Nethania

Chapter 15: The Trail

AUSTIN'S POV

I STOOD, grabbed my bag and carried it on my back. When I looked around, our classmates were exiting the classroom. I saw Avia and her friends gathering around in the corner. They were happy while talking with each other and they began walking and passed us by.

"Guys, we have to spend our vacant time in the library to answer our assignments," Avia said while striding to the door.

I followed them with my gaze until they disappeared from my sight.

Nico touched my arm. "Hmm?" I turned to him. He was looking around the classroom.

"I hope this will be our permanent classroom. I don't want to go back to our old classroom where Tyrone died," he said, still roaming his eyes around.

Yeah, this wasn't our classroom. We just borrowed this from the Grade seven class. They had their field trip for three days, and we could use this classroom until they came back. Our room was still under investigation and I hoped it would be finished after three days. Like Nico, I wouldn't want to go back there, but it's our classroom and we have to go back there no matter what.

"Even though we wanted not to go back there, we should. This classroom is in use and we can't stay here any longer. We are temporarily using this. Thanks to their field trip," I replied.

I glanced at Alexandra. I thought of approaching her, but she was talking to someone, so I'll wait for them to finish their discussion.

I settled beside the doorway and leaned against the wall. Nico followed me and sat on a nearby chair.

Things happening in this school are getting weirder and shocking. The killings of Margaret and Tyrone were a mystery, and the letters sent to us seemed to send warnings and threats to the rest of the students, even though only us could read those letters, but the murders were a clear show that the killer was passionate and determined to do what he wanted.

"Alex, I wanted to ask you something," I approached her when she walked in front of me.

"Yah sure, what's that all about?" she nodded.

She is the head student, so she probably knew about the case of Tyrone.

"Do you have knowledge about Tyrone's case? If it is progressing or not?"

"Uhm... As of now, the administration is still silent about this matter. Ms. Nichole hasn't contacted me yet about this case or how the progress is going. Why?"

"I wanted to know what the findings of the Campus Police. But thanks for the info. Maybe you can tell me if you already have the data?"

She stared at me and looked sideways before nodding her head. "I'll try, bye," she said, waving her hand to me.

She went out of the classroom with Nathalie. Nico looked at me with squinted eyes. "Are you planning to join the investigation?" he asked.

I shook my head and chuckled. "No, I want to make my own deduction and investigation. I wanted to know the reason behind this. Is there any problem with that?"

"No. But what you're doing is risky. Leave it to the authorities," he replied, playing a pen in his hands.

We went out of the room and began striding along the hallway.

"What if the authorities failed? Who will continue the investigation?" I asked.

"I don't know," Nico sighed. "Investigating isn't my cup of tea, Tin. And remember, you're a student here, not an investigator; do you think they will believe you if you present your deductions? I don't think so," he glanced at me.

"Would I tell them?" My brows raised. "Of course not. This is my own investigation and I just wanted to find out. This thing was piquing my curiosity."

"Hey, curiosity killed the cat, Tin."

"But satisfaction brought it back, Nic."

"Tin, I'm warning you that what you're about to do is dangerous," he uttered and stopped in front of me. "You might get into trouble, before you can even contribute to the case."

I sighed. "Fine fine, I'll stop."

"So where shall we go?"

"Probably at the cafeteria."

We were walking along the pavement across the open field. The sun's rays were quite scorching and we needed to move our feet quickly. My hand was above my forehead, blocking the sunlight from directly hitting my eyes. I heaved a heavy sigh. The hotness of the place was getting inside my system, making my body tired as we were walking down.

I unconsciously glanced at the third floor of the main building where our original classroom was located. My pace slowed down when I recognized a familiar figure leaning against the railing and staring directly down at us.

I moved my body to face the main building. My eyes couldn't move away from her. Her messy and unkempt hair and her dingy appearance reminded me of a girl I saw in the mirror. I squinted my eyes toward her and no doubt, she was the girl who kept haunting us.

Only the half of her face could be seen and her right eye was sharply staring at me. Her lips began to rise until the edge was pointing upwards, and she grinned like a serial killer who was staring at her next victim.

I moved my feet backwards as creeps began to slither onto my skin. I saw her hand move slowly as she lifted it. I gasped when I saw her holding a long, pointed knife aimed straight at me. The sunlight reflected in the knife's blade and I really saw its blade gleaming under the sun.

She moved her hand backwards and, in a glimpse, she launched the knife straight at me. I couldn't even see it because of its great speed.

I flinched and my body stiffened. My heart pounded hard and constricted, restraining the flow of air to my lungs. I was hardly breathing. I was unable to feel anything but stinging pain when the knife penetrated through my neck. I saw blood squirting out from my veins and staining my face and body.

I stared at her while grinning. She lifted up her finger and gradually pulled her hair aside, revealing her half face.

Oh, crap, everything went black.

"Austin Vince!" My senses came back when Nico slapped my face. His eyebrows were knitting and his lips were twisted in curiosity.

"Crap!" I gasped. My hands rushed to my neck and touched it.

No knife. There was no blood squirting.

I fixed my gaze on the third floor of the main building.

She's gone, but did she really appear?

"What happened to you, Dude? You're staring at that building for a couple of minutes like you saw a ghost! You're weird sometimes. Let's go. It's getting hot."

Ghost? Am I staring at a ghost?

I followed Nico while looking below. I sighed. What was happening to me? I stared back at the main building, but the hallway was empty.

Crap! What was that? I thought it was real! I thought I would die now. I thought I could finally see her whole face. I touched my neck again. I could feel the pain earlier.

"Nico, wait for me!"

AVIA'S POV

AFTER one hour of contemplating whether to answer our assignments or not, Hilary, Hannah, and I ended up finishing them. Duh.. I wanted to rest tonight, so I finished my assignment as soon as possible. Well, Vino and Jamsen chose to rest first before answering their assignments. They chose to play games and sleep while we were answering our assignments.

We went back to our classroom ten minutes before our class started. Our fifth subject ended and I'm eager to go home.

I looked over at Hannah, who was busy tapping on her phone while smiling, I mean, we all use our phones on a regular basis, but the way she tapped her phone and smiled as if she was talking to someone she liked was unusual. I noticed her doing this since we were in the library. I tried to find out, but she kept hiding her phone. Yeah, I was snoopy, but I couldn't help it.

"Hey! Who's that if you don't mind?" I asked. It was not always that she acted this way. Hannah has many acquaintances, especially boys, but she was weird today.

"Nope. I won't tell you," she said.

I grunted. Ugh.. I was curious.

"Let's go home, Via. Let Hannah enjoy it," Hilary whispered, pulling my hand.

"Girls, we'll go first, we're in a rush!" Vino exclaimed, holding Jamsen's shoulders.

"Okay, next time don't do your assignments, Jerks!" I shouted.

They rushed to the door and went out.

"Hey, Hannah, let's go home!" I yelled. She was spaced out and just focusing on her phone.

I squinted my eyes at her when she didn't pay attention. I roamed my eyes around the room trying to find someone who was on their phone, but most of my classmates were holding their phones and some of them weren't too happy while using it.

I glanced at the left corner and there I found the person who was busy tapping his phone while smiling. He didn't even recognize his friend that was talking to him.

I walked toward Hannah and held her wrist and I pulled her. "Hey!" she hissed, pulling back her hand from my grip.

"It's already dark, Hannah. Want to go home or not?" I asked.

She turned off her phone and rolled her eyes at me. "Fine! I'll go," she said and dragged her feet toward the door.

We went out of the room and strode along the pavement heading to our dormitory. After ten minutes of walking, we reached the third floor and opened the door of our room.

My body sagged onto my bed. I was worn out! I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling. Then I started thinking about staying here.

Am I able to survive this school if there is a killer lurking around? Why is it that when I am free to stay here, there have been murders that have happened lately? And aside from the killer, I could feel the presence of an entity that isn't living here on earth.

I got up and off the bed. I changed my clothes in our walk-in closet. I got out while combing my hair. I glanced at Hannah's bed where I found her laying on it and had her phone closer to her face. Again, she was tapping her phone like no tomorrow would come.

I went out of our room and found Hilary. She was in the kitchen prepping food. I stood beside her and placed my elbow on the countertop.

"Have you noticed something different about Hannah?" I asked, tucking my loose hair behind my ear.

She put the hotdogs on the frying pan and looked at me. "Hmm... yeah, she's been in her phone the whole afternoon. It's like she's chatting with someone else."

"Uh-huh, that's what I've been thinking. Do you know who is it?"

"No, and I'm not a nosy person. If she tells me or someone tells me about it, then I'd know, but I won't ask her about it."

I nodded. I plastered a forced smile. Unlike me, I tried to know about it. But hey! You can't blame me, huh.

"Okay... I guess I'll get going. I won't disturb you again."

I sighed and flipped my hair. I sat on the couch and opened the TV. Since we had already answered our assignments, we didn't have anything to do now, except study for tomorrow's lesson. But I want to rest now, so I'll just sit here and enjoy the show.

I caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure passing by our window. I sat up straight and stared at the window, but no figure passed by again. However, I was sure that someone had just passed by. And the creepy part was that it glided across the window, no traces of walking movements like the up-and-down of the shoulders or footsteps.

No footsteps or noise was audible.

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. Maybe someone passed by so quietly and in a rush. I continued to watch a show when creeps were felt all over my body. My heart raced and my focus on the show vanished when I heard something scraping outside.

It was like the sound of a metal blade that was dragged against the wall and was making a scraping sound.

"Who is it?" I shouted, staring at the door.

"What is it, Via?"

"No, it's nothing, Hilary, don't be bothered," I replied, still staring at the door.

Another scraping sound was heard again.

I couldn't bear this anymore! I wanted to find out. I scratched my head in annoyance. Should I go out or not? Ugh... well, nothing would go wrong if I just peeked outside.

I got off the couch and tiptoed my way to the door. I held the doorknob and slowly turned it over. I heard the latch click and I pulled the door slowly, having one eye peeking through the door.

The hallway was empty and no sound was audible. I opened the door and half of my body was now peeking outside. I glanced sideways and I found nothing.

I stepped my foot backwards and when I about to pull myself inside the room, my gaze went below. I gasped when I saw drops of blood in front of the doorway.

I eventually went out of the room and closed the door. I stared at the drops of blood. My mouth gaped when I saw a trail of blood drops along the hallway. I lumbered, following the trail. My hands were covering my mouth and my back slightly bent to see the trail. I couldn't believe that I saw this now!

I followed the trail until I reached the first floor and the trail wasn't ended yet. I still followed it until it brought me to the rear part of Dorm1F, our dormitory.

The blood trail ended in a dark place, and all I could see was darkness, and all I could hear was the crackling of the dried leaves beneath my feet. The wind was blowing hard. I hugged myself. It was cold out here, and I could feel my flesh shivering. My brows knitted when I smelled a rusty odor wafting in the air. A stinky odor that no one can bear to smell.

I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight. I roamed the light around and in an unexpected sight, I dropped my phone and I fell on my back when I saw a man that was nailed on the wall.

I couldn't move. I couldn't blink. I couldn't breathe properly. Seemed like my heart was squeezed while pounding hard. I couldn't feel anything now but fear and shock. I moved backwards, away from the dead body.

I grabbed my phone and faced the dead man. His throat had a deep, long slit and blood was flowing abundantly from it. His hands were up above his head and were nailed at the center of his palms to the wall. He also got a deep laceration in his abdomen where his guts would burst out! His feet were above the ground and he was still wearing his faculty uniform.

"Oh my—Mr. H-Hilles, who did this to you?" I stammered while staring at him. I covered my mouth to suppress my nausea, but I bent forward to let go of my vomit. I coughed after I threw up. I wiped off the saliva from my lips.

Another victim died, and the killer wasn't choosing his victims randomly, I know he had a list!

"Hello there, Avia," a child-like shrill and creepy voice emerged from the corner.

I shuddered and stepped backwards. Breathing heavily and trembling. My eyes widened while glaring at her. The girl in the mirror! No! She was a ghost! How come she's alive?

She was holding a long-pointed knife and she was grinning at me!

"Do you like my present?" she asked like a child, pointing her knife at Mr. Hilles.

I covered my mouth and shook my head rapidly. I wanted to scream, but I lost my voice. I was screaming but it wasn't audible. I was muted and unable to speak! Please help me!

My legs became jellies and I slumped on the ground. She stepped forward, crashing leaves beneath her foot. She was swaying her knife back and forth while strutting toward my spot. I moved my hands and feet backwards to flee away from hers but she was too close to me and I felt my energy drained.

"Hey, where are you going? Do you want to play?" she asked, giggling.

Ahh! Let me go! Please let me go!

I could see flashing death in those orbs of hers. I secretly held my phone behind my back.

"W-Who are y-you?" I asked. Finally I had my voice back and the courage to speak up to her.

The killer was a girl?

"You don't know me? We used to be playmates!" she shrieked, still grinning.

"What? I don't have a killer playmate!" I yelled.

"Yes you have!"

"No!"

"Oh, well... your choice."

"Why are you doing this? Why here in the rear part of Dorm1F?" I shouted.

"To play? No, for fun? I don't know!" she cheered and she moved her knife smoothly in front of me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat while staring at the knife. I lifted up my gaze and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm asking you biatch!" I yelled when she didn't answer.

She grabbed my feet and turned me over. I was laying on my chest now! I squirmed, so she sat on my back and grabbed my hands. She held it tightly. I twisted when pain struck me. I kept moving harshly, but to no avail. She was strong. I gritted my teeth when I felt my flesh was cut off using her knife. It was stinging! It hurts!

I panted when she stopped. She was heavy and I felt my body was being smashed. I swallowed deeply and breathed hard. I felt her breath on my ear. "Avia, Avia, Avia. You really don't know me?"

"N-No!" I replied.

"Well, just call me Ne...tha..."

She was telling me her name! The killer dared to say her name!

"Hey! Let go of her!"

"See you around, Avia Cruzette," she whispered, and I felt my body was released from pain, but my hand still hurts!

"Avia! Avia! Wake up!"