TAINTED ROSE

Chapter 4

Natasha woke up to the loud beeping of her phone. She looked at the screen. SCHOOL FIELD TRIP, ADOLPHA'S F.A.S.T TEST.

"Shit! Adolpha, wake up! Today's your F.A.S.T test!" she shouted, shaking Adolpha awake.

"Nat, don't defile my ears so early in the morning...need to sleep...” Adolpha mumbled.

 "WAKE UP!" Natasha had enough. Hitting Adolpha with a pillow, she pulled her out of bed. Adolpha fell down with a bump.

"OW!" Adolpha glared at Natasha. "Got problem?” Adolpha ran her hand through her messy hair and yawned.

"It's not mine, it's your problem! Your F.A.S.T test is today, and we haven't even briefed you!" Nat retorted.

Adolpha's eyes grew wide." Crap!"

"Hey guys, could you keep it down a bit? I need my beauty sleep..." Rose appeared in the corridor, rubbing her eyes.

"Get ready!" Natasha flung open the wardrobe, throwing their uniforms at them.

"Where are we going anyway?" Adolpha asked as she washed her face.

" We don't know. It's a surprise. ManneQueens won't tell us until we're actually there. Then, it'll be way too late to do anything about it." Helen winked. "But between you and me, let's hope it's not raining. It's harder to survive that way."

"I hope you make it." Sherry squeezed Adolpha's hand and smiled encouragingly.

Adolpha returned the smile. "Me too."

"Will the students from dormitory 1 PLEASE hurry up?" The announcement came. Miss Lois sounded pissed.

“Guess we better..." Crystal said

"Hurry up! Crystal, run!" Pearlyn shouted.

They assembled in the Hera Hall. "Hey, where are all the other classes going?" Adolpha asked as the other classes began to move away.

"Different classes go to different places. We're grouped in according to our ability in classes." Crystal said curtly.

"Girls, get on the bus." Miss Lois ushered them on the bus, doing a headcount. " We're going to..." She looked down at her phone. "...Angel's Peak."

Miss Lois’s mouth dropped open. Why? Out of all the places, why Angel’s Peak? It brought back so many painful memories.

“Lois! Let’s play a game!” Ashley yanked her hand. “How about Hide-and-Seek?”

“Sure!” Lois smiled at her best friend. Ashley had long brown tresses that perfectly framed her heart shaped face, and an aquiline nose that Lois envied. “Okay, I’ll count, and you hide.” Ashley replied.

“ 1…2…3…4…5…” It was dark in the staircase, but she knew where to hide. There had always been a rumour that the school basement was haunted, but Lois didn’t believe them. She never had.

“6…7…8…9…10…” She couldn’t see the steps leading down to the basement. Come to think of it, why were the steps so wet? No one could knew about the secret passageway except her and Ashley. The area had been sealed up for years after…after…

After the old janitor died.

“11…12…13…14…15…” Yes, she remembered now. He was cleaning and had broken his neck on these steps. She began to be more aware of a chill creeping up her neck. Cold sweat dripped down her forehead.

“15…16…17…18…19…20…”

Something’s not right here. It was alright the other day when we came, but today, something’s wrong. I can tell.