The faulty switch

Oliver was absent-minded throughout the day's lessons, wondering what it was he heard. Was it just a voice in his head, or was it something else? he wondered.

After class, Jasper came over to his seat. Oliver was lost in thoughts.

"Hay Oliver, I saw you at the teachers' office, how did it go?" asked Jasper.

Oliver didn't seem to have heard or even seen Jasper standing there, he just sat on his seat, with an empty gaze.

"What did Mrs Caitlin tell you?" asked Jasper, but Oliver didn't reply too.

"Oliver?" said Jasper, curiously looking into Oliver's eyes.

It was as if Oliver looked through him.

"Oliver!" he called again, this time, waving his hand at Oliver's face.

Oliver strung up instantly, like someone who just got an electric shock. He stared at Jasper, with a look of confusion.

"What happened?" he muttered.

"I don't know, you were completely zoned out for some seconds," said Jasper, with a look of confusion of his own.

The bell rang for dismissal. Everyone began gauging out of the class.

"That's the bell, we've got to go to the hostel and prepare for lunch," declared Jasper.

Meanwhile, Oliver was still in thought now. Jasper was worried about this sudden change of mood by his happen-to-be friend.

"Oliver," he said, "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I am, I am," answered Oliver.

But Jasper knew he wasn't, he knew that something was wrong with Oliver. They both went to the hostel. Oliver went to his room. His roommate was already there.

Max kept on staring at him like he was expecting something.

"What?" muttered Oliver.

"I saw you hanging around with the chunk. Looks like you've finally found your way around," said Max.

Oliver looked at him for a while, and then he scoffed.

"You are going to regret all of this Oliver, and then you are gonna come running back to me," said Max.

Oliver looked away from him.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, Oliver!" he said.

Oliver was shocked by this sudden change of behavior displayed by Max.

"Yeah, you feel it's cool walking around as the most popular kid in school, not knowing that you're nothing without me," he said.

"See you around," said Max, with a sinister smile, as he left the room.

Oliver wasn't paying attention to him now. He was preparing to have his bath. When he got to the bathroom, he switched on the shower, but rushing out of the holes was steaming hot water. He tried to switch it back to normal, but it wouldn't work. Oliver was entirely stranded in the bathroom, in a loop of unsuccessful trials to change the switch.

Oliver missed lunch that day because of the faulty water switch. He needed to take his bath before leaving the hostel, but only hot water came out of the shower tap. He ended up being stuck inside the room the entire afternoon, trying to get cold water out of the tap, but unfortunately, all of his efforts were in vain, hot water still came out.

He had already missed a number of activities, and dinner was fast approaching, Oliver was super hungry right now, the rumbling and twitching sounds from his stomach proved that it was empty. He could imagine how big a risk it would be if he missed his dinner, he definitely didn't want to go to bed hungry.

At last, Oliver managed to use the hot water like that. Bathing with hot water wasn't that bad after all, and this made him a bit mad at himself for not doing that earlier.

When Oliver came out of the room to the hallway, there wasn't the sight of anyone around. The entire hostel was quiet.

'Where did everyone go?' he thought.

He glanced over his watch to see what time it was. A little flick of frown displayed over his face, followed by the slight arch of his brows. He was so surprised by what he saw.

"How come?" he muttered in disbelief.

The time was seven pm, twenty minutes past dinner. He hadn't been conscious of the time when he was busy in the bathroom.

There was a large round clock at the end of the hallway, he rushed close to it to confirm if the time his digital watch was telling was true. When he got there, he saw that he was a bit wrong. The hostel clock was five minutes ahead of his, which meant that he was even more late. He quickly made his way down the long stairs, to the dining hall.

As he approached the hall, he wondered why there was no noise heard. He had expected to hear loud hazy clatterings and the noise of metal utensils, but instead everywhere was quiet.

Entering the hall through the back door, he saw the entire students, about three hundred of them, all seated on their seats. He could only hear one voice now from the far end of the hall. There was a bald old man in a flowing black garment standing before them on a platform, at the far end of the hall. Oliver figured out that he was addressing the students. Everyone was quiet. They all had their eyes fixed on the speaker, who appeared to be a priest.

Oliver quietly walked straight to the caterer's stand. She was cautious not to get the attention of anyone. Behind the large buffet table, stood a big fat woman, with a round face and dot-like eyes. She was so fat, that some people mistook her kneck for her face. Oliver was beginning to uneasy by the way the woman kept on staring down at him.

"Uh uh, not today," she said to him, with a scornful stare.

Oliver was puzzled.

"You've had your dinner, haven't you?" asked the fat woman, with a look of disgust.

Oliver was so surprised to hear this. His lower jaw dropped an inch and a half.

"But I just got here Mrs," he protested, "I haven't had dinner."

"Yeah, it doesn't get old," said the woman, "You sneak out of the hall when you've emptied your bowl, then you walk back in, claiming you haven't eaten."

Oliver was so infuriated by this statement. The woman was saying that he had already eaten when he even missed lunch.

"I wouldn't lie to you, Mrs, I haven't eaten, I swear it," he said.

Oliver was so uncomfortable standing there. The woman wouldn't stop her suspicious stare down. He was praying that she would just hand him his food so that he could leave there.

"Then why should you be coming by this time," she asked, "Were you lost?"

"I got a bit delayed Mrs," replied Oliver, "Do I get my food now?"

The woman later gave him the food. It was a bowl of beans, and a cup of fruit juice, with water in a stainless cup. The food was served in a stainless tray.

"Enjoy your dinner," said the woman, with a faint smile, after handing out the food to him.

As Oliver turned to leave, what he saw made his heart lurch. The students in hall was staring at him. Their eyes were like sharp arrows, aimed at his heart. He was frozen to the soles of his feet. He could hear low giggles and chuckles.

"You there," called the man in the black garment.

He was pointing and looking straight at Oliver.