Chapter 4: Scared

From the incident of meeting that being that strangled him, to being in that weird place that had a thing that looked like an advanced phone, to being here, surrounded by corpses, that treat him as one of their kind, Adam's nerves had been stretched thin, he had contained his fears not to explode but with the gaze he just met, it didn't take a slipt second for him to go into a frenzy.

At that moment, Adam screamed, a scream that sounded nothing like a man's, he jumped up immediately which made him bump his head into the upper bunk, but that didn't stop him from leaving the bed with a swift speed, it took Adam milliseconds to decide whether to run out or turned on the switch light in the room - which was at the side of the door, meters away from him- but Adam choose neither.

He chose to turn back and face the torchlight to where he saw the gaze, he couldn't guarantee that the seconds he would take to turn on the room switch or leave the room would save his life, he could as well be dead before he could accomplish that, he rather faced the thing and pull up a fight, he did all this based on instinct.

It was then a voice rang up in the room, kelvin was the owner, " What's going on?" Before a shadow ran by to turn on the room switch. The room brightened up.

The torch that Adam was holding was on Taiwo, Kaleb on the other hand stood beside the steel bunk, his legs in a weird posture that Adam didn't know if it was a combat stance, while Kelvin was beside the door, the silence lasted for a slipt second before kelvin broke it with questioning.

.

"I'd like the person who screamed to explain what happened?" Then his gaze turned to Adam " Adam?" 

Adam froze there, he was previously petrified by fears but now his rationality was slowly coming back to him, the gaze he met in the dark earlier looked familiar, of course, it was, because it belonged to Taiwo, although the gaze had a tint of viciousness yet it still had an innocent lining to it.

_But why would he be staring at me in the dark? Wait, don't tell me he was planning on eating me?_

Lots of possibilities rang through Adam's mind but that didn't stop him from bursting into an outrage.

" It was Taiwo ... I don't know why but he was staring at me in the dark with one kind look. I thought he was going to hurt me so I yelled"

" If normal people yelled due to danger, they would call for help, not shriek"

Kelvin gave him a scrutinizing look which gave Adam a chill, before turning to Taiwo.

" And may I know why you were spooking our dear new roomie in the dark, you know with that shriek he made I'm afraid our neighbors would believe we have a girl in here"

That last part made the culprit blush for no reason, Kaleb seemed to have relaxed and Kelvin had a smirk on his face and it was obvious that he was trying to ease the tension.

" I didn't mean to do that, I wanted to talk to you and tell you that your bunk might not be safe due to the previous owner and call you to sleep at my bunk but when I got down, you were so focused on what you were reading and I didn't want to disturb you, that was when you looked at me and..."

" Stop spouting out lies, I knew you were up to something, that look you gave me was scary" Adam retorted, wanting to throw all the blame on Taiwo, but the innocent look he gave wasn't helping at all.

" But, I didn't know you would get scared"

He said with indignation that Adam couldn't tell if it was fake.

Truth be told, Adam had already figured out everything, and he was to blame but not entirely, after all, which fourteen-year-old kid can stay sane after all this, even their skin-like corpse was only making things worse.

Taiwo staring at him in the dark didn't show any sign of threat, Adam was the one who had been on alert the whole time and gave a strong reaction, okay, maybe too strong.

He realized that a non-superstitious person wouldn't have reacted that way.

But Adam was still standing in the same posture, the torch still on Taiwo and his stance on alert mode.

Believe it or not, if any of these corpses took any weird reactions

Adam was ready to run out of the room, but thankfully nothing happened.

With pale skin and a temperate voice, Kelvin spoke.

" Okay, it looked like nothing serious happened."

"Geez, you guys almost gave me a heart attack. Adam, please try not to shout like that next time, and Taiwo that stunt you pulled can give a heart attack believe it or not, especially to a newcomer. If I was the one, my bat would have hit you already." 

Kevin looked at the wall clock and sighed "Just three hours left, I need to get enough rest before the stuff starts, I hope my sleep doesn't get disturbed again. Let's get some sleep"

"What stuff will happen after three hours?" Adam asked, still in that weird posture.

With a yawn, Kelvin walked to his bunk while giving a response " You see, once in a while, all students come for a little get-together." Now on the ladder separating the two bunks

"It's a bonfire party to be precise, behind our building over at the field, everyone ought to be there for the party. Well staying in your dorm when everyone is out is it not actually..... Encouraging, so technically everyone will be there having fun all night."

Covering himself with a blanket, "You should get some sleep, it will be a long night.

Taiwo turn off the light, and please let our newcomer 'breathe'."

Kaleb followed suit, lying on his bed.

Taiwo with his eyes filled with uncertainty Adam proceeded to turn off the switch which made the radiance from the torch

Adam was holding fully displayed on Taiwo's face.

" Can you please remove the light from my face?" the boy said.

Adam did so, but the light till on his body, just the lower part now.

"Adam, turn off the torch, you can continue reading your stuff tomorrow," Kelvin yelled.

" Actually... " Adam cleared his throat, he was less tense now, and standing straight,

"I was going to use the light to sleep, I mean I'm scared of the dark."

After that was said, silence followed.

" You are scared of the dark, aren't you fourteen?" Kelvin asked, he was in his bed looking at Adam, his expression unreadable.

"So?" Adam who stood at the door said. _ What does my age get to do with anything?_

" That shouldn't explain why I should not be scared of the dark"

"Well, around here no one gets scared of the dark" Kelvin stayed quiet for a while before adding "Since you are a newcomer, I'll let things go your way, but please lessen the brightness of the torch and you two stop doing a staring contest and go to sleep"

after saying that Kelvin stayed quiet, while Adam used his hands to cover the touch, lessening the brightness.

Taiwo walked to the bunk, making eye contact with Adam all the way, which the latter reciprocated.

On getting to the ladder and climbing to his bed, Taiwo finally spoke "I'm sorry".

Adam didn't know if it was wise to hold a grudge against a ghost, especially not knowing its physical prowess, but Adam was too angry to respond and just watch the former get to his spot, while Adam watched him all the way contemplating how he was going to stay safe.

The fear was still there for sure, his heart still racing at an unhealthy speed and most importantly he realized the helplessness of the situation.

He knew so little about his situation so he could do nothing, he didn't know where he was or what to do -or at least he knew but he didn't understand.

Signing helplessly, Adam lay on the bed, the torch covered with a blanket.

Sleep refused to come for obvious reasons and his thoughts ran wild, but he was certain about one thing, he was not safe, the certainty came from the fact that there was going to be a party. If everyone was a ghost, just like the receptionist, that woman, and his roommates, doesn't that mean everyone else was a ghost? Won't he be surrounded by ghosts?

The information that he received when he came here still lingered in him, but it caused more confusion because it was all fragments of flashing memories.

At that moment, Adam felt a cold waft behind him and subconsciously looked beside him and his eyes froze there, there was someone else beside him, lying on his bed, the stranger's bloody eyes on him.

_What the heck_ Adam's screams got stuck in his lungs, if it wasn't for the incident with Taiwo earlier, Adam would have panicked and run out, but he didn't, instead he slowly left the bed, all the while his eyes on the stranger who also followed his gaze.

Adam climbed up to the upper bunk and lay beside Taiwo, the latter gave a startled yell before asking "What are you doing here?" 

"Let's share your bed"

"Okay .... But why the sudden change of heart?" 

Adam shined the torchlight on Taiwo, confirming he was talking to Taiwo before covering the light with a blanket before responding.

" The former kid, you talked about, the one who used to sleep below, he came back"

" Oh" 

Adam's mental say state was in a mess. Although he never believed in ghosts, he knew they existed, somehow, somewhere.

Just like he respected the existence of God but that doesn't mean he believed in him.

When his gaze met that thing's eyes, he was afraid, more scared than he was so when he first came here and saw the corpse-like people, the fear didn't come only because he felt danger from it but also because of its distinction from everyone else - their extremely pale skin- no, it was because he looked normal and exhale a chill of coldness,

Just like Oni, Oni looked the same after he turned into a ghost, only that he was normal again, no longer looking bony or fragile.

_That must have been a real ghost._

"You did the wise thing leaving there" Taiwo started talking "This place is not that safe, things are complicated here"

"How so?" Adam turns to face him.

"I was supposed to tell you this, if you don't know some things you might fall into the wrong hands"

"I've heard that before, what things am I supposed to know?" Adam frowned.

Taiwo started whispering and Adam could hardly make out his words.

"Listen, this school was previously one of the most famous schools in Rivers state, I mean haven't you seen the size, it contained up to a thousand students and lots of teachers .... But about two years things started changing, it started with rumors about ghosts and missing students, some rich kids believed it and told their parents about it which caused them to file a complaint to the school"

Then Taiwo continued explaining what happened and Adam's eyes widened in realization, he got the whole gist.

Somehow rumors started running wild about Urban legends and bullies, even after the principal tried to contain the whole situation, it didn't make things better, moreso the parents' complaints and some parents even removed their Children from schools, after all, First-grade boarding school isn't the only institution available.

Somehow the rumors started having evidence, that a few kids did go missing, but the school management contained it by filing that some students could sneak out of the school and there was no strict rule that they couldn't, which could explain why a few students were missing.

Strangely enough, those missing students' parents didn't come looking for them, those students were tagged missing because their fellow students filed the report, which only made the rumors got worst and some students got startled, even rape issues came up but when the authority came for investigation they found nothing, so they just assuming the students were trying to create hype.

That was when a student committed suicide in a dorm leaving a suicide note about being bullied, coupled with the rumors, things got heated and some parents withdrew their children, whether it was a real suicide or the students themselves did it to create further hype, no one knew.

Investigation was made but they got no report, more kids went missing and this time around parents came asking questions.

Anyway, in the end, less than a quarter of the school population remained, and within those two years few students joined, that was what puzzled Adam more, were the rumors real? What did the authorities find?

"Why did you come to the school?" Adam finally asked after much thought he was finally hooked by the story, and now things were getting clearer

"... Oh me? ... Uhm my parents died with my sister, and a friend of my parents was the one who paid the fees. I don't think he knew about the school before he put me here."

" But... Why didn't you tell him what happened?"

Taiwo kept quiet, which made Adam stare at him, after much hesitation he replied

"... You don't understand, there is no school break here and the little we have, we spend it here, technically we can't leave the school and even phone calls home are rare"

"What? Why?" Adam asked out loud, _What nonsense was he spouting?_ Adam couldn't help wondering.

"Keep your voice down" Taiwo quickly pamper, "don't let ..... They hear you" pointing behind his back.

Adam seems to have realized something" You mean Kelvin and...."

"Yes, them. Look I will tell you everything at the party." Taiwo said cutting Adam short.

"..... Okay?"

Adam laid back down, his face blank, he was thinking, at that moment, Taiwo's voice drew his attention.

" This place is like a prison, no one says it but everyone feels it" Taiwo whispered, his volume lowered. " The last thing...."

He sighed before continuing, Adam could sense the frustration in his voice "The last thing you should bother about are ghosts, cause people are worse than them, students and teachers are not the only ones in this school, there are other people here too, bad people.

Coupled with some bad students, they make life living hell here."Taiwo glanced at Adam before adding, "Don't worry, with time you will understand things"

Adam nodded before entering his reverie, he remembered the description of the trial

'The walls are too tall, you'll have to stay on the roof to see the endless night, this is a prison, isn't it?....'

_ So this place is a prison, but why so?_

_ Who are the other people here?_

_No, no, I shouldn't be worried about that, I should be worried about how to survive, meaning I should be worried about the other people here. But how are they going to hurt me_

_Too many questions, I should probably just let things take their course, too bad for the students here though, they said here is hellish and they keep staying here, I wonder....._ Adam was pulled out of his thought by Taiwo pushed.

" What are you thinking about?"

" Nothing...." Adam turned to observe the boy, his pale face and somehow cracked lips, after their conversation, Adam didn't find him that scary anymore. _ I wonder what happened to the real Taiwo_

From the information he got when he came here coupled with his intelligence, he figured that all this wasn't real just an imitation of the real thing that happened before, so a Taiwo once existed.

" Your body is so warm"

"What?"

" I said your body is so warm," Taiwo said again, with a confused face and Adam could swear his face distorted a little.

"..... Erghh, I think I'm raining a little fever" Taiwo kept quiet for some seconds before saying blankly "Get some sleep" Then he proceeded to turn his back to Adam and stayed motionless.

_Yeah right, there is no way I'm falling asleep here_

_although I'm a little tired, but no_

Adam yawned a little, he observed his surroundings and saw that there was no danger, he relaxed his nerves a little _ at least I'm alive, that is all that matters, I'm not trapped in a cage nor starved, as long as I survive this night, things will get better_ and weirdly enough he believed his thoughts, of course, he had to believe, better than falling into despair.

****************

_I fell asleep!_

that was the first thought Adam had when he was woken up.