Mask: The genesis of mystery

Peculiar Text

"Oh my God" I said then I covered up mouth with my hands. I can't look. How did it happened?

I saw Lauren, she's already lifeless while her body is floating in the well.

"Help her" I shouted but nobody seems to care. "What is wrong with you people?" I said while looking at them, crying. I looked in the well again but Lauren's body is gone. What? Where is it?

Suddenly, I feel someone standing up in my back and it's so close to me, I can even feel its breath. "Give me back my life" she whispered in my ears. As I turn my back she said it again, she shouted "Give me back my life" then she pushed me unto the-

"Mei, Mei wake up we're here" Lauren said while continuously tapping my arms. I opened my eyes teary and my heart beating so fast, fast as if I was being chased by a horse.

I looked at Lauren with a scared look in my face. "What's wrong Mei" she said when she's looking on my eyes. She probably noticed that I was looking at her oddly.

"Nothing, I just dreamed on something very very- I can't explain it" I said. I breathe heavily then my heart is beating normal now. I can't explain that dream, it's so peculiar. It's so unexplainable, the fact that I saw Lauren dead, and that she's the one who pushed me in that well.

But how did I even know what it looks like inside the mountain? How did I even know that there's a well? Maybe I just made things up in my mind again. It's impossible for me to know what's inside that mountain, I've never been there.

"Everybody listen, We have arrived in our destination, Please go outside the bus properly one by one" said the teacher while she's on microphone.

I have to stop overthinking, I want to enjoy this time. "Come on Lauren" I said to Lauren then we got out of the bus.

We're currently on the outside of the bus, falling in line. A little later, the teacher started walking and said to follow her. Our class is just one of the Six class participating this camp. I'm looking forward for the activities later. We stopped by a moment and our coordinator stood up in the front and started talking.

"We're currently on the foot of the mountain, the first thing we'll do is to reach the camp site to build each of our tent. We're only doing it for 20 minutes and then we'll start to do our other activities. We only have 3 activities today and also 3 for tomorrow. If you have questions, you can ask me anytime. Is that clear?" She said then the students started shouting. They look happy as well as me.

We started walking to get to the camp site. This looks like way too different from my dream and that's a relief. It just means that I'm really just making things up in my mind.

"What did you dreamed of earlier?" Lauren asked me out of nowhere while walking. Maybe she got worried by how I looked at her earlier.

"It's kind of complicated to explain, I mean Uhm" I said while hesitating to speak about it.

"Uhm?" she said while still waiting for me to tell her. But how could I tell her that I saw her dead in my dream? How could I tell her that she pushed me in that well?

"Here's the thing, What I have dreamed on is that I woke up in the bus by myself" I said while thinking of other statements that I could say.

"That's it? And then?" she said while obviously looking forward for what I have to say.

"And then- look we're near the camp site" I said as I saw that we're about to reach the camp site. I also said that to distract her, I know she's also excited about the activities.

"Yeah, Oh wow let's go" she said while pulling me.

"Everyone, can I get your attention please. We have arrived at our camp site. Now, let us start building our tents" the coordinator said.

We searched for a good spot then we started building our tent. Lauren and I decided that we will be sharing a tent so that we'll have a chance to talk in the evening. It's quite cold in this mountain. It's only 11 am but the atmosphere is so nice. It feels so breezy.

"Oh yeah, it's done" I said as I look at Lauren. "Yeah, we built it kinda quick, we still have 5 minutes left" Lauren said while walking towards me.

*5 minutes later...

"Times up everybody, for those who haven't finished building their tents, we will give you some time to do that later but for now, let's have our first activity" said the coordinator.

Lauren and I did a high five from hearing that. Our first activity shoul be performed by group. We have to group ourselves to five members each.

"Mei, come join us" Claire said while approaching me.

"But I have to be with Lauren" I said as I looked unto Lauren.

"Uhmm okay great, we're already three so I guess with you and Lauren, that'll make us five" she said.

It's a good thing that Lauren will get to be close with them, we're classmates after all.

Our group consists of me, Lauren, Claire, Fiona, and Neil. I often talk to them at school so it will not be awkward to interact with them now.

"For our first activity, you will be finding a piece of paper with a qoute written on it. Only one paper contains that qoute and we've spread a lot of blank papers in the activity field, the team that will be the one to find the paper wins, and they get to have a reward" said the coordinator.

"Come on let's do it guys" Claire said. She's the one whom we picked to be our team leader, she's reliable.

The coordinator raised the flag, it's the alarm that the activity is starting. We started searching the field. "Found it" Neil said. We all looked at him but he said.. "I'm sorry, wrong paper, I was just kidding" then he laughed.

Claire rolled her eyes on Neil. I slightly laugh too, they're funny. Lauren said that it's better if we'll be searching at different corners so we did. I'm kinda happy that she's starting to interact with them, especially Claire. It's too rare for Claire to follow other's suggestions, especially on Lauren's case.

I started searching at this one tree, it's quite big. "Nothing in here too" I whispered as I see nothing from it. I was about to turn around but its big roots suddenly caught my attention. I seated and looked at it closer. "A paper" I murmured then I smiled when I noticed that there's something written on it . I flipped it and my smile vanished. There is something written on it but it's not some kind of a qoute. What's written on it is-

Give me back my life.