The Jokester      

[Leon]

"Hey, Leon, what are you doing over there?"

Leon never looked at George when he replied, "Waiting for Jin."

"Egh?"

Leon could almost see George's expression. The scrunched of his bushy brows and that thin sour line of his lips.

Leon felt George's hand over his shoulder, but still, he didn't spare him a glance. He was intrigued. Intrigued at how Jin knew Eva. The ice queen from the other class.

Eva was a petite young woman with delicate features that gave her an almost ethereal appearance. Her hair was a striking shade of white, cascading down her back in loose waves that shimmered in the light. Her eyes were a piercing silver as well, giving her an otherworldly quality that was both captivating and intimidating.

Despite her small stature, Eva carried herself with a regal poise and confidence that demanded respect. She had a reputation as the "ice queen" in her class, as she rarely showed any emotion and kept her distance from others.

Her demeanor was often misinterpreted as aloofness or arrogance, but those who took the time to get to know her discovered that Eva was simply guarded and cautious around others.

Eva's unique appearance and enigmatic personality only added to her allure, making her a figure of fascination and mystery in the campus.

Eva just brazenly showed herself after a month of being absent, and of all the things, she asked where Jin was. Leon was close to the door, and he was the first person that she had spoken to.

Leon really thought that Spring had finally come to him. But the first words between them were not their names of introduction but another man's name.

"Where's Jin?"

Leon remembered Eva asking, and he remembered how he was totally caught off guard by her sudden appearance.

"Where's Jin," she repeated, impatient in her tone this time that Leon stammered into answering.

"R-rooftop."

And before Leon could form a word of conversation, Eva left, her hair swaying behind her.

"I don't get why you're talking to that man. Don't you feel scared that he'll beat you up?" George asked, pulling Leon from his thoughts.

Leon finally stared at George and threw him a smile. "Jin isn't like that. He wouldn't just beat someone up without reason."

"Yeah? Tell that to those who he did beat up." George laughed and went back to the others while wiping his sweat with his shirt. "If you got beat up, don't go crying to me, okay? I don't want to be implicated."

Leon only shook his head with a wry smile on his face. He peeked in the hallway again and waited for Jin to arrive.

It was a scorching hot day outside, and it was a blackout. The temperature in the classroom had reached a staggering 40 degrees Celsius, and everyone was feeling extremely uncomfortable.

The heat wave hit them like a ton of bricks. The windows were open, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. They knew they were in for a long day.

Some even went home, and only half of the class remained. The heat was too much to bear. Some students began fanning themselves with their notebooks, while others wiped the sweat off their foreheads with their sleeves.

A few students took out their water bottles and started drinking, but they soon realized that it wasn't helping much. They could feel their clothes sticking to their skin, and their energy levels were dropping rapidly.

Leon was looking over the hallway. There weren't many students in the hallway, mostly a few who walked here and there while some wanted to escape the rising heat inside the rooms.

Finally, Jin arrived, and the students parted when he walked into the hallway.

"S-so cool . . ." Leon muttered with awe. He was a head taller than Jin, but the only time people feared him was when he got drunk and started to run naked in the streets.

"Jin!" Leon greeted with a wide smile, and he asked straight away. "You didn't tell me that you know Eva!"

Jin skidded to a stop beside Leon. His blank expression changed to one of curiosity for the first time. "Eva?"

Leon's eyes burst open when Jin didn't know Eva, but then he realized that Jin had just transferred a month ago, at the time when Eva wasn't going to school anymore.

"Yes! Eva! She's the ice queen from another class. You know, the girl with a beautiful icy face, white hair, and silver eyes. Come to think of it. You resembled her a bit. Maybe she's your lost twin."

Jin didn't make any effort to smile at Leon's joke. Instead, his face was a little grim for Leon's liking.

Was he going to beat him now? Leon thought and swallowed hard.

Leon waited for Jin to retort when the latter opened his mouth, but when Jin stopped midway, his eyes widened, and his mouth parted, Leon got confused.

"What?" Leon asked, but Jin only stared behind him, unmoving. "What? What is it?"

Leon shifted his attention over his shoulder and found what Jin was looking at.

"Oh, shoot! It's Mr. Henry!" Leon scratched his head and cursed under his breath. "I thought he was in the hospital. What is he doing here?"

"What? Mr. Henry is here?"

The others scrambled to the door, hoping that Leon was just pulling their legs like he usually did.

Leon squinted his eyes to take a better look because the English teacher seemed odd. Was he limping? And . . . "Is that blood in his mouth?"

"What's gotten into him?" George asked, voice slightly shaking.

"Maybe it's the heat. His feeling wobbly," another said with a snicker.

"What's wrong with his skin? Are those blisters?"

Something was different about their teacher – he looked disheveled, and his eyes had a vacant, distant look. His skin was mottled and discolored, and he had a slow, shuffling gait.

Before they could react, Mr. Henry spotted them and started running towards them, arms outstretched, his fat jiggling on his face with each step. The students were horrified as they saw his face contorted into a grotesque snarl, full of blisters popping with puss and blood. His mouth was torn wide open, dripping with blood, and he released an inhuman growl.

The sight was too much for some of the students, and they turned and ran, screaming in terror. The sound of their footsteps echoed down the hallway as they fled from the teacher. Others were frozen in fear, unable to move or think clearly.

Leon had it worse. He was so shock to move while the others scrambled inside the room.

Even with his weight Mr. Henry was very fast. And within second he was only meters from Leon and he could almost feel Mr. Henry's rotting breath on his neck as he closed in on him.