The Phantom School

I heard some weak moaning and looked back. Idil dropped her gun and got her hand on her chest. Her eyes were closed shut, she was trying to breathe between her clenched teeth. The blood from the wound on her chest began leaking from her hands. Shortly afterwards, she quietly fell down like an empty sack. She didn"t even try to soften the fall.

She was still like a doll. No breathing. No heartbeat.

That was it.

She was... dead.

An emotional lightning struck my heart. My brain stopped, my thoughts flew away. I turned around and looked back at the man.

The man suddenly got scared and stepped away from me. I had no idea how I was looking like, but it surely was frightening.

He was saying something to me, but I was not listening. I couldn"t hear him with everything going on in my mind. His mouth was moving, but that was all. He was still holding his gun and trying to keep the distance as I was walking towards him.

I could hear Cansu"s voice as well, but the sounds were all... indistinct, blurred. I couldn"t understand a word anyone was saying, and for that matter, I wasn"t caring anyway.

"How... did you..." I began talking. He was still trying to say something to me.

Eventually, he reached a wall as he was walking backwards. I closed up the distance as he bursted into tears. I took one more step forwards. Now, his gun was touching my chest, with it"s barrel pointing towards me.

I was seeing everything in red.

I struck him down with a single hit. He hit his head to the wall and dropped down. That left a very distinct mark on the wall, as well as some of his and my blood.

I looked down to the man"s face in anger and hate. He was unconscious. I didn"t understand if he was dead or not.

But this... This wasn"t enough.

I grabbed his gun from the ground and aimed at him. I hesitated for a fraction of a second, but eventually, I pulled the trigger.

*bang*

I breathed in, and out; still looking at the man. I wasn"t feeling the slightest amount of compa.s.sion or pity. I was disgusted and angry.

*bang*

I pulled the trigger over an over again, until I ran out of bullets. After that, I threw the gun away.

A few drops of tears formed in my eyes. I sat down in a corner.

I was losing everything... I had lost my friends and my high school memories years ago, and now... I had lost some of my lovely students, my old teacher and friend Mr. Kenan, and finally Idil... After all of these, I was about to lose myself.

I cried silently, and watched the tears flowing down my cheeks, to the ground.

I looked at Idil"s body. "Wake up!" I yelled, with no real expectation. It was simply... impossible to accept. No matter what we"ve been through, she had somehow managed to stay alive and strong, yet... She couldn"t make it this time. Until now, it always seemed like this would be impossible.

It was my fault. Instead of running towards the man and accidentally creating a shield for him, if I went to shield Idil, she could"ve won that duel. Moreover, if I were not caught and brought to this facility through-

"No... no, no, no..." I muttered. It was not my fault. I looked at the man on the ground, in disgust.

"You did this to her..." I said. "You did this to my students. You did this to everyone!" I was breathing heavily. "YOU DID THIS TO ME!"

I was hardly breathing. I coughed a few times.

"I hate you. I will kill you all." I said. "I will never forgive you!" I yelled. There was no one around to hear my words. Cansu was staying silent.

"We will never forgive." someone said.

That was her. It was the voice. Just like Cansu told me before, The Community was here. I had a flashback to my years as a student.

"WE WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU"

I couldn"t remember where I had seen this writing.

"We will never forgive you." I repeated the words in my mind.

"It took you this much to realise..." the voice said. "Was it worth?"

"Mr. Kenan was... right about many things." I said.

"He was right, he was just... too naive." the voice said. "No any more than you, but still; he had the wrong methods."

"I will kill them." I said.

"Don"t let our souls rot in agony." the voice said. "This is why we couldn"t destroy each other, it was our destiny; we shall now avenge everything we have lost through decades."

"You always had a plan." I said.

"If only you had seen it sooner... We have told you this a few times before: You would never regret being a part of us." the voice said. "But perhaps this miscommunication between us lead to many other good things. I hope, now, you understand us better than ever."

"Our path is now clear." I said.

"We know what to do from now on. Simply keep our secrets to yourself, and we will lead the way." the voice said.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"Stand up."

I stood up.

"Although you may have done this without knowing, after many many decades, you"ve given us the only chance to acheive our original goal of destroying this facility." she said. "All this time, we"ve always thought they could repel us if we"ve done such an intrusion into this facility, but now, we know the truth... Without the knowledge you have, their defences are no more."

"Lead me." I said.

"We will proceed deep into the laboratory and command sections, and this should suffice. If we cripple critical systems and kill key personnel, they will be no more." she said.

"They don"t deserve to exist." I said.

"No, of course they don"t." the voice said. "And they shall receive no mercy even after their death."

I glimpsed at Idil"s body once more.

"You didn"t deserve this..." I said. "We didn"t deserve this."

"Neither did any of us." the voice added.

The last drop of tear fell down as I walked away.