Torn Pages (Part Three)

-THIRD PERSON-

In the stillness of the night, several footsteps can be heard at the building of the Engineering Department. A school guard with a bulky built and a bulging tummy is currently patrolling every floor of the said building to check if students are still silently lurking in the area. With a flashlight in its right hand, he illuminates his way towards the stairs leading to the ground floor.

“Thomas, aren’t you resting at this hour?”

The guard halted upon seeing the familiar of this school admin, yet he can’t bring himself to remember his name.

“Good eve sir.” he courteously said, still having a hard time remembering his name. “I am about to go back to my station since I just finished checking this whole building.”

“Ahh is that so? I’m also about to go downstairs, mind if I join you?” the school admin asked. The guard nodded, and together they climbed down towards the ground floor.

As soon as they reached the ground floor, this school admin suddenly stopped walking and jerked his head on his right, where the building of the Science and Technology department is located.

“Sir… is there something wrong?” asked the guard with a hint of confusion in his tone.

Upon hearing the guard, the guy that he’s with swiftly turned his head and a smile was plastered on his face.

“Nothing at all. Say, why don’t you go back to your station now? I forgot I had other things to do at the moment.”

Even though the guard is still quite confused about what is happening around here, he kept his silence and walked past the guy. With the guard now out of sight, the school admin went back in looking at the building which is not too far away from here.

His instincts seem to tell him that something is going on around that building….especially in the school’s science laboratory.

He was a bit confused about whether he would go and check it himself or shrug it away and just leave. But then he decides to choose the first one, so with that thought, his feet started to take several quick steps towards the said building.

As soon as he arrived at the building, he hurriedly went to the stairs that would lead him to the second floor where the science lab is located.

He arrives on the second floor without seeing any traces of students lurking in the hallways. When he arrives in front of the door of the science lab, the very first thing he checks is the doorknob. Surprisingly though, the door is still locked.

After seeing that everything is good here, he now turns his back to leave. But as soon as he was about to take a step away from the door, his eyes squinted, and looked again at the science lab.

Someone is definitely inside this room.

He walked near it and grabbed the keys of the lab. As a school admin himself, he holds all keys to every room of this school. Upon finding the right one, he soon inserts the key to the door’s keyhole.

*CLICK*

The moment he heard that he shoved back his keys to his pocket and twisted the doorknob to the right. The door made creaking sounds as he slowly opened the door and entered the school lab.

*Click clack… click-clack… click-clack…*

The sound of his leather shoes are the only ones that could be heard on the four corners of this room as he slowly walked and roamed around the lab. When he sees that everything is still in order, he pauses for a moment and let out a sigh.

” I guess everything is fine around here.” he muttered to himself.

He was just about to turn around when his gaze landed on the enormous cabinet that was placed at the very edge of the laboratory. He narrowed his pair of almond-shaped eyes as he slowly walked towards the said cabinet.

Before making it through towards that thing, he suddenly stopped walking when he felt his cell phone vibrating from his left pocket. His right hand immediately reached for his phone and looked at his screen.

A very familiar phone number to him is now flashing at his phone screen right now. He hurriedly pressed the answer button and shoved the phone close to his ears.

“Hello? … Yes director...Yes, I’m on my way to your office… Alright then, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” he spoke in his most formal tone.

After that brief conversation with the director, he places back his phone to the left pocket of his brown slacks and hastily walks his way out of the school laboratory. He didn’t forget to lock the door before completely leaving.

At the back of his head, he was telling himself that it was the first time he went again to the said school facility after all these years.

***

-KYLIE-

Cedric and I automatically exhaled our breaths that we don’t know how much we’ve been holding on, the moment we realized that the guy who entered the laboratory finally went outside.

But that deep, raspy voice…

I can’t believe it! I knew it was Mr. Cruz who had entered here a while ago.

“Isn’t that Mr.Cruz who had just entered here?” Cedric said the exact words that I am thinking right now. “What is he even doing here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe checking if there are still naughty students who are lurking, like us, perhaps?” I beamed.

I find this sneaking activity of ours a little bit of fun. Seriously, I’ve never broken a rule before. This is so… thrilling! And exciting!

Anyway, since Mr. Cruz is already gone, Cedric and I stood up once again and started walking around the laboratory with our phone flashlights turned on. This school lab is more spacious than I’d imagine. It’s like four classrooms brought up together to form this.

The first thing we approached is the spot where the tables that students used during experiments were placed. Unfortunately though, after checking it one by one, we haven’t found any single clue.

“What are we even doing here?” I heard Cedric asked, thus breaking this deafening silence between us.

“I don’t know either, to be honest.” I paused for a moment and looked at him. “I was just following what I can see here in Jay’s glasses.”

After that, we moved towards another spot where tools for the experiment were placed.

“We can look for clues here, I guess?”

I suddenly recalled Mr. Cruz’ words back then at the school clinic before I was discharged. When I asked him about those missing students in the yearbook, he said that both of those students decided to quit being an Alpha Student and moved on with their lives as normal people.

I’m not totally buying it. It is hard for me to believe that such persons gifted with their unique powers, like us, would just suddenly quit being an Alpha Student!

Several minutes passed and still, we can’t find any single clue. I glanced at my wristwatch for a bit and found out it is almost ten in the evening. Cedric and I decided to take a seat for a while and let our bodies rest from all that walking. I almost chuckled when I heard him yawn on my right.

“Aww, somebody’s sleepy already.” I teased him. I saw him arching one eyebrow at me.

“Me? Sleepy? Come on I still have energy left in me.” I laughed when I heard him denying it.

I don’t know why but I can feel at ease when I’m around him or Mitch.

I stopped laughing and smiled at him. “Thanks for going all around here with me.”

“Nah, don’t mention it.” he smiled in return.

Unfortunately for us, our smiles didn’t last for long the moment my eyes landed in the direction of the door.

I saw a teenage boy entering the school laboratory, and with him are suspicious-looking men in their black suits. Beside him walking is the familiar figure of a guy… but I just can’t pinpoint where I have last seen him.

My eyes went round when I saw him stop on their tracks, and looked at us.

“Cedric, what should we do---”

My mouth gaped the moment I saw the guy currently sitting on my right is none other than Jay Abella himself, one of the students who’s missing from the yearbook.

“J-Jay?” I uttered his name in disbelief.

I suddenly squeezed my eyes shut when I felt my head throbbed once again. The pain that I am experiencing right now felt like someone had taken a knife to my skull. The rest of my surroundings became detached and all I could concentrate on was this pain rooted in my head.

Nonetheless, I tried to fight it off, and forcefully opened my eyes once more. With my hands desperately clinging on the nearest chair next to me, my eyes shifted between Jay and the people that just entered here;

I tried my best to visualize the face of this teenage boy standing in front of Jay, but unfortunately, even my vision starts to become blurry. My other hand flew above my head as I still felt this throbbing pain inside it.

“Kylie?! Kylie? A-are you alright?”

I can feel my surroundings starts to dim out but I still tried to fight it off and tried my best to know what’s going on around here.

“Kylie, please! Answer me!”

Two personas, who are naturally tall and are dressed in their black suits, are now walking on the opposite side to where Jay is located and grasp him from both of his elbows. The latter tried to free himself from their grasps but their grips are so tight that in the end, Jay chose to give up and stopped moving.

“Why aren’t you answering me? Kylie, I said are you alright? Do I need to take you now to the school clinic?”

*Click-clack!”

The sound of someone’s heels soon echoed around the laboratory when a lady with an hourglass figure suddenly entered the scene and went near Jay. I tried to figure out who she is, but I can’t due to my foggy vision. When she is now in front of him, she slowly takes a blue-colored plastic envelope out of the boy’s hands.

I wonder what's that envelope for…

‘Kylie!”

When this lady had successfully taken the mentioned envelope, her heels made another sound as she walked away out of this room. With this lady completely out of our sight, my gaze soon shifted towards this familiar guy who is standing right next to this teenage boy in front of Jay.

“It’s time…”

After that, darkness soon began to swallow me…

***

The next day, I found myself waking up inside the school clinic once again, with Cedric sitting right next to me in his complete uniform. He smiled the moment he saw me open my eyes.

“Hey. How are you feeling right now?” he asked.

“I’m feeling alright now.” Then my brows furrowed. “Mind if I asked why I am here?”

“I brought you here yesterday night since you passed out when we were at the science lab,” he explained. That confused me even more.

What the heck are we doing at the school science lab in the middle of the night?

“Say, Kylie…” I turned again to look at Cedric, who looks kinda hesitant to tell me what’s going on around his head.

“... can you tell me what you saw in the science lab yesterday night?”

My forehead puckered. “Huh?” was all I said.

I tried to remember the events that happened to me yesterday night, and the funny thing here is… I don’t actually recall myself going into the science lab with him.

“I don’t recall seeing something yesterday night…”