Gexo XXX Days

School

My head was kinda rough when I woke up this morning. I slept for like, only
2 hours i guess. Mr. Charles was the closest person to me and now he is
gone. But his death was still a mystery for me. I was at the City Centre Lake
the whole time and there was no fire in the park. And the
screams that i heard, what was that? My mom was cooking breakfast
which I can tell from the noise coming out of the kitchen.
"Mom," I called her.
"Can you give me the newspaper? '' I think this is the only way to know the
truth. I mean, I guess so. She gave me the paper and the Lake fire news
was the headline. That was obvious. They said the fire was caused by the
gas leak. They never mentioned what kind of gas leak. There were more
than 200 casualties and one of them was the closest and the kindest
person, poor Mr. Charles.
"Get ready for the school Badger. You can't miss any more classes."
My mom said,
I looked at the wall clock and it was already 0800. The school starts in one
hour. I started to get ready in a rush. Grabbed my bicycle and started
pedaling up. Gexo-high school was 5 minutes away from my apartment.
While i was riding, my mind was also filled up with a lot of questions and
with the grieve of losing Mr. Charles. I arrived 7 minutes before the
morning assembly. Gexo-High is really a great place. The students here are
kinder than any other school that I've went before. It has been only a
month since i got here and i already like the place. Mr. Lodge is the
principle of Gexo-High. He was waiting for me at the front door maybe
because my mom called him to inform that i was returning today after
un-informed 4 days leave.
"Morning Mr. Lodge," I said.
"Morning Badger. I was expecting you by today as your mother called me
to say that you are returning today."
As i guessed.
"Yeah, about that, I'm sorry for uninformed people leaving Mr. Lodge. I was
not feeling well lately and wasn't able to do anything."
"It's a fine Badger. I understand. You may now proceed to your class."
"Yes sir." And i left. My class was on the right wing of the building. I saw Mr.
Calaway, my class teacher on my way to the class. I was right behind him.
When he entered the class i called him and asked for the permission to
come in. I haven't really interacted with anyone from my class that well yet.
I'm more of a private kind of person. I saw someone was sitting at my seat
today, but me being me, didn't say anything, instead i sat on the seat
beside him. The class started and Mr. Calaway was teaching us the
participles of English. I am unable to pay any attention today however
english is my most favorite language. I am still thinking about Mr. Charles
and the fire and the screams and the news headline. 200 casualties. How?
I was right there at the lake.
"Did you hear about the news of the lake fire?"
The guy sitting on my seat asked me.
I looked at him, he had brown eyes and hair, that reminded me of
someone. "Yeah, isn't that the headline today?" I replied.
"It is..."
It looked like he wanted to say something. I frowned and looked at him.
He looked around, making sure no one was noticing us and continued, "...
You know, I was at the lake yesterday too. And trust me bud, there was no
fire."
WHAT? HE TOO? WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS WORLD?
"WHAT?" I asked quietly.
"Yes, I know you won't believe me but...."
"No, no.. I do believe you. Because I was there too. I heard some screams
coming out of every possible corner of the lake."
"Yeah me too." His eyes were bigger now, out of surprise.
"Badger! Joseph! Will you two be quiet? If you really have something
important to talk about then why don't you go out of the class" Mr.
Calaway yelled at us.
"I'm sorry sir, it's my fault. I missed 4 days and Joseph was helping me to
catch the syllabus." I tried to save us.
"You can do that after school Badger. Now I need silence." And then he
continued studying. When the class was over me and Joseph went to the
caféteria to complete our conversation.
"So, you are telling me that you were also there when the fire broke out at
the lake?" I asked.
"Yes, but to be honest I never saw any fire at the lake. It was normal and I
didn't see any people either."
"Me too. Tell me this, did you hear any scream? Or maybe screams?"
"Nope. It was dead silence. Did YOU hear someone screaming?"
"Yeah.. actually at first there was only one person screaming and when I
started chasing it, there were many, coming out of all of the directions of
the lake. I got out of there ASAP after that."
"Dude, that shit sounds scary as hell." He was more shocked than I was.
I said, "But that's not it. Can I tell you something? I might sound crazy but
its all true." "Yeah, no problem. Tell me." He said
"The actual reason for me not coming to the school was stranger activities
happening with me. Mysteries and then more mysteries. Sometimes I am
literally living a day twice when it's not even possible. It's not deja-vu either.
I don't even know what to call it. Ghosts?"
"Do you believe in ghosts?" That was his first question.
"No. I don't believe in ghosts. But dont you think this is all absurd?"
"I suggest you better start believing in ghosts."
The bell rang and now it was time for another class to start.
"Do it." He said and then he left. His attitude changed all of a sudden. Does
he really take me for a stupid or a liar? Or even worse. I don't know.
"Hey Joseph." I called him.
He looked back and was waiting for me to speak.
"I am going to take a piss. Don't let anyone take my seat. "
He nodded and proceeded towards the classroom. On my way to the
washroom, I was still wondering what caused the sudden change in
behaviour of Joseph.
I entered and the washroom was empty. I unzipped my pants and started
to relax.
All of a sudden, I heard a voice of someone falling from the stairs. It was a
loud one, as if a person jumped from the first floor on his back. I started
running towards the hallway in a rush. I opened the washroom's gate and
looked out.
When I was 8 years old, My dad and I used to play hide and seek more
often. One day I was hiding in the backyard of our house, in the store room.
My dad was unable to find me for hours. After an hour, I was bored and
started exploring the room. There was an attic in the storeroom. I wanted
to look into it as soon as I saw it there. There was a ladder in the corner of
the room and somehow I managed to put the ladder in the right position
so I could open it. When I opened the little door of the attic, I saw 20 or maybe 30 dead mice there. I got a panic attack and fell down from that
ladder. It made enough noise to reach my dad's ear. He came and picked
me up and band aid me.
I opened the washroom's gate and the next thing i am looking at is more
than 50 dead bodies in
the hallway. All of them are either school staff or school students. It is like a
holocaust. I have never freaked out in my entire life more than this.
"Badger." I turned around and Joseph was standing there.
"Joseph?"
And pointed his finger at me and said,
"Run"