Adventures After School: Recovery

Chapter 11: Grasp on Reality

A/N: I'm so sorry for lack of an update! And I'd better go back on the Saturday schedule, mainly because the Thursday schedule didn't work out for me. I also figured that some of you read on the weekends so, hey, it's okay! I'll be back updating on the weekends right after this update. Next Saturday holds a new update for you! Thank you for putting up with me, though. The reasons I haven't been updating is (1) I have been losing productivity lately now that school's coming up for me and (2) I lose the internet. A LOT. I'm really sorry. Why don't we just get to the update?

    Dave Parker shoved his hands in his pockets. Every morning in Westerfield was always cold, but today was colder than what the shadow mage was used to. After Hazuki took him to one of the shopping district's alleys, he was left wondering what his old friend was after. He knew Hazuki had something else up his sleeve—but he didn't know what.

He pushed the idea of Hazuki's hunt off his mind and continued his walk to school. He was mentally punching himself in the face for realizing he hasn't asked both of his fathers for his allowance yet—and that really ticked him off because he deemed himself dead without money. He growled, scratching his head and sighing in frustration. How could he be so forgetful?

As he was nearing the school gates, he caught sight of a sophomore boy who ran smack into the entryways. The sophomore waited for the guard to open the gate, dashing into the school grounds after the gate has been open wide enough for him to enter. Dave watched in confusion as the sophomore sprinted into the school. He decided to ignore the boy—though he did seem to be in a rush—and entered the campus.

From there, Dave would pace the basketball court leading up to a road going to the high school building. He always took this path when he first entered Winchester as a freshman, using the basketball court as a checkpoint until he climbed the stairs on the far side of the cafeteria's exterior. After that, he walked straight to the high school building.

There were little to no students by the time Dave entered the building. He closed his eyes as he walked, some of the human students taking notice of his shadow fading until there was no more silhouette behind him. He opened his eyes and exhaled.

He climbed the stairs leading up to the hallway where the third-year students' classrooms were located.

* * 

Jack panted, wiping sweat off his forehead and dropping his bag on the floor of the ETR. He fell on his knees as he was catching his breath, his palms flat on the floor as he simultaneously inhaled and exhaled. His classmates watched as he tried to keep himself from being disoriented.

But something was wrong. Nobody noticed it, but Carla did. Something gleamed from the pocket of Jack's pants. She didn't know what it was, but she felt as if it were a lead to the mystery they were facing. She moved forward and crouched in front of Jack, her left hand on his right shoulder.

"What did you see?" She asked, her tone serious but with serenity.
"A male's corpse," Jack answered softly, shivering and biting his lip.
"Where did you see the body?" Carla asked again, helping the boy up this time.
"I-in the covered court." He stammered, his fingers and legs shaking.

Carla looked at her classmates. She nodded at them and told her classmates she will go to the covered court. Just as she was about to dash out of the training room, Frank grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him.

"You're not going alone." Frank told her. "We're coming with you."

His sister smiled and led their group to the covered court.

* *

Dave noticed something unusual today. The number of students present today weren't the same as yesterday. Compared to yesterday, the hallways were crowded no matter where he was in Winchester. But today, none of the places he passed were packed with a crowd of students. There were little to no students surrounding him nor were most of them even in their classrooms.