32nd of March

Chapter 7 (continued)- Now

Everyone shuffles along to the meeting point, still clustered together. I am sure I have stepped on almost a dozen of the back's of peoples feet and I have been stood on almost a dozen times also. Finally, we reach the meeting point, where Josh comes and joins us immediantly. We all turn back to look at the school, but there is no smoke or fire emitting from it, thankfully.

''Are you girls ok?'' Josh asks us, the comforting tone in his voice, as it usually is.

I glance at Crystal, who has her arms held around herself tightly and has a large frown etched in her face. She says nothing and I presume she didn't really hear him anyway. ''Yep, we're fine. And you?''

''As good as you can be in this situation, I guess.'' He mutters, as we are all told to group together as a class so they can register us all.

Just as that happens, a figure approaches the meeting point and it instantly becomes clear, with the height, that it is Mr Crowdon. He is running, which looks quite comical, although no-one would laugh or want to laugh right now.

''What? Have you just left the student?!'' Miss Jary screams.

''The most peculiar thing has happened, Rebekah. The boy, he's just...'' Suddenly, the large bunch of students and teachers go silent to listen in. It happens abruptly, which is odd for a bunch of scared teenagers who love to talk about anything and everything.

''He just what?'' Mack's best friend, who spoke up in class, pipes up from beside me.

''He just... burnt into ashes. Nothing remains.'' Mr Crowdon has a soft hint to his voice, an almost caring element.

''That's impossible, the flame was nowhere near hot enough to reduce him to ashes.'' Miss Jary's voice wavers off and she looks as if she's going to be sick.

''Come take a look for yourself,'' Mr Crowdon puts her hand to her back and guides her away to the building.

Our assistant headteacher, Mr West, who is much more calmer and nicer than our current head, steps out into the open and guides everyone instead. Another outburst of chatter fills the air until he yells, ''Ok, ok, ok!'' about four times, which settles the groups.

''Well, this is another bad time for our camp and school. But as we did before, we need to get through it as if by normal. We are not sure about anything yet, so don't assume much. Just stay calm until we have this sorted out.'' It's all too much, I close my eyes and try to block out the noise, the thoughts, the pictures that playback in my head. And then the evil. Evil reigns in our school. It's a hard thought to process and as I glimpse at Josh, I can see he is thinking exactly what I am. Another suspicious death and yet again, Mr Crowden is present. To my disbelief, I am surprised no-one else has noticed yet. We can't be the only ones, surely?

''I guess we will have to cut off lessons for today. Lucky you,'' He tries to lighten the mood, but i'm not sure it worked. There are some genuine sighs of relief from people and the rare, ''Yes!'' but apart from that, i'm sure no-one seems to care at this moment in time. ''Everyone go back to your dorm or cabins for the time being. And do not go in the school building or even near it until you are said too. Register first with your teacher and once you are registered, you need to- in an orderly fashion of course- go back to your dorm or cabin. No-one is to leave there until further notice.''

Everyone slots into their packs, which is what it looks like to me. People get registered quickly, as if they just want to hurry out of the situation and by going back to there dorm or cabin and shutting themselves out, everything will change. But it won't. Everything's already changed. It's happening.

People disperse away from the hill until no-one is left in sight, walking along the school grounds. I am looking out the window, sitting on the mini-sofa that stands under it. Sophia-Marie is sitting there with me, her hand resting beneath her chin as she also stares out into the openness from the window, the wind blowing against her orange hair. Mine doesn't look so elegant, as it flaps around all around my face and tangles up before my eyes.

''Was it really that horrible? To watch it, I mean.'' Sophia-Marie finally speaks, her voice croaked a little. I see sympathy gleaming in her eyes, standing out like a sore thumb.

''Yeah, it was.'' I don't hesitate. I don't want to lie and say I'm fine and it wasn't that bad to watch because watching someone dissipate before your eyes into a heap of ashes is obviously great.

''Aww. Do you think he will be ok?'' And I can see instantly, that she regrets asking.

''Of course not. Did you hear what Mr Crowdon said?'' But Sophia-Marie shakes her head. ''He said that he's just disappeared and left hardly any remains, he's dead.'' The words ring through me. He's dead. My arms have chills running through them and I shudder. It's only just sunk in, that it's happened again. Another death, another star in heaven, yet they don't need to be there.

Josh's voice appears suddenly in my head. Repeating himself, it bounces off the insides of my head like a bouncy ball. ''She must still be alive.'' When he was talking about Izabel, it seemed almost possible, but now it seems like it was just an extravegent thought. How could they still be alive when the proof is right there that they are dead? My mind goes blank and I hoist myself up and flop myself on my bed, ready to fall straight into a deep sleep. That is until the voice of Mr Crowdon reverbs around the school and camp grounds, with only a few words able to come out of his evil, little mouth. ''You may leave your rooms now.'' People fill out into the grounds almost immediantly and I realise by the big clock that it is lunch and the cafeteria must be ready to open. My stomach growls in famishment but I am more than undisturbed by it. I need to talk to Josh. Now