Nethania

Chapter 19: Missing Souls

AVIA'S POV

"Are you looking for this?"

"Oh, crap," Austin mumbled beside me. We stiffened at the sight of a girl in a dirty uniform and with messy hair in front of us.

Geez! What the heck? In a second I felt my eyes refusing to blink. My heart raced and was pounding hard. I could feel my chest moving up and down and my breathing went deep and heavy.

The girl in the mirror, or should I say, the killer, appeared in front of us. She was in the doorway and we were more than three meters away from her. She was holding the missing page that we were looking for. She held it up in the air toward us. She was grinning and her other hand was holding a long pointy knife with blood dripping from it.

Blood? So it means she killed someone in here. We need to get out of here immediately, and of course, we have to get that missing page from her.

"She's the killer, Austin. Believe me now?" I whispered while staring at the killer without leaning close to him. I was sure he heard me.

"Yes, yes, I believe you right now," he whispered back.

The killer tilted her head sideways and heaved a sigh. "Won't you try to get it from me? I know you need this so badly," she said with a mischievous voice, a child-like voice that was obviously not hers. A grinning psycho with a sharp knife was playing with us now.

Her eyes glared deep down in our souls. None of us answered her. My mind was too occupied with in thinking a way to get away from her...with the missing page.

"Here! Take this!" she ordered. "It's in my hand now, too easy to take it from me." She shook her hand, making the paper waved and rustled.

"I'll take—"

"No, Austin, she is holding a knife." I cut off Austin's words when he whispered. We were still not moving from our spot. "She might stab you when you tried to take the missing page from her hand."

"So what should we do?" he asked.

We were at a safe enough distance that we could whisper to each other without her hearing us. Of course we didn't want her to notice it.

"Okay, I have a plan."

I subtly turned my head to him when he whispered again. My eyeballs kept looking at him and at the killer.

"What is it?" I asked, my brows furrowed. "Make sure it's foolproof," I said.

We must have a sure, firm and foolproof plan to survive this situation. We were on the perilous side. The killer was in the doorway and once she closed it, it was a fifty-fifty situation for us. If our plan failed, we were doomed for sure.

"We'll try," he replied.

We'll try? What kind of answer was that? What if our attempt didn't work? What if our attempt fails? He must have answered 'we must' at least to give us courage to fight with that killer.

"Hey, love birds!" I flinched when she shouted."Aren't you planning to take this from me? Okay, I'll just burn this with my lighter."

No! Geez! She wouldn't dare to do that!She inserted her hand into her pocket and pulled out a lighter.

"What's your plan,Austin?" I whispered in a deep tone.

"I thought you don't want it?" he answered.

I glanced at him."We don't have enough time to talk about foolishness here. Tell your plan now!"

He sighed. "Okay, you'll take some magazines behind you, but only enough for you to carry them. Then throw it directly at her face. It must be full of force that will make her distracted for awhile. I will strangle her and snatch the knife and throw it away from us, and we'll get the missing page and escape as fast as we can. Is that clear? Wait for my signal."

I nodded. "Okay, okay, geez."

My heart was pounding too hard right now that it would escape from my rib cage anytime.

Only some magazines, not too many, enough to make her distracted and especially enough for me to throw them directly at her. I gradually stepped backwards and my hand groped behind my back, grabbing some magazines and hiding them behind me.

"I'm already tired of waiting for you fellas. I'll light up to—"

"Now!"

I stepped forward and gained strength from my core and lifted my hand with full force. "Ahhh!" I shouted as I launched the magazines straight at her face. The magazines were stuck to each other. It rolled over and over while flying in the air.

The killer bent backwards as the magazines struck her face with a loud slam and bounced back, scattering in any direction. She let go of the knife along with her lighter and it fell beside her. The missing page flew in the wind and it landed on the other side.

Austin rushed to her and strangled her with his arms. He positioned himself behind the lady and placed her feet ahead of her and choked her. The killer was squirming and trying to take Austin's arms off her neck, but she couldn't take them off.

"Find the missing page now!" Austin yelled, still strangling the killer.

I dashed into the doorway and sprinted to the other side. I roamed my eyes around the area and I found all the staff were laying on the floor! But that was not my priority right now!

"Where is it! Where is it!" I mumbled. I searched downwards and arched my body to scan the place closer.I could barely breathe and my legs began shaking like jellies.

"Faster! I can't hold her anymore!" I heard Austin scream.

I suddenly jerked. My heart raced. My sweat began to stream down. My hands began to tremble. I NEED TO FIND IT NOW! Where is it?I spun around and looked around where my back was facing earlier.

My eyes widened when I found it laying under a chair and picked it up. "I found it!"

I saw Austin flash a smile, but unfortunately, the killer bent forward and forcedly bumped her head into Austin's chin and nose. He flew off and slammed his back on the floor, making a loud thud. The killer helped herself to roll sideways and grabbed the knife behind her.

I covered my gaping mouth but I couldn't bear the scene anymore. Austin was debilitated, caressing his face while crawling away from her.

I grabbed a chair and threw it to the killer when she pointed her knife to Austin's neck and was about to stab him. It struck her head, letting go of the knife, slammed her body against the wall and slumped her body right onto the floor.

I took her wasted state and dashed to Austin. He was holding his face. I held his arm and helped him stand. He could barely maintain his balance, so I had difficulty pulling him up.

"Come on! Please help yourself! We need to escape!"

"Arrghh.." he groaned. He finally held his balance and stood beside me. He placed his hand over my shoulders and held him at his waist, assisting him in walking.

I was looking ahead. I was aiming for the door. We needed to reach the door! The sight of scattered students around the office wouldn't distract us from escaping. This is our time to tell the administration that we have found the killer.

I glanced over my shoulders to check if the killer was still there. My mouth gaped and my eyes widened when I couldn't see her anywhere. Goosebumps began to crawl onto my skin and creeps began to slither down my spine.

"Austin? Austin?" I called him. He was bowing down and didn't respond. I patted his waist."Austin? Can you hear me?" But no response came to me.

My sweat was streaming even though the air conditioner had its full strength to cool down the whole place.

Oh geez! Where is she? She disappeared! We needed to get to the door as soon as possible! I smiled when we were approaching the doorway, we just needed to pass the big cabinet and then the doorknob would be in my hands.

"Escaping? No way!"

I halted and moved backwards when the killer materialized in front of us. She went out from the other side of the big cabinet.

I shuddered and kept patting Austin on his side. "Hey! Wake up! This isn't the right time to sleep, you jerk!" I bellowed.

"Arghmm..." he moaned.

Geez! I rolled my eyes. We kept moving backwards and she kept marching toward us with a long pointy knife in her hand. Her bloodshot eyes were staring at us and her lips were grinning from ear-to-ear. I saw blood right behind her forehead. I just saw the impact I made when I threw a chair at her.

"Where are you going? We're not finished yet!" she shouted and giggled until it became a shrill laugh.

This woman is critically demented!

She lifted up her hand with a knife and slashed Austin's abdomen. I gasped and I felt my body shiver. I saw his uniform ripped and blood began staining it. Due to fear and Austin's loss of control of himself, I lost my balance too, and we both fell on the floor. Austin laid on his back while holding his wound and twisting his lips in agony. I fell on my side and immediately turned over to face the killer. I bit my lower lip and began moving backwards.

She was still laughing like she won the war. "How satisfying to see the two of you suffer? This is just a warm up, love birds. Wait for the incoming misery for y'all!" she announced, and she laughed.

She picked up a chair behind the cabinet and held it over her head and smashed it against my head. I slammed my body on the floor and looked sideways. Austin was unconscious and wasn't moving.

My sight became blurry. My head was aching and I felt dizzy. It was like the place was turning around endlessly. I moved my eyes to see the killer for the last time. She swept the hair that was covering her face aside and I saw her whole face, but what the hell! That was the time when my sight dimmed and then blackened.

Before losing my consciousness. I heard an alarm ringing outside the office.

JAMSEN'S POV

DARN! What was that? I looked around the area when the fire alarms were turned on. The whole place became noisy and filled with the screeching sound of it. The students began to fill the hallways while standing in line to climb down the stairs. I was on the second floor and began to stride my way down the building. I went along with the students even though they weren't my classmates. I surveyed the campus. Since we were on the second floor, I could still see where the fire was present, but I felt something was off. No cloud of smoke was present in the air.

We reached the first floor and the teachers positioned us in the middle of the field. I held my head up to find my clique and I saw them approaching our spot. I left my group and went to them.

"Where are you from, Jamsen? You left us in the room. Where did you go?" Hannah asked, staring at me.

I pointed to the second floor. "I just went to the second floor because my friend there needed my help," I explained.

She just nodded and looked around the place. Students filled the wide area.

"Where's Vino?" Hilary asked.

"I don't know," Hannah replied, looking at her phone. "Has anyone of you saw him?"

"No," Hilary and I answered in chorus while I was shaking my head.

"Avia and Austin are also out of sight too," she added, "Where did they go?"

That was what I was wondering about earlier. During the faculty meeting, I already noticed their disappearance, since Hilary and Hannah were sleeping on their desk. They didn't recognize them. And until now, they haven't gone back.

"We'll find them later, but why did the alarms turn on?" I asked, looking at them.

Hannah cleared her throat. "Jamsen," she called out."When fire alarms went shrieking and began disturbing people, it means there's fire! Use your head!" she informed us.

Was I dumb not to know that? Of course, I was aware that when thea fire, alarms would go on to warn people about the fire.

"I do use my head, Hannah," I answered, "Because I noticed that there was no cloud of black smoke hovering in the air? Do you see it? Tell me," I said, folding my arms across my chest.

She held up her head and began turning it sideways. She looked at me and I saw embarrassment in her eyes.

"Yes, Jamsen's right," Hilary confirmed, "No smoke, so it means no fire."

Hannah rolled her eyes and looked away. "Fine! No smoke! But why the hell the alarms are still shrieking? There was no fire but a false alarm!" she exclaimed.

False alarm. Why?

"Who did this?" Hilary asked, "I wonder why he did this."

Was this a prank? Someone pulled this off for what?

"There's Vino!" Hannah announced, pointing at the guy who was running toward our spot.

"Hey! Where are you from?" Hannah approached him. He halted and panted. He wiped his sweat off his face using his handkerchief.

"I tried to find Avia and Austin, but they are not on the campus. They're missing!"

Hannah, Hilary and I eyed each other. What did he mean they were missing? Who kidn*pped them?

"This is bad," I gasped. "Have you searched everywhere?" I asked.

"Yes! I even asked the guards but they didn't see them," he replied, breathing deeply. He glanced around the area. "Why are the alarms ringing? Is there a fire?"

"Do you see the smoke?" Hannah raised her eyebrows and uttered a sarcastic phrase.

He shook his head. "No."

"Then there's none!" Hannah exclaimed.

"I felt worried about them," Hilary said, "Where could they be?"

We stayed silent. I knew everyone here w was thinking about where Avia and Austin went and why the fire alarms were turned on.

"Wait," Vino said. "Why are the students running over there?"

We nailed our gazes to the students who were gathering around and making their way to the other side of the academy.

"Let's see and know," I said.

We began walking, heading to the crowd. We reached the Publication Office and we saw the student council gathering in front of the door. Alexandra was leading them. She was holding a huge hammer and smashed the doorknob. I wondered why she smashed it yet there was a spare key for it. She lifted up the hammer again and smashed the doorknob.

I felt something strange when I looked at the Publication Office. I felt something horrible had happened.

"Did you feel it?" I glanced at Hilary, who was whispering in my ears.

"What?" I asked.

"I have a bad feeling about that place," she answered. I just shrugged my shoulders and never bothered myself to speak again.

"Hey guys! I have news for you," Vino came with widened eyes and was eager to spill the news to us.

"What?" Hannah asked.

"My friend told me that when the alarm went ringing, the staff of the Publication Office never came out. They got suspicious and tried to check the place, but the doorknob was broken from the inside so that the key could not enter and function properly. No one from the office was answering their calls, so they smashed it with a hammer. And Alexandra was pretty cool when she smashed it."

So that was the reason why they smashed the door.

Hannah stared at Vino while her hands were on her hips. "Is your news reliable, Vino?"

Vino eyed Hannah. "Of course! Why it wouldn't? Go ask my friend to validate my news."

Hannah sighed and slapped her lap. "Fine! I believe you."

They entered the office and some of the female student council officers went out with their hands covering their faces. They cried and others vomited. Darn! What happened?

I pushed myself into the crowd to see the ongoing scene. I stopped in front of the crowd. I saw male officers carrying a bloody dead body of a student. He was bathing in his own blood and fewer students around me began to scream and others gasped.

Then another set of officers went out carrying a bloody dead body too. Mumblings began to fill my ears and students who couldn't bear the scene anymore exited the group.

They continued to bring corpses from the office until a total of five dead students were lying on the floor, breathless and bloody. All of them were bloody right on their chests. I guess they were stabbed right into it. If the killer used a gun, then he probably used a silencer to lessen the noise.

Alexandra stood in front of the corpses while bending her body forward to look closely at the victims. An officer stood beside her and whispered something to her that made her stand up straight and face him.

She turned her body to face the crowd before her. "Who among you have seen Jeromy Stardes, the president of the AC Publication?" she declared.

Students just stared at each other and none of us answered her, but mumurs and mumblings were still audible.

"Jeromy is missing too?" Hilary asked, looking at Alex.

"Yes, why he went missing?" I asked, even though no one could answer my question.

Five students were murdered and three students were missing. What is happening in this academy right now? I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. Are we even safe to stay here?

"Is the false alarm connected to the murder of five students?" Hilary asked, " What do you think?"

I glanced at her only to find out that she was facing the scene in front of us. I stared back at the Publication Office.

"What do you think?" I asked. I wanted to know first what her opinion was about this.

"Yes."