Class Trip Ended in Horror

Chapter 12

When Mr Schmidt came back, a few students had woken up in the meantime. "Well, do you know where he is?" Fabi asked Mr. Schmidt. "No, unfortunately not. Vladimir said when he came, he was going to bed," said Mr Schmidt. "We could ask Paul if he was still there since it was his turn after Vladimir," suggested Fabi. "Yes, good idea," said Mr Schmidt.

The three of us went to Paul and Mr Schmidt woke him up. Paul looked at the three of us quite sleepy and confused. "Paul, when you were on night watch, was Thomas still there?" Mr Schmidt asked. "I don't know, because I was pretty tired and I must have fallen asleep because Vladimir woke me up," Paul said sheepishly.

"Why was Vladimir here again?" I asked the embarrassed Paul. "I don't know, maybe he wanted to make sure everything went well," Paul said, shrugging. I trusted Vladimir less and less. He also has such a strange aura. I pulled Fabi a bit away from the two of them so that no one could hear us. "Don't you find it strange that he just happened to be there again?" I asked him. "Yeah," he said.

"The cupcakes, the murders, and now Thomas' disappearance, can't be a coincidence. I think he has something to do with it or knows more than he's letting on. His calmness also makes him extremely suspicious for me," I said to Fabi, who only nodded slightly the whole time.

"Hmm, yes, that's really suspicious, but even if he has something to do with it, no one will believe us because everyone trusts him blindly," he said. "Damn, I didn't think of that," I said. "I think it would be best if we didn't tell anyone. We can also spy on him a bit," suggested Fabi. "Okay, I'm in," I said. We'll find out what he's hiding.

The rest of them woke up a little later. Vladimir brought us orange juice and croissants for breakfast, which actually still smelled good, indicating that they were freshly baked.

Everyone grabbed a glass of orange juice and a croissant. The warm croissants were really tasty. Fabi looked really thoughtful. I took his hand in mine, stroked the back of his hand and smiled at him. "Hey you, two lovebirds, what about you?" Katy asked. "Thomas is gone," I said. That was enough and she understood.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, giving him a hug. I had hoped Thomas would show up, but as time went by, I became more concerned.

When Thomas hadn't turned up after breakfast, and brushing his teeth, Mr Schmidt brought up the subject. "You've probably noticed that Thomas is missing and I think we should go find him. It's best for two of you." "But we're only nine people, it doesn't add up," said Lisa. "I'll help you look for him," said Vladimir. "Where did he come from all of a sudden?" I asked Fabi softly. He just shrugged. "Yes, that would be nice," stammered Mr Schmidt, who seemed a little shocked. "So, who's going with whom?" he wanted to know. "I'm going with Amy," said Fabi. "I would go with Lisa," said Katy. "And I with Julian," said Paul. "Do we want to look for Markus together?" Vladimir asked him. "Yeah, why not," he said. "Okay, then I'll go with Simon," said Mr Schmidt. "We split up so that every floor is being searched. Katy and Lisa, you're looking in the attic. Vladimir and Markus, you are searching the third floor. Paul and Julian, you're looking on the second floor. Simon, let's go to the first floor. And Amy, you and Fabi are looking on the ground floor," explained Mr Schmidt. We nodded.

Everyone went to their assigned floor. When everyone was gone, Fabi went to the basement with me. "I think we should check out why we are not allowed to go into the basement and what Vladimir is hiding there," said Fabi. "Yes, this is probably our only chance to look around there," I said.

The door was open. What kind of idiot leaves a door open that you are not allowed to go through, I wondered. We went in, it was dark, some light came in through the door. Fabi pulled a cord and a sparse lamp went on. The air was a bit musty and smelled of rot. The floor and walls were made of stone. Opposite was a door. In the centre was a solid wood table. Photographs hung on the left wall, which we approached to get a closer look. "Oh my god," I whispered in shock and disgust. We were in the pictures.

It must have been pictures from the first night. I saw a picture of myself sleeping. "Oh god, that's really sick," said Fabi in disgust. He put his arm around me protectively. "Shall we take them with us?" I asked. "No, whoever made them would know someone was there and I honestly don't want to draw their attention to us," he explained to me. He was right. He went to the other door, but it was locked. "We should go back before our disappearance is noticed," said Fabi. He turned off the light and closed the door.