The heartstopper

Chapter 32

Imogen didn't show up and their hotel room door never magically unlocked. They ended up being locked out for the whole night, which was odd. Even with the power outage, Imogen still should have returned. The worst could be feared.

When Imogen had still not turned up at nine fifty-seven, three minutes before curfew, the three girls went back to notify their four friends who were in the midst of getting ready for bed. From there, they went to find their teacher's room, hoping that they'd found her in someone else's room while doing the attendance.

Mr. Ajayi and Mr. Farouq couldn't find Imogen anywhere, they searched each room but none of the students had heard from her since before lunch that day at the latest.

After their rounds, they went back to knock on the hotel room door of Imogen, Tara, Darcy and Elle, hoping they had just missed her on their way around. No one answered again, which is why they then attempted to send an Email to her student Email but because of the storm, it wouldn't go through.

All students who should have been accounted for, minus Imogen, were either in their rooms or a friend's room, planning on heading back to theirs by curfew.

Normally, a student not being accounted for on a school trip like this one would be quite normal, it's hard to keep track of forty-plus rowdy teenagers, but she shouldn't have been off on her own in the first place, not when they're in danger, not when the power's out and you can't see anyone coming up behind you.

The teachers didn't waste time in reporting her as missing. They - meaning Mr. Farouq, because the other teacher was horrible at French - spoke to security. No one has spotted Imogen in hours. The security guards spent their days wandering each and every hall, this shouldn't have been happening.

By the time Elle, Tara and Darcy arrived at their teacher's room, it only took a quick second before the door opened, Mr. Ajayi being the one to open it.

"Girls," He greeted. Even in the dark, they could tell that he didn't look too well, nor did he sound his best.

"Did you run into Imogen anywhere? She hasn't returned," Elle spoke calmly.

"We're still working on that," The man spoke with pain in his tone. It pained him to have to say this, he had lost yet another student.

"Is she-" Tara began to say, thinking of the worst things possible that could have happened to their classmate.

"We don't know," He answered, interrupting Tara before she could finish her sentence.

"She had our room key," Darcy said quietly. It might not have been the most important factor to bring up at that second but the curfew was a minute ago and they were still standing in the dark halls.

"Step in for a few minutes while we figure some things out," He offered, moving to let them enter.

Mr. Ajayi and Mr. Farouqs room was lit up by three candles that Mr. Ajayi had bought on one of their outings. Mr. Farouq sat on the bed closest to the windows. His face was lit up by his phone screen. His phone was plugged into a portable charger so that he could make some necessary Emails.

Mr. Farouq looked up from the Email he was typing as his students entered the room. He had heard the conversation they'd just had with their other teacher as they were mere meters apart.

"For the night, I'd ask you to share a room with your friends for now. We're still working on finding Imogen," He explained. He thought about mentioning that they could receive another key from the lobby in the morning but that would insinuate that they wouldn't get the key card back by morning, that Imogen wasn't going to be found by morning. He didn't want to think like that.

Elle blinked. What had happened to Imogen? She last remembers seeing her at breakfast, she had been there while they ate, after that she was gone. She didn't even remember if she had come back to their room afterwards to brush her teeth like she had done every other morning of their trip.

The conversation they had with their teachers was brief. They'd discussed some things about Imogen, what they knew of her last whereabouts and then they talked about other things, they talked about if there was anything they needed from their rooms that night, they talked about how they were feeling and then talked about the power outage. After these various discussions, Mr. Ajayi and Mr. Farouq walked their students back to room 414, where Nick, Charlie, Tao and Isaac were just getting into bed, there wasn't anything else for them to do anyway as their devices were dead.

The two teachers only dropped them off before turning back and using their phone flashlights to shine their way. They weren't afraid to leave the boys and girls together for the night, despite them having previously discussed no girls and boys mixing rooms at night. They had already had this conversation regarding them the night of Taras's party. Mr. Farouq thought that they needed to return to their proper rooms but Mr. Ajayi said to leave them. He may or may not favour certain of his students.

Either way, the two colleagues were breaking rules as well, they were out past curfew. It wasn't just their rules for the students, it was the hotel's rules because of their situation. If they were to run into security past ten pm, they could get in serious trouble or end up getting tasered, being misunderstood as a possible killer.

The night ran long. Yet again, another sleepless night for the teachers, for a large population of the students, as well as the other hotel guests.

When the three girls had returned back to room 414, their friends got even more worried than they were before. It took a lot of internal conflicts to convince themselves that Imogen was alright and would be returning. Nick especially, had a hard time dealing with the news.

He thought of the body in the elevator, it was now replaced with Imogen. He thought about how she could be lying dead in some supply closet as he sat in his room and eventually, he would too, they all would be. There are no leads to the murders, if he could be honest, he didn't even think the police and the detectives that were placed all over the hotel, were even trying.