The Phantom School

Crows were flying around as I was walking past the woodland. I had managed to arrive very early. There was no sign of life in the building, but I was almost sure that I would find Mr. Kenan inside.

I got into the building and started walking towards the chemistry lab. On my way, I suddenly changed my mind and entered a restroom.

I opened my suitcase, and there it was... I sighed in relief. A large, sharpened knife carefully placed between the folders. Now that I was more experienced, I could think of bringing a weapon of my own. It was a part of my own plan, an alternative to Mr. Kenan"s idea of "making peace" with The Community.

I quickly closed my suitcase and directly headed to the chemistry lab. Mr. Kenan was sitting there silently and waiting for me, completely oblivious of my thoughts. Everything was in order in the lab, there was no sign of yesterday"s events.

"h.e.l.lo, you are early." he said.

"Yeah, just like you wanted." I replied.

"How do you feel?" he asked me.

"I"m... I had better times." I replied.

"Be honest." he said.

"Actually, I"ve never felt worse." I answered this time. "...almost."

"I can understand that." he said. "However, you shouldn"t listen to your feelings. This is what we did wrong the first time, when you were a student."

I didn"t agree or disagree with him. He turned around and started looking out of the window.

"The Community just shared the list of the victims with me. Luckily, you were the only adult that was targeted. The rest of the list is full of students. I bet you know some of them." he said.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Come closer." he said as he opened a red notebook. He pointed at something on a page. "Do you know her?"

"I... I can"t remember the name." I said.

"Okay, don"t worry. You will be entering her lesson today. Just look her up on the list when you do." he said.

"And... then what?" I asked.

"At the lunch break, take her to the chemistry lab. That"s the only thing you need to do." he said.

"How exactly?" I asked him. It would be very awkward for me to ask a student to follow me into the chemistry lab. I wasn"t even a chemistry teacher to begin with!

"That"s for you to figure out. Surprise me." he said.

"Why don"t you do it instead while I wait here? I am not a chemistry teacher." I told him.

"Exactly." he replied. "Because you don"t know a lot of chemistry. As you are making your way here, I will be preparing the chemicals and everything else. Do you have anything else to ask?"

"Uhm... No." I said.

"Well, okay then. We shall meet again soon enough." he said. I didn"t answer him and just got outside the lab. I closed the door and leaned to the wall. My heart was beating rapidly. It wasn"t too late; I still had time to choose between helping Mr. Kenan and hoping for the best, or sabotaging the entire operation, enraging The Community and possibly making them hostile.

I slowly walked towards the teachers" room.

People had already started gathering inside. As I entered and closed the door, I accidentally woke Sinem up. She yawned and put her gla.s.ses on.

"Oh my, time really flies. How long have I been sleeping?" she said after she looked at the clock. She turned and looked at me. "Good morning. You look pretty beaten up." she said.

"Good morning." I said. "I couldn"t sleep well."

"Just take a quick nap before the first lesson if you wish." she said. "It really helps sometimes." She yawned again, and her head slowly dropped to the side of the armchair. She closed her eyes.

"I bet she is sleepwalking all the way here." Ege said. "By the way... are you okay?" he asked me.

"I am okay, thanks." I replied. My nervousness must"ve been pretty visible to everyone. I sat on a chair near the table and tried to nap before the first lesson like Sinem suggested. It wasn"t something I would nomrally do, but maybe it would really help if I could sleep for a bit.

- - -

"Hey, good morning. Again."

Sinem was trying to wake me up.

"I know sleeping is addicting, but don"t miss your lesson." she said.

"Thanks." I said and slowly got up. There was a few minues until the beginning of the lesson. I grabbed my suitcase and started walking to the cla.s.sroom.

When I arrived at the cla.s.sroom"s door, I thought about my plan for the final time. I would try to keep the victims away from Mr. Kenan and The Community for as long as possible while I tried to send them home.

"Having fun talking to yourself?"

A girl appeared behind me when I was standing in front of the door, seemingly doing nothing. I recognised her, she was the same girl I encountered in front of the door the previous days.

"Ah, it"s you again... Are you following me or something?" I asked her.

"No, you just happen to get stuck in front of this door a lot." she said, laughing. "Enlighten me, teacher; what is it that you find so interesting about this door?"

"Hey, cut that out." I said.

"Is it the shape, is it the color, or is it... the aura of the door that is so unique?" she kept talking with a funny voice.

"It isn"t funny." I said.

"But, out of all the similar doors in this hallway, why this one specifically?" she said.

"It is about how you immediately sp.a.w.n near me the moment I come in front of this door." I told her.

"Oh... Never thought of it this way." she said. "Do you hate me, teacher?"

"What? Of course no." I replied. "Come on, let"s not be late to the lesson." I told her afterwards. As we were about to enter the cla.s.sroom, I held her back.

"By the way... What is your name?" I asked her.

"You still couldn"t memorise?" she asked in return.

"I have hundreds of students, you know... I"ve only met you a few days ago." I replied.

"I"m Cansu." she said. I blenched. I wasn"t expecting it. She was the student I was supposed to bring to the chemistry lab.