There was an awkward minute of silence. Everyone needed some time to process what was happening, and to decide whether to believe in paranormal stories or not. Ata broke the silence:"So... do you think there is a connection between those events and that whole prison... thing?"
"Yes, I believe so." Mr. Kenan replied.
"Let"s say that, we believe this story is true... Why don"t we just call someone to help?" Ata"s voice was mocking.
"What do you have in mind? What will we say to whoever we call?"
"This option is way better than anything else." Ata insisted. Mr. Kenan sighed.
"You are right, you are right, but unfortunately, we can"t."
Mr. Kenan had his cellphone in his hand as he said that. There was no signal. He stared at his phone"s screen for a while, and eventually started walking around the hallway. There was no signal.
"I thought it wouldn"t hurt to try... But seems like we are not only mechanicaly locked in here. This place locks itself in other ways as well." Mr. Kenan said.
"Look!" Idil yelled, pointing at the far end of the hallway. Some sort of white, metallic jail door had appeared there. "Where did that come from?"
Mr. Kenan looked in that direction: "So... here is a theory: After school hours, this building goes through a metamorphosis phase, altering it"s structure between it"s old "prison design" and redesigned "school version"." It made sense, not in means of science, but in the context itself. I asked:
"Who studied this place so closely to come up with a theory?"
"I did." said Mr. Kenan. "Don"t you see? The internal design of the building closely resembles a prison now." He was right.
"This place is getting rusty too." Idil complained.
"All that information and speculation might help, but seriously, if we can"t call for help, what is going to happen? What are we going to do?" Ata asked.
"I don"t know. We will see what happens." said Mr. Kenan.
We just stood there and looked around for a while. I didn"t exactly have a plan, but I wanted to do something.
"Maybe we can go explore the building a little bit. If we are lucky, we can come across an open exit."
"Hey, what about us?" Ata shouted, reminding us that they were trapped in the art cla.s.s.
"If we can get out, we can find some help and get you out of here too." I said.
"A rather sensible plan." Mr. Kenan said. "Let"s explore the building to discover a possible exit."
"If we split up, we can cover more area in a short time." I suggested.
"We should not split up, we don"t know what is out there." Idil argued.
"Better to have just one person trapped instead of all of us at once, right?" I said.
"We are going to split up, and meet back here afterwards." Mr. Kenan said, and a.s.signed Idil and me to different directions. "I"m going to go towards the main exit once more." he added. "Good luck."
I walked downstairs to the bottom floor.
- - -
The air was getting heavier. I was walking in the hallway slowly, listening to the footsteps of Idil and Mr. Kenan in the mostly empty building. I discovered a new set of electric wires near the walls, but I couldn"t figure out where they were coming from, or going to. "Maybe we could break out of one of the windows", I thought. At first, I was unsure whether it was a good idea or not to damage school property, because no matter what I saw, I was still unsure whether to believe in Mr. Kenan"s story or not. But soon enough, adrenaline induced by the ambience was able to overcome my senseless thoughts.
The windows at the bottom floor were close to the ground, so if we managed to break one of those, we could easily get out. I tried to open one of the windows, but it didn"t move the slightest. I spent all my power trying to pull the handle, but it wasn"t useful. I released the handle, took a few step back. I ran towards the window and threw my body to the window, transferring all the kinetic energy my body had to the window. Not even a small crack. Whatever mystical force sealed that window was a though one, for sure. I stopped attempting to open the window. Just then, I heard a monumental scream upstairs. At first, I couldn"t decide to run away from or towards the scream; because it meant someone needed my help, but it obviously meant "danger" as well. I took a deep breath and started runnig upstairs.
I encountered Idil as I was running in the second floor"s hallway. She was sobbing.
"Are you okay?" I said, without realising how stupid my question was. I got no reply from her.
"What happened?" I asked this time.
"It... someone... something pa.s.sed by. I went to the restroom, and... there was something in the mirror!"
I couldn"t imagine what kind of thing she saw, but she was really scared.
"Let"s go back to the meeting point near the art cla.s.s." I suggested. She nodded, and we headed towards the art cla.s.s.
As we arrived to the meeting point, we witnessed a very disturbing sight. There was blood leaking under the door. Unwillingly, we a.s.sumed the worst. I shouted:
"Ata! Are you guys okay in there?"
I approached the door, and I could hear some noises inside. Something was clanking. A sudden "thump" on the door was more than enough to scare me away.
"Run!" somebody tried to shout in a fainting voice. "She will come for you, run!"
I couldn"t make out who it was, but whoever he was, he wasn"t in a good condition.
My curiosity wouldn"t last too long, as the door had been opened wide just a few seconds afterwards.