Third Story: A Night to Remember

Chapter 4

19 October 2021

It is barely 7 am and the damned propaganda speakers are already blasting the morning announcements that I couldn't give two hoots about. I wake up, still feeling drained, and quickly dress up for school. Breakfast doesn't taste as good this morning as usual, partly because I lack a few hours of sleep so my taste buds have not begun working quite yet. Well, at least the lake looks beautiful and radiant, just like it is every day, and it soothes my mind.

The trip to school was unnoteworthy, but the first period was. Quite a few people in my class neglected to do their homework and were asked by the teacher to stand outside, in the hallway. Nam and the girls were some of those people. Luckily, I managed to finish the required amount of work just a few hours before our excursion last night.

Then the third period, which is Geography, comes. As expected, we are given handouts to do the forty-five-minute test of which we were warned. Thank goodness, I studied for it. With only a few minutes left, I quietly check all of my answers again, lest I make a silly mistake. From the corner of my eye, Nam seems to be fidgeting. I raise my head and see Vân biting her nails perhaps a bit too enthusiastically and Xuân perspiring profusely. The old teacher is playing with his phone, presumably scrolling through Facebook feeds again. I'd like to sympathise with them, but we have to learn to deal with the consequences of our actions. I shrug and get back to the test.

The bell rings, indicating the end of the period and the test. I stretch my back to shrug off all the burden of the entire week even though it is only Tuesday. Next period is Chemistry, and we have lab. Nam looks at me with teary and resentful eyes, as if saying that I could have helped him during the test. I say nothing in order not to provoke him, take my bag and leave the classroom.

The lab session itself was not hard per se, but today we are doing quite a number of experiments so we all have to move fast.

"Now listen, one of the experiments will yield toxic gases as products. Hence, it is important that you conduct that particular experiment in a fume hood," says the Chemistry teacher. "Even though we are a rich school..."

I snorted, but just quiet enough such that only I could hear it.

"We don't have enough fume hoods for everyone in the class to do the experiment simultaneously, so discuss with your group mates about the order of the experiments you will be conducting."

As she finishes her surprisingly concise briefing, I can't help but believe that something feels off today, in this particular laboratory. This was where we saw the blue flame, so I am tempted to look around every single nook and cranny. But obviously, I cannot do that now. Something the teacher just said make me ponder over the scene we witnessed. However, try as I might, I cannot put my finger on it.

The period goes by in a flash, and I leave the lab with more questions than answers. Nam, Vân and Xuân catch up to me and we chat about various unimportant things. As we walk past the biology laboratory, I observe that the handprints were gone.

"No handprints," Nam says. "I wonder how they can just disappear into thin air like that."

"Must be magic," Vân giggles.

"No such thing, there must be an explanation," I retort, trying to inspect the windows more closely this time. There is nobody using that room currently, so I am secretly glad that I don't look out of place.

What's this? There are a few scratch marks on the surface of the glass, and they clearly were not there last academic year. So something must have happened that caused those scratches. The bell, however, interrupts my train of thought. I check my watch and realise that it is now lunchtime. Just in time, I am already hungry, and surely the other three must be too.