The Invisible Mystery

Chapter 11: The Arrival

“The bus will stop in thirty minutes!” We heard Evo had said those words to us, which was why we had decided to prepare ourselves, as well as our things, because it seemed like we had finally reached our destination. “Make sure that you will never leave your things behind. The bus will return in two weeks, so I suggest that you should double check everything before you go to the Lost Soul’s Forest.”

Some of us answered Evo as soon as he had finished instructing us on what we should do, but more of us just continued to check all our things, just like me. I was just trying to double check everything as I knew that the bus would not return to this place not until two weeks, or not until an emergency would come to us; though I hoped that nothing like that would happen.

I hoped that this trip, or rather should I say a school activity that was almost like a vacation, would go according to what we had on our minds, even though Ms. Madison was not around and was not able to be with us.

I can still remember the discussion that we had because of some circumstances that made Ms. Madison to not be able to come with us on this trip. I can still remember how the principal had decided to go out of the school so that they would be able to personally tell us the decision about our trip.

We feared that it would be cancelled at first, because we could not really tell the expression that they had on their faces the moment that the principal and his secretary had faced the seven of us. We feared that this trip that we had been anticipating all this time would be cancelled because there would be no teacher that would accompany us.

We feared that everything that we had planned for this trip would all go to waste, but then again, it seemed like the principal already had a suggestion for all of us in order to continue this trip, even though we had faced a problem like this in the last minutes.

“As you may all know, Ms. Madison will not be able to come with you on this trip,” I remembered that he said that to all of us while wearing a sad expression on his face. He let out a sigh as though he was contemplating if he would continue what he was about to say or not, but in the end, it seemed like he really could not tell it because I heard him say, “It is because of some circumstances that I cannot tell you.”

He looked at his secretary as though he wanted her to explain this thing further. “Actually, it is a too personal matter, that is why we cannot really tell you anything at all.” His secretary was already the one who continued what he wanted to say because it seemed like he was not able to continue his words for some reason that I did not have any idea on what it is. “We did not want to invade her privacy that is why we cannot say anything to you.”

They had this apologetic smile on their faces as though they really wanted to tell us because they knew how close we are to her, but then again, I also knew that it would never be that easy for anyone to open up something so personal.

I knew that it would never be easy to say some reasons that you really did not want them to know, that is why I just choose to nod my head at them to tell them that I understand the situation that Ms. Madison was currently facing.

It seemed like it was also the case for the other six, who were only listening to every word that they said. They also nodded their heads right after they had processed everything, and it seemed like they could also understand the reasons that they had just said. It seems like we all understand that it would never be that easy, which is why we choose to just accept that we would never be able to know the truth; at least not right now.

There was a relieved smile on the principal’s face, as if what we had done made him feel that, and it seemed like it was also the same for his secretary, because she was also smiling at all of us.

“I am really glad that all of you understood the situation...” I had already prepared myself, if ever they would tell us that this trip would never happen anymore, but it seems like they still wanted us to continue this trip even against all odds, because I had heard him say, “And I am glad to tell you that despite Ms. Madison will not be around with you, we will still allow you to go on the trip.”

We all looked at each other with an excited look on our faces because it seemed like we all thought that this would never happen any longer because there was no one to supervise us, but then again, the principal was still open to the opportunity that they had for all of us.

“But in some conditions that you needed to follow so that we will rest assured that nothing wrong will happen to any of you,” he added, which made us focus on him once again as we stood straight as though we had already anticipated this moment.

“Please, tell us these conditions that you wanted us to follow,” Evo answered him with a respectful tone in his voice, and which made all of us to nod our heads as though we had agreed to listen to whatever conditions that he had to say - and I think that we really wanted to agree as we knew that we would never have a chance again if we refuse to listen to them.

With that, the principal had explained everything that we needed to do. He explained everything that we had to remember so that they would be sure that nothing could go wrong. He explained every single detail that we had to do so that we would be safe on this trip, all alone without Ms. Madison as our guide.

“We are allowed to do whatever we want to do in the adventure park as long as we make sure that nothing bad will happen,” Evo started to explain, and all of us just nodded our heads while we were listening to every word that he was saying to all of us. “Of course, if something would really happen, then we had to explain everything to the school so that they can immediately assess the situation.”

We noted every single thing that Evo had been saying to all of us because we all knew that we needed to remember it so that we would not cause trouble to the university. I also tried to remember every word that Evo had said to all of us, because I knew that I had to follow it while we were still in this adventure park.

“We also had to inform the university of our everyday activities in this park,” he said to us once again, right after he had finished explaining the things that we should and should not do while we stay in this park. “Though the principal had said that it is not necessary anymore if we think that everything is just alright.”

We nodded our heads once again when we heard that from him, and it seemed as though our classmates did not have any questions any longer because they were just staring at Evo, as if they were just waiting for him to tell us more about it – though I could tell that it was all that he wanted to say to us because he did not speak to any of us right after that.

I could feel that he was thinking deeply about something though. But then again, I could not seem to comprehend what that ‘something’ was and I did not pry any longer because I thought that he would say it to us if ever it were somehow connected to our stay here.

I think that he would immediately explain to us if ever it had something to do with any of us, but then, he only stayed silent and I thought that it was all because he was thinking something that was too personal – something that did not mean to any of us, that was why he just resorted to keeping his silence, whilst he had that kind of expression on his face while he was in front of all of us.

I did not mean to pry at whatever he was thinking, so I just stayed as silent as I could, though I must say that it might be different from our classmates, because I heard Winter had called his name, which made him snap out of his thoughts as he focused his attention on us once again.

He even cleared his throat as though he had only realized now that he had acted so strange in front of us as of that moment – which made me frown because it seemed like this was the very first time that I had ever seen him like that. It was the very first time that I had observed that kind of strange action towards him.

He was always calm and collected. He always had that kind of smile on his face as though he wanted to light up the whole place, but now, it seemed as though he was conflicted over something that I really did not know about – and something that I did not dare to ask because I knew that it would cross the boundary that we all had set for ourselves.

And even if some of our classmates wanted to ask him what was wrong, they did not have any chance to do so any longer, because apparently, Evo had already masked up his usual expression on his face as he shook his head as though he wanted to tell us that nothing was wrong.

“That is all that the principal had said to me earlier,” he said, before he turned his back to us. “For the time we are here, I must say that we should all just enjoy our stay for as long as we can.”