The Invisible Mystery

Chapter 13: Confusion

I could not sleep that night. I could not even make myself close my eyes as thoughts started to swirl into my mind. I just stared at the ceiling of my cabin for hours because I really could not believe that something like that had happened during our dinner - or if I should call it a dinner, because I could not remember if someone had touched the food that was prepared for us or if we just left it until it got cold.

Well, I did not give any single care about the food any longer. I did not bother to even take a bite, because I literally had chills because of the call that Evo had with that supposed to be our ‘adviser,’ but there was someone else on the other line.

I wanted to ask them. I badly wanted to ask them why it felt like it was just normal for them to have a conversation like that with a certain someone. I did not have any idea who it was. I wanted to confirm something about that certain man that had called Evo’s number, whom Evo had claimed was our adviser, even though he was far from being our adviser.

My mind has been swirling with thoughts. There were a lot of questions that I did not have any idea about where I could get the answer. I had a lot to think about, and I did not know where to start. I did not know if I would be able to take it, if ever I found out the truth about that certain man whom they claimed was our adviser.

I did not know if I even processed everything that I had seen and heard at the time of our dinner. Even until now, whatever the time is, I still could not comprehend what had just happened as everything kept on replaying in my mind over and over again.

I still kept on thinking what had just happened, and I did not know what to feel about it - though I must tell that chill indeed ran into my spine the moment that I had heard those words from that man on the other line.

I remembered the words that that man had said to us, clearly, which even made me feel confused and scared at the same time. It even made me feel confused the moment that I had heard those words from him.

It was like he had been waiting for someone. It felt like he was waiting for someone to arrive at wherever he was. It even felt like he was delighted, as though he knew that we were at the Lost Soul’s Forest, which made me think of something that I knew was too absurd to be true.

Was that person here? Was that person whom Evo had introduced as our adviser had been waiting for someone to arrive in the Lost Soul’s Forest? Was that really the case, which was why he had that kind of joyful tone in his voice as soon as he had confirmed that it was indeed us that he was talking to?

It made me feel even more confused as I looked around the place once again. I even counted the people, the students to be exact, inside the room, and I knew that I was not wrong, that we were seven and not six, unlike what the man behind that phone call had said.

I wanted to think that he might have gotten the wrong number. I badly wanted to think like that kind of way, but then again, I remembered the excited look on my classmates’ faces when they had heard his voice. I remember how suddenly they all smiled as though they had been waiting for that man for a very long time.

It was the first thing, if someone should ask me. It was the first time that I had ever seen that kind of look on their faces, as though they had been waiting for this all this time. It was as though the person that I had come to know, and I claimed to be close to, was someone else, because even Thunder and Storm, the twins who were known as the coldest people inside the class, had this kind of look on their faces, as though they were joyful to hear his voice - whoever that person is.

I could all see the excited expressions on their faces, but I could not bring myself to do the same because I was so confused and my heart was racing for some reason, a not-so pleasant reason, to be exact.

I did not want to ruin their moods. I never liked the idea that I would be the one that would cause disappointments around them, but then again, something was really bothering me - and that something was because of that call that Evo had received.

“Wait up,” I told them, as I could not take it any longer.

I had to cure this curiosity inside of me. I had to do something about it, and I knew that I would just be able to do that once I had asked them one of the many questions that I had on my mind - and if they would really answer it, truthfully, because somehow, it felt like they would hide the truth from me. For some reason, I could not help but to think that they would never tell the truth to me.

I think that they would do something to change the topic. I think that they would try their very best to make me avoid the questions that they did not want to answer. I think that they would do everything that they could so that they could just keep the truth from me.

Do not get me wrong, all right? I just thought that they would never let that truth come to light that easily. I did not think that they would really tell me anything at all, and as of that moment, it seemed like they were confirming what I had assumed because of how they looked at me as though they were afraid of something that I was about to ask.

“Is there something wrong, Liana?” Evo asked, a concerned look was evident on his face as though he was worried about me – as though he did not know why I was being like this… as though he did not have any slightest idea as to why I was suddenly acting like this way.

I took a deep breath first, as if I was preparing myself to ask him what the heck was happening – from asking him whom the heck he was talking to earlier, because I am sure that it was not Ms. Madison.

It was clearly a man, after all. His voice was far too different from that gentle tone that Ms. Madison had always been using to all of us. I knew that he was someone else, but then again, I did not have any idea who it was and what he had planned to do.

I did not have any idea what his identity was, but I can assure that he was someone that was close to my classmates. I can be assured that he was someone connected to them, though I really did not have any idea as to how he became connected to all of them – as to how it seemed like he was so close to all of them.

“Whom are you talking to?”

I did not bother to hide the confusion in my voice anymore. I did not bother to hide the fact that it clearly confused me as to who that person was, and what his goals were, because it seemed like he had been waiting for all of them to come into this park.

I saw how he became startled because of my question, as though he did not know how to answer that – as though he did not have any idea what he needed to reply to him. I even saw how conflicted the looks of our other classmates were, as though they also did not know how to respond to what I had just asked Evo – as though they knew that I would also ask them if Evo would refuse to answer me.

“It is not someone important.”

Evo had looked away from me once he had said those words, which made me feel irritated because I knew that it was only a failed attempt, so that I would not ask about that person anymore. I knew that it was only his attempt to remove the suspicion that I had been feeling, but it resulted in the opposite.

It made me feel even more confused because I was already sure that he was indeed keeping something from me. I was already a hundred percent sure that they did not want me to know something about that person they were talking to that night.

“Are you going to act like you really did not know that person?” I asked him, and I could not help but to give the other people inside of that place a questioning look, which made them look away, but it did not stop me to say, “What about you, guys? Are you going to keep the identity of that man a secret from me?”

I saw that they could not look in my direction, as though they were afraid that I was about to find out what they had been keeping from me. It was as though they all knew that they would not be able to keep this a secret as soon as they looked in my direction.

“Who is that person?” I asked them once again, but still, they kept their mouths shut as though they had already vowed that they would not say anything to me. “What is his connection to you, guys?”

I looked all around the place once again, but they still could not look at me and they kept on avoiding my gaze. They did not want to say anything, and it was all too evident in the way they kept their eyes away from me.

“And why did you call him ‘adviser’ even though it was clearly not our adviser?”

I kept on asking them questions, but they still did not answer any single thing at all. They did not speak any single word as they looked away from me once again. They did not give me the truth that I wanted to know, even though I kept on asking them over and over again about that man.

Up until now that I have been staying inside of my room, I still could not help but to think about what had happened that night. I still could not help but to feel something heavy inside of my heart because I never thought that they would keep something like this from me.

It felt like I knew that I needed to know something about that man, but they did not say anything to me. They kept on avoiding me, and I did not know what I should do so that I would be able to know every single thing that I wanted to know about that man – I did not know what I should say so that they would be able to tell me the truth.

After all, it seemed as though they were really determined to keep it a secret. They were determined not to say anything to me at all, because, until we had decided to part ways that night, they still kept their mouths shut.

They did not explain anything to me at all and I was left thinking about what had happened over and over again.