Nethania

Chapter 24: Unknown

UNKNOWN

SILENCE enveloped the whole area. The moon was quite busy, for he did not come to face us. I heard the wind rustled, giving us chills and making the leaves sway along with it. The sounds audible outside are made by several insects.

I breathe deeply. I was staring into the dark since the light posts were so far from our location. I donned my hood and rubbed my palms together to produce heat and placed it on my face, closing my eyes when I felt a warm touch. It was cold and seemed like I was standing in front of a refrigerator.

The academy was turning into a graveyard, and sooner or later, we would fulfill her only wish. To get her revenge and to avenge her. We planned this out and we will make sure that this will end good and satisfyingly bloody.

"Why in here?" a girl approaching my spot grudgingly complained. Her foot was crashing dried leaves on the ground while heading to my spot. I was leaning against the post and enjoying my stay in the dilapidated and abandoned place.

"Why?" I asked, turning my neck toward her. "Isn't this the perfect place to talk about business?" I joked, but my tone was serious.

"Perfect place?" she scoffed. "Someone died here and it seems this place is the lair of starving mosquitoes!" she hissed. I heard a chair creaking when she probably sat on it.

I nodded. "Yah, this is the place where no one would ever dare to go at midnight. I want a private and safe place for us, Meg, so that no one can see us," I replied.

She sighed. "I know, but why here? There are other abandoned classrooms in this academy. Aren't the mosquitoes enjoying your blood?" she asked. I heard a crispy slap from her spot.

"No, I'm fine here."

No mosquitoes would dare bite me because I was wearing a black hoodie and a thick pants.

"Too dark in here, Dev, I can't even see you. Where are you?" she asked while the chair was creaking.

"I'm standing and leaning against the wall beside the door. Where are you?"

"Sitting on a chair, I guess in front of the blackboard. Why can't we open our lights—"

"No, don't do that," I cut her off. "You know what time is it? Someone might notice us here," I said, turning to her side.

"It's 12 midnight and it is your pretty idea to have a meeting in an abandoned, smelly and dark room," she complained, "What was that!" she exclaimed when we heard the chairs' legs screeching on the floor somewhere in the room.

"There are probably rats roaming around the place," I guessed. I clicked my tongue and rubbed my neck. "You know its purpose, don't you? By the way, you're good at killing people. You played very nicely and neatly," I complimented, smiling.

"Yeah," she giggled. "Even though I am the one who will get killed because of what I'm doing. Blood is killing me, okay, yet you want me to kill you in a brutal way," she replied.

I leaned my head against the wall and stared at the void above, smelling the cold air. "That's how the show is displayed, Meg. You have to do something, even if you don't want to do it. In that way, we can achieve what we want."

"And you're good at killing, huh."

I sneered. "Yeah, we're good at hiding our bloody hands. No one suspects us and it's good."

"So what's next?"

I pinched my nose when I felt it itchy. "Just kill people who are in the list and leave quotes after killing them. We will continue this until we kill the one who caused all of her miseries," I said, spatting the last sentence like a poison.

That one person who made her life messy and unbearable.

Meg laughed in a low voice. "They say, save the best for last."

"Uh-huh, that's right," I nodded.

"Remember you said that you'd kill them one by one? But it turned out that I killed them one by one instead of you doing it," she recalled.

A hustling cold wind slapped us with chills.

"Because this is your time to shine, Meg. I have many things to deal with and there will be some changes to come soon. But for now, you're the killer and I am the audience, so just do your best."

"So what's the real reason we meet up here?"

"Oh, about that. I want to tell you that the magazine you just burned wasn't alone, Meg."

She gasped. "What do you mean?" she inquired. "It's the original copy and there's no more of it," she added.

I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "Nope, it isn't. Someone grabbed a copy and hid it. Once they know the other information there, the truth will come out and can end our mission badly. You know she's out of reality, right?"

"Yeah, I know that. But I thought I destroyed it, totally," she uttered unbelievably. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

I sighed. "I thought that it was the only one ever produced, but beyond our knowledge, there's one which is out of our reach."

The chair creaked, and she probably stood up. "Where did you know it?" she asked. Her footsteps were making a thumping noise on the floor.

"From a reliable source of mine," I answered.

"Gosh," she breathed. "Gotta find it soon. But what if we can't find the other copy?"

I stood up straight and faced the direction where I could hear her voice. "It's a game over for us if she was gone from being out of reality because of that f*****g copy. I'm enjoying doing this and we haven't got our utmost revenge yet that we can ever have."

"I got it," she heaved a long sigh. "Let's just hope that, that magazine is hidden somewhere and no one can find it."

"Yeah." I nodded. "But I was sure no one would pay attention to it if ever they found it."

"You're wrong," she said, as her footsteps began to sound continuously on the floor. "Someone is interested in it."

"Is it Avia?"

"Yes."

I chuckled and looked below. "She already knew it was burned and gone forever. You me told about it, you even burned it in front of her. Only us knew about this existing copy of that magazine."

"And I see a threat too," she added.

"Ah, yeah." I nodded, pointing my finger at her when I didn't know where she was standing. "You told me about it last night. That is the other thing we need to look out for."

I heard her yawn. "Is that all you want to tell me? I want to continue my good night's sleep," she mumbled.

"Yes, only the magazine. You know, we can't meet up like this always, right? And we shouldn't have any conversations recorded on our phones. If ever there is one, it must be terminated. Remember this is our independent choice. We just helped each other, but a promise is a promise, okay?"

"Okay, I'll keep it," she answered.

"Good."

"Bye. See you tomorrow," she bade farewell, and her footsteps were thumping on the floor, heading to the door. I felt her presence pass in front of me, and leaves began to c***k and rustle on the ground while I was getting away from the abandoned room.

I shook my head and massaged my right temple. She was walking too loud and someone might notice her. Rustling leaves could ruin our mission and I didn't want to think that only leaves would bring us to our failure.

Don't think about it, Dev. We won't be caught. We could make this. I marched my way out of the room and walked cautiously along my dark path.