Part I
As a swimmer at Thornvale College of Gilded Charms, I known that our swimming pool is not just an ordinary pool. Many people who have swum in the pool call it 'The pool of illusion' for some reason. Since then, the pool has been abandoned. But I didn't abandon it; water is a part of me. Are they scared because it gives them hallucinations? I don't believe it. I'm a swimmer. Besides, I've never experienced having one, aside from being deluded about winning the gold medal.
One day, during our class break, the hallway reverberated with a loud noise. Curious, I hurriedly walked out of the room and saw a student hysterically shouting, "I saw her! She was there!" repeatedly.
'Is this about the pool again?' I thought.
"What's going on, Dale?" I looked over my shoulder to see Javier trying to squeeze himself into the doorway, clearly curious as well.
"She's shouting that she saw the missing girl in the pool, and now she's over there, screaming her lungs out to convince us," I replied.
"So basically, she's hallucinating?" I nodded at him, turning my head back to the hallway. I watched as two guards guided the screaming student out of the hallway, wondering where they would take her—probably to the clinic since she was drenched.
Throughout my class, I couldn't shake off the disturbance caused by the student's screams. I couldn't understand why I was even spending my precious thoughts on some girl who was probably out somewhere with her boyfriend, not wanting to return to her grieving family. This girl, a student here at our school, had been missing for almost three months. Authorities had concluded that she was likely dead and discarded somewhere because she was beautiful and fit—a competent student and a pageant queen in every school event. They speculated that she might have been killed, or worse, raped and then dumped where authorities couldn't easily find her. That case was then called "The Drowned Conspiracy" because most students 'think' she died in the pool and thrashed somewhere.
Later that night, I decided to go to the pool where I usually stay in times my head is a mess. The water calms me down, obviously as a swimmer. The lights around the school are turned off. I think everyone has now left the school premises since today is Friday. Without a doubt, I'm alone in the campus.
Arriving, I pointed my flashlight into the pool and a smile crept in my face thinking that I could swim. Suddenly, a cold breeze washed over me, I enveloped my arms on myself, shaking with the sudden coldness wrapping around me.
I stepped forward and decided to put the flashlight on the ground, flashing the light to the undisturbed surface of the water. I positioned myself beside the starting block and breathed in the now-warm breeze. I took some more before finally calming down.
Everything is silent aside from my own breathing. And suddenly, a splash in the water caught my attention. My head turned to it, I grabbed the flashlight and tried moving the light around to see if someone was with me but I only saw a moved water surface. I stood up and tried to move the flashlight more to see but there was no one.
"Anyone here? Stop whatever prank this is, I'm telling you!" But no one answered.
"Javier? I'm telling you if you're going to scare me, you have to do better," I announced aloud.
Still, no one answered. I'm alone in this facility, and that's a conclusion.
When I heard a twig breaking, I turned my whole body only to welcome a gush of wind into my eyes and I screamed because of the pain.
---
TO BE CONTINUED.
