“...Another dead end.”

A white wall stood ahead as the two turned their heads down the corridor behind them, a few doors left slightly opened from their search. They were back on the first floor by now, their exploration on the second and third proving fruitless.

“This is, like, the twentieth hallway we’ve checked, dude.” Luka said with a sigh, “And all of the rooms are basically empty. I think we should just stop before Mr. Everett finds us.”

“One last one. Please?”

“Allister and Felix are already looking around, aren’t they? And there’s Sun too so-”

“Wait… oh my god. Sun.”

Jared in the direction of the lobby. “She told us to meet up back there. We have to go back.”

“Jared, wait-“

But before Luka could even utter his thought, Jared was already halfway down the hallway, the sounds of his footsteps growing fainter as he ran toward the lobby.

“We haven’t even seen her this entire time…” Luka said, his voice nearing a whisper. He frowned, putting his hands in his pocket, before following after him in small steps.

…

Complete darkness shrouded the lobby as Jared entered, shining his flashlight around the area. Mr. Everett and Sun were nowhere to be found, and Jared stopped in his tracks, crossing his arms.

“I guess they’re not here… Do you wanna-“

Jared turned around to see that Luka too had disappeared without a trace.

“Luka?” Jared shouted down the hallway and leaned to look down the hallway. He sighed when he was greeted with no response.

“Damn it, Luka.”

His eyes met the hallway where Sun had last gone through. He hesitated for just a moment, before deciding to travel down it himself.

This should lead to the cafeteria, if I remember correctly…

Jared ran his hand over the Academy walls as he went down the empty corridor. His footsteps echoed against the tiled floors, a piercing silence rising whenever he would stop to look around. However, as Jared neared the cafeteria, the rummaging of a plastic bag fell just into earshot, and he paused to listen closer.

“Hello?”

No answer.

He figured he should have known better. In spite of this, Jared found himself cupping his hands together before saying once more, “Hello?”

The rustling of the bag seemed to stop, followed by an incoherent voice. Jared jogged closer to the cafeteria, reaching an intersection, and peered over the corner.

A beige-skinned boy with drooping brown hair sat on a steel bench, just next to the cafeteria. He held a bag of chips in his hand, and the boy raised a bushy brow as they stood up, waving with their free hand.

“Uh, hello.” Jared greeted back with a raised hand. “Whatcha doing here…”

The boy held up his bag of chips, not bothering to make eye contact. “Eating.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.” The boy shrugged before standing up. “Who are you?”

“I’m Jared. And you?”

“Ryan.”

The boy fell silent, before grabbing another chip out of the bag.

“Have you seen a girl wandering around here?” Jared said, remembering his prior goal. “Gray hoodie with brown hair?”

Ryan shook his head. He blinked and his face scrunched as if recalling something. “I saw this guy though.”

“Guy?”

“Yeah, they were looking in the kitchen. For…. something. I couldn’t really see them

though…”

“Wait, the kitchen? How’d you get to the kitchen?”

Ryan motioned for Jared to come closer, pointing toward the cafeteria. He signaled toward a door Jared had never noticed before, slightly ajar with a glimmer of light peeking through the small opening. “I was looking for snacks in the cafeteria and I saw that door was open. When I went in, I heard someone going through the drawers, but they left before I could see them.”

Jared nodded his head. He looked away for just a second before asking, “Could… you come with me for a second. I wanna check for something.”

Ryan responded with a nod back and gestured for him to follow.

…

The kitchen was nothing out of the ordinary. Counter tables were set up in the middle, the typical appliances placed on the sides of the wall. The area itself was oddly messy, a variety of kitchen supplies scattered around the surfaces, and a few of the counter drawers were drawn out of their slots.

“They went out through there.” Ryan pointed and shone his phone flashlight to another door near the corner of the right wall. “If that’s what you wanted to know.”

“Ah, no. I’m just… looking for something.”

Jared scanned over the room, noting the knife block situated in the corner of the room. He approached it before turning around to Ryan. “Why is there a knife missing?”

Ryan simply gave a shrug in response. “Probably got misplaced, I guess? Don’t worry about it.”

This response prompted the smallest of glares from Jared, who held his tongue back as he examined the room closer. Aside from the clutter, however, there seemed to be nothing else that piqued his interest or could have hinted toward a secret room. He turned toward Ryan, who shot his head up in response.

“You find what you're looking for?”

“No- no.” Jared said, glancing back one more time. “But, er- thank you for showing me around. I appreciate it.”

Ryan smiled before directing his sight toward the kitchen exit. “Imma head back soon. Will you be coming with me?”

“Ah.” Jared hesitated as he bit his lip. A frown crossed his face before he bowed his head apologetically. “No, sorry. I’m still looking for my friends.”

Ryan nodded.

“Right… I guess I’ll see you later then.”

With another nod, Ryan gave a small wave and walked out the door. Jared bit back a plea to stay as Ryan fell out of sight, a sinking feeling welling up in his gut.

…Something felt off.

Jared swore he felt something looming over him, just over his shoulder. The cold atmosphere did not help the chills that traveled through his body and the utter silence resembled too much like that dead-silent classroom of just hours prior. And Jared could not shake that unnerving feeling that just beyond these walls…

Someone was watching.

Jared wandered out of the cafeteria and back toward the main hallway. He glanced around, looking for any signs of someone lurking just out of sight, but found nothing. The deafening silence filled the air again as Jared let out a sigh, arms hugging himself.

There had to be something.

In gut instinct, he looked up toward the corner of a wall.

A rectangular security camera was positioned overhead, gaze unmoving. On it, a red circle blinked every-so-often as if having a pulse of its own.

Jared’s heart beat into his chest as he watched the camera stare right at him. Almost waiting for something. Anything.

He wondered if someone was watching on the other side.

A familiar voice, however, brought him out of his thoughts.

“Jared.” The voice rang out, relieved. “There you are.”

Sun smiled as she approached, Luka trailing right behind her.

“I think… we found it.”

...