Ah, beautiful, wasn't it? Clear blue skies. A quiet wind brushed against the trees. Everything was... peaceful.

"…"

"Oh, hi! Didn't see you there!" a voice emerged. "My name is gjff09r9884tj#$4tit4.m'nemjeff. How you've been? Hope you've had an amazing day! I see you're still holding up! Good for you! Keep at it and I know you'll make it! I mean, you're guaranteed to, right? You're special after all. And hey, if things get tough, just think of the obstruction as a weakened dam and use your unstoppable waves to break through it! As long as you believe in yourself and your incredible talent, you'll do fine! Well, I should go! Hope to see each other again?"

"…"

"Great! Good luck! I'm rooting for you!"

After that voice, that oh so familiar voice, brisk footsteps followed from a direction I couldn't quite discern. The sound of those footsteps faded more and more into nothingness.

So… How was that? Did it work? Was I able to instill hope or courage in you? Dare I say, faith? Was I able to portray myself as an optimistic person? Someone who'd always carry those human desires? Did I...

"Did I fool you?"

"…!"

"Huh? I did, didn't I?"

Seriously? Honestly, did you really expected anyone to act like that now? Life wasn't generous, you know. No one here would help you. The only thing you could possibly expect waiting for you now was anexfgejgfheughgiuhdeathnifneifneigfniegigtjt…

Nothing. Nothing left of you. What remained was a dripping liquid diluted in-

A clear... Cool... And COLD?!

Prologue: A Flexible Spotlight Upon a Rigid Shadow

POV: ?

I clenched my wet head, hoping it'd ease the pain. The freezing headache was like an excruciating frostbite, though; leaving my reaction to be nothing but a fruitless effort. It fortunately didn't take long for the pain to subside a little.

"God, since when was the plumbing here so terrible?! Both knobs dish out nothing but icy cold water!"

I then scanned the boy's bathroom in search of paper towels, but none existed. I sighed, leaving me with no other choice but to use my plain, gray shirt as a substitute. Unzipping my black as night cotton hoodie was the first and only step needed to attain said shirt. After doing so, I grabbed the bottom, lifted it toward my face, and briskly wiped it.

Although it resulted in a soggy shirt, my face at least wasn't wet anymore. The former would dry overtime anyway. Actually, using my shirt was the best call I ever made! Its warmth surprised me, warm enough to eradicate my headache from existence…! Okay, maybe not THAT effective, but it certainly helped.

"Ah, that's better. My mind's crystal clear now."

I lightly dropped my shirt back down around my waist and met the sink's mirror. What reflected on it were my usual shallow gray eyes staring back at me.

Correction: eye. The unkempt, lengthy bang of my short gray hair annoyingly covered the other. Grunting, I pushed the bang back and revealed my second eye… Only for it to go back to concealing it as if it had a mind of its own.

"Why did I even bother?" I sighed.

I swear, I'd been cursed. Oh, but my irregular hairstyle strings didn't end there, though I usually forgot I even had because it never bothered me. An elongated and large antenna like hair strand resembling a lightning bolt sat there affixed atop my head. Long ago, when I noticed the abnormal strand, my first thought was I transformed into a robot, but that thankfully wasn't the case.

Other than those two, my hair couldn't be more normal. Remained well kept and having straightness resembling smooth vertical lines. Still, I had no clue why it grew into such an abomination. One thing was certain, though:

"I seriously need a haircut. Damn it, I would have gotten one by now if it wasn't for this weird situation," I sighed for the third time. "All right, enough. I should get going."

Would I discover anything? Probably not, but hey, what could you do? It was better than staying here, I guess. I zipped back up my hoodie and reached for the flashlight sitting on the sink's edge. Upon retrieval, I flicked it on, waved it at the exit, and headed out.

1st Floor

"Hello darkness, my old friend... I've come to traverse through you again..."

And that'd be the last time such a phrase would ever leave my mouth. Immediately after exiting the bathroom, I waved the flashlight around my left and right sides, alternating a couple more times for good measure.

"Ugh! These dark hallways are so annoying! Hopefully, someone'll find a light switch or whatever. Actually, it'd be a blessing in the skies if anyone discovers anything noteworthy at all! Hmm… How long has it been since we split up, anyway?"

Thankfully, a wonderful and handy device laid deep within my pocket holding the answer. Digging my hand through it, I pulled out a black rectangular object capable of telling me the exact time instantly, along with other useful modern day features, and all it took was a single tap on the screen. In short, my phone.

I pushed the power button on the side, and it lit up. I always set my phone on low brightness; it saved battery. But the darkness enveloping the hallways created the illusion of maximum brightness; stinging my eyes. Luckily, the light wasn't strong enough to blind me completely, allowing for a quick squint.

"Nine o'clock sharp. So probably around thirty minutes ago. Damn, never in my wildest dreams did I ever see myself still in school around this time," I sighed. "Well, if I had a choice, I'd already bolted right when the bell signaling dismissal sou-"

Whoa, hold up…! What was that sound? I heard an expeditious tapping in the distance. Overtime, the tapping grew louder. Paranoia shot through my body as I whisked my flashlight back and forth. Unfortunately, it ended up being counterproductive and gave the tapping sound more time in its growth, as if the increasing volume was a time limit counting down for an impending disaster to strike!

Wow… What a perfect setting I found myself in. Did I star in a horror game now, anxiously awaiting a heart pounding jump scare…? Actually, wouldn't jump scares usually show up in front of you when striving to stop your heart? That thought came up because the more I listened, the more I suspected it'd appear right behind-

"Wah!"

I made a hasty spin and shone a light ahead of me. What I found... was nothing but fluttering dust particles. Absolutely nothing. Just the same old dark hallway I'd been in. The tapping sound suddenly ceased too.

"W-What? I could have sworn something just hit me on the ba-"

"O-Ow!"

Ah! What now?! Was I not startled enough?! I looked below me and found the second sound's source. There, in front of my dark denim jeans held up by a brown leather belt and black and white sneakers, was a petite girl rubbing her forehead. Her remaining hand held the pure white beret tilting atop her curly lemon colored fluffy hair.

The girl's eyes popped opened and her quivered soft orange pupils shot up at me. Shortly after, the quivering in her eyes paused, and we exchanged our prolonged stares at each other, almost in bafflement.

Three seconds went by. Then five. After that were ten, fifteen, and now… twenty seconds? Way to go from scary to straight up awkward. Right when I thought I sentenced myself into an eternal staring contest, the girl scowled at me and cleared her throat.

"So, are you going to help me up or what?"

"Uh, r-right."

Acting purely based on the spur of the moment, I lent her my hand, which she gladly grabbed hold of. When I pulled up, I noticed how light the girl was. From barely using an ounce of my strength, it felt like I could lift her off her feet like a rag doll! As a precautionary tactic, I reduced the strength of my pull, fearing the potential meeting between girl and the ceiling. Weakening your pull to, I'd say one percent, proved surprisingly tougher than I imagined!

Nonetheless, she was standing. The girl released my hand and swept away at her pure white long-sleeved, buttoned down cotton shirt. Her hand lowered and dusted off the pink wavy mini skirt she wore, leaving any potential dirt to land around the brown boots that reached up to her small ankles. Upon finishing the dust off, she sent me another scowl.

"Y-You! Watch where you're going, will you?! Can't you see I'm moving here?!" she shouted.

"No, I can't, actually. It's really dark," I replied.

"Huh?! O-Oh. Yeah, you're right..."

"..."

"..."

Back into awkwardness we'd gone; or did we ever leave? The girl lowered her scowl and glanced around the floor. She consistently continued the action every time her eyes accidentally met mine. We stood in our exact same stances, in our exact same spots, for exactly thirty seconds. Added on another ten seconds, and then... Crap, we shouldn't reach the minute mark! I should probably say something!

"So, uh, did you hear the tapping sound too?"

"Tapping sound…?" she asked, finally breaking her nervous patterns.

"Yeah. I heard tapping sounds, and they got louder and louder until I was sure they were near me. Then they just stopped. Any idea where they came from or what could have stopped them?"

"A tapping sound, huh? Let me think."

Great! A successful avoided future of continuous awkwardness! It should be smooth sailing from here on out if I kept the conversation rolling.

"Oh!" the girl yelped. "I think it came from me. I was… running, after all."

"Ah! Of course it was you! That explains why the sound just stopped right when we met," I rubbed my head, grinning to as far as my face muscles forced me.

"Yeah… Wait, why didn't you assume it was me in the first place?"

"Well, when I felt something hitting my back, nothing was there when I turned around to check. I guess I forgot about it after our encounter. Until now, anyway."

"Oh. O-Okay."

"I should have figured it was you. A small, quick, and faint sound like that would fit your small stature perfectly. In any case, glad its finally cleared up now, ah haha!"

"..."

"..."

Huh, odd. Why aren't we continuing? No way our conversation would end there, right? Was I not quick enough to keep it going? I looked back down at the girl to check. Doing so caused a small gasp out of me. I saw the girl's orange eyes teared up and her face contorted more and more into an angry expression. Did I say something wrong?! Or maybe she was hurt?!

"W-What...size have...anything, ...?"

"E-Excuse me? What did you say?" I asked, inching closer.

"I SAID, WHAT DOES MY SMALL SIZE HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING, HUH?"

"N-Nothing! I was just making a point, is all!"

"A point?! You mean how I'm smaller than most girls my age?! That my 'growth spurt' is coming late?! H-How I don't have the curves of a r-regular high school girl! I-IS THAT IT?!" the girl stomped a foot forward.

Oh shit! I made her more than upset; she went ballistic!

"Calm down! I swear, I meant nothing by it!"

"L-Let me guess, you were 'joking'? Just messing with me in a 'friendly' way?! There aren't any adults around, you know! SO WHY'RE YOU MAKING EXCUSES NOW?"

"I-I'm sorry! Please, I'm really, REALLY sorry!"

Wait, why did I apologize?! I did nothing wrong; she was the one off her rocker!

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" suddenly, her entire body went limp, and she stared down the ground as though trying to burn a hole in it. "I-I'm already used to it, anyway. I know I'm... I'm... I'm-"

Oh dear god, no. She wasn't-

"Ah... A-Ah... AH-"

Crud, she was! But right when I braced my ears for impact.

"A-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD!"

A much greater ear-bleeding scream beat her cries to the punch. Our hearts had definitely frozen for a few measly seconds before blood pumped them back up at an astronomical rate!

"W-W-What was that?!" exclaimed the girl.

"I-I don't know! But… I think it came from over there."

"B-But isn't that-"

For once, I'd say we linked our minds perfectly since we both immediately knew what laid deep within where I pointed.

"The Dining Hall, yeah," I replied. "Something must have happened there."

Should we even head over there? It could be dangerous. It'd spell trouble if something bad occurred in the only lit room we found, though. When I turned back to ask the girl what we should do, another spark of realization appeared on her face; eyes gaped and all.

"Oh no. Isn't that where I... No, it must have been-"

"What?! What's wrong?!" I yelled.

"Oh no. Oh, no no no no no no NO!"

The girl rushed past me; her faint taps disguising themselves as no's repeatedly being reverberated behind her.

"Wait! You can't go alone!"

I didn't see a flashlight on her. No way she could navigate herself in the darkness!

"D-Damn it!" I waved my light ahead and raced after the girl.

The Dining Hall

I ended up becoming the girl's guiding light during the entire journey to the Dining Hall. Didn't seem to ever noticed me assisting her since she never once turned around, just kept running forward at a hurried pace. When we finally reached the Dining Hall, we both dived into its protective light; I flicked off the flashlight once inside.

Unlike the girl who kept running headlong into the Kitchen, I stopped dead in my tracks. Partially from exhaustion, yes, but also because of another unexpected reason. Everyone who split up was now back in the Dining Hall, and alongside them were never before seen faces. Did they get attracted by the sudden scream like us? However, unlike me - who filled his expression with utter confusion - they filled theirs with uneasiness, paranoia, and terror. Before I could ask someone to inform me about the current situation...

"A-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Another scream formed itself, blaring from the Kitchen. Seeing that the Kitchen was the only other room in the Dining Hall, I knew the cause for everyone's strange behavior must be because of hid in there. And judging by their reactions, I didn't want to investigate what it might be, but unfortunately I got to. I won't know anything otherwise.

Swallowing all foreboding emotions down into the depths of my body, I made my way toward the Kitchen. Didn't even take a second to ascertain if the lady palpitating on the floor was okay; just headed inside... It led me to realizing, no, remembering a heart-breaking truth. I shouldn't act shocked. I should have known it from the very beginning, a truth I told myself multiple times already:

Life wasn't generous.

We fooled ourselves. Never once was the Dining Hall's light confirmed to be a protective one; one which symbolized our hope, courage, and faith. It was, in actuality, a light of despair, terror, and a blinding, doubtless aggression.