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CHAPTER 28: DO YOU WATCH THE RAIN?

The home-ec classroom's door was slightly ajar, sending a sliver of ambient light inside the otherwise dim space. Steven, feeling an odd sensation, entered. The aftermath of the recent fire was virtually undetectable, as if time had hurriedly erased its scars. As he navigated the room, his shoe nudged against something solid. He looked down to see his phone lying unceremoniously on the floor.

'Funny,' Steven mused, 'I hadn't even noticed it was missing.'

Before he could retrieve it, a faint noise resonated from a room in the back. Mr. Vaughn emerged, engaged in a deep conversation on his phone. Steven's instincts kicked in, pushing him to silently maneuver behind a table, just as he heard the ominous "CLICK!" of the door locking.

['Dieze: Exit: Closed. MISSION: failed!' X]

<Shush... Dieze> Steven signed frantically, annoyance evident in his gestures. He hoped his AI companion, Dieze, could comprehend this.

Steven watched as Mr. Vaughn paced, words from the conversation revealing snippets of a story he never thought he'd hear coming out of a 'chef': "The missing kids? My suspicion grows. This school holds a secret. The timeline of their disappearances? It's chaotic, isn't it? Too intricate for one individual, surely?"

It paused, voice lowering to almost a whisper, "Remember Rain, the boy from decades past? There's an uncanny link, one that can't be ignored. All trails lead to this place..."

"Keep in mind, it's not just this case either. The bodies we find... the Egyptian burials... the targeted k-"

Steven couldn't hear the last word, because he accidentally knocked over a pot, causing it to clang onto the ground.

BANG!

The echoing clang seemed to freeze time for a heartbeat. The room plunged into an eerie silence. Dieze vibrated with a warning signal, an electronic hum barely audible.

Ba-bump... ba-

Mr. Vaughn abruptly stopped speaking, his silhouette stiffening. The dim light framed his face, capturing the rapid shift of his eyes as he scanned the room, attempting to discern the origin of the sound. "Who's there?" he demanded, his voice sharp.

Steven's pulse quickened. He held his breath, hoping against hope that he'd meld into the shadows, unseen and unfelt. He cursed his clumsiness, mentally kicking himself for not being more careful.

Suddenly, the overhead lights flashed on, casting the entire room into stark relief. Mr. Vaughn's eyes darted around, stopping mere inches from where the boy was crouched.

Steven clasped his mouth, hiding behind the counter. His heart pounded loudly in his chest as he waited for Mr. Vaughn to walk away.

One second... two seconds... three-

"You know I can see your shoes, right?" The brown-haired teacher chuckled.

- 'Ding!'

['Dumb + 2']

<Stop making my dumb stat so high,> Steven muttered to Dieze. Then, he turned around to the teacher, making sure to use his arm to cover his face and to disguise his voice in a monotone-fashion: "Oh wow. You can? Well, I guess I gotta go now, 'Teacher-I've-Never-Seen-Before'."

He started running forward.

"Not so fast," Mr. Vaughn smirked. "I know it's you, St-"

"My name's Calum," Steven told him, shielding his face.

"A name change? How clever." Mr. Vaughn laughed. "Besides, you cooked quite well today... I could... smell it from where I was standing. And your phone... I saw you drop it, by accident..." The corners of his lip turned up, "I think."

"What, you saw me drop my phone and didn't tell me?" Steven blurted out.