One after Another

Chapter 4- All Dead

"Hmm... Here's a weird thing," Natalie pointed out, "Why would the headmistress know?"

"Know what? That it is a curse? That we are all going to die?" Ali asked, panic filling her voice.

Joyce shook her head non-stop, which made her extremely dizzy, "I-It c-can't b-be."

"We should be careful in any case," Kenneth nodded, looking at everyone.

"Umm, helloooo? Can someone answer my question?" Natalie rolled her eyes after looking at the people who ignored her question.

"Okay. So why should she know? Hmm..." Kenneth scratched his chin as he thought. "Unless it had happened before? I guess."

"EXACTLY! Kenneth, you are a genius!" Natalie exclaimed, pointing at him excitedly.

"I thought you were the genius," Kenneth smirked, looking at her. Natalie rolled her eyes once again, her smile fading.

"If it had happened before, then there should be records at the school, right?" Patrick asked.

Ali nodded in response to Patrick's statement, "We will find them when we go to school tomorrow."

After another restless night, Natalie arrived at school earlier than the others. Surprisingly enough, she saw Patrick and Kenneth sitting at the table in the library. They were flipping through dozens of old books. Both are enveloped in the earthy, musty stench of yellowish paper.

"So, what are you two up to?" asked Natalie, peering over to check what the others were looking at.

"The headmistress has been here for TWENTY years," whispered Kenneth, with a look of disbelief on his face.

"According to the level of decay of the corpse, he died ten years ago. So you can quit reading books from two decades ago," Natalie stated matter-of-factly, using her intelligence.

His face dimmed a little, receiving the information, "Why didn't you say that earlier?" Kenneth whined, slamming the table.

"It's the library here. Keep your voice down, idiot," said Ali, walking into the library with Joyce.

"S-So Wh-what a-are yo-you up-p t-to?" Joyce asked, stuttering. It was quite obvious she was still traumatised from previous events.

"We have to check out books from a decade ago," Patrick whispered, heaving a sigh.

The group spent thirty minutes flipping through the pages and the black-and-white photographs. Attempting to find at least decent, helpful information, they strained their eyes, seeing the lines that spelt out words, and the photos that pieced things together.

"I found something!" Patrick exclaimed. That was the first time he had ever spoken that loud, which was possibly not a good time, considering the environment they were in.

"Shhhhhhh!" The librarian hushed them, as expected.

"What is it?" Kenneth asked, leaning towards him with a big grin.

"Four boys and one girl died one after another last year," Patrick stated, shuddering at the thought. "No one knows why or how. The headmistress forbade the students to mention them again."

"So do you think that they went into the hallway like we did and died?" Ali asked, wide-eyed.

"S-So w-we are al-all g-goi-going t-to die?" Joyce cried, asking another question.

"Let's care about this later. We are going to be late for class!" Patrick exclaimed, staring at his watch.

"We are late!" Natalie said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Shit," Kenneth cursed, leaping out of his chair and racing to class.

They raced to the chemistry lab for their lesson, panting.

"Oh, how nice of you to finally join us," the teacher commented sarcastically. "Let's start the lesson."

All of a sudden, "Ali Macdell!" the teacher shouted.

Ali jumped up with a jolt, the thought of being in trouble during all these events just scared her.

"Never go to that corner. It contains deadly poison and poisonous gas. Unless you want to die, or else never go to that corner." She ordered.

Startled, Ali nodded frantically and went back to her seat, having the thought of the hallway on her mind.

As the teacher rambled about the periodic table, Natalie rested her head on the table. When she was thinking about her future death, the simplest solution popped into her head. After a forty-minute boring lecture, the teacher finally dismissed the class. Natalie rounded up her companions, not friends, and told them about her plan.

"Do you remember that day Max died?" She started. "If we were there sooner or if we went together, we could have pulled him out."

"So are you suggesting that we stick together from now on?" Kenneth asked.

"It does make sense. Well then, I will have my car pick us up. And drop you all off at your houses," Ali offered.

After school, they all waited at the school gate for Ali's luxurious car. It was a McLaren 720S, deep blue like the sea. Its nose resembles a Great White Shark. Each line and curve were sculpted to achieve the best performance.

Houses flashed past the car windows. They leaned back against the soft car seat, enjoying the gorgeous scenery, feeling luxurious. The car drew to a halt in front of Joyce's house all of a sudden, throwing the passengers forward a bit.

To their surprise, Joyce did not get out of the car after a minute. They turned to look at her, concerned. She was panicking, clenching her fist, inhaling deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.

"Calm down. If you are really scared, lock yourself in your room. You will be fine!" Ali suggested, with a supporting smile, "Here, drink this water." Joyce accepted it, and took it in her hands. She took in a deep breath and felt slightly better, but not that much. The uneasy feeling still remained.

As the car vanished from her sight, she turned around and went into her house.

Closing the bedroom door behind her, Joyce grabbed the keys from her mother and locked herself in her room. She sat herself down on her chair, and brought out her homework from her bag. She took a pen, and started her work calmly.

As she was doing her homework, a wave of dizziness surged over her. Everything around her was spinning. Her head was throbbing like crazy. The lights flickered on and off continuously. Her pen dropped onto the floor with a clang, snapping her back into reality. Her feet were completely numb; she had to drag her feet to pick up the pen. She only took one step forward before her knees slammed hard against the ground. A loud thump was heard from her locked room. A loud crash. Her head crashed onto the floor. And then she fell into a deep swirl of unconsciousness.

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Author's Note : Hey!! 3 chapters in 3 days! OMG 😱 I feel so bad for asking you all to do this every time. Vote and Comment! 🙏🏻 It means a lot to me. Comment on what can make my writing better! So I can improve ☺️ Thanks so much for reading and see you next time!