The E.C. Room

Chapter 1: Entering the E.C. room

"So when are they coming in?"

"Soon enough."

"Good."

A happy bundle of students exited their classroom in a straight line. Or so the teachers thought. Their faces brightened and mannerisms casual, they made their way into the Audio-Visual room. Or A.V. room as they called it. Despite their teacher's serial warnings, the students didn't abstain from talking. Some even joked about the "adult video" room as they went about the hallway, not caring if their teachers heard them.

It felt like an eternity had passed since they had a chance to escape their classroom after all.

In the shouting stream of students, Layla looked up from the little pocket book she had sneaked in. The line was still very loud and still very long. Sighing in her heart, she looked around for her friends in vain. They had probably been swept into the crowd.

Sighing yet again, she closed her little book and slipped it into her skirt pocket. A smart move one would say since a teacher came to check up on their class shortly after.

The teacher gave a few instructions to the student representative as she hurried along to her own classroom that was spouting up chaos by now. Layla peered at the rushing figure and sniggered under her breath. A teacher was getting in trouble today.

It didn't take long for the student representative to sprint up and take leadership of their class.  She silenced their class (or at least tried to silenced) and lead the class of forty eight into the A.V. room. As Layla strode along the line, she noticed something amiss.

The small rectangle sheet of metal fixed on the A.V. room's door that designated the A.V. room as the A.V. room was now missing. Instead of it, a chart paper was pasted on its wooden frame stating that the room that they were about to enter was the E.C. room. A foreboding feeling was slowly creeping up on her.

Layla looked at for a second and thought, 'Huh, strange,' before brushing off the thought and entering the room.

An unexplained chill went through her body the moment she entered the room.

Plastic chairs that were previously there as an aid for the student's comfort were missing. Instead, maroon carpets were rolled out on the floor and cushions with satin coverings were arranged on the carpet in a neat manner. The lights in the already windowless room were dimmed out, Layla assumed to help the projector do its job properly.

But that feat made the room have a streak of an ancient horror. The A.C. was turned up to max, something that her own school would never do in hopes of lowering the electricity costs. It must've been the strangers going to and fro the room Layla thought.

However, even when Layla tried to make sense of it, she could not pinpoint this one feeling of something being not right. She felt suffocated in this cold. Like something was binding her right into her place, not letting her move an inch. Claustrophobia cradled her in its lap at that moment. Layla imagined herself being submerged in a liquid cooler than freezing cold water.

Another chill went up her arm at this image as she gave out a small breath in efforts to calm down. The breath fogged up in the air startling Layla out of her apparent trance.

"Now, this is strange," muttered Layla.

She shook her head. Spotting her friend Luna across the room sitting on a cushion, Layla approached the seat besides her. But then, some guy that she loathed plopped down on the seat besides her. Momentarily, she forgot about the suffocating cold and the unsettling vibe as irritation took over her. How dare that slob of a guy sit besides the goddess that was her friend?