Nethania

Chapter 27: Top Burn

AVIA

GEEZ! It's getting late, but why is Hilary not here yet? I irksomely swiped the curtain aside and looked through the window pane. I moved my eyeballs from side to side. All I could see was the empty hallway and darkness around the place below.

I closed the curtain and turned my back with a frown plastered on my face and my eyes glaring at anything with infuriation. I flipped my hair and crossed my arm across my chest while lumbering my way to the couch. I dropped my butt on the couch and heaved a long sigh.

My whole system seemed fueled up and almost exploded when I heard the statement which I hated the most from Hilary's mouth! I didn't want to say this word to her, but now I guess this was the perfect word for her. A sissy. She was too fearful about the things that were happening in this place to the extent that it went to the idea of moving out. I've known her for many years and she wasn't like that before. Though being fearful is her apparent emotional characteristics, but she acted way more than normal.

I was so annoyed that time, especially when our other friends considered her idea. I scratched my head furiously and glanced at the wall clock. It's eight-thirty in the evening and she wasn't her yet.

I turned my head to the location of our bed room door when Hannah came out, holding her phone and laughing while looking at it.

"Why are you laughing, Hannah?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows and flipping my hair.

The smile on her face faded and raised her eyebrow. "Why? Is it wrong to laugh?" she replied. Sarcasm was present in her tone.

I rolled my eyes and stood, facing her. "Geez. Are you thinking about Hilary, too?"

She sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Of course, I am. It's eight-thirty and she isn't here yet. Did you try to call her?" she asked and made her way to the couch.

I settled again on the couch and looked at my phone. I called her for ten times and Hilary answered none of them. I also sent her text massages but no reply was received. I exhaled frustratingly while looking at my phone. Where could she possibly be?

I nodded. "Uh-huh, it's just ringing until it turns off. She isn't answering it. I'm starting to worry about her," I said, turning off my phone and glancing at Hannah.

She leaned against the couch. "Maybe she's with Jamsen."

"I'm not buying that idea, Hannah," I replied. "Hilary doesn't like to hang out with boys all by herself, especially at night."

I reclined on the couch. There's no way Hilary would go out with boys.

"So where could she possibly be?" she asked, glancing at me.

I turned my body to face her. "When we went out of the room, I heard she and her group decided to stay in the room to finish their group project. Perhaps she's walking on her way to our dorm," I informed her.

She raised the side of her lips and squeezed her eyes. "So we'll fetch her there?" she asked.

I nodded. "Uh-huh."

"It's kinda creepy and dark outside, I don't think I can make it to the main building. And maybe she's with her group going here," she replied, shaking her head slowly, telling me she didn't want to do it.

Geez... I was afraid of my own idea too, but Hilary was at stake here. It's dangerous for her outside.

I touched her shoulder and looked her in her eyes. "We aren't sure if she's with them or not. We have to see for ourselves that she's fine. We won't be climbing up the main building. We'll wait for her at the side of the pavement and when she comes by, we'll meet her and together we go home. What do you think?" I said, smiling at her.

Her lips twisted. "That's a good idea, yet risky. And I'm thinking right now that we should call Jamsen and Vino to make sure she didn't come along with them," she mumbled.

I rolled my eyes and frowned, slumping my back onto the couch. "Geez.. fine! I bet she's not with them."

Hannah began tapping the screen of her phone and placed it on her ear. She was glancing at me while the phone was ringing. She put the call on speaker mode.

"Hello, Jerks?" she yelled.

[How bad was your night, Hannah? Calling us 'Jerks' won't make it good.]

"Not that bad, just a little bit weird. How's your night? I—"

"Give me that," I butted in, grabbing the phone from her grip. "Why don't you go straight to the point," I murmured, eyeing her. She just rolled her eyes and sat on the couch.

"Jamsen?"

[Yes, princess?]

"Have you seen, Hilary?"

[No, why? Vino and I went straight to the dorm after our class.]

"But do you know where she went?" I asked, looking at Hannah.

[Sorry, no. Maybe Vino has an idea. VINO, COME HERE! He's coming.]

[What? Who's this?]

"Vino?"

[Yes? Oh, what made you—]

"Have you seen Hilary? Or texted you?"

[No, why?what happened?]

"She's not with us now and we're getting worried."

[Oh s**t!...What is it?... Hilary's not home yet... Really?...Yes...]

"Hey! We're hanging up. I don't think you can give us answers," I said and ended the call. I handed the phone back to Hannah.

I sat on the couch while scratching my head. I knew she wasn't with them.

"Maybe, Austin knew?" Hannah said, "Wait, I'll call Nico."

Hannah called Nico. I stared at a distance without a clear vision of anything in front of me. My mind was flooded with the question, where is Hilary?

"They didn't have an idea where Hilary went too," she declared, looking at me.

I faced her and stared at her eyes. "I'm getting worried, Hannah. We shouldn't have left her in the classroom, we should have waited for her until they were through. This is my fault. I shouldn't have been mad at her," I mumbled. Warm water began to fill the edges of my eyes. I looked down and rubbed my eyes. My hands were wet with my tears.

I should have waited for her.

Hannah moved closer to me and caressed my back. "Hey hey, don't blame yourself. We'll find her."

I sniffled and looked up. "Let's go."

We stood and went to our room. I was wiping off the tears from my eyes and changed our clothes. I only changed the top part, replacing it with a black t-shirt. I glanced at Hannah, and my eyes widened a bit when I saw her in a tight shirt and sexy shorts.

"Why are you wearing that?" I reproached, pointing her body up and down. "It's cold outside and geez... we're not going shopping, Hannah."

She rolled her eyes and pointed at her body. "So? I'm comfortable with this outfit. Let's go."

We strode our way out of the bedroom and went in front of the main door. I sighed and held the cold doorknob and turned it over. I opened the door and we went out. Hannah closed the door behind her.

We only brought our flashlights and our phones. We could use this in case an emergency happened.

We cautiously strode along the hallway. We didn't want to catch some unnecessary attention from the other students. We bounded down the stairs until we reached the first floor. I wrapped my arms around my body and rubbed my upper arms with my hands. I could feel my flesh shivering due to

the cold winds that could make my body hair up in chills.

"Geez... It's pretty cold here outside," I murmured while walking on the pavement. It was dark, but light posts helped us to see our way on the both sides. It was pitch black, since the moon wasn't present this night. Hannah was just marching on her way like there was no cold wind slapping her system.

"Where should we go?" She turned to me.

I looked at her. "Since we have no idea where she is, we'll go to the main building," I simply replied. I bit my lips because of the chilling breeze.

"What the hell? I won't go there," she opposed, stopping in front of me. "Someone died in our room, remember?"

When the wind blew, I tucked my loose hair behind my ear. "Fine! I'll just call her while we're making our way to the main building."

She kept quiet and walked beside me. I dialled Hilary's phone number and called her. All I could hear was the ringing of her phone and no signs of answering it.

"Still not answering?" She asked.

"Yes." I nodded.

We kept on walking until we reached the area that was surrounded by tall buildings.

"Wait." Hannah stopped walking. "I heard something," she said and turned her body around.

"Where?" I asked, roaming my eyes.

She faced the tall building in front of us, just a few meters away from our spot. I felt a strange feeling when I stared at the building where we were facing.

"Somewhere around the corner," she said, starting to step forward directly into the building. "It's... Hilary's ringtone! Keep calling her."

My eyes widened when I heard her. "Okay okay."

Finally, we found her. But I just hope we find her and not just her phone, because if she's not there, it would be a huge problem for us.

"The sound was getting loud and clear. Keep calling her," she ordered.

We kept walking until she stopped again.

"I heard the sound there," she muttered, pointing her finger at somewhere else.

My heart raced. "It's dark there," I said.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's why I don't want to go there."

I sighed and held her wrist. "Come on! That's Hilary's ringtone," I stated.

We walked together while holding our flashlights. We roamed our flashlights around. I tightly held Hannah's hand while my heart was racing and beating hard. I kept my eyes open wide. I could see empty classrooms. How I just wish I wouldn't see Nethania here.

"There's her phone," I said and pointed my finger ahead of us. Her phone was ringing while laying on the ground.

And there we saw Hilary leaning against the wall. She almost fell to the ground. "Oh my...who did this to Hilary?" Hannah gasped.

Her mouth was shut using a duct tape that was wrapped around her head. I rushed to her and held her up. Hannah crouched beside me and held Hilary's shoulders.

"Hilary? Hilary? Wake up, girl. Wake up," I said, tapping her cheeks.

Her face would just go sideways as I tapped it.

"Hey," I uttered.

I felt her head move and slightly lifted it up."Uhm... Mrrmrrmm!" she groaned as she woke up. She squirmed and fidgeted violently. We held her still. Trying to restrain her from being violent.

"Hilary, calm down! It's us! Avia and Hannah! Please calm down," I exclaimed while holding both her arms.

"Take off the tape and untie her hands, Avia!" Hannah suggested. She was holding the flashlights beside me.

"Okay."

I untied the rope around her hands and gradually unwrapped the duct tape from her head. She shook her head rapidly and violently. "Mrrmrrmm... mrrmrrmmrm!" She cried. Finally, I took off the tape from her head and threw it away from us.

She reached for her face and looked at us. "A-Avia? Ha-Hannah?" she said, with teary eyes. She hugged us tightly and she began to sniffle. She cried so hard and we caressed her back to calm her down.

"We're here, Hilary," Hannah said.

We let go of hugging. "S-She's real. She's a-alive," Hilary mumbled.

"Who?" I asked.

"Nethania."

"What the hell?" Hannah cursed. "She attacked Hilary, Avia. She's dangerous."

"What did she do to you?" I asked.

She wiped off her tears and sniffled. "She t-threatened me."

"What threat?"

"If I escape or we escape, she'll kill me, us! She's going to kill me!" she yelled and cried again, placing her hands on her face.

I hugged her. "Ssshh...Stop crying, we're here now. She won't kill you. We're here to protect you."

"Let's bring her to the dorm immediately," I commanded.

"Okay," Hannah agreed.

LAST NIGHT was a total trauma for Hilary. Nethania kidn*pped, hurt and threatened Hilary. If I just knew that this would happen to her, we shouldn't have left her after our class. I stomped my feet on the pavement, making them flinch and stare at me. I flipped my hair and looked away. It was our break time in the morning. The sun was shining brightly and the wind was giving a refreshing breeze and I was out of my cheerful self the whole morning. Hilary hadn't recovered yet from the incident, so we left her in our dorm.

We were walking on the pavement from the benches. We stayed there for some time before going to our class. Now it's time to go back.

"Nethania is attacking us one by one, huh," Jamsen said as he combed his hair, as we were completely consumed by silence.

"Yeah, she attacked Hilary and we're lucky because she didn't kill her, only threatened her," Hannah replied.

A miracle for Hilary. She was the only one who was only threatened and wasn't killed.

"But it brought trauma to Hilary. Nethania is an evil incarnate, sent to spread wrath," I exclaimed, without turning to them. I was staring ahead, observing the people around us.

"But why does Nethania only threaten Hilary?" Austin spoke that made me stop walking.

I turned my body and faced her. "Do you really want Nethania to kill Hilary, Austin?" I asked in a serious tone while glaring at him. I crossed my arms across my chest and c****d my head.

He shook her head and waved his hand nervously in front of me. "No no, absolutely not, but my point is, why did she threaten her? Why not us? Why only her?" he altered his words.

"Because Hilary is the most weak person among us. Nethania can control Hilary and she can't oppose Nethania's request," I said, "And that's why Nethania threatened us through Hilary."

He just stared at me.

"We shouldn't escape from this place or else she'll kill us one by one," I added.

"Ahhhh!"

We turned our heads to the location where the scream came from. We were in the front of the gymnasium where students were having their PE subject. We eyed each other.

"What's that?" Nico asked.

"Guess what?" I sarcastically replied.

"Ahhhh! Help!" the scream continued.

"Let's see," Austin said, running toward the entrance.

We stopped in front of the storage room and a student was standing in front of it. He seemed shocked, unable to move.

Austin touched him. "What happened?"

"T-there was a dead girl inside," the boy replied, trembling. His friends held him and led him to a nearby bleacher where they made him rest.

Students began gathering around but we restrained them.

"Please contact Ms. Nichole, Hannah," I instructed.

She nodded and took out her phone.

I peeked inside the storage room and Austin, Jamsen and Vino stood beside me, also watching the scene inside. I covered my nose when I sniffed the smell of burning meat. A girl was laying in a twisted position on the floor. Chairs were scattered around her. She was filled with bruises, probably made by the chairs that were thrown at her. Other parts of her body were bleeding, and I saw blood stains on the legs of a chair that was standing alone in the corner; it was probably the chair that was used to wound her body.

I placed my hand on my chest, feeling the hard pounding of my heart. I was breathing so deeply.

I cringed when I saw this one. The most brutal part was her head was burned. Her hair was burned into ash and nothing was left behind. Her scalp was blackish-red in color. Her forehead was burned, the flesh was still fresh and she was bleeding severely. Her mouth was wide open and her eyes screamed petrifaction. Her head turned to black.

I went down to her nails. Each of her nails was pierced by paperclips. finger has two paperclips. It was penetrated deep under her nail. It was bleeding and it was so painful to see. I could feel my guts rushing up to my throat and I felt nauseated. I covered my mouth and placed my hand on my stomach.

Before my feet could drag me away from here. My gaze was nailed to the floor. I saw scribbled words on it.

Escape, the choice of a coward. Staying is the decision of someone who wanted death.