Two Faced

A Key to the Unknown

Reign’s Spirit left his body before he can even react. He let out a tiny scream.

“Shhh. Don’t make any noise.” That person spoke while covering Reign’s mouth with both his hands.

Then that person quickly grabbed Reign’s arm and pulled him towards the dark corner of that Corridor.

The Janitor then walked in front of them, with the noise coming from the trolley his pulling added to the eerie atmosphere.

He stopped for a moment, scanned the place.

The two hold their breaths, as they know that getting busted means detention.

Then, the Janitor left.

They both gasped for air, took deep breaths to fill their lungs.

Reign relaxed his whole body, then he suddenly remembered,

“Who are you?” He asked.

He kept his distance and stared at him waiting for a response.

“Danrae, I’m from your class dude.”

Danrae, after introducing himself, took a peek around making sure no one is around.

“Let’s go.” He said looking at Reign.

Before he can even take a single step, Reign grabbed his arm.

“Let’s go where?” He asked confused.

Danrae looked straight at Reign, then he smirked.

What’s he all about? Reign asked himself.

“Come on, I know you came here for a single reason, to investigate right?”

Everything went silent for a moment.

“Investigate what?”

“The murder.

Reign looked at Danrae, thoroughly.

An ally or a nuisance?

“Do you know who did it?” Reign asked.

“No, I came here to investigate, remember?”

Reign’s brain slowly processed what is happening. He then slowly accept Danrae as a company that the night.

“Let’s head to our classroom. Maybe we can find something important there.” Danrae suggested.

The two of them went silently to their classroom, with eyes behind their back, they made sure no one followed them.

After arriving, yellow tapes was still attached around their room. The stench of blood was still there, left an ever lasting impression.

Danrae took the first step beyond the yellow tapes, Reign followed shortly after.

“It was here.” Danrae spoke with a serious tone, pointing his flashlight towards the ceiling where Jhane was found.

They looked around trying to search for hints. Maybe the culprit left quickly, maybe there are evidences left.

“Something’s odd, isn’t?”

“What?” Reign replied.

“The ceiling can’t be accessed unless it’s forced to be open, in short breaking it. So how did the culprit hid Jhane’s body inside?”

He's right.

After some time thinking, Reign grabbed a chair, then placed it under the broken ceiling.

The smell and the sight was unmanageable, but Reign still continued, with his fingers clipped on his nose he took a peek inside the broken ceiling. Where Jhane body was placed.

After seeing what’s inside he laughed, shortly.

“What did you found?” Danrae asked curiously.

But Reign seem unbothered, amused by what he found.

With curiosity filling up his brain, he pulled Reign down gently out of the chair.

He also took a peek inside. After a second, Danrae instantly caught up on what’s Reign was thinking.

“From the air vent huh.” Danrae said.

Another piece was acquired.

“Where’s the Air Vent’s entrance?” Danrae asked.

Danrae sat down, closed his eyes. Drew a map on his heads, tracking where the air vents entrance is located.

With his imagination he went around the whole campus in an instant.

“What are you doing?” Reign asked.

“Shhh. Quite, I’m trying to focus. I’m trying to find where can someone enter an air vent. Think Danrae, If I were an air vent where would my entrance be? Cafeteria? No, no that’s too obvious. Maybe the Science lab.”

Reign stopped and looked directly at Danrae’s face.

“Don’t bother me right now. I’m mentally walking every room inside the campus, where air vents might be connected to.”

“Danrae” Reign interrupted.

“Okay, what now? I’m trying to solve this case man.” Danrae opened his eyes, and he looked pissed.

“Are you serious right now? You do know air vents are literally connected in every room right? That’s how ventilation works. The entrance could be anywhere.”

“…Wait, what?” Danrae looked at Reign thinking if his serious or not.

“They’re vents, Danrae. The whole point is airflow. They don’t need a grand entrance. You could crawl in from any maintenance room or utility closet. Or, you know, the ceiling in this room.” Reign spoke while pinching the bridge of his nose trying to calm his nerves.

“Oh, okay. You know for sure ri-”

“Yes, I know.” Reign respond, didn’t even let Danrae finished his sentence.

They began to search for the other air vent inside their classroom separately.

Danrae whistled, giving a sign that he found it.

Reign quickly went into Danrae’s location, and found the air vent located behind the books cabinet.

They both looked closely, and sighed.

It needed an oddly designed key to unscrew the bolt and open the vents.

“Glad to see all that map-drawing in your head paid off. Really cutting-edge detective work.” Reign said sarcastically.

“Well, excuse me for using my imagination to think, it’s called a strategy."

“It’s called wasting time.”

After the two argued, they heard a noise from not far, it’s a familiar noise.

The two went silent.

As the noise was nearing, they figured it was coming from a trolley.

The Janitor is still here? Reign asked.

While the Janitor was walking outside their classroom, a certain sound caught Reign’s attention.

The sound coming from the keys, hitting each other.

Then an idea popped into Reign’s head.

“The Janitor is holding the keys…..maybe, also the one that can open the air vents.”

“You’re right.”

After waiting for a while, they couldn’t hear the noise coming from the Janitor anymore.

“Let’s follow him, maybe we can find where he hide his keys.” Danrae suggested.

They both went out, looking at the opposite sides of the hall, trying to figure out what direction did the Janitor go.

“You go that way, I go this way.” Reign said.

Danrae nodded as a response, then they both went separate ways quickly but in silence.

After some time, they went back to their classroom as agreed.

“I saw him went inside the bathroom, his been there for a long time now.” Danrae said.

Reign felt uneasy, “Let’s go, take the lead.”

Reign had followed Danrae’s footprints smeared along the hallway tiles, leading to the bathroom door now creaking open before them.

Danrae hesitated at the entrance, his usual bravado replaced by unease.

“Open the door.” Reign shoved Danrae silently.

Danrae stumbled in. His eyes scanned the whole room— and he suddenly froze. There, slumped against a wall, was a body.

The man was motionless, his face pale and rigid, eyes wide with a lifeless stare. His head hung at an unnatural angle, and oddly shining but still visible from afar, was a key, stuck on the right side of his neck.

Reign brushed past Danrae and crouched by the body, his face set in a mask of cold concentration. He inspected the key.

“Damn, I think this key, is the key for the air vents.”

“He killed a guy over a key? A damn key?” Danrae hovering a few steps away, pacing nervously.

“Danrae, Focus.”

Danrae stood still but continued muttering under his breath.

Reign leaned closer to the body. “If he wants the key, why left it? No, it’s not about the key, he wanted to make a point out of this guy. He wanted to tell us that his always watching , that his always near.”

“What now?” Danrae asked nervously while biting his thumb.

“Let’s go home.”

“And leave the body? No!"

“If the culprit was the same, then the body should be gone tomorrow.” Reign answered firmly.

Danrae agreed