Baptism Of Fire

INFLICTING DISTRUST

LAUREN'S POINT OF VIEW

I haven't reached our room yet, but I can already sense the unsettling feeling from where I'm standing. A lot of students are gathered on the hallway, wreaking havoc in front of our classroom, their frightened whispers are too obvious.

My forehead creased. "What the fuck is happening?" I uttered.

I tightly hold my bag and tried to sneak from the crowd. I wipe the beads of sweat forming in my forehead. The day hasn't started yet, and yet my uniform is already unkempt from that tight commotion.

"Lauren!" someone from the crowd called my name, it's Lorelei. She hugged me while tears are dripping down her face. The confusion stirring inside me grew bigger.

I caress her back. "Hey, stop crying now. What happened?" I asked her.

She shakes her head. "Lauren, I'm scared."

Seeing that I couldn't get the answer from her because she has not calmed down even a bit, I walk inside our room while holding my best friend.

My eyes widened after seeing the chaos inside the room. All the chairs were flipped and disorganized, all the books are scattered on the floor. But what horrified me are the red paint soaking the books. Even the clean white board is painted with red -- that is, if those colors are indeed paints, because I can smell the revolting scent even from afar.

I looked at the shocked expression of my classmates, some are even crying. I averted my gaze from the grisly scenario in front of us, my stomach is already agitating looking at this disgusting madness.

"Get inside your respective rooms now! I am ordering all the students to get out from here if you don't want to experience a detention," Ms. Clara tried dispersing the crowd, trailing behind her are some armed men.

"Class, go out first and let them fix this mess. Pierce, my dear, guide your classmates in the gymnasium, please," she said, beckoning us to exit the room.

With a dismal looks on our faces, we followed her.

I slump on the bench inside the gymnasium. If this is an ordinary day, I would let myself admire the enormous size of the place, but it's not.

"We haven't even forgotten what happened yesterday, now this? Damn it," Sloane muttered while shaking his head.

No one dared to reply, all of us are apparently trying to absorb the incident.

I look at Lei sitting beside me, the fear is still visible on her eyes.

I breathed deep and hug her. "Everything is going to be alright," I whispered, making sure that she can feel comfort from my embrace.

We stayed there for a couple of minutes. After a while, the heavy footsteps of someone broke the silence hovering around us, it was our professor.

"You can go inside your room now, class. Please stop worrying, the police said that they will get to the bottom of this incident. Unfortunately, no evidence was found that will lead us to the culprit of this crime, but I know they will handle this conscientiously," she announced.

"But whose b-blood is that?" Ashley asked in a barely audible voice.

Ms. Clara sighed. "We still have no any leads, my dear Ash. They are suspecting that it could be an animal blood, we're not certain yet. But they promised to conduct an in-depth investigation."

I looked up after she explained the situation. The memories and images of the guy who died on the first day of class, Dencio and Alice, flash back in my mind. The sinister feeling that their death brought is still lingering inside me.