Episode 6: The Girl That Is Delusional

Middle of Who-Knows-Where

Who-Knows-When

In Atdonus Highschool

6:00am, Pandora woke up, her blanket on the ground while she tossed in her sleep.

She blinked a few times before sitting up in her bed. She looked around her, at the dorm before putting on a cheeky smile. She hopped out of bed and changed quickly before running out of the dorm, locking the door beforehand.

Pandora raced across the school compound in the dark, going by feeling as she cut sharp corners, barely avoiding walls and other facilities. She entered the building where classes took place, running in, her hair flowing behind her. Running around with a sense of direction, she reached a certain stairway and sprinted up it, her eyes wide and her mouth grinning. She burst onto the roof, shouting, “Time!”

She giggled, taking a step forward. Her centre of gravity tilted too much to the front, almost making her fall before she caught herself with the next step, her body straightened before she walked towards the middle with a mixture of spins and trips. She giggled hysterically as the sun started to rise, allowing her to appreciate the view slightly. She sat down at the edge of the roof, her legs dangling off the side of the building, the garden below her.

She giggled to herself, “Am I going to die?”

She swung her legs back and forth, watching the sunrise, casting a golden light over her.

“But that won’t be fun!” She continued, scratching her chin.

There were footsteps behind her, catching her attention and making her turn. Pandora looked at the person that entered the roof and fell backwards, lying on the edge of the roof while her legs were dangling. She looked at the new entry curiously, not expecting company at the time of the day. The person was not an expected guest, but she was more than welcomed in her book.

6:55am, A girl left her dorm.

She walked along the dark place, making sure not to step in the wrong places or hit into any facilities. She was careful as she looked at her feet. She asked, “Isaac, where do you think we should go?”

“The roof, maybe?” He replied.

The girl nodded, walking a short distance more before someone ran past her. She jumped slightly, causing Isaac to raise an eyebrow. “Evelyn, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry.” She replied, readjusting her posture.

Isaac wore the school uniform, although one size too big. He was 174cm tall with short, black curly hair and green eyes. A dark shade of green, Evelyn’s favourite colour. He was a dork but was serious when it mattered, Evelyn’s favourite personality trait for someone to have. Despite all that, the two were not dating, they were simply really good childhood friends.

Evelyn was slightly shorter than Isaac, 172cm tall with long silky black hair with purple highlights. She was thin with bright skin, although she ranked first among the most attractive girls in school, she noticed that no one ever approached her with Isaac around. However, even with her beauty, she had an ugly burn mark on her torso, proof of an accident that both of them had survived, similarly, under his uniform, Isaac hid his burns.

“Why are we going to the roof though?” Evelyn asked, curious.

“I need to catch up on homework, so can you please teach me?” He begged.

“Which topic?”

“Math.”

“My forte, leave it to me.”

They walked with each other to the roof, slowly making their way up the not-so-hidden stairway. The two of them had not started on good terms when they first were introduced to the other by their parents. Over time, they became closer, now basically inseparable, especially after the incident.

They entered the roof, chatting. Evelyn did as she promised, teaching math to Isaac with much success. This went on for some time before he ran away, saying he needed to get ready for class. The moron ran away, forgetting that Evelyn needed to do the same and had to return anyways. She pouted and walked off.

“It’s always like this with him!” She complained. “Can’t he show some thought?”

The answer was an astounding no.

8:00am, Evelyn stepped into class.

She was in a different class from Isaac, so she just kept to herself when in class, not trying to stand out. She sat somewhere in the middle, not the most outstanding of seats. She looked to her left, seeing that her usual sitting partner was absent. She struggled to remember who it was before forgetting it altogether.

8:02am, their teacher, Mr Andrews walked in.

He was a stern teacher, but to Evelyn, he was like everyone else, unnecessary to her life and development. She yawned and covered her head with a textbook, going to sleep in the middle of class.

11:30am, Evelyn was woken up.

She looked up, seeing that Isaac had arrived to get her. She gracefully stood up and walked off with him, leaving the class. They walked past the masses of students that made way for them.

“Never knew you were so intimidating!” Evelyn laughed, bumping Isaac’s side.

“I don’t quite know either.” He replied.

“Being humble again. Man up already.” She complained.

“It’s fine this way, no?” He told her.

She shrugged nonchalantly, almost like she did not care, instead, Evelyn headed in the direction of the cafeteria. It was crowded, having been swept up by the crowd, she was separated from Isaac. She looked around, then proceeded to buy two sandwiches, one for herself, the other for Isaac. She knew that he would always be there when she called for him, he was just that kind of guy. Trustworthy to a fault.

She managed to squeeze her way out, facing Isaac, who was trying to push with his small frame. She laughed and tapped a sandwich to his head, saying, “The lady gave me extra, so do you want to have this?”

“You bought it?” He asked.

“She gave me a bonus, okay? You know how people are like when they mess up an order?” She explained, obviously lying.

“Then I’ll take you up on the offer.” He said, rubbing the back of his head.

Evelyn, holding both sandwiches, followed Isaac as he walked further, eventually reaching a corner away from the crowd, where the two of them sat isolated. She tossed him a sandwich and started eating on her own.

12:30pm, the bell rang and she was back in class.

This time, Mr Connor entered the class. He was the new teacher who Evelyn barely remembered, she just felt that his lessons were too generic and by the textbook, not interesting to her at all.

As per usual, she just started sleeping again, not interested in studying. She was smart enough even without any studying, she always got a perfect score, with Math being flawless even before high school. After all, she had helped Isaac get a distinction in math for all those years too despite him being an idiot.

3:10pm, school ended.

Evelyn left early, walking over to where they had lunch. It was a frequent meetup place of theirs, a tree with benches built around it. The tree provided shade and a nice background for relaxing. She was waiting for Isaac when someone approached her. A girl she did not remember seeing in the past was approaching her rather cautiously. Evelyn made eye contact with her, wondering where Isaac was.

She looked to the side, seeing Isaac, so she got up and ran at him, pulling his arm and running away into her dorm. The surprised Isaac simply followed, not saying a word. Evelyn shut the door tight, looking out the peephole.

“What’s going on?” Isaac asked.

“I saw a weird girl stalking me, so I made sure to get away in case she had ill-intentions,” Evelyn told him without turning back.

“The girl could have been trying to be friends with you, y’know?”

“Who would do that?”

“You never know until you try.”

“Why should I?”

“So that you can get a friend that is not me.” Isaac stated his tone final.

“Eh... I mean, sure, why not? Maybe I’ll go invite her over tomorrow.” She sighed, not wanting to get into a quarrel with Isaac.

“That’s good.” He laughed.

“Whatever, Einstein.” She said, kicking him lightly.

“Who’s that?”

“You’re hopeless.”

Evelyn walked over to her desk, taking out a textbook and writing something. Isaac watched her and asked, “Why don’t you go invite her over today? Then you don’t have to wait that long.”

“Such an idiotic idea, I’m down.” Evelyn replied sarcastically.

“Good luck then.” He cheered.

Evelyn sighed, it was a bad idea to argue with Isaac since he would go on a 3-hour rant over something like chocolate bananas or being a loner. She left the room and went over to where she had seen the girl before running off.

3:48pm, she saw the girl.

“Hey, so Isaac said I should figure out what you wanted to say.” She said awkwardly.

“I just wanted to talk...” the girl replied nervously.

“Just to talk? Want to go to my room, there’s more privacy there.” Evelyn recommended.

The girl agreed to follow her, not too far behind her in steps. Evelyn returned to her dorm room and allowed her to enter. It was a clean room, not too much going on, only what she needed there. Isaac had also left, probably to allow some private time between Evelyn and the girl. Evelyn walked towards the dining table, letting the girl sit on one and she sat across from her. The girl looked around, her eyes wide and mesmerised.

“My room isn’t that different from others, is it?” She asked.

“Um...” The girl muttered.

“What do you want to say?” Evelyn asked, tapping the table.

She wanted to do something else other than talk, she wanted to hang out with Isaac like always, have some fun with a friend. However, she was told to do this to make a new friend. Isaac was weird like that, worrying about the weirdest of things. It was not like she needed new friends as long as he was there.

“Who’s Isaac...?”

She raised an eyebrow, not expecting that question. “He’s a childhood friend of mine. I walk around with him all the time because I have nothing to do.”

“I see...”

Evelyn stretched her fingers and asked, “Why the sudden question about Isaac?”

“You mentioned him, so I got curious.” The girl mumbled.

“You don’t need to worry, Isaac is probably the least threatening person in this school, seeing as we have all these freak shows walking around.” Evelyn laughed lightly. “Get this, gangsters, thieves, murderers and who knows what else is here! Both me and Isaac are a lot more normal compared to them.”

The girl flinched when she talked.

Evelyn ignored it and asked again, “So, why are you here again?”

4:00pm, the girl stiffened up.

The girl, who was acting reserved the entire time, seemed to turn angry. It was odd, why did the mood turn sour so quickly? Did she say something wrong?

“Listen here!” The girl scowled. “You’re-”

Evelyn was unable to hear the next few words, her ears seemingly going deaf. What had the girl said? Evelyn was about to ask her to repeat herself, reaching out to grab her hand. In the moment of contact between Evelyn and the girl, she was pushed back and out of her chair. She must have fallen wrongly, her sides flaring up in pain as she tried to get up.

Something about her was wrong, she felt it. She blinked, her room changing in interior design, the girl’s face becoming clearer. When she blinked again, it was back to normal. Every blink, she kept seeing the change, her vision becoming blurrier and blurrier until she completely fainted. Was she delusional just now? Seeing the horrid design of her room?

8:00pm, she opened her eyes.

She was in a bed not her own, she turned to the side, looking through the dark room, trying to spot anything recognisable. It seemed like it was Isaac sitting beside her, and it was his room. The clumsy friend of her’s had fallen asleep on a chair, his eyes closed and his expression peaceful. She could hear the soft breathing coming from him. Evelyn could guess, she had gotten injured, Isaac had saved her.

She looked at his expression, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Love you.” She whispered before falling asleep.

6:10am, Pandora was lying down on the edge of the roof.

She looked at the person who just entered the roof. She was taller than Pandora, 172cm tall with a thin frame. She wore the normal school uniform and walked with grace. She had long, straight, black hair and bright skin. Pandora could see that she was pretty, but something was off. The uniform had long sleeves, hiding her arms up to her wrist. However, her hands were bandaged, not just her hands and fingers, her legs and neck were also bandaged up. Only her face was not concealed, Pandora wanted to know why.

Before she could ask, the girl sat down, talking to someone. Curious, Pandora tried approaching her, looking around her and even waving a hand in front of her face, unable to get her attention. Eventually, she got up and left the roof, leaving Pandora more confused than ever.

8:00am, Pandora was in class.

She scanned the class, spotting the same bandaged girl she had seen on the roof. She sat to the right of where Angela would have sat if she was not suspended. The girl seemed bored, not really doing anything until she fell asleep in her seat, the textbook on her head. Mr Andrews had entered the class, looked at everyone before setting his stuff down on the table.

“Three people are not in class.” He said. “Are you kids trying not to have a future?”

He saw the girl and went up to her, tapping the textbook. She did not move or even seem alarmed that Mr Andrews was so close to her. He gave up and continued with class. Pandora kept an eye on her, wanting to see what she would do.

11:30am, lunch break arrived.

Pandora excused herself from Lesley and Sylva, walking out of the classroom, following the bandaged girl. People gave way to her while she talked to her left, showing expressions. Pandora looked to see who she was talking to, seeing no one. The bandaged girl turned a corner, leaving Pandora’s sight of view and disappearing into the crowd.

“We’re you following her?” Lesley asked.

Pandora jumped, though not showing it. She asked Lesley, “I was wondering who she was.”

“We don’t recommend you to associate with her.” Lesley answered.

“Why?” Pandora threw the question behind her while trying to find the bandaged girl.

“People say she talks to herself, she can’t recognise anyone’s face and she lives in her own world. You saw it just now, right? Even Mr Andrews can’t do anything about her.” Lesley elaborated.

Pandora nodded, thinking back. Indeed, it was weird that she did not react to her, but she also ignored Mr Andrews.

3:10pm, class ended.

Pandora was walking towards her dorm, looking around with fear. While observing her surroundings, she spotted a hidden corner of the school with a single great tree, benches built around it. The girl sat on a bench, a sandwich laying on the ground nearby, untouched. Pandora approached her cautiously until she was noticed. A moment after she was spotted, the bandaged girl ran in a different direction, grabbing air and running with her hand behind her.

Pandora, only wanting to talk to her. Just sat down, trying not to cry over such small matters.

3:48pm, Pandora was invited by the girl to enter her room.

Pandora followed after her, wondering if it was a trap to bully her. She suppressed the fear, trying to focus on the main agenda of figuring out what was wrong with her.

Upon entering the room, Pandora was shocked. No, shocked was downplaying it, she was simply petrified, her legs barely being able to move. The room was dark, with things being scattered all over the floor. Worse, along the walls were pictures being hung up of a boy. He had black curly hair and green eyes. The pictures were of him, others with both him and the girl without the bandages. The walls were scattered with those pictures, and red paint was used to write indecipherable writings. Pandora watched as the girl threaded the ground towards a dining table without stepping on any of the sharp objects on the ground.

Pandora followed after her, being careful. When she got there, they had a small conversation, finding out who Isaac was. Pandora wondered whether the boy in the pictures was Isaac. In their conversation, one thing stood out to her, it was her mention of all the unique individuals in the school. She tried thinking about it, but the girl pushed the conversation on.

4:00pm, Pandora stiffened.

She had scowled, “Listen here! You’re delusional!”

She stared blankly at Pandora, as if not hearing it. She reached out for Pandora’s hand, wanting her to repeat what she had said. Pandora, upon contact, all senses flared up and she aggressively pushed her away, shouting, “Don’t touch me!”

The girl fell backwards, landing on one of the sharp objects littered in the ground.

7:58pm, Azel was in the infirmary.

He sat beside a bed, wondering what he was doing. Pandora had called him over to help carry the girl to the infirmary, even to look after her for a while. He stared out the nearest window, appreciating the silence and peacefulness it brought.

“Love you.”

Azel looked back at the girl, confused. She must have been tired since she had lost quite some blood, even passing out from shock at the injury. He was unsure why Pandora had done what she did, but felt no reason to question her about it.

The next day, before the girl woke up, Azel did what Pandora had told him to do, bringing her into her own room and laying her down on her bed.

6:43am, Evelyn woke up on her own bed.

Her gut hurt badly. She looked around her plain room and wondered why Isaac had brought her back to her room. That was when she saw a hint of curly black hair nearby. Isaac was asleep, his head pressed against her bed. She sat up with much difficulty to rub his head.

“It’s always like this, huh?” She whispered, half laughing. “You always end up taking care of me no matter what day it is or where we are.”