”

“You code, don’t you? Do something about this.”

Allister stared at Felix, blankly. When the latter said nothing more, Allister scoffed. “Are you being serious?”

Felix nodded.

“You’re actually an idiot. I do robots, not whatever this thing is. And, I’d need at least a computer and cord for that stuff.”

“Could you at least examine it or something?”

After stalling with a small glare, Allister approached the stand and inspected the top of it. A few moments passed before he returned back to Felix and gave a small shrug.

“It… glows?”

“Wow, no way.”

“I don’t know what to tell you…” Allister said, his voice sounding on the verge of peaking. He rubbed his eyes once more, and Felix seemed to let up.

“We should head-”

A crackling noise resounded through the forest and hidden lights sprung to life on the cliffside and surrounding grasses. The single light inside the dome-building flickered on soon after, the silhouette of a person appearing on one of the windows.

“We should definitely head back now,” Felix said and grabbed Allister’s hand. Fumbling back through the forest, the two looked back to see the silhouette slowly disappear and the dome-building plunge back into darkness.

…

“Do you think they’ll find it?”

Mr. Everett stood behind the wooden desk and waited for a response, pushing his glasses into place. The empty chamber of a room just echoed his sentiment, until falling into silence.

“I believe in them,” the figure said, spinning their chair to face the man. “You know I’d only choose the most competent of students.”

“Their plan was quite literally to split up. After, mind you, they saw their own classmate murdered in cold blood.”

“To be fair, they at least came up with a plan,” Ms. Erythra said, leaning near a corner of shrouded darkness. Her heels clicked against the marble as she approached the two. “Besides, it gives us different perspectives to watch if one side gets a little dull.”

She signaled over to the monitor. From where the figure sat, the computer displayed footage of the Academy, dorm-building, and areas of the island. Hand on his mouse, he selected one video in particular, labeled Hallway 11.

“Let’s see how the others are doing, eh?”

…