《The Phantom School》


 1 Introduction

    It was pitch black. No matter where I looked, I couldn''t see anything. In an attempt to hold on to something, I moved my hands around.


    No luck.


    After a while, my eyes started to get used to the darkness, and I started to make out a few things in the dark. I was surrounded by... trees? I had no idea where I was, or how I got here. I carefully stepped forward, looking for any detail in the scenery that could be helpful; but my vision was obscured by a rather thick layer of fog. Either that, or my eyes were still getting used to the darkness. All of a sudden, I felt something on my shoulder. I turned my head around, but there was nothing there. I must have bumped into a branch on my way, I thought. Just as I was about to move again, I heard something in the distance.


    "Arda!"


    Someone was shouting my name. I froze for a second, as I couldn''t decide if it was good or bad. Perhaps people noticed that I was missing, and they were looking for me. I hesitantly prepared to shout a reply, just before being startled by another sound: "Arda!"


    I woke up, covered in sweat. Apparently, I passed out in the class again. I looked around, it was already break time and the teacher was nowhere to be seen. I sighed, slightly amazed by my drowsiness.


    "Hey, dude, good morning!"


    It was one of my good friends, Ata. He looked pretty cheerful.


    "Good morning, indeed." I replied. "How was the lesson?"


    "You did good by napping, I guess... We didn''t make much progress, the old man got caught in his own life stories again."


    "I see."


    Ata changed the subject: "Are you staying today?"


    "For what? Why would I stay?"


    "Don''t you remember? You were going to help us with carrying the supplies for the ceremony!"


    "Oh, yes, the ceremony..."


    He was talking about the graduation ceremony our class has planned in cooperation with the few of the neighbouring classes. This was the last year of high school, and we intended to make the most of it.


    "So... you are coming, right?"


    "Yes, of course, don''t worry."


    "Alright. We will be near the art class."


    "Got it."


    "Ah, I''m going to go grab something from the cafeteria. You want something?"


    "No, I''m good."


    "Fine, see you later!" he replied as he walked out of the classroom, heading for the cafeteria. I looked at the clock, and while still feeling sleepy, I put my head back on my desk and continued my nap where I left it.


    - - -


    After the final lesson, I packed up my stuff and headed towards the art class. My friends were already gathered there, waiting for me to show up. As I was walking down the hallway, someone hit me smoothly with her shoulder.


    "Hey!"


    She was Idil, my first, oldest friend in the high school. I met her while searching for my classroom at the first day of high school. We quickly became good friends after we found out we were classmates.


    "Hey, Idil."


    "So, are you excited?"


    "About what? Carrying boxes?"


    "The ceremony, idiot. It is going to be a lot of fun, don''t you think?"


    "Actually, I''m still wondering why we are getting ourselves in such a big trouble for this trivial event."


    "TRIVIAL? Are you calling graduation trivial?"


    "No, I mean... You know how we are, this is not going to be the only ceremony we will do."


    "Hah... Well, I guess I can''t say otherwise. But still... don''t be too tedious."


    We arrived at the art class. Ata saw us and came nearby.


    "Better late than never, eh, you two? Come on, we have a lot to do today." He said that as he handed me a box full of posters, then he continued. "Since you are late, I will assign you to the most frusturating job; hang these posters to every single hallway of the school."


    Idil and I looked at each other and frowned.


    - - -


    The Chersonese High School had a rather large building compared to most other schools. When we began hanging posters on the third floor, we were pretty tired. I kept carrying the box of posters and stationery materials around as Idil hanged the posters around the school. All of a sudden, she let out a little scream. I dropped the box and ran to her.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Mostly okay, seems like I cut myself."


    Her right arm was bleeding. I could see a little slit.


    "We should get you to the infirmary."


    "It is okay, we should just continue."


    "It is going to take a while to stop bleeding, come on, don''t insist."


    "Argh... Fine, let''s go."


    We left everything there and went to the infirmary. The door was wide open, but there was no one there.


    "Well, I''m sure we won''t get yelled at for taking a few band-aids or something like that."


    "I''m going to clean my arm."


    We took our time in the infirmary, cleaning and sealing the wound. Just as we were walking out of the classroom, we saw our chemistry teacher, Mr. Kenan. He was a pretty fun teacher in his early thirties, and I loved his lessons. He looked at us for a while.


    "What are you two doing here?" he asked. Idil replied, telling everything in short sentences:


    "We were preparing for the graduation ceremony, and while we were hanging posters, I cut myself."


    "I see. Is there no one in the infirmary?"


    "No", I replied.


    "Okay then. Don''t hang around too much, it is going to be late."


    "O-Okay."


    He walked past us, and down the stairway. I was a little confused.


    "Don''t hang around too much? Why?"


    "I think it is just a generic ''teacher advice''."


    "That warning didn''t sound too random to me. He emphasised it."


    "Come on, you are overthinking. Let''s get back to job."


    We went back to the third floor and got back to work.


    - - -


    After a while, we were on the fourth, the last floor; when we had an unexpected second encounter with Mr. Kenan. He approached us, but it looked like there was something bothering him.


    "Aren''t you done yet?" he asked us.


    "Almost, sir." I replied.


    "Make it quick." he said in a weird tone. Idil asked:


    "With all respect, aren''t you leaving the school building, Mr. Kenan? Is there something you wanted to do today?"


    Mr. Kenan was visibly uncomfortable with the question. As much as I wanted to get an answer myself, I had noticed that he wasn''t in a good condition and I didn''t want to force him. Just as I was about to interrupt, Mr. Kenan replied:


    "I''m about to get all you guys out and lock the building. So make it quick, there is someone who wants to go home and lay on the bed for the rest of the day."


    He was a funny man, but I couldn''t tell how much humor he tried to mix in that sentence. He continued:


    "Somebody has to lock the building, right? Come on, you can do the rest of it tomorrow. Let''s get out of here." This time, I was sure he is serious. Idil asked:


    "Why is it that important, though?"


    "Why don''t you just listen for me once without questioning everything, lady?"


    "Okay, okay." Idil sighed.


    As we were walking to the exit, I noticed something different in the hallway.


    "Were those iron beams always there? I couldn''t have missed that for years!" I said, in excitement.


    "I''ve never seen them either." Idil replied. Just then, Mr. Kenan''s eyes lit up like he just realised something.


    "Quickly, to the exit!" he yelled. Idil and I were shocked by this sudden act.


    "It is not too late, come on!" he cried. We had no idea what he was talking about, but we started to run with him. When we reached the exit, we were surprised by the sight of a heavy steel door, where our standart school exit door was supposed to be. Mr. Kenan ran to the door and tried to pull it open, and later, push it. It was no use, the steel door was locked. His face went red.


    "Damn it, we are too late..." he said.


    "Are you going to tell us what is happening?" Idil asked.


    "I guess I have to. But I wish it would never come to that..."


    I was in shock by both the steel door, and Mr. Kenan''s unexplainable behaviour. He looked around for a while, and asked:


    "Were there anyone else inside the building?"


    "A few of our friends were near the art class." I said.


    "Quick, we have to find them. I promise, I will tell you everything. In fact, I have to. But first, we have to find them!"


    Without understanding what is going on, we ran to the art class. When we got there, we saw that the door of the art class was locked as well. Mr. Kenan yelled:


    "Hello!"


    "Mr. Kenan? Thank god!" It was Ata''s voice.


    "Gather everyone and get out to the hallway at once."


    "We... we can''t, sir. The door is locked. Could you help us with that?"


    "You... It wasn''t you who locked the door?"


    "No, we thought..."


    "Oh no!" Mr. Kenan said in a sad voice. Ata yelled from the other side of the door:


    "What is going on? Are we stuck here?"


    "It would be a lot nicer if you were just stuck there!" Mr. Kenan replied.


    "What does that mean, exactly?" Ata asked.


    "Okay, listen up. I don''t have much time, I must tell you what is happening." Mr. Kenan said. "But first of all, do you believe in paranormal things?"


    "Wh- what is this, all of a sudden?" Idil replied.


    "I get it, I get it. But you have to believe me." Mr. Kenan said.


    "I don''t get it." Ata said.


    "Shut it and listen, we don''t have much time." Mr. Kenan continued. "This school building... is a cursed one. At morning it might look like a regular school building, just like how it is now designed to be. But when the school time is over, things get a little weird."


    "How?" Ata asked. "DON''T INTERRUPT ME!" Mr. Kenan replied, and continued again:


    "This building wasn''t originally built as a school building. Way back at 1950''s, this structure was built to serve as a prison. At that time, before the city expanded so much, this place was far away from any settlement, making it suitable for a prison. Anyway, it served as womans'' prison for some time, up to 1971. During that time, this prison became popular with allegations and rumors of horrible psychological experiments on it''s inmates. But, like I said, rumors only, because no one had actual evidence, and no one even knew who started spreading the rumors. Later, when more ''proper'' and modern prisons were built far away and this installation was no longer needed, instead of demolishing the building, it was repurposed as a high school. The building went through some major re-construction and internal design changes, and lots of education equipment were moved in. Anyway, after the building has served as a school for a while, some of the teachers noticed weird things about the building. When some of them stayed at the building after school hours, to help coordimate club activities, they noticed that some parts of the interior has changed. Most notably, some doors and windows would lock themselves down with no way to open or break through them. They couldn''t find an explanation, but they were sure something was happening. Then, one night, two teachers decided to stay in the building for the night to find out what is going on. When students arrived the morning after, they found those two teachers hanging from the ceiling, covered in blood, in one of the classrooms. Police arrived to investigate, and all the evidence pointed to suicide. Since then, we know that this building is cursed, but we don''t know the horrifying secrets about what happens at night in this building. Nobody had the courage to try to spend a night here until then, and this story, or rather, ''knowledge'' had been given to all the new teachers that were appointed to this school; and so far, we did everything to keep it from the students in order not to cause fear and confusion among them. And this is also the reason why we have been denying most club activities."


    "Did I just..."


    "What?"


    "No way."


    Nobody wanted to believe in that story. Nobody in their right mind would, if things were not the way they are. But here they were, iron bars appearing out of nowhere, and doors locking themselves.


    ''What secrets does this place hold?'' I repeat to myself.


    ''Will we learn what happened to those two teachers?''


    ''Will we ever make it out of here?''


    ''Can we make it to the next morning?''

 2 Chapter 2

    There was an awkward minute of silence. Everyone needed some time to process what was happening, and to decide whether to believe in paranormal stories or not. Ata broke the silence:


    "So... do you think there is a connection between those events and that whole prison... thing?"


    "Yes, I believe so." Mr. Kenan replied.


    "Let''s say that, we believe this story is true... Why don''t we just call someone to help?" Ata''s voice was mocking.


    "What do you have in mind? What will we say to whoever we call?"


    "This option is way better than anything else." Ata insisted. Mr. Kenan sighed.


    "You are right, you are right, but unfortunately, we can''t."


    Mr. Kenan had his cellphone in his hand as he said that. There was no signal. He stared at his phone''s screen for a while, and eventually started walking around the hallway. There was no signal.


    "I thought it wouldn''t hurt to try... But seems like we are not only mechanicaly locked in here. This place locks itself in other ways as well." Mr. Kenan said.


    "Look!" Idil yelled, pointing at the far end of the hallway. Some sort of white, metallic jail door had appeared there. "Where did that come from?"


    Mr. Kenan looked in that direction: "So... here is a theory: After school hours, this building goes through a metamorphosis phase, altering it''s structure between it''s old ''prison design'' and redesigned ''school version''." It made sense, not in means of science, but in the context itself. I asked:


    "Who studied this place so closely to come up with a theory?"


    "I did." said Mr. Kenan. "Don''t you see? The internal design of the building closely resembles a prison now." He was right.


    "This place is getting rusty too." Idil complained.


    "All that information and speculation might help, but seriously, if we can''t call for help, what is going to happen? What are we going to do?" Ata asked.


    "I don''t know. We will see what happens." said Mr. Kenan.


    We just stood there and looked around for a while. I didn''t exactly have a plan, but I wanted to do something.


    "Maybe we can go explore the building a little bit. If we are lucky, we can come across an open exit."


    "Hey, what about us?" Ata shouted, reminding us that they were trapped in the art class.


    "If we can get out, we can find some help and get you out of here too." I said.


    "A rather sensible plan." Mr. Kenan said. "Let''s explore the building to discover a possible exit."


    "If we split up, we can cover more area in a short time." I suggested.


    "We should not split up, we don''t know what is out there." Idil argued.


    "Better to have just one person trapped instead of all of us at once, right?" I said.


    "We are going to split up, and meet back here afterwards." Mr. Kenan said, and assigned Idil and me to different directions. "I''m going to go towards the main exit once more." he added. "Good luck."


    I walked downstairs to the bottom floor.


    - - -


    The air was getting heavier. I was walking in the hallway slowly, listening to the footsteps of Idil and Mr. Kenan in the mostly empty building. I discovered a new set of electric wires near the walls, but I couldn''t figure out where they were coming from, or going to. ''Maybe we could break out of one of the windows'', I thought. At first, I was unsure whether it was a good idea or not to damage school property, because no matter what I saw, I was still unsure whether to believe in Mr. Kenan''s story or not. But soon enough, adrenaline induced by the ambience was able to overcome my senseless thoughts.


    The windows at the bottom floor were close to the ground, so if we managed to break one of those, we could easily get out. I tried to open one of the windows, but it didn''t move the slightest. I spent all my power trying to pull the handle, but it wasn''t useful. I released the handle, took a few step back. I ran towards the window and threw my body to the window, transferring all the kinetic energy my body had to the window. Not even a small crack. Whatever mystical force sealed that window was a though one, for sure. I stopped attempting to open the window. Just then, I heard a monumental scream upstairs. At first, I couldn''t decide to run away from or towards the scream; because it meant someone needed my help, but it obviously meant ''danger'' as well. I took a deep breath and started runnig upstairs.


    I encountered Idil as I was running in the second floor''s hallway. She was sobbing.


    "Are you okay?" I said, without realising how stupid my question was. I got no reply from her.


    "What happened?" I asked this time.


    "It... someone... something passed by. I went to the restroom, and... there was something in the mirror!"


    I couldn''t imagine what kind of thing she saw, but she was really scared.


    "Let''s go back to the meeting point near the art class." I suggested. She nodded, and we headed towards the art class.


    As we arrived to the meeting point, we witnessed a very disturbing sight. There was blood leaking under the door. Unwillingly, we assumed the worst. I shouted:


    "Ata! Are you guys okay in there?"


    I approached the door, and I could hear some noises inside. Something was clanking. A sudden ''thump'' on the door was more than enough to scare me away.


    "Run!" somebody tried to shout in a fainting voice. "She will come for you, run!"


    I couldn''t make out who it was, but whoever he was, he wasn''t in a good condition.


    My curiosity wouldn''t last too long, as the door had been opened wide just a few seconds afterwards.

 3 Chapter 3

    The door of the art class was now wide open, revealing a truly terrifying view.


    Ata was laying still on the ground, with an open wound on his neck. The blood had sprayed all over the classroom, and he was gasping desperately for air in front of the door. But a deeper look inside the classroom revealed an even horrible scene.


    One of our classmates, Melis, was standing in the middle of room, with a pair of scissors in her hand. Some blood was dripping from the scissors to the floor. Her uniform and long hair were covered in blood stains. She was completely still, staring at the bodies of many poor students that shared a similar fate with Ata. My heart skipped not one, but three or four beats at once.


    Idil and I were frozen in shock and fear as our reflexes failed to take any action. Only when Melis looked up and saw us, we realised that we had to do something.


    "She will come for you, run!"


    The voice echoed in my mind. The warning was clearly about her, but the situation made no sense. For that matter, nothing actually made sense since the beginning of this horrible adventure. How, and more importantly, why would she do something like that?


    Unfortunately, this was not the good time for deep thinking. Realising the immediate danger we were in, I grabbed Idil by her healthy arm and started sprinting back to the far end of the hallway. I had very little time to look behind me, which confirmed the most unfortunate fact that Melis was in fact a good runner too.


    At that time, I have been trying to mentally prepare myself for a possible close encounter with her; which would most probably end in a brutal struggle, if I was not mistaken. But I had no idea if I could be able to deliver a fatal blow, in case it was required... I was not a murderer, after all. Besides, I was not prepared to fight someone who was my friend, just a very short time ago.


    As Melis closed the distance, adrenaline took control of my body, and my bravery kicked in.


    "Run, don''t look back!" I shouted at Idil.


    "No! Whatever you are thinking, it is a really bad idea!" she argued.


    "We are way too slow." I replied, heavily breathing as we run.


    "You can''t leave me alone!" she said.


    At that point, the distance between Melis and us were so close that if I did not stop immediately, I would not be able to safely stop to turn back anymore. I made my final desicion and released Idil''s arm from my grip, leaving her on her own as she ran. She did not like the idea of leaving me behind, but she wasn''t stupid enough to stay with me and alter the plan.


    I stopped there to face our monstrous ''classmate''. She stumbled and slowed down as she realised I went completely defensive. As I prepared to block her attack, she came to a stop a few meters in front of me. I was full of adrenaline, and all of my emotions had been completely silenced.


    She made a terrifying screeching sound and made a move towards me. Only then I was able to realise my fatal tactical mistake: I would not be fast enough to block her as she swung the scissors towards me from my left shoulder. For that moment, everything progressed in slow motion for me.


    Just at that time, a miracle happened. Mr. Kenan appeared running upstairs near the end of the hallway, delivering a very strong punch to Melis; launching her towards the side wall of the hallway. The scissors she had swung did not reach me. She smashed into the wall and dropped to the ground. Her scissors were knocked off of her hand.


    "Run, I will handle her!" he shouted at me.


    Without any hesitation, I ran away from the scene.


    I could not handle my curiosity and I stopped to look back after a while. Mr. Kenan was about to face her alone. He was a strong and healthy adult, but I was not sure how he would ''handle'' her.


    Melis, despite being knocked off for a moment, gathered her strenght a little and spotted her scissors on the floor. Still shaken by the punch she recieved, she started crawling towards the scissors. Mr. Kenan ran towards her. Unfortunately, Melis was fast enough to grab the scissors before Mr. Kenan reached her.


    "Mr. Kenan! Watch it!" I shouted from distance.


    Without being able to stand up, Melis flung the scissors at Mr. Kenan. It was indeed a pretty nice shot, in means of accuracy. The sharp side of the scissors hit Mr. Kenan in the face. I could not exactly see what happened from this distance, but perhaps that was a good thing.


    Mr. Kenan let out a pretty loud scream, but his adrenaline kept him on his guard despite the immense pain he had. He made a move towards Melis once again, and this time, he grabbed her by her arms.


    I had already lost some of my precious time, and I decided to run further away to find out where Idil went.


    - - -


    After a while, I could no longer hear either Mr. Kenan or Melis. I was walking in a slower pace now, watching out for anything else dangerous I could come across. Meanwhile, every minute, the school building was transforming into a more unpleasant place. I had noticed that one of the classrooms completely turned into some sort of dormitory. My spirit of exploration was a little blunted since the terrible things I witnessed so far, so I didn''t go in. While I was walking past that place, I was startled by Idil''s voice.


    "Oh, you are alive!" She was excited. "What happened back there?"


    "Mr. Kenan rescued me from my certain death." I replied.


    "Where is he now?" she asked.


    "He has engaged in a deadly fight with Melis." I said. "He told me to run away."


    "Oh my..." she said in a soft voice. "I wish he... ''stops'' her."


    "I don''t get why she would do such thing." I said.


    "Me neither, but the reason doesn''t really matter when our life is in danger, does it?" she said.


    "Yeah, but I really want to uncover the strange... ''thing'' about this place."


    "Do you think... it is somehow connected with the curse of this building?" she asked me.


    "Perhaps." I said. "How could I know?"


    Our little talk was interrupted by a loud crash sound from the stairwell. I instinctively ran towards the stairs to see what was going on. I looked down the stairwell...


    At the bottom floor, I saw Melis'' body; or at least the remainders of it. The body was smashed into the ground at high speed, scattering the blood and internal organs over a wide area. Parts of her skeleton was visible, with many broken bones. I knew she had just been trying to kill us a few moments ago, but I couldn''t help feeling bad for her death. My heart and my brain were working the opposite way.


    Idil instantly looked away, but couldn''t help vomitting. The smells weren''t any better than the view.


    I could hear Mr. Kenan''s distinct footsteps from upstairs. He was coming closer to us.


    "Mr. Kenan!" I yelled, but got no response.


    As he moved into the hallway from the staircase, I noticed his right eye missing; his face was full of blood. It must''ve been the result of the scissors swung by Melis during the struggle.


    "Oh my, your face!" Idil shouted, trembling.


    Mr. Kenan did not say a word as he kept walking towards us, causing an uneasiness on both me and Idil. We unintentionally started walking backwards, slowly.


    "Mr. Kenan?"


    My inner voice was not telling pretty things to me...

 4 Chapter 4

    Recently, the situation has escalated very quickly.


    I owed my life to the brave act of Mr. Kenan, which saved me from our murderous ''classmate'', Melis. But after his victory in that brutal fight, there he was; approaching us in a threatening manner.


    I didn''t instantly become hostile against him. I assumed that his throat was damaged very badly, and he could not talk. But after my faulty reflexes during the encounter with Melis, I could not take any risks.


    "If you are friendly, please stop right there!" I said to Mr. Kenan. He was either wounded badly enough to not hear us, or he was ignoring my command consciously. I could not risk believing in the first option, as it would risk my life. At that point, I could assume nothing but hostility. Not repeating the same mistake we once did, Idil and I started running away from Mr. Kenan. I took a glimpse back for a threat analysis. Mr. Kenan wasn''t chasing us, but he was walking slowly towards our direction.


    We turned right at the next intersection in an attempt to lose him; but we encountered someone else running in the hallways. It was a student, but I did not recognise him. As he spotted us, he stopped and started running in the opposite direction.


    "Hey!" I shouted behind him, but he outright ignored me. I started chasing him to see where he went.


    He went upstairs, entered a classroom and closed the door behind him. I reached the door and tried to open it, but apparently, he was holding the door with all of his strenght. I stopped trying to open the door by brute force. He had probably assumed we were agressors.


    "Hey, relax... Please open the door." I said.


    "No way!" he shouted. "Murderers! Monsters!" he kept yelling.


    "Please open the door, he is coming for us!" I said. "We will be in a better condition together!"


    I did not know how to convince him, I had no way to prove we were innocent. To my surprise, he opened the door slowly, staring right into my eyes. He had no reason to believe me, but perhaps he realised that he was trapped in that classroom.


    We stared at each other for a while without saying anything. Eventually, Idil said something:


    "Who are you?" she asked him.


    "I''m Onur... a student from your neighboring class. I was in the art class to help with the preparation when... things happened." He was talking very softly. "Come in!" he added.


    We stepped inside the classroom, and he closed the door behind us. Just then, we heard someone walking in the hallway. I put my eye on the keyhole to look at the hallway. I saw Mr. Kenan walk past the classroom we were hiding in.


    "He went away." I said.


    "Who was that?" Onur asked me.


    "Mr. Kenan. He is..."


    "Oh, yes, I know him. He was my teacher as well." he said. "Was he..."


    "He was coming for us." I said.


    "We can''t hide forever here." he wanted to remind us.


    "How did you make it out of the art class?" Idil asked, changing the subject.


    "Oh God, it was horrible!" he said. "Ahem... Well, some time after you left us there to search the building, all of a sudden, that girl... you know who she is, started laughing. But what a laugh! She was laughing hysterically, madly! When one of your other friends approached her to see if she was okay, she grabbed the scissors from the table and hit him in his neck. After that moment, everything went red and black. Everyone panicked, and someone else tried to fight her. In that confusion, I tried to make my way out of the classroom." he told us.


    "How did you get out of the room?" I asked him.


    "After you arrived and the door unlocked, Melis and I were the only living beings in that room. During the panic moment, I succeeded at hiding myself behind one of those large paintings stacked near the wall. I saw that she went away to chase you, and I got out of the class afterwards." he said. "What happened to her? How did you... kill her?" he asked us. Undoubtedly, he had seen the corpse on the bottom floor, near the stairwell.


    "We didn''t." I told him. "She got into a fight with Mr. Kenan. It was probably him who... killed her." I said.


    "If so... why is he after you now? It makes no sense." he said.


    "I don''t get it either. I didn''t get why Melis attacked us, either!" I added.


    "You see, maybe..." Idil started talking. "Maybe after he killed her, he became the ''host'' of that agressive... ''force''." she said.


    "How in the world did you come up with THAT idea?" I asked her.


    "Mr. Kenan asked us to believe in paranormal things, remember? I think those people are... sort of ''posessed''. Because there is no way they could attack their lovely friends!" she said. But, like everything else happening around us, that thought made no sense. Fortunately, by now, I was getting used to things not making any sense. While I was thinking and trying to make sense out of the events, Onur shouted in panic.


    "We have to get out!"


    I looked inside the classroom, or rather, what was once a classroom. The desks were gone, and there was a hospital bed in the middle of the room, with lots of surgery equipment around it. The building was transforming wildly.


    Idil opened the door and we got out of the classroom. The hallway has changed as well. But more interestingly, the posters Idil hanged on the wall has been replaced by some notebook pages. I got closer to one of them to read what was written on it. It read the following:


    ''WE WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU''

 5 Chapter 5

    ''WE WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU''


    Who would never forgive whom? I could only hope that whoever left that message there did not leave it for us.


    "So... do you have any idea what that means for us?" I asked.


    "No idea, I didn''t do anything!" Onur said.


    "Maybe we can find who left this message if we look around." Idil suggested.


    "Or we could find thousands of other unpleasant things we wouldn''t want to find..." Onur argued. In my opinion, both were right.


    We had no other choice but to move on. It was clear that we weren''t aware of many things going on in this place, but we wouldn''t learn anything by standing where we are and running away from everything that moves.


    "Maybe we can pay a visit to the infirmary or cafeteria. We could find something useful for... you know... defensive purposes, in case we ever need such thing." Idil suggested. It was not a bad idea, and I did not know what to do anyway.


    "Fine." I said. "To the infirmary!"


    - - -


    We had arrived at the infirmary, and unfortunately, a lot of material were missing. The remaining were on the ground. We had found nothing useful for defense, but there was some blood on the wall. Someone had tried to write something on the wall, but it was unreadable.


    "So that was pointless." Onur said. "Who did all this mess?"


    "Is there anyone else in this building, except for us and Mr. Kenan?" Idil asked.


    "I don''t know." I replied. "I don''t know if more people would be better or worse either." I added.


    We got out of the infirmary in disappointment.


    When we got out back into the hallway, we instantly spotted Mr. Kenan at the other end. But fortunately, the transforming structure had caused the hallway to be separated into two parts by a set of iron bars. Mr. Kenan and us were in different parts of the hallway. Neither of us could get past those iron bars. We did not have to panic, yet.


    "There he is!" Idil warned us.


    "Luckily, he is on the other side of the bars." Onur said.


    "Don''t get too comfortable. He saw us too, and I have very little doubt that he will come for us from behind, if we don''t leave soon." I said.


    Just as I anticipated, moments later, Mr. Kenan turned around and ran towards the stairs to bypass the iron bars, reaching us from either the upper or lower floor.


    "Don''t stay there, come on!" I said. We had to leave before he caught us.


    We started running towards the stairs on the other end. Unfortunately, Mr. Kenan was much faster than us this time. Before we could reach the stairs, he appeared in front of us. In panic, we stopped running and backed away a few meters. We were now trapped by him and the iron bars behind us. We had no way to escape.


    "Do you have any plans?" asked Onur.


    "I''m open for suggestions." Idil said.


    "I''m actually amazed we made it this far without plans." I said.


    "Wolfpack tactics!" Onur suddenly yelled. "It is 3 vs 1!"


    Just as he was about to run towards Mr. Kenan, I held him by his shoulders.


    "Idiot! What do you think you are doing?" I asked him.


    "There is no way out, we have to fight!" he shouted.


    I knew he was right, but I could not let him start another fight. I would rather try to slip past Mr. Kenan, with speed.


    At that moment, I noticed the rather big knife in Mr. Kenan''s hand. Either one of our ideas were terrible against a man armed with a knife, but we had no other choices. ''We have to do something'', I thought.


    We could try to get around him by running into one of the classrooms and going around him using the larger area in the classroom. But it also carried a great risk of getting ourselves cornered. Furthermore, the classroom might already have transformed into something very different.


    I was preparing to run into the clasroom on our right at any moment. If we were to do something, we had to do it now. Otherwise, soon enough, we would''ve retreated all the way back to the iron bars. Like she read my mind, Idil got closer to the classroom''s door and held the door knob.


    Just a few seconds after, something very unexpected happened. Mr. Kenan stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked at us. He raised the knife with a sudden move, which made us run all the way back to the iron bars. With his fast hand movements, he stabbed himself in the chest, and dropped to the ground. The knife had gotten past his ribs; reaching his lungs and heart. He rolled around on the ground, choking in his blood, and looked into our eyes. He then spoke to us, fastly, but in a very weak tone:


    "Trust... and protect friends... No more death. Never split up!"


    It was very hard to watch him suffer, but we couldn''t help him. We had to hear what he wanted to tell us. He could''ve found out something important.


    "Sorry I couldn''t... control my..."


    He was constantly choking, but still trying to breath in, despite his damaged lungs. He was spending all his energy to talk to us. His voice was getting weaker.


    "...had to suicide to protect you. Forgive me..."


    These were the last words he managed to say. He tried to keep talking, but he neither had air in his lungs, nor the energy to use his muscles. His eyes went up and we heard a hissing sound. He was no longer breathing. That was it. We had lost him.


    He tried to tell us something, but he couldn''t tell us everything before he died. But at least we knew that, after all, he wanted to protect us; even from himself. What an honorable death!


    On the other hand, the real question remained: What made him try to kill us in the first place?


    Did it have any connection with Melis'' agression in the past?


    Could it ever happen again in the future?


    We were about to find out, and for the time being, we were still trapped in this cursed place... We had to continue in order to uncover the mysteries of this school, and find a way out of here.

 6 Chapter 6

    We were standing in the hallway, lost in our own thoughts.


    Mr. Kenan was the one who provided us with all the information we had about this cursed building, and he was also the one who tried to protect us from everything dangerous... including himself, even if it meant sacrificing his life. But now, without him, I was feeling... lost. Unguided.


    But I quickly came to my senses. There was no time for mourning. Even though the immediate danger was eliminated, we still had to escape the building. Who could know what this building would transform into the next time?


    "I know you are... shaken, but we have to move on." I said. Even then, a few drops of tears dripped down my face.


    "Are we just going to leave his body laying there?" Onur asked.


    "I don''t think there is anything we can do about it. Besides, we left everybody else laying on the ground; why would we do something this time?" Idil said.


    "Also, there is a good chance we can infect ourselves." I added.


    "Alright." Onur sighed. He walked forwards and grabbed the knife covered in blood. "It could be useful later on." he told us.


    Idil was about to say something when I noticed some major changes in the hallway.


    "Whoah! This building is going really wild." I said.


    There were many lines of cables near the ceiling, and some windows had thin metal nets outside. Some of the classroom doors were replaced with rusty metal doors. The iron bars behind us were much closer now.


    "Let''s leave this place." I said.


    We walked to the end of the hallway and went upstairs. That floor has went through a major metamorphosis as well. Most of it was almost unrecognisable.


    "Maybe we should''ve gone downstairs. If we get trapped, it is would be much better to get stuck at the bottom floor, because that''s where the exit is." Onur said. He had a good point, so we walked back to where we came from.


    Unfortunately, we were too late. Iron doors had appeared at all the enterances to the stairwell, effectively preventing the use of stairs.


    "Perhaps we are not too late, run!" I said.


    We started running to the far end of the hallway, towards the other stairwell. If we could reach it in time, before an unlucky transformation, we could use those to get down to the bottom floor.


    We reached the end of the hallway quickly, but that was it. There were no stairs. Instead, we encountered with a featureless wall. We looked around ourselves for a while, but came up with no ideas.


    "So, we are trapped in this floor." Onur said.


    "Patience..." I said. "Maybe if we wait for long enough, it will transform again."


    "I want to go and sit in one of the classrooms." Idil said. "I am very tired because of all this running around. You should come too." she suggested.


    We walked to the middle of the hallway and entered one of the classrooms. A bit surprisingly, the classroom we chose to go in had not transformed into anything else yet, not even a little. Everything that was supposed to be in a class were there, and there was nothing alien inside.


    We sat down on desks, tired of all the violence and action we had during the recent hours of our life.


    "Do you believe we will make it out? See, we have learned everything we knew from Mr. Kenan. Now that he is gone, I think... I might have doubts." Onur told us.


    "I believe we will make it out. After all, Mr. Kenan had to start from somewhere, right? We are in the middle of everything, and it is us who can dig out the information we need to solve the mystery and find a way out." I said. "I only wish more people were with us. What do you think, Idil?"


    "I don''t know." she replied, softly. "Now that the violence has ended, at least for now, I just want to rest for a while."


    We sat there in the classroom, in silence; trying to gather our strenght.


    "I am a little hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" Onur asked.


    "No, I don''t carry my food around." I said.


    "I could not possibly eat anything after all the disgusting scenes I witnessed today." Idil added.


    "Hunger can kill you too, you know..." Onur said.


    "Maybe we should take a look at the hallway again. Maybe the stairs came back." I suggested.


    We were about to get back to the hallway, before we were stopped by the locked classroom door.


    "Please, NO!" Onur shouted.


    "Now we are trapped in an even smaller space." Idil said. "Forget about leaving the building, we can''t even get out of the classroom!"


    "This is sort of your fault." Onur said to Idil. "We would be fine in the hallway."


    "It isn''t anyone''s fault. Maybe we can wait until tomorrow morning here. People will find us and get us out of here." I said. Idil and Onur both sighed, and sat down on desks at the opposite corners of the classroom.


    "That thought is not helping me." said Onur, and stood up. He walked towards the teacher''s desk, ran to the door and kicked it. The door vibrated violently, making a lot of disturbing noises; but did not open. Onur stepped back and tried again a few times.


    "Oh, for the love of... Stop doing that, will you?" Idil said. It sounded like she was a little angry.


    "No, Miss, unlike you, I do not want to end my precious life. I want to get out of here!" Onur said, raising his voice.


    "You are just wasting your valuable energy for nothing. Think before you act!" she replied.


    "Hey, hold it, the last thing we need right now, is to fight each other." I interrupted.


    "Why are you bossing us around?" Onur replied.


    "I''m just reminding you of what Mr. Kenan told us. We need to trust and support each other." I said.


    "Talk for yourself. He is dead now." Onur said, while kicking the door another time.


    "I told you to stop doing that! Such a nuisance!" Idil said. Onur stood there for a while, facing the door. After that, he turned to face us.


    "You are just an obstacle in my way to escape. If you won''t help me, just let me help myself!" he shouted.


    "Stop acting without thinking, we NEED each other!" Idil shouted.


    Onur suddenly raised his arm against Idil. My reflexes were good enough to hold his arm before he did what I thought he would do. Unfortunately, my move gave Idil enough time to punch him in the face. I pushed Onur away and I was turning to face Idil. At that moment, Idil got past me and kicked Onur''s hand, knocking off the knife he got after Mr. Kenan''s death. The knife flew across the classroom and hit the wall. I got in the middle to push both of them away from each other. Suddenly, something hit the back of my head. I felt dizzy and lost my balance. I dropped to the ground, trying to cushion my fall with my hands. Everything went black. I could barely hear Onur and Idil fighting each other. In a few seconds, all sounds faded away.

 7 Chapter 7

    I was feeling strange.


    I found myself laying on the ground, looking directly at the ceiling. My head was hurting a little, but it wasn''t too distracting. There was a very high-pitched ringing in my ears. I was pretty tired, but I had to get up. We had to find a way out of here.


    We...


    ''We'' were supposed to mean three people, yet, I couldn''t see anyone else nearby.


    I could barely remember what happened. There was a fight, and I was hit in the head. But I was okay, I was more worried about the other two. I didn''t know where or how they were.


    I was sure this whole fight and every recent act of violence was an effect of the curse. Since we were trapped in here, everyone''s minds were swinging along the borders of rational thought and craziness. People had been suffering mental breakdowns, depressions, disbelief, insecurity; which ultimately lead to desolation and aggressiveness. Even Mr. Kenan wasn''t immune to it, at least he was able to resist. But I was worried about Idil and Onur, because I didn''t believe they could resist this faulty mindset forced upon them by the curse. They could end up hurting each other, or worse... I didn''t even want to think of it.


    I had to take action and get to them as soon as possible. I got up and tried to tidy my uniform a little. It was completely dirty and wrinkled, but it didn''t matter as I wasn''t trying to look good; I was just trying to make myself more comfortable in the uniform.


    I looked around and immediately noticed the open door. It must''ve unlocked itself while I was unconscious; and this was also the reason neither Idil nor Onur was here. I got out of the classroom, fearing that I could get locked in there once again.


    The hallway had changed a little bit, but the stairs that were supposed to be on the closer end of the hallway were still not there. I could not see the other end of the hallway from here. I started walking that way, hoping I could find one of my friends; assuming they were still, in fact, my friends.


    "Idil! Onur!" I shouted in the hallway. My voice echoed through the completely silent building. There was no response. I kept walking.


    It was the second time I had a pleasant surprise: the iron doors at the other stairwell were gone! I walked downstairs to look around; I had no idea what to do, or what to expect. I was aimlessly roaming around at this point.


    After getting downstairs, I shouted once more. "Idil! Onur!" Still no response.


    Just then, I had a great idea. I could go the the principal''s room, it could have proper means of communication I could use. I already knew that the building was completely isolated, both mechanically and electromagnetically (perhaps more like magically), but it wouldn''t hurt to give it a try.


    I walked upstairs once more, and headed to the principal''s room. Luckily for me, the door wasn''t locked. I slowly pushed the door open. It wasn''t a very large room. I knew this place since I''ve been here before. Most of the room seemed normal, except for a very old looking cabinet at the corner. I didn''t know whether it had always been there, or it was a result of the metamorphosis. I entered the room and left a small gap between the door and the wall. I slowly walked towards the wooden table. The top of the table was a little crowded: there was a computer monitor and keyboard, lots of pens and small sheets of paper, a cup, a stapler, some paperclips and lots of other various small office material. You could easily say that people were drowning in paperwork here. There was also a phone on the table, and a small notebook near it. The small notebook was almost completely covered in sticky notes.


    I took the notebook and opened a random page. It was full of phone numbers, but I didn''t know any of these people. I took the phone''s handset and entered a random number from the notebook. Surprisingly, the phone line was working! I didn''t know who I was calling, but it didn''t really matter; as long as someone knew there were people in trouble at the school building.


    The phone rang for about a minute, but no one picked up. But I couldn''t give up now, not when I have found a working phone line.


    I gave up on random phone numbers and tried to call the police, like I should''ve done as the first option. My call wasn''t answered immediately, but eventually, it was. With excitement, I was about to start talking; but the only thing I could receive from the other side was white noise. A lot of white noise.


    "Hello? This is an emergency, can you hear me?"


    No one anwered. I didn''t know what was going on, but I kept trying. After a while, the white noise increased dramatically. Eventually, I heard something else in the noise.


    "Pathetic."


    It was probably and old woman. The voice was a little strange. I had no idea why somebody would reply to an emergency call with ''pathetic''. Unfortunately, I couldn''t spend my time analysing every sentence and every word I received; I had to declare my emergency and describe the situation as well as possible.


    "There are three people trapped insid-"


    I was interrupted just when I started talking.


    "Are you sure about that?" the voice said.


    "What are you talking about? What is going on?" I replied.


    "You are bad at maths." the voice told me. "Count again."


    What did that mean? I thought I had called the emergency services. After all, it wasn''t a phone number you could mistake for anything else.


    "Listen, this is an emergency!" I said, shouting.


    "Calm down, we will take care of it soon enough." the voice replied. "But first, we have something to resolve."


    At that point, I was sure I wasn''t talking to the emergency services. But whoever I was talking to... who was it? How did she know about me? Maybe I was being tricked by the curse, I thought. Could I really be manipulated that strongly?


    Even if it was a result of the curse, I thought I could find out some information; so I kept talking.


    "What is it we need to resolve?" I asked.


    "How many people are there in the building?" the voice asked.


    "How do you know abou-"


    "HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE THERE IN THE BUILDING?" the voice shouted at me. I couldn''t instantly reply this time.


    "...three." I said, with the lowest possible voice I could use.


    "Higher." the voice replied. "Try once more."


    "...four?"


    "Much higher."


    "I don''t know... fifteen?"


    "More."


    "Twenty five? At least provide some guidance!"


    "I''m growing tired of you. Seventy one. Yes, there are seventy one people in the building, including you. Right now."

 8 Chapter 8

    "There are seventy one people in the building, including you. Right now."


    If there really were seventy one people in the building with me, they must''ve been really, unnaturally good at hiding. I couldn''t understand what she was talking about, but I couldn''t hold my curiosity back either.


    "I have walked through the entire building, there is no way there are seventy one people here." I said.


    "True and false, respectively." she answered. "You are not only bad at maths, but you are a very bad observer as well." she added.


    "Who are you? Where are my friends?" I started asking questions one after another. I wasn''t getting satisfactory answers, but maybe I could learn something in the process.


    "Who am I? Oh, my child, you have no idea what is going on..." she replied. "I am... or rather, we are, the true and eternal residents of this place. We''ve been here for decades, longer than any of you have ever been." she said.


    "This building? You are talking as if you were somewhere near here." I said.


    "In fact, I am standing right next to you." she said. I reflexively backed away from the phone. "See that old wooden cabinet near you? I''m right there. As a matter of fact, that is my cabinet. If it makes you more comfortable, think of me as that cabinet." she said.


    I froze for a minute or so.


    "So, you are... like a ghost?"


    "If that gives you an idea, yes, I am sort of a ghost; one could say that." she said.


    Things all started to make sense now. Pieces of random information I held in my mind started to come together.


    "But... I am talking to you through a phone. The receiving end of my call must be somewhere far away." I said, with my renewed curiosity.


    "As I can not talk to you directly, a phone serves as a good communication device between our dimensions, or rather, ''different phases of reality'' at the same place. That device is pretty easy to manipulate. The phone line isn''t working at all, I''m using it as my opportunity to communicate. I was getting tired of replacing your posters all around the building, and you never even read most of the notes I''ve left." she said.


    "What do you want from us? You still didn''t tell me where my friends are. Are they okay?" I asked.


    "You are a curious little fellow... I''m only trying to help you and your friends. There is no need to worry, you will be with us soon enough." she replied. For some reason, that statement was incredibly worrying.


    "What do you mean? Who ARE you?" I asked.


    "Calm down, no need to rush anything. I will tell you... We are the community of poor souls who have died in this building." The answer was plain, and it triggered an utterly terrible realization.


    "So you... You are ''the curse'' of this building! Idil was right after all... Those people were possessed by you!" I said, terrified. It was further worrying to know that the ghost who was talking to me was literally standing next to me. I realized that I shouldn''t have said anything provocative, for my own well being.


    "''Possessed'' is not the right word, ''affected'' or ''persuaded'' is a better description. We can''t possess the physical bodies of living people." she replied, calmly.


    "Why are you killing those innocent people?" I asked, with a broken voice. I could be the next one to die.


    "You are thinking of us as your enemies, but we are not. We truly want to help you. Think about joining our community, we will lead you to something wonderful."


    "What is this... ''community'', exactly?" I asked.


    "This building has witnessed many terrible things since it was first built. During all the years it served as a prison, many people were subjected to various psychological experiments, some of them lasting for years. Many of those people, ''we'', could not make it. Some of us died while being tortured, and some of us commited suicide; hitting their heads on walls, impaling and cutting themselves on barbed wires and sharp iron bars. One day, it was like hell. There was a riot, and many people tried to escape. The guards were heavily outnumbered, so they opened fire on the inmates to repel them. A lot of people dropped dead on the spot. It was a bloodbath, but the riot was controlled. Most of us are these people, including me; but there are some people who died during the school years as well. We have recently welcomed some of your friends into the community."


    "Well, what are you doing here? Why does such a community exist?" I asked. Although I was still terrified by the information I got, I had to learn as much as possible. This was the only time I progressed that much into solving the mysteries of the building.


    "It is not out of choice. At first, we wanted to get our revenge from those who subjected us to the terrible experiments I mentioned earlier. We wanted to harm them. We were so obsessed we could think of nothing else. Unfortunately, our wishes were never fulfilled, so, in our disappointment, we were trapped here for eternity. After the building was converted into a school, our goals have changed. We wanted to help people. We did, truly want to help people, but we were not powerful enough against you."


    "Against... us?"


    "Yes, when there are many living people around, we can''t be effective. During school hours, the building gets very crowded, so we couldn''t find the power to do anything. Only when, many years before, two teachers decided to stay here for a night, without many people accompanying them, we were able to take action."


    I remembered that part of the story Mr. Kenan told. She continued talking after a while:


    "Originally, they were going to be our... ''envoys'' for all the people in the school, but unfortunately, they decided it would be much better to join us sooner, instead of bringing more people with them. We respect their choice, of course. Anyway, after many long years, this is the first time we ever got this chance again. We managed to persuade a few of your friends, and your teacher, Mr. Kenan."


    "You know him?" I asked.


    "He resisted us strongly when he was alive. Since he joined the community, he tried to persuade us to keep you untouched. He doesn''t agree with our view of what is good or bad, but it seems like he cares about you a lot. So, we listened to our new friend; and we did not touch you."


    "I had two friends still alive." I said.


    "They are still living, just like you are. But consider our offer, if you join us, we can be powerful enough to transform this place into an admirable utopia." she said. Her voice was... dreamy.


    "Transform? You are doing the transformations as well?"


    "Yes. When there are not many living people around, we can transform this place into whatever we like. If something seems out-of-place in your world, that means there is one of us nearby."


    The sheer amount of information I just learned was overwhelming. We were living besides ghosts for so long! I stared at the wooden cabinet for a while, without thinking of any other questions.


    "Let me reach my friends." I told her.


    "One of them is on the roof right now. But, we didn''t have our little talk with the other one yet, so you will only be able to see him later. If you ever need to find me again, this phone will be a useful tool." she said.


    Although I knew her understanding of ''helping people'' was not the same as ours, I couldn''t do anything about it. Yet, it was our teacher Mr. Kenan who protected us, even after his death! Tears formed in my eyes... He was a wonderful person.


    "Thank you, Mr. Kenan. I know you can hear me." I said, whispering. "Thank you!.."


    I got out of the room, into the hallway. Most of the school was transformed back into it''s original shape. I ran to the ladder which lead to the roof, and climbed it. Normally, the roof was locked and it was out of students'' reach; but this time, it was unlocked.


    I was on the roof. I have never noticed how high the school building really was. The roof was sloped. It wasn''t hard to stand on it, but a wrong move could easily bring an end to one''s life.


    I looked around and saw Idil sitting near the edge. I started walking towards her. She noticed me and looked in my eyes.


    "Thank God!" she said, and stood up. "I thought I lost you!" she said. We hugged each other for a long time.


    "Are you okay?" I asked.


    "Yes, I am much better now that you are here." she replied.


    "Where is Onur?" I asked her.


    "I don''t know. He fell downstairs when we were fighting. Instead of chasing him, I ran away and hid here. He couldn''t find me since." she told me. "I learned many horrible things about this building. I talked to-"


    "Yes, I did too." I interrupted.


    "Oh. So, do you... you know..."


    "We have to stay together. I will protect you no matter what!" I said.


    "That''s my promise as well. For a second, I though they might have persuaded you into doing horrible things..."


    "Don''t worry, I am not throwing away all of the efforts of Mr. Kenan." I replied.


    Just then, we heard something. Onur had just climbed the ladder and he was breathing heavily. He stood there, staring us for a long time. Finally, he said something.


    "Guys, I have got news..."

 9 Chapter 9

    "Guys, I have got news..."


    I couldn''t tell if it was good news or bad news judging by his voice. He said that, and kept staring at us for a long time. Idil took a couple of steps back.


    "Well, what is it?" I asked. He tried to catch his breath, and started talking. He must''ve ran all the way up here.


    "I talked with someone. I discovered what ''the curse'' of the building is!"


    So it was right. He must''ve been contacted by the ''local community'', no wonder he is so excited. He was about to start telling us everything from the start, until I interrupted his exciting storytelling.


    "Yes, we know. It was about time they contacted you too." I said.


    "You... you know that all? I must be late to the party, then!" he said. He had a stupid grin on his face.


    "What are you so excited about?" Idil asked, while seemingly trying to hide herself behind me; remebering her previous fight with Onur inside the building.


    "They promised me something wonderful, and I''ve come here to lead you there." he said. "Don''t you know? Don''t you want to be a part of the community?" he asked. So, that was it. That was what I feared the most. One of us were convinced, ''indoctrinated'' by manipulation; just when I thought things were settling down.


    "Do you have any idea what you are talking about?" I asked him.


    "You have a faulty point of view." he said to me. "Trust me, I''ve got a taste of what is out there."


    "No way, you are being manipulated. Resist your thoughts!" I told him.


    "No. I can''t." he said. "Furthermore, I don''t need to. I don''t WANT to. Do you understand? Did you not see the wonderful future of this place?"


    "So far, the only thing I saw around here was death." I replied. "And I don''t intend to share the same fate with many other students that were supposed to be here, alive. They all died because someone couldn''t resist the terrible thoughts forced upon her. I don''t want to lose you the same way. Come on, resist it!" I tried to motivate him to fight his thoughts.


    "No, if only you knew what I know, you wouldn''t say that." he said. "Just let me help you." That sentence was a clear sign of danger.


    He started approaching us with slow movements as he said that. Idil and I started going backwards. The sloped roof was one of the worst places to walk backwards, it would only take a few wrong steps and to find yourself in the air.


    "Look, we don''t want to join the community." I changed my argument. "We want to stay in this world. We don''t need help."


    "You are wrong. What you just said only means you need more help. You are the one who is thinking wrongly!" he said. "Don''t resist, and it will be a more peaceful experience." he added.


    Idil and I stopped walking backwards, because there were only about three more meters between us and the edge of the roof. The roof had no measures of safety on the edges, it was very easy to fall down. He was still approaching us.


    "It is your choice if you want to make it harder." he said. I had nowhere to run. I was preparing myself to fight him at any moment.


    "Stop right there." I told him. He did not stop, unsurprisingly.


    There was about two meters of distance between me and Onur. In a rather slow move; he approached me and grabbed me from my shoulders, trying to push me down and to the side. I grabbed him from his neck and tried to push him away, while trying to keep my balance on the sloped roof by slightly leaning forwards. He tried to lift his leg and kick me, but this caused us both to lose our balance and fall on the roof. We rolled on the roof downwards, and I loosened my grip on him. We let go of each other for a moment, sliding down the roof for a few more seconds. Suddenly, I felt my feet slip past the edge of the roof. I was barely able to hold on to one of the tiles. The tile got loose, and it could disintegrate from the roof at any moment. I was trying to push myself up as I felt something on my leg. I turned to take a look.


    Onur was holding my leg from even below, either trying to push himself back on, or pull me further down; most probably both. I tried to shake my leg and kick him, because I couldn''t counter both of our weights for too long.


    I looked upwards and saw Idil. She was carefully trying to reach me.


    "Hold on a little longer!" she said.


    "Why won''t you understand?" Onur shouted.


    My grip was loosening, and the tile was about to come out of it''s place. I couldn''t guess which one would kill me. I tried to swing my free leg upwards to step on the roof, while trying to kick Onur away with my other leg. My foot touched the edge of the roof, but it slipped back down.


    "Don''t make it harder!" Onur shouted.


    I tried to swing my leg upwards again, with a greater momentum this time. Unfortunately, I completely missed the edge. I was slowly sliding down on my stomach.


    "Let it go!" Onur shouted.


    "Idiot, we will both fall down!" I replied, without much thinking.


    "Yes. We will fall down, that''s the way we need to go!" he shouted again.


    "Go on your own, then!" I said, angrily.


    Just then, I felt some force on my arm. Idil had reached me and she was trying to pull us up. Unfortunately, our combined strenght wasn''t enough.


    Onur gathered some strenght, and with a sudden move, grabbed me from my other leg. We slided further down until I came to a stop with only my chest, arms and head over the roof. It was painful, my chest and stomach were hurting so badly.


    Idil stooped trying to pull us up, and she grabbed something from her uniform. It was the knife she knocked off of Onur''s hand during their previous struggle. She must''ve came back to take it before heading to the roof, I thought.


    She approached the edge of the roof, looking down. She leaned downwards a bit and swung the knife towards Onur. Onur made a sudden move to avoid it, and his move almost caused me to release my grip on the roof. Idil swung the knife for a second time, which ended up hitting the lower part of my leg, and Onur''s hand. At that moment, the extra weight on my legs suddenly disappeared, as an intense pain took it''s place. Onur could no longer hold on to me. His body accelerated away from me, towards the ground; and it landed on the ground after several seconds. I could hear every one of his bones breaking, even from that distance. His organs were everywhere, and his surrounding was completely red. Some blood was spraying out of his ripped artery near his neck. I couldn''t watch the scene for long.


    I swung my leg upwards for a final time, and got back on the roof, to safety. Idil dropped her knife, and pulled me further up, towards the middle of the roof.


    "Are you okay?" she asked me.


    "Apart from the cut on my leg, yes I am fine." I replied in pain.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean to-" she was about to apologise.


    "I owe you my life." I told her. "Thank you."


    "We owe each other our lives." she said. "If you didn''t find me in time, I couldn''t fight him." As she said that, a strong wind started blowing and howling.


    "We are still not safe here. Let''s get back in." I suggested. We went to the ladder and got back into the building.


    She was about to say something, but I interrupted her.


    "I have something I need to resolve right away."

 10 Chapter 10

    "I have something I need to resolve right away." I said, as I started walking down the hallway, making my way to the principal''s room. The hallway had changed a lot when we were on the roof, but it wasn''t particularly hard to remember my way around. Idil followed me from behind.


    I got to the principal''s room and opened the door. I walked up to the phone and grabbed the handset.


    "Are you there?" I asked, hoping for an answer from the ''ghost'' I talked with earlier. Yet, I could hear nothing but static for a long time. After a while, the environment around us started to change, in front of our eyes. We were used to the building''s shapeshifting mechanisms by now, but this was the first time it happened right in front of us. Until now, it had only happened behind our backs. Perhaps something has changed...


    The static on the phone started to clear up, and I heard the now-familiar voice of the old woman.


    "Hello, my dear. I must say, you came back sooner than expected." she said. "Perhaps... you took your time to think through everything rationally, and now you want to reconsider our offer. Oh, I know! Your friend must''ve convinced you. I always had faith in him." It felt like she was trying to make fun of me.


    "Liar!" I shouted. "Liars! You said you wouldn''t touch us!"


    "What is the matter?" she asked.


    "''What is the matter?'' Don''t you know? One of us has died because you kept messing with him." I said.


    "Oh, no, no, no... We are not affecting your minds any longer. He thought about everything we told him, and he decided to help us, all by himself. It is something you could never understand. And besides, we can''t go out to the roof, since we are trapped in here." she said.


    "I don''t believe you." I said. "Even now, you started to transform everything into odd things instead of letting us get through the original school building."


    "Now that there are only two living beings in this building, our powers have, of course, increased. We do not apply all transformations ourselves, it is also a byproduct of our presence nearby. When we move around, you can see things changing around us. It is nothing we can help." she said.


    "If you want me to believe you, let us get out of the building." I said.


    "Only on one condition..." she said. "You will never come back here, and you will keep every living being out of this building." It was simple enough, but keeping everyone out was near impossible. It was a school building in service, there was no way I could keep everyone out. Unless...


    Weird ideas started to form in my mind.


    "Fine." I said. "We have a deal. Let us out." I said to her.


    "We will miss you, and we would rather have you in our community, but since all of this happened... We will let you out of this building. You can walk to the main exit." she said.


    "Come on, this is our chance." said Idil.


    I dropped the handset on the table. Idil and I looked at each other, and started running.. We got out of the principal''s room and walked downstairs to the bottom floor. I could see the steel door on the exit, wide open. We ran towards the exit in excitement.


    Just a few second before I could get out, the steel door was closed with incredible speed. I barely stopped before ramming into the door. A weird clicking echoed through the building, and school''s intercom came to life.


    "Actually, not so fast."


    It was the same voice I heard on the phone.


    "I think... Now that you are only two, weak people, I don''t need to be bluffing. We have the power over here. We can do whatever we want with you. I don''t need your approval to take action. The plans have changed..."


    So much for our escape to safety... I had no idea what sort of thing she had in mind.


    I heard something in the distance, a loud, menacing sound of metals. I decided to run away from it instead of getting too curious and check it out. Now that we were only two living people, they might have had enough power to directly affect the physical world around us.


    While Idil and I were running in the hallway, one of the classroom doors came out of it''s place and rammed the wall across, with great speed. A loud bang almost ripped my eardrums. The door had missed me so closely I could feel the change in the air pressure. This event was the proof of the new danger we were in... The whole environment could work against us.


    In a hopeless attempt to contact ''the community'', I started to run towards the stairs to reach the principal''s room. In the meantime, I was analysing my surroundings to find any object that could pose a serious threat to us; but I had no idea about their capabilities. It was like hell, maybe the walls could move to squeeze us!


    I had no idea what to say to ''the community'' either. Would I plea for mercy, or would I bluff and threaten them?


    I was running upstairs, and Idil was trying her best to stay with me.


    I got into the hallway, just when one of the windows blew up inwards. The tiny pieces of glass has scattered everywhere, and some of them had cut my right arm. I held my arm with my left hand, and continued running, in pain. The broken window was too high to safely get out of the building, the fall would easily kill us.


    I reached the principal''s room, but the door was locked. I pushed and kicked it in frusturation.


    "Liars!" I shouted. "Traitors! This wasn''t our deal!"


    "Would you look at these helpless souls?" The voice was coming from the intercom. "I was about to start feeling bad for you." She let out a small laugh of joy. I noticed that they could, in fact, hear us directly now; without the need for manipulating a device.


    "Listen to me!" I shouted.


    Just then, a loud static came from the intercom, and the system shut down. The building started to vibrate, and a loud humming covered the atmosphere. With a small click, the principal''s room was unlocked. I took the chance and opened the door immediately.


    I ran into the room, to the phone, and grabbed the handset.


    "Listen to me!" I shouted again.


    "No, you listen to me." someone shouted back. I responded in shock.


    "Mr. Kenan?"

 11 Chapter 11

    "Mr. Kenan?"


    Out of all the things that could happen at the moment, this was the one I least expected. Mr. Kenan didn''t give me much time to get out of my initial shock, and started talking fastly:


    "Shut your mouth and listen, I don''t have much time. It is now obvious to both of us that this... ''community'' entity doesn''t actually have any good purposes. They are just good at bluffing and manipulating. I''m not exactly sure of their motives, but I think... perhaps they just want revenge from humanity. For some time, they''ve tricked all of us into horrible mistakes. Anyway, let''s cut it short and get to the point. Recently, I''ve had some ''disagreements'' with this community, like you might guess, and long story short; we are in a fight over here, right now. I had this short opportunity to inform you about the situation, and to protect you from the manipulations of ''the community''. Okay, listen closely now, here is the plan: If you ever get into contact, do NOT believe in whatever they tell you."


    I was relieved to hear Mr. Kenan''s voice once more, but what he told didn''t make me feel the same way. He continued talking after a moment.


    "Actually, here is a better plan: Avoid everything at all costs! Yeah. The storm is gathering over here, and hell is about to break loose. Try to stay alive until the action is over."


    "Where should I go? What is going to happen?" I asked. Mr. Kenan''s warning had caused a lot of panic and confusion, and I didn''t know what to do.


    "I don''t know, just stay out of danger zones. Anything can kill you. Now that there are only two people alive in the building, ''the community'' possesses a great power over the physical world. They can use just about anything you see to kill you."


    My thoughts turned upside down. As Mr. Kenan gave me clear warnings, panic and fear had completely replaced my momentary relief.


    "I have allied with the souls of your dead friends in ''our phase of reality''. We are the only force that stands in front of the community''s complete control of the building. Even Melis is on our side, now that she is out of the effects of the manipulating force, but we are still heavily outnumbered." said Mr. Kenan, describing the situation similar to a military report.


    I couldn''t help but think that it sounded like some fantasy plots I used to read; factions of evil and good mystical beings, fighting each other for the possession of power...


    "So here is what you will do." said Mr. Kenan, cleaning my mind of all the silly thoughts. "Remember the story I told you when we were first stuck in the building?"


    "Most of it." I replied.


    "Okay, remember the first casualities of this school? The two teachers who hung themselves?" he asked.


    "Uh... Yes, I do." I replied.


    "Good, good." Mr. Kenan continued. "So, I''ve managed to contact one of those teachers here. After all, their poor souls were trapped in here, just like everybody else. It wasn''t hard to figure out where to find him... Anyway, he informed me that before they commited suicide, they have hidden some notes in the school building somewhere. Unfortunately, we don''t know where the notes are now; but their contents are very important for our cause. We need you to find the notes and contact us again. We will protect you for as long as possible as you search for the notes."


    "What are the notes about? How will we know when we find them?" I asked.


    "You will understand if you can find them. Stop asking too many questions, we don''t have much time." Mr. Kenan said. It was clear that he was worried. "Please find those notes as soon as possible, or all the struggle will be for nothing..."


    Mr. Kenan didn''t explain a lot about the notes we were supposed to find, and I didn''t understand a lot. But I got how important this was for him, and I had to take action. I left the handset on table, still panicking a little bit.


    "What do we do now?" asked Idil. She was listening to the conversation without interrupting.


    "I don''t know, why don''t we start searching here?" I said. We started inspecting all around the principal''s room. The room wasn''t large, so it didn''t take too long to search everything in the room.


    "Those are just administrative folders and stuff..." said Idil. "There is nothing interesting in particular."


    "The sticky notes are full of phone numbers." I said. "The notes aren''t here."


    "Where do we look next?" she asked.


    "Maybe they left it in the classroom they commited suicide." I said.


    "We don''t know which class that is." said Idil. "It will take forever if we look at every single classroom in this building. Besides, if the notes were in one of the classrooms, somebody would''ve found them by now." She was right. It''s been many years since the teachers have died, if they have hidden the notes in one of the classrooms, it was near impossible for the notes to stay undiscovered for this long.


    "The teachers'' room... What about it?" I said.


    "Could be... Let''s go!" Idil said.


    We ran out into the hallway, and noticed that most of the hallway had transformed back into it''s new ''school redesign'' version. It was clear that the effects of ''the community'' around us had weakned, now that we were under the magical protection of Mr. Kenan and our friends.


    When we were running to the teachers'' room, the intercom activated.


    "Stop!" shouted Mr. Kenan.


    The structure around us had started to transform, and a desk flew across the hallway right in front of us at high speed. If we were hit by that desk, it would almost guarantee an instant death.


    "That was close." said Idil.


    "Keep yourself in the safe zones." said Mr. Kenan. He was referring to the non-transformed parts of the building, which resembled a school rather than a prison.


    We kept running towards the teachers'' room, but we stopped running when we heard something from one of the classrooms nearby.


    It was a loud crash, followed by coughing and violent gagging.


    Could there be someone else alive in the building? ''No way'' I thought. If there were someone else alive, we would know about it by now. But what we just heard was telling us otherwise. For once more, I was stuck in between the thoughts of ''running away from the danger'' and ''finding out more about things''. This time, my curiosity won the fight, despite all of the warnings by Mr. Kenan to stay out of the danger zones.


    I walked in front of the door, and Idil followed me.


    I gently pushed the door open...

 12 Chapter 12

    I gently pushed the door open, to witness something spine-chilling... and peculiar.


    In the middle of the classroom, there were two bodies hanging from the ceiling. They were two male adults in formal dresses, but I couldn''t recognise them. That reminded me of the ''two teachers'' Mr. Kenan told us about, but I thought this had nothing to do with them. Because the corpses were rather new, they might even have died a few minutes ago. You could easily tell that by looking at the blood, flowing down the bodies. Bodies were complete and intact unlike many others we encountered before. Their necks were cut by the rope, and their faces were pale. There was a chair beneath one of them, knocked off to the ground; pointing to a suicide. It was unclear whether this was caused by direct manipulation of ''the community'', or they did it to protect other people, just like Mr. Kenan did to protect us.


    I was unsure about what to do. I thought of leaving the classroom, since I was already side-tracked enough; but discovering two new people, furthermore, two ''dead'' people in the school wasn''t something I could ignore. I wanted to find out more about who they were, and what they were doing here. But, at the same time, another part of my mind was forcing me to leave the room, since it could still be suffering from the presence of ''the community''.


    In a hope to figure out what we should do next, I looked at Idil. Unfortunately, she did nothing but stare back at me for a long time before talking.


    "We are not supposed to be here." she said.


    "I know, but... Don''t you wonder too?" I asked.


    "We don''t have much time." Idil said. "Look, a lot of people died in this building, and I don''t want to be the next. Leave it be. This is not our priority. Let''s get going."


    She was right. We were running out of time to find the notes Mr. Kenan wanted... Not only that, but every second was bringing both of us much closer to death than ever before.


    I was about to leave the room, but as I reached the doorknob, it moved by itself and escaped my hand. This was the only sign I needed to confirm the presence of ''the community'' nearby. Being trapped like this by ''the community'' in the past, I was aware of such possible traps by now; so I was standing in front of the door. But unexpectedly, the magical force on the door was much stronger than I thought. I was thrown away from the door, and the door shut itself closed. We were trapped in a classroom, once again.


    "Fool me twice, shame on me..." I whispered myself.


    They were much stronger in this classroom than they were in the hallways protected by Mr. Kenan''s ''alliance of souls.'' We were no longer under the protection of ''the alliance'', and it was all because of my curiosity. I was angry with myself.


    "Oh no." said Idil, agreeing with my thoughts.


    "Oh no, indeed." repeated my inner voice.


    Once again, we were facing ''the community'', alone. But this time, they were stronger than ever before, and they could damage us, directly.


    The sudden transformation of the classroom into an empty dormitory confirmed that. Although the structure has changed, the bodies were still there, connected to the ceiling by bloody ropes. I started looking around the dormitory to identify the potential threats.


    "Keep your eyes open." I said to Idil.


    "Are you being serious? I know." she replied.


    As I was looking around, a weird sound startled me.


    "You..."


    My nervous system gave a body-wide response in terror. I launched myself to a corner, screaming furiously like a little kid. After I gained the control of my central nervous system again, I looked back into the dormitory.


    Idil was horrified as well. She was near the door, trying to pull the door open with brute force. For several seconds, I couldn''t figure out where that noise came from. Perhaps ''the community'' was trying to reach us again.


    "You..."


    This time, I couldn''t be mistaken. One of the dead bodies was talking! Although his damaged vocal cords were making it harder, he could forcefully make audible words.


    "...been to your aid..."


    Idil stopped trying to open the door, and turned around to listen to the dead body, still terrified by what''s going on.


    "...made your desicionsss..."


    I couldn''t hear everything he tried to say, but I was sure that it was ''the community'' trying to use the dead bodies to contact us one more time. I was still on my guard for any physical threat.


    "...now, to the fate of the two, innocent souls..."


    He tried to breathe in some air, but it was impossible. At that moment, the rope snapped and the body was free of the rope. It fell to the ground, and made a terrific sound as air filled his lungs again.


    "Perhaps it is a good time to repent, as there is no way out of here. We had allowed your heroic games and drama for so long, but you have passed the limit as you attacked the sovereignty of the many poor souls that aids us in our cause." The body was talking with a more understandable voice now.


    That was it. My curiosity had brought us our end. Even Mr. Kenan was powerless against them here.


    "It was easy for Mr. Kenan to trick you as your beloved teacher, so we can not completely blame you for believing in whatever he says. For that reason, we are giving you the chance to join us and revert your mistakes, but this will be your last chance. Join us, and we shall be one to bring justice to all the ''phases of reality''!"


    Mr. Kenan had warned us into not listening to whatever they said to us, but it didn''t matter anymore. We had already walked into a dead end: an unholy alliance with ''the community'' wouldn''t ensure our lives; on the other hand, facing ''the community'' meant certain death. We were powerless.


    I wanted to plea for mercy, but I couldn''t say anything. It was just an awkward silence. After about a minute, the body started talking again:


    "I will take it that you have made your desicion to NOT join us. Shame." the body said, and laughed. "I thought you would be smarter after everything you have been through... Like it or not, you will be joining us, sooner or later. There is no escape from this building. Even Mr. Kenan and your friends don''t have any power over us, as you can clearly see. They will have to bow to us soon enough. Your faith in yourself and your friends only pushed you into more and more pointless struggles. We were kind enough to give you the chance to join us on your own desicion, but you chose the harder way. Don''t worry too much though, it will be over soon enough; and you will understand the grave mistakes you''ve made. You will even start liking us for everything we have done."


    Idil ran away from the door and tried to get closer to me. The body which was still hanging from the ceiling made a sudden move and blocked her way. She was scared by the sudden move, and she ran back to the other side of the dormitory.


    "So be it." the body said.


    Idil turned around and looked at me from the other side of the empty dormitory.


    "Don''t worry, I will get there. Just keep your eyes open for anything!" I told her.


    She just kept staring at me as I was thinking about what to do. After several seconds, she started walking towards me again, slowly. Weirdly, this time, she was not stopped by the body. She walked past the corpse and kept approaching.


    "We have to get back to the door." I told her.


    Suddenly, she ran and pushed me to the wall. I hit my shoulder and the side of my head to the wall, and it felt like my arm broke. My vision was blurred. I pushed Idil away with my other arm. She stumbled away and fell down. I tried to regain my senses. I could stand on my feet, but everything was fading out. I went unconscious in a few seconds as a result of the impact to my head.

 13 Chapter 13

    I was feeling very tired.


    I was standing in the corner of a classroom, heavily breathing. My arms were full of blood, and I was in intense pain. My chest and face was hurting very badly. My eyes couldn''t focus on anything for a while. I could only hear the sounds of my own body. I had very little energy, and I was hardly standing on my feet. I couldn''t remember what happened in the recent minutes, and how I found myself in here.


    In about a minute, my vision started to clear up, and I could see everything.


    There were some blood marks on the walls and the floor, some of them resembling the shapes of hands and bodies; although a lot of them were amorphous.


    The two dead bodies were still there, one on the ground and one still hanging from the ceiling. Perhaps the dormitory had transformed back into it''s classroom form while I was unaware of my surroundings.


    With a more detailed inspection of the scenery, I noticed Idil laying on the ground on the opposite corner of the classroom. Her uniform was pretty beaten up, and her body was covered in blood as well. Her body was standing very still.


    My mind was full of worrisome thoughts. It... It couldn''t be...


    "Idil!" I cried.


    There was no response. She didn''t move the slightest bit. I kept yelling until I gathered my strength to walk again. I slowly started to walk towards her, but stumbled and fell on the floor. Instead of standing up again, I started to crawl towards her.


    "No... This isn''t happening..." I was telling myself. "You are not okay, you are hallucinating..."


    I noticed open wounds on her arms, shoulders and chest as I got closer. I reached her and shook her slowly.


    "Idil!"


    Yet, still no response. I tried to check her impulse, but I couldn''t feel anything with my wounded hands.


    How... How could I let this happen to her? We had promised to protect each other no matter what, yet... that was her situation.


    I put my head on her chest, crying.


    "I am sorry... I am sorry, it was my mistake... I''m sorry I let you down... I couldn''t keep my promise... I didn''t listen to you... It was my mistake..."


    No matter what I did, it wouldn''t matter anymore.


    At that moment, I heard something. The dead adult body on the floor started speaking again. I stood up, and started listening to it.


    "Don''t ever do something I don''t want you to do again." he said.


    "Mr. Kenan? Is... Is that you?" I said.


    "Yes, how lucky you are..." he replied. "When I tell you to do something or not, you can be sure that I have a good damn reason for it!"


    He was angry with me, understandably.


    "I''m sorry I let you all down..." I said. "I thought I could learn somet-"


    "Was it worth it?" he replied. "If it was worth it, I would personally tell you to do it. I just wanted you to stay out of danger zones and find a damn note, yet you screwed such a simple task up! Why won''t you control yourself? She is laying there in her own blood because of you!"


    He stopped talking, and continued in a calmer voice.


    "I know how hard it is to stand against the manipulative power of ''the community'', but you have to understand. If we didn''t reach you in time to push ''the community'' out of this room, you would have killed her!"


    I hoped that I understood the last sentence correctly.


    "What? She is alive!? I can''t remember what happened in here..." I said.


    "Oh? Then it is better if you don''t know. Just take good care of her from now on." he replied.


    "No, please tell me, I have to know! I don''t understand!" I yelled.


    "You won''t listen to me, will you... If you need to learn more about it, I will tell you; but you won''t like it. So I want you to promise something: stop overthinking about the past and keep your eyes on your task." he told me.


    "I promise." I said.


    "Huh... When you were trapped in here, we couldn''t protect you against the presence of ''the community''. While we engaged in a fight for the control of this classroom, they managed to take over control of your physical bodies. Yes, that''s how powerful they are right now. You and Idil started attacking each other, and you almost killed each other in a brutal fight. This was the unfortunate way they decided to execute you. Luckily for you, we managed to push ''the community'' away from the room before something worse happened. It was then you regained your control over your body, and become conscious again."


    "I... I couldn''t do that! I thought I was powerful enough to resist..." I said.


    "It wasn''t you who attacked her. You were possessed." he replied. "Stop overthinking about it, you still have a task to accomplish."


    While we were talking, Idil slowly got up and sat near the wall. She then looked up and noticed me.


    "You are alive!" I said in excitement.


    She immediately got up and ran further away from me.


    "What''s wrong? It is okay, calm down!" I told her.


    "I don''t believe you." she replied. "I will kill you if you get any closer to me."


    "I know it is my fault... I''m sorry! I''m sorry I let you down and I couldn''t keep my promise! But it is over!" I said.


    "You can''t decieve me any further." she replied. Just then, the body on the ground spoke again.


    "Calm down Idil, you are out of the danger zone now. The manipulators have been defeated, for now." Mr. Kenan said.


    "There is no way I can believe either of you." she said. "I won''t be joining your stupid community! If you make a wrong move, you are dead."


    "So are you!" I said, in a daring voice this time. "If the community was still here, we would''ve killed each other by now! They are no longer playing with us, they just want us dead! The only reason we are still alive is the presence of Mr. Kenan''s alliance! It is over, stop being aggressive..."


    Idil didn''t instantly reply. She thought about it for a while.


    "It is so hard to know the truth..." she said, and started crying. "Why? What did I do wrong? Why is this happening to me?"


    "It is okay, we are safe." I said.


    "For now." Mr. Kenan added. "Please resolve your emotional confusion and get going, before ''the community'' strikes back. Even I''m underpowered against their full force."


    I slowly stepped towards Idil. She stepped back at first, but then stopped and let me approach. I slowly approached her, and with a burst of trust and joy, we hugged each other.


    "I''m about to cry." Mr. Kenan said, but it felt like he was just mocking us. "Get underway, we have lost more than enough time already."


    We ran out of the classroom, back into the hallway. We were heading towards teachers'' room, just before Mr. Kenan stopped us.


    "Actually, come back here. You may have made a great discovery."

 14 Chapter 14

    Mr. Kenan called us back into the classroom, stating that we could''ve just made a great discovery.


    We stopped and walked back into the classroom. Mr. Kenan started talking, still using the dead adult body laying on the floor. But no matter how long it lasted, I still couldn''t get used to the weirdness of this communication method. Perhaps it was convenient for ''ghostly'' beings to contact us this way, but talking to someone through the body of a dead person... I couldn''t get used to such stuff, even after witnessing the death of many people and tens of paranormal activities in just a few hours.


    "This is very unsettling..." Mr. Kenan said.


    "A lot of things are, but which one in particular are we talking about?" Idil asked.


    "The bodies in the classroom." Mr. Kenan replied.


    "Yes." I started talking. "I don''t know these people. What were they doing in this building, after school hours?"


    "The further unsettling thing is that I DO know these people... I think." Mr. Kenan said.


    "You do? Who are they?" Idil asked.


    "I have seen them in some of the old photos of the school." he said. "When someone told me about the death of two teachers in this building."


    "Are they... those same two teachers, you say?" I asked.


    "Yes. I can''t clearly remember the fellow on the ground, but I do remember the one still hanging from the ceiling." Mr. Kenan replied.


    "But... that was decades ago. These people can''t be those two teachers!" I said.


    "Yes, they shouldn''t be here. And this is why I found it too unsettling." Mr. Kenan said.


    "What is happening? What are we going to do?" Idil asked.


    "I bet the metamorhosis screwed up spacetime entirely." Mr. Kenan said. "In order to alter the structure between the new ''school design'' and the old ''prison design'', one has to make use of extra dimensions. But our clashes with ''the community'' might have caused some anomalies. This part of the school''s history wasn''t supposed to be exposed. Perhaps the classroom was caught in the middle of forces pulling the history back to the prison and forwards to the modern school building."


    "Is it possible that this can happen anywhere else in the building?" I asked.


    "Yes, but it shouldn''t." Mr. Kenan replied. "In the worst case scenario, an immature transformation could cause the structure to weaken, and the building to collapse."


    "But this particular anomaly could help us learn more about the events of the past." I said.


    "The weird thing is, although it is possible for the structure to change that way, there is no way we can get to see people from either the past nor the future. I have no idea how this happened, but I can only say that they are... animations, rather than live beings. Bodies with no souls. But... maybe I can exploit the anomaly to make use of that. In order to do that, I will ask you to get out of the classroom. If something goes wrong as I exploit the anomaly, I don''t want to lose you in the process. I don''t know how much I can do, but I will try my best." Mr. Kenan said.


    We got out of the classroom and closed the door. The structure around us, and the inside of the classroom have started transforming into an older version. After a while, I could hear some sounds coming from the classroom. It was the same voice the dead body had, but it was much cleaner. He was sobbing.


    "I''m sorry... I had to do it, for everyone''s sake... I will not... I can not harm all the innocent people... who spend their lives in this building. I won''t submit to the cruel manipulation! I can only hope that they will understand the necessity... of what I have done."


    After he said that, I heard some footsteps. Then, a few moments of silence...


    I already knew the rest. A loud crash sound, followed by him choking and gagging, violently. Idil made a move to burst into the classroom and interrupt. I held her back.


    "Don''t interfere. This is not happening now, this event was decades ago. He is already dead."


    She unwillingly stepped back from the door. After a while, it was silence again. After waiting for a few seconds, I opened the door.


    It was a familiar, yet frightening sight; two dead bodies hanging from the floor, with blood dripping from their necks.


    "Turns out the teachers did not commit suicide at the same time." I said.


    "Perhaps... But from my own analysis of the monologue, it is possible that the second teacher here was manipulated to kill the other teacher, and then he noticed what he just did." Mr. Kenan told us from the intercom. "The same thing that happened to both of you."


    "So... He DID suicide to save others from himself?" I asked.


    "Most probably... Yes, that''s what I think." Mr. Kenan said.


    "No clues about the note he left, though." Idil said.


    "Unfortunately, I can''t further exploit this spacetime anomaly since it would risk your well-being." Mr. Kenan said. "But maybe you can go and take another look around the room before we leave. Just make it quick. The community is still around here."


    Idil and I started exploring the classroom for any clues about the note, but we could find nothing. Just as we were about to leave, I had an idea.


    "Wait." I said. "There is somewhere we didn''t check."


    "And where exactly is it?" Idil asked.


    I walked towards the dead bodies, covered in blood. Although I was disgusted by both the view and the smell, I approached the bodies to check if the teachers were carrying something in their pockets.


    Idil was more disgusted than I was, so she stood back.


    One of the teachers had his cellphone with him, but it was probably out of battery. I took the phone and put it into my pocket. When I checked the shirt pocket of one of the teachers, I have found something else: a pen, and a little notebook! ''This must be it'', I thought. I tried to pull the notebook out of the pocket, but it didn''t come out. I thought it was stuck because of the button on his shirt. I pulled harder, and the notebook came out; but not without ripping many pages apart. I wasn''t sure if it was my stupdity or just bad luck.


    "No!" I shouted.


    "What have you done?" Idil asked.


    "I can''t believe you!" Mr. Kenan shouted.


    "Incompetent idiot!" said my inner voice.


    "Wait!" I replied.


    Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the notebook was the same as the notebook I had found in the principal''s office. I opened the notebook to take a look at the pages.


    I was sure. That was the same notebook. It was full of phone numbers.


    I wondered as I checked all the pages left intact... How did that notebook end up in the principal''s room, and why was he carrying all the phone numbers with him?

 15 Chapter 15

    I kept inspecting the little notebook for a while. Idil and Mr. Kenan were curiously waiting for me to say something.


    "What is it?" Mr. Kenan said.


    "I have seen this exact same notebook somewhere else." I replied.


    "Eh?" Mr. Kenan said.


    "Let me have a look at it." Idil said.


    I turned around and gave the notebook to Idil. She held it with both hands and started turning the pages, looking at each of them for just a few seconds.


    "This is full of phone numbers." she said.


    "What?" Mr. Kenan replied. "That''s all?"


    "I don''t see anything else." replied Idil, still turning the pages.


    "So, where else did you see this notebook?" Mr. Kenan asked me.


    "This same notebook was standing on the table, near the phone in the principal''s room." I said.


    "Interesting..." said Mr. Kenan.


    "If I am right, the completely intact version of the notebook must be still there." I said.


    Idil stopped turning the pages and closed the damaged notebook.


    "If so, there is no reason for us to wait here. Let''s go get it!" Idil said.


    We got out of the classroom, heading to the principal''s room once again. While we were on our way, Mr. Kenan activated the intercom speaker nearby.


    "Slow down!"


    We came to a stop in the middle of the hallway. There was about ten meters between us and the principal''s room.


    "They are around here. Be careful." said Mr. Kenan.


    Just after that, we started to observe small, yet disturbing transformations of the school building in front of us. I wanted to slowly walk towards the principal''s room, but Idil held me.


    "No, it''s not a good time to face them." Mr. Kenan warned me. "I bet they won''t be playing around anymore. We got on their nerves pretty badly the last time we met."


    We have been standing still for a while when we heard something downstairs.


    "What was that just now?" asked Idil.


    "I have absolutely no idea." I replied. "Maybe the transformations are causing things to get out of place."


    "So you DO have an idea." Idil replied.


    We heard something downstairs again, but it was much louder. It sounded like someone was throwing things around.


    "I didn''t like that." I said.


    "Mr. Kenan!" Idil said.


    ...


    There was no response from the intercom.


    "Mr. Kenan!" I yelled.


    "Oh, well... At least he could tell us when he goes away." Idil said, jokingly; but she was trembling. I thought of continuing to walk towards the principal''s room, but the transformations around that place didn''t seem so welcoming. We were stuck there, without guidance.


    About half a minute later, we heard something from the stairwell on our back. Idil held my arm as I turned around to look at the stairwell. We had a lot of reasons to panic. If Mr. Kenan was away, we had to take action by ourselves.


    After some time, the sound from the stairwell got cleaner. They were pretty slow, but rythmic footsteps. Someone was walking upstairs to the floor we were standing in the middle of.


    I was watching the end of the hallway without moving when something emerged from the stairs. Someone walked into the hallway.


    "Ata!?" I yelled.


    He couldn''t walk properly, and his body was covered in crimson blood all over. The wound on his neck was no longer bleeding, but it was still wide open. His body was making weird sounds as he was approaching with slow steps. As he walked, his arms were swinging back and forth freely, with no muscle movement to counter.


    "We thought you were dead!" yelled Idil.


    "You wouldn''t believe me... if I told you... what I saw." Ata spoke hardly, still trying to walk towards us.


    I stepped towards Ata to help him out, but I stopped when I heard something from the other end of the hallway.


    "As you refused to believe it... when you were told about us." It was a girl''s voice.


    I turned around to see who it was. I couldn''t believe my eyes when I saw the owner of the voice... Melis'' body were walking to approach us, with many of her internal organs and some of her skeleton visible.


    "No way!" I said and stepped away from Ata, back near where Idil stood.


    "It would be much easier if you just listened." someone said.


    I turned around again to see who else were there. Mr. Kenan''s body were walking towards us from Ata''s direction.


    "Mr. Kenan!" cried Idil, desparately calling for help.


    We were trapped right in between Melis, coming from the direction of principal''s room; and Ata and Mr. Kenan on the other side, approaching from the stairwell.


    "There is no way you are alive." I said.


    "There is no way YOU are alive." Melis replied.


    "It took you long enough to realise..." Ata said.


    "...that we were destined to fulfill our quest." Mr. Kenan completed the sentence.


    That was it: ''the community'' was in control of dead bodies laying around the building, and they have made their way here. We had to take action to survive. If we ran towards Melis, we could get past her greatly damaged body, but the principal''s room was probably not the best place to run towards. On the other hand, we could run to the stairs, but getting past both Mr. Kenan and Ata''s bodies seemed almost impossible.


    "Would you ever understand?" an old woman''s voice echoed through the intercom speakers.


    "You can''t avenge your past by ruining our future!" I yelled.


    "You''ve got this story entirely wrong... We are already beyond that part." the voice replied. "We no longer want to avenge our tortured souls. We make the future. We ARE the future. We will create a better future for all." she said, and laughed. "And we will be waiting here to forgive the people who tortured us for countless years... Unlike you, who refuse to see the truth that we put right in front of you. If only you knew..."


    "If that''s true, we are already destined to join you one day." I replied. "But let the living people reside in their reality in peace, and find the truth themselves."


    "No one is about to find the truth by themselves... Not anymore." the voice replied. "Your ignorance is the greatest sign and symbol of your failure... as it will be of many other people we are about to see in the coming days. You have already blatantly refused our offer to lead you to a better tomorrow."


    I was lost in the conversation when I heard a high-pitched screeching from Melis.

 16 Chapter 16

    Melis was almost on top of us, but we were lucky. The wounds on her body, combined with her many missing muscles, prevented a deadly attack from her; though she still managed to hit me in the stomach. It didn''t cause any permanent damage, but it hurt very badly. I retreated near the side wall. Melis'' attack on me gave Idil enough time to kick her away. Melis fell on the floor.


    "If that happened a few hours ago, I could as well enjoy your struggles; but unfortunately, we need to take our business seriously from now on." said the old woman voice from the intercom. "We will get rid of you as soon as possible, but our promise is still a promise... You will NOT regret being a part of us."


    "If you were powerful enough, you wouldn''t spend your efforts bluffing and trying to deceive us; you would end us right here." I said. "I get it now. I''ve believed in your lies once, but I''m not going to be fooled once again. So hear me out as I repeat it: I don''t believe you. I will never. As a matter of fact, I don''t even believe that you are any stronger than us. You are only using the mysterious nature of your reality as an advantage."


    Ata''s and Mr. Kenan''s bodies had almost reached us as I finished my sentence. Fortunately, Melis'' body was damaged far beyond restoration with the last kick she received. It was no longer possible for her body to be reassembled. Without any choice, Idil and I started retreating towards the principal''s room.


    "So be it." said the voice on the intercom. "Since you can not be argued with, there is no point in further conversation. Goodbye, my children. I wish you a bright tomorrow."


    We had walked all the way to the principal''s room. Ata''s and Mr. Kenan''s bodies were big enough to block our escape. Although I knew it was under the influence of the community, and we would get cornered in there; I had no choice but to retreat into that room. I opened the door and we ran into the room. I closed the door behind me and held it.


    "That''s our chance." said Idil. "Where was the notebook we were looking for?"


    "It must be somewhere near the phone, on the table." I said. She looked around and found the notebook in a pretty short time. "Got it."


    Somebody had already reached the door. The doorknob turned, and someone started pushing the door from the other side. I called Idil for help as I felt the pressure.


    "Help me hold the door, they are already here!" I yelled.


    Idil ran and started pushing the door as well. It was unclear which side were stronger, but we could hold the door at least for a while.


    I was getting really tired after a minute or so. Just then, a rather big knife cut through the door, with the sharp end of the knife almost cutting through my left hand. I was about the release the door in fear, but I kept holding it.


    "New plan, get the table here!" I yelled at Idil. "Quick!"


    Idil stopped holding the door and ran to push the table in front of the door. I could hold the door myself for a while, thanks to the bodies'' reduced strenght and damaged muscles.


    "It never locks itself when we actually need it, eh?" I murmured.


    Idil was trying to push the heavy table towards the door. The table was moving very slowly. The knife on the door was pulled back from the other side. A few seconds later, it penetrated the door from another spot; luckily, far away from my hands.


    "Ah!" Idil cried. "It''s way too heavy!"


    "Come on, I don''t know for how long I can hold them back!" I yelled.


    The knife was pulled back from the door again. My blood was full of adrenaline. I closed my eyes and kept pushing the door.


    The knife penetrated the door once again.


    I felt it going through my left palm. There was little pain at first, but it felt pretty hot. The pain greatly intensified in a fraction of a second. I let out a monumental scream, and opened my eyes.


    I saw the knife, and the large wound it opened. It had penetrated my bones, shattering a few of them and pushing them aside. Blood was flowing down my arms. After the initial pain, I could no longer feel most of my hand. I unwillingly let my arm drop down instead of trying to push the door. I could pass out due to the intense pain.


    I couldn''t keep the door closed with my other hand, so I ran away from the door. Idil stopped trying to push the table, and we both retreated as far as we could into the room. We were cornered. The room wasn''t very large, and the only thing that stood in between us and them was a wooden table.


    For a few seconds, I though of trying to escape from the window; but falling down from that height into solid ground would kill us with no doubt. Besides, I didn''t even know if it was actually possible to open the window.


    We heard something from the hallway. There were more of those ''zombies'' coming towards us, I thought. So, that was it... After all, the old woman was right: there was no escape.


    I was still in pain, holding my left hand without knowing what to do. I looked at Idil, who was obviously in panic. She looked at me, and our eyes met.


    "At least we kept our promise." she said, and smiled sadly. "If that''s our destiny, let it be."


    "Our trust in each other got us this far. Even if this is the end, I want it to be known... Let other people know the dangers of this cursed building. Perhaps we can save those innocent souls who will arrive in the morning." I said.


    We had pens on the table and the little notebook; but no time to write down our adventure. We hopelessly stood there as a third body entered the room...

 17 Chapter 17

    A third body entered the room.


    It was the body of one of the dead teachers we encountered in the class downstairs.


    Idil gave up trying to write our last warnings to the notebook, and threw the pen at the face of Mr. Kenan''s body. The pen hit the target and dropped to the ground, without helping anything.


    Ata''s body was trying to climb over the table. I held the heavy table from below and flipped it over, sending Ata''s body back to where it was. All the office material spreaded on the floor. I was preparing to face Mr. Kenan''s body next. Although we had no escape, I wasn''t giving up without a fight.


    As I tried to kick Mr. Kenan''s body away, he grabbed me from my leg. I lost my balance and fell. He pulled me, dragging my chest on the floor. I tried to protect my face with my hands, but the wound on my left hand only made things harder. Mr. Kenan''s body then lifted me from the ground upside down. At that short moment, I saw Idil staring at me in tears, without being able to help me.


    Suddenly, I felt a strong force on my leg. I found myself in the air, and my back hit the wall. I was powerless. I let my body slowly fall to the side. I could no longer resist against the overwhelming force, neither mentally nor physically. This was the way I''m going to die, beaten to death. As Mr. Kenan''s body was approaching me for the final blow, my life flashed before my eyes. I could no longer see my surroundings clearly. It was all dark and covered with a thick fog. I could still hear Idil yelling something, but I couldn''t make anything out. I stopped trying. Even the pain was slowly fading out...


    "Why?"


    That was the only word I managed to say.


    My vision faded out completely.


    The last things I heard were my own breath, Idil''s scream, a punch and things crashing - falling down everywhere.


    - - -


    Someone was staring down at me.


    "Finally!" she said.


    I was laying somewhere. I looked around, but the brightness of the environment blinded me for a while.


    "Where am I?" I asked her.


    "We are in the school building, still." Idil answered me. "We were lucky to survive, but not that lucky to escape."


    My eyes adjusted to the brightness of the lighting, and I could finally focus my vision. Idil was leaning towards me as I was laying on the principal''s room. The room was in a complete mess.


    I slowly stood up with Idil''s help. I saw three bodies on floor, in blood. The bodies belonged to Ata, Mr. Kenan and one of the two teachers we had previously encountered downstairs. The teacher''s body had a knife on his chest.


    "How did this happen?"


    Idil was about to answer when suddenly, I heard some calming chimes from somewhere nearby.


    "The phone is ringing!" Idil shouted in excitement.


    The phone was on the ground, and it was unplugged; yet it was ringing. I didn''t lose much time and grabbed the handset.


    "Forgive me." someone said. "This one was my fault."


    "Mr. Kenan!?" I shouted. "We thought you were gone... Thank god."


    "If I couldn''t bring that third body in time, you would be dead." he said. "But I was a little too late, please forgive me..."


    Mr. Kenan was still trying to protect us all this time! He was in control of the third body that entered the principal''s room.


    "It is not your fault." I said. "We can''t thank you enough for saving our lives countless times. But, how did you do that?"


    "When it is just you two around, we are powerful enough to control the physical world because of our much greater numbers." Mr. Kenan replied. "This includes controlling dead bodies, as they are simply organic material with no souls in them. This should remind you to be more careful from now on."


    "We have recovered the original notebook." I said.


    "Great! What did you find?" Mr. Kenan asked.


    "So far we only saw a bunch of phone numbers, but we are still looking." I replied.


    While I was talking, Idil was turning the pages, looking a little frusturated. I walked over to see the notebook myself. Every single page was filled with random phone numbers, with nothing that points us to clues about ''the curse'' of the building.


    "Are we sure this is the right notebook?" Idil asked. "There are nothing but phone numbers!"


    "I''m sure it''s the exact same notebook we found on the teacher''s body." I said. "There are no mistakes, the intact pages match with the ones we found here."


    "But then... why? What is the purpose of this?" she asked.


    "I have no idea." I replied.


    She kept turning the pages until we saw something interesting. There was a phone number, labeled only as ''CALL ME''.


    "Who do you think this is?" she asked me.


    "I don''t know, maybe it was about an important job." I said.


    We marked the page by folding it''s corner, and kept turning the pages. Yet, there was nothing else... Only more and more phone numbers.


    "Maybe the phone numbers are some sort of cryptology technique." I said.


    "You think so?" Idil replied.


    "Maybe we can associate some set of numbers with letters, and it makes a sentence." I said.


    "Are you sure?" Idil asked.


    "Of course I am not, it was just an idea." I said.


    We stopped turning the pages and started staring at a single page, trying to make sense out of all the phone numbers.


    "Seriously, I think we have the wrong notebook." Idil said after a while. "There are no secret messages here."


    "Alright, fine, but what about the one labeled ''CALL ME'' with huge capital letters?" I said.


    "What about it?" Idil asked.


    "I have an idea." I said and grabbed the notebook from Idil''s hand. I opened the page we marked, and walked back to the phone. I plugged the phone to the socket on the wall.


    I grabbed the handset and put it on my shoulder. I started entering the number that was labeled ''CALL ME''. I didn''t know what to expect.


    "Seven... One... One... Three... Three... Zero... One..."


    The phone started ringing...

 18 Chapter 18

    The phone rang for about half a minute.


    It suddenly became silent, then a faint noise came from the handset. Someone must''ve answered the call.


    "Hello. This is... uh..." a male voice started speaking. He couldn''t finish the sentence immediately.


    "Hello." I replied, softly.


    "I am the latest victim of the terrible curse of the building." he said.


    "I am afraid you no longer hold that title." I replied.


    "I... I have to warn you about it, and I will tell you what to do." he said. His voice was a little nervous.


    "Who are you?" I asked.


    "Listen... If you are listening to me right now, this means you have already found the note. Good job; so, the first step is already complete." he said. He was having a hard time making full sentences.


    "Who am I talking to?" I asked again.


    "Now, what happened to the two of us... It was necessary for us to do that. I hope you understand." he continued.


    As I hear that, I thought the man speaking to me was one of the two teachers who died in this building years ago. In that case, this was a recording. It made sense since I couldn''t get any replies to my questions. But, just to be sure, I wanted to try once more.


    "Do you know where you are?" I asked this time.


    "The curse arrives at night, when there are no crowds nearby. It hunts for the lonely, unfortunate people in this building. Once you are caught, there is no escape." the voice continued. At that point I was sure that this was, indeed, a recording. I cautiously kept listening to it. "So, the precautions must be taken before ''the curse'' gets to you. First of all, don''t let anyone stay alone in the building. If someone needs to stay here, for any reason, make sure that person has a good company. Yet better choice, don''t let anyone stay in the building after the crowd is gone. I have no idea why this is happening, but so far I could figure out this much: don''t be alone. Don''t stay in this building at late hours."


    We already knew more than him about ''the curse'', but I had to find out more. More specifically, I had to know what we needed to do AFTER we became victims of ''the curse''; this was the part of knowledge I lacked. So far, only thing we did was running from one place to another, searching for clues, trying to solve the mysterious nature of the cursed building while witnessing the horrible deaths of many lovely people. But finally, with this recording, we could finally find out more about the ways of escape.


    "But... In the unfortunate case that... you found this note when you are already a victim... this is what you need to do. I can guess you are running out of time, so I will be quick. Though, before doing anything, make sure to place warnings for the people who will arrive in the morning; so that they don''t share the same fate with us. It might be a notebook like I found, or you can... I don''t know, just don''t let them fall into the hands of this curse. Okay, after that part is done, here is what happens. Now, I know you won''t like it, but just... you just have to trust me on this one. Once it is night, and people in the building have been ''caught'' by this curse, LEAVE NO ONE ALIVE."


    I couldn''t believe what I heard. I couldn''t understand the reason behind it. ''Leave no one alive''? After all, killing everyone was the goal of ''the community'', and by killing everyone... I would only be helping ''the community'' in their evil quest. Like he had just read my mind, he continued talking.


    "Yes, you heard me right. LEAVE NO ONE ALIVE IN THE BUILDING. Don''t let your emotions take the control of your body and mind. Don''t let anybody stay alive, including yourself. I know it is hard, both physically and mentally, but this is for everyone''s sake. Because, if you don''t... If you don''t do that... Things will only get worse. Your actions will shape the future... in a bad way."


    What could be worse than killing everyone in the building? I thought that there couldn''t be any fair trade-offs involving people''s lives. Perhaps... this recording was another trick by ''the community'' to deceive us.


    "If you reach the morning alive, if any of you lives long enough to see the sunrise once again, then that''s it. If you reach the morning, you will be taken control of, and you will... I mean, ''the curse'' will have the opportunity to kill everyone, even during the school hours. It will be a genocide, a bloodbath. Think about it. No one in his right mind would risk that. The value of lives of the many innocent people clearly overweights yours."


    It felt like I was stabbed in the chest. This was nothing like what I expected. The reality hit me.


    All those times, ''the community'' actually had many chances to kill us; but this was why we were still alive. It wasn''t Mr. Kenan, or anyone else... In fact, he was gone long before already. After most people were killed, they had started using a reverse psychology technique. We had lived an adventure full of lies after lies... We were on our own all this time.


    So, that was it. At least there was on thing ''the community'' were right about. After all, like I''ve been told before... there really was no escape from this building. And the only right course of action was to kill everyone, for the sake of all the people that will arrive in the morning. The recording continued.


    "I... I am sorry... I wish you had found out about this before you were ''caught'' by the curse. But there is nothing any of us can do right now. I am sure you will choose wisely, so... Farewell, my friend. As I finish this recording, I will be off to do what I must. I hope you understand the necessity of my actions. I hope our sacrifices will make a good difference."


    And so, the recording was finished. The voice on the phone was full of white noise now. I slowly put the handset back.


    I just stood there, drowning in my thoughts and confused emotions. Since the beginning of this horrifying adventure, we were already destined to die. It was impossible to accept, but on the other hand... Without the necessary sacrifices, we would risk the lives of hundreds of people who would arrive in the morning.


    So, as the last two people alive in the building; we had our last task to accomplish before the morning. Everything was up to us.

 19 Chapter 19

    For many minutes, Idil and I just stood there without doing anything. It was impossible to accept. After all of our struggles against various threats, and solving the mysteries of ''the curse''... It was all for nothing. We have believed that there was a way out of this place. In our minds, we kept chasing every little spark of hope... But then, all the sparks were suddenly put out. Our hopes were replaced with depression. We have been fighting a war we had already lost when it started.


    But now, it was time to accept our fate. We had a task to perform before the sunrise. We could at least avoid further losses by warning the people that will arrive in the morning.


    "Let''s not be late." I told her.


    She opened the notebook and turned the pages until she found an empty page. She grabbed a pen from the floor and started writing down.


    "It will take a while to write down everything we found out about the building and the curse." she said.


    She sat down and started writing. After she wrote a few words, she stopped.


    "You don''t have to force yourself to write proper paragraphs." I said. "Just make sure you write down everything."


    "Okay, don''t worry about it." she replied, and started writing again.


    Meanwhile I had nothing to do. I thought I could use the posters around the hallways as warning signs as well. I grabbed another pen from the room.


    "I''m going to leave notes on the posters." I told Idil.


    "Go ahead." she told me. "It doesn''t matter if we are together anymore. It is all the same. But still... DO try to come back in one piece. Being the last person alive doesn''t sound good. Don''t make me wonder."


    "I wouldn''t let you have the honor of being the last survivor." I said. She chuckled, perhaps for the last time.


    I was about to leave the room when she stopped me.


    "Hey." she said. I turned around. "It won''t make much difference, but I just have to say..." She said that and a few tears dripped from her eyes. "I... love you."


    I could only respond by dropping a few tears myself.


    "Don''t make it awkward." she said. "Go away, you have things to do. I will be here."


    I couldn''t say anything. I couldn''t even look at her face. I couldn''t do what I wanted at the end of our short lives. I looked down as I turned around and left the room. I closed the door behind me, but I couldn''t leave. I sat in front of the door in tears. After a few moments, I could hear her sobbing in the room.


    "I love you, too." I said. She could not hear me. For a strange reason, I did not want her to hear me. I didn''t know what I thought. Maybe I was afraid of deepening our connection just before we were separated by death. If it wasn''t for the curse, my own heartbeats would kill me. I slowly stood up and started walking down the hallway.


    "I love you, too."


    - - -


    I was very tired, but I had written warnings on all the remaining posters around the school. We were running out of time. We had to ''complete the task'' before the sunrise. I was slowly making my way back to the principal''s room. Although my mind was in power, my heart was telling me not to go back there. I couldn''t handle the silent screams in my heart if I saw her just before our farewell.


    Suddenly, it felt like the floor slipped beneath my feet. The whole building shook for a few seconds, making an ominous, low-pitched humming. Apparently, earthquakes were the latest trick of the curse we would experience. I stopped in the hallway and just looked around until the vibration stopped. After that, I kept walking slowly towards the principal''s room. I pushed the door open.


    Contrary to my expectations, I couldn''t see Idil anywhere. I looked around the room for a while.


    "Idil!" I yelled.


    I saw her slowly standing up behind the wooden table. She must''ve hid under the table during the short earthquake. It was funny... We were still trying to evade death, even now.


    "It took a little too long." she said.


    "Idil..." I said. "Just so you know..."


    "Don''t." she interrupted. "No. Please, don''t make it hurt!"


    "I love you, too." I said. It felt like the time stopped.


    "Idiot." she replied, and broke down in tears. "You were supposed to pretend I didn''t tell you that, at the end of our lives!"


    She turned her back to me and sobbed for a while.


    "We are running out of time." I told her. "Did you write down everything?"


    "Want to proof-read?" she said, without looking at me.


    "There is no need if you are okay with it." I told her. "But we should put the notebook somewhere teachers can easily find."


    "The teachers'' room is the obvious choice." she said. "I know it might not be in a good condition, but that''s the best place to place the notebook."


    "Alright." I said. "Let''s go."


    "No." she replied. "You should go, I will be waiting here."


    "Please be with me." I said.


    "I want to rest for a while before we... I mean, you know..." she told me. "Please, don''t make me go there."


    "Oh, if that''s what you wish... I will be going on my own, then." I said that and got out of the room, heading for the teachers'' room.


    I walked downstairs and entered the teachers'' room. The room was in it''s original state when I arrived there. I simply put the notebook on the large table in the middle of the room and got back into the hallway.


    I walked back upstairs, and to the principal''s room. I pushed the door. But this time, it didn''t open.


    "Not now!" I yelled in frusturation. "Idil, are you okay in there?"


    I got no response.


    "Idil!" I yelled once more, still trying to push the door. This time, she replied.


    "Leave. Leave me here. Don''t make it harder for both of us. Turn around and walk away." she said.


    "What are you saying!?" I replied.


    "Farewell."

 20 Chapter 20

    "Farewell." she said, and there was silence.


    "No!" I yelled, and kicked the door. Only then I noticed that the door wasn''t actually locked, there was something behind the door that kept it from opening. Idil had intentionally done that. That meant I could enter the room if I had enough energy.


    I was no longer thinking logically about whether it would make any difference in our fate. Something was pushing me to act with only my emotions. I kept kicking and pushing the door to open it using brute force. But it was no use... The object standing behind the door was a bit too heavy.


    Just then, the building started to shake violently again. Another earthquake... ''The curse'' wouldn''t give us a break, even now. Although I was shaken, the earthquake helped me force the door open a little. The heavy objects behind the door moved a little backwards, and I could create a gap where I could peek inside the room.


    I looked inside the room. What I saw wasn''t very pretty.


    Idil was preparing to cut her own wrist with a knife. It was undoubtedly a painful way to suicide, but perhaps this was the best way she could try in there. We both knew it had to be done, but still... My heart was in control of my body now, and I just couldn''t let her go.


    With all my strenght, I pushed the door once again. I enlarged the gap until I could slip inside the room. I rushed inside to stop her, and held her arms.


    "Let go!" she screamed.


    "I can''t!" I replied. "I won''t!"


    "What is it are you trying to accomplish?" she asked me. "Just when I was brave enough, why would you stop me?"


    "I''m sorry..." I told her. Deep inside, I knew she was right. She was right to be angry... But I couldn''t take my control back from the intense emotions.


    "I can only hope we will meet again somewhere, sometime." she said, calmly. "But let go, we can''t be any helpful to people by reaching the next morning. And believe me... If I see the sunrise ever again, I will never forgive you."


    My grip on her arms loosened, but with intense pain.


    "Please don''t look at me. I can''t do it seeing your expressions..." she said.


    Slowly and unwillingly, I turned around. I looked down for a moment, and closed my eyes.


    I heard a deep sigh behind me.


    I couldn''t see her, but I could still feel her trembling.


    ...


    The building started to shake again, but this time, it was worse than any previous earthquake we had experienced. I started losing my balance, so I opened my eyes. Suddenly, the floor was gone. I found myself weightless. The room was collapsing on to the lower floor. I bent my knees a little to soften my fall. I would try to drop and roll as I reach the lower floor, but I didn''t have time to perform the manuever.


    - - -


    I regained consciousness soon afterwards. I was laying down on a piece of debris, and there was a chunk of cement on my chest. My chest and back was hurting badly, and I could see my body bleeding from various spots. My damaged hand had started to ache pretty badly. I lifted the cement block with my healthy hand and got up.


    "Idil!" I yelled. She appeared from somewhere inside the classroom we had fallen into.


    "Things just have to go the wrong way." she said. "I can''t even properly kill myself."


    "I wouldn''t complain about that." I said.


    We heard a loud explosion from the hallway. The door of the classroom was blown out of it''s place. I ran outside into the hallway. The walls had been damaged, and the nearby classroom was on fire.


    "Somebody really hates us." she said.


    I was walking towards the classroom to take a look, but Idil held me back.


    "Do you think it is a good idea?" she asked.


    "You were literally trying to kill yourself a few minutes ago, and now you are afraid of death?" I replied. She looked at me, but she couldn''t say anything for a while.


    "Go ahead." she said in a soft voice.


    I approached the classroom to take a look. Inside the classroom was a complete mess. The board was on the ground, glasses were shattered and desks were on fire. The radiator pipes in the classroom were leaking water.


    "How?" I asked to no one in particular.


    "I don''t like this." commented Idil.


    I walked away from the classroom, when we heard a new explosion. Something had happened at the bottom floor. The building started to shake again. We ran away from the nearby windows for safety. The glasses shattered, and cracks formed on the walls.


    "I don''t know what is going on, but perhaps this is the chance." I told Idil.


    "What do you have in mind?" she asked me.


    "You know... As an alternative to the sacrifice of our lives... The building could be sacrificed." I said.


    "I don''t think ''the curse'' would let the building fall." she replied.


    "I am no expert, but I don''t think the building will hold together any longer." I said. "Let''s test our luck while we still have time."


    An unexpected sound startled us. The intercom was still functional.


    "Don''t just stand there, run!"


    As I heard the voice, I felt a strange joy I''ve never felt before.


    We started running towards the stairs at the end of the hallway.


    "You had never really left us, did you, Mr. Kenan?" I asked, without hiding my shock and joy.


    "Did you really get everything you''ve been told on the recording in the wrong way?" he replied. "You disappoint me."


    We ran downstairs, and headed for the main exit. While we were running, a chuck of debris fell straight down to the hallway from the ceiling. Luckily, we could evade it in time.


    We heard another explosion from one of the classrooms nearby. A door was blown away from it''s place in front of us. But we couldn''t stop now, despite the danger.


    "There it is!" I said. I could see the main exit. The wall around the steel door was damaged, but it was unclear whether we could get past the door.


    "Hurry, the partial transformation is going to take down the whole structure!" Mr. Kenan yelled. "I''m not sacrificing myself to get you killed alongside us!"


    "What!?" I shouted, unintentionally.


    "Remember when I told you that immature transformations could take down the whole building? Well, that was our last resort, and here we are." he started talking. "Since we are trapped here, who knows what would happen if the building was destroyed..."


    The main exit was in front of us, and that was our last chance to escape this horrible building.


    "Can we guarantee that, if we make it out... we won''t be hurting innocent people after the sunrise?" I asked.


    "I think so... But there''s one certain way to find out." Mr. Kenan said.

 21 Chapter 21

    At this point, no one could predict what was about to happen.


    We started running towards the steel door. Although the surrounding wall was heavily damaged, the steel door was still closed. We reached the door quickly as the whole structure started to slowly disintegrate. Chunks of material were falling from various spots on the ceiling, and the remaining parts of the paint were peeling off the walls as cracks were forming through hallways. The damage was so severe in most parts that we could no longer make out if a particular place was transforming into the school or the prison version of the building. It wouldn''t make a difference either, since both cases were as deadly as the other.


    I tried to push the steel door open, but it didn''t move.


    "You have every reason to panic right now, move!" Mr. Kenan shouted us from the intercom, which was surprisingly still functional. It wouldn''t last long, as the speakers fell from their mounts and the electric lines snapped in half.


    I tried to pull the steel door, but I still couldn''t move it.


    "Give me a hand over here!" I yelled at Idil.


    We both started to push the door. The door moved forwards a little bit, but it didn''t create a big enough gap for us to go through. We kept pushing.


    Suddenly, the door got loose and we lost our balance. The steel door opened wide and we fell on the other side of the door.


    ''That''s it! We made it out!''


    That was what I thought. I have been expecting to be in the front yard, in front of the school building. But the reality was different. Although we had gotten past the steel door at the main exit, I found myself IN the school building again. I looked behind me to confirm that we DID in fact got past the door. The view was rather disappointing.


    There was no steel door. The door we just went past was no longer there. The main exit had been replaced with the original one.


    I looked around to have an idea of our whereabouts. We were in our familiar school building, but it was perhaps a bit too familiar. The building had no visible damage at all, and every part of it was in the school version of the structure. But the most fascinating part was not about the building itself: it was daytime. Sunlight from the windows were illuminating the hallway.


    "Don''t stand there, the lesson is about to begin!"


    The source of the startling voice was just behind me. The realisation of the existance of a third person scared me, but I calmly turned around to look as I couldn''t sense any immediate danger.


    It was no one else than Mr. Kenan. He was in his typical outfit, and he was looking pretty healthy and cheerful.


    "Ah, you are there too!" he turned to Idil. "I won''t forget the incident yesterday, lady; you must have an impressive courage to sleep in my lesson."


    Idil and I looked at each other. The way everything in the building was back in order, and the way Mr. Kenan had appeared and started talking to us... Everything seemed pretty normal around the school here. In fact, everything seemed a little bit too normal here; and it was unsettling. Everyone were dead, and the building was about to collapse literally a few seconds ago.


    "This must be an illusion, we have to escape!" I told her. We were about to sprint to the ''normal'' main exit, before being stopped by Mr. Kenan.


    "What in the world are you two up to?" he said. "Is there something wrong?"


    That couldn''t be the Mr. Kenan we knew. He was talking and behaving like we didn''t just escape from a cursed building which had tens of dead bodies in it. Also, there was no way he could recover and heal his body anymore; yet he was standing right in front of us, in his own healthy body. On the other hand, perhaps that wasn''t the case. Had we accidentally travelled through time backwards?


    "Uh... No, sir." was the only thing I could say, while I was still trying to come up with random ideas in my mind. There was no way we could get ourselves in this situation. Maybe we had accidentally created an alternate universe with a different timeline. After finding out a lot about ''ghosts'' and curses, I could believe in anything; even a spaghetti monster flying around the Sun, so it wasn''t particularly hard for me to come up with ridiculous theories.


    While I was busy figuring things out, we stepped inside the classroom.


    Everything was shockingly too normal in there as well. Every one of my classmates were in the class, and they all looked pretty normal. I quickly managed to spot Ata and Melis. They went to their own desks as Mr. Kenan entered the classroom. I instinctively got to my own desk as Idil went to her''s. I whispered to her as we sat by each other.


    "I don''t know how, but it looks like we''ve somehow made it back to a point where everything was normal. If that''s the case, only the two of us knows about ''the curse''." I said.


    "Seems like it, but it could still just be an illusion. Maybe we were deceived at the last second by ''the community''." she replied.


    "What do you think we should do?" I asked.


    "I think we should leave this place as soon as we have the chance." she said.


    "But what if we really are back to the reality before we became victims of the curse?" I said.


    "Cut the chatter, you two!" said Mr. Kenan as he was writing something on a notebook.


    Idil couldn''t reply. We stopped whispering to each other and waited for the lesson to end. Mr. Kenan eventually stopped writing things on the notebook and started the chemistry lesson.


    - - -


    At the end of the lesson, we got outside the classroom and started sprinting to the main exit once again; but I had to stop in order not to collide with Mr. Kenan who suddenly appeared in front of me. He smiled at me and started talking.


    "Nice meeting you here. I wanted to give you something." he said as he handed me a notebook. It was awkward as I had no memory of being here and doing anything until the beginning of the last lesson.


    "T-Thanks, but what is this?" I said.


    "No need to thank me, I''m just returning the favor." he replied. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I couldn''t ask him about that.


    "Later!" said Mr. Kenan and walked past us.


    "How did we end up here?" I asked Idil.


    "Like I have any idea." she replied.


    I looked at the notebook Mr. Kenan gave me. I opened it and looked at the empty pages for a long time. I turned the pages around until I encountered a folded page. I unfolded it, and saw a few paragraphs of text. I started reading it.


    "So apparently, that''s what happens when you manage to get past that door..."

 22 Chapter 22

    I''ve started reading the paragraph on the notebook Mr. Kenan gave me.


    "So apparently, this is what happens when you manage to get past that door. It seems like we have appeared in a reality where everything is normal, but since we have been here for a very short time, I didn''t have enough opportunities to observe and explore the surroundings. Although the situation is less alarming for now, be on your guard; it might simply be some sort of ''collective imagination'' we are all having at the same time.


    I don''t know whether other victims of the curse are aware of the situation or they are simply ''placeholders'' in this universe. This means it is not safe to share your information about the curse with anyone. Just stay together and keep out of danger until we meet again in a better place."


    Idil have also read the text.


    "Turns out, it isn''t over yet." I said.


    "I think this is the last resort of ''the community'' to keep us in. Come on, we can still get out of the main exit. There is literally nothing in our way, and it is not even locked." she replied.


    I was tempted by this thought, and there was nothing in sight that could stop us from simply walking out of this more familiar version of the building.


    We walked towards the main exit. Just when I opened the door to step out of the building, I felt a hand on my shoulder.


    "It looks like we will have to make our little talk a bit sooner than expected."


    It was Mr. Kenan talking.


    "Let us out! We have helped each other to get out of the building for so long, why are you stopping us now?" Idil said.


    "Unfortunately, more lives are being threatened." Mr. Kenan said. "Don''t let the familiar and nice looks of the building deceive you. It is not over yet."


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "And just so you know, I am not alive." he continued, ignoring my question.


    "What? How? Then, what is going on here?" Idil asked.


    "Since ''the community'' didn''t want you to leave the building, you seem to have passed through some sort of phase-shifting process as you walked through the steel door; directly back inside the building in the 3D world."


    "I don''t get what you are saying. You are using a lot of weird terms." I said.


    "Anyway, that''s not the important part. I''ve learned a lot of stuff while you were not here, including the time and date. Today is the day you decided to stay in the school building to help your friends for the ceremony." he said. "Today is the day I failed to protect you and it all started. Yes, my friends, we went back in time. This shouldn''t confuse you a lot since you are now equipped to believe in, and deal with the magical stuff happening around here. We have to stay here and ensure the safety of your friends, and I need your help. This is why you are not leaving yet."


    If that was true, it was like the universe gave us a second chance for our efforts against the curse.


    "Since you are not alive and the building was damaged... Is this a fake reality?" I asked.


    "Sort of. Not really. It''s complicated." said Mr. Kenan. "It is hard to know what is real and what is not. For example, I don''t know how I''m back inside my identical body, even though it is fake. I won''t complain, though. And that''s the mindset you need; be a little pragmatist from now on. You don''t need to understand everything, because I don''t understand everything either. Just stay out of danger and keep it together. The community is still here."


    "In that case..." I said. "How do we know that our friends here are real and they are not simply ''placeholders'' as you mentioned in the notebook?"


    "I don''t know." Mr. Kenan said. "I can''t know for sure. But in case they are real, I can''t let them have the same cruel fate once more. I wouldn''t be able to handle such guilt."


    "It wasn''t your guilt the first time, you could never know." I said.


    "It is not that easy..." Mr. Kenan said. "So please promise me, no one is going to stay in the building after the final lesson."


    We had a new task... We had escaped the hands of ''the community'' for now, but our friends were heading right back into it. And if ''the community'' had succeeded, it would be a bloodbath the next morning. We couldn''t let that happen.


    "Got it." Idil said.


    "This time, maybe we can defeat ''the community'' before the fight even begins." Mr. Kenan said. "But it is about time for the next lesson. Just act cool near other people. Meet me here later." he said.


    "Later." I said, and Mr. Kenan walked away. I slowly got away from the main exit door of the building.


    We walked back to the classroom. The next lesson was maths. We went to our desks as the teacher entered the classroom.


    - - -


    In the class, I was constantly spacing out as I was thinking about what to do to prevent being victims of the curse this time. We had to eliminate the risk of getting trapped in the building and hurting people. After the final lesson, we would have a pretty short time window before the building would lock itself down. We had to get everyone out in that time window, so I had to prepare for the moment as well as possible.


    Just then, my eyes were stuck on something. Ata was sitting a few desks in front of me, and I could see his schoolbag. He had brought a scissors today, obviously for the ceremony preparations. I was a little uneasy, as I had witnessed that exact scissors used as a melee weapon before... Of course he had no way to know about this; but I couldn''t let a potential weapon to stay with him after the end of final lesson, when there are only a few people in the building and the community possesses a lot of power over the physical world. It could cause a lot of damage.


    After the end of the lesson, I walked up to Ata''s desk.


    "Hey!" I said.


    "Oh, hey!" he replied. "Want to go outside? I have something I want to show you."


    "Not now, I was actually about to ask you to borrow your scissors." I said.


    "Ah, that... No problem, just bring it back without sticking it into some weird thing like you did last time." he said.


    What was he talking about? I must''ve really pissed him off the last time I borrowed his scissors. But of course I had no memory of that.


    I got the scissors, but I wasn''t planning to give it back any time soon. I got outside the classroom and went into the restroom. I was planning to hide it somewhere around there.


    I looked around for a while, and I was about to put it somewhere near the corner of the wall when I heard someone on my back.


    "Give that to me."


    I was pulled back and thrown towards a wall.

 23 Chapter 23

    I was pulled back and thrown towards a wall.


    I held the scissors tightly and moved my arm away to prevent harming myself as I hit the wall. I stumbled and fell down. I looked up to see who it was that pulled me from my back.


    It was Onur. I immediately recognised him.


    That raised many suspicions. There was no doubt he was aware of something.


    I quickly got back up, with the scissors still in my hand. I took a few steps back, away from Onur.


    "Give that to me!" he yelled and started running towards me again. But this time, I was quick enough to push him back before he could reach me.


    "Stay where you are." I told him. He looked at me, but didn''t reply.


    His aggression was a clear sign of the existance of ''the community'' somewhere near. I have made a wrong choice by entering an empty area in the school, where ''the community'' had a great power over the physical world.


    "Calm down, and let''s talk." I told Onur.


    He sprinted towards me, and as a reflex, I raised my hands in front of me to protect myself. That wasn''t a particularly bad choice, but it wasn''t the best. I was still holding the scissors when Onur attacked me. The scissors made a long cut across his arm. Onur jumped away from me in pain, and I ran to the other end of the restroom, near the door to the hallway.


    I had protected myself for now, but I wasn''t intending to harm Onur.


    Onur screamed in pain a few times. He was breathing heavily. He gathered his strenght again and looked at me. As he was preparing to sprint again, I ran into the hallway and hid near the door. I thought getting into a crowded place could prevent ''the community'' from manipluating Onur. Unfortunately, being in a crowded place wasn''t entirely comfortable with the blood stains on my uniform and the scissors in my hand. I quickly hid the scissors behind me.


    At that moment, Onur came running out of the restroom. I jumped on him and we both fell to the ground. I quickly got up, but he was still laying on the floor.


    "Eh?" he said.


    "Remember me?" I asked him. I was hoping that he was no longer manipulated by ''the community'', since we were near a very large crowd.


    "Yes, but... why did you just do that!?" he said while getting up and tidying his uniform.


    "Do you remember what you were doing a few seconds ago?" I asked him.


    "Uh... Yes, I was getting out of the restroom, and you jumped on me." he replied.


    "No, just before getting out of the restroom." I asked him.


    "Why are you asking, man? I was probably doing the sort of stuff what you do in the restroom." he told me. "What is wrong with you?"


    "''Probably'' is not good enough." I told him. "Remember."


    "I don''t see what you are getting at." he told me.


    "You literally pulled me back and attacked me in the restroom." I said.


    "What? I don''t remember anything!" he replied.


    "Yeah, that''s what I was getting at." I said. "We both made a mistake. We should stay in crowded areas."


    "And... why exactly is that?" he asked me.


    "You don''t remember anything?" I asked him.


    "About what? Not going to the restroom?" he asked back.


    It was awkward. He couldn''t remember everything we had experienced... Maybe it was right; the people around us were simply ''placeholders'' of the real ones. But, in that case... How was Mr. Kenan aware of everything? He had died too, after all.


    "You don''t ever remember staying late at school?" I asked him, with very little hope.


    "No, I don''t..." he said. "Wait, actually I do... maybe."


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "I''m not sure." he replied.


    "Do you remember being trapped inside the school building?" I asked this time.


    "What are you talking abo- Wait, did THAT really happen?" he said in excitement.


    "So... you DO, in fact, remember something about that." I said.


    "Yes, I have a faint memory of such thing... But I was thinking it was just... some sort of dream. Damn, I must be suffering from memory problems." he said.


    "How much do you remember?" I asked him. "This is important."


    "Well, we had stayed late at school to help for the ceremony preparations. Oh, yes, I remember getting trapped in the art class..." he said that, but couldn''t continue talking.


    "And, then? How did you get out?" I asked.


    "Oh no." was the only thing he could say.


    "What is it?" I asked.


    "There is no way." he said.


    "What are you saying?" I asked.


    "I remember people dying..." he said. "My memory is so faint that my wild imaginations are getting in the way... sorry."


    It was obvious that he simply didn''t want to believe in what he just remembered.


    "Unfortunately, they weren''t your imaginations." I told him. "Please go on."


    "What is going on here? This... This can''t be true!" he yelled.


    "Keep your voice low!" I warned him.


    "Okay, I remember everything now." he told me. "I remember the curse and everything we saw. But how did we make it out alive? I mean... It pains me to say so, but I''ve seen people die; but I had just seen some of those people alive and well in here right now. What happened?"


    "Just so you know, YOU were dead as well." I told him.


    "No way!" he said. "But, well, I don''t remember escaping from the curse after all... Tell me what is going on, please!"


    "Alright, I will, I will." I said, and I summarised everything we have experienced after his death. That was a lot of information for him, but we had to be quick.


    Now that I knew the people''s memories were at least faintly preserved, we had to reach them out. We had to make them recall the horrible memories of that evening; that way, we could warn them not to stay late in the building this evening. We didn''t have a lot of time before the final lesson, but we still had lots of people to warn. I was planning to meet Idil and Mr. Kenan with Onur, so we could plan our next move.


    Onur and I were about to walk away when we saw our biology teacher staring at us in the hallway.


    "Your arm!" she said, staring at Onur''s wounded arm. "What is going on here?"


    We had some serious explaining to do.

 24 Chapter 24

    The teacher was obviously in shock because of Onur''s wounded arm, and the blood-covered scissors I failed to hide from her. I really wanted to make an explanation, but I couldn''t tell her that Onur had attacked me. I would have to lie and call it an accident. Unfortunately, I couldn''t form proper sentences. I could almost feel my face going red.


    Onur was about to say something when the weird standoff between us and the teacher were interrupted.


    "Hey, I will handle this."


    Mr. Kenan appeared from nowhere. He walked in between us and the teacher.


    "I''m responsible for the well-being of my students, and I want to know what is going on here!" the teacher replied to Mr. Kenan.


    "Stop being so aggressive, I will let you know. Please leave it to me." said Mr. Kenan.


    "Fine. I guess you know them better than I do." she said and walked away. Mr. Kenan turned to us.


    "Okay, that was close." he said, and sighed. "But, there is one thing I want to ask you... What is going on here!? How did you end up in this situation?"


    "Perhaps we should go to the infirmary first..." I said.


    "Yeah, you are right." Mr. Kenan said. "But you will tell me everything after we are done with that."


    "Sure." I replied.


    We went to the infirmary to have Onur''s arm cleaned and most the wound sealed.


    "Maybe you should see a doctor." Mr. Kenan said.


    "I am okay, it is not that bad." Onur replied. "It did hurt a lot at first, though."


    "Okay, if you say so. Well... Now, it is time to explain everything." Mr. Kenan said.


    Since no one else was listening, I could freely tell Mr. Kenan about our confrontation in the restroom.


    "So, it turns out that the former victims of the curse have memories of that evening." Mr. Kenan said. "That''s good news."


    "Yes, this will help a lot... But how are we going to make them recall their memories?" I asked. "We can''t just walk up to them and tell them that they had died yesterday evening. People would think we went crazy!"


    "Correction: we would have to tell them that they ''will'' die... or rather, ''had'' died this evening." Mr. Kenan said. He was right, I was confused about the time. Everything ''had happened'' in the future.


    "Yeah, so... what''s the plan?" Onur asked.


    "I''ve thought of something." Mr. Kenan said. "I will gather those students before the end of the final lesson. You will go and tell them that I wanted to talk with them today. We will make it look like an issue with... ''school stuff'', you know..."


    "Sounds... okay." was my only comment about the plan.


    "Alright. We will split up now, and we will meet just before the final lesson, in the teachers'' room. Don''t forget to tell everyone." Mr. Kenan said.


    "Okay." Onur said. We split up, and headed to our classrooms.


    I walked around to find Idil before the next lesson began. I found her looking out of the window in the classroom. She noticed me approaching and looked away from the window.


    "Hey. Where have you been? You''ve got me worried." she said. "And... What is that in your hand!?"


    Damn. I forgot about the scissors. Although I had it cleaned from all the blood, I had forgotten to hide it. I tried to stuff it into my pocket as I replied to her.


    "I''ve got a little side-tracked." I said, and I explained everything about our plan with Mr. Kenan.


    "I hope we know what we are doing." she said.


    The bell rang, indicating the next lesson was about to begin. We walked back to our desks with nothing else to do at the moment.


    - - -


    It has been about ten minutes since the lesson had started, but the teacher still hadn''t arrived. Normally, I wouldn''t mind it; but everything out-of-place was disturbing me. While I was thinking about going out into the hallway to look around, Mr. Kenan unexpectedly entered the classroom.


    "Sorry for the confusion guys, but I''m going to intrude your maths lesson today." he said in his usual, cheerful teacher mood.


    Students all around the class went back to their desks.


    "It won''t be long though, I just need to talk with some of you about... something." he said. He asked me and a few students to come with him, including Idil, Ata, Melis and a few other students who had been victims of the curse. We followed him into the hallway, and to the teachers'' room.


    We entered the teacher''s room. It was unusual, the teachers'' room would rarely be empty.


    "Have a seat." Mr. Kenan told us. Everyone sat down.


    "Why did you gather us here, Mr. Kenan?" Melis asked.


    "Okay. Now, listen to me VERY carefully." Mr. Kenan said. "Does any of you remember staying late in the school building yesterday?"


    Most of the students said that they did not remember it, except Ata.


    "I... sort of remember. Did something happen? Did I do something wrong?" Ata said.


    "No. Just tell me what you remember." Mr. Kenan said.


    "Well, we were going to prepare for the ceremony, and we were in the art class..." Ata said.


    "Wait! Sorry... I actually remember that as well!" Melis interrupted.


    After that moment, people started to recall their faint memories of that evening. That wasn''t bad, but they were about to have a great shock with the horrible memories they were about to recall. I could think of nothing to lighten up the temporary mental breakdown it could cause.


    Someone screamed and ran to a corner of the teachers'' room, crying.


    "There we go." Mr. Kenan said. He didn''t care a lot about the initial shock phase.


    "Can someone refresh my memory? It is a little... blurry." said Melis.


    Mr. Kenan didn''t hesitate, and he told the entire story from beginning. Although most of my friends didn''t want to believe in the story at first, their memories were clear now. They couldn''t deny what they had seen with their own eyes.


    With the terrifying memories recalled, Ata instinctively ran away to the other side of the teachers'' room, away from Melis.


    Onur, Idil and I surrounded Melis to protect her. Now that people''s memories were back, they could expect aggression from her and try to defend themselves with no provocation at all.


    Melis didn''t understand what was going on as we surrounded her. She was looking around with no clear expression of emotions. Perhaps since she was being manipulated at the time, she didn''t have memories of the moments of terror.


    Just as we expected, someone made a move to attack Melis. Idil and I were quick enough to block him. He was disoriented by his careless punch that missed the target, and Onur held him from his arms.


    "Hold it! She is your friend, the aggression is over!" Mr. Kenan yelled.


    Even though Mr. Kenan attempted to settle things down, everyone in the room was staring at each other; terrified, confused. People were scared of each other, and everyone instantly went completely defensive.

 25 Chapter 25

    Everyone had ran to the different edges of the room. People were on high alert, watching each other''s movements carefully. They were waiting for one another to make a hostile move. In the meantime, we were in the middle of the room with Melis trapped in between me, Idil, Onur and Mr. Kenan.


    "What is going on? I don''t understand... Why is everyone being so tense?" Melis asked softly, sounding like she could provoke someone simply by making noise.


    "Everyone is being so tense because no one wants to listen to me." Mr. Kenan said while looking around the room.


    "Get away from her, she is dangerous!" someone shouted near the window.


    "There is no danger, stop making things up!" I shouted back.


    "She killed everyone!" The tension was increasing with time.


    "Me!? I didn''t kill anyone, what is going on?" Melis yelled, and broke down in tears.


    "Liar!" someone else replied. "Get her!"


    Two of our classmates started walking towards where we stood, while others remained hesitant. Instead of facing them, we decided to run. We didn''t intend to harm anyone.


    "Come!" I said to Melis, and grabbed her by her arm. I practically dragged her behind me as we ran outside the teachers'' room. Mr. Kenan stood in front of the door.


    "We could''ve chosen a softer way to recover their memories. It is too late, though..." Idil said.


    "Yes, I thought that was a little too rough." I said, supporting Idil.


    "I too would prefer a softer way, if we had the time." responed Mr. Kenan. "Unfortunately, we didn''t have the time for that."


    "How are we going to clear things up?" Onur asked.


    "Stay with her." Mr. Kenan said, pointing to Melis who was crying near the wall. He stepped inside the teachers'' room, and closed the door behind him.


    We turned to Melis. She was undoubtedly under a lot of stress, and she was confused about everything going on. Things have escalated too quickly for her to handle. This was mostly caused by the large gap in her memory: she was under manipulation when everything important was happening. In some respects, this was good for her; but her missing memories caused a lot of confusion.


    "It is okay." I said. "There is nothing to worry about."


    She didn''t reply, and kept sobbing. We couldn''t help her, so we had to let her cry for a while.


    I couldn''t handle my curiosity, so I wanted to enter the teachers'' room to see what Mr. Kenan was doing in there to reduce the tension. But he had told us to stay there, and after all the mistakes I''ve done so far by not listening to him, I could not do that.


    "I wonder what''s going on inside." said Idil, like she read my mind.


    She leaned towards the door and tried to listen to Mr. Kenan. Unfortunately, the background noise in the building was overwhelming; she couldn''t make anything up.


    At that moment, I noticed Melis slowly approaching us. Although I knew she was harmless, I couldn''t help feeling a bit nervous. She stopped a few meters away from us, looking down to the floor. Her hair was covering most of her face. I could still hear her quiet sobs.


    "Did I..." she tired to talk, but she couldn''t say the rest of the sentence.


    "Tell us." Idil tried to encourage her.


    "Did I kill someone?" Melis asked.


    Even though it was a simple yes-or-no question, it wasn''t that easy to explain. There was no clear answer. Killing people was not her desicion, and she did not have any control over the situation at the time; but it was her body that attacked us and our classmates, which was the cause of all the confusion and distrust among people. Those ''dead'' people being alive only caused further confusion. We could not tell her that she had killed those people she just saw a few minutes ago.


    "Did I kill someone?" Melis asked again. Her voice was the lowest she could manage.


    "No." I hesitantly replied. "No, you didn''t."


    Idil looked at me like she wanted to tell me something. I knew it wasn''t the right answer; in fact, there was no right answer to that question, but I wanted Melis to trust us for the time being. If we told her the truth, it wasn''t going to help de-escalate the situation. We could tell her about what really happened after the initial panic was over.


    Suddenly, Mr. Kenan appeared.


    "Come in." he said from the teachers'' room. We walked inside the room, but Melis stood near the wall in the hallway. "You too." said Mr. Kenan, and Melis walked inside as well. Mr. Kenan closed the door after her.


    "It is time to settle things down." Mr. Kenan said. "If we don''t work together, we won''t make it."


    I had no idea what Mr. Kenan did; but although everyone were still pretty nervous, it looked like the aggressions have stopped.


    "I''m... I''m sorry." said Ata. "My memories were just... too real, and I couldn''t ignore the potential danger. I''m sorry."


    Apologies followed each other. The confusion had not been completely resolved, but at least people were willing to work together and listen to Mr. Kenan, which was what we needed for now. We just had to make sure to evacuate everyone in time after the final lesson. I had a moment to calm myself down.


    Unfortunately, this feeling of relative comfort didn''t last long. Before we could clear everything up about the evacuation plan, we were interrupted.


    We heard an explosion. The floor and the windows vibrated for a few seconds. Although no one was hurt and the explosion wasn''t close to us, some of us screamed in terror.


    After a few moments, the fire alarm activated. This meant the school was over for today as everyone would rush out of the building as soon as possible. So much for our evacuation plan...


    It was just a matter of time now. Large masses of people were already leaving the building quickly. If we couldn''t make it out in time together... I didn''t even want to think of that possibility.

 26 Chapter 26

    "Don''t just look at me, run!" yelled Mr. Kenan. Everyone rushed out of the teachers'' room, into the hallway.


    The building had been designed as a prison many decades ago with little concerns of safety, so we didn''t have a lot of alternate escape routes; we would simply run downstairs using the nearest stairwell and head to the exit. Even after being converted into a school, there were no emergency exits, and the hallways were pretty narrow. This design flaw would cause a confluence in the exit and the hallways in no time.


    This flaw had good and bad sides. The obvious bad side was the increased time of evacuation and the risks to people''s lives, but it would also help us catch up with the crowd before the building was mostly evacuated. We just had to be with the crowd to avoid getting trapped in here.


    Idil and Melis were running in front of me. My other classmates and Mr. Kenan were following us as we rushed through the hallways. We arrived at the stairwell near the closer end of the hallway, and ran downstairs. We saw a few other students on our way, running around in panic.


    We came to the bottom floor and started running towards the exit. We had to make a left turn and catch up with the crowd before everyone was evacuated.


    While we were running, I started to smell something burning. The fire must''ve been close.


    We took a left turn to reach the exit. But the hallway was covered in a thick, opaque black fume. The smoke was coming from one of the doors on the left side of the hallway. The explosion had happened in the chemistry laboratory.


    The black cloud of smoke was in our way to the exit. We could get around that smoke by going back to the upper floor and coming down again from the other side of the hallway. Unfortunately, if we tried to bypass the cloud, it would take way too much time.


    All of the thinking and risk assessment had happened in just under a few seconds, and I decided to try going through the cloud of smoke. No one knew what I could run into, but I had no time to hesitate. I kept running.


    As I was entering the black cloud, I slowed down a bit in case I hit something. The black fume smelled... exotic. It wasn''t a very sharp smell, but I felt ailing. At that moment, I heard Mr. Kenan shouting from behind.


    "Don''t inhale!"


    A typical warning for unknown chemical substances. Unfortunately, I wasn''t exactly in the right condition to think about it, and it was a little too late for me. I couldn''t go back now. I tried to cover my nose and mouth using a part my uniform, and kept running to reach the other end of the cloud as soon as possible. I just had to run blindly for a while.


    While I was running, I saw a figure in the smoke, directly ahead. It appeared for a fraction of a second and disappeared again. I couldn''t make anything out, but I had to stop in order not to run into whatever it was. I slightly altered my path and kept going.


    Idil and Melis had been running in front of me the whole time, and I thought that they could''ve made it out of the building already. I shouted at them to get a response and estimate my distance to the exit.


    "Idil! Melis!"


    I got no response. It was possible that they didn''t hear me in the heat of the moment. I kept running and running, but it felt like the hallway was going on forever, and I would never reach the exit.


    I was starting to feel dizzy. I must have been affected by the burning chemicals, I thought. Inhaling such gasses like carbon monoxide at high concentrations could easily be fatal. I had to reach the exit as soon as possible.


    I was almost out of energy when I heard something. A dreamy voice echoed through the hallway, but I couldn''t understand who it was, or what it was saying.


    Maybe no one had even said anything. With the effect of the chemicals, combined with the fear and paranoia I recently started suffering from... It was only normal for me to be hallucinating and making things up.


    Suddenly, instead of black, I started to see everything white. I must''ve gotten closer to the exit, I though. I just had to keep going for a few more meters. But I could no longer run. I was trying to slowly walk to the exit using the last bits of my energy. It was too hard for me just to stay conscious, let alone walk or run.


    My dizziness was unbearable, and I dropped on my knees. I felt someone run past me in the white fog. I wanted to call for help, but I couldn''t do it. I tried to drag my knees on the ground and crawl forwards, but I couldn''t do that either.


    "Welcome back, my children!"


    I heard the familiar voice of the old woman echo through the hallway.


    I was making things up because of the chemicals. That must''ve been it. I was going crazy.


    I could no longer try to move, and I still had no idea how much distance there was to the exit. I unwillingly let myself lay down. The only thing I could feel was the coldness of the floor. Slowly, everything went dark again. I wasn''t sure if I could no longer see, or the place really was pitch black.


    I managed to roll on the ground to lay on my back.


    I suddenly felt a force on my arms. It felt like my arms were going to break apart from the rest of my body. Someone was trying to drag me on the ground. I could not do anything, and I was simply an observer at that point.


    Unfortunately, my observer status wouldn''t last too long. The last thing I could remember was the pain of being dragged by my arms on the cold floor.

 27 Chapter 27

    I was conscious again. I opened my eyes. It was no longer pitch black, and I could actually see colors. Although I felt a bit relieved for my well being, I hated having missed all the important events that happened when I was unconscious. Also; my back, arms and face were hurting very badly.


    Someone slapped me on my left cheek. It hurt very mcuh, but I couldn''t scream. I was still struggling to get in control of my body completely.


    My vision was cleared and focused in a moment. I was laying down, and Idil was looking straight into my eyes. She was about to slap me once again.


    "Hey, hey, hey; stop it, I''m awa-"


    *slap*


    I didn''t scream, but I could see her looking at me in tears. We just stared into each other''s eyes for a while.


    "I''m awake." I said. "How heavy-handed are you?"


    She started crying, silently.


    "You got me really worried, idiot!" she said.


    "It is okay." I replied.


    She wiped her tears.


    "No, it is not." she said. "Nothing is okay."


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "Bad news are... We couldn''t make it out in time." she replied.


    Referring to that simply as ''bad news'' was a big understatement.


    I saw Mr. Kenan approaching me. He looked down at me.


    "How do you feel?" he asked me.


    "I''m... okay, although I feel a little weak." I responded.


    "We all do." he said. "Take care of yourself."


    I slowly got up on my feet and looked around. We were close to the main exit, which was now closed. I started walking towards the door.


    "Don''t spend your energy on that." Mr. Kenan told me. "We''ve already tried."


    "Oh... Alright." I said, staring at the door. "Was the fire extinguished?"


    "That part is a bit complex." Mr. Kenan said. "While you were unconscious, we have been waiting for the firefighters to arrive. But after the black smoke dispersed, we noticed that there was no fire in the chemistry lab. There literally was no damage at all. It was like a fire never broke out in the first place."


    "What does that mean?" I asked.


    "It is possible that we''ve experienced another phase shift when the smoke covered the hallway. ''The community'' is doing everything to keep us in here." Mr. Kenan said. "So... to summarise, we are trapped once again, and the firefighters will never arrive."


    "I still don''t know what exactly a ''phase shift'' is." I told him.


    "I told you that before, you don''t have to completely understand everything. I only know what is going on because I have died. You didn''t." he replied.


    I sighed, and looked back into the hallway. Everyone was here, we were together for the time being. This would help us survive the night, but of course, it wouldn''t solve everything.


    "I am sorry." I said. "If I didn''t rush into that cloud..."


    "Don''t be." said Mr. Kenan. "It is not your fault, or anyone''s. If we had tried going around it, we would be too late anyway. We can only plan for the future now."


    "Speaking of which... We have no plan at all." Onur said.


    "Maybe we can just stay together and make sure no one harms each other." Ata suggested.


    "Not bad, but things are a little more complex." Mr. Kenan said. "To give you a better understanding of the situation, I should give you a more detailed overview. Let''s head to that classroom over there."


    "With all respect, we can get trapped inside classrooms." Idil warned.


    "We are too big of a crowd to easily get trapped." Mr. Kenan responded. "Remember, you were only three people when you were trapped. This is why we will stay together, and it will be okay."


    We entered into one of the classrooms nearby, and left the door open. Mr. Kenan told everyone to sit down around him as he sat in the middle of the classroom. He started telling everyone the whole story with all of it''s details. It would take some time as we had experienced many things most of our friends did not.


    - - -


    After Mr. Kenan was done telling the story, everyone was trying to process the information, ocassionally chatting with each other. Even though we knew a lot about the dangers now, we still didn''t really know what to do.


    "I''m hungry." said Onur.


    I was hungry as well. In fact, a lot of us were. We have been running around the school building for so long, and we haven''t eaten anything the entire time. We were hungry, and out of energy. If we just sat there and tried to stand it for the entire night, there was a pretty good chance that we wouldn''t make it to the morning.


    "There we go." Mr. Kenan said. "We are not even half an hour into our imprisonment here, and we already have a problem." It wasn''t clear how serious he was.


    "I''m hungry too." I said, as I couldn''t hold it in.


    "M... Me too." said Melis, like she had been waiting for this moment the whole time.


    "Okay, okay, I get it." said Mr. Kenan. "We can go to the cafeteria to find something. I bet every place around here is unlocked since the building was evacuated in a rush."


    "Unless ''the community'' had tampered with everything." I said.


    "Stop giving them ideas." Idil said.


    "They probably already did." Mr. Kenan said. "But it wouldn''t hurt to try."


    We exited the classroom and headed towards the cafeteria. The door that leads to the cafeteria was open. We were walking there as a group, but suddenly, Onur started running.


    "The door is closing! Hurry!" he yelled.


    He was right, the door was closing. But there was no chance the entire group could make it to the cafeteria''s door in time.


    "Come back here, stay with us!" Mr. Kenan shouted at Onur.


    Onur had already reached the door and he was trying to keep it open. We started running as a group, but our speed was limited by the slowest runner in the crowd.


    That was when everything went worse. Onur could no longer hold the doors. We couldn''t reach him in time, and he was trapped on the other side of the door.


    A few seconds later, he let out a terrifying scream.

 28 Chapter 28

    Onur''s scream echoed through the hallway.


    We hesitated to approach the cafeteria''s door, and slowed down. None of us wanted to head directly into whatever Onur saw.


    "Onur!" Ata cried. We heard another scream from the other side of the door.


    "Don''t stop, keep running!" Mr. Kenan shouted. "If we stay close, it will be okay!"


    Mr. Kenan wanted to close the distance between Onur and the rest of the group. Even though we would have a door in between, being in close proximity would stall the plans of ''the community''. We started running again, and reached the door.


    Ata and I hit the door a few times, but it didn''t move the slightest. It was locked before we could arrive. No one currently in the building had the key for that door, so we had nothing to do.


    Losing just one person in our situation meant the same as losing everyone, because even if one of us were separated and victimised, that would be enough for ''the community'' to accomplish their evil plans. The lost person would either be turned against us, or worse... That person could hunt down everyone in the morning. Of course we were in a group, and we could definitely win a fight against a single person, but not without sacrificing things that we required to protect at all costs. So, we could not leave anyone behind.


    The whole group had reached the door soon enough. Even that short sprint through the last part of the hallway was enough to deplete our energy. Some people were sweating and breathing heavily. A few others were sitting near the walls.


    "The door won''t open." said Ata.


    "Leave it be." said Mr. Kenan. "The important thing is that we made it here together before something happened to your friend on the other side of the room..." Mr. Kenan raised his voice for Onur to hear: "...despite how ignorant and stupid he is."


    I could hear Onur crying next to the door.


    "I''m... so- sorry." he said.


    "If people had just listened to me, from the very beginning, none of this would''ve happened!" Mr. Kenan said. He was a little angry. "This includes you two, first of all." he pointed at Idil and me.


    "I''m so-" I was about to apologise.


    "Don''t be." Mr. Kenan interrupted. "Don''t be sorry. It is no use. Work for a better future from now on, and you may compensate a bit. There was, and still is, just one simple thing I want from you; do what I tell you to do, and don''t do what I tell you not to."


    He was right. I could not say anything, and I could almost feel my face going red. I looked down in shame.


    Although I agreed with him; I couldn''t help thinking Mr. Kenan was at fault too, at the beginning of everything. When we first met after the school had ended... If he had just told everyone to leave the building with proper reasoning instead of trying to rush us out at the final moments with no explanation... We could have done something. Even though I really wanted to tell this to him, I didn''t want to start a possible argument. Because now, it didn''t really matter who was at fault; we were in danger. We all had learned a lot through the process, and we had to plan for the future.


    I was lost in my thoughts again. If the feeling of hunger didn''t intervene, I could just stare at the featureless wall in front of me, talking to myself.


    "So... We are just going to stay here and wait for the morning? Maybe we can search the building for something we could use." Ata asked.


    "I hate telling you this... but there is nothing we can do at the moment. If we leave him, he..." Mr. Kenan didn''t know how to end the sentence. Although we all have witnessed death, that didn''t make it any comfortable. "He won''t stand a chance." he said, at last.


    "How about dividing the group in two? One group would stay here with Onur while the other group conducted the search. Everyone would be okay since people would still be travelling in groups." Melis suggested.


    "I already thought of that, smarty." Mr. Kenan said. "But we would have much less people in each group, making us much more vulnerable. Also, I would have to be included in either one of the groups, so I couldn''t guide everyone at once."


    "But we won''t accomplish anything by just sitting here." I said.


    "I know, I know that..." Mr. Kenan said in frusturation. "Let me think for a while, okay?"


    The conversation ended, and we all were lost in our thoughts again; until we heard something from the door. Onur had hit the door from the other side.


    "Get me out!" he yelled.


    Mr. Kenan ran to the door and started trying to pull it open.


    "What is it on the other side!?" he yelled at Onur.


    "I''m stuck here!" Onur shouted back. Mr. Kenan stopped trying to pull the door open, and sighed.


    "Then shut up, we are trying already!" Mr. Kenan said, angrily. "I thought you were in danger, idiot."


    I sighed.


    "Alright, listen up." said Mr. Kenan. "There is nothing else I could think of. Even though I hate the idea, we are splitting into two groups. You, you and you are coming with me, while the rest of you are staying with Onur. I think we can find something useful near the storage or the restrooms."


    Idil, Melis and I were assigned to stay with Onur, while Ata and two of my other friends were going to search the building with Mr. Kenan. Mr. Kenan continued talking.


    "Stay here, and no matter what you see or here, don''t move anywhere. Be together, and you will be okay. We will be back once we find something useful." he said. "If anything out-of-ordinary occurs, don''t hesitate to yell."


    "Understood." Idil said.


    "Alright. Let''s move." Mr. Kenan said, and his group walked away. We could no longer see them after they took a right turn, but we could faintly hear their chatter and footsteps.


    I turned to the door.


    "How are you holding up?" I asked Onur.


    ...


    There was no response.


    "Onur?" I said.


    No response again.


    Idil and Melis stepped back from the door, instinctively.


    I did the same.

 29 Chapter 29

    I could do nothing but stare at the door for a moment. I didn''t know if Onur was unable to answer, or worse... ''unwilling'' to answer our calls.


    Protecting him was the only reason we were left behind here near the cafeteria, but as soon as the other group was gone, we had lost him. Perhaps our presence wasn''t good enough against the power of ''the community''. Mr. Kenan was right after all... Although we wouldn''t accomplish anything by standing there together, we should''ve never been separated.


    Having lost one of us meant that we were much less powerful than we were before, and we now had a potential threat behind the door, right in front of us.


    As our next move, we could run away and try to find Mr. Kenan''s group; or we could yell to lure them back here. Both options had advantages and disadvantages; we didn''t know where Mr. Kenan''s group was, so if we left our spot, we could lose each other in the large building. On the other hand, if we lured them back to where they left us, we would be bringing them closer to the potential danger.


    After a hard desicion, I decided to go along with what Mr. Kenan told us to do. I shouted into the empty hallway, hoping someone would hear me. I looked into the long hallway as I waited for a reply, but no one shouted back. We could no longer hear anything from the other group, so I had no way to know if someone was coming for us, either with good or bad intentions.


    In a feeling of hopelessness, I had the courage to close up to the cafeteria''s door. I kicked the door and shouted.


    "Onur!"


    Still, nothing...


    At the moment, we had nothing to do but wait and hope for the best.


    "I can go and have a look at the lower floor, I will tell you if the other group is there." said Melis.


    "No!" Idil and I shouted at the same time. Idil continued:


    "We are in this situation right now because we were separated. We have to stay together. If we need to find the other group, we have to do it together." she said.


    Suddenly, we heard a click somewhere close.


    The cafeteria''s door was unlocked.


    Normally, I would hurry to open the door to reach Onur and explore the cafeteria, bu we had no idea what happened inside. It wouldn''t be a brave move to kick the door open, it would be a stupid one.


    We watched the door from the distance. I occassionally looked behind into the hallway; because Idil and Melis were too focused on the door to check if there was something behind them. Being a bit too paranoid wasn''t bad for our survival.


    For a couple of minutes, we just stood there without moving even a little bit, like a wild animal watching it''s prey to hunt it down. Except, in our case, we were the prey.


    Yet, the door didn''t move, and Mr. Kenan''s group wasn''t coming back.


    I slowly started to approach the door, afraid of making any noise.


    "Wait, what are you doing?" asked Idil, whispering.


    "Nothing is happening around here." I told her.


    I kept walking slowly until I could reach the door. I leaned forward, and a small push was good enough to open the cafeteria''s door. I stepped back as the door slowly and silently swung open.


    The cafeteria was empty. There was no sign of Onur ever being in there. Watching my surroundings carefully, I was about to enter the cafeteria. Just as I stepped in, I was pulled back.


    I panicked and quickly turned around to escape.


    To my relief, it was Idil. She was pulling me back by my uniform, softly. I sighed.


    "No, we are not going in there." she told me.


    "He is not there." I said.


    "Maybe he is just very good at hiding. I''m not taking any risks." Idil said.


    "But we have to know." I said. "We have to know his condition, so we can decide what to do next. If he has been turned against us, and we don''t act on it... who knows what could happen?"


    "It is not something we should act on alone." she said. "We should wait for Mr. Kenan to come back. He was right about everything all this time; so let''s try listening to him, for once!"


    Although Mr. Kenan wasn''t wrong, we didn''t have a plan for every situation we could come across. Talking about this would mean starting a long argument, so I didn''t reply to Idil and just stepped into the cafeteria.


    "We are going to regret this." said Idil and followed me in. Melis hesitantly walked inside afterwards.


    I looked around the cafeteria. It didn''t look like how I expected it to be. The place was tidy and organised, there was no sign of people having left the place in a rush. We were hungry and we had to eat something, so I started looking for food. Surprisingly, there was nothing.


    "In the end, this was all for nothing." I said in disappointment. "We had lost a friend in the process, and people will still be starving until morning."


    "How could we know?" said Melis.


    "Everyone will just have to stand the hunger and pain until morning." Idil said. It sounded simple enough, but it wasn''t that easy.


    "So... don''t think about the hunger?" I said.


    "If that works... yes." replied Idil.


    "It doesn''t." said Melis.


    Just then, a single drop of water dripped from the ceiling. And after that, a drop of blood.


    I looked up.


    Onur''s body was impaled on an iron beam on the ceiling, from his stomach. His head, arms and legs tended to hang down, but the tension of his muscles were keeping them straight. He was ocassionally having short spasms, throwing out blood and shaking violently. A small part of his spine, broken by the iron beam, was sticking out of his back.


    The muscles on his neck relaxed, and his head hung down. There was no telling if he was still alive or dead, but I could clearly see the fear and pain in his face. He started throwing out lots of blood from his mouth. All of his muscles contracted. I backed away from the spot, staring at the body. I was about to vomit, but I could keep it in.


    Melis couldn''t.

 30 Chapter 30

    I stepped away as Onur''s muscles contracted for the last time. The body started to slowly slide down the iron beam. I jumped away as the body came off and fell on the floor. I heard his bones breaking apart. Blood splashed everywhere, and the large hole in his stomach was visible. His insides had turned into a soup. His body fluids were leaking off of his digestive system. His right eye was missing, and a part of his brain was revealed by his broken skull.


    Melis started running away without giving a thought about the danger of being alone. Idil and I started running with her to stay together. We followed her out of the cafeteria. She was crying loudly. I would do the same if the situation was different, but my survival instincts were powerful enough to silence my emotions and overcome my pain.


    "Stop!" I shouted at Melis. "I can''t keep up!"


    That was true. I was very powerless, and we were just spending our energy running aimlessly. Melis realised this soon enough, and stopped in the middle of the hallway. She sat down on the floor, crying. I stopped a few meters behind her, breathing heavily.


    "Why? Why, why, why, why..." Melis murmured.


    I looked back at the cafeteria. I could no longer see the body from where we were.


    "It could be worse." Idil said. "We could have to fight him." This thought didn''t ease the pain, but she had a point.


    "Perhaps we should look for Mr. Kenan''s group. The door is already open, and it doesn''t seem like they are going to return soon." I suggested.


    Melis sobbed and laid on her side on the floor.


    "Perhaps we should let her recover first." Idil said.


    "Yeah." I whispered, looking at Melis as she was crying. We were all feeling the same pain, but Melis'' reaction was... more ''expressive''.


    We had to let her cry on the floor for a few minutes.


    Idil crawled near Melis after a while.


    "Hey." she said, softly. "We can''t change the past, but we need to decide our future. Please get up, we are not out of danger yet."


    Melis rolled around to look at Idil. She slowly got up, sobbing; and looked up.


    "I will never forgive you!" she yelled in anger, referring to ''the community''.


    "Come on." Idil whispered.


    "Where are we going?" I asked.


    "To the other end of the hallway, where the restrooms are." Idil said.


    We started walking away from the cafeteria, towards the other end of the hallway. We got up to the upper floor using the stairs.


    "Mr. Kenan!" I yelled, but we received no reply.


    "Where did they go?" Melis asked.


    "Perhaps when we left our spot to search them, they went back to the cafeteria to look for us." said Idil.


    "I don''t think so. It is very unlikely for us to not encounter on our way here." I said.


    "Well... you are right." said Idil. "Well then, seems like we will have to walk for a while."


    We started walking deeper into the hallway. There were classrooms on the left and right, some doors were open and some were closed.


    Melis suddenly pulled my arm. We stopped walking.


    "What is it?" Idil asked.


    Melis pointed to the ground. There was blood on the floor. I couldn''t help myself, and I looked up to the ceiling. Fortunately, there was nothing above. I looked around the hallway, and saw another puddle of blood a few meters ahead.


    "Looks like they ran into some bad situations as well." I said.


    "Do you think... we should find them?" Melis asked.


    "What do you mean?" Idil said.


    "We were lucky, but... maybe it is already too late for them." Melis said.


    "If that''s the case... Then we have already lost." I said.


    "We don''t know about that." Idil said. "Not yet, anyway."


    "Yeah." I agreed with her. "We can''t give up now."


    I started tracing the drops of blood on the ground. Idil and Melis followed me. We walked until we reached the other end of the hallway.


    "Look at that." Idil said.


    There was a damaged door on the right side of the hallway. I approached the door slowly. I wanted to know if someone was in there, so I gently put my ear on the door to listen. I couldn''t hear anything, so I decided to have a look inside the classroom.


    "I''m going to open the door." I said.


    "Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Idil asked me.


    "I think the classroom is empty." I said.


    Idil and Melis stepped back as I reached the doorknob to open the door. I tried to push the door, but it was locked.


    "Oh, well..." said Idil. "Somebody doesn''t want us going in there."


    I thought I could open the door by brute force, since it was badly damaged.


    "Plan B!" I said, and backed away from the door.


    "Oh no." said Idil and looked away.


    I kicked the door, but I couldn''t break it open at my first try. I stepped away again, and ran to the door, hitting the door with my shoulder. Still, the door didn''t move.


    Idil watched my desparate attempts to open the door, and chuckled. I turned to her.


    "Is it funny?" I said. She smiled and looked away without replying.


    I kicked the door once again. I couldn''t open the door, but I managed to breach it. My leg went through the hole on the door, and a sharp ledge cut the back of my lower leg. It hurt a lot, and I screamed. I couldn''t get my leg out of the hole.


    "Are you okay?" Idil asked.


    "Do I look okay?" I asked. "I''m stuck!"


    "Okay, hold on, hold on." she said and approached the door. She tried to push my leg away from the door. My leg didn''t come out, and it hurt more than before.


    "Stop! Stop pushing it!" I yelled in pain. She stopped trying to push me away.


    "Stop yelling at me, I''m trying!" she said.


    Just then, I felt something touch my leg from the other side of the door.

 31 Chapter 31

    My whole body was shaken. In panic, I tried to pull my leg back out of the hole. Unfortunately, it didn''t work; the only thing I did was further damaging my leg. It was hurting a lot, but I had no time to complain about that.


    The feeling on my lower leg on the other side of the hole was definitely a person.


    "Stop it, it''s me!" I yelled, but it seemed like the person behind the door didn''t care.


    I tried to move my leg again, but this time, I wanted to kick whoever it was on the other side of the door. My attempt was unsuccessful, the ledge on the corner of the hole cut deeper into my leg. I was in tears because of pain and fear.


    Idil and Melis were standing nearby, watching me struggle as they had no idea how they could help me. Finally, Idil got closer and kicked the door in order to enlarge the hole, or break the whole door apart. The door was shaken back and forth, but it didn''t help me escape. A lot of blood was pouring down from my leg.


    Considering the intense pain, loss of blood and lack of energy; it wouldn''t take a lot of beating for me to pass out. Although I was still in fear, I stopped trying to get my leg out. In a desparate attempt, I shouted again.


    "Stop, I am friendly!"


    Apparently, they didn''t share my point of view.


    Idil kicked the door once again, but it was no use. We were no longer powerful enough.


    Whoever it was on the other side of the door released my leg as I stopped struggling. I had no idea what would happen next, and the only thing I could do was waiting. It wouldn''t be wrong for me to expect that person to cut my leg in half.


    Nothing happened for a while. Idil tried to kick the door a few more times, but she was too tired. Melis was sitting in a corner, in tears. Perhaps she was more scared than I was.


    Although my nervous system wasn''t working well anymore, I could feel something on my leg on the other side of the hole. A hot liquid was pouring down my leg. I panicked again and wanted to pull my leg out again, but I could no longer try.


    Someone wiped off some of the liquid on my leg. I had no idea what the liquid was, but it certainly wasn''t water.


    A burning sensation began on the area. I screamed as it felt like my skin was melting and conglutinating to my bones. On a second thought, perhaps that really was the case. The sensetion continued for a while before my nerves stopped responding to the stimulator. After the burning sensation was gone, it started feeling cold.


    The expression on my face was not good enough to describe my experience.


    "What is happening?" asked Idil, but I had no power to answer her. We could only stare at each other before I turned my head away. I couldn''t look into her eyes in the intense pain I was experiencing. I knew she could not help me, and I didn''t want anyone to feel guilty.


    She crawled near me and held my hand. I turned again to look at her.


    "I am so sorry... I hope you can forgive me." she said.


    "It is my own fault, I deserved that." I managed to say, very slowly. "Go away now, there is nothing you can do. Run to safety, I don''t know what''s beyond this door."


    "I would do that if the situation was different, but we are not strong enough when separated." she replied. She was right after all... We were four people just minutes ago, yet we could still not protect ourselves. No one knew what could happen if Idil and Melis got separated as a small group of just two people. We had to face any threat together instead of running.


    Someone touched my leg again. I closed my eyes, preparing my mind for the worst thing I could think of.


    Suddenly, something penetrating my leg. It felt like a thick needle. It was pushed deep into my leg, destroying some of the primary veins on it''s way. It started feeling hot again. Something was flowing inside. It was probably a syringe, a rather big one. As the liquid made it''s way inside my leg, the pain increased. I thought everything inside my body was going to be wiped out by the substance. In a moment, the pain was relieved by numbness.


    Idil was startled and she stepped away from me.


    "What is happening?" she asked in panic, showing my leg.


    I turned my eyes to have a look. There was nothing noticable at first, but on closer inspection, I saw a little amount of greenish substance travelling up my leg, towards my knee. I''ve never seen something like that ever before.


    "I can''t feel my leg." I said.


    Idil stood up, stepped back and swung her leg. But this time, instead of hitting the door, she hit my leg on purpose.


    "Why was that!?" I yelled in my renewed pain.


    "Hold tight!" she said and prepared to hit me again.


    "No, wait!"


    *kick*


    My leg was cut again, but from a higher spot this time. The skin just below my knee was ripped apart. A green substance mixed with blood was pouring down the wound. So, that was why she kicked my leg.


    "Are you okay?" Idil asked me.


    "Good thinking." I could manage to say that with my teeth clenched in pain.


    "Alright, close your eyes." she said. I was about to ask why, but I didn''t have enough time.


    *kick*


    I screamed as my leg broke free of the sharp ledges all around the hole. I had a short opportunity to look at the damage on my leg. It was completely red, and the cuts were bleeding rapidly.


    Although I have broken free, we were still in danger.


    A faintly colored gas started coming out of the enlarged hole.

 32 Chapter 32

    I panicked and tried to crawl away from the door. I no longer wanted to find out what was behind that door. I made a move to get away, but unfortunately, I couldn''t feel my right leg and I had no control over it.


    I rolled around on my stomach and tried to get away using my arms and left leg to drag myself on the ground. Just then, Idil noticed me struggling and came by. She held me by my arm tried to lift me up. I managed to get on my left leg with her help.


    "Come on!" she said and tossed my arm over her shoulder to share some of my weight.


    After that, we could go relatively fast. Melis was running in front of us, and we could catch up with her even though I was pratically skipping on my left leg. While we were running, I finally started to feel something weird on my right leg. It started tingling, and the sensation reached my lower leg and foot over time; yet it still felt like I was paralysed. My wounds started hurting again, but at least I was relieved to know that I had not lost my leg... yet.


    We reached the stairs, but I had no idea how I would walk down. For a second, I seriously considered rolling downstairs. But, I could finally feel my right leg, so I wanted to give it a try instead of jumping down one step at a time.


    "Let me go." I told Idil.


    She stopped holding me. I tried to walk downstairs as she watched me from above. I finally had control on my leg, so I could start running again. I didn''t hesitate.


    Soon after, I realised that it was a bad idea. I slided down a few steps and fell down, rolling all the way to the lower floor. Luckily, I wasn''t injured.


    "Damn, you are pathetic." Idil said and ran downstairs to lift me up once more. I got up with her help.


    "Are we safe?" asked Melis.


    I looked upstairs to see if anyone, or anything was coming at us. I didn''t see or hear anything.


    "I don''t know." I said. "Let''s keep moving anyway."


    We continued walking into the hallway. As we approached an intersection, we heard something from the left wing of the hallway. Someone was running towards us.


    We immediately turned around to run away from the intersection, but we were not fast enough mostly because of my injuries. Fortunately for us, there was no threat. I saw Ata stop running a few meters away from us. There was no doubt he was very tired.


    "Oh, finally." he said, trying to catch his breath.


    "Why are you here?" I asked him.


    "Oh, for the sake of... The better question is, why are YOU here?" he asked back. "You should''ve waited for us in front of the cafeteria!"


    "Things didn''t go as planned. We have lost Onur, so our protection was considerably weakened. We had to find you as soon as possible." I said. "Why are you separated from the group? Where is Mr Kenan?" I asked.


    "We saw Onur''s corpse, and we couldn''t find you at the rendezvous point; so we had a change of plans as well. Mr. Kenan dared to send me to find you." Ata replied.


    "So, the group is waiting in front of the cafeteria, right?" Melis asked.


    "Wrong and wrong." Ata said.


    "Why is there a second ''wrong''?" I asked.


    "Our group had run into some unexpected situations, and we were splitted. I can''t tell you more about it right now, per Mr. Kenan''s request." said Ata. "As for the rendezvous point, this is why I''m here. We have a new rendezvous point planned, so follow me."


    "Wait, where are we going?" I asked. Even though Ata was my friend, I couldn''t just trust anyone like that. He might as well be manipulated and could lead us into a trap. At least I wanted to know where we were headed.


    "The roof." he said. "We will have a better chance outside the building."


    "But last time, we witnessed someone being manipulated on the roof." I said.


    "I..." he couldn''t reply immediately. "I''m not the one who makes the plans. Why don''t you tell this to Mr. Kenan yourself?" he said.


    "Alright, lead us." I said. We went upstairs once more, and made our way to the ladder to the roof. Ata walked near the ladder.


    "Come on." he said, pointing us to climb the ladder. Melis walked up to the ladder to climb it, but I interrupted.


    "I will go first." I said. I still couldn''t completely trust Ata, since he has been running alone in the school building. I thought that Mr. Kenan would never send him for such a suicidal task.


    I climbed upstairs and lifted the panel to the roof. I saw a few students around, but I couldn''t see Mr. Kenan. I didn''t climb out to the roof.


    "Mr. Kenan isn''t here." I told Ata.


    "He must be near the other edge." he said.


    I was going to be more careful, so I jumped down the ladder. I turned to Ata.


    "You go first." I said.


    "Why?" he asked.


    "Because I told you to." I said.


    He wanted to say something, but he didn''t.


    "I... don''t think I get why, but it''s alright, if that''s what you wish." he said and started climbing up the ladder. He lifted the panel and climbed up on the roof. He looked down from where he was.


    "Come on." he said.


    Melis went ahead and climbed on the roof as well. Idil was about to do the same, but I was quicker. I had to see how it was on the roof.


    "This is taking too long." said Ata.


    I was climbing up the ladder when I heard a scream from Melis. I looked up to see what was happening, but I could only see the color of red. I released the ladder to drop down, but I was held and lifted up by something above. I was on the roof before I even knew it.

 33 Chapter 33

    I found myself hanging in the air. Someone was holding me from my back. My feet was a few centimeters in air. Almost all of the students on the roof were looking at me. I was the second one to climb on the roof (if you can call that ''climbing''), so Idil was still below the ladder. I tried to warn her by shouting.


    "Run awa-"


    Someone shut my mouth with his hands. I tried to move my head to look around for Melis, but I couldn''t. I was strongly held in place. I finally managed to swing my legs around to kick people away. I kicked whoever it was behind me, and he had to let me go. I fell down, but quickly got up. I attempted to flee by going back down, but my some students blocked my path. Apparently, everyone up there was my enemy.


    I had to make a choice, so I ran past the panel on the top of the ladder, towards the far edge of the roof. I reached the other edge rather quickly, but obviously, there was nowhere I could further run. In the heat of the moment, I hadn''t thought of it too much.


    I turned around to have a look. The students were slowly approaching me in a line, leaving no gaps for me to run through. The uniforms and faces of some students were covered in blood. Two of them had knives in their hands. I had no idea what they were trying to accomplish; the only thing I knew was I was cornered and I was in immediate danger.


    "Wait!" I said. "What are you doing?"


    Of course I knew I wouldn''t get a reply, but I had no idea what I could do to save myself.


    "Ata, why!?" I cried.


    I looked at where the panel was. I still couldn''t see Melis around, so I assumed the worst. I could only hope that Idil had heard my warning and ran away. If I couldn''t do the same soon enough, that could be the end of me.


    I looked down from the edge of the roof, and back to the panel again. The only way out was that ladder below the panel. I had to get past that line of students somehow, and reach that panel.


    I thought of sprinting towards and charging the line. It wasn''t a good idea, but it was the only idea I had, apart from jumping down the roof to my almost certain death.


    I was preparing to sprint through the roof when I heard something. Someone was yelling, but I couldn''t make out what it was at first. I looked down from the edge of the roof again.


    It was Idil. She was yelling at me from the window, one floor below the roof level.


    "Down here!" she shouted.


    "Down WHERE!?" I replied.


    She had already went inside when I said that. Just a second after that, a ladder appeared. It was the ladder that was supposed to be just below the roof''s enterance panel.


    "Hurry, idiot!" she cried.


    I looked back up to the roof. There was very little distance between me and the students. I jumped down the roof on to the ladder. I hit the ladder relatively slowly, since I wasn''t so high up from the window. But I couldn''t keep my balance, and I rolled down from the ladder with my excess momentum. I raised my hand at the last second and grabbed the ladder. I managed to pull myself back up on the ladder quickly, and I could enter the building from the window.


    "Idiot, you scared me! You were about to fall down!" she said.


    "And whose bright idea was that?" I replied.


    "You were going to die up there if I didn''t do that." she said. She was right.


    At that moment, we heard a sound, and the ladder was shaken. One of the students had jumped on the ladder, trying to follow me in. Idil released the edge of the ladder from where she had stabilised it. Before he could reach the window and enter the building, the ladder slided out of the window. He slided away from the building and fell down to the ground with the ladder. I rushed to the window to take a look.


    It was horrible. He had fell on the top of the ladder, and his body was broken apart to many pieces. His blood was splashed everywhere. Some of his organs were coming out of his stomach, which was drilled into by the ladder. I didn''t look for too long.


    "Come on, they will come after us from inside the building." Idil said.


    We got out of the classroom we were in, and ran out into the hallway, towards the stairway.


    "Thank goodness you heard me in time and ran away." I said.


    "I wasn''t exactly ''running away''." she said.


    "I didn''t mean it that way..." I said.


    "Where is Melis?" she asked.


    "I couldn''t see her up there." I replied.


    "Mr. Kenan? Was he up there?" she said.


    "No, he wasn''t." I answered.


    "Things are getting more complex every minute." she said.


    "Yes... and now that we are only two people..." I murmured.


    "Oh, yes, I forgot about that." she said. "Is there any way we could get Melis out of there?"


    "I don''t know. I don''t even know where she is, exactly. I couldn''t see what happened to her." I replied.


    "In that case... the only thing we can do is finding Mr. Kenan." she said.


    We had reached the stairway, and we got downstairs to the floor below.


    While we were running, I heard a funny sound nearby.


    "I''m starving." she said.


    "Don''t think about it." I replied. "I am hungry as well."


    "It isn''t as easy as I thought it would be." she said.


    "You know there is nothing we can do about it right now." I said.


    Suddenly, she stopped running in the middle of the hallway. I turned to look at her. She dropped to her knees and looked down. A few seconds later, she started crying.


    "I can''t... stand it..." she said.


    I approached her, trying to calm her down.


    "It is just a few hours until sunrise." I said. "Hold it together."


    She didn''t reply.


    "Come on, the only thing we can do right now is finding Mr. Kenan." I said.


    All of a sudden, she stopped crying.


    "I have a better idea." she said, and looked up to me.


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    She didn''t reply immediately, and got back up on her feet.


    "What is it?" I asked again.


    She slapped me in the face.

 34 Chapter 34

    I was surprised by this sudden act.


    I simply looked at her without saying anything, trying to understand her. Her expression was angry. Tears were forming under her eyes.


    *slap*


    She slapped me once more. It was so sudden that I couldn''t even react to it. Perhaps since we were the only living beings around here, ''the community'' had started trying to manipulate us, and turn us against each other once again. Unfortunately, there was nowhere we could run to, so we had to stand it only by our own mental power.


    I held her arm tightly. She tried to get her arm out of my grip, but her attempt wasn''t successful.


    "Why?" I asked her.


    "That one was for Melis." she replied.


    "I didn''t do anything to her." I said.


    "Exactly." she said. "Why didn''t you do anything? WHY DIDN''T YOU EVEN TRY TO SAVE HER!?"


    So that was the problem. It was normal for her to be nervous, but I was sure that she couldn''t understand the hopeless situation I was in when I was cornered on the roof.


    "You are heartless and miserable!" she continued.


    It was unusual to hear such insults from her. At that point, there was no doubt we were under the effect of ''the community''. Our mental health was in an unstable condition, and anything we did could provoke the other. Being too aggressive could easily create hostility between us. I had to let her know without getting everything out of hand.


    "Why now?" I asked her.


    "Why... what do you mean?" she said, keeping her angry expression.


    "Why did you get angry all of a sudden, JUST now?" I said.


    She thought about it for a short time.


    "Because we were still in danger, so this is why I could say that to you just now." she replied.


    "We won''t accomplish anything by mourning for our losses and being aggressive towards each other." I said.


    "We won''t accomplish anything by sacrificing someone every single time when we face the dangers!" she yelled. "Onur, Melis, even Mr. Kenan... We''ve lost so many people because we don''t know how to be brave and face the threats!"


    I''ve never seen her so furious before. But, even though she was saying all of this in a moment of nervous breakdown, she did have a point. I''ve thought about it for a while without saying anything.


    Although she wasn''t wrong, the reality from my point of view was a little different than her''s.


    "What are we going to do when we face a power we can''t win against? Will we only listen to our heart and emotions, then just stand in front of it waiting to die together; or will we pay attention to logic and rational thought and run away until we regain strenght for the next round?" I said.


    She turned and looked into my face without anything. It was her turn to think about what I said.


    "We''ve already lost the struggle when we failed to evacuate the building in time. This was our only plan to save everyone, yet... Even our safest plans didn''t work." I said.


    "That''s too... pessimistic." she said. "There must be a chance. We''ve almost escaped this cursed place once before, I''m sure we can do that again. It, just... It would be better if everyone got to see that moment..."


    "I wished..." I said.


    "We stand united for the time being... How long will it last?" she asked. "How long can it? We are just two people now, we are weak once again... Maybe it''s our destiny to suffer this all."


    "I couldn''t tell you, but I think we are already being affected by ''the community''." I told her. "I didn''t want to tell this right in the middle of the moments of recent tension. I know how hard it is, we are going through the same thing... But we need to control our emotions."


    "If we do that... will we be strong? Will we survive?" she asked. She had started to act like a little child now.


    "I can''t tell that, you know... But we still have a reason to fight." I told her.


    "Oh, do we?" she said. "Maybe we were already defeated, like you said, and we are just playing back an endless loop of suffering over and over again. Maybe... maybe our hope for escape is just a nonsense that keeps us running around places to entertain those evil bastards."


    "This! This mindset is exactly what I''m talking about, you are giving up your control to them!" I shouted at her. "Fight it, you know you are better than this!"


    "I am tired of it all... After this point, it doesn''t matter if there is an escape or not anymore." she said.


    "You are stronger than you think!" I shouted at her. She didn''t say anything in return, and she started looking directly ahead with a blank expression.


    After a moment of silence, she slowly turned her head to me with robotic movements. I could understand that she was not powerful enough. To prevent any harm to her and myself, I quickly held her, and slowly laid her down on the ground. I held her arms tightly near her body as she looked up to the ceiling with little signs of being alive.


    "Let her be!" I yelled into the empty hallway.


    Maybe she was right. Maybe that was it! She was losing her mind, and I was left by myself for the rest of the struggle, which would probably end up entertaining the evil spirits until I die in misery...


    "No!" I started speaking to myself. The community was trying to manipulate me as well. Idil and I both had a war going on in our minds.


    I held Idil''s hand and gently squeezed it.


    "Stay strong." I whispered. Both of us were powerless, but we had no one to help us. We had nothing left to sacrifice. There was nowhere we could run. We were all by ourselves. If one of us had lost the fight, then both of us would.


    While this silent war was taking place, I heard something from the far end of the hallway.

 35 Chapter 35

    It was the worst time be on high alert.


    I was unsure whether Idil could her me or not. She was too absorbed into her own world right now, and the stimulants from the environment might had no effect.


    "Come on, look at me!" I whispered, but she didn''t even react to it. I was talking to myself. "Please hear me... Snap out of it, we need to go!"


    Her head slowly turned to the side. It was true, she was unable to interact with her surroundings. In that case, I had to take care of everything myself.


    I wanted to leave her laying there and take a look at the other end of the hallway, but I couldn''t do that. There was no guarantee we could come together again once we were separated.


    I looked around to find a place nearby that I could use to hide. There were a few classrooms near where we were, but that was it. I had very little time to think, and not much to choose from. I decided to get into the nearest classroom, but I couldn''t simply leave Idil there, in the middle of the hallway.


    I held her and tried to lift her up. She wasn''t heavy, but unfortunately, I wasn''t powerful enough to lift her. I stopped trying to lift her up, and grabbed her by the sides of her chest and only lifted her torso off of the floor. I started to slawly drag her towards the nearby classroom.


    ''We won''t accomplish anything by sacrificing someone every single time when we face the dangers!''


    Suddenly, I remembered her words. Her voice echoed in my mind. Perhaps there was a balance... It was true, the power of our enemies were overwhelming; but we didn''t have the luxury of sacrificing something, someone, every time to got ourselves out of danger. Besides, there was nothing much left to sacrifice at this point; I couldn''t risk losing her, my sole companion.


    This time, my heart had more effect on my desicions. I finally decided to stop running and directly face the threat. I slowly laid her down again on the floor.


    I looked ahead into the hallway, waiting for someone to appear.


    Even though I''ve made my desicion, I couldn''t help feeling nervous in the face of the danger I was preparing to face. I had no idea what I was against, and that was the most problematic part for me. I was fearing the unkown... I wasn''t powerful, and I probably wouldn''t be able to defend myself; but at least I could finish it all without regretting my desicions in the end.


    Someone appeared in front of me. He was running. I couldn''t make out his face at first.


    I raised my arms in front of my face as he approached. He suddenly slowed down.


    "Stop right there!" I yelled.


    "Okay, okay, calm down!" he replied and stopped.


    I was shocked as I was unprepared for the reaction. I had been assuming the worst like always, and I had already convinced myself that I was facing an enemy. When he actually listened to my command and stopped in the middle of the hallway, I felt weird. I just stared into the darkness of the hallway for a couple of seconds as I tried to get out of my initial shock.


    "It''s you! Mr. Kenan!" I said, with joy.


    "Step back." he said in a serious tone.


    His reply got me even more confused than before, as I had completely lowered my defenses for a moment when I saw Mr. Kenan. Yet, he didn''t look very happy to see us. I immediately got back into my defensive mindset again.


    "Don''t approach." I said to Mr. Kenan as I stepped back about a meter or so.


    "Get away from her." Mr. Kenan said.


    I understood why Mr. Kenan was being so cautious against me. If I had seen Idil''s situation, I would react similarly. But unfortunately, despite Mr. Kenan''s command, I couldn''t leave her by herself. Also, there was still a risk of Mr. Kenan being manipulated as well, so I was not going to take any unnecesary risks.


    "No." I said. "I can''t leave her."


    "What did you do to her!?" he yelled at me, and started approaching again.


    "I didn''t do anything! Get away, or I will have to protect us!" I shouted.


    He hesitated to continue approaching for a second, and slowly kept walking towards us afterwards.


    "You can''t fool me twice!" he yelled and started running towards me.


    I noticed the knife in his hand. Even though I was going to stand there and face the threat, I had to retreat for the time being. Being brave and suicidal wasn''t the same thing.


    I ran back to the close end of the hallway to gain some time. Fortunately, he completely ignored Idil laying there in the hallway and chased me. I turned around as Mr. Kenan prepared to attack me.


    He almost had me cornered at the end of the hallway. He ran and swung his knife towards me. I ducked to dodge the knife at the last moment, and he missed me with milimeters. I used this short opportunity to kick him from his stomach. Even though I was unharmed for the moment, I was cornered by him.


    My kick wasn''t good enough to push him away. Before he could attack me again, I jumped towards the nearby stairwell in panic. I haven''t thought about the landing, so I could only cover my head with my arms as I fell down the stairs. Even though I tried to protect myself, I had hit my head and chest multiple times. I rolled down a few more steps and finally came to a stop near the lower floor. I had escaped Mr. Kenan for a short time, but I was unable to stand up again. I was badly injured and completely exhausted. I looked upstairs as I tried to move my arms to help myself stand up again.


    He was coming downstairs.


    My weak arms failed to get me back up on my feet.

 36 Chapter 36

    In a desparate attempt to get away, I let myself roll down the rest of the stairs without considering how much I could hurt myself. Nothing I would do myself could be more dangerous than a man armed with a knife could do to me.


    I rolled down the last few steps of the stairs. My arms were hurting. Since I failed last time, I didn''t try getting on my feet again; instead, I tried to crawl away. But there was no doubt, he was faster than me.


    "Help me!" I shouted into the empty hallway. At this point, my only hope was Idil. If she could hear me, she could come to my aid. But that wasn''t going to happen.


    I turned around, facing Mr. Kenan one last time.


    "Please..." I cried. "Come to your senses! Fight your thoughts! I am not your enemy. WE, are not your enemies."


    He kept closing the distance between us as I tried to crawl backwards.


    "You can''t fool me twice!" Mr. Kenan shouted at me.


    He raised his arm to show me the knife in a threatening manner.


    "Mr. Kenan, you are under their control!" I yelled at him. I was too far away from Idil already, but maybe I could bring the ''real'' Mr. Kenan back at the last moment.


    He didn''t even hesitate for a second, and prepared to attack.


    The only reaction I could give was covering my head with my arms. I no longer had enough energy to perform quick and tricky manuevers.


    Instead of swinging his arm to reach me, he threw it towards my direction. I couldn''t possibly dodge that knife...


    Surprisingly, I didn''t need to. I saw the knife flying over my head. I couldn''t turn my head back to watch where it went; but the sound I heard afterwards was good enough for me to have a guess.


    The knife struck something, and I heard someone crying in pain. A handful of blood poured down my neck. I was pretty shocked as I haven''t even noticed someone behind me until now. After being indecisive between keeping Mr. Kenan in my view and seeing what was going on behind me, I finally looked back.


    Ata was just behind me, and he was stabbed in his stomach. It was his blood flowing down my body. He fell on the floor in agony. Behind him, there were some of my classmates I had encountered on the roof. They had found me.


    It was my chance. I reached out to Ata''s body and grabbed the knife. Although I now had a weapon, I was unsure about the ways I could use it. On one side, there were my murderous classmates and on the other side, there was Mr. Kenan who went crazy.


    I''ve made a daring desicion and started going towards Mr. Kenan. He was relatively more powerful, but I would have a better chance dealing with him rather than dealing with three of my classmates at once. And if I could get past him, I could go upstairs and reach Idil.


    "The knife!" Mr. Kenan suddenly yelled at me. "No time to explain, give me the knife!"


    What was he talking about? He was literally trying to kill me a few seconds ago, and now he was asking me to hand him a weapon...


    "They are coming, give me the knife!" Mr. Kenan shouted at me. He was pointing into the hallway, showing my classmates. It was true, I was being chased by my classmates, but I couldn''t trust him.


    As I was getting past him; Mr. Kenan made an unexpected move, caught my arm and grabbed the knife. He released my arm afterwards. While I got away from him in fear, he stood between me and my classmates. He swung the knife as a way to threaten them.


    I was confused. I had thought that they were all trying to kill me, but I had now seen that they were fighting each other as well.


    "Run and get her to somewhere safe!" Mr. Kenan yelled.


    So... He was trying to protect us now! Maybe the real Mr. Kenan had managed to win his internal fight against ''the community'' in the process of chasing me down the hallway.


    I had no time to think about that any longer. I got upstairs and I was relieved to see Idil still laying on the ground, unharmed. I sat near her and tried to talk to her.


    "Hey, can you hear me?" I said. I received no response. She must''ve been in a pretty bad situation.


    I lifted her torso off of the floor and slowly dragged her into one of the classrooms.


    I could hear Mr. Kenan and my classmates fighting downstairs. Everything had happened so quickly; and I had no idea what Mr. Kenan was trying to do. Why did he attack me, and why did he quickly change his side when he saw my classmates... I had no answers.


    "Come on!" I said to Idil. Of course she couldn''t hear me, but I was still nervous and frusturated. I had no means of defense. If someone barged into the classroom with evil intentions, it would be our end. Unfortunately, there was nowhere safer to hide either.


    After a while I noticed the fighting sound fading away as they were moving away from where we were. After a few minutes, I could no longer hear anything.


    I wanted to go out into the hallway to have a look around, but I didn''t want to leave Idil in the classroom alone. We were stronger when we were closer, anyway.


    Suddenly, I heard fast footsteps. Someone was nearby. I pushed a few desks in front of the door to delay any intruders trying to come into the classroom.


    I was out of energy, so I would try to run from the enemy rather than stay and fight. I hopelessly looked out of the window to think about a possible escape route. Unfortunately, there weren''t any. The outer side of the school''s wall was flat, and we were very high up, just one floor below the roof.


    So I got back, took a defensive position in front of the door and started waiting for any intruders. I had little power, but I had nothing else to do.


    Despite all the desks I stacked in front of the door, someone managed to kick the door open with a single hit.

 37 Chapter 37

    Even though I have been expecting it, I was startled and I ran away from the door. My survival instincts kicked in and I prepared to defend myself.


    Only then I noticed that the person standing at the door was Mr. Kenan. My inner conflicts about trusting him were not resolved yet, so I could only stand there without doing anything. He did the same. He probably wasn''t expecting me to behave so... ''distant'', like we were strangers.


    "Did I startle you?" he asked me after a moment of silence. It took me a while to answer.


    "S-sort of." I said.


    "I''m sorry for scaring you, and... for the earlier..." He tried to say something, probably referring to our previous fight, but couldn''t complete the sentence.


    "I''m not hostile out of choice, but I can''t trust you. If you have friendly intentions, I hope you understand." I said. I was under a lot of pressure by unpredictability and awkwardness.


    "I... I''m so sorry." he said, and pointed to Idil, still oblivious of everything going around. "When I saw her laying still on the ground, I thought that... that you were one of them, and you tried to harm her."


    "You mean... like my other classmates?" I asked.


    "Yes, just like that. Do you know about them?" he said.


    "I''ve encountered them unpleasantly before, so I know they have evil intentions, but there is something I don''t quite get." I said. "They are great in numbers, so... how were they affected by ''the community'' when they were in a large group? They could easily stand against the manipulations when they were together, am I wrong? What happened?"


    "So, there is one more mystery revealed..." said Mr. Kenan, and cleared his throat. "If you don''t mind, may I come in?" I have been keeping him from entering the classroom, but I could trust him more easily now.


    "Sure." I said. "But still... don''t make anything sudden or I will kick you in the face."


    "I understand how you feel about me, and I hope you can completely trust me, in time." he said. "But if I stay there in front of the door, someone could easily spot us."


    He stepped inside the classroom, and closed the door.


    "Where do I begin?" He started talking. "So... you know we have been stuck in this building for quite a while, running around many places non-stop. Naturally, we run out of energy, and some problems arise. We get sleepy, thirsty, hungry; and our bodies constantly signal us to satisfy our needs at once. I think this much is pretty obvious."


    "Yes, it is." I said. "To be honest, I have been suffering from lack of energy for a while."


    "I''m well aware of that." Mr. Kenan continued. "So, the deal is... ''The community'' started exploiting our such weaknesses."


    "What do you mean, exactly?" I asked.


    "With their influence, we now feel those needs with greater intensity. To simply put it, they enhance some of our unpleasant sensations in a way we can''t withstand." Mr. Kenan explained.


    "So, when we can''t withstand those feelings..." I said.


    "Exactly. When the needs arise under the influence of ''the community'', one does everything to fulfill the needs and desires, without any regard to the people nearby."


    "I see. So, do you know the exact reason behind the attacks of our classmates?" I asked Mr. Kenan.


    "Hunger." he replied. "Everyone is hungry."


    "Wait!" I raised my voice unintentionally. "Does that mean that they wish to eat... us!?"


    "Yes." he simply replied. "Cannibalism, because there is no source of food around here, other than each other. Some of them did try eating paper, though."


    "What will we do?" I asked. "What if the same thing happens to us?"


    "First and the only thing you must do is to stop thinking about it. Stop asking me about it all the time. The more you think about it, the easier it will be for ''the community'' to affect you." he said.


    It was hard to divert my thoughts and attention to anything else, but I had to do it.


    "As a matter of fact, you were already targeted a few times before." Mr. Kenan said.


    "What? In that case, I''m surprised that we are still alive." I said.


    "I guess you managed to live through it just fine, but she wasn''t good enough." he said, referring to Idil.


    I remembered the silent struggles we had in our minds in the hallway earlier, when Idil laid down on the ground and never woke up again. I looked at her once more. She was laying still in the classroom, just behind me.


    "So that was it..." I said. "Did she... lose it?"


    "Did she lose what?" Mr. Kenan said.


    "The silent battle in her mind." I said. "I''ve experienced it myself, I know what she is going through."


    "Perhaps her desire to sleep was overwhelming." Mr. Kenan said. "You are lucky that she wasn''t more hungry or thirsty, so she chose to sleep."


    "Or maybe she chose to sleep on purpose, in order not to endanger anyone around her!" I said.


    "If she was strong enough to do it, that is also a possibility." he said.


    "What about you, Mr. Kenan?" I asked.


    "What about me?" he replied with a weird expression on his face.


    "I mean... Did you ever experience it yourself?" I asked.


    "Oh, that... Of course I did, but fortunately, I was more than capable of handling myself." he said. "Mostly." he added a few seconds afterwards. "When I attacked you before, I wasn''t exactly doing it myself. I wouldn''t act like that without proper reasoning."


    "I understand." I said. "But I still fear that we can end up hurting each other."


    "Don''t fear." he said. "I told you to stop thinking about it. Fear can be one of your biggest weaknesses, and by overthinking about things, you are giving your enemies a clear shot."


    "Okay, I think I get it." I said. "What will we do about her?" I asked, pointing at Idil.


    Before Mr. Kenan could respond, we heard something from the hallway.


    "Let''s worry about her next, shall we?" he said.

 38 Chapter 38

    We would have to take action soon, so I had to keep my stamina up. I tried to convince myself that I was feeling good, and everything was okay.


    I left Mr. Kenan with Idil and went to take a look at the the hallway. I silently approached the intersection ahead of me and peeked around to corner to see where the sounds were coming from.


    The same group of classmates I have encountered earlier were coming this way. As soon as I identified them, I started running back to the classroom. We could not risk being found, so we had to leave quickly.


    "They are coming." I told Mr. Kenan as I rushed inside the classroom. Even though I did not clearly state who ''they'' were, Mr. Kenan seemed to understand.


    "We have to leave. We will have to carry her." he said, looking at Idil as she was sleeping peacefully, still completely unaware of everything going on around her.


    I grabbed her and slowly tried to lift her up. Mr. Kenan interrupted me.


    "Don''t waste your energy, let me-"


    Before Mr. Kenan could finish his sentence, Idil turned her head and opened her eyes. She looked around as her eyes tried to adjust for the lighting, or rather, the lack of it.


    "What a nice surprise." I said, but without much excitement. Waking up right in the middle of a moment of danger wasn''t the best thing she could do.


    "Good. Now we can move much faster, let''s go." said Mr. Kenan.


    "How did you get into my room!?" Idil yelled at us. She was still sleepy, and unaware of her environment.


    "Could you please tell ''your room'' to stop trying to kill us?" I replied. This should''ve been enough to get her memories back in place.


    She froze for a few seconds, then remembered where we actually were, and what we were doing before she went to sleep.


    "Now, run!" Mr. Kenan said. Idil realised something unpleasant was going on, and she quickly got up. We rushed out of the classroom, and started running towards the stairways near the closer end of the hallway, away from the sound and our murderous classmates.


    "How much did I miss?" Idil asked.


    "Not much, I''ve just encountered Mr. Kenan in the hallway when you were sleeping..." I said.


    Mr. Kenan looked at me and tried to imply that it would be better if I didn''t tell her about the violence between us. I agreed with him, as it would only make things more complex for her. Without caution, it could even spark new hostilites when combined with the constant efforts of ''the community''.


    "...and that''s pretty much it." I completed my sentence.


    "Alright." she said, but she noticed something afterwards. "Wait, it''s not alright... If that''s the case, what are we running from? We shouldn''t run from everything that makes noises."


    "There is a time for everything, young lady." said Mr. Kenan. "It would take too long to explain everything now. So, please trust us and do whatever we say for the time being, which means you should simply keep running with us."


    "Alright, alright, I get it." she replied. Just after she said that, she stumbled and was about to fall. My relfexes kicked in and I held her up. She was still a bit sleepy.


    "Thanks, I''m sorry I can''t even go straight." she said.


    "It''s normal, you''ve been through a lot." I replied.


    We started running downstairs.


    "By the way, Mr. Kenan... Where are we going?" I asked.


    "Hold on, you guys don''t have a plan!?" Idil asked.


    "Calm the hell down, of course I have a plan, I know what I''m doing!" Mr. Kenan replied.


    We went downstairs to the bottom floor.


    "Are we just going to charge the main exit and hope it will open?" I asked. Mr. Kenan had told us that he had a plan, but I thought he could''ve just said that in order to avoid worrying us too much. After all, he was the type of man who made plans on the run, much like me.


    "You just can''t get rid of either your curiosity or distrust, can you?" Mr. Kenan replied. "I already told you that I know what I''m doing."


    "I just wanted to know in advance." I said.


    "You wouldn''t like it too much, so that''s why I''m not telling it right now." he said. "You know I have a good reason to do anything I do."


    I didn''t reply. Although he was strong, intelligent and helpful; no one was completely reliable while we were in here, under the mental attacks of ''the community''. He had the best self-control among us all, yet he had attacked to kill me simply because of a misundertsanding on his part. But, of course, I didn''t want to reveal my thoughts on the subject, because that would just increase the tension between us just when we started trusting each other again.


    "Whoever we were running from, I think they didn''t see us." Idil said.


    "I agree. But if we stay here for long enough, an encounter with them is inevitable." I said.


    "Yes, exactly." Mr. Kenan said. "This is why I wanted you to follow me all the way here. We aren''t simply running to safety, but possibly to our escape from the building as well."


    "You don''t mean the main exit, do you?" I asked. "Because if that''s it, you know that we have already tried escaping that way and failed many times before."


    "No, it is not where we are going; and can you please be patient and stop wasting your energy talking so much?" Mr. Kenan replied.


    "Well, that''s a good point." I said, and stopped talking. We stopped running and started walking slowly towards the cafeteria.


    "This place doesn''t revive good memories." Idil said.


    "If we fail, no one will have memories to revive." said Mr. Kenan. "We are almost there."


    We entered the cafeteria. The ground was still covered in blood, but I saw no bodies nearby.


    "There we are." said Mr. Kenan, and started hitting the wall from a seemingly random point. We couldn''t understand what he was doing. But then, the paint on the wall of the cafeteria started peeling off in small chunks.


    "Are we going to go through the wall?" Idil asked.


    "No, there is a more convenient way." said Mr. Kenan, and revealed a door hidden behind a very thin layer of coat and paint. It was an old, rusty metal door; it was a leftover piece from the prison with no doubt.


    He slowly opened the door. There was a dark stairway going deeper down, much below the ground level. I couldn''t see too far ahead, but the view was... ''unattractive''. Mr. Kenan was right, I didn''t like the idea of going in there.


    We still had much to learn about this building...

 39 Chapter 39

    "Please go ahead."


    Mr. Kenan asked me to enter the stairway that would lead us into the unknown. I was curious and eager to escape the building, but the mere sight of the place was scary enough to push me away.


    "Do you know where these stairs will lead us to?" I asked him.


    "I only went a few meters down." he said. "But I think that this place was probably a bomb shelter or something similar. Despite the overall bad design of the prison building, they could at least think of building a shelter."


    "You went ONLY a few meters down!? How deep does this thing go?" I said.


    "I have no idea. If you want me to go in first, I can; but I would personally prefer seeing you in front of me as I walk." he replied.


    "You don''t want to solve mysteries anymore, eh?" Idil said to me.


    "Oh, of course I do." I said. "In fact, I''m going in first."


    I got past the door and stepped inside the dark stairway. I went a few steps down, and Idil followed me. Finally, Mr. Kenan got inside and closed the door behind us.


    "Hold on, are we sure that we can open that door from inside as well?" Idil asked.


    "Calm down, I told you that I came here once before, I know we can open the door. Otherwise I would still be trapped in here." Mr. Kenan said.


    Inside of the stairwell was disturbingly humid.


    "It smells like rotten potatoes in here." I said.


    "Just wait a bit until olfactory fatigue kicks in." Mr. Kenan replied. "It won''t last long, you will get used to it."


    "I hope so." I replied.


    "I can''t really see anything in here. Are you still in front of me?" asked Idil and tried to touch me to confirm my position, waggling her arms around. She could finally touch my shoulders. "Oh, there you are." She kept holding my shoulders in order to not lose me.


    Just then, I remembered that I had a cellphone in my pocket. I had taken it from the body of one of the dead teachers long time before. I got it out of my pocket and started pushing random buttons to activate it''s screen.


    "Damn, it is out of battery." I said.


    "What are you doing?" Idil asked.


    "I had a cellphone with me, I thought I could use it as a light source, but it is out of battery." I said.


    "Do you have a phone, Mr. Kenan?" Idil asked.


    "I do, but mine is almost out of battery, so I''m saving it for really important moments. We can walk without a light source as long as you check your steps." Mr. Kenan replied.


    I sighed and slowly kept walking downstairs.


    "What if someone else discovers the door and tries to chase us?" I asked. The door we closed behind us wasn''t locked, after all.


    "I don''t think that anyone will discover it soon, but in case it happens, we have to be quick." he said. "Keep walking."


    While I was walking down, I hit my head on something and stopped.


    "Back off, I hit something." I said.


    Idil went a few steps back.


    "What is it?" asked Mr. Kenan. "Can we walk by it?"


    "I have no idea." I said.


    "Well, here comes an important moment." Mr. Kenan said. Suddenly, a bright white light illuminated the long stairway ahead. Mr. Kenan had turned his cellphone on.


    The stairway was very narrow, and the ceiling was very low. I looked ahead and saw an old style lightbulb swinging at the end of a set of cables, hanging from the celing. I had probably hit that bulb as I was walking down. The set of cables were going down deeper into the stairway by the corner where the right wall and the ceiling met.


    "At least you didn''t break it." Idil said.


    "How could I know that there was a lightbulb in front of me? It was pitch black." I said.


    "Can anyone see a switch?" said Mr. Kenan. "Inspect the electricity lines, maybe we can get the lighting system to work."


    "There it is!" said Idil and pushed a small toggle switch on the wall.


    The lightbulb just ahead of us faintly lit up for a few seconds, but the wire inside the bulb burned out. Luckily for us, the hallway was no longer completely dark, because some other bulbs connected to the same line deeper down in the stairway were working. Mr. Kenan turned his cellphone off. The stairway was now faintly illuminated by yellow-orange tinted lights ahead of us. I still couldn''t see the end of the long stairway, but I could progress more confidently now.


    "Great, let''s move." Mr. Kenan said. I started walking down the stairway again, Idil and Mr. Kenan followed me.


    "I now understand why they''ve covered this door up and hid it." I said. "No one would like students to get too curious and try to explore this place."


    "How long are we going to walk?" Idil asked.


    No one replied, and I just kept walking. We got past a few functional lightbulbs on our way down.


    "I think we are there." I said. I thought I could see the end of the stairway ahead.


    "What do you see?" Mr. Kenan asked.


    I squinted my eyes and looked ahead. At the end of the stairway, there was a door similar to the one we saw hidden into the wall in the cafeteria.


    "A door. It is closed, I can''t see anything further." I said. We walked down near the door.


    "I hope it is not locked; otherwise we would''ve wasted all the time, effort and willpower coming all the way here." Idil said.


    I inspected the metal door, and found a piece of paper taped on it.


    "Someone left a note here." I said.


    "What does it say?" Idil asked.


    I read the note aloud:


    "QUARANTINE AREA, ENTERANCE WITHOUT PERMISSION WILL BE PUNISHED."

 40 Chapter 40

    We just looked at the door without commenting on the note for a while.


    "So?" Idil broke the awkward silence.


    "So what?" Mr. Kenan asked.


    "Do we go back?" said Idil.


    "Why would we want to go back? We didn''t come all the way down here for sightseeing." Mr. Kenan said.


    "With respect, sir, the note clearly states that the place is dangerous." I joined the conversation.


    "It just says ''quarantine''. You know, this note was probably left here decades ago." he replied.


    "Though it might still be contaminated by... whatever sort of thing they were trying to contain in here." I said.


    "I agree." said Idil.


    "Well, I can''t say that you two are wrong... You do have a pretty valid argument." Mr. Kenan started talking. "But consider the options before we act: If we go back outside, we will eventually have to fight against your classmates. We wouldn''t want that for two reasons; the first one is that we do not outpower or outnumber them, the second one is that we would not like to kill anyone. They are not attacking us out of choice, they are being forced to."


    "That''s true, but, do you believe that they will be free of manipulation after the sunrise?" Idil asked. Mr. Kenan sighed.


    "Unfortunately, I don''t know; but lives of many people are at stake here. Futhermore, they are my students after all. I can''t stand looking at their faces like that, full of fear and anger... Even if there is a little chance they can survive, I will do my best to keep them alive."


    "I... I can understand." replied Idil.


    "So... are you going in or not?" asked Mr. Kenan.


    "How much time do we have until sunrise?" I asked.


    "I don''t know exactly, but it shouldn''t be a lot." Mr. Kenan said. "Oh, actually, I DO know exactly."


    Mr. Kenan turned his cellphone on again. The bright white light of the screen illuminated the walls and the ceiling.


    "Hold on." he said. "It should be morning already."


    "What!?" Idil was slightly shocked.


    "It says that it is 6:10." Mr. Kenan replied.


    "Is it reliable information though?" I asked.


    "Yes, I often use my phone to check the time, it has always been correct." he said.


    "If that''s true... why don''t we take a quick look outside?" I suggested.


    "We just came down here a few minutes ago. It was completely dark before we got downstairs. I have doubts." Idil said.


    "Well, in any case, now that we''ve got a working lighting system and we can come back here more easily, let''s go and take a look outside before we proceed."


    We walked all the way back up to the top of the long stairway. We were pretty exhausted when we reached the door at the beginning of the stairway. Mr. Kenan reached for the door and opened it.


    We looked outside through the windows of the cafeteria. There was no sun... The sky was completely dark.


    "Maybe it was a trick." I said. "Remember; ''the community'' can make use of such electronic devices."


    "I hate to admit, but if that was a trick, it was a pretty clever one. We fell for it." said Idil.


    "I hope it was a trick." said Mr. Kenan.


    "Why?" asked Idil.


    "Because if this isn''t a trick, it means there is something wrong with time, the universe itself." Mr. Kenan replied.


    "I''ve never thought of it this way." I said. It was unsettling to think about... If the time on Mr. Kenan''s phone was correct, it meant that we could be trapped here for an eternal night, with no sunrise to ever see. But we couldn''t be sure, there was no way to prove that hypothesis for now.


    Just then, I remembered that the cafeteria had a clock on the wall. I looked at it to check and confirm the time.


    The analog clock on the wall read 6:14.


    "Look." I pointed at the clock in worry. "I think it confirms that the time on Mr. Kenan''s phone is indeed correct."


    "Oh no." Idil said under her breath.


    "I still don''t think that this confirms anything truly." Mr. Kenan said. "Because we are only three people, they might be using thier metamorphosis techniques."


    "Oh no!" Idil loudly said this time. She was alerted by the presence of our classmates in the hallway that lead directly to the cafeteria. Because she shouted, they now knew where we were, exactly.


    "Idiot, keep your voice low!" I warned Idil. But it was too late anyway. We had no choice but to run now.


    "Quickly, back into the stairway!" said Mr. Kenan.


    "We will get trapped!" I said.


    "We will open that door, we have no other choice." Mr. Kenan told me. Unfortunately, he was right about it. We couldn''t run anywhere else. The windows were sealed shut.


    We ran back inside the stairway. Mr. Kenan followed and closed the door behind us as we began running downstairs. Now that the stairway was illuminated by the lights on the ceiling, we could run confidently, without the risk of running into something.


    While we were making our way back down to the quarantine door, the door behind us was opened. Our classmates had discovered the secret passage to the quarantine, and they were chasing us. If one of us tripped and fell right now, we wouldn''t have enough time to run from them.


    We qucikly reached the quarantine door. The warning note was still on the door, but I had no time to think about it. I only hoped that it wasn''t locked, and kicked the door. The door swung open and revealed a dark hallway; with tiny, faint red lights on the ceiling. I could barely make out the walls of the narrow hallway. Even though I couldn''t see much, I ran inside. If I was going to run into an obstacle, I wouldn''t know it before I actually ran into it.


    I opened my arms to touch the walls on my sides. This way, I could at least stay in the middle of the narrow hallway while running.


    Suddenly, my arms lost track of the walls on my sides. I had reached an intersection, and there were paths leading to left, right, and possibly forwards.


    I made my choice to go left, and kept running. While I was running, I suddenly felt weightless. I couldn''t feel the ground beneath my feet.

 41 Chapter 41

    It was pitch black everywhere, so I had no way to judge how long the fall was. Luckily for me, it was only a small hole on the floor. I had protected myself with my arms, so I wasn''t injured. I quickly tried to get up and avoid getting caught since we were being chased. That was what I thought.


    But the reality was different. I ran for a while without knowing where I was headed, and then stopped. I could only hear my own steps as I ran. There was no one running behind me anymore; not a friend or foe. We had lost each other in the darkness.


    I stood there, thinking. I was hesitant to make any noise since I could easily give my position away, but I really wanted to know where Idil and Mr. Kenan went. It was possible that they were still being chased. It was also possible that they had been-


    "Shut your stupid thoughts up!" I told myself. I finally had the courage to call out for them. "Idil!" I started yelling. "Mr. Kenan!"


    I patiently waited for an answer, but the hallway was completely silent. There was no chatter, or even a small movement.


    I wasn''t going to accomplish anything by standing there, so I started walking again. Like I did before, I was touching the walls on my sides in order to get my bearings in the darkness. I was being more cautios now, and I was practically dragging my feet on the ground to check for holes on the floor. If I had injured myself, no one could help me.


    I kept walking away from the intersection, knowing that it would probably take me further away from Idil and Mr. Kenan; but I had no intentions to encounter my murderous classmates on the way.


    As I walked further, the humidity and dustiness of the hallway increased; and contrary to what Mr. Kenan had told me, the smells weren''t getting any better with time.


    I suddenly stopped walking as I felt something on the right wall with my hand. The wall was covered with a stickly liquid. I pulled my right hand back from the wall in panic. I slowly kept walking, only touching the wall on my left. Just after a few seconds, I stopped walking again as I felt something on my face. It felt like sticky wet strings hanging from the ceiling, stretched across the walls... I couldn''t understand what I had run into at first: spider webs. My face was covered with webs now. I quickly stepped away and tried to get the webs off of my face. I managed to clean my face a bit, but my hands were full of webs as well; so it was going to take some time.


    As I was trying to get rid of the webs, a feeling sent chills down my spine. A spider was crawling down my neck towards my back.


    I screamed and started making erratic moves to get it off. The spider got into my uniform. I had no choice but to get my uniform off, so I didn''t hesitate to do it. The hallway was cold, but I had no time to complain. I could reach the spider on my back, and I hit it with the back of my hand. Instead of falling down like I expected, the spider climbed on my hand. I started shaking my hand violently to get it off, but it didn''t work. Before it could start climbing up my arm, I fastly hit the back of my hand to the wall. The spider fell off; it was probably dead. Even though it could just be an innocent creature, everything could kill me by causing a heart attack right now. I had good reasons to panic.


    I found my uniform on the ground and wore it again. Now that I had unintentionally cleared the path of spider webs, I could continue walking. I put my hands on walls again, and stepped forward. The surface of the walls were getting rougher as I was walking. After a while, I started feeling different objects on the walls. There were no light, and I couldn''t guess what they were just by feeling their shapes.


    I touched something that resembled a lever by it''s shape. I held it, trying to push or pull it in any direction; but it didn''t move. I was about to leave it there and keep going, but I stopped as I started to see things. The hallway was being illuminated by a faint, dark blue colored light.


    "Stop torturing us!" The sad, deep voice echoed through the hallway.


    After a long time, I could finally see again with the help of the blue light. The walls were full of human skeletons. I had been trying to pull a loose bone out of the wall, thinking that it could be a lever.


    I quickly got away from the walls, back to the middle of the narrow hallway. A gentle wind started blowing inside the hallway. It could indicate and exit from the building, but it was almost impossible since we were deep underground. I didn''t know what to do, so I just stood there looking around and thinking.


    "Mr. Kenan!" I yelled, hopelessly. At the times of uncertainty, he was the one I could consult with; but he wasn''t around here. My only hope was that he was searching for me right now.


    "Set us free!" another voice echoed in the hallway.


    I was in fear. I slowly started walking backwards, but stopped when I touched something. I looked behind me. The hallway I came from was no longer there. There was simply a wall there, a dead end. I no longer had to chance to return where I came from, or to find Idil and Mr. Kenan.


    I had no choice but to keep walking forwards. I wanted to quickly get past the skeletons, so I ran through that part. Unfortunately, the hallway was pretty long. I kept running and running, but it felt like it was never going to end. After running for minutes, I finally reached an intersection. The hallway was splitting into two paths to the left and right. Both paths were looking pretty similar, they were illuminated by the blue light and had no distinct features.


    I had to make a choice.

 42 Chapter 42

    I finally decided to go into the hallway on my right. I slowly walked in the middle of the path as I inspected the walls. There was some water dripping down the ceiling. Normally, I would never care about it, but I was very thirsty. I wanted to dampen my thirst in order to stay in control of my own body. Especially when facing ''the community'', people were likely to lose control quickly. I couldn''t risk them taking advantage of my bodily needs.


    I stopped walking and held both of my hands under the crack on the ceiling. The water was flowing slowly, so waited for a while until I could collect some water. I had no idea where the water was coming from, but it didn''t really matter in the end. I was willing to drink water from a clogged toilet at this point.


    I slowly raised my hands towards my face, and smelled the water. I couldn''t decide if the bad smell was caused by the water or the dirty hallway itself.


    I sipped a small amount of water to test the response of my digestive system. Nothing bad had happened, so I drank all of the water in my hands. This was my only feeling of relief for a long time. I simply stood there and tried to collect more. After I drank handfuls of water, I was ready to move again.


    After walking for a while, I could finally see the end of the hallway. Although I was excited for a minute, my excitement slowly turned into worry and fear. I was headed for a dead end. There was nothing at the end of the hallway, but a plain, featureless wall.


    When I realised that, I immediately turned around to go back to the intersection I came from. But when I turned around, I faced another wall which was previously not there. I was trapped in the little space enclosed by the walls on all four sides. The space was not any bigger than a large closet; I could barely fit inside and turn around.


    When I turned around to face the dead end again, the wall was gone. I was going to lose my mind. Since the paths were changing constantly, there was no way to navigate inside this place; I couldn''t even remember where I came from!


    I walked inside the newly opened hallway. After I walked for a while, I saw a steel door ahead. It was open. I calmly walked inside. The first thing that welcomed me was a dead adult body on the ground. There was no blood, and the body was probably very old. I walked past the body, looking around carefully. I might have gotten close to the so called ''quarantine''.


    As I progressed, I saw a few jail doors on sides, but unfortunately, they were locked. I couldn''t see anything inside. I slowly kept walking until I saw another steel door. The door was closed, and it had a large biological hazard icon painted on it. Near the door, on the wall, there was a small electronic keypad; the steel door was password protected. But, luckily for me, the door wasn''t locked in the first place. I had doubts that the security system was still working anyway.


    When I got past the doors, red beams of light appeared in the dark hallway. The lasers were probably a part of the security system too. I was amazed by the fact that they were still functional. Without much thought, I walked through the beams. Just then, a loud mechanical sound startled me, and I froze. There was something on the ceiling. First, I thought it was some sort of fan to regulate the air flow inside the compartments, but when I looked carefully, I was shocked. There was an automated machine gun! If that thing had worked properly, I would''ve been dead on the spot. It was either unloaded, or jammed. Perhaps they had unloaded it before evacuating the prison, just in case someone innocent stepped inside afterwards...


    With my heart almost out of my chest, I got past the laser beams. There was a labeled map of the underground compartments in the hallway. I looked at the map for a while, but it was difficult to understand. It had lots of incomprehensible writings and numbers all around. I couldn''t understand how to use the map, so I decided to explore without the help of the map.


    Along the hallway, there were open doors on the left and right. I looked inside the first room on my left.


    It was a rather big room with lots of surgery equipment. It reminded me of the backwards-transformed versions of the classrooms I had seen earlier; but this room was much bigger. I recklessly stepped inside, unmindful of the biological dangers of a quarantine area.


    There were a lot of special equipment; hospital lightings, needles and syringes, lancets, medical scissors, pipes, old computer monitors as well as countless medicine bottles and packages scattered around on the floor.


    I only noticed the dead body at the corner of the room when I was inspecting those medicines on the floor. I approached the dead body to inspect. The body was preserved relatively well, considering it had been there probably for decades... There was some greenish gel around the stomach area of the dead body. I had no idea what it could be, and I had no plans to infect myself with it, so I didn''t go any further.


    I left the room, got back to the hallway and looked inside the room on the right. I couldn''t see much from the door, so I walked in.


    The room was smaller than the previous one I just explored, but it''s design was much different. Instead of being filled with random stuff, it had very little equipment. Near one of the walls, there was a metal panel with buttons and levers on it; and in the middle of the room, there was an electric chair with a man sitting on it. His body had lots of burning marks, and the smell of burnt flesh was unbearable.


    But there was something wrong with the situation. This place was supposed to be evacuated decades ago. If that was true, it couldn''t possibly smell like burnt flesh anymore, despite being a small, enclosed room underground. I could breathe easily, which meant that there was a good enough air circulation.


    I almost had an heart attack when the man on the electric chair turned his head and talked with a broken voice.


    "Save me!"

 43 Chapter 43

    As soon as I heard the man, I walked backwards, then turned around and ran out of the room.


    Have I started hallucinating already? Or... could it be real?


    "Handle yourself, you are better than this." I told myself. I slowly turned back around and peeked into the room. The man was still there. I was not mistaken. He was alive; he stopped looking around and turned his head down. He was a slightly fat adult, probably in his thirties. His clothes were ripped and dirty. Upon further inspection, I''ve noticed that he was tied to the chair by his arms, his neck and his legs. While I was watching him from distance, he started crying, silently.


    "Why?" he said to himself. "What did I do wrong?"


    He was sobbing and ocassionally coughing.


    "Why do I have to suffer?" he continued crying. Seeing his condition, I felt a strange pity I''ve never felt before in my life. He seemed to be in so much pain, both physically and mentally. It wasn''t hard to emphatize since I had similar times recently. I had no idea how he ended up there, but I had to help him. Apart from relieving my conscience, I could gather some useful information from him.


    I''ve entered the room again, slowly. This time, even though he noticed me entering the room, he didn''t even bother looking at me.


    "Please, just get this over with!" he said, softly.


    "Stay still." I told him, and approached the chair. He was tied tightly to the chair by ropes. I grabbed the rope and tried to untie the knots. Just then, he slowly turned his head and looked at me.


    "Huh? Oh... You are not one of them, are you?" he said to me.


    "Who are ''them''?" I asked in return.


    "How did you escape?" he asked me, instead of answering my question.


    "How did I escape what?" I asked this time.


    Just before he could begin talking again, we heard one of the doors closing in the distance.


    "Hurry, they are coming back!" he said in panic.


    "Who are they!?" I asked again in frusturation. It was too hard to properly communicate with him.


    I was unsuccessful; I couldn''t set him free of the ropes. But I had another thing to worry about: some people were coming this way. I started hearing indistinct chatter and footsteps from the hallway. I had to hide somewhere.


    "Please don''t leave me here!" the man cried as I ran out of the room. Even though I was feeling bad for him, my own survival had the higher priority. I started looking for a place to hide.


    There were some unexplored rooms in the hallway ahead, but since I didn''t know what lied beyond this point, I simply ran into the large, dark surgery room I explored previously.


    As the people approached, their chatter became cleaner. I crawled near the dead body in the corner of the surgery room in an attempt to blend in to the environment. Although trembling, I sat near the wall as still as possible and tried to control my breathing. As the group approached, I tried to listen to their conversations.


    Person 1: "...said that we will need replenishments soon."


    Person 2: "How much do we have left?"


    Person 3: "We''ve got about four or five doses left on the shelf."


    Person 2: "So what are we going to do about that man? He is not an easy one, he might cause a lot of trouble. It''s not enough to keep him under control."


    Person 1: "Just get rid of him already."


    Person 2: "Hey, we can''t just waste so many subjects away like that."


    I was having a hard time with controlling my heavy breathing. The adrenaline rushing through my body wasn''t helping at all. As they got closer, I started sweating. They finally got through the last door in the hallway, which was just outside the room I was in. They were now in the middle of the surgery room and the electric chair room. They stopped there and kept chatting for a while.


    Person 1: "We don''t have enough goo to waste on him."


    Person 2: "This is why we don''t ever get more funding, you know... Because we inconsiderately waste everything we have in our hands."


    Person 3: "This is also why the hauler divison hates you so much."


    Person 1: "I will start hating you if you don''t shut up."


    Person 3: "Fine, fine... You do the killing, I will bring you some goo and come back."


    They stopped chatting and started to walk again. Just then, somebody entered the surgery room and turned the lights on. I immediately held my breath, but I didn''t close my eyes. Instead, I kept them fixed on a point on the opposite wall.


    The person that entered the room was wearing a clean, white lab coat. He was probably in his late twenties. His face had the most neutral, emotionless look I''ve ever seen.


    He walked inside, looked around. If he noticed me, it could be my end. He kept standing in front of the door and looking around for a long time like he was searching for something.


    Eventually he looked towards my direction and noticed me, and immediately, his eyes were fixed on me. I tried so hard to keep my breath and hold still. I could not understand his intentions about me.


    I thought that he was about to do unpleasant things to me, but instead, he calmly looked away after a while.


    "At least you can tell me before you throw your stuff in here." he murmured and sighed. I was not sure if he was talking about me or something else in the room.


    He walked up to a table and grabbed a few half-filled beakers. He turned around and turned the lights off as he walked out of the room. After he left, I relieved the stress on my body and started breathing again. It was a close call.


    ''I have to escape.'' I thought. I walked to the door and peeked into the hallway. I saw three men in white lab coats standing in front of the electric chair room. They got in one by one and closed the door behind themselves. So, they were the people that the man tied to the electric chair was talking about...


    I looked both ways into the hallway, and when I made sure that there was no one else, I slowly stepped into the hallway. I was trying to avoid making noise.


    Just when I was walking past the electric chair room; I heard a loud yet short ''pop'' sound inside.

 44 Chapter 44

    Someone had activated the electric chair. When I heard the man moaning in pain after the short buzz, I almost felt the electric shock myself. I was stunned... I couldn''t leave; instead, I approached the door and tried to listen to the noises inside.


    Person 1: "What happened? Don''t stop now, just bring it down!"


    Person 2: "The primary capacitor blew up."


    Person 3: "Can''t we activate the seconary?"


    Person 2: "The secondary isn''t charged yet. We will have to let the generator run for a while; otherwise it won''t provide enough charge."


    Person 3: "I told you that we should''ve connected to the city line."


    Person 2: "We can''t risk interfering with the school''s power distribution. We can easily short-circuit the system and cause the fuzes to blow. If that ever happens, the higher-ups will definitely yell at us."


    Person 1: "Bring me a gun."


    Person 2: "WHAT? Are you out of your mind?"


    I almost let out an unintentional scream.


    Person 1: "Bring me a gun, I can''t watch this guy the whole day."


    Person 2: "At this point you are just enjoying this, psycho. We don''t use guns. If we are going to end someone''s life, we will do it properly."


    Person 1: "If I have to repeat once more-"


    Person 3: "I''m on my way."


    Someone was about to come out of the room, so I had to hide. I couldn''t make it out of the whole underground facility in time, so I could not sprint through the exit. But this time, instead of running back into the surgery room I came from, I ran deeper into the hallway and turned to a passage on the right. The narrow passage had doors on both ends, but they were open. I stood there and peeked around the corner.


    Someone came out of the electric chair room and started walking this way. It was the same man I''ve seen in the surgery room. I couldn''t watch him for too long because he was approaching me. I had to run further away.


    I kept walking through the passage and got through the door on the other end. Behind the door, there was a hallway with sets of jail doors on left and right.


    As I walked further, I encountered an occupied cell. There was a tall, slender man sitting on the corner of the cell, looking down without doing anything. He didn''t even notice me. He was standing so still that I couldn''t even understand if he was alive or dead at first, but later, I noticed that he was breathing. As I had no means of helping him right now, I left him there and kept walking.


    "Hey!"


    I was startled by a whisper when I was walking past the cells. I turned around to see who it was.


    Idil was waving her hands from one of the cells.


    "Fancy meeting you here." she said.


    "How did you end up in there!?" I asked her.


    "How did you escape?" she asked in return. "Anyway, just get me out of here too!"


    "I can''t break those jail doors apart!" I said. "Where is Mr. Kenan? What happened to him?"


    "He wasn''t with you!?" she asked.


    I was worried, because the man in the lab coat could still be coming this way. As I got away from the electric chair room, I had no time to check where he actually went. I had no time to stop and chat here.


    "I have to go, I will come back later; but for the time being, don''t let them know about my existance." I told Idil and ran away before she could extend the conversation.


    I continued into the hallway, and came to a stop in front of an unlabeled heavy steel door. The door had a large metal wheel on it. I unlocked the door by turning the wheel and got inside. I closed the door and locked it again from the inside.


    I looked around to explore the room. It wasn''t a large room but it was interesting; the room was full of rifles, guns, explosives and ammunition boxes. So, the prison had an underground armory...


    Just when I was looking around the room in wonder, I heard something from the other side of the room. Idil was coughing violently and loudly. Just when I was about to go back and take a look at her, I heard something from the door itself. The metal wheel began turning; someone was about the open the door. Idil was only trying to warn me.


    The room was small and I had nowhere to hide, so as an instinct, I grabbed a gun from the table near me and pointed it at the door. I have never held a real gun before, and I had little idea how to properly use one, but it was much better than being completely defenseless.


    The wheel stopped turning and the door opened. It was the same guy I''ve seen coming out of the electric chair room. He had proabably come here to grab a gun.


    "Stop right there!" I said. "Stop there, and keep silent."


    I didn''t know what I was doing, but at least I caught him by surprise. The man, totally unaware of how incompetent I am, panicked and raised her hands.


    "Hands behind your head, on your knees." I commanded him. He immediately dropped to his knees. I was safe for the time being, but I didn''t know what to do next.


    He was looking carefully at me, watching my every movement. It was almost like he was judging me.


    "Okay, stand up." I said. "Turn around." It looked like I was just having fun with him, but I simply didn''t know what to do. "You are going to release those people in the cells." I finally told him.


    "What makes you think I will comply with that order?" he replied with his back turned to me.


    "You''ve obeyed all my commands so far." I told him.


    "It was for my own well-being, but unfortunately, I can''t jeopardize the operations of this facility. In that case, I am afraid I will have to alert the personnel of your presence here. You will have to shoot me and we will die together." he said.


    I couldn''t risk being found by other ''facility personnel''. In the heat of the moment, I pulled the trigger. But, contrary to my expectations, the gun didn''t shoot; it simply made a clicking sound.

 45 Chapter 45

    I started panicking as the man suddenly got on his feet again. He must have understood what was going on... Now that he knew I was bluffing, I was intending to kill him for real. Otherwise, he could knock me out in seconds; and after that... I had no idea what could happen.


    ''The safety!'' I thought. At least I could learn that much about guns from action games and movies. Although I struggled for a while, I managed to find and turn the safety switch. With no time to think, I pulled the trigger again.


    *click*


    I tried a few more times, but yet, nothing happened. Maybe the gun was unloaded...


    "Pull the top, pull the top, pull the top!" Idil began yelling at me from the jail door. I froze for a second, trying to understand what she was trying to tell me.


    *kick*


    I was caught off guard when I was trying to figure things out. The gun slided off of my hand when the man kicked my arm. I immediately tried to punch him as a response, but before I could reach him, he managed to push me away. I fell down, but it didn''t hurt so much.


    I rolled on the floor and started crawling towards the gun on the floor. As he was about to reach me, Idil strongly kicked the jail door in front of her, startling both me and the man. I used that short moment of panic and confusion to my advantage and grabbed the gun. As I tried to figure out why the gun wasn''t shooting, the man angrily kicked Idil''s jail door to scare her away. Idil got back a few steps and looked away as if nothing happened.


    ''Pull the top''... What did that mean?


    "Ohh..." I said loudly and pulled the slide on the top of the gun.


    The man turned back towards me and moved to attack. I didn''t hesitate and pulled the trigger over and over again, without even trying to aim. The recoil disoriented me, but I could keep the gun mostly straight. However, just seconds later, I had to drop the gun as I had injured my hands. The hot material escaping the barrel had burnt my hands, and the slider had cut my skin. My ears were ringing. As soon as I got my senses back, I searched for the man.


    The man was laying on the ground. He has been shot in the chest by two different spots. He was bleeding and struggling on the floor. I simply looked at him in pity... Have I really done that to a human being?


    Even though it was for my defense, I couldn''t help feeling bad.


    I grabbed the gun I dropped on the floor and stepped away from the man as he kept struggling. I couldn''t watch him for long, it was too hard for me.


    "Can you hear me?" I yelled at the man. He kept waving his legs and arms in pain, but he didn''t answer me.


    Just then, I heard some footsteps inside the hallway, far away. Undoubtedly, someone had noticed our little conflict and the gunshots.


    Idil kicked the jail door again to grab my attention. I looked at her.


    "Stop spacing out and get me out of here!" she said. She was frusturated.


    I left the man on the ground since he had stopped struggling, and went to help Idil.


    "Shoot that corner." she said, and pointed to the corner of the wall where the locking mechanism of the jail door was connected to the wall. As soon as I pointed the gun to the wall, she ran as far as she could from the door. This time, I was cautious too; so I held the gun properly in order not to further injure myself.


    *bang*


    The door didn''t open. Instead of breaking the locking mechanism apart, the bullet deformed the metal pieces which connected the door to the wall.


    "Now we won''t be able to open it even if we have the key." I said. Idil came closer to inspect the damage.


    While we were busy trying to open the door, the footsteps were getting louder.


    "Shoot again, we have no other chance!" she said. I pointed the gun and pulled the trigger again.


    *bang*


    This time, the locking mechanism broke apart and the door opened. I started feeling something hot on my leg. When I looked down, I saw that it was bleeding. A tiny piece of metal from the door had cut my leg. I immediately got the tiny metal piece out of my wound.


    Idil pushed the door wide open and got out out of the cell.


    "The ricochet almost killed me." she said.


    "''Thanks'' would be sufficient." I replied. "I can''t make ballistic calculations every single shot."


    "Thanks anyway." she said.


    The footsteps became clearer. Some people were coming at this hallway.


    "Damn, we are too late to run now." I said.


    "We have a gun." she said.


    "What makes you think that they don''t have guns too!?" I said. Even though I said that, I pointed my gun into the hallway, waiting for someone to appear. In case of danger, I could threaten them.


    Idil stared at my face with a blank expression.


    "Well... right." she said. "Let''s hope they don''t."


    Finally, two men in white coats appeared at the end of the hallway. When they saw us pointing a gun at them, they stopped. We''ve engaged in a short staring contest before I broke the silence.


    "Move away, I am armed!" I yelled. I pointed the gun at the ground and pulled the trigger in order to make it clear that I wasn''t bluffing.


    *click*


    Yet, the gun didn''t shoot. My face went red, and I started sweating. Worryingly, I pulled the trigger a few more times.


    *click* *click*


    Nothing happened. The two men at the end of the hallway started approaching again. The gun was empty, and I had lost my chance to threaten them.


    "What do we do?" I whispered, but Idil didn''t say anything in return. When I turned to look at her, she was no longer there.


    "Idil!?" I yelled, but got no response. I looked back to the other end of the hallway. The man had stopped, and one of them had something in his hand. While I was trying to figure out what they were doing, my eyes started burning. I had to close my eyes, so I couldn''t see anything. After a short while, my whole body was paralysed.

 46 Chapter 46

    I opened my eyes again. A single beam of light was illuminating the environment. I was in a dark, rusty and cold place, laying on ground. It was silent. Although the view was worse than unsettling, I could smell something good.


    I got up and looked around. I was locked in a cell room, alone. The cell door had a little window on top of it, which allowed the light in the hallway to illuminate the interior of the cell. On the ground, there was a metal plate with some rice and chicken on it. Next to the plate, a bottle of water. As soon as I saw it, I grabbed the plate and started eating. I was so hungry that I wasn''t even bothered by the missing cutlery.


    After eating the meal and drinking some water, I left the plate and bottle near the corner of the cell. After countless hours of hunger and thirst, the feeling was truly amazing.


    I approached the window on top of the cell door and looked outside. I couldn''t see much in the hallway. There was no sign of anyone around; Idil was missing again. Even though I didn''t believe that it would open, I pushed the cell door and tried to open it; but just like I expected, nothing happened. I sighed in despair, walked away from the window and sat in a corner. The cell was a completely empty rectangular space; there wasn''t even a bench or toilet.


    "Hey!" I yelled loudly. Nothing happened, no one came to take a look at me.


    I inspected my wounds using the light from the hallway. Most of them were healing slowly, but someof them were still hurting me a lot.


    Suddenly, a blue light covered all of the cell''s interior.


    "Hello again."


    It had been a very long time since I heard the voice of the old woman. Her voice was a lot calmer than I remembered it to be.


    "I know I told you that we would never talk again, but you made me regret it." she continued. "Only now, at the end of everything... Do you finally understand?"


    I slowly stood up.


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "You have been warned many times before. We tried to save you and everyone else from this fate you are suffering now. You have been captured as a victim, again... This... This facility isn''t a school, and it wasn''t a prison ever before." she said.


    "I don''t understand. What are you getting at?" I said.


    "You have seen those people in lab coats, didn''t you? They are the men who killed all those people you saw on your way to this underground facility... Let me tell you the facts directly: The whole purpose of this building is to conduct those horrible experiments without any regards to the value of human life. Prison or school; everyone who spends their lives in this building are their subjects." she said. "The entire purpose of converting this ''prison'' into a ''school'' was to get more victims for the experiment. You see, it is hard to imprison people by making poor excuses and having courts that lasts for years, but it is much easier to get students into a school building to simply ''educate'' them."


    I froze, trying to comprehend everything she said.


    "You are the latest generation of victims. We''ve tried to keep you away from this horrible place and fate, but you didn''t want to cooperate with us." she continued.


    "You only tried to kill us." I replied. "Don''t lie to me."


    "Yes, we did, and I am not reluctant to admit it." she continued. "If we didn''t kill or scare you away in time, you would pull more students into this hell hole, which you eventually did... You were given choice to kill yourself before sunrise, but you never did the sacrifice. We knew you couldn''t, this is why we forced you to end your life and tried to kill you by manipulating. But because of your stubborn friend, Mr. Kenan, we didn''t succeed. If you had died before it was too late, your friends would be safe, and you would be the last victim. You wouldn''t bring them to be the next victims, and those evil people would run out of sources for the experiment. We could bring an end to this sorcery."


    "I don''t understand... What does it have to do with my death?" I asked. "Why do I need to die in order to save people from being victims?"


    "I will make you understand, but let''s take it slowly. Let me ask... You don''t remember this place? Is it your first time being in this cell?" she asked me in return.


    "Yes, I don''t remember this place and this is my first time being here." I said.


    "Wrong." she replied, and continued. "This is not your first time here, you were simply forced to forget your previous experience. You have been a victim of this experiment, and you still are. All those times you thought that you were a regular student in a regular school... You were the subject of this psychological experiment. You''ve been brought here months before, you were injected by a chemical substance and you''ve had an implantation. We know all of this about you, because this had all happened the exact same way before. Remember; we are the older victims of this exact same experiment. We know what we experienced." she said, and stopped talking for a while.


    "We are not the curse of this building as you think... We are not your enemy, we''ve never been. Those evil people in the underground facility are. What we did for years was simply to scare people away from the building. Because when the building is almost empty, it becomes easier to kidnap people and victimize them. We''ve managed to keep people away for many years, until now... Until you decided to stay late at the school and prepare for a dumb ceremony."


    "Why did you not tell us all of this before? If we knew all of this, we would cooperate with you, willingly." I said.


    "As ''The Community'', we represent all of the victims of this experiment. We''ve all been through this, and we all intend to save others from suffering the same fate. But think about it... How would you react to a ghost appearing out of nowhere and telling you those stories? Let me answer; you would lose your mind or you simply wouldn''t comprehend the warning. This is why we chose an ambassador among you, a human one who can understand and communicate with both us and you." she said.


    "An... ambassador?" I asked.


    "Mr. Kenan. It was him. But unfortunately, with time, he drifted away from his original task and became more of a foe rather than a friend to us. We are sorry for his unexplainable actions." she said, sadly. "Maybe if he didn''t behave like an idiot, we could save you too."


    "Why did they bring me here again?" I asked. "What is the whole experiment about?"


    "Even I don''t know that much myself, but they regularly bring older living subjects in to check on them." she said.


    "What will happen? What do I do now?" I asked.


    "They will bring you to a surgery room, and I don''t know the rest. No one knows, because after they are done, they force victims to forget about ever being brought there. This is also why you''ve forgotten your past experiences." she said.


    "What do I do?" I asked again.


    "You can''t do anything anymore. They have full control over you after this point. Though, if you were not caught and imprsioned, I would simply tell you to kill those scientists and blow up the whole facility. I know, it sounds... brutal. So, I don''t think you will, but if you ever get the chance, don''t hesitate." she said.


    The blue light started fading out.


    "That will be all. I wish we could save you from the hands of evil... But, after your death, we will be waiting for you to join our community." she said. "Until then, farewell."


    "Hey!" I yelled, but before I could say anything else, the blue light went out.


    Have I been fighting for the wrong side the whole time?


    Before I lost myself in my thoughts, the cell door was unlocked. Two men in lab coats appeared.


    "It is time." one of them said. They approached me and held me from my arms. "Please come with us."


    I immediately tried to kick them, but they were holding me strongly. After I struggled for a while, one of them injected me with something. I could no longer move my body; but I could see, hear and feel everything. They held me and put me on a surgical bed. They pushed the bed through hallways, and we finally arrived in a surgery room.


    "Thank you for volunteering in our program. Despite all the inconvenience you might experienced, your inputs have been very valuable." the man on my left said as he put on a mask.


    I wanted to say all sorts of things, but I couldn''t.


    They activated a bright light on the ceiling, and I almost went blind. A metal apparatus held my head in place. As they were preparing the surgery equipment, my whole adventure flashed before my eyes.


    "Stay calm, you won''t feel a thing. As a matter of fact, you won''t even remember it. And, once again..." he said and looked at me in the face. "...thanks for participating in our program."


    The voice echoed in my head a few times before I went unconscious.


    "Thanks for participating in our program."

 47 Outroduction and Authors Last Notes

    @@


    This is the end of the first volume of ''The Phantom School''.


    I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Of course I had a general idea in my head, but while writing, even I didn''t know how the plot would progress; so I (sort of) watched the story evolve as you did. As the author, even I wasn''t completely immune to the cliffhangers and plot twists.


    As a fan of horror works myself, I always tried to maintain some sort of balance between violence and mystery elements which pushed the atmosphere to different sides. I hope I didn''t go too off-road.


    The adventure of the first volume ends here, but parts of the mystery remain unsolved. The story will continue in the next book...@@

 48 Vol 2 Lost Memories / Meeting The Pas

    It was a rainy day. I was running on the sidewalk, passing by all the people with a worried look on my face. My suitcase was orbiting me as I was making my way in the crowd.


    It was my first day as a teacher in my new school, and I was a bit late to the opening. It wasn''t entirely my fault, but in the end it didn''t matter; it would leave a bad first impression on most people no matter the reason. I would be a new, young teacher who was late to school on the very first day. The fact I had forgotten my umbrella made me feel even worse, my clothes were wet and my hair was messy.


    My new school was located far away from most of the city, literally in the woods. I was thinking of using that as an excuse; the distance of the school and the lack of public transportation. Thinking of it, why would someone even build a school here?


    I finally saw the school building when I walked down a stone path. "Chersonese High". The school itself wasn''t popular, but the mere size of the building would impress anyone at first sight.


    Without enjoying the view for long, I ran into the school building from the main enterance, and immediately started searching for the WC. I wanted to tidy up my clothes and hair before I saw anyone. I got in front of a mirror and gave myself a better overall look.


    Just when I got back into the hallway, someone saw me. He was a slightly fat man, he looked like he was in his thirties. He was wearing a green sweater on his shirt.


    "Oh, who it is am I seeing? Might you be... the new teacher people were talking about?" he asked in a cheerful voice. "Welcome!" he said as he patted me on the back.


    "Ah, thanks!" I said. I wasn''t expecting to be greeted just outside the WC. "Did the lessons start already?" I asked, worryingly.


    "Oh, yes. It is a shame no one is here to greet you yet." he said. "But a few teachers don''t have lessons in the first hour, so they are sitting in the teachers'' room. You might feel comfortable there."


    He held my arm and started walking. I felt a bit relieved as I remembered I had no lessons planned on the first hour either. I was late to the opening, but not to my first lesson.


    "Here, this way." he said and pointed into the hallway. "The building is rather big and complex, so it is easy to get lost here in the first few days. If you ever get lost, you can just ask someone nearby to help."


    "Thanks, you are really helpful." I replied as I followed him.


    He opened the door of the teachers'' room.


    "Look at what I found on my way here." he raised his voice, so everyone in the teachers'' room could hear him. Everyone looked up to me, and I couldn''t help feeling slightly embarrased in front of all the new people I met.


    "Welcome, please make yourself comfortable." a woman said, looking at me over her glasses. She was holding a thick book in her hands.


    "Being late from the first day is a pretty big fail." a man in white shirt said. "But we can let it go unnoticed if you pay for the lunch." He winked at me.


    I could not reply, I was only looking around the room, trying to memorise everything.


    "Oh, I see why you are feeling so... alien. Let us properly introduce ourselves." said the man in green sweater. "I am Okan, a maths teacher just like you, except better." he said.


    "Don''t listen to him." interrupted the younger man in white shirt. "By the way, I am Ege. The other math teacher."


    "Right now, I am the only one in this room who is not a math teacher." the woman with the book said. "I am Sinem, and please guess what I might be teaching."


    "Uhm... History?" I said.


    "Literature." she replied, and kept reading her book.


    It was a pretty nice thing that the teachers of this school seemed to have good friendships, and they were being very comfortable.


    "Please sit down." Okan said, and continued after I sat down. "I heard that you have actually graduated from this very school, is that right?"


    "Oh, uhm... Yes, it is not wrong; although a lot must have changed in time. I don''t seem to remember this place very well." I replied.


    "I''ve been here for quite some time now, I don''t think it changed a lot. Maybe it is just me, I don''t know." Okan said.


    "It''s been quite some time, though." I said. "It is normal."


    "Don''t say that." Sinem said. "You are still a young fellow, you still have a lot of change to see."


    "I guess..." I said.


    "Well, anyway, by any chance, do you remember Kenan?" Okan asked.


    "It does ring a bell, but not quite." I said.


    "He is a pretty old chemistry teacher who has been serving in this school for... decades." Ege said. "We though that you could actually be one of his students."


    I stared into a wall, and started thinking.


    "Yes, we did talk a lot about you." Okan interrupted. "After all, we know that you''ve graduated from this school, and we were waiting to see your reaction about being appointed here. The old teachers are all gone, but the old man Kenan somehow managed to stay here. We though you two might want to see each other."


    "Actually, he is very eager to see you." Ege said. "But he is in a lesson right now, so you can see him in a break."


    "I definitely will." I said. I couldn''t remember the man, but the name did ring a bell, so I was curious. Maybe I could remember him if I saw him. I could barely wait for the end of the first lesson.


    - - -


    The bell rang, and the sounds of cheering students have filled the hallways. A few teachers have entered the teachers'' room one by one, and they all greeted and congratulated me. Apparently, the rumor was widespread, and a lot of them knew that I had graduated from Chersonese High.


    I got up from my chair and looked for Onur. Eventually, I found him looking at the annual curriculum table he taped on the wall.


    "Hey." I said. "Do you know where this chemistry teacher is?" I asked him.


    "Oh." he said, and thought for a while. "He usually spends his time in the chemistry lab, doing pretty much nothing. I think he doesn''t like the crowd around here. If you want to see him now, I can show you the way."


    "Please." I said, and we headed for the chemistry lab. We got downstairs as students on the hallways looked at their new maths teacher, me, for the first time.


    We stopped in front of the chemistry lab. Okan knocked the door.


    "Kenan, are you there? I''m coming in, with a surprise." he said and opened the door.

 49 An Old Friend

    Okan opened the door without waiting for an answer and got inside. I followed him closely.


    The old man inside the chemistry lab was looking at the shelves at the back of the lab. He turned around as he noticed us entering. He was an old man with white hair. He was wearing a dark blue coat. He noticed me and we looked at each other for a while.


    "Mr... Kenan?" I said.


    "Yes, I am him." he replied and approached me with slow steps. He tilted his head a bit and looked right into my eyes. I couldn''t help feeling a bit uncomfortable. "You are a pretty young man. Are you the one who''s said to have graduated from this school?"


    "Yes." I replied.


    No matter how hard I tried, I couldn''t remember the man. It seemed like he couldn''t remember me either. Maybe he wasn''t my teacher after all.


    "Do I know you?" he asked, and continued without letting me reply. "I bet I do, but I can''t say anything right now. Do YOU know me?"


    "I... I don''t. I can''t seem to remember." I said.


    "It is expected, of course. Time flies, eh? When you are a teacher, you get to know a lot of people in years. Students, parents, teachers... But you never get to see most of them again once they disappear." he said. "We have some time before the next lesson. Why don''t you sit down?"


    We all sat down on chairs. He breathed in audibly and looked at a fixed point on the ground.


    "Chersonese High is where I spent most of my life, as a teacher. I think I wouldn''t be wrong if I said that I''ve spent more of my time here compared to my decades old apartment. So, naturally, this school means a lot to me. I know everything about this place, inside and out, as a teacher. Why don''t you tell me about your times here, as a student? What does this place mean to you? What does this building... tell you?" Mr. Kenan said.


    "Well, it''s..." I wanted to start talking, but I couldn''t continue. The problem was that I couldn''t remember anything about this school. In fact, I only knew I have studied here because the information on my official papers. I had no memory of this place.


    Actually, I''ve noticed this lack of memory quite a while ago. It was unsettling and depressing. I could remember the memorable bits from my early childhood, but my high school years... I could not remember anything. My school, my friends, my teachers... They were all missing. Yet, I didn''t know what I could do, so I simply tried to ignore it. I wasn''t even sure how I had become a teacher with such a bad memory.


    "I can''t remember much, unfortunately." I said after thinking for a while.


    "How much can you remember?" he asked in wonder. It was like he was pressuring me to get some crucial information.


    "I can''t seem to remember anything at all, to be honest." I said.


    "Huh?" said Onur, and looked at me curiously. It was clear from his expressions that he wanted to say something, but he held himself back.


    Mr. Kenan looked up. He inspected me and Onur for a while. With the curious eyes of those two on me, I was distrubed. Mr. Kenan noticed my discomfort.


    "Well, another time then." he said and got up from his chair. "We don''t have enough time for all the stories anyway. We will need to get going to the classes soon."


    Onur and I got up and started heading out of the chemistry lab. The atmosphere between us was pretty awkward. Mr. Kenan was going towards the shelves in the lab again, but he suddenly changed his mind and started coming with us.


    "Don''t forget to introduce yourself as the best teacher of the universe, okay? Let your students be comfortable around you." Mr. Kenan told me.


    "I definitely will." I said.


    Suddenly he held my right arm and slightly pulled me closer to himself.


    "Please come see me here after the final lesson, alright?" he whispered. Without much thinking, I nodded silently. Onur had not noticed anything, and we kept going.


    The bell rang just when we arrived in the teacher''s room.


    "It is time, then. By the way, I peeked into your program too, your class is on top floor in case you are wondering." Onur said. "Don''t get lost on your way there."


    "Okay, thank you." I said. I grabbed my suitcase and went upstairs. I didn''t have a hard time finding the classroom.


    When I came in front of the classroom''s door, I stopped there and tidied up my clothes in excitement. A whole classroom of new students... It was a great feeling. I simply stood there for a few seconds to comfort myself.


    Just when I was busy ''getting myself prepared'', I noticed a girl standing just next to me near the door. I had no idea for how long she had been waiting there. She looked at me and smiled warmly. Having been caught in my nervous moment, I was embarrased.


    "Oh, I''m sorry." she said and looked away. "Please take your time."


    She opened the door to get in. All the students noticed me standing in front of the door and got to their desks. I immediately tried to get rid of my thoughts and the embarrased look on my face, and stepped inside.


    It was the beginning of my first lesson of the year, and it went great.


    - - -


    After the end of the final lesson, I got out of the classroom and headed to the teachers'' room. I was going to get my stuff and leave the school, but then, I remembered what Mr. Kenan told me. We were going to meet after the final lesson.


    I left my suitcase in the teachers'' room and got out. Onur saw and approached me.


    "I think you forgot your suitcase." he said. "That, combined with being late on the first day... You are truly an airhead, my friend."


    "It is okay, I was going to-" I was about to tell that I was going to meet Mr. Kenan, but I stopped and thought about it. If Mr. Kenan told me that in secrecy, I should''ve kept it a secret even though he had not clearly asked me to do so.


    "I was going to go get that, thanks." I altered my sentence. "Goodbye, see you tomorrow." I said and got away in a hurry.


    I went downstairs, to the chemistry lab. I knocked the door slowly and opened it. Just when I was entering the lab, someone touched my shoulder.


    "Hey, this is not the exit." Onur said. I''ve never thought he would follow me there.


    "I... just wanted to see Mr. Kenan." I finally replied.


    "You can come see him tomorrow. That''s it for today, we should leave now." he said.


    "Can''t I just see hi-" Onur didn''t even let me speak. He grabbed my arm and held it tightly, trying to pull me away from the lab''s door. I resisted. He was pulling me so strongly that if I hadn''t met him before, I would think that he was trying to start a fight.


    "We NEED to leave, now!"

 50 Windy Day

    "It is okay, let him in."


    Mr. Kenan had appeared from nowhere. He held me and Okan from our shoulders and separated us.


    "B-but Mr. Kenan, if we-" Okan tried to explain himself, but Mr. Kenan didn''t let him.


    "It is okay, I asked him to be here." said Mr. Kenan.


    "E-eh!?" Okan was confused for some reason.


    "Come in, please." Mr. Kenan invited me into the chemistry lab, and turned to Okan. "Thank you, but you should leave us for now. We will talk more about this later."


    Okan didn''t say anything and started running towards the exit. I watched him worryingly as he rushed outside. Mr. Kenan had noticed my confusion.


    "Please don''t mind him." he said.


    "What was that all about?" I asked.


    "I guess he didn''t have a very good day." said Mr. Kenan, but the answer wasn''t very convincing. Perhaps he was aware of that as well... Even though I was in discomfort by everything going on, I didn''t question it any further. It was clear that Mr. Kenan didn''t want to explain things for now.


    Mr. Kenan called me while I was lost in my own thoughts.


    "Will you close the door and come here?" he said. I slowly closed the door and got inside. I sat on a chair close to Mr. Kenan. He looked at me without saying anything for a while.


    "So... why did you call me here?" I finally asked him. He was startled and he suddenly looked away.


    "Oh, that..." he said. "I had something important to talk about."


    "Which is?" I was getting impatient.


    "I know you." he said. We had another awkward moment staring at each other.


    "Uhm... What?" I said.


    "Oh... I mean..." he said, and thought for a while. "Well, anyway, let''s get to it directly. You were my student back in high school."


    "Really!?" I said. "I''m sorry, I still can''t remember clearly."


    "It is okay, don''t force yourself to remember. But, I have something to show you." he said and got up. He grabbed something from a drawer and came back. It was a little notebook. He walked by me and gave it to me.


    "Do you remember this?" he asked. I looked at the notebook for a while, and started turning it''s pages. The notebook was full of phone numbers which I had nothing to do with; but oddly, the notebook itself was familiar.


    "I think I... sort of remember this notebook, but I don''t exactly know where or when I have seen this." I said. Even though I looked uninterested, seeing objects that belonged to the missing parts of my memory... It was a chance I couldn''t lose. "What is this?" I asked.


    "You will remember when I tell you everything." he said. "But you need to be patient, otherwise, it is not going to work."


    "How old is that notebook?" I asked.


    "Many decades, probably." he said. "I don''t know how old, exactly. But I wanted to show that to you and see if you could remember it."


    "It makes very little sense." I said. "What are we really doing here?"


    "I want you to remember your high school days." he said.


    "And... Why is it that important?" I asked.


    "Patience!" he yelled. "You will know soon enough." He got around and started walking around the lab in circles. He sighedand looked at me after a while.


    "Tomorrow, when you arrive at the school..." he began talking. "If the other teachers behave a bit... How should I call it... ''weirdly'', please don''t mind them. Don''t tell them anything about your past and this school, alright?"


    "But... Why?" I asked. "Why is everyone being so weird? I didn''t understand why Okan behaved that way, and I don''t understand what you are trying to do with me here."


    "I''m telling you for the last time, this is where the ''Be patient.'' part comes in. So, please don''t make me say again, and be patient. Everything will clear up in a few days, and you will feel comfortable. Okay?" he said.


    "Okay then." I replied. Even though I didn''t understand anything, I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.


    "Well then, we should leave now." Mr. Kenan said and pointed at the door. I stood up and started walking towards the door. Just when I was about to grab the doorknob, the door started shaking and making weird noises. I was startled and I immediately stepped away. Mr. Kenan coughed.


    "Windy day, isn''t it?" he said.


    "Yeah." I replied, even though the weather wasn''t windy at all, and furthermore, all the windows were closed. I was still reluctant to touch the door. While I was standing in front of it, Mr. Kenan suddenly grabbed the doorknob and opened the door for me. We got into the hallway and headed to the exit.


    While we were walking in the hallway, a strong wind started blowing and howling. The hallway went very cold in a few seconds. A few moments later, all the lights went out. The windows started shaking and clinking.


    "Maybe we should stay inside for a while." I told Mr. Kenan.


    "No, we will go home." Mr. Kenan objected.


    "It''s pretty windy, I think we can wait for a while." I insisted.


    "We can''t." he said. He was very serious.


    "Then we should at least close all the windows before we go out. The airflow is reaching the inner parts of the building. If this turns into a storm later on, it can mess everything up inside, especially the paperworks." I said.


    "No, the windows are already-" Mr. Kenan didn''t complete his sentence. "I mean, it is not our job to look after everything."


    In the sounds of the howling wind, I thought I could hear someone, faintly. The voice was something in between screaming and crying. It was a bit frighening, but since I couldn''t hear anything clearly, I wanted to assume that I was mistaken. Even though I didn''t want to get into another awkward conversation, I couldn''t hold myself back.


    "Is there someone else in the school right now?" I asked.


    "No." Mr. Kenan replied. He had been giving short, clear and serious answers to whatever I say. There was no signs of the cheerful personality he had when we first met today.


    "I think I hear someone. Are you sure?" I said.


    "Yes, I am." he replied. "I think you are tired. It''s the sound of the wind that you hear. Just keep walking."


    "I guess..." I said. He could be right about that one. I was making things up. I wanted to think that.


    We arrived at the main exit. Mr. Kenan pulled the door to open it.


    The wind started howling even louder.


    I got outside and he followed me. As soon as I got out of the building, the wind was gone. The weather was clear. There were puddles of water left by the rain this morning, but there was no wind, and it was rather warm.


    "Windy day, eh?" I murmured as I walked away from the school building. I was not sure if I wanted to come back here tomorrow.

 51 Enforcing the Rules

    It was a cold morning. I had just got off the bus, about a kilometer and a half from the school building. It was the best public transportation I could find from my home that passes by the area.


    My body was walking towards the school, but my mind was walking backwards. After the awkward events that happened yesterday, I wasn''t willing to go back to the school.


    "Get yourself together." I told myself. I have only met most of the people in the school yesterday, and I just had to give it some time to get used to the ''different'' atmosphere of the school. "You can''t be suffering monday syndromes already." my internal voice tried to motivate me. It didn''t matter how I felt about it, I had to go the school. If it was going to happen in the end, I could as well try to enjoy it.


    "You like being a teacher. You''ve always loved teaching." I repeated as I got past the woods and walked inside the school building once again. This time, I wasn''t late. In fact, I had arrived very early. The building was silent. I tried to remember where the teachers'' room was, and kept walking. When I found the room, I opened the door and entered.


    Mr. Kenan and Okan were the only people in the teachers'' room. It seemed like they were discussing something. They noticed and greeted me.


    "Oh, welcome back!" said Mr. Kenan, cheerfully. "You are pretty early today."


    "Yeah, I couldn''t risk being late again. It is like all the bus routes are avoiding coming here on purpose. It is frusturating." I said.


    "Yeah, yeah, I know." said Okan.


    "How are you all dealing with this?" I asked.


    "You just get used to it." he replied.


    "Well, that''s good to know." I said.


    The door opened and someone else entered the room. It was Sinem, a literature teacher. She put her bag on a table and yawned.


    "Good morning." she said as she collapsed on a chair and closed her eyes.


    "Good morning, ma''am." said Mr. Kenan, and turned to me. "She is always like that. She travels here every day from almost the other end of the city."


    People were arriving at the school one by one as the time for the first lesson of the day was approaching. As I was preparing for the first lesson, Mr. Kenan approached me and whispered.


    "Try to remember what I told you yesterday."


    He patted me on the back and left. Soon afterwards, I left the teachers'' room, trying to guess which way I had to go in the building. I could finally remember where the classroom I was supposed to go was located.


    I came to a stop in front of the classroom''s door and grabbed the doorknob. I turned the knob and pushed the door to open it, yet... It didn''t open. It felt like the door was stuck. In frusturation, I started shaking the door violently.


    I almost had a heart attack when I heard someone chuckle just behind me. I turned around in horror.


    It was a girl.


    "Is it you again?" I said.


    "Sorry, sorry." she said and kept smiling. "It seems like you might be having some problems with-"


    "I was just... Eh... You know..." I interrupted her, but I couldn''t manage to say anything.


    "No worries, it just does that sometimes." she said and smiled. She got in front of me and opened the door at the first try.


    "Well, now that we opened it, you can go to your desk." I said.


    "You are welcome." she replied and walked to her desk.


    - - -


    After the lesson, I got back to the teachers'' room. In an instant, all the movement inside has stopped and everyone looked at me like I just did something terrible. I wanted to ask if I really did something wrong, but I was frozen for the moment. That short but difficult moment ended when Mr. Kenan softly pushed me inside.


    "Please come in." he said. "Sit down."


    "What is happening?" I asked. No one answered, but everyone gathered around me in a circle.


    "We have something important to talk about." Ege said.


    I looked at Mr. Kenan. He looked away from me, all around the room, and later he winked at me. It must have been the ''weird behaviour'' he was talking about yesterday. Invluntarily, I decided to continue the uncomfortable conversation.


    "I''m listening." I said.


    "Well... To begin, we want to ask you some questions about the past of the Chersonese High School."


    a teacher said.


    "Go on." I said.


    "When you were a student in Chersonese High... How strict were the teachers?"


    It certainly wasn''t a good question to ask someone who remembered nothing about his high school years. But, for the sake of not causing more interest, I couldn''t tell this to them. I had to give a regular answer, so I tried to make things up.


    "I... Of course they enforced the rules, but they weren''t so strict. Most of them were very nice people." I answered.


    "I see... Do you remember your graduation?" I was asked.


    I could make something up for the previous question, but it was not that easy for this one.


    "Not really." I said.


    "Huh? Really?" Ege said. I was scared of saying something wrong and accidentally making people more curious about the subject.


    "Well, I had gotten sick that day, so I couldn''t really pay attention to those stuff." I said.


    "That''s most unfortunate." Sinem replied.


    "Do you know what happened to your friends after they have graduated? Are you still in contact with them?" Ege asked.


    "No." I said.


    "No one?"


    "No one."


    "Do you remember doing any activities in the building after school hours?"


    This was a very specific question. Just when I was about to answer, Mr. Kenan coughed loudly. I took the hint. When I looked at him, he shook his head.


    "No." I answered. "Why are you questioning me?" I finally had the courage to ask.


    "Well... Sorry about it, but we have reasons. Please forgive us, you will understand with time." Ege replied.


    "Let''s get to the main subject." Sinem suggested.


    "Oh, of course." Ege said and began talking. "There is a very important and specific rule in this school which has been enforced since before you were a student here."


    "Which is?"


    "After the final lesson of the day ends, no one stays in the building, and people need to get out as soon as possible. So, as the teachers; we, including you, won''t let any students do activities after school hours."


    "And... Why exactly is that?" I asked.


    "That... is the part we are uncomfortable with telling you right now. We will tell you though, eventually. But, until that time, please forgive us for it." Ege said.


    Sinem coughed lightly, visibly trying to imply something to Ege.


    "Oh, and..." Ege continued. "Only the teachers know about this. You can not tell this to any of the students. Again, that''s for reasons we can''t explain right now; but please believe me when I say that it is a matter of life and death."


    I looked around without saying anything.


    "Is that understood? Do you have any questions?" asked Ege. I looked at Mr. Kenan. He shook his head again.


    "I understand, even though I''m not satisfied with the explanation." I said.


    "It is okay, then. I apologise for the awkward atmosphere we''ve created." Ege said. The crowd around me started to disperse. Mr. Kenan approached me.


    "Find me after the final lesson, in front of the main exit." he whispered.

 52 Ligh

    After the end of the final lesson, I went to the teachers'' room again one last time. All day, I could only think of running out of this school and not coming back.


    As I entered the teachers'' room, I avoided eye contact with anyone. Even though some time had passed over our previous conversation, the awkward atmosphere remained.


    With the corner of my eye, I noticed that Ege was coming towards me. To avoid a random conversation, I turned away from him and started rummaging through my papers with no purpose, hoping he would leave me alone.


    "Hey!" he said as he got closer.


    "Hey." I replied, involuntarily.


    "What are you doing?" he asked.


    "What am I... Oh, well, just checking if I forgot anything before I leave." I answered as I tucked in everything back into my suitcase.


    "Oh, okay..." he said. "I was wondering if you would like me to offer you a ride. I brought my car today."


    "You brought your car... Where did you park it? Is there even any suitable place around here?" I asked.


    "It''s just outside the woodland, to the road on the northwest. For obvious reasons, I can''t park it any closer, but it is still easier than taking the bus in my opinion." he answered.


    "Thanks for the offer, but actually I had some plans today." I said. I had to meet Mr. Kenan after the final lesson.


    "Oh, that''s unfortunate." Ege said, and started walking away. "Well then, in that case, I will be leaving on my own. Take care."


    "Goodbye." I said as he left the room. I looked around, just a few people were still in the teachers'' room, and they were also preparing to leave.


    "Come on, we are closing." Sinem said as last teachers were leaving the room. I followed them out into the hallway, then we all left through the main exit. I slowed down and separated myself from the crowd without being noticed. I looked around for a while in order to see Mr. Kenan, but he was not around here. I started waiting for him, slowly walking and looking around in front of the exit. The view outside the school was unique. Outside the yard, it was full of trees in all directions. I sighed and sat down on the ground after a minute or so. Where could Mr. Kenan be?


    I was about to fall asleep when I noticed something shining in the woods. It was a small but very bright light, but I couldn''t see it''s source. I tried to ignore it, but the light had already got my interest. I couldn''t resist the curiosity, so I got up and started walking towards the light.


    I walked sideways for a while to see if it was simply a reflection or an actual light source. If it was a reflection, I would no longer be able to see the light once I was out of the path of the reflected light. But that didn''t seem to be the case.


    As I was walking towards it, I suddenly lost the sight of the light. I stopped for a second, but then I continued towards the point where I had seen the light.


    I got closer and looked on the ground, searching for the light source. Yet, I couldn''t find anything. Suddenly, another bright light appeared ahead of me, similar to the one I have seen before. I started walking towards it.


    "Hello?" I shouted to see if there was someone ahead. I got no response.


    As I arrived at the last location of the light, I saw that the light had moved elsewhere. ''Maybe it is some sort of an optical illusion'' I thought. But no known physical phenomenon could explain what was happening here.


    This time, I started running towards the light, keeping it in my sight at all times. As I got closer, the light started moving. I looked closely, but I couldn''t see anything else moving. It seemed like it was floating in the air.


    When I got closer to the light, it started moving away from me.


    "Stop!" I yelled. "Don''t run!"


    When I was chasing ''the light'' in the woods, I tripped on a branch and fell down. It didn''t hurt, but I was covered in dirt. At the same time, I had lost the sight of the light once again. I slowly got up, trying to brush the dust away with my hands.


    While I was trying to find an excuse to tell Mr. Kenan, I heard something close by. It sounded like some branches on the trees were cracking. I felt something hot on my skin. Something was happening.


    I gave up trying to clean myself, looked ahead and saw something horrible. A few of the trees in front of me were burning. They had caught fire from the bottom and the fire wasn''t small enough for me to put out without using a fire extinguisher. So, I instantly started running away from the fire, towards the school building in order to find a fire extinguisher. The area was full of trees, so I could only hope that the fire wouldn''t spread into a large area before I came back.


    I looked around as I was running back to the school building to see if Mr. Kenan was there. Yet, I still couldn''t see him. I got inside the building through the main enterance. I knew that there was an extinguisher attached to the wall inside the hallway. I quickly found it and started running back to the exit. However, when I got back to the exit, I could not open the door. I was sure that I had not locked it, so it must have been stuck. I left the extinguisher on the ground and tried to pull the door with both of my hands. No luck.


    "Such an old and faulty structure... How is this building not falling apart already?" I said myself.


    I looked outside the window, and the view was incredibly worrying. A lot of trees had caught fire while I was inside. The fire was much larger than what a single person could put out.


    "Mr. Kenan!" I yelled as I got my phone out of my pocket in order to call the emergency services. Only the fire department could handle such a big fire. But unfortunately, the phone had no connection. I was helpless. In case there were still some other people in the building, I pressed the fire alarm button on the wall. As soon as I pressed the button, I heard a small explosion upstairs. The alarm didn''t activate.


    I looked outside again to think of an escape route to save myself. The flames and the smoke were reaching up to tens of meters, with no gap at any point. I could only watch the scenery in terror as the fire completely surrounded the area around the school building.

 53 Untold History

    As I gazed upon the huge flames that encircled the school, I pitied myself. It was only my second day at this school, and this... This couldn''t be happening. Was it bad luck? Or perhaps nothing was happening, but I was going crazy.


    I was sweating, and I couldn''t keep my eyes on the disturbingly bright flames. My eyes and my skin had a burning sensation already, simply by watching the fire in front of the window. I got away further into the building and searched for a restroom.


    I got inside the restroom, exhausted. I washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror. If there was a photograph instead of the mirror, I wouldn''t believe that it was myself. I was looking really bad. I tried to get rid of my depressing thoughts and start thinking about solutions.


    It was possible that someone in the city would notice the flames on the horizon and inform the fire department, but I could not risk everything by relying on that small possibility.


    "Mr. Kenan..." I said. "Where could that man be?" He was the only one I could ask for help right now.


    Of course, the chemistry lab was my first idea. I got outside the restroom and started walking to the lab. I was frusturated. There was no way he could be unaware of the flames surrounding the entire school. If so, what was he doing?


    I opened the door of the chemistry lab without even knocking.


    "Mr. Kenan!" I shouted and looked around the lab. There was no sign of him there. It was possible that we were searching for each other at the same time, at different locations. If only I could use my cellphone, it could have been much easier.


    Just to be sure, I checked my phone again. Yet, no signal.


    Maybe Mr. Kenan had went to the main enterance to search for me, because he had told me that we would meet there. I got outside the chemistry lab and ran to the main enterance. But he wasn''t there either.


    "The intercom!"


    If I could find the controls of the intercom, I could reach him no matter where he was. But unfortunately, I had no idea where I could find the controls. The only thing I knew was that it certainly wasn''t in the teachers'' room.


    ''Finding things would be much easier if we had a map of the building'', I thought. Perhaps I could find a map in the teachers'' room. Since it was the only place I knew very well, I headed towards the teachers'' room.


    "Now, where can I find a map?"


    I looked around and found a very large drawer that was labeled ''Maps''. I pulled it open. There was a huge political map of the world on top of everything in the drawer. I pulled it out of the drawer and put it on a table. Below that one, there was a physical map of the country, and a climate map of the world just next to it. The drawer was full of geography materials. "Of course!" I said myself in disappointment. "What did you even expect in the first place?"


    I put all the maps back in the drawer and kept looking around the room. I saw Mr. Kenan''s personal locker. The lockers in the teachers'' room had no locks, so I could take a look. I thought that he could have some sort of map since he was been in this school for a very long time. I knew that it wasn''t right to open someone''s drawer without their permission, but since it was a matter of life and death, I thought he could forgive me for that.


    I walked up to the drawer and opened it. It sent chills down my spine when I saw the blood stains all over the locker. When I unintentionally stepped away from the locker in panic, I tripped on something and fell on the table behind me. My head was hurting.


    After the pain got more sufferable, I got back up to take another look in the locker. There were some paper and a couple of notebooks inside. Most of them were chemistry notes like I expected, but the handwritings were different. Perhaps they belonged to some of his students.


    An unlabeled, small, red notebook caught my attention. I pulled it out of the locker and opened the first page. In the first page, there was only a title that read ''List of Victims (1971 - 1975)''.


    Perhaps I really shouldn''t have messed with his locker, I thought; but I couldn''t stop reading now. I turned the page. In the following pages, there were lists of full names of different individuals, their genders and ages. Some of the names were marked with stars.


    I was anxious, but I kept reading.


    After the list of names had ended, there were a list of the classrooms in Chersonese High, with some seemingly random numbers written near them. A few of the pages were stained, but I couldn''t understand what the stain was. It had no smell. I hoped it was just a cup of tea he spilled.


    I could not take the notebook with me, but I really wanted to inspect it further. So I got my cellphone and photographed all the pages of the notebook. I put the notebook back exactly where it was, and kept searching for a map of the building. Just then, I noticed a folded paper near the corner. I unfolded the paper.


    "There it is! Finally." I said in relief. But unfortunately, the map did not clearly show the interior of the building, it was more like an external schematic of the general structure. With some numbers and angles... It was not a map, it was the architectural plan of the building. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that some parts at the bottom of the paper were damaged. The plans of the bottom floor was lost.


    Just when I was about to put it back, I noticed the writing on top of the schematic.


    ''Rough sketch and general schematics of the Chersonese prison, Block A''


    "Prison!?"

 54 Close Encounter

    I had a lot of questions to ask Mr. Kenan, once I found him. Instead of putting everything back, I took the paper and the red notebook with me. It didn''t matter if he yelled at me for messing with his personal belongings anymore. I had to learn more about it.


    I was about to get out of the teachers'' room to keep searching for either Mr. Kenan or the intercom controls, but when I opened the door to get back into the hallway, I''ve noticed something different. The color of the walls were different. ''Perhaps the top layer of the paint is peeling off because of the extreme heat'', I thought. Just at that moment, the door suddenly escaped my hand and smashed to the wall, pushing me back into the teachers'' room. The loud noise was deafening. My ears started ringing, I was not able to hear anything for about half a minute.


    The items scattered around the teachers'' room started vibrating and clinking. A few pens and cups left on the table were shaking. A book fell down the shelf located near the other side of the room.


    "Earthquake!" I said loudly, and tried to position myself in a relatively safe position near the corner of the room. As I was curling up in the corner, a low-pitched humming sound filled the atmosphere. A strong wind started blowing in the building, just like it happened yesterday evening. The wind was inflicting a weird pain. All those, combined with the ringing of my ears, were definitely insufferable. I closed my eyes. I held my head with both of my hands and squeezed it, but the pain wasn''t going away. I put my forehead on the wall and pushed against it. Yet, it was no use. I let out a scream out of pain and frusturation. The wind got stronger.


    "Wake up!" someone said behind me. The voice echoed a few times. It was the voice of a young lady. I could not recognise her by her voice. I wanted to turn around and look at her, but I the intense pain kept me from doing so.


    "I- I''m... already..." I tried to reply.


    "Turn around." she said before I could finish my sentence. Unfortunately, I could not turn around. Just when I was about to reply again, she said something else.


    "Stand up!"


    I kept trying to talk but I could only make unintelligible sounds. I could barely even hear what I was saying. As I was struggling, the clock on the wall came off of it''s place while vibrating and fell on my head. I wasn''t injured, but it made the pain even worse than before.


    I finally stopped squeezing my head and turned around to look at the girl. But when I turned around, there was no one there.


    "Wh- Where did you go?" I said.


    "My goodness... It was true!" the voice said in excitement. I could not understand where the sound was coming.


    "I can''t see you!" I shouted, still in pain.


    "Why?" she said. "Why did you return?" Oddly, this time, the voice sounded a bit familiar; but I still couldn''t recognise whoever she was.


    "I don''t understand!" I yelled.


    "Oh." the voice said. "I almost forgot... It is not the real you."


    "Help me." I said at last, heavily breathing. The wind got weaker and the humming slowly faded out; but the ringing remained. Objects all around the teachers'' room had stopped vibrating. Just then, Mr. Kenan barged into the teachers'' room. There was quite a scene.


    "There you are!" he said. I had a lot to say to him, but I couldn''t. I simply looked at his face. My eyes were full of tears. The red notebook and the architectural plans were on the ground, just next to me. He immediately noticed it. But instead of yelling at me, he spoke in a calm voice.


    "I''m sorry that everything have developed a bit too fast for you to comprehend." Mr. Kenan said. "But don''t worry, it will be okay soon enough."


    "The fire..." I said Mr. Kenan.


    "What fire?"


    "You can''t be serious!" I shouted at him. "The fire completely surrounds the building!"


    "Hey, hey, calm down..." he said, then continued. "What fire? There is no fire."


    I couldn''t believe what he was saying. I got up on my feet and looked outside the window to show him the fire. But, when I looked outside, I was even more confused. He was right. There was no fire. There were no black burning marks either. The trees were green and healthy.


    "The fire..." I slowly said, in shock.


    Mr. Kenan approached me from behind to look out of the window. He stopped a few steps behind me.


    "Look." he said. "I told you, there is no fire."


    "But... But I''ve seen it!" I said.


    "Did she tell you that?" he asked.


    "Did who tell me what?" I asked in return. "Do you... Do you mean you saw the girl who was talking to me just a while ago?"


    "The girl?" he asked.


    "Yeah, there was a young lady."


    "A young lady, eh... Did you see her?" Mr. Kenan asked.


    "No, not exactly..." I replied.


    "What did she tell you?" he asked.


    "Well, she... While I was in that corner, she asked me to turn around." I answered.


    "What were you even doing in that corner?" he asked this time.


    "I was trying to protect myself from the earthquake." I replied.


    "Protect yourself from the WHAT?" he asked in shock.


    "The earthquake."


    "Damn it, you are helpless..." Mr. Kenan said and sighed. "Anyway, did she tell you anything else?"


    "No, she went away." I said. "Did you see her? Do you know her?"


    "No and yes, respectively." he answered.


    "If that''s the..." I didn''t finish my sentence. "Wait a minute. How on earth is that even possible?" I asked.


    "Patience. Be patient. You will understand." he said.


    "I am tired of being patient." I told him.


    "Do you really want to know that much?" Mr. Kenan asked.


    "I do." I answered.


    "Even if it''s bad?" Mr. Kenan asked.


    "Yes." I said.


    "Are you willing to sacrifice?" he asked and got a step closer to me.


    "Sacrifice what?" I asked as I turned around. At that moment, something hit my head.

 55 Anamnesis

    I regained my consciousness with an intense pain, especially around my chest and back. I was laying on a table in a room I didn''t recognise.


    I screamed in agony. I tried to get up, but Mr. Kenan immediately pushed me back on the table and held me there. He was wearing gloves, his hands were cold and were covered in blood. So was I. My entire upper body was covered in my own blood.


    "Hold still!" Mr. Kenan yelled. I shouted again in pain and tried to escape his grip, but when I moved, my chest hurt so badly that I stopped trying. I looked into Mr. Kenan''s eyes like I was begging for mercy.


    "Truth hurts, doesn''t it?" he said.


    "What was that for?" I asked in tears, clenching my teeth and fists.


    "Your impatience." he replied, calmly.


    "Don''t you think this is a bit too harsh, though?" I asked.


    "You are feeling good enough to talk to me already, eh?" he said in return. "Good to see."


    I took a deep breath.


    "What did you just do to me?"


    "Destroyed your neural implant." he answered.


    "And... what does that do? Why did you do that? What the hell is that even?"


    "It is, or rather was, a neurotransmitter inhibitor control hub... sort of. Not exactly, but this is the closest description I can make." he explained.


    "Excuse me, I didn''t understand a single word of it." I said.


    "It basically interrupts the way your nervous system works." he replied. "It can control your senses, your movements, and at a higher level, it can even control your emotions and your thoughts."


    "What the hell? I don''t remember paying for that." I said.


    "You don''t remember how or when it was installed?" he asked me.


    "No." I said.


    "What is the last thing you remember?"


    "Let''s see... The fire, I guess." I answered him.


    "No, that''s not what I..." he stopped and thought for a while. "For example, do you remember your high school days?"


    "No, you''ve already asked this bef-" I didn''t finish my sentence. Something was different. "Wait." I said. "Where is Idil?" I asked him. "Did you find her?"


    "There we go, you are almost back!" Mr. Kenan said and smiled. "And, to answer your question, I don''t know. I couldn''t find either one of you; in fact I barely saved my own life."


    "What will we do?" I asked him.


    "So it worked, you finally start to remember everything again." he said without paying attention to what I said. "Don''t strain yourself to remember everything right now, and don''t forget it''s been years since those events. You are not a student anymore, you are a teacher, a young adult. It will take a while until the inhibitor is cleared of your nervous system and you can think clearly. You should just rest for a while. Then, I have some questions to ask you."


    "I have a question, though." I said. "Why did you hit me and knocked me out instead of asking me to... you know..."


    "It''s because of the implant itself. That implant would never let you give me permission to remove it. Besides, it is a very painful thing, so you would never let me do it anyway." he said.


    "It is weird..." I said. "Your behaviour is creepy. Until now, I''ve never noticed an implant on my body."


    "You probably did. Many times even." he told me. "But every time you noticed something, you were forced to forget about it in an instant. That''s what I think. Also, it usually doesn''t interfere with daily tasks."


    "None of the doctors that examined me all those years have noticed it either." I said.


    "It is a relatively small device deep inside your skin, so unless you had a major operation, it is very hard to notice." he replied.


    "How did YOU know about it, though?" I asked him.


    "Well, that''s quite a story." he said. "The implant in one of the older victims have malfunctioned and stopped working after a while. That victim was one of my students, so we knew each other. We were just like you and me; but I had never got into adventures myself until your generation showed up, and I was much less knowledgeable than I am now. Anyway... One day, after the implant had malfunctioned and he remembered everything he forgot, he contacted me. He knew I had information about the subject. Only after a few months of examination, we found the implant on his body. Taking him to the hospital and literally getting an implant out of his body would undoubtedly make the doctors curious, and later, of course, the police. So, we could not do that. In order to-"


    "Why?" I interrupted him. "Why didn''t you get the police involved? They could handle the situation and stop this evil once and for all."


    "Smarty... Don''t you think I didn''t do that? I called the police myself many times before. A lot of people went missing all those years in this school, but they could find nothing suspicious, people even accused me of hiding things or misleading the police. The next time the police got involved again, I would be a number one suspect; and they wouldn''t be able to find anyone else." he said. "Maybe I wouldn''t be charged because of the lack of evidence, but it would surely create a crisis."


    "That''s very unfortunate." I said.


    "Well, to continue... It was the first time we were aware of the existance of those implants. In order to get the implant out and examine it, we had to do the so-called operation ourselves. It barely even qualifies as an operation to be honest, we just had to get that thing out somehow. I had a close friend who was a surgeon, but at the time, he was abroad. So, I had to consult with the biology teachers to find the best way to remove the implant. All the teachers were already aware of what was going on, so they all tried to help with the operation. Unfortunately, being a biology teacher has nothing to do with knowledge on surgery, but leaving the implant in was considered the worst idea, so we decided to continue... Anyway, we decided that the best course of action would be opening the body from a safe point that is far away from any vital organs, blood vessels and the central nervous system; and some place that could easily heal once damaged." he said.


    "I honestly can''t believe you decided to do the surgery yourselves. That''s very dangerous and certainly illegal." I told him.


    "I already know, we were aware of it all... But, it wasn''t a really big deal that required lots of professionalism. You just cut open the skin and some muscles, take the device out and get everything roughly back to their places and let it heal." he said. "Though we had to look after him for a week or so until he was completely healed, and he suffered a lot of pain."


    "Where is the implant you removed?" I asked him.


    "I didn''t remove yours, I just reached out and broke it apart." he said. "I can''t do the removal just by myself."


    "Thanks, idiot. What if the pieces scatter around my body?" I told him.


    "You asked for it in the first place. This is the only way you can quickly regain your memories." he said. "I told you to be patient, it would be much less painful for sure."


    "Since you knew about it... Why didn''t you remove it from me or other victims before? What took so long?" I asked.


    "It is actually a very recent discovery, and performing an amateur operation on a real living person is certainly out of our interests." he said. "Besides, most of the older teachers of the school are gone, so it becomes hard to explain everything to everyone all over again."


    I suddenly felt an urge to vomit. I couldn''t continue the conversation.


    "I need to use the restroom." I told him. "I feel really bad."

 56 Recovery and Reunion

    "Easy there." said Mr. Kenan and came towards me to help me get up. He held me from my back as I lifted myself off of the table. The pain on my chest intensified as I got up, and I let out a short scream.


    "Hey, hey, hey; slowly now..." Mr. Kenan said and pulled my legs off the table, to the side.


    "Is it supposed to hurt that much?" I asked him.


    "I told you, truth hurts. It may hurt for a while." he answered me.


    "I''m serious..." I told him. "Please cut the playful-"


    "Don''t give me that look. I am not a doctor, you know..." he said. "But still, I think it can last for a week or so. I mean, that''s how long it lasted with the previous victim I saw. If you add my incompetence on top of that... Maybe two weeks, up to a month at worst."


    "What if I get infected because of the wounds? Did you ever think about that?" I asked him as I started dragging my feet on the ground to get out of the room.


    "You are infected enough already." he told me. "And don''t forget that operating on victims was not my personal idea. We decided to continue with the operations as a council of teachers."


    "A council of teachers is not a compensation for an actual surgeon, though. Besides, that was in the past, and the decision applied for that particular victim." I told him as I left the room.


    "Do you need help?" he yelled behind me as I was making my way to the restroom.


    "I will yell at you if I ever do." I shouted back.


    "Well, I hope you can." he said.


    I entered the restroom and closed the door behind me. I could feel something strange coming up my throat. It was kind of feeling like sputum, but this one was even more turbid. As the substance made it''s way up my throat, it blocked the way to my lungs. My muscles started contracting rapidly to push the substance out, forcing me to vomit. Being unable to breathe for the moment, I leaned forwards in an attempt to get the substance out as soon as possible. Some blood started dripping out of my mouth. After that, a dense greenish fluid started flowing down. It was smelling like a rotten orange.


    After a short moment, my body reflexively tried to continue breathing, but the way to my lungs were still blocked. My whole body started contracting in order to force the air into my lungs. The substance was pushed back into my body, but it was no use. I couldn''t breathe. In agony, I started punching the door. I was suffocating. I did not know what I could do since I have never guessed that I could die from something so simple. I wanted to shout, but I could only make strange sounds. Eventually, I stopped punching the door and dropped on the dirty floor in the restroom. My arms were paralysed, and I had a tunnel vision.


    Despite being partially paralised, I felt a great pain on my body when the door hit me. Mr. Kenan had broken into the restroom by breaking the door I was standing in front of. Before I could even react, he held me strongly and changed my position. He hit my back a few times. The substance piled up in my throat came out. Although some of it was glued to the sides of my mouth and throat, I could breathe again. First, my vision started clearing up, and then, the state of paralysis on my body has ended.


    Mr. Kenan lifted me off of the ground. I coughed a few times trying to clear up the leftover material in my throat, but unfortunately, it didn''t work.


    "The door wasn''t even locked." I told Mr. Kenan. "Why did you have to make such a dramatic entry?"


    "You are welcome." he replied. "I didn''t save your life just so you could die only a minute later."


    "The so-called operation wasn''t a life sa-"


    "Just shut up already." Mr. Kenan didn''t even let me talk. "Do you even know how to breathe?"


    I swallowed up all the words I wanted to say, and we walked out of the restroom.


    "Go and wait for me in the chemistry lab. I will be back in a moment." said Mr. Kenan and left me on my own.


    "Where are you going?" I shouted behind him.


    "I will be back in a moment." he repeated. Hardly a fitting answer to my question... Even though I was now remembering every part of the school building, I didn''t follow him. I entered the chemistry lab, closed the door and started looking out of the window waiting for Mr. Kenan to come back. Staring into the empty, lifeless front yard... The view itself was actually quite peaceful, but I couldn''t feel that way.


    Suddenly, my phone started ringing.


    "I thought there was no connection here..." I murmured and looked at my phone. There was no name or phone number on the screen. I hesitated to answer the call. I had no idea who it could be, and I wasn''t in a good condition to talk, so I simply waited for the call to timeout. Yet, no matter how long I''ve waited for, the phone didn''t stop ringing. I sighed and finally pushed the green button to answer it.


    "Hello?" I said.


    "Welcome back." the girl on the phone said. I immediately recognised her by her voice. It was the same girl I heard at the time of the ''earthquake''.


    "I... Y-you are..." I couldn''t form a full sentence.


    "I know that we didn''t have a pleasant first encounter, so I figured that I would try to greet you again, on the phone. Well, it was hardly a first encounter to be honest, but anyway... Welcome back." she said.


    "Do I know you?" I asked her.


    "Oh, right..." she said, and got silent for a while. "You probably didn''t recognise me with my new voice." she spoke softly. Her voice was so deep, pleasant and... magical.


    "Who are you?" I asked her.


    "I am the voice of The Community."

 57 Friendly Fire

    "You are that old woman..." I said.


    "After you were gone, I thought I would start using the voice I had when I was younger." she said. "A nice change, don''t you think?"


    "Nice change, indeed." I said, and thought for a while. "Excuse me, but... Don''t you have a name?" I asked her.


    "I don''t use a name. It wouldn''t be fair if someone adressed me with a personal name. When I speak, I speak on behalf of an entire community. So far, I managed to communicate with people without a proper personal name of my own. And I think that it is worth noting, you and Mr. Kenan are the only living entities I directly communicate with." she replied.


    "It feels weird, though... What was your given name at birth?" I asked.


    "Please, no... I''m no longer that person, so I would rather not use that name." she said.


    "All those years... have you been waiting for me to come back to the building?" I asked.


    "Right now, I really can''t decide if your return to this building was merely a coincidence, or you were destined to come back here eventually." she said.


    "What happens now?" I asked.


    "Well... You might have been brought back here by the influence of the implant. I bet the scientists want to inspect their subjects after all those years... If that''s the case, you already know what will happen. I can''t risk letting you roam around." she answered.


    "But... it is impossible that they have brought me here. I''m a teacher, I was sent to this school with an official-"


    "Cool story." She didn''t let me talk. "We''ve learned a lot about the experiment while you were away. But for now, we have a job to do before you are caught."


    "What are you talking about?" I asked.


    "Do you know how many more generations were pulled into this evil experiment after you were released from the underground facility?" she said. "After you were released, we never got another chance to put a stop to all this madness. It still continues, even now..."


    "Do you think I''m responsible for that?" I asked.


    "No." she answered at first. "Actually, come to think of it... Yes. You are partially responsible for that."


    "Are you out of your mind? You can''t ask someone to kill himself. You are the other half of all the evil here." I told her.


    "See... You are still under influence. We have told you what would happen if you were left alive, yet... You didn''t listen. Let me tell you; after you were released, you pulled five more victims from the next generation into the trap, thanks to your implantation." she explained. "We know it all. Even in today''s generation, we know who the victims are, and we closely observe them. But, thanks to all the strict teachers gathered in the school, we can''t get a chance to perform the necessary sacrifice. We can no longer risk choosing a living human as a representative after the failure of Mr. Kenan. So, maybe... Maybe we can start performing the ritual with the victimized teachers."


    Items around the chemistry lab started shaking slowly. I felt a soft breeze.


    "Hold on!" I yelled.


    "Pick your final words carefully. I wouldn''t waste it begging for mercy." she interrupted, but she was no longer using the phone. Her voice was coming from the building''s intercom. White noise was filling the atmosphere.


    I was already used to their methods of offensive action because of my unpleasant memories of this school. I immediately started looked around, watching for potential threats. Unfortunately, the chemistry lab was one of the best places to get myself killed. While looking around, I''ve heard something on my left. The clock on the wall was shaking. I''ve noticed that the hour and the minute hands of the clock was rotating backwards very rapidly.


    I had very little time to react before I was attacked.


    "Stop, my implantation was destroyed!" I finally shouted.


    Everything stopped shaking in a moment. The white noise got a lot quieter.


    "Eh? How so?" she asked.


    "Mr. Kenan performed an operation on me to disable my implant." I told her.


    "That''s..." she didn''t say anything for about a minute. "That''s good news."


    Suddenly, the door of the lab opened. Mr. Kenan came in.


    "Work on your reaction time." he yelled at me. "You almost got us both killed."


    "What happened to you? Where have you been?" I asked in shock.


    "I warned you about those guys. They had a change of mind just now, and they had me trapped while we were alone." he said. "This damned community."


    "We are trying to help you." the voice on the intercom said. "All of the events until now was caused by misunderstandings. If we could just work together..."


    "Shut up." shouted Mr. Kenan. "You are not fooling anyone."


    "We were unaware of the implant being destroyed." the voice got louder. "We no longer have a reason to be hostile. Besides, if we work together..."


    "We believed you many years ago. You lead everyone into death." I said. "Why are we even spending our efforts explaining everything to each other?"


    "Because we NEED to know about each other. Yes, you are right that we killed people, but the people we killed... All of them were victims already. You did not have enough knowledge to free them of possession, so we had no choice but to kill them, for the sake of upcoming generation. Think of it like medical amputation. If we had killed you all, the next generation of students would be safe. The experiment couldn''t continue, and that was all we wanted." she was frusturated.


    "Hardly an excuse for mass murder." Mr. Kenan replied.


    "We no longer have a reason to kill the two of you. Tell us what we can do to prove that we want to work together to stop the experiment once and for all." the voice said.


    "Tell us about the victims of the current generation." Mr. Kenan said. "And promise you won''t touch them."


    "Are you going to remove thier implants as well?" the voice asked.


    "Did you tell them everything about the operation!?" Mr. Kenan yelled at me.


    "I had no other choice." I told him.


    "Well, I''m not a surgeon, I can''t perform operations. The operations we performed so far were extraordinary situations. Besides, none of the current students in the school knows about the experiment. And furthermore, I would definitely get arrested." Mr. Kenan told The Community.


    "Maybe it is about time that they know everything about the experiment." said the voice.


    "I can''t trust them with keeping silent about it." Mr. Kenan replied.


    "Well, then I am sorry. In that case, we will have to kill them." the voice replied.


    "So much for cooperation..." I murmured.

 58 Uneasy Alliance

    "We''ve given you a chance, and you made your choice. Either way, we will proceed with our plan." the voice said. "We only wish that, this time, you will not stand in our way."


    "We definitely will." I answered. Mr. Kenan grumbled angrily, but didn''t say anything. "Your aggressiveness and hate towards your enemies hurt the people you once pledged to protect." I continued talking.


    At that moment, one of the small cabinets near the back of the lab fell down and made a loud noise. It''s glass was shattered, and everything inside the cabinet spreaded around. Empty beakers and tubes were rolling on the floor. There were puddles of water and piles of white-yellowish powder on the floor. I had no idea what the chemical was, but there was no doubt that this was meant as a warning for us.


    "It is not fair for you to see us that way. During your previous struggles, you''ve done that too. Don''t you see the necessity?" the voice was getting louder and angrier. "Do we need to remind you of Melis or Onur? Do we need to remind you that we are still in this situation just because you refused to sacrifice?"


    "We''ve only did that because our own lives were in danger!" I yelled. "You have nothing to lose, yet-"


    All of a sudden, the room got darker and started vibrating.


    "...yet..."


    I wanted to continue talking, but I couldn''t. No matter how hard I tried, I wasn''t able to make any sounds.


    "Watch your words." the voice said. "We are trying to understand you, yet you are only trying to start a fight. If that''s what you wish, that''s what you will get."


    I felt something on my back. I wanted to look at it, but I couldn''t move. After a few seconds, the feeling on my back reached the lower parts of my body. There was a burning sensation on my skin, and it was gradually getting more painful.


    I started feeling great pain as I breathed in. My eyes were full of tears. There was something in the air that was affecting me badly. Unable to withstand the pressure, I closed my eyes. After suffering the pain of breathing for a while, I started coughing. My throat was hurting. I was making scary noises while breathing.


    I hopelessly opened my eyes again to look for Mr. Kenan. I couldn''t see him, but I could see my own body. My own blood was pouring down my shoulders. My skin was full of small wounds, and the larger cuts from Mr. Kenan''s operation were opened wide. I was losing blood quickly.


    I heard Mr. Kenan coughing behind me. He was moaning and struggling. Finally, he managed to speak out some words.


    "S-s-s...top! Stop!" he said. "We...eee wann-"


    He couldn''t finish his sentence. Just then, the windows of the chemistry lab cracked and bursted out. Clean air started coming inside. After a while, as the fresh air got inside, the burning sensation went away. I was still feeling a lot of pain on my wounds, but it was starting to be more sufferable.


    I could move again. I quickly looked at Mr. Kenan. He was on his knees, standing in the middle of the lab. He looked at his dirty clothes for a second, and then got up on his feet.


    "You... you are right." he said. "We are willing to cooperate, since we have a common goal. Fighting each other would only create distractions."


    "Very well. That''s what we actually wanted to hear." the voice replied. I could never agree with what Mr. Kenan was doing, but we had no other chance. Our deaths here would serve no purpose, and The Community would continue with their plan anyway.


    "But hold on for a second!" Mr. Kenan shouted. "How are you so sure that there is no other way to do this?"


    "We''ve had years to think about it." the voice replied. "If there was some other way, we wouldn''t have tried to kill so many people. You''ve refused to operate on the students. So, now, if you try to stop us from eliminating the tools of the enemy, you will be standing in our way."


    "I don''t want anyone to die... In that case... Fine. I will perform the operation. Just... Just don''t harm anyone, okay?" Mr. Kenan calmly said.


    "What!? Mr. Kenan, what are you doing?" I couldn''t handle myself, so I yelled in shock.


    "Would you like to see them dead?" he asked me.


    "Of course not, but perhaps we could protect them against-"


    "So much fantasy is going on in your head. We can NOT win a fight against The Community. Remember what happened when you were a student. A lot of people died... Besides, it is always good to have allies on your side." he answered.


    I didn''t reply to him and looked away. Even though there were no alternatives, it felt like we were doing a very big mistake.


    "If that''s what motivates you, we are okay with that." said the voice.


    "Though, I need to know... What is your plan after we disable the implants?" Mr. Kenan said.


    "That will be decided after the implants are disabled." the voice answered.


    "Not a very trustworthy plan, but I will take it. Please keep in mind that I still don''t trust you; we simply have a common goal, that''s all." said Mr. Kenan.


    "What do you want us to say?" the voice replied. "We don''t have a plan right now, so if you ask us about it, of course we will tell you that we don''t have a plan."


    "What''s our plan for right now?" I asked. "How will we free the students of the implants'' effects in the first place?"


    "We will have to make small surgeries on them, just like the one I did with you." Mr. Kenan replied.


    "And... How exactly? How are we planning to do it? Do we even know the students?" I asked.


    "We know who the targeted students are. We will share the list with you as soon as you wish." the voice said.


    "When the right time comes, you will lure the said students into the chemistry lab, one at a time. Then, we will perform the surgery and we will release them." said Mr. Kenan. It was a simple explanation which was missing a lot of important details.


    "Excuse me... Are you out of mind? Are you really asking me to kidnap my own students!? What the hell is wrong with you?" I yelled.


    "Why is it so hard to work with you?" I heard a sigh from the intercom.


    "And how are you going to explain the situation to them? Furthermore... How will you perform that savage, painful operation on them?" I continued yelling. Mr. Kenan was patiently waiting for me to finish talking.


    "Once they arrive in the lab, they won''t feel anything; and afterwards, they will have no memories of the surgery. I know a lot about organic chemistry, I can make it work. It will just be a little bit expensive for the school''s budget." Mr. Kenan said.


    "Still, that''s cruel. I won''t be working with you. I won''t let any of you touch my students." I said.


    "Come on, don''t be like that. You know what we are trying to do. We do not wish to harm your students, we want to help them." Mr. Kenan said.


    "You are talking just like her." I told Mr. Kenan, referring to The Voice of The Community. "Let him go!" I yelled towards the intercom speaker.


    "When did you become so paranoid?" the voice asked.


    "I know how you feel, I feel the same way. I am a teacher too, they are my students as well... But unfortunately, there is no other way out. If you don''t want anyone to die, we will have to work together." said Mr. Kenan.


    "And please be quick." added the voice.


    I sighed. If I tried to fight against their methods, I would definitely fail just by myself.


    "Let me think about it." I said in order to gain more time.


    "We need an answer so we can start working." the voice entreated.


    "Okay, okay. You are right. I will help you." I finally said. My own words hurt me as I spoke. What did I get myself into?


    "It is settled then." said Mr. Kenan. "We shall begin the operation tomorrow."


    "It''s nice to have you both on our side for once." said the voice.


    "Let''s head out, we''ve been here for long enough already." said Mr. Kenan. We started walking to the main exit of the building.


    "By the way... Sorry about the fire." the voice said.


    "The fire... THAT fire?" I pointed at the woodland that surrounds the school.


    "Yes. I was simply trying to get you back into the building. That won''t happen anymore." the voice replied.


    "Good to know. That scared me a lot." I said.


    "Well... Goodbye for now." the voice said, and the intercom deactived with a click. Mr. Kenan and I exited the building.


    "Come here early tomorrow. I will be in the lab, as usual." Mr. Kenan said. I silently nodded. We separated our paths and headed home.


    I couldn''t sleep that night.

 59 Prelude to Terror

    I was a bit sleepy and tired. As I was slowly walking to the school, like I did before, I was thinking of turning around and not coming back to this cursed place ever again. But that would have some pretty bad consequences... The evil experiment would continue for years to come, and the school would be under the influence of The Community. Furthermore, I would most definitely lose my job and quickly run out of money. No matter how I looked at it, it was my problem.


    Crows were flying around as I was walking past the woodland. I had managed to arrive very early. There was no sign of life in the building, but I was almost sure that I would find Mr. Kenan inside.


    I got into the building and started walking towards the chemistry lab. On my way, I suddenly changed my mind and entered a restroom.


    I opened my suitcase, and there it was... I sighed in relief. A large, sharpened knife carefully placed between the folders. Now that I was more experienced, I could think of bringing a weapon of my own. It was a part of my own plan, an alternative to Mr. Kenan''s idea of ''making peace'' with The Community.


    I quickly closed my suitcase and directly headed to the chemistry lab. Mr. Kenan was sitting there silently and waiting for me, completely oblivious of my thoughts. Everything was in order in the lab, there was no sign of yesterday''s events.


    "Hello, you are early." he said.


    "Yeah, just like you wanted." I replied.


    "How do you feel?" he asked me.


    "I''m... I had better times." I replied.


    "Be honest." he said.


    "Actually, I''ve never felt worse." I answered this time. "...almost."


    "I can understand that." he said. "However, you shouldn''t listen to your feelings. This is what we did wrong the first time, when you were a student."


    I didn''t agree or disagree with him. He turned around and started looking out of the window.


    "The Community just shared the list of the victims with me. Luckily, you were the only adult that was targeted. The rest of the list is full of students. I bet you know some of them." he said.


    "What do we do now?" I asked.


    "Come closer." he said as he opened a red notebook. He pointed at something on a page. "Do you know her?"


    "I... I can''t remember the name." I said.


    "Okay, don''t worry. You will be entering her lesson today. Just look her up on the list when you do." he said.


    "And... then what?" I asked.


    "At the lunch break, take her to the chemistry lab. That''s the only thing you need to do." he said.


    "How exactly?" I asked him. It would be very awkward for me to ask a student to follow me into the chemistry lab. I wasn''t even a chemistry teacher to begin with!


    "That''s for you to figure out. Surprise me." he said.


    "Why don''t you do it instead while I wait here? I am not a chemistry teacher." I told him.


    "Exactly." he replied. "Because you don''t know a lot of chemistry. As you are making your way here, I will be preparing the chemicals and everything else. Do you have anything else to ask?"


    "Uhm... No." I said.


    "Well, okay then. We shall meet again soon enough." he said. I didn''t answer him and just got outside the lab. I closed the door and leaned to the wall. My heart was beating rapidly. It wasn''t too late; I still had time to choose between helping Mr. Kenan and hoping for the best, or sabotaging the entire operation, enraging The Community and possibly making them hostile.


    I slowly walked towards the teachers'' room.


    People had already started gathering inside. As I entered and closed the door, I accidentally woke Sinem up. She yawned and put her glasses on.


    "Oh my, time really flies. How long have I been sleeping?" she said after she looked at the clock. She turned and looked at me. "Good morning. You look pretty beaten up." she said.


    "Good morning." I said. "I couldn''t sleep well."


    "Just take a quick nap before the first lesson if you wish." she said. "It really helps sometimes." She yawned again, and her head slowly dropped to the side of the armchair. She closed her eyes.


    "I bet she is sleepwalking all the way here." Ege said. "By the way... are you okay?" he asked me.


    "I am okay, thanks." I replied. My nervousness must''ve been pretty visible to everyone. I sat on a chair near the table and tried to nap before the first lesson like Sinem suggested. It wasn''t something I would nomrally do, but maybe it would really help if I could sleep for a bit.


    - - -


    "Hey, good morning. Again."


    Sinem was trying to wake me up.


    "I know sleeping is addicting, but don''t miss your lesson." she said.


    "Thanks." I said and slowly got up. There was a few minues until the beginning of the lesson. I grabbed my suitcase and started walking to the classroom.


    When I arrived at the classroom''s door, I thought about my plan for the final time. I would try to keep the victims away from Mr. Kenan and The Community for as long as possible while I tried to send them home.


    "Having fun talking to yourself?"


    A girl appeared behind me when I was standing in front of the door, seemingly doing nothing. I recognised her, she was the same girl I encountered in front of the door the previous days.


    "Ah, it''s you again... Are you following me or something?" I asked her.


    "No, you just happen to get stuck in front of this door a lot." she said, laughing. "Enlighten me, teacher; what is it that you find so interesting about this door?"


    "Hey, cut that out." I said.


    "Is it the shape, is it the color, or is it... the aura of the door that is so unique?" she kept talking with a funny voice.


    "It isn''t funny." I said.


    "But, out of all the similar doors in this hallway, why this one specifically?" she said.


    "It is about how you immediately spawn near me the moment I come in front of this door." I told her.


    "Oh... Never thought of it this way." she said. "Do you hate me, teacher?"


    "What? Of course no." I replied. "Come on, let''s not be late to the lesson." I told her afterwards. As we were about to enter the classroom, I held her back.


    "By the way... What is your name?" I asked her.


    "You still couldn''t memorise?" she asked in return.


    "I have hundreds of students, you know... I''ve only met you a few days ago." I replied.


    "I''m Cansu." she said. I blenched. I wasn''t expecting it. She was the student I was supposed to bring to the chemistry lab.

 60 Butchery

    "Alright, go ahead." I said. The world''s hardest lesson for me was about to begin.


    During the whole lesson, I could think about nothing but ways to protect her from the fate she was yet to face. Mr. Kenan wasn''t thinking so seriously about it, but an amateur operation could easily kill people. I was a bit too lucky to survive, but it was possible that the others wouldn''t share the same fate with me. It was a stupid risk to take. ''Ambitions'' of The Community was about to cause deaths once again, after many years... Time quickly passed as I was thinking about all those.


    Towards the end of the lesson, I peeked into my suitcase. The knife was still there, in case I ever needed it.


    The bell rang. It was lunch time.


    Everyone started to get out of the classroom, but I had to find that girl. I spotted her grouping up with her friends near the corner of the classroom. I had no idea how to get her to follow me without evincing the hard situation I was in. I had to figure out a good lie.


    I approached the group and called her out.


    "Hey, uh... Cansu!"


    "Hi there, teacher!" she replied cheerfully. "You need help with the door again?"


    That girl and her mocking ''humor''... She was almost starting to get on my nerves.


    "No, I don''t, thank you." I said, calmly. "Mr. Kenan is your teacher, right?" I asked her.


    "Oh, yeah." she replied. "Why did you ask?"


    "He was looking for you before this lesson." I said. "I think it was urgent. He asked me to tell you if I encounter you."


    "Oh, I got it." she said. "He probably wants to see my notes from previous class again." She grabbed one of her notebooks and got out of the classroom without saying anything to me. I followed her from a distance as she made her way to the chemistry lab. Apparently, it was well known that Mr. Kenan was spending most of his time there instead of the teachers'' room.


    She got inside, and after a few seconds I heard something fall down inside the lab. I followed her in... What a sight!


    She was laying still on the ground, and her notebook was just next to her on the floor. However, there was no blood at all.


    I immediately opened up my suitcase, searcing for the knife. When I was looking for it, I started feeling dizzy. Suddenly, I felt something on my arms. It was Mr. Kenan. He pushed me out of the lab. I fell down on my back, and everything inside my suitcase scattered around. He held me tightly as he put on a gas mask in my face. That mask certainly wasn''t a part of a usual lab gear.


    "You will need that." he said and let me go. He quickly ran back inside the lab. "Come in when you are ready." he said and closed the door.


    I looked around to see my folders and papers scattered around on the floor. I had to collect them before I went back inside. I looked back inside my suitcase to see what''s left. It was alarming, the knife wasn''t there! It wasn''t something I could lose. It wasn''t only that I would be left defenseless, but if someone had found it laying around, there would be a crisis in the school. I immediately started searching for it, and found it under one of the folders on the floor. I was very lucky that it wasn''t spotted by Mr. Kenan or someone else that happened to pass by.


    I quickly put everything back into my suitcase and got inside the lab.


    "Lock it." said Mr. Kenan. I locked the lab''s door and went to a smaller room at the back of the lab. My student... She was laying there on her back unconsciously, with no clear expression of any emotion.


    Mr. Kenan was holding a syringe, trying to adjust the dose of some medicine. He noticed me looking curiously at it.


    "Since you were too worried, I thought we could be more professional this time." he said. He really had brought some medical equipment in the lab secretly. But no matter how much equipment we had, unless we were in a hospital with real surgeons, operating on a human being was unacceptable. Not only that it was illegal; but it was cruel, immoral, savage. I couldn''t possibly watch him butchering one of my students. My time to act was approaching.


    Mr. Kenan was finally satisfied with the precision of the dose of the medicine in the syringe. He started walking this way to start the operation. I was nervous. I was sweating and my hands were shaking, but I had no time to lose. I opened my suitcase and grabbed the knife without getting it out for Mr. Kenan to see.


    He suddenly stopped walking and looked at my face. I was probably looking very nervous.


    "Are you okay? Is the chemical affecting you?" he asked.


    "P-perhaps..." I said.


    "Go take fresh air outside, and come back again before I begin. Don''t forget to lock the door again as you come back." he said. I released the knife and got my mask off, then went out of the lab.


    I wanted to get rid of Mr. Kenan. No matter what his motives were, I couldn''t support the way he chose to deal with the situation.


    I took my time outside trying to calm myself down. I had seen people die, but it definitely wasn''t making it easy to murder someone. I replayed and altered my plan in my head a few times.


    After I got rid of Mr. Kenan, I would get Cansu out of the lab and lock Mr. Kenan''s corpse inside for the rest of the day. The chemistry lab wasn''t being used since the year had just started a few days ago, and the students were just getting started with the first subjects. As he had no lessons after lunchtime today, no one would come looking for Mr. Kenan in there. After the end of the day, I would come back to the lab to clean it up of the evidence. After that, I would get the body and the weapon out of the building. I would burn the body and bury the ashes with the knife somewhere in the woodland, far below ground level.


    "No, still too risky." I murmured.


    While playing every possible murder scenario in my head, I had spent a lot of time. I noticed that and rushed back into the lab. I locked the door behind me. No matter what would happen afterwards, I had to do what I had in my mind.


    "There you are." he looked up. "I was almost done."


    "WHAT!?" I yelled. I was late, and it was horrifying. Cansu was laying on her chest, half naked. Her back was full of blood, and some cuts were still bleeding as Mr. Kenan was trying to close them up in amateur ways.


    "Why didn''t you tell me!?" I asked.


    "You were looking nervous, so I figured that it would be better for you if you didn''t have to see the whole operation." he said.


    I put my right hand inside my suitcase again, trying to find the knife. I finally found and grabbed it, but didn''t pull it out. I wanted to wait for Mr. Kenan to close up the wounds. I couldn''t leave her wounded like that.


    After he was done roughly sealing up the cuts and cleaning up her back, he went to put some of the equipment away.


    He wasn''t looking this way.


    It was time. I held my breath.


    Just when he was returning, I pulled the knife out.

 61 Fallen

    Mr. Kenan spotted the knife as I pulled it out of my suitcase.


    His eyes opened wide. He was frozen solid on the spot for the moment.


    I swung the knife. He instinctively tried to protect himself with his arms.


    *BANG*


    The door between me and Mr. Kenan closed in an instant. My knife pierced through the door and got stuck there. There it was. The missing part of my plan... I knew I was forgetting about something. I have never thought about the possible intervention of The Community.


    Mr. Kenan and I were now separated by the door. I was inside the small room where the operation was done, while Mr. Kenan was on the other side of the door, inside the actual lab. I was so close, yet my plan had failed from the very beginning. After my failed attempt, I would most probably be on my own in this struggle for survival.


    My cellphone started ringing. With my hands trembling, I grabbed my phone and answered the call.


    "Even when we can''t read your thoughts, we can still see you anywhere." the voice said.


    I didn''t say anything in return. I had doomed myself.


    "Are you stupid or did you suddenly have a change of mind?"


    With little hope, I pushed the door. Unexpectedly, the door wasn''t locked. Mr. Kenan was standing there in fear, just behind the door. Without the intervention of The Community, the old man had little protection against me on his own.


    I pulled the knife out of the hole I created on the door.


    "No!" he said and started walking backwards, shaking his head. I started walking towards him. He finally turned around and ran outside the lab, into the hallway. Seconds later, an alarm started wailing. I wasn''t sure if Mr. Kenan did that himself, but it was surely a guaranteed way to quickly end the school day.


    I didn''t follow Mr. Kenan out, instead, I got back to the small room at the back of the lab to see the status of my student. Mr. Kenan''s incompetence was clear. Some of her supposedly closed wounds were still bleeding, slowly. I had to get professional help. I had to take her to a hospital... I wouldn''t be able to explain the situation, but at least she would be safe. Maybe I could call it a lab accident if I couldn''t come up with anything better on my way there...


    I softly poked her to wake her up, but it was not going to work. Whatever Mr. Kenan did to her was too strong. I covered her naked areas with her uniform and instead of trying to wake her up, I carefully lifted her up and began carrying her out of the lab.


    When I finally got out to the hallway, most of the building was already empty. I started walking to the exit with my student over my shoulder.


    While I was trying to make my way out, she started moving.


    "Put me down, put me down!" she said.


    I stopped walking and slowly put her on her feet. She coughed a few times and looked at me in the face. Our eyes met. She was in tears. It was the saddest look I''ve ever seen in my life. She suddenly looked away and started running.


    "Hey!" I yelled behind her, but she didn''t even listen. She rushed into a restroom.


    I walked up to the door of the restroom and shouted for her to hear.


    "Are you okay?"


    She didn''t respond. I could hear some water flowing down the taps. I put my ear on the door to listen more closely. I could hear her sobbing and crying silently.


    "Calm down, please." I told her. Still no response...


    After a while, she started coughing violently. I could hear her moaning in pain. I looked around the hallway to seek help, but there was no one left in the building by now. What a bad time to follow the regulations!


    Without giving it a second thought, I entered the restroom.


    She was on her knees, trying to vomit out a green substance I''ve seen earlier. Her clothes were covered in her blood. Some of her wounds were opened wide again, probably while she was running.


    She heard me entering the restroom, and looked at me. She was trying to say something, but she couldn''t make any audible sounds.


    I ran to help her, yet I didn''t know what to do. Just when I was trying to rotate and re-position her to help her vomit, she held me by my shirt and pulled herself closer to me.


    "Teacher..." she managed to say. "It''s... not-"


    She couldn''t finish her sentence. She was fluttering, trying to wave her arms and legs around. Her head slided down. She was feeling heavier. Finally, she stopped moving altogether. Her teary eyes were fixed on a random spot across the restroom.


    I softly shook her. No movement.


    I slowly put her down. She was no longer trying to breathe.


    "No..." The word escaped my mouth.


    Despite her horrendous situation, I decided to attempt artificial ventilation. There was nothing to lose just by trying.


    I used up all my stamina trying to bring her back to life. But, after countless minutes of continuous CPR, I was out of power. I put my head on her chest and started crying.


    "You won''t... touch... my... students!" I repeated a few times. My heart was filled with hate and anger. I wiped my tears and got up. I lifted the corpse up and headed out. But, at the door, I saw Mr. Kenan standing there, staring at me. When I noticed him, he didn''t do anything. The sad look on his face remained.


    I slowly put the corpse down, keeping my eyes on him.


    "The knife." he said.


    "So... do you fear death?" I asked him. "This is your acheivement. You did this to her."


    "I had no other choice, damn it!" he yelled. "It was our best chance... yet, even that didn''t work. But, listen to me. I have important news. There is another way!" he walked into the restroom. I immediately reached for my knife.


    My knife... wasn''t there.


    "The knife..." I said.


    "Yes, the knife." he said, and pulled my knife out which he has been hiding behind him.

 62 Helpless

    I ran back all the way to the wall behind me. He stepped into the restroom, and stopped a few meters in front of the corpse on the floor. He leaned down and put the knife down.


    "You dropped this in the hallway on your way here." he said. I didn''t say anything to him. I was trying to make sense of what he was trying to do.


    He looked at me and saw me standing there, hesitantly wanting to approach the knife. He stepped away from the knife, watching me carefully. After a while, he averted his eyes and looked at the corpse on the ground. "I hope you will forgive me." he said to the lifeless body.


    "I will never." I said in an angry tone.


    "Look." he looked back at me and started talking. "I don''t know what I can do to convince you that this was the only way out of the situation. I understand that you disagree with my methods, but I have no intentions to be hostile to you. We are the only living beings here that hold all the uncovered secrets of this building over years. You are a most precious part of the alliance we can never afford to lose."


    "Shut up already." I said. "There is no alliance. There never was." I slowly started walking towards him. He kept standing where he was.


    "Okay, listen... " he said and sighed. "If one of us has to die, it shall be me. I''m old, weak; and my time is running out. I have been working here for decades for the protection of people, but I can''t keep this up for much longer. So, if your plan requires my death, go ahead. If we don''t work together, I can''t do anything by myself anymore, but you can."


    I carefully kept approaching him and stopped when I came in front of the knife on the ground. I leaned down, keeping an eye on Mr. Kenan, and picked the knife up. Mr. Kenan still didn''t move the slightest.


    "But, before you make a choice, please mind that there are people watching over us." he said.


    I''ve almost forgotten about that, again... In this moment of tension, we were definitely being watched by The Community. If I attacked Mr. Kenan now, they would intervene again. This was probably why Mr. Kenan was so calm. I couldn''t risk having put in a disadvantage if we got into a fight. I had to stand back.


    I thought about it for a moment and put the knife away. For now, I was not going to be hostile. But still, I couldn''t hold my thoughts back.


    "I will never trust you ever again." I told him.


    "I know you won''t." he replied. "I know..." he repeated a few times.


    I walked towards the body of my student. I wanted to pick her up and carry her out of the building, but Mr. Kenan interrupted.


    "Leave her there." he said.


    "What will we do about her?" I asked, pointing at the body. We couldn''t just leave it laying there.


    "I will handle it myself, don''t worry." he said. "You should go. It has been a long day. You''ve been through a lot, but I envy you. You''ve managed to accomplish the hardest task among all of us. That will be it for today."


    "No." I told him. "She is my student, I have to be here! Besides, her parents-"


    "Her parents and the people that knew her will be okay." the sound was coming from the intercom.


    "For some reason, that didn''t make me feel any better about it." I said loudly. "And how will it be okay? How will anyone be able to explain a missing student?"


    "If it was some other time, you would be running away from this place without even looking back. Did you suddenly start liking this place or what?" the voice replied. She probably wasn''t happy about me being so curious about the ''cleaning-up'' process. "And... what missing student?" she added.


    "What do you mean ''what missing student''!?" I yelled. "Oh, don''t tell me. Do you really-"


    "Please... Please stop. Please stop it and go home, I beg you." said Mr. Kenan. "Take your knife and go. It will be better for you if you don''t know all the details. It will only bring you pain."


    I glanced at him and walked out of the restroom.


    "You will not touch my students ever again." I said as I walked away.


    - - -


    It was past midnight when I finally got in the bed. I rolled over left and right... I couldn''t sleep. How could I sleep? I couldn''t stop thinking about her... My lovely student. How could I let this happen to her? How did I guide her into her death chamber myself?


    The pain of loss and guilt was hurting me deep inside. I could still hear her cheerful voice echoing in my mind... Tomorrow, as I come in front of the door of her classroom, she wouldn''t suddenly appear next to me anymore.


    Thinking about all these, tears were forming in my eyes. I was crying in my room, silently.


    With no doubt, my students were the most valuable beings in my life. I couldn''t let this happen again, yet... I was powerless. I was helpless, alone... I knew that being depressed and mourning for the losses wouldn''t help me. I knew that I had to let go of the past and start making plans for the future. I knew all of that, but I couldn''t help it.


    For that moment, I only wanted to sleep. I had to get rid of my thoughts.


    I rolled in the bed to my right side once more, trying to get physical comfort.


    Suddenly, my dark room got brighter. My phone''s screen lit up. Someone was calling me.


    "It''s way past midnight." I murmured in frusturation. "Who could it be?"


    I got out of my bed and started walking across my room to pick the phone up. With the blinding brightness of the phone in the dark, I squeezed my eyes and kept walking towards the light. I picked the phone up from the small table. I couldn''t read anything on the screen, but I could barely locate the green button to answer the call.


    "Hello." I said in a broken, sleepy voice.


    There was no answer, but a lot of white noise on the phone.


    "Hello? Who am I talking to?" I asked a few times.


    "T-teacher?"

 63 Forgotten

    The sound was familiar. In fact, it was a bit too familiar; familiar enough to be scary. Even though I recognised the voice, I couldn''t help asking to confirm.


    "Who... am I talking to?" I asked.


    "No! You too... It can''t be! Have you forgotten me already?" she said with a sad voice. "Tell me teacher, do you not recognise me?"


    I didn''t want to say that I did recognise her. That was way too hard to believe.


    "I... I suppose I do." I finally said.


    "That''s relieving." she said. "I knew it. I knew it!"


    "I''m having a hard time understanding what is going on, so please be patient with me." I said.


    How? How could it be? It was Cansu''s voice. My lovely student that I sent into death... She was talking to me on the phone. Actually, I was already used to that part; but I was at home, far away from the cursed school building. How could she be with me here?


    "Teacher, please tell me that I exist!" she begged in excitement. "I exist, right?"


    "Of course you do." I told her without hesitation. "Look-" I was about to say something to her, but she started speaking before I did.


    "No one knows me anymore, but you." she said. She was sobbing.


    "What do you mean?" I asked her.


    "Even my parents have forgotten about me." she said.


    "Tell me more, are you serious? What does that mean?" I insisted.


    "While you were in bed, I secretly used your phone to call my parents. They did not recognise me, they kept telling me that I''ve been calling the wrong number." That sentence alone brought many questions to mind.


    "By the way, sorry about using your phone." she said.


    "How are you here?" I asked her.


    "I feel okay when I''m with you." she said.


    "No, sorry, I meant... How did you come here? How did you get out of the building?" I changed the question.


    "Oh... If I were left there, I wouldn''t possibly find any comfort among those evil spirits." she said.


    "Uhm..." I was about to try to apologise to her.


    "No." she said like she already knew what I was about to say. "Don''t. I know it is not your fault. You are not responsible for my death. Well, not entirely anyway... But stop worrying about that right now."


    "Will you ever forgive me?" I asked, crying silently.


    "You don''t need to be forgiven. You were only doing what you thought was the best for me." I didn''t have a clue how, but she surely knew a lot more than I expected from her. Maybe death gives one a lot of freedom to learn everything...


    "But still... You didn''t fully answer me. How are you here? How did you get out of the building?" I asked again. If she could do that, The Community could be on top of me as well, without me even knowing it. It was a horrible possibility.


    "While we were holding each other closely at the last seconds of my life, I let myself get trapped with your body instead of the building. I''m telling you, if I were left there, I wouldn''t be able to..."


    "WAIT!" I yelled. "You are inside me!?"


    "NO!! Don''t say it teacher, that''s a very disturbing way to put it!" she yelled in an embarrased tone. "It''s not that simple."


    "Then, please enlighten me, I want to know!" I said.


    "Well..." she said, and paused. "Okay, maybe it is sort of like that, but just... please don''t mention it that way."


    "Alright, alright..." I said and sighed. "How did you use the phone though? I thought-"


    "You can''t use your phone inside the building because The Community prevents it. While I''m here, I have the power of using devices for outside communication." she answered. "Isn''t that cool?" That cheerful comment came out of nowhere.


    "Hold on a moment. If you can do that... How many ghostly beings are there flying randomly around the world? How do regular people not notice you when you interact with physical things here and there?" I asked.


    "No, no, you got it all wrong. It IS about the curse of the building. The only ''ghostly beings'' that are trapped somewhere on this world belongs to those souls who have died in that building. Having crossed that line and travelled all the way here with you... I''m the only one that made it out somehow, I believe." she said.


    "What about the other souls who died outside the building? What happens to them?" I asked.


    "They just... you know, die. They do have an effect when you are, for example, passing across a cemetery alone that makes you feel a bit weird, but that''s about it. There is nothing more to it that I know. That''s mostly because the modern settlements are bursting with people, even if people don''t live in apartments. For you to notice something for real, you probably need to live alone in a lonely house in countryside." she said. Even she wasn''t sure what she was saying, so I didn''t want to really force her.


    "But that''s not how things happen in the school building, is it?" I asked. Something was just not adding up.


    "It''s because hundreds of poor souls are trapped in that one place, like a cemetery; except that unlike the said building, they don''t exactly get ''trapped'' in cemeteries, but they do get trapped inside that building." she said. "But none of them are innocent now, and they intentionally want to interact with the world, so this is why it looks like hell breaks loose in that place only."


    I had a long moment to process everything. Having encountered a spirit outside of the building was shocking enough already, but everything she told me just now... That was too much for me to fully understand, especially when I was sleepy.


    "So..." I said and changed the subject. "Does no one really recognise you?"


    "No. No one. No one but you know me." she replied. "That is, of course, if we don''t count Mr. Kenan and The Community."


    "How did that happen? How does that work even?" I asked.


    "The Community is truly a powerful mystical entity." she said. "Even though you think you know a lot about them, there a lot of stuff that you still don''t know. Even I don''t know."


    "Hey." I said. "Excuse me, but how do you know so much? Did you learn all of this in just a few hours? The curse, The Community, what I''ve been trying to do all this time..."


    "When you are up here, you can see every dimension in multiple dimensions." she said.


    "I was your maths teacher just a few hours ago, yet even I didn''t understand anything from what you just said about dimensions." I answered.


    "I know, silly." she said. "I know you didn''t. You can''t know everything. You don''t need to." That was pretty similar to what Mr. Kenan was used to tell me before.


    "Woah there!" I yelled. "You can''t boss me around just because you are no longer-"


    "You are truly an amusing idiot, teacher." she said and laughed.


    "Cut it already." I sighed. She kept laughing for a while. Even in this serious moment... She wasn''t ever going to change, eh?


    "Besides, a few hours isn''t that short. And Mr. Kenan might not be a very bad person after all. I... I believe he did what he did out of compulsion." she said. I sighed again.


    "You talked to him?" I asked.


    "He told me a lot of stuff while he was ''operating'' on me. Maybe he was just talking to himself, but I happened to hear it all anyway." she said.


    "You were awake during the operation!?" I yelled in my renewed shock.


    "Perhaps barely. I didn''t feel or see much." she said. But that was still horrible... If that was true, Mr. Kenan''s plan was doomed from the very beginning.


    We didn''t talk for a while while I thought about it.


    "Hey, teacher." she said, softly.


    "What is it?" I asked.


    "Are you going to return there tomorrow?" she asked.


    "You mean, the school?" I asked back.


    "Yeah." she said.


    "Of course I will. I need to, I''m a teacher. Even if no one recognises you, your friends will still be there." I told her.


    "Please don''t, I beg you! I don''t want to go!" she started crying.


    "But if I don''t-"


    "How can you have the courage to go back there everyday, knowing so much about the curse and all!?" she asked.


    "Somebody has to stop it." I said. "Please help me in my quest so no one ever shares the same fate with us. Your friends are out there."


    "I... I will think about it." she replied.


    We went silent again.


    I activated my phone''s screen to take a look at the time, but even at the dimmest setting, I almost went blind. I waited a bit while my eyes adjusted for the light. It was a bit past 2 o''clock.


    "I really need to get some sleep this time." I said to myself.


    "Good night, teacher." she said.


    "You will keep calling me teacher, huh?" I asked her.


    "Nothing matters, you are my teacher." she replied. "Just go to sleep."


    I ended the phone call and let my phone slip away from my hands. Yawning, I got inside my bed and closed my eyes.

 64 Alone

    I woke up very early in the morning with a back pain. I was in my room, laying on the floor instead of my bed.


    "I guess I won''t be getting any sleep today either." I murmured. I slowly got up and went to the kitchen to have a glass of water. Just when I was about to drink it, I stopped.


    Everything that happened this night... Did all of that really happen or was I dreaming the whole time? It wasn''t common for me to remember my dreams, but still, I wasn''t sure. How could I test it?


    The spirits could use many methods to communicate with me, but I couldn''t simply call them with my phone, could I? Maybe nothing was happening at all, I was simply dreaming and making things up...


    My thoughts flew away from my head when I felt something cold on my stomach. I froze in horror for a second, and then looked down.


    It was a moment of relief and disappointment.


    I had done it. While spacing out, I had spilled my glass of water all over the place. It was annoying, but at least it wasn''t blood or something equally horrifying. I had really become so paranoid recently... I pitied myself.


    I barely ate anything for breakfast, got out out of my home and headed for the bus station.


    - - -


    Another horrible day at the school was about to begin, with my inner voice yelling at me not to go in there, and most people being completely oblivious of anything going around in the building. As I was approaching the building, my phone started ringing.


    "It''s this early in the morning, give me a break..." I sighed and grabbed the phone. I looked at the screen and stopped walking. There was a heart shape on the screen in the form of ASCII art. I looked at the heart for a while and then answered the call.


    "Did you like my heart, teacher?" It was Cansu''s voice.


    "So, this night... It was all real!" I accidentally raised my voice.


    "I guessed you would say that." she said. "I thought you would have an appropriate sleeping schedule since you sued to advise that to us in every opportunity."


    "You must be kidding." I said. "You just literally DIED that day!"


    "No big deal, I didn''t exist anyway." she said. The nerves of this girl...


    "Stop saying that. You exist." I told her.


    "You will have to behave like I didn''t ever exist, or people will start making fun of you." she said.


    "Okay, okay, I get it." I replied involuntarily. It was useless to argue.


    "Well, I never asked about it..." she changed the subject. "What exactly is our plan of action?"


    "Today, they will try to bring in another student for operation. I will prevent that no matter what." I said.


    "Teacher, I know that much already." she replied. "But how?"


    "I think... I think I will send that student home some way." I said. I really haven''t thought about that.


    "Well, good luck with doing that every day." she said. "What an idiot airhead."


    She was right to complain, so I didn''t say anything to her. I ended the call and put my phone back into my pocket.


    As always, the building was mostly empty when I arrived. Now, I had to find Mr. Kenan and learn about the identity of the next student. I headed for the chemistry lab, hoping to find him there. But when I arrived, the door was locked. I knocked the door a few times and shouted.


    "Kenan! Are you in there?"


    I got no reply. I helplessly turned around and headed for the teachers'' room. Oddly enough, the teachers'' room was locked as well.


    "Eh? What is going on here? They would never lock this room." I said. I did not know what to do, there seemed to be no one around. I aimlessly started walking around the building.


    I stopped and glanced inside when I came in front of the open door of the library. There seemed to be no one inside.


    "Perhaps I can sit and wait in there for a while." I thought. I slowly stepped inside the library and closed the door which was left open. I walked ahead and started inspecting the books on shelves. Thinking of it, this was my first time ever entering the school''s library as a teacher.


    On the shelves on my right, there were some books like Nineteen Eighty Four, Brave New World and Animal Farm; on my right, there were many geography books, maps and similar material. Among all these books, there was one particular book which was misplaced that quickly caught my eye. I grabbed the book to take a look at it, but just when I lifted it up, it''s pages began falling apart. In panic, I quickly put the book down and started collecting the pages.


    After I collected all the pages, I brought everything to a table. I started trying to place the missing pages to their appropriate places by looking at the page numbers. It was very hard to do since the book''s leather cover was also damaged, almost falling apart like the pages inside. There was no doubt the book was very old.


    While I was busy doing that, I was trying to read some of the book in the process to have an idea about it''s content. But unfortunately, it was written in a language that I couldn''t understand. From the looks of it, I would say it was Latin, but I wasn''t sure. In some pages, there were weird drawings; stars, triangles, circles... I couldn''t guess what it was all about.


    While I was focused on one of the shapes, I heard something and jumped in panic, rolling the table over and making a lot of noise. I thought I was alone in the library, so I was shocked when I heard someone.


    "Who is it?" I said nervously. I had taken a book from it''s place without asking anyone, so I was feeling a bit guilty, especially after causing it''s pages to fall apart a second time just now.


    No one answered me as I looked around curiously.


    I was startled when I heard something on my right side. Random books started falling off their shelves with no apparent reason. I walked backwards and crumpled up in a corner, as far away from the shelves as possible. I put my hands above my head, waiting for it to end.


    The entire library began squeaking.


    I closed my eyes.


    Something touched my hands.

 65 The Librarian

    "Mister!"


    Even with my eyes closed, I could feel that there was someone in front of me.


    "Hey!"


    I opened my eyes and looked up to that person. He was a rather old man with white hair and beard. He was looking at me behind his brown, round glasses. I couldn''t understand if he was angry, or if it was his neutral face expression. I slowly got up from the spot I''ve crumpled up to.


    "I can confidently say that I''ve never seen you before. Who are you?" he said.


    "I... Well, that''s true, it''s my first year in the school." I nervously answered.


    "I see, you are a new teacher." he said. "What are you doing here this early in the morning?"


    "Well, I saw the door open, so I thought I could take a look inside..." I tried to explain myself.


    "That didn''t seem quite like that, but I will believe you." he said.


    "Actually, I was a bit frightened of all the books falling off, and the sudden noises all around the room. I thought I was alone in here, so I was a bit startled." I told him.


    "You are never alone in the library." he said and turned away.


    "H-hey!" I said. He turned back around and looked at me.


    "Did you need something?" he asked.


    "Actually, I have a few questions." I said. He grumbled and came closer to me.


    "May you introduce yourself? I''ve never seen you in the teachers'' room." I told him.


    "I am not a teacher." he said. "I take care of this library, hence, people usually refer to me as ''The Librarian''."


    "Don''t you have a name?" I asked him. He looked at me like I''ve said something wrong, and avoided the question like he didn''t hear me. I didn''t ask him again.


    "Is there anything else?" he asked.


    "No, I... Actually, yes, one more thing." I said. "I found a book laying around in the library, but it''s cover was damaged. I would like to learn more about that book."


    He raised his eyebrows.


    "Which book is that you are talking about?" he asked. "Can you show me?"


    "Of course." I replied and started walking towards the wooden table, where I have left the book. The table was rolled over, and the book was on the ground; just like how I left it. Some pages were scattered around on the floor.


    "It was this one." showed him and leaned down to collect the pages from the floor. He suddenly held me by my shoulders and pulled me back.


    "Don''t touch that book!" he yelled. I was startled.


    "Why?" I asked him. "Because it is cursed?" Although I was joking, the possibility wasn''t too far-fetched because of all the weird drawings found all around the book. It could very well be some sort of ritual guide belonging to a secret cult.


    "No." the librarian answered, calmly. "Because it''s pages fall apart very easily."


    "They already did, unfortunately." I told him, showing the pages I was trying to collect. He looked at the pages on the ground, and grumpled.


    "Then we have to collect them." he said. "I hope we didn''t lose any pages."


    "That''s what I was just about to do." I angrily murmured. He didn''t hear me. We started collecting the pages and put them on the table we lifted off the ground and straightened up. When I was about to open the leather cover, the librarian held my arm.


    "Leave it to me." he said and pulled the book away from me. I stared at him in frusturation, trying to imply how annoying his behaviour was. He silently looked away, turned his back to me and started putting the pages back inside the book.


    "What?" he finally said. "What are you looking at?"


    "Can I take a look at that book?" I asked him.


    "No. I can''t lend it." he said.


    "I won''t take it away." I told him. "I just want to take a look."


    "No." he replied.


    "But why!?" I raised my voice. "Then, why is that book in the library? What is the point of this?"


    "Mr. Kenan''s request." he said. "I can''t give it to anyone without his permission."


    Now, I had some questions to ask Mr. Kenan instead.


    "What is the name of the book?" I asked The Librarian.


    "I don''t know." he said. I sighed.


    "How long have you been working here?" I asked him.


    "Why did you ask?" he asked in return.


    "Well..." I said. "I graduated from this school. I don''t ever remember having a librarian dedicated to the job. Either the teachers or the literature club would take care of the library, within school hours."


    He stopped working on getting the book''s pages back together and looked at me.


    "It is not really my job after all." he said. He stood up, took the book with him and walked away between shelves of books. I didn''t follow him. After a while, I couldn''t hear anything from him. He was gone.


    "Hey!" I yelled. Nothing happened.


    With my curiosity unsatisfied, I slowly walked out of the library.


    During the time I spent in the library, people had began arriving at school. Hallways were filled with students. I made my way to the teachers'' room, exchanging a few ''good morning''s on my way with some students.


    I got inside the teachers'' room. All the teachers were busy doing something except Sinem, who was sleeping on the chair. It was wonderful how she could get herself so comfortable in that position.


    I looked around to see someone I could bother before the beginning of the lesson. I noticed Okan reading and revising some of his own notes for the upcoming lesson. I walked up to him and put my hands on his shoulders. He slowly looked up and saw me.


    "Good morning." I said.


    "Good morning." he replied. "While you are at it..." He moved his shoulders. "...could you please push it a little, from there?"


    I started massaging his shoulders.


    "What are you doing?" I asked him.


    "You know, I was imagining scenarios on how I could teach limits the best way." he replied.


    "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?" I said.


    "Go on." he said. "It would be a good morning excersize nonetheless."


    "No, it''s not mathematics." I said.


    "Oh? Well..." he said. "In any case, I''m listening. Just ask away."


    "How well do you know The Librarian?" I asked him.


    "Come again please... Who?" he asked me.


    "The Librarian."


    "Excuse me... The what?"

 66 Renewal of Madness

    "Don''t you know The Librarian?" I asked him, a little shocked.


    "Dude, we don''t have a librarian." Okan answered.


    "I just literally talked to him!" I told him.


    "You did?"


    "Yes, why won''t you believe me?"


    "How was he like?" he asked.


    "He was a rather old, dour man. He had glasses and a distinctive white beard." I tried to describe.


    His expression changed as he tried to think of someone like I described.


    "One of the literature teachers probably played a prank on you." he finally said. "Though, I must say, I don''t really know anyone fitting to your description."


    The bell rang, indicating the first lesson was about to begin. Okan jumped from his chair.


    "Anyway, we shouldn''t be late." he said.


    "Later." I said and headed to the classroom. I had lots of things going on in my mind, it was definitely not going to be an easy lesson for me. I stopped in front of the classroom''s door, trying to clear my mind and concentrate on my job. I looked around the mostly empty hallway and inhaled deeply.


    My phone started vibrating.


    "Such nice timing to call me..." I said and picked the phone up.


    There she was. The ASCII heart shape was covering the entire screen. I had almost forgotten about her. I answered the call.


    "Hey teacher!" Her voice was cheerful as always.


    "Hey, the lesson is about to begin, so if you could just let me-" I didn''t know what she was about to say, but I tried to postpone the conversation. She didn''t even listen to me.


    "I was really wondering, teacher... Do you have a crush on that door or something?" Of course, that was what she wanted to say. What could I expect from her? Even after her death, she came out of nowhere.


    "Why won''t you stop making fun of me?" I was begging her at this point.


    "Just admit it, teacher; you like this door a bit too much." She kept going. "I mean, it is sort of weird, but completely acceptable compared to all the stuff I saw on the internet."


    I didn''t reply to her and I was about to end the call. She suddenly yelled at me.


    "TEACHER!"


    I sighed.


    "What? Don''t keep me here, I have a lesson." I said, trying to sound angry.


    "I don''t exist anymore, remember?" she said, and the call ended before I could say anything.


    I put the phone back to my pocket and entered the classroom. As usual, I opened up the student list to check if there was anyone absent. While doing that, I read the entire list from top to bottom a few times. She was right. Her name was no longer in the list.


    Without noticing it, I had wordlessly stared at the list for five minutes before I started the lesson.


    - - -


    After the end of the eventless lesson, I ran downstairs to the chemistry lab, without paying any attention to the students looking at me with curious eyes. I had a lot of questions to ask Mr. Kenan.


    I tried to open the door of the lab, but it was locked.


    "What is going on here?" I murmured. "Mr. Kenan!" I yelled. After that, I heard a few sounds inside the lab. The door was unlocked, but no one opened it. After a moment of hesitation, I opened the door myself. But just as I pushed the door open, I was pulled inside. I stumbled and fell down. I heard the door closing and locking up again.


    I immediately tried to get up, but someone held me from my shoulders and pushed me against a wall behind me. I finally saw the man; he was Mr. Kenan himself. I had no idea if he was trying to attack me or protect me from something, because in both cases, his behaviour would be similar.


    I didn''t take the risk and pushed him away at the first opportunity.


    Just then, I heard something from the room at the back of the lab. Someone else was in here.


    Mr. Kenan stopped trying to deal with me and ran inside that small room, locking himself in. I tried to follow him, but I wasn''t fast enough. I hit the door a few times.


    "What are you doing? Open the door!" I began shouting.


    I could hear metallic/mechanical sounds coming from the room.


    "Whatever you are doing right now is a really bad idea!" I yelled.


    The mechanical noises stopped.


    "I... That''s more like it." I said. "Can we just talk for a minute?"


    He didn''t reply to me. First, I heard a buzzing sound, and second, a scream. The scream didn''t belong to Mr. Kenan, but someone much younger. I got away from the door in terror. After several seconds of thinking, I kicked the door. No matter what, I had to stop Mr. Kenan.


    The third time I kicked the door, I created a crack at the corner of the door. I tried to peek inside from the hole.


    I didn''t have a nice viewing angle, but judging by the amount of blood in the room, I could say that Mr. Kenan had lost his mind.


    I looked around the lab to find something that could be used as a non-lethal weapon, but I couldn''t see anything I could confidently use. I kept kicking the door to break it open, but I was quickly exhausted.


    After a while, the room got completely silent, just like my hopes of rescuing whoever was in that room.


    My phone started rang. I stepped away from the door and picked the phone up.


    "You are really enthusiastic about making bad choices." said The Voice.


    "I no longer have a reason to talk to you." I said. "Unlike what you think, we don''t have a common goal."


    The Voice didn''t say anything in return.


    I started hearing something behind me. The sound was similar to that of boiling water, but it was very loud. I looked behind me to see what was happening. There was a bit of steam accumulating in the lab, and there was a very bright white light coming from the shelves. I approached the light to see everything clearly. There was something in one of the beakers filled with water; it was shining and outgassing. I had no idea what the chemical was, so as soon as I realised what was going on, I got away from the shelves.


    "If you say so." said The Voice. "Good luck standing in our way. I hope your death will be painless."


    Even though I was brave enough to say all those things, I was more than stupid enough to antagonize them right now.


    Suddenly, the beaker blew up, scattering glass and chemical all over the lab. Whatever the substance was, it was really hot. It was getting much harder to breathe.


    "Stop!" The sound came from my phone. It wasn''t The Voice, it was Cansu.


    "YOU ARE STILL HERE!"


    It was the first time I heard The Voice so surprised.

 67 Final Delivery

    "It is true." she said. "I am back... and the war is already lost, Your Highness." Cansu was openly challenging the entire Community, like I already haven''t done that stupidity just a few moments ago.


    "You have no power here." replied The Voice. "We easily outnumber and outpower you."


    "You have no power anywhere but here." replied Cansu. I dived into the conversation to stop Cansu from antagonizing The Community any further.


    "What are you doing, are you out of your mind!?" I asked her.


    "From now on, just do as I say." said Cansu.


    "Who put you in charge, and what is going on!?" I yelled.


    "Eh, teacher, I figured out that you don''t have a plan and you don''t know what you are doing in general. You were about to get yourself killed a few times by now, so from now on, just follow my plan." she calmly tried to explain to me.


    "And what exactly is your plan?" I asked her. I didn''t want to blindly put myself into weird situations by following a random plan she randomly made.


    "For the first step, RUN!" she yelled. "RUN OUT OF THE LAB, QUICK!"


    Without considering the door being locked, I started running. Just when I arrived, the door suddenly unlocked. I was out of the lab, in the hallway. After I got out and took a deep breath, I held to phone by my ear again.


    "What did just happen? How did I get out?" I asked.


    "You know, I have some magical abilities myself too." she replied. "Be glad to have me on your side."


    "You could tell me beforehand." I told her. "Don''t do everything by yourself."


    "Fine, fine... But you owe me one." she said. "Or actually, I think you owe me two."


    "Right..." I sighed. "So, what is your plan, exactly?"


    "You will not like it." she replied.


    "I know I probably won''t." I said. "Just tell me, I don''t like not knowing things either."


    "For now, just stay with crowds of people in order to avoid The Community. Never return to the lab." she said.


    "I really wanted to talk to Mr. Kenan." I said.


    "Teacher... Why do you think he spends all his time alone there?" Cansu said. "Because it is one of the only places where The Community has power during school time. Mr. Kenan was their ''ambassador'', remember?"


    "I am really amazed by your knowledge on the situation." I told her.


    "Oh, well, about that... I- I think I can tell the truth now." she said.


    "What do you mean by that?" I asked him.


    "Now that I''m trapped with you, I can sort of... read your mind." Cansu said. I didn''t reply to her and thought about it. Could it be dangerous in any way?


    "Why didn''t you tell me before?" I asked her. "Why did you keep it a secret?"


    "Because I thought you could be scared of me, and you would be reluctant to trust me." she said. She wasn''t wrong to worry about that, but she already had gained my trust by now. "You pervert." she whispered.


    "Shut up." I replied. "Let''s focus on the plan, please."


    "Oh, okay. So, the plan consists-"


    "Wait." I interrupted. "Before we begin, there is something I wanted to ask you. Why did The Community got so excited when you appeared?"


    "They thought they had me trapped inside the building like them. They had no idea I escaped from them using your body as a vessel. And now, since we don''t occupy the same enclosed space with The Community, I can be dangerous to them by going to places where they don''t have any power."


    "I can''t say I completely understood what is going on, but... let''s continue with the plan, shall we?" I said.


    "Okay, listen." she said. Just when she was about to begin explaining, the bell rang. The next lesson was about to begin.


    "Well, too bad." she said. "Just go now, I will tell you about it when you get home."


    "Understood, Miss." I replied.


    "And remember, don''t return to the lab!"


    "I get it, I get it." I said and headed to the classroom.


    - - -


    After the end of the last lesson, I grabbed my suitcase and left the building as soon as I could. Without even looking back for a second, I hastily walked away from the school, towards the bus stop.


    The bus stop was completely empty, but at least I was far away from the school. Besides, I had the protection of Cansu now. I couldn''t help feeling a bit relieved. There was still some time until the arrival of the bus, so I sat there and tried to rest.


    I closed my eyes and started listening to the soft breezes of the light wind. I''ve never felt that good for months...


    I opened my eyes when I heard footsteps in the distance.


    I got up from the bench and looked around. I saw someone walking to the bus stop. He was coming from the same path I used to walk away from the school, but I couldn''t recognise him from that distance. I sat down on the bench again.


    The footsteps got closer, and the man stopped walking we he got near me. He didn''t say anything.


    I nervously turned around to look at him. It was the man who introduced himself as ''The Librarian'' this morning.


    "Hello." I said.


    "Here." he said and showed me a book. "I fixed it all up."


    I slowly grabbed the book from his hands. It was that old book with the leather cover I found laying around in the library.


    I started hearing an engine sound in the distance. The bus was about to arrive.


    "I''m afraid I will have to go now." The Librarian told me.


    "Actually, I''m going to get on the same bus, so-" he didn''t even listen to me and walked away for a while as I curiously watched him.


    The bus'' blinkers turned on as it began approaching the bus stop.


    After a moment, an jarring brake. The sounds of the windshield shattering into pieces, and bones piercing into the thin metal chassis... A shower of crimson blood on to the driver and the passengers sitting in the front of the bus... The body of The Librarian being dragged on the asphalt with the momentum of the bus, ripping his skin apart...


    He had jumped in front of the speeding bus with little time for the driver to react.


    I could hear the screams of terrified passengers, and the chatter from those who couldn''t realise what just happened. Meanwhile, the driver and I were frozen solid, looking at the body of The Librarian. The poor driver just had the trauma of his life.


    Overwhelmed by the horror and depression, I collapsed on the ground.

 68 The Book

    It was late night. I had just got off the bus, walking on the sidewalk towards my home; trying to protect the pages of the leather-covered book from the gentle rain.


    Every time I looked at the book, I couldn''t get that horrifying view out of my mind. I had witnessed similar scenes before, but this one had scarred me a lot more. It was completely unexpected, and it had happened somewhere I thought I would be safe from all the terror. On top of that; it was not a murder, it was a suicide. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the book, or Mr. Kenan...


    I got home and threw my suitcase to a corner. After the bus crash and the arrival of an ambulance, the police had interrogated a lot of eye witnesses, because there were no cameras on either the bus or the bus stop. I had to wait for the end of the interrogation and the arrival of another bus, so it was pretty late, and I was really tired. But I couldn''t wait to learn more about that book The Librarian gave me today.


    I sat by the table in the kitchen and opened the first page of the book.


    Like before, I couldn''t understand the language it was written in. After staring at the page in confusion, I began turning the pages, searching for drawings like those I had seen before while I was looking at the book in the library. Maybe I could manage to make something meaningful out of those shapes.


    I finally found a page filled with seemingly random shapes. The shapes were imperfect, they were clearly drawn by hand. Some parts of the drawings were distorted, the ink had dispersed. As I continued examining the book, I noticed that some pages were torn in half. A lot of stuff were missing.


    I began staring at the pages without being able to grasp anything, sitting at the same position for almost half an hour.


    "Of course, you idiot." I said myself. I could just manage to think of using the online translation service on my phone. I grabbed my phone, connected to the internet and tried to type in the writings on the pages; but I could find nothing useful. The language was unknown, there was no way to translate it.


    I was left with a single option; I had to find Mr. Kenan tomorrow and ask him about the book, which was almost impossible at the current situation. He was mad and crazy. Perhaps it was time for him to retire...


    My phone started ringing. My guess was correct, it was Cansu. But this time, there was something different; the heart shape on my phone''s screen was broken in half. What could that mean?


    Without thinking too long, I answered the call.


    "Hi."


    "Hello, teacher." Her voice wasn''t so cheerful this time.


    "Is there something wrong? What did I do?" I asked.


    "You didn''t do anything wrong... I am just disappointed with our general inability with helping people." she replied. "Someone died today."


    "Yes. It was a horrific scene. He just gave-"


    "I wasn''t talking about that man in the library." she interrupted. "Someone else died in the lab today, and we couldn''t save him."


    "I... I know. I tried." I said.


    "I know you did. We did our best. But sometimes, our best isn''t enough." she said.


    "What is your point?" I asked her.


    "We can''t fight The Community by ourselves. I can read some of your thoughts... Just, no matter what you do, don''t go and search for Mr. Kenan anymore." she said.


    "I have to know what this book is about." I told her.


    "What is the big deal? Why do you think that this book is so important?" she asked me. I couldn''t reply.


    "Do you think it somehow has a connection with the suicide of The Librarian?" she asked.


    "Perhaps. I don''t know." I said. "I don''t know what to expect; but if Mr. Kenan really had told him to not give the book to anyone, there must be a good reason. He might be crazy, but he is a clever man."


    "I can only hope that we find out soon enough." she replied. "I don''t like watching all the events happening around us with my arms tied behind my back."


    "Me neither."


    "Wait, what is that?" she suddenly got excited.


    "What is what?" I asked her. "I can''t see you, I don''t know what you are looking at."


    "There is something on the top right corner of a page. Look closely."


    I carefully inspected the book. Cansu was right; around the middle of the book, corners of a few pages were folded. I carefully turned the pages to take a look.


    On the page, there was a clear handwriting I could understand. I curiously started reading it.


    ''-DECRYPTED OUTPUT STARTS HERE-


    Passages and Doors / Recovered Passwords / Date Recovered


    Cafeteria Enterance / <no pass> ------------ / <->


    Library Enterance--- / <no pass> ----------- / <->


    Quarantine Wrn.--- / <no pass> ------------ / <->


    Facility Main------- / 4864 ------------------- / 5-3-1981


    -------------------- / 1599235 ---------------- / 19-5-1981


    -------------------- / CCD3301 --------------- / <unknown>


    -------------------- / 0028255ATG ----------- / 7-10-1984


    -------------------- / GCC101-SRT65 -------- / 25-4-1997


    Cell Wing A ------ / RTE-PT 0976 ----------- / 9-1-1976


    ------------------- / FRT-AC 3334 ------------ / 18-5-1981


    Cell Wing B ----- / <unknown> ------------- / <->


    Armory ---------- / <no pass>--------------- / <->


    Medical Storage/ 77134865092 ----------- / 18-4-1995


    M-Railway ------ / 1093356 ----------------- / 20-5-1981


    ------------------ /


    ----------- / 25-4-1986


    N-Railway ----> out of service


    -DECRYPTED OUTPUT ENDS HERE-''


    I looked at the page for a while without saying anything. Cansu broke the long silence.


    "What do you think?" she asked me.


    "What is this?" I asked her in return.


    "Why don''t we take a look at the other pages?" she suggested. "There are some other folded pages."


    I turned the page. In the next part, there were some drawings which looked like maps. On closer inspection, I noticed their labels.


    ''Facility Enterance - Layer 1''


    ''Facility Enterance - Layer 2''


    "This... This can''t be! This is a treasure!" I yelled.


    "This really is a map of the underground facility." Cansu confirmed. "You are right that this IS a treasure, but it is also very disturbing..."


    "Why?" I asked.


    "Why did that man give this to you? There must be a lot more to this ''Librarian'' that we don''t know... and maybe we will never know." she said.


    "This still doesn''t explain the suicide." I said.


    "Look." she said. "These writings are very new compared to the rest of the book. The ''decrypted'' part. Maybe before he gave the book to you, he took his time writing all those stuff in an understandable way."


    "But... But why!?" I was repeating the same questions over and over again. There was no explanation of the actions of The Librarian.


    "We shall know soon enough." Cansu replied. "I mean, tomorrow."

 69 Sacrifice

    "What will happen tomorrow?" I asked.


    "We will be going in." she replied.


    "Don''t tell me... Are you suggesting that we should go down there, into the underground facility!?" I yelled.


    "Yes, teacher; that is correct. You will bring me down there tomorrow." she said.


    "Are you mad?" I asked her. She was a bit too curious and brave.


    "Is there a problem?" she calmly asked.


    "I am not going down there ever again." I said.


    "Well, I am sorry to say that I will have to bring you down there too if I want to go." she said.


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "I am trapped within you, teacher. Forgot about it already?" she said.


    "No, Miss; but this is MY body. And I am not planning to put it into any unnecessary risks." I told her.


    "So... Perhaps there is a bit of truth in what The Community says. What Idil once said." she said.


    "What are you talking about? And how do you even know Idil? I never mentioned her." I was getting more confused every second.


    "You can''t make risky sacrifices. Maybe it is not that you don''t want to help... You just can''t do it." she said.


    I didn''t say anything for a while. I was really sleepy and tired, but I couldn''t just evade this conversation.


    "And, about Idil..." she continued. "You ocassionally think about her."


    Another moment of silence.


    "But... What if it doesn''t work? Then we will have nothing left to sacrifice." I finally said. "It will be all for nothing."


    "If it doesn''t work, then nothing will." Cansu said. "You see, many years... You couldn''t bring an end to this madness by fighting The Community on the surface. It''s because the real cause of problems are literally down below... Underground."


    I sighed.


    "If you don''t want to go down there, I can understand that. Really, I can. And I can''t force you to do something that you are not willing to do. But, please remember... This time, if you don''t do it, I will never forgive you. I will never forgive you for my death, and many others. And I will be silently judging you through your entire life as I watch you grow old and die with all the burden."


    What was going on with her? I''ve never seen her talking like that.


    "What is so important about this facility anyway?" I asked. "I mean... I''ve seen some of it myself, but I can''t seem to understand what you are trying to do by getting in there."


    "Members of The Community usually avoid going down there." she said. "Do you know why?"


    "Why?" I asked. "And how do you even know that?"


    "There are parts in your memory that you don''t pay a lot of attention to. I''m only bringing them to surface, and you think I know a lot more than you do." she said. "Anyway, this ''why'' part is what I''m wondering... We will go down there to discover and do something about it."


    "But I''ve encountered with The Voice when I was down in the facility." I said.


    "''Usually'' doesn''t mean ''always'', you idiot. And, if you can remember clearly, it was more like a goodbye." she said.


    There was yet another moment of silence. I was taking my time trying to comprehend everything.


    "Anyway, what will you do? We have a book, we know the way down there." she said.


    "There is one more cause of concern on my side..." I said. "What if it is a trap? What if they noticed that I was now free of the implant''s effects, and they wanted to lure me back there?"


    "You found this book randomly laying around in a library. What is the big deal?" she said.


    "Yeah, but... What if? What if it was not a simple coincidence?" I said. "There was something disturbing about that so-called librarian."


    "Teacher, you know..." she couldn''t say what she wanted to. "Now you''ve got me thinking about it too." she sighed. "I would say you are just too sleepy and you couldn''t think well, but you are right after all..."


    - - -


    I woke up in the kitchen, with my phone on my face. I must''ve fallen asleep very quickly. I looked around, and I saw the book open just by my side.


    I got my phone off my face and got up.


    "Good morning."


    "WHO SAID THAT!?" I shouted in panic and got a defensive posture with reflex.


    "What? I can''t even say a good morning?"


    "Thank goodness." It was Cansu. The voice was coming from my phone, which was surprisingly not out of battery yet. "Good morning to you, too. Did you wait there all night for me to wake up?"


    "No. Actually, yes, sort of..." she said.


    I looked at the clock. It was very early in the morning. Despite being very tired yesterday, I couldn''t sleep well. But now I had to prepare to go back to the school.


    After having a really quick breakfast, I grabbed my suitcase and my phone.


    "Quit using my phone, you are draining the battery." I told Cansu.


    "Aren''t you forgetting something?" she said.


    "What?"


    "Take the book. We will need it." she said. She was right. I should''ve taken that leather-covered book with me.


    "Though, I never said I would go down into the facility. You better stop thinking about it." I told Cansu.


    I heard her coughing lightly.


    "Look... You are giving sparks of hope and wasting everyone''s time." she said. "Instead of being the weak and useless human you are, why don''t you just go kill yourself instead?"


    Her voice was dead serious. It was not some sort of sick joke. I couldn''t understand it. She was lively, lovely, cheerful... How could she become such a harsh person so suddenly?


    "Wh- what are you saying?" I said.


    "I will no longer take it easy, teacher. Do you want know what I think? It IS your fault. A lot of things are your fault. You are responsible for the death of tens of students; not only those in your own generation but many others that came after." she said.


    "Why are you-"


    "I didn''t have to dig so deep into your memories to figure this out, yet you are still refusing to understand it. You are running from responsibilities. You are so weak that you can''t face anything." she was talking very fastly. "The only reason you are alive is Mr. Kenan''s untimely, unexplainable protective behaviour. The only reason people trust you is that you stay away from the undesirable choices, and by following you, everyone stays out of harm''s way even though it is not the right choice..."


    "I think you are exaggerating." I tried to interrupt, but failed.


    "And when you are by yourself, you easily lose control if not interrupted by someone... It was Mr. Kenan who pulled your strings years before, and similarly right now, I am the only one keeping you from spiralling into a psychologic chaos." she was shouting. "Do you even think that you have freewill? Do you feel like it? What have you done yourself that could end this massacre? You always find excuses to avoid taking action when the time comes."


    "I''ve never seen it that way."


    "If you search for excuses, you will find a lot. Almost every choice has it''s risks; but it is YOUR job to manage them. You had to keep the balance of pros and cons through the necessary sacrifices, including your very own life if required." she said. "Needs of the many overweight the needs of the one."


    "I think this argument is a bit out of-"


    "You are selfish." she whispered. "You don''t really want to help, do you? You don''t care about it now that you are safe... It is just that hot burning hate towards the ones that hurt you... That rage in your heart keeps you going, am I wrong?"


    "Liar!"


    "You are not even capable of controlling your own chaos, yet you are one of the key tools for controlling the chaos inside the building. How ironic..." she said.


    "Please stop, please..."


    "Your importance in this adventure is merely an accident." she said. "A really sad, devastating accident."


    "Stop it, I''m begging you!" I was in tears.


    "At least The Community got one thing right... It would be much easier if you had just died that night." she said.


    "No, you are lying! Are you turning into one of them?" I cried. I was feeling really bad. I dropped my suitcase and got on my knees.


    "They are evil and manipulative... But they are intelligent, and they don''t always tell lies." she said. "They didn''t even need to lie to you at some point."


    I dropped my phone. I couldn''t take it.


    "I hate you. You let this happen. I am not stuck with you out of choice, you just happened to be there at the right time, and I had no other choice for escape."


    I got up on my feet and slowly went to the kitchen. I could still hear her yelling at the phone.


    "No wonder everyone who ends up teaming up with you dies, but you somehow survive." she said.


    I picked the sharpest knife from the stand.


    "Do you even know what happened to Idil? Or a better question... Do you even want to know?"


    If I wasn''t being any useful, I could at least make my last desicion myself. That''s what I thought as I looked at the shiny knife in my hand.


    I was late, but perhaps the sacrifice could still mean something. There was no point in fighting it.


    If my death was what everyone desired...

 70 Lay Down The Burdens

    *beep* *beep*


    I woke up with a bright white light shining in my face. I couldn''t see anything else, but the color of white everywhere.


    The torpidness through my body was the only thing I could feel.


    Had I died? Is that what it felt like to be a ghost like others? Could I now see Cansu or The Voice? And, about the Librarian; could I find him there?


    Suddenly, I began feeling something near my stomach and my right arm. My vision began clearing up. Instead of a pure white, I also began seeing some greenish colors.


    I slowly began feeling my entire body.


    The colors slowly became more contrasted, and I could see the imperfections of the tiles on the ceiling. I was wrong; I was not dead. This was a hospital room.


    "Hold on, hold on, release!" I heard someone. "He is waking up."


    I felt some pain on my arm. I tried to move it, but I couldn''t.


    "Don''t move!" someone said. I couldn''t see him. "Hold still."


    I couldn''t comprehend the warning at first. I tried to look around, but I could barely move my head around. Someone came into my vision from below. He was a middle aged man; he had a white mask on his face and a bonnet on his hair. He was a surgeon in a green uniform. The uniform had some blood stains on it. He looked into my eyes for a few seconds, and turned around to call for someone.


    "Quickly now." he said and made a hand gesture. I couldn''t see who he was talking to.


    Just then, another person came into my vision. While I was trying to look around, she held my head. She took away the mask on my face and placed it again carefully. Until then, I wasn''t even aware of the mask myself.


    I was having a hard time understanding what was going on. I could barely breathe, but I had no ability to speak at the moment.


    My eyelids were feeling heavy, and I just wanted to sleep...


    - - -


    I woke up again, laying down on a bed in a hospital. There was someone standing next to me. That man had a white uniform instead of a green one, and he wasn''t wearing a mask. I was alone in the room with him. He was holding some papers and a pen in his hands.


    When he saw me waking up, he got closer and looked into my eyes. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable as he was examining me closely.


    "Hello." he said, softly. "Can you hear me?"


    "I hear you." I said. I could easily talk this time.


    "How are you feeling?" he asked.


    "I''m... I feel a bit weak, but otherwise... I think I am okay." I said.


    "Is there any pain?" he asked.


    "No." I answered. "What is going on here?" I began asking questions.


    "You don''t remember how you were brought here?" he asked.


    "I... I''m not so sure..." I tried to stand up, but the doctor held me and pushed me back down.


    "Okay, don''t force yourself." he said. "It is okay to feel a bit weak right now. You need to rest for the time being, we can talk later."


    "I understand."


    "The medics found your phone in the area. Do you have anyone you want us to inform about your situation?" he asked.


    "No." I replied. "Can I get my phone back?"


    "Of- Of course." he said after a short pause. "I will get it to you in a second. Meanwhile, if you need anything else, just tell us." he said and walked away. He left the door of the room open as he went away.


    Laying down on a hospital bed, the only thing I could do was to listen to the sounds coming from the corridors. As I lifted myself up a little in he bed and looked at my own body, I saw my right arm wrapped in some thick cloth.


    How did I end up here?


    The doctor walked into the room with my phone in his hand.


    "There it is. Although, I must warn you again, don''t force your body for now. Just lay down and rest. We will monitor your situation for a while, and you will probably get out of here this evening." he said.


    "Thank you." I replied. "I just wanted to talk to someone, is that okay?"


    "That''s fine." he said and walked away again. This time, he closed the door on his way out. It was completely silent in the room now.


    I got my phone to make a call to the school, informing people that I wouldn''t be able to attend for that day. But just as I got my phone in my hand, it began ringing. Judging by the shapes that appeared on the phone, there was no doubt it was Cansu. The screen was covered up by a sad face emoji. I answered the call.


    "Teacher, please don''t die... Please!" she said. What an interesting way to start a conversation!


    "I will do my best." I said. "What the hell is going on here?"


    "You did something you would regret, so I called the ambulance." she said. "You are lucky that you had me with you. I unlocked the doors and everything, and the paramedics found you in a short time."


    I remembered everything. So, that was it... She wanted to save me after my suicide attempt.


    My voice became more serious.


    "It was your bright idea to begin with." I told Cansu. "Are you a friend or foe?"


    "I am your student, and your ally." she replied. "But I had to teach you a lesson... I never knew you could go so far and attempt suicide for real."


    "Wasn''t that what you wanted?" I asked her.


    "I am sorry... If you had died, I would never forgive myself! Unfortunately, you got it all wrong..." she replied. "But, in a way, this was what I was talking about."


    "What do you mean?" I asked her.


    "You always tend to choose the easy way out of danger." she said. "You always run away from what you need to face. We had to go down to the..."


    I lowered my phone''s volume, concerned about someone passing by the room hearing the conversation.


    "...to the underground facility, yet you chose to stay away from it, finding excuses."


    "I had my reasons, you know." I answered.


    "I wanted to show you how weak you mentally are, by manipulating you with a negative mindset, just like how The Community used to do. In the end; you couldn''t face the truth in my words, and instead of trying to fix the situation, you decided to suicide and get rid of me and the guilt instead." she said. "Again, which is the same thing; choosing the easy way out. That was the point I was trying to make; you are making some really bad choices."


    "You are right. I admit, you are right about me." I said. "I accept the accusations. But look, I really want to fix the situation. What do you want from me?" I asked.


    "Toughen up. Let your past mistakes be. And the upcoming day... Please take me down to that facility, so we can end this for once, and for all." she said.


    "You have a lot of confidence for sure." I said.


    "You might have failed many times before, teacher, but I am not angry with you. You were overwhelmed, and you had no guidance. But this time, we will bring this evil down together!"


    "Seriously, stop calling me ''teacher'', it feels weird." I said.


    "Don''t misunderstand me. Even though I inconsiderately accuse you of having done many bad things, I know you did your best as a teacher, and I am grateful. If I were you, I couldn''t done much better. I like you as a person, and as a teacher. This won''t change." she said. "And your students will be expecting to see you tomorrow."


    "Oh!" I said. "My students!"


    "No worries, I already informed the school of your status." she said.


    "You did? No one recognised you by your voice!?" I asked in shock.


    "I no longer exist, remember?"

 71 The Weird Chapter Where Everything Constantly Goes Downhill

    After a very long conversation with the doctors, trying to lie my way out of explaining how the ''accident'' happened, I finally got out of the hospital without the need of any psychological treatment. They constantly kept asking if I had any idea about someone who might have called the ambulance, since they couldn''t find anyone when they arrived at the scene.


    I walked around the vicinity of the hospital for hours, and I finally found my way home. It was night time when I have arrived home. If I had the chance, I would probably take an entire week off; but unfortunately for me, there was no time for that.


    I spent rest of the night trying to clean up the mess I had done in my apartment. I fixed and locked the doors which were amateurly forced open by Cansu while she was trying to let the paramedics in. I had never got a good night''s sleep since weeks.


    - - -


    I woke up with my alarm going off. I reached for my phone and completely turned it off instead of trying to find the button to shut the alarm off. I sat on my bed and yawned, but I didn''t open my eyes. Surrendering to the comfort of the bed, I put my head on my pillow again.


    My alarm went off again.


    I finally opened my eyes and got out of the bed.


    "Didn''t I just turn this thing off?" I grumbled. "I don''t even remember setting an alarm in the first place."


    I took my phone to silence the alarm. I saw the text on my phone just when I was about to push the button.


    ''GOOD MORNING, TEACHER!''


    "I should''ve guessed..." I said loudly. "What do you want at this hour in the morning? The sun is still way below the horizon!"


    She obviously had to call me in order to talk to me. As usual, I answered the phone.


    "No point in waiting for the rising sun. You were getting a bit too comfy there. Now wake up and go to school early. We have stuff to do!" she said. "Move!"


    "At once, sir!" I replied with a sleepy voice, trying to shout. I quickly washed my face, changed my clothes and got to the kitchen. I was disappointed by what I saw.


    "Damn it, I ran out of food already..." I sighed.


    "Forget the food, just get to the school." Cansu said.


    "What is the rush? I want to have a breakf-"


    "Have a breakfast in hell, just get moving!" she said. I didn''t argue.


    "Okay, calm down, we are going." I said. I quickly grabbed my suitcase and the book before getting out of my apartment.


    When I got closer to the school building, I noticed something unusual. There were colored lights flashing from the direction of the building. The trees were still blocking my view from that distance, so I couldn''t understand what was going on. Only when I approached the building and got clear of the woodland, I saw the scene. There were a couple of police vehicles and a single ambulance in front of the building''s main exit. I watched the scene from distance for a while. Defeated by my curiosity, I slowly approached the building. A police officer noticed me and came forward.


    "I''m sorry, Mister; but the school is closed for today. I can not allow you to go inside." he said.


    "I... I understand." I said. "Can I learn what happened here?"


    Before replying to me, the officer turned around, whistled loudly and made a hand sign to another officer. The other officer nodded.


    "A murder took place here." he said.


    "A murder!?" I said in shock.


    "I assume you are working here, at this school?" he asked.


    "Y-yes." I said. While I was talking to him, a few other officers and a man in a black suit came by.


    "May we have a moment?" the man said.


    "Of-Of course." the police officer replied. The man turned to me.


    "Please follow me." he said and began walking towards a police car. I silently followed him to the car, being closely watched by the police officers behind me. The man opened the car''s back door, expecting me to get inside. After I sat on the back seat, he sat by me and closed the door. There was no one else inside the police car, just the man and me.


    "Are you hungry?" he asked me. I couldn''t answer this unexpected question. Instead, I simply stared at him, trying to understand what was going on. "I will take that as a no." he said. Even though I was in fact hungry, there was no way I could say that in this uncomfortable and awkward situation.


    He grabbed a cookie from a pouch in the police car, and took a bite. I was silently watching him as it was happening.


    "Are you sure you don''t want to eat some?" he asked with his mouth full.


    "N-No, I am okay, thanks." I said, sweating.


    "Fine." he said and took another bite. I couldn''t stand the awkwardness and began looking out of the mirror instead. A few seconds later, he touched my shoulder. I turned around.


    "So..." he began talking as he was cleaning his lips with a handkerchief. "Where were you at the time of murder?"


    "I swear I don''t know anything about the murder." I said. "When did it happen?"


    "Yeah, of course you don''t." he said. At this point, I wasn''t sure if he was really trying to interrogate me or have fun with me. "Okay, so tell me... Why did you do it? I bet an intelligent man like you had a good reason."


    "Wha- I REALLY don''t know what you are talking about." I said.


    "Do you know how to drive?" he asked. Another unexpected question...


    "Y-Yeah, I have a licence but I haven''t driven a car since-"


    "Jump to the seat." he said, pointing at the driver''s seat of the police car.


    "Excuse me, I couldn''t hear-" I was not sure what to do.


    "I don''t know how to drive." he said. "But I know a better private place to talk about business."


    Every time he was looking at me, it was feeling like he was piercing into my soul. I anxiously sat on the driver''s seat, still sweating. He sat on the front passenger''s seat and fastened his seat belt. He stretched his arms and laid back on his seat.


    "Punch it!" he said.


    "Is it really-"


    "Do you know how to drive or not?" he said. "Because if I''m the one who''s going to drive, then prepare yourself to die."


    I hesitantly started the engine. All the police officers looked at the car.


    "Now, don''t look at me, just go!" the man yelled. With no further hesitation, I began driving the police car away from the school. After all, he was probably a detective or a high-ranking police officer, and although he had some really unorthodox methods of interrogation, he probably had authorisation to use the police vehicles.


    That''s what I was thinking. I was thinking that he knew what he was doing.


    After we began moving, a few police officers began yelling and one of them began running behind the car. He pointed the gun at the car, but didn''t shoot. He couldn''t stop us now, we already had gained a lot of distance by the time he decided to aim.


    "Pedal to the metal, dude; you are not driving a tortoise!" he yelled. I was still trying to get used to the handling of the police car, so I was hesitant to press the accelerator too much. As we got away from the school, we approached an intersection with the main road. Both of us saw the incoming traffic. I was preparing to brake.


    "Cut across, cut across to the left lane!" the man yelled. Instead of pressing the brake, I pressed the accelerator all the way down and dived into the traffic, almost crashing into a bus. The man pushed a button, and the car''s siren began wailing. The cars in front of us slowly began clearing a path for us to easily pass through.


    "You are clear now, floor the gas pedal!" he yelled.


    ''Please let this be a weird dream!'' I was repeating, trying to calm down. I was driving way above the legal speed limit. While I was paying attention to the road, the man took a piece of equipment off from the glove compartment and the radio kit hanging in between seats. He opened the window on his side and threw it all out of the window.


    "What are you doing!? What are WE even doing!?" I began yelling. There was no way I could get away with stealing a police car. Who was this man, and what was he trying to do?


    He pushed a button again, and the sirens got silent.


    "Without their cheap tracking equipment, we won''t be interrupted anymore." he calmly said. "Okay, there is a dirt road to the right after a couple of hundred meters. Turn that way." he said. "You will get bonus points for a cool drift!"


    ''This man really has mental problems.'' I said myself. I slowed down as we approached the dirt road, and left the main road. I began driving into the woods, where the dirt road was leading me.


    "You know..." he said. "I could kill you right now, right here, and no one would notice." He was right, but was this really a warning for me, or was he just trying to have fun?


    Just as I was preparing to stop the car and go back into the main road, the man interrupted me.


    "Okay, this is far enough. Park near those trees."


    I parked the police car in between a few long trees and stopped the engine. He opened the door and got out of the car. I got out of the car after him.


    "Thanks for the ride." he said. "They didn''t even have the opportunity to begin chasing us."


    "What do you want?" I asked him. "Why did you put me in this situation? I didn''t want to become a criminal!"


    "Oh, but you already were a criminal." he said. "You should be thankful to me. Maybe you weren''t aware, but they were about to arrest your ass back there."


    "I swear I had nothing to do with that murder!" I yelled.


    "But you were closest to Mr. Kenan, right?" he said. I froze for a moment. He knew about things I did not expect him to know.


    "Is... Is Mr. Kenan-"


    "Yes. He was found dead this morning by another teacher." he said. "You two were close, right?"


    I had a moment to accept Mr. Kenan''s death. Even though he was being hostile to me, it was hard to accept his death.


    "Our relation isn''t an evidence for anything! I didn''t know about the murder!" I kept yelling.


    "But the children you butchered TOGETHER tell me otherwise." he said. My eyes opened wide, and I stepped away from the man instinctively. He knew a bit too much.


    "How do you know about that!?" I asked.


    "I know that there is a damned cemetery underground." he said. "The police would discover it if I didn''t intervene in time."


    "Aren''t you a police officer yourself? I am not complaining... but why are you helping me? What is wrong with you!?" I asked him. "Something just... doesn''t add up. Why on earth would you do that?"


    He looked at me, trying to pick one of the questions to answer.


    "You are not a police..." I said. "Who are you?"


    He didn''t reply.


    "I guess I helped you a lot. I''m going to ask you for a favor in return." he said, and pulled a gun out. My reflexes kicked in and I jumped to hide myself behind the police car.


    "Calm down, if I wanted to harm you, I would choose to see you rot in a maximum security prison instead." he said. I slowly revealed myself. The man came closer to me.


    "Take it." he gave me the gun.


    "What do you want me to do?" I asked him.


    "Just wait for a moment." he said. He grabbed a cigarette from his pocket and began smoking, walking around in random circles. He quickly finished half of his cigarette, and threw away the rest of it. He kept walking around for a while without looking at me. He finally came to a stop with his back turned a me.


    "Okay, I am not looking." he said. "Now... kill me."


    "WHAT!?"


    "Just get it over with." he said. " Shoot. Do me a favor. This is what I was going to ask for."


    "I can''t." I said. "I won''t."


    "Oh, you can, and you will." he said. "Do you want to live the rest of your life in a metal cage?"


    "I can''t kill." I said. "I''m not a murderer."


    "You can, you are." he replied. Without saying anything, I threw the gun away. He heard the sound and slowly turned around. He looked at the gun on the ground.


    "Maybe that will motivate you..." he said. "If you don''t kill me, I will kill you."


    I immediately ran and grabbed the gun back from the ground.


    "That''s more like it." he said. "Feel the adrenaline, it will just happen in the heat of the moment! Go with the flow!"


    "I still won''t kill you." I said.


    He suddenly pulled a second gun out which he has been carrying. I had not anticipated such an action. I instantly aimed at him and pulled the trigger before he could aim at me. Both guns fired simultaneously. He immediately dropped the the ground, with little blood coming out of his chest. I could not feel any pain myself. I looked at my own body to see if I was shot. Fortunately, he had missed me.


    I looked at the man laying on the ground. I wanted to help him, but I didn''t knew how. I was a criminal now. If I called an ambulance, the police would definitely be informed. I would have to go and hide somewhere in order to avoid being arrested.


    I began to consider calling the police and turning myself in. My conscience wouldn''t allow me to live like this.


    Just when I was thinking, someone grabbed me from behind. The gun slipped off my hand. I was laid down on the ground.


    A man approached me and looked into my eyes. I couldn''t believe my eyes... It was the same guy I had shot just a minute ago! His suit had no blood on it, and he was in perfect condition. He leaned down to show me something. It was the leather-covered book I had found in the library.


    "Okay, after all the drama, I think it is time for the main event. Where did you find this?" he asked me. I didn''t reply.


    "WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS!?" he yelled.


    "Lib...rary!" I cried. "It was in the library!" He had a scary and angry expression.


    "How many people saw this book?" he shouted.


    "Just me!" I said.


    "How many!?"


    "Just me, I swear!" I cried.


    "We are not done with you." he said. I was blindfolded, and someone covered my nose with a wet piece of cloth. I quickly fainted while being dragged on the ground.

 72 Longings & Destiny

    I slowly opened my eyes, but I couldn''t see anything for a while. I was laying down on something hard. My back was hurting. It was cold.


    No matter how hard I looked, I could barely see anything in the darkness. I was in a small room, all by myself.


    I slowly got up and walked around, waving my hands around to see if there was something useful around me. I could only feel the cold walls all around, nothing else.


    I heard a loud noise, and I threw myself to a corner without thinking. Suddenly, a bright light blinded me. I closed my eyes.


    "Who are you?" I said. There was no response.


    I slowly opened my eyes again. There was no one. The light was coming from the lamp on the ceiling. I was relieved... I took a deep breath and looked around the small room again. I wasn''t missing anything; the room was empty. There was nothing in it, just the walls and a door. The door had a little rectangular hole near the top of it, and there were some space between the floor and the door. I approached the door and tried to push it. The door made a mechanical noise and slowly swung open.


    I got through the door, into a corridor. All along the narrow, long corridor; there were many identical doors on left and right. Without being able to decide which way to go, I picked a random direction and began walking.


    On my way, I looked through the holes on the doors. Every door was opening to a room similar to the one I had just got out of. The rooms were not exaclty identical to each other; some of the rooms even had simple items in them. The first few rooms I''ve checked had no one inside.


    I got curious and tried to push one of the doors open, but the door didn''t move. I tried again with a few different doors, but they were all locked.


    I began hearing some footsteps in the distance. The sounds were coming from the continuation of the corridors I had already left behind. I had no idea where I was, and who they could be; but instead of searching for help from random strangers, I decided to hide and observe. I still had some time before those people had arrived there, so I kept trying to open the doors. Eventually, one of them opened and I got inside the room. I closed the door behind me and kept observing the corridor from the hole on the door.


    The footsteps got closer, and three people came into my vision. One of them was the crazy police officer I had encountered this morning; but this time, he was wearing a white coat. Just behind him, there were two men in dark blue uniforms.


    I could barely keep myself silent. What was going on here?


    The man in white looked into the door I had just got out of a few minutes ago. After inspecting the room for half a minute from there, he pulled the door open and got inside.


    "He is gone." he said and got out of the room. He turned to the men in blue uniforms. "You know what you are looking for."


    "Understood." the men replied in syncronisation and went to different directions. The man in white coat looked around, sighed and went away the opposite direction.


    One of the blue-uniformed men was coming towards me. I wanted to hide, but I took the risk of being seen and kept observing.


    Suddenly, someone grabbed me by my sides and pulled me away from the door, deeper into the room. I was thinking that I was alone in there...


    Just when I was about to scream, my mouth was covered. I fell down to the floor, on my back. Someone came on top of me and kept pushing me down.


    "Shhh..."


    She made a sign for me to keep silent. I took the advice and didn''t make any noise. In fact, I stopped resisting to her altogether.


    The man in blue uniform simply walked past the door of the room I was in. The footsteps got silent after a while.


    The young woman stopped pushing me down to the ground and got up. I slowly got up myself afterwards. I did not know what to do next, or what to say to her. I looked at her and she looked at me. This awkward moment kept going for about a minute. Finally, our eyes met.


    Her expression was constantly changing in between shocked, excited, happy and angry. I tried to avert my gaze, but I couldn''t manage to do it. I could not resist the yearning and rage hidden deep inside her eyes.


    A few drops of tear formed in her eyes, and later mine.


    With all the strenght she could gather, she slapped me. I looked away. My left cheek was hurting, but my feelings were hurting me even more.


    Our eyes met again. So did our bodies. We hugged each other tightly. I could hear her sobbing on my shoulder.


    "Why did you leave me?" she asked with her weak voice.


    "I would never, if only I had the strenght..." I said, crying silently. "I am sorry, Idil, for everything..." It has been many years, but she had not changed so much, despite all the time she had presumably spent in here.


    "I knew you would come back one day." she said. "You were destined to come back..."


    "Are you okay? Did they do anything bad to you?" I asked.


    "No, I am okay, now that my calls have been heard..." she said in tears.


    "I am sorry. You were right about many things, yet I did not listen." I said.


    "No." she replied. "No, I''m sorry. I''m sorry I let us down..."


    "You never let me down." I said.


    "Just shut up for now." she said and hugged me even tighter. I felt something near my stomach. It was cold and hot at the same time. My body got numb in a fraction of a second. I could feel the object penetrating into my body and pushing into my muscles and veins, which were now pumping with adrenaline and fear.


    "I am sorry." she repeated as she pulled the knife out of my body. "It''s not there..."


    As I felt the blood coming out, I was prepared for the incoming pain; but this did not make it any easier. I unintentionally squeezed her arm in pain and stumbled away from her, without being able to react.


    "Why?" I asked as she was looking at me, clearly terrified by her own action. I saw a few drops of tear flowing down her face as I dropped down.


    "I had to." she said. "I just... had to."

 73 Revelation & Obscurity

    The next thing I saw was the familiar face of an old man. His short white hair and long beard... He was looking at me behind his brownish round glasses, with a grumpy expression on his face. I almost had a stroke when I recognised The Librarian.


    He was uncomfortably close to me, I thought I would die just because of the amount of carbondioxide he was exhaling.


    He suddenly turned his head and coughed a few times. He looked somewhere else.


    "Keep pressing it." he said. When I looked at where he was looking, I saw Idil. She was pushing a thick white cloth near my stomach.


    The man then turned to me.


    "Lucky bastard." After he said that, he turned around and left the room we were in. "I need to get him to the surgery room."


    "Someone will notice." Idil said.


    "Don''t worry." the mean replied and closed the door behind him. I looked into Idil''s eyes.


    "I know, I know; don''t even say it." she said.


    "Since when do you know The Librarian?" I asked her.


    "Who?"


    "That man." I pointed at the door.


    "Oh, it''s been like... a week or something. It is hard to keep track of the time in this enclosed facility." she said. "What is the deal with him being a librarian?"


    "That''s how he had introduced himself to me." I said. I tried to lift myself up, but Idil pushed me back down.


    "Stay still, we barely closed the wound for now." she said.


    "What the hell is going on? What did you do to me?" I asked.


    "If only I knew that you had gotten rid of your implantation earlier... I wouldn''t need to do this." she said.


    "You didn''t even ask." I replied.


    "If it was there, you wouldn''t know about it." she said in return. "Don''t worry, I had no intentions to open a lethal wound. It would defeat the purpose."


    The Librarian entered the room.


    "Come on, we will get him. It''s empty." he said. Idil stopped pushing the white cloth, and the Librarian lifted me up. The old man was more powerful than I had originally guessed.


    I was laid down on a wheeled bed. We went through a few corridors, and we eventually entered a surgery room. My old memories came to life. I remembered my last moments as a teenager in this facility... The operation itself was the missing part of the whole storyline. Both Idil and The Librarian had helped me during my quest, but I was feeling uncomfortable even when I was around them.


    The old man activated the powerful lights on the ceiling and came to take a closer look at my wound. He then picked a metal tool from a silver-colored tray. Just when he was approaching me, the lights went out. I saw some sparks near the ceiling, and heard the noises of the electric arcs across the snapped wires. After the sparks ended, I couldn''t see anything. It was pitch black.


    "What is going on?" Idil said.


    "This is not good." the old man said. "We will have to hide, no one should see us here."


    "No one will see anything in this darkness." I said.


    "Except me."


    "Who is that talking?" Idil asked in panic.


    "We are being watched." the old man replied.


    "Leave him alone."


    "Cansu?" I said.


    "You know her!?" Idil asked me.


    "Who is she?" the old man asked.


    "Hold on, calm down!" I said.


    "Get away from him!" Cansu yelled again. I couldn''t understand what kind of device she was using to communicate with us. Perhaps it was a speaker or a phone nearby.


    I heard some footsteps. Idil and the old man stepped away from me.


    "Hold on, they are friendly!" I yelled.


    "I am not talking about them." Cansu said. "Take cover."


    "What in the-"


    "Take cover!" Cansu shouted.


    A bright, tiny explosion lit the room up for a fraction of a second. Someone had fired a bullet from afar. I couldn''t see what happened, but I heard the bullet richocet from one of the walls and hit another.


    "They are seaching for you." Cansu whispered.


    "Guide us." I said.


    "Take me, take me!" Cansu said. Using my hands, I searched for the device Cansu was using to create her voice. I finally grabbed the device. By the shape of it, I assumed that it was a small radio.


    "Gather around me." I whispered. Seconds later, I felt something touch my arm. I immediately ran a few steps away.


    "Don''t run, it''s me!" said Idil.


    "At least tell me beforehand, idiot." I said. The old man and Idil came by me.


    "Who is she?" asked Idil. "Can we trust her?"


    "She is, or rather ''was'' one of my students." I said. "You can trust her with no doubts."


    "I can''t believe it." the old man said. "I thought we had gotten rid of those demons! Throw that thing away immediately!"


    "What are you talking abo-" I was pushed by my chest with great strenght. I fell down and hit my head on something hard. The radio slided away from my hands and started making random noises. It was broken.


    I got back up and held my head with my hands. It was painful.


    "Hey, stop it!" shouted Idil. I walked towards her, trying to orient myself using her voice. "Perhaps he knows something we don''t."


    "Don''t underestimate the power of those evil beings." the old man said. "They will get you to do anything they want, and you won''t even notice."


    "She is not a part of The Community!" I shouted.


    "Do you not comprehend the dangers of dealing with those evil spirits!?" the old man shouted. "We once thought we had cleansed the facility of those monsters! It was many years ago... But... If this is the truth... If they are still out there somewhere, that will change a lot of things."


    *pew*


    I heard another gunshot from afar. Some pieces of cement and dirt dropped down as the bullet struck the wall just behind me. I crouched in fear.


    "Yes, they are still out there, and we have to act immediately!" Cansu''s voice was coming from a speaker in the corridor nearby.


    I felt something by my arm, then something heavy falling down on me. I tried to push it away before it fell, but it was no use. Just after tha, I realised that it was a human body.

 74 On The Run

    I immediately pushed the body off of me and crawled away. While I was trying to get away, a couple of flashlights illuminated the corridors. The beams were not directed at us, but it was certain they were looking for us.


    "Where are you? I think I found the door to the corridor. We still have time to run before they arrive." Idil whispered. With the help of the beams dissipating from the flashlights, we could see our surroundings again.


    "Wait, we are not going." the old man said. "Change of plans."


    "What!?" I said.


    "If that girl on the speaker is right... We need to inform the scientists that The Community is still here, no matter the outcome. This is more important than our escape." he said. "If she is right, defeating The Community shall be our common goal."


    "I am telling the truth!" Cansu yelled. "Tell them, teacher, tell them that I''m not lying!"


    "But what will happen once The Community is defeated? They are not the only evil here! What do you think will happen to us once The Community is gotten rid of?" Idil said.


    "I agree." I said. "We can not directly confront the scientists. It is a dead end, it would guarantee our imprisonment."


    "Trust me, I will get you out of here. I promised that didn''t I?" the old man said. "But you have to listen to me!"


    "You never promis-" I was about to answer.


    "He did promise that." Idil interrupted. "Well, not to you, but to me."


    "What the hell is going on here? Did you make some kind of deal?" I asked, and turned to the old man. "And I still don''t know who you are and what you are really doing here!"


    "Hit the floor!" Cansu suddenly yelled. I immediately held Idil and pushed her down. We laid flat on the ground. A beam of light passed above us, without revealing our position. But the old man was not fast enough to react.


    *bang*


    A gunshot was heard in the distance. I heard a bullet flying past overhead.


    "Oh no." The words escaped my mouth as the bullet struck the old man in between his eyes. Like it was not enough to see him die once before, I watched him drop dead to the ground once again. He didn''t make any sound as his body fell back


    "There goes our ticket back to the normal world above..." Idil said. We began silently crawling away from the surgery room, into the darker part of the corridor.


    "What is so special about him?" I asked. "I can swear that I saw him die once before. He really is a weird part of this whole thing."


    "It was probably his clone that you saw dying earlier." Idil said.


    "A clone!?"


    "Shush!" Idil closed my mouth with her hand. We saw two armed man with flashlights entering the surgery room. We had gotten out of the room just in time.


    I pushed her hand away from my mouth as we got on our feet and ran into a passage on our right.


    "Tell me about him." I said Idil. "Please, that man is a key element-"


    "Alright, alright..." she said. "He was a scientist working on that ''experiment'' thing... before he had secretly defected."


    "How many clones of him are there?" I asked. "Can they clone humans in here!? How many people are cloned?"


    "It is a long story, and it doesn''t matter right now. I will tell you about it once we are safe." Idil said. "Now, we must find a way out of here."


    I nodded. We started looking around us to find a path away from the cell wing and the surgery room.


    "You haven''t received the book, did you?" Idil asked me. I understood which book she was referring to. "If only we had that with us right now, it would be much easier."


    "He sent that book himself, didn''t he?" I asked her. "I mean, after he defected..."


    "It was my suggestion to send that book to you." Idil said. "We had a deal. I would help him destroy this facility and delete all of his service records, and he would help me escape this underground maze. With his knowledge as an ex-scientist, we thought we could acheive that. The only thing we didn''t anticipate was the interruption of your new friend."


    "All those years... You didn''t tell the old man about the existance of The Community ever before?" I asked her. "What were you thinking?"


    "Only if I knew it would make so much difference, I would''ve told him before..." she answered. "Besides, The Community was avoiding appearing in this place anyway."


    "Perhaps The Community was afraid of being noticed by the scientists down here." I said. "That could explain why they were avoiding this place. It sort of makes sense now..."


    "Yeah. If they had any power over this facility, they would''ve destroyed this place instead of messing with people like us above surface." Idil said.


    "But why are they so powerless against the scientists? What do they know, or have, that we don''t?" I asked. "They were hunting us one by one when we were up in the school building!"


    "I don''t know, I never knew." said Idil.


    I began hearing footsteps. Someone got out of the surgery room, with a flashlight in his hand. He was coming this way, but he had not yet noticed us.


    "Shh... We have to hide." I whispered.


    We walked past a few doors and turned left. In this new corridor, there was an open, unlabeled door on right.


    "In there." I said. Idil and I got inside the room and closed the door. As we closed the door, it went pitch black again. There were no longer any light coming from the flashlights. We waited until we could no longer hear the footsteps, but we didn''t get out.


    "It smells like a toilet in here." she whispered.


    "I can''t control how the room smells." I whispered back. She sighed. We stood there in silence for a couple of minutes.


    "So, I think we are safe for now. You can tell me more about that man." I said.


    Just when Idil was about to begin, we heard bursts of gunshots far away in the facility.


    "What is with the aggressiveness of those guys?" I said. "Are they shooting everything that moves just because the electricity went out?"


    "I don''t believe that they would be so stupid. Perhaps we are not the only ones who antagonized them." Idil said.


    I heard a weird sound behind me.


    "What did you eat?" I asked her.


    "It wasn''t me." she said. It took a couple of seconds for me to panic.

 75 Leap of Faith

    Without thinking, I opened the door and pushed Idil out. Following my own exit out of the room, I closed the door and we began running in a random direction in the dark. The gunshots were masking the noise of our footsteps, and possibly anyone close around us; additionally, it was making it easier to navigate away from the potential danger.


    After running into a wall I didn''t notice in the dark, we stopped to breathe. Suddenly, I heard a buzzing sound. Lights on the ceiling came back to life, illuminating everything around us. Speakers began making clicking sounds echoing through the whole facility. The facility had power once again. This was a double-edged sword; it was now easier for us to identify the dangers and find a way out, but it was also easier to get caught.


    A loud squeaking came from the speakers.


    "ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL, PROCEED WITH THE SECURITY LOCKDOWN PROCEDURE."


    White lights turned into a dimmer red. Sirens began wailing.


    "PERIMETER BREACH IN CELL WING B. ALL PERSONNEL, REPORT YOUR WHEABOUTS TO THE CENTER."


    "Did you do anything weird before you found me?" Idil asked me. She was worried.


    "No." I responded. "Well, except I broke out of my cell, but you already know that."


    "Yeah, yeah." she said. "Then it might be a simple coincidence after all."


    "What is your point?" I asked her.


    "We are in the cell wing A, the cell wing B is on the other side." she said. "It seems like the entire facility is under chaos, not just this side."


    We heard some people running towards our position. We had two paths we could use, and one of them was now blocked.


    "We have to keep moving." I said and I was about to begin running.


    "No, we can''t go back that way!" Idil held me back.


    "But they are coming from the other side!" I argued.


    "Running that way will simply get us back in our cells." she said.


    "Shut up and listen!" Cansu said. Now that the speakers were functional again, she could talk to us. "You have to surrender."


    "They are probably going to shoot us!" I yelled.


    "You have been flanked, they are on both sides." Cansu said. "Both corridors are blocked." she repeated.


    "We can just hide for a while." I said.


    "I am not going back in there!" Idil shouted.


    "Just surrender, and leave the rest to me. My plan is running perfectly." Cansu said.


    "What? Your plan!? I thought you would tell me before doing anything!" I cried.


    "The devices had no power, smartass." Cansu replied. "We can run from the facility by ourselves, but we can no longer face The Community alone. Now that the old man is dead, we will have to inform the scientists ourselves. Despite the evil on both sides, we NEED their help!"


    "How will we do that?" I asked.


    The footsteps were getting closer.


    "You just surrender, I will handle everything. In case something goes wrong, be ready to take action." she said.


    "What a nice plan!" I said with my sarcastic voice. "That is the worst leap of faith I will ever have to do."


    Some people were just around the corner.


    "Don''t shoot, we surrender!" yelled Idil, without giving me much time to think. Two man armed with rifles appeared in the corridor, and aimed at us. I was about to run.


    "Stop where you are, hands in the air!" one of them yelled. I stopped there and complied.


    "On your knees!"


    We were handcuffed. One of the men held me by my arm, the other one held Idil. We were blindfolded. After that, they walked us for a while and opened our blindfolds. I was brought to a simple room that only had a wooden table in it. The table was standing in the middle of the room. The walls were colored yellow and red fading into each other, and the room had no other distinct features. It was an abstract construction work.


    "Behind the table." one of the armed men said. When I was walking towards the table, I noticed that Idil was no longer with me. We were separated once again.


    After I got behind the table, a man in white clothes entered the room and signaled the armed guard to get out of the room. He had brought a black suitcase with him. On closer inspection, I noticed something... It was my suitcase.


    We looked into each other''s eyes as he came closer to the other side of the table and put my suitcase on the table. He opened the suitcase and grabbed the leather-covered book I was given by the old man.


    "Where is the young lady? What did you do to her?" I asked him.


    "No need to strain yourself." he said. "Just tell me who gave this to you, and we will be done for today."


    Cansu had told me she would handle everything, so... What was I supposed to do here? I decided that I would keep my secrets.


    "I don''t know." I said.


    "You are not even trying. That was like... the worst lie you could come up with." he said. "Come on, I''m in a very good mood today. Just tell me and I will go away."


    "Seriously, I can''t remember." I said. "It''s been a while."


    "When did you get this book?" he asked.


    "You said ''just one question''." I told him.


    "Well, let''s say that I was not satisfied with the answer to that one." he said.


    "I can''t remember much about the book." I said. "It''s been a long time, really."


    He sighed.


    "Do you know this man?" he said and showed me an image. It was a photo of Mr. Kenan in front of the school building. I wasn''t sure if I wanted to tell him about it, but it seemed like they were already aware of a lot of things about me.


    "No." I said. He didn''t say anything for a while and looked into my eyes. Two armed men came into the room and the man in white gave them a signal. The men held me by my arms. I struggled, trying to run away, but I wasn''t powerful enough.


    The man in white grabbed a syringe from my suitcase, filled with a green-yellowish substance. I couldn''t take my eyes off of the needle, terrified. I was breathing heavily.


    "Okay, okay, I will talk!" I cried. The man didn''t listen. I felt his hand on my arm.


    Contrary to my expectations, it didn''t hurt much as he injected the substance. Instead, it felt more like a very powerful local anesthesia. The men on my sides released me. I could no longer feel my left arm or my shoulder.

 76 The Cruel Recurrence

    "Okay." the man said. "We will try this once again now."


    I was trying my best to listen to him, but I was too distracted by the paralysis and the overall senselessness on my arm. It was feeling like my arm was about to come out of it''s place and drop down to the ground. If I could move it around, it could get better; but I was unable to give any commands to that section of my body.


    "Make sure he stays in that position." the man in white said. The two men on my sides nodded, and the man in white left the room. I looked around worryingly. Although my situation wasn''t good, it wasn''t any worse than what I''ve been through before. The dominant cause of my worries were Idil''s situation, and not knowing if we could come together again.


    I slowly began walking around in circles. One of the guards looked at me with the corner of his eye, but I didn''t mind him. After a minute or so, I could finally feel my arm again. I still couldn''t move it effectively, but it was still a relief.


    While walking and looking around, I suddenly felt something on my healthy -right- arm. One of the guards held me and dragged me back behind the table, to my original position. Perhaps he was annoyed, or maybe he had a better reason... But I was in no condition to ask for his motives.


    The man in white came back into the room. He didn''t lose the eye contact with me even for a second. He approached me and kept looking from the other side of the wooden table. He held the leather book and asked me.


    "Who gave you this book?"


    "I already told you... I don''t remember." I was still determined to keep the secrets.


    He broke the eye contact and looked down on the table. He was looking... frusturated. He breathed in and out loudly. He was shaking his leg, thinking really hard about something. It was looking like he was more worried than me.


    "We have been betrayed." he said. "You know about the implant, don''t you?"


    He finally looked up right into my eyes again, then turned to the armed guards before I could say anything.


    "Take him." he said. He grabbed everything he had left on the table walked away.


    I was held by two men by my side again. They blindfolded me and we started walking again. I was trying to memorise my footsteps, but I was practically being dragged; so it wasn''t very easy. At least they weren''t really hurting me too much.


    Suddenly, the men released me. My blindfold wasn''t taken off. I waited for a few seconds, expecting something to happen.


    I was hearing some water flowing nearby, but I couldn''t guess what kind of place I was in.


    I was frusturated. I made a daring move to take my blindfold off myself. Just when I was taking it off, I heard someone.


    "If I were you, I would keep it on for just a little longer." he said. "But it is your choice."


    I took the blindfold off.


    Just ahead of me, there were numerous small, white tubes with large glasses. Inside every tube, there was a half-naked person. Some of them were old, some of them were really young. Their bodies were in really bad shape, most of them had very large open wounds around their stomach. Parts of their skins were literally ripped apart from their bodies; the remaining parts had gray or green marks all around them. A few of the bodies were missing parts like hands, eyes or even arms and legs.


    A man was looking at me behind some sort of console. When I looked at him, he averted his gaze. From his looks, I could tell that he was under great pressure.


    My heart was about to come out of my chest. Was this... the underground cemetery? Was I going to be executed?


    I looked further to the sides, and noticed that I was actually standing in one of those white tubes myself. The only difference was that the glass in front of me was still open.


    No one was holding me back. It could be my final chance. I pushed myself out of the tube.


    Just when I was about to get out, the glass closed up. The tube itself was just a bit larger than me. I had nowhere to run.


    The man behind the console was busy flipping switches and pushing buttons.


    I kept looking to the bodies in the tubes all around the room. There was no doubt that they had some horrible deaths.


    While I was carefully inspecting a body with a single leg, the body moved a little bit. At first, I thought that it was nothing... But then his head turned and he looked at me with one of his eyes. I was not wrong... Despite his horrendous looks, he was still alive! Even by looking at his damaged face, I could tell his sadness as he was looking at me, unable to say anything.


    I carefully kept looking around, to finally realise... Those people were still alive. All of them were living by the help of the machinery that surrounded them.


    Suddenly, I heard a hissing sound. After that, all the external noises went away. I could only hear my own breathing and movements now.


    An electrical buzzing sound followed. A metal rod appeared from the side of the tube. It had lots of joints being moved by servos, like a robotic arm. Another rod similar to that one appeared from the other side.


    I looked at the man behind the console again. It was probably him... He was in control of the machinery in those tubes. As he was carefully moving the joystick on the console, the metal rods were moving closer to me.


    The two metal rods touched me and pushed me back to the back of the tube to hold me there. I was cramped up; I had no means to protect myself.


    Two men in white appeared in the room and walked up to the tube I was in. They started observing the process through the glass. They were talking to each other just in front of my face, but I couldn''t hear them through the glass.


    I was startled by another buzzing sound overhead. A third metal arm appeared in the tube. This one had a pointy end, which probably didn''t mean nice things.


    The robot arm slowly came closer, positioning itself along my chest. I was shaking...


    I screamed as it penetrated my skin.


    "Cansu!" I yelled. Although in different ways, we were using the same body; and until now, she had done everything to protect me. What was going wrong this time?


    A fourth, much smaller robotic arm appeared. I tried to free my arms and escape the grip of the metal rods, but I wasn''t successful. I had no power, I was merely an observer.


    Despite my helplessness, I suddenly felt an interesting excitement. This was it; the last missing part of my memory: The implantation surgery! I have been through this once before, years ago... Yet, that was the end of it. I had been caught once again, and I was about to forget everything that had happened. My poor choices had led me to a bad ending to the adventure again.


    The excitement faded away very quickly. The very thin, pointy end of the fourth arm aligned itself with my right eye, and slowly, it came closer. My head was locked in place. I could turn my eyes, but I couldn''t look away.


    As the arm was approaching, the electric sound was becoming louder.


    When the needle came close enough, I could no longer focus my vision on it. It was blurry.


    I tried closing my eyes, yet my eyelids didn''t comply.

 77 Balance of Evil - Unleashed

    Everything went dark.


    It was silent.


    I felt nothing. All the pressure on my body was gone. "That''s it... I think I am blind now." I said to myself. I could no longer see what was about to happen to me, so I relaxed myself. I let go of the tension caused by the adrenaline on my body.


    The relaxation lasted until I heard the sounds of electric arcs bursting by my side. I held my breath in horror once again.


    I was seeing some colored lights flashing around. Was this... how it felt to be blind?


    The electric arcs lit up the interior of the tube. I was wrong; I could still see my surroundings. I had not went blind, the electricity was gone again. The underground facility had no power.


    My vision went all white. Someone had turned on a flashlight just outside the glass door of the tube I was in. I kept my eyes closed until he pointed the flashlight away. The three men in the room were discussing something in fuss.


    Meanwhile, I was looking at the people being held in other tubes. I could barely see them, but I noticed that they were trying to move around in their tiny tubes. They were struggling, presumably trying to escape. But... they had been staying still until now. Why now, in the darkness, would they do that?


    In the tube, only being able to hear my own breathing, I noticed that I was breathing faster than before. My body was forcing me to breathe in and out a few times every couple of seconds. I was... drowning. Without electricity, no air could be provided into the tubes, maybe even the whole facility. So, that was the cause of panic among the scientists and the subjects... I should''ve guessed.


    Two of the scientists ran up to one of the tubes ahead of me and tried to open the glass using brute force. The other man tried to open another one. They were trying to get the people in the tubes out.


    I tried to punch and kick the glass to get their attention, but it was no use. I couldn''t get the metal rods off of me, I was stuck here.


    Suddenly, the glass of my tube shattered open with a loud sound, without me even touching it. The scientists stopped what they were doing and looked at me. The clean air in the room filled the tube, and I could breathe normally again.


    Just after the glass shattered, the lights in the room flickered and everything came back to life. The metal equipment all around me rotated away, I was free to move once again.


    "I knew it. I knew it! You had to wait until the last second..." I said under my breath.


    "Guards!" one of the scientists yelled. As he was walking away from me, two guards ran into the room and aimed at me.


    "Halt!" the voice came from the speakers. The guards, confused, started looking at each other while pointing the guns at me. The scientists were even more confused.


    "We have an important message to deliver." Cansu continued on the speaker. "Let him out."


    The guards looked at the scientists. The scientists looked back at the guards. I felt the need to do something. If I didn''t, they could just find me as a serious threat and decide to kill me on the spot. If I were the scientists, that''s probably what I would do.


    "We have something important to tell." I said.


    "You and who?" one of the scientists asked.


    "It is a part of that ''important thing''." I said.


    "Tell us." he said.


    "Tell your man to lower their guns first." I said.


    "You don''t get to decide that." he said.


    "If you don''t trust me, I won''t be able to trust you with this valuable information." I said.


    "We don''t know if it''s valuable information yet." he said.


    "Then perhaps you will never know." I said.


    "Let him talk." Cansu interrupted.


    "Just for the record, I don''t know that voice." one of the scientists said, referring to Cansu.


    "Are you brave enough to ignore the potentially valuable information?" I asked.


    The scientist sighed.


    "Lower your weapons." he said.


    "Get them out of the room." I said. The scientist looked at me angrily.


    "Fine." he said. "Wait outside the room." he said to the guards. The guards, still confused, left the room and closed the door.


    "Alright." the scientist said. "Speak."


    "The Community is still here." I said.


    "And who is that community?" he asked. I never thought of it... They were probably referring to them with a different name.


    "The evil spirits of those you killed are still hanging around here!" Cansu said from the speaker.


    The scientists were shocked. They couldn''t say anything for a while, but they simply looked around in fear.


    "She is just behind us, isn''t she?" one of them said, pointing at the speaker.


    "You are lucky, it could be an actual evil spirit." I said. "But she is with me, and we are not your enemies." I hurt my own feelings saying that to the evil faction of scientists.


    "Tell us more!" the scientist shouted. "We need to know more, this is a matter of life and death!"


    "Everything going on around here is a matter of life and death." I said.


    "Let''s make a deal!" Cansu said. "We will help you against The Community, but you will have to make a promise."


    "Which is about..."


    "You will release your subjects after this is over." I said.


    "Unacceptable." the scientist said. "Tho whole reason we are willing to fight that... community is that we need to keep this going."


    "In that case, you are not any better than those evil spirits!" I said.


    "We don''t get to decide what is the god course of action, and what is the bad one." he said. "We must obey the high command, we can not jeopardize the operations of this facility!"


    "Take me to your high command, then!" I yelled.


    "Unfortunately for all of us, this is not possible." the scientist said. "We have no means to get in contact with them. They give us the orders, and we carry them out."


    "That''s just stupid." I sighed. "If that''s how it''s going to be... I can''t help you. You will be forced to live with the fear of working in this haunted place, until you are killed the moment you make a mistake."


    "No!" he yelled. "If they notice that we have been informed of their presence, The Community will definitely come after us, and you! Our last struggle against them were decades ago, and we have stopped observing for them many years ago... We need more information about their contemporary organisation to put up a fight!"


    "It won''t matter for me if I''m going to rot in here anyway." I said.


    "Alright, look, fine..." he said. "I can NOT release all the subjects; but we can let you out and pretend we''ve never encountered you, with one condition: You will never ever step into this building for the rest of your life."


    "I have one other person which I need you to let out." I said.


    "Okay, that makes two people. But, please, I have no authority to release anyone else!" he said.


    Suddenly, all the glass doors that were keeping the subjects in the tubes opened. I jumped out of my own tube in fear, and approached the middle of the room, away from the tubes all around. The scientists ran near me and circled me, watching out for the tubes. I did not get what was happening.


    "With the information you hold, you are now under our protection." the scientist said. "Stay away from the tubes!"


    The two guards outside the door barged into the room.


    The subjects were walking out of the tubes they were kept in. Despite their damaged bodies, they were surprisingly mobile.


    "What is going on?" I said. No one replied.


    "Argh!" a man just by my side cried in pain. When I looked at it, I immediately pushed him away and ran backwards. His arm was being bitten by one of the subjects that had escaped from the tubes.


    The guards started firing on the subjects.


    Just as I turned around to make a run to the door, I saw someone directly in front my face. His nose was dislocated, and half of his face was not covered with a skin. Half of his teeth had been broken. The veins on his face were clearly visible.


    He held my left arm and pulled me closer.


    I tried to kick him away, but he dodged my attempt.


    He swung his left hand and hit me.

 78 Hidden Malevolence

    The impact on my head had hurt me badly. My hearing was reduced. The blood splashed all over my body. I was shaken, but I couldn''t feel much. Unfortunately, having seen so much blood after the hit, I could imagine the damage on my body.


    The man in front of me squeezed my arm much stronger, but after a while, he let me go. He slowly dropped backwards, without even the tiniest reaction.


    The weird ringing in my ears faded out slowly, and my hearing came back to normal in seconds. After the initial shock, I took my time to assess the situation. Most of the blood did not belong to me... One of the guards had noticed my attempt to escape and shot the man to protect me.


    Despite the momentary setback, I still had a chance to make it out of the room. I left everyone and ran to the door. After I got out, I ran towards a random direction without looking back.


    After a few minutes, I stopped to rest and breathe. I was feeling bad for all the subjects that were held in those tubes in such horrible condition, but since they attacked us... I didn''t know what else to expect.


    "It has begun." Cansu said. "The Community knows. I can feel them all around."


    "What do I do?" I asked.


    "We chose our path already. Help the scientists before everyone is doomed. Tell them about The Community, and give them all the information we have acquired during our struggles." she said.


    "If they are so powerful, why didn''t The Community assault the facility before?" I asked.


    "They are not THAT powerful, and there are no time for your questions." she answered. "Go find the scientists."


    "I need to find Idil first." I said.


    "Go find those scientists." Cansu insisted. "If you don''t, we will lose everyone anyway. I, alone, cannot protect you against all the evil spirits."


    "I can''t go back the way I came from." I said.


    "I don''t know... Circle around, but just find them!" she said. I turned left at an intersection and kept running.


    The intercom activated once again.


    "ALL PERSONNEL, STAY CLEAR OF THE LAB SECTION E-7. SECURITY TEAMS C-A AND C-B, MEET AT THE ARMORY."


    While trying to pay attention to the intercom, I lost all sense of navigation inside the corridors. While trying to explore and find my way, I heard something ahead. I looked there, but I saw no one. Yet, the sound was coming closer every second. It was similar to the sound of a broken radio.


    "Right in front of you." said Cansu.


    I looked down and saw a young girl, trying to crawl towards me, dragging herself on the ground. Her body was covered in grey and brown dirt. The color of her spilt blood had created interesting patterns on her clothes. She only had one leg, and she was perhaps unable to use the other. By the look on her face, there was no doubt that she was suffering an intense pain.


    It was very obvious that she was one of the subjects of the ''experiment'', and I had no means to help her right now. But I could understand how she was feeling, and leaving her there would definitely hurt me.


    "T-t... Teacher!" she cried as she tried to approach me. Her words dug into my heart like a spear. "Help me!"


    I stepped back.


    "Teacher..." she coughed a few times. "It''s me!"


    She approached me, and I took another step back.


    "Don''t... Don''t you remember me?"


    I definitely did not remember her. But, thinking of it, that was a part of the phenomenon... If I had not been with Cansu at her last moments, I would have forgotten about her too.


    Could this girl... Could she really be one of my students? I looked into her eyes with curiosity.


    "Why?" she said, weakly. "Why..."


    I couldn''t stand it anymore. I reached forth to her. If I could save one more soul...


    "NO!" yelled Cansu. "Go away!"


    It was my fault after all. If I could just save one more soul... I was in no condition to listen to Cansu.


    "Teacher, NO!" Cansu shouted again. "Leave her, it''s dangerous!"


    The girl grabbed my arm and I tried to help her stand up.


    "Teacher, she is NOT your student, she is a weapon!" Cansu kept yelling. "Let go of her!"


    The girl was looking directly into my eyes with a still expression, something in between sad and curious.


    "What is your name?" I asked her. She kept looking at me without answering. I didn''t expect her to answer.


    "Come on, let''s go." I said. I suddenly raised my arm, and punched her with all my strenght. She cried in pain and hit the wall next to her before she fell down.


    The back of her skull was fractured. Blood was pouring out. She was laying still on the ground.


    What have I just done? How could that happen!?


    I ran up to the girl and examined her. Her muscles were frozen, and she had bruises all over her body. At some points, her veins and bones were visible.


    I really had done it... She was dead.


    "Leave her already, you idiot." Cansu said. "She was too dangerous, and you lowered your shields for the moment... I had to do it for our sake."


    That was it... I had forgot about Cansu''s ability to exert her control over my body. I wasn''t sure if I was grateful or annoyed; but either case, she was doing what she could do to protect us.


    "She wasn''t my student, right?" I asked Cansu as I looked at her body in misery.


    "I... She was..." she muttered. "I don''t know." she finally said. "And it doesn''t matter. Stop thinking about the past. If you don''t concentrate on your current objective, there will be no past left to remember."


    I slowly got up and left the young girl there, laying on the ground.


    "The Community is around here." Cansu reminded me.


    As I progressed further into the corridor, I had already forgotten her face.

 79 Path Through Chaos

    I was going to continue searching for Idil and a possible exit from this facility. The struggle between The Community and the scientists was a secondary objective. I thought that Cansu would be thinking otherwise, but perhaps she wasn''t interested in arguing with me; picking a fight wouldn''t serve anything good.


    "If we go on like this, we will probably end up dead in no time." Cansu said.


    "Aren''t you already dead? Isn''t this... more of an issue of mortals?" I said.


    "I am not happy being trapped within you." she said. "Don''t misunderstand, it is nothing personal. It is just... If you die, I will have no effect standing immobile."


    "Don''t get me wrong, but simply judging by your previous actions... It seems like you can, in fact, travel independently." I said. "You see... You can activate my cellphone and nearby intercom speakers from afar. Besides... members of The Community can do that as well, although with limited effectiveness."


    "Say it once again, but slowly." she said.


    "Say what?"


    "Trying to travel afar from my ''cage''... greatly reduces effectiveness. But, moreover; it is REALLY painful." she said. "My words can not precisely describe what is happening in this dimension, but after all, you don''t have to know everything. It is just... very painful."


    "Can you still feel pain? Well, I know you can still feel emotions, but..."


    "It is not physical pain like you feel..." she said.


    "Eh?" I was getting a bit confused again.


    "Look, the human language is not capable of transmitting what I want to tell you. If you were dead, you would understand; but your death would be a most unfortunate event. So, please, I beg you... You don''t have to understand everything." she explained.


    "Why does everyone keep telling me that?" I said. "I''m tired of hearing this very specific phrase over and over again..."


    "Maybe because there is truth in that." she said. "If you keep getting stuck on such unnecessary details, I can guarantee that you will hear it again. Such a useless conversation anyway... Let''s focus on what we are doing."


    "You started the conversation." I said. "You said I would die if I kept going like that."


    "Oh... yes." she said after a short pause.


    "What do you suggest?" I asked her.


    "I know you won''t like the idea so much, but... Your first priority should be finding the scientists again. Stop looking for Idil first." I said.


    "I HAVE TO find her." I objected. "We don''t know her condition, we might be losing very precious time."


    "I knew you would say that..." Cansu sighed.


    "Also, by standing by the side of those scientists... We would have picked a side on this war. We should stay out of it as long as possible and try to make the most out of this chaos." I suggested. "Both parties are our enemies."


    "And that''s what the problem is!" Cansu said. "If we stand alone, we will be annihilated. One side has guns, and the other... well, you know The Community a lot better anyway. We have to pick a side, even though it is temporary... We are not powerful enough to play ''aggressive neutral''."


    "But..."


    "And let me tell you beforehand, I will NOT stand on the side of The Community." her voice changed. "Besides, by sharing our knowledge, we''ve already picked the side of the scientists. What do you expect, a formal five page invitation?"


    "I never suggested that we pick the side of The Community." I sighed.


    "Still, you are throwing my plans off-track already..." she said. "This is the only time in history that we can defeat The Community. We can not lose it."


    "Fine. Maybe, for the sake of the protection we need..." I said. "I will search for the scientists."


    Cansu suddenly went silent.


    "Hey!" I said.


    "Did you hear that too?" she whispered.


    "Hear what?"


    "That!"


    "What!?" No matter how hard I tried, I couldn''t hear anything.


    Something tickled my right leg. I didn''t react at first, but the feeling got more intense.


    "Argh." I yelled. "Did I accidentally hit something?"


    The ''feeling'' was travelling up my leg. I used my left foot to scratch my leg. The feeling disappeared.


    "Watch it." Cansu said. I looked around, but couldn''t notice anything.


    "What is going on?" I asked.


    "They are near." she said. "The Community."


    "I don''t see anything." I said.


    "You don''t?" she asked. "Look closely."


    The tickling appeared again. This time, I panicked immediately. What could be happening?


    With my feet, I tried to scratch my leg again, but this time, the feeling didn''t disappear. I looked down to my leg, and I noticed something weird. There was something strange on my leg; it was like a brown/red-ish, thin layer of a weird substance. I reached out with my hand to get it off, but just when I did it, the funny feeling appeared on my hand. I got my hand closer to my face to take a careful look. But just when I noticed what it was, I started shaking my hand around violently.


    The ''substance'' was a colony of tiny bugs, a type that I have never seen in my life before. I had no idea what they could do to me, but I was surely afraid. As the feeling got more intense, I began jumping around and rubbing my body against walls. As I looked more carefully into the corridor, I noticed a lot more of those bugs coming this way.


    I immediately started running away from the bugs in order to prevent more of them from sticking on to my body. Meanwhile, the ones that had gathered on my hand began travelling up my arm, towards my shoulder. I tried pushing them away with my hands, but it didn''t work. I kept running.


    Suddenly, someone appeared in the hallway. He was one of the scientists I had seen earlier.


    "Help!" I screamed. He didn''t spend another second standing there, instead, he began running away. I started chasing him, still struggling to push the bugs away. When I looked back into the corridor, I noticed something even worse.


    "They can fly!?"


    The scientist had turned towards a single door at the end of the corridor. I kept pursuing him. Just when he got past the door, he stopped there.


    "Stop! Help me!" I yelled.


    After looking at me for a couple of seconds, he closed the door and locked it before I could reach him.


    "What happened to the side we had picked?" I said. Cansu didn''t even say a word back.


    I looked behind me. I was cornered by those bugs. Maybe I could try running directly into them, but my whole body would be covered in those bugs. Although I haven''t seen them doing any real damage on my body, I was afraid. Even if I could somehow get past them, I could end up running into something even worse.


    Suddenly, I felt something on my right ear. They were climbing up... and inside.


    I could now hear them moving around. I tilted my head and pressed against my shoulder to deal with the disturbing feelings, but I was unsuccessful.


    With the pain I felt in my ear, I let out the loudest scream in my life.

 80 Shielded in Both Dimensions

    I dropped down on my knees and held my ear with my clean hand. It was covered in blood. I was feeling queer, sick.


    I shut my mouth and tried to get up. I had to bear with the pain and escape, and the only way out was the corridor I came from; which meant that I would have to make a run through large colonies of those tiny bugs.


    The muscles on the right side of my face began spasming rapidly and violently. I had no control over it, so I had to try to ignore it for now. If I could just run past that corridor...


    I dropped down on my knees again. I was losing strenght. I could barely breathe, let alone stand up and run. I was sweating, and my body temperature was rising. The high-pitched ringing in my ears was audible again.


    A mixture of saliva and blood was coming out of my mouth. I tried to spit it out, and just then, I noticed some of those bugs; dead, floating away.


    I could no longer even try to stand up.


    With my remaining power, I began hitting my head against the wall.


    The locked door next to me suddenly unlocked. It was the scientist I had followed all the way here. He grabbed me by my arm and threw me past the door. He immediately closed the door shut and locked it again. I was now laying on the ground, at the mercy of those bugs which were destroying my body.


    That scientist appeared next to me. He was wearing something different, it looked like some special kind of lab gear. He was holding a large canister in his hand.


    He suddenly held the canister against me and pressed a button. The pressurised gas inside the canister hit my face, mouth and eyes. It was smelling like burnt plastic, and the gas was burning my eyes and nose. As I had no control over my face, I could neither close my eyes or tell him to stop. My eyes were immediately covered in tears, but the burning sensation along my respiratory system remained.


    He then continued the gas shower over my stomach and legs. I coughed a few times and tried to gather my strenght again.


    The scientist finally finished whatever he was doing, and looked into my eyes. He threw the canister away and got closer.


    "Are you okay?" he asked.


    "N-n-n-n" It was hard to talk with the tetani on my face. "N-n-no... no." I said. My ears were still bleeding, and I was dizzy.


    He turned me over and began inspecting the wound on my ear. With every second, I was getting more and more dizzy and sleepy.


    - - -


    I was sitting near a wall, and the scientist was covering my ear with some white cloth. I had apparently passed out for a while. I looked around and saw hundreds -if not thousands- of dead, tiny little bugs all around.


    I was feeling something in my pharynx. I coughed a few times to get rid of it. A bunch of more dead bugs came flying out of my mouth. I could still feel a lot of pain, but the dizziness had passed. I clenched my teeth and tried my best in order not to yell in pain.


    "Easy there." someone said. When I looked at that direction, I saw that another man was with us in the corridor.


    "Are you okay?" the scientist next to me asked again.


    "I''m... better, but not really okay." I said, with my teeth still clenched.


    "Okay, we are running out of time, just as you can see." he said. "So, tell us. Tell us everything you know about this... ''Community'', whatever you call it."


    "I-I-I first... saw the..." I tried to talk.


    "Come on, let him rest and recover for a while." the other man said.


    "But the situation-" he tried to argue.


    "We are handling the situation quite well." the other man said. "I mean, at least for now. Leave him be for the time being."


    The scientist near me looked at my face. I stared back at him without saying anything, but trying to imply that I was in great pain. The other man was watching us from afar.


    "Alright." the scientist murmured, and went away. "Fine. Just rest here for a while, but when I come back, I need to get some information." He seemed angry.


    "Could you be less aggressive?" the other man said to the scientist. "He wanted to help us, and we failed to protect him. You can''t hold him responsible for anything."


    "I am not being aggressive!" the scientist yelled. "I am tired, frusturated; and if we want to stay alive, we NEED that information." The other man sighed and looked at me.


    "If you need anything, feel free to ask." he said. I couldn''t reply with words, so I nodded. He gave me an assuring look and went away. I was alone in the corridor once again.


    "Great job." It was Cansu''s voice. I looked up to the ceiling.


    "R-Really?" I asked.


    "Take heart, you are doing great." she said. "One more step of my plan has been successfully completed."


    "W-w-why do I trust you and your plan s-s-so much, I h-have no idea." I said.


    "Because there is no turning back after this point." she said. "If we fail, that''s it."


    "M-m-maybe you are leading m-m-me to my d-death." I said. "You can r-read my mind, I-I-I-I can''t read yours." Even I wasn''t sure if I was joking or being serious myself.


    "You already know that, if I wanted to kill you, I could''ve done it a thousand times by now..." she said. "...teacher." she added with a seductive voice.


    "W-wh-what if you want to get r-r-rid of both me and this facility at once?" I asked.


    "Look at you." she said. "Look at your words, and your thoughts. Teacher, they are messing with you, manipulating you, trying to make me seem hostile; yet you are unable to notice and fight it."


    She could be right... What was I even saying?


    "This is why I am with you." Cansu said. "This is why we need each other."

 81 Trade of Power

    I softly put my head against the wall and tried to rest. The intensity of the spasms were decreasing, my wounds were slowly healing. I was feeling slightly better and safer, yet, the pain remained...


    Clenching my teeth and fingers, I was trying to form the best sentences in my mind, so I could give the information I had about The Community to the scientists. Would it be better if I told everything at once? Or perhaps... I could be more selective about what I was going to tell them. The amount of information I gave them could be the decisive factor in this fight. And... What would happen to me when the scientist got all the information they needed? It was a very disturbing trade-off between my security and our power against The Community...


    I was occasionally looking into the corridors around me, trying to see if someone was nearby. I had never seen or heard from anyone for minutes.


    "Hey." I softly said.


    "Teacher?" Cansu replied.


    "Where are they? How far away?" I asked.


    "Are you talking about The Community or the scientists?" she asked.


    "I''m asking about the..." I paused. "Hold on, I''m actually asking about both."


    "Well, the facility personnel is trying to create a safe area for temporary retreat, damage control and risk assessment." she said. "As for The Community, they are surrounding the facility and searching around for stuff in the evacuated parts."


    "Do you know what they are looking for?" I asked.


    "I don''t think they are looking for something particular. It would be a safe assumption to say that they are simply defending their current territorial gains, and waiting for us to make a mistake, so they can end us in a single attack." she replied.


    "Oh. Very nice. I feel safe." I said. "Did you read The Art of War or something?"


    The corridor was slowly getting colder. I crossed my arms and began looking around me.


    "Looking for little bugs, teacher?" Cansu asked me.


    "Yeah." I said. "I''m looking for little murderous bugs."


    "Watch out!" she shouted. I jumped away from where I was sitting and started looking at the walls. I couldn''t notice anything. My panic lasted until Cansu started laughing.


    "How funny." I angrily said. "Do you want to cause a heart attack? Because that''s exactly how you do it."


    "Your face was priceless, though!" she said, still laughing.


    The corridor got even colder. My body began shaking a little. There was a soft breeze in the corridor.


    "I know this wind." I said. "Maybe they decided not to wait for us."


    "In that case... Maybe you should hurry." Cansu suggested. "Hurry and speak to the scientists."


    For the first time in twenty minutes, I finally heard something from the nearby corridors... a gunshot and an explosion. Those loud sounds were followed by footsteps. I stood up. Someone appeared in the corridor. When he came closer, I identified him as the scientist that had rescued me from the killer bugs.


    "What is going on there?" I asked him.


    Another gunshot. This one was much, much closer than the previous one. The footsteps stopped. The scientist froze with his eyes locked on me. There was blood coming out of his nose and mouth. I stepped back slowly as he dropped dead on the spot. He was shot.


    Behind him, I saw an armed man in civilian clothes. He was in a rather good condition. There was a gun in his hand, aimed towards the scientist on the ground. That gun slowly turned towards me. I turned back and began running towards an intersection to lose him.


    "Halt!" he yelled.


    "Don''t halt!" Cansu yelled.


    I didn''t stop and kept running. Another gunshot... I checked myself to see if I was shot, apparently, I wasn''t. There was a bullet hole on the wall ahead. The bullet had missed me with milimeters... It was either a badly aimed killing shot, or a very well aimed warning shot.


    "I said halt!" the man yelled. So it was indeed, a very well aimed warning shot. Despite what Cansu told me, I stopped and raised my hands above my head.


    "Turn around." he said. I turned around and looked at him. He slowly lowered the gun.


    "You are getting out of here." he said. I was surprised by the sudden change of mood. What a nice way to help people!


    "Hold it!" Cansu yelled. "Don''t listen to him, teacher, think about it caref---". Her voice was cut off. There was only static coming from the speakers.


    "Cansu!" I yelled. No response.


    "Forget her. We are getting you out." the man said. "Follow me, this is your escape; and perhaps this is your only chance."


    I carefully looked at the man. Had they decided to give up the fight and evacuate the facility? It didn''t seem likely to me. There was something wrong with this situation, escpecially since Cansu was trying to warn me about it...


    "Hold on." I said. "I am not going anywhere."


    "Why?" he asked.


    "I came all the way here to accomplish something. I am NOT leaving." I said.


    "You already accomplished your mission... by exploiting the weaknesses of this facility and leading us there."


    The sudden realisation struck me hard. I was astonished. The Community was way ahead of us in this conflict already... They had broken the lines of defense around me, and they had enough power to manipulate armed facility personnel. Maybe it was already too late...


    The static on the speakers began clearing up. I was now hearing the familiar voice of a young lady. They clearly had enough power to overwhelm Cansu and take the control.


    "Go away. You''ve done invaluable service to us. Go away. If you do, you will no longer find us as your enemies." she said. "Thanks to your actions, we are on the verge of a great victory."


    There was no way I could agree to what The Community wanted; but an actual, working gun was a good source of motivation.


    "Okay." I said. "I wish for an everlasting peace. Lead me out of here."


    "Follow me." said the man. I walked up to him and we began walking together in the corridors of the facility. During our little walk, I was thinking of ways to escape him or knock him out. Just then, I had a bright idea.


    As we were turning at an intersection, I got closer to him and touched his arm. He didn''t move away. Nothing happened for a while. Suddenly, the man pushed me away with his elbow. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards me.


    The man froze.


    "Fight it!" I shouted. Since I was very close to him, Cansu could use her powers to render the evil manipulations useless. No matter how weak his willpower was, we could bring him to fight The Community rather than obeying the commands.


    But before anything could happen, he kicked me away. I fell down a few meters in front of him. While I was still on the ground, he pulled his gun out.

 82 Dissension

    The man slowly raised the gun. My eyes were aligned with the barrel. When I looked up, I could see the man''s eyes through the little gunsight. He was... scared. His hand was shaking.


    He was having a moment of hesitation, and this could be my only chance. I tried to get up, but failed. Just when I was about to jump towards the man to attack, I slipped and fell back down in front of the gun.


    I closed my eyes. I had been wounded pretty badly before and even though I required immediate help, I had survived; perhaps I could survive a single bullet too... But then, I had also seen people who have been killed with a single bullet. I was about to go crazy as my emotions and thoughts rapidly altered between fear, hope, despair and sorrow. I could almost feel my heartbeats; even if the bullet wouldn''t kill me, a heart attack probably would.


    "Pull the trigger!" my internal voice was yelling to the man. My subconscious was way too curious about the outcome of the situation.


    "Please let another miracle happen!" I repeated in my mind.


    It was the longest two seconds in my life.


    Silence.


    *bang*


    I heard the gunshot echo a few times. I wasn''t feeling anything. It must have been the adrenaline, the body''s safeguard against pain during the action. I slowly opened my eyes, looking down, and patiently waited to feel the pain.


    I held my chest, thinking that I would probably be shot there. And there it was, I could feel the blood with my hands. It was amazing how my body could produce blood so fast in order to replace all the blood I had lost through my open wounds.


    I heard a metallic sound. A gun dropped down just in front of me, which was also covered in blood. And the body of a man... It wasn''t my blood. It was the man''s, he had shot himself!


    He was still alive, struggling on the ground. I stood up and looked at him. He could slowly turn his head to see me.


    "I just..." he spoke. "...couldn''t handle."


    "I-It''s okay, I will get you-" I panicked. I could still save him. I was about to run to find help, but he suddenly held my leg. I panicked even more. He squeezed my leg and didn''t let me go.


    "T-t-t-t....t-t-thank you." he said, looking into my eyes.


    "Thank you, Cansu." I whispered softly.


    The man made a horrifying noise as he breathed in, perhaps for the last time. "Find... help..." He was barely speaking. "...the generator... room..."


    His grip loosened, and he let me go. His body was frozen, and his eyes were open. He was looking at me, but there was no longer any indication that he was still alive.


    Having witnessed many deaths before, I thought it wouldn''t affect me so much after a while; but I was wrong. Every death was hurting me much more... Perhaps The Community was right about something; if I had just died, none of this would''ve happened. Maybe The Community and the facility would still exist, but the deaths would''ve been limited to the ones who have been kidnapped by the scientists.


    "Shut it." Cansu said.


    "What?" I said.


    "I know what you are thinking, teacher. But please hear me out: I didn''t just save you a few seconds ago so you could let yourself be manipulated by the evil again." she said. "Your ''timely'' death wouldn''t save anyone, nor it would be any better for the people who spent their lives in this building. People would still get kidnapped and many of them would still die; and we would''ve lost our only opportunity to end this massacre."


    "I... I see." I said. "I just can''t stop thinking."


    "You can''t stop thinking because you are not fighting it!" Cansu said. "Well, again, I guess this is why I need to be with you..."


    "Thanks for saving my life over and over again." I said.


    "This whole business was about saving people''s lives over and over again..." she sighed. "Let''s save everyone''s life for an eternity and get out of this place. We are losing time."


    I left the dead man on the spot and headed into a corridor.


    "The generator room is the other way." Cansu said.


    "I know." I replied.


    "Want to give me a good reason why you are not going that way, teacher?" she said.


    "I''m going to find Idil." I said.


    "No, you are not." she said. "You are going to turn back and get protection by-"


    "Look." I said. "We tried it your way, but you see; it doesn''t work. This time, I will try to do it my way."


    "You are forcing me to use my powers." she said.


    "For once, I know exactly what I''m doing, so please let me do." I said. I was getting a bit angry, but at the same time, I really didn''t want to argue with her.


    "No, you don''t know what you are doing; you are just following what your heart is telling you." she said.


    "Well..." I raised my voice. "Maybe my heart is right!"


    "Except it isn''t." Cansu raised her voice too. "You are too obsessed with saving individuals that you can''t even see the big picture anymore! Losing a battle doesn''t mean losing the entire war; but if we lose the war against The Community-"


    "We can''t afford losing any other person!" I yelled. "We lost our best sources of information and protection; Mr. Kenan and The Librarian. She is the only one left on our side."


    "You can''t save her like this. Do you even know where she is?" Cansu said.


    "Well, I have to start from somewhere!" I said. "You know, you criticize me a lot, but... Perhaps your entire plan is based on your hatred towards The Community. You have been following the raging fires and anger in your heart, let me follow the way of compassionate love for once."


    "I can''t let you jeopardise my quest... I won''t!" she yelled.


    "Now, we are not talking like the friends we are, are we?" I said. I was getting worried. "Are you on my side to help me out, or for your own interests?"


    "I-It is not like that." she said. Her voice has gotten a lot softer.


    "Are we bound together with friendship and unconditional love, or strategic alliance and unwritten treaties?" I asked.


    "Stop it." she said.


    "Is your main objective saving people or destroying The Community?" I asked.


    No answer.


    "Are you making your decisions with logic or hatred?" I asked.


    "Teacher!" she said, crying. "Stop!"

 83 The Crossroad Frontier

    I breathed in, and the conversation stopped there. Without doing anything, I stood there in silence for five minutes. Of course I couldn''t see Cansu, but somehow... I knew she was thinking about what we''ve talked. I was spacing out, staring into the gloomy corridors ahead of me. At least Cansu was right about one thing; the facility was way too big to explore just by walking around.


    I heard some static from the nearby speaker. She must''ve been reading my thoughts.


    "Go ahead, teacher." she said. "Don''t think of it. Don''t let the vastness of this facility discourage you. Even if it''s not my preferred way of doing things, we still have to do something. We can''t sit here forever."


    I didn''t reply to her and slowly began walking. I knew what I needed to do, but there was an unexplainable uneasiness and hesitation in my actions.


    "Come on. I am not going to argue anymore. Do it your way." she said. I couldn''t understand if she was really trying to encourage me or was simply being passive aggressive.


    "Walk." I said myself. "She''s waiting. She needs your help."


    "She needs your help." Cansu repeated after me. With this encouragement, my walking turned into running, and I picked a random direction to explore.


    "It would be a lot easier if I had not lost that book..." I said.


    "I will regret saying this to you..." she began talking. "...but perhaps if you asked the scientists for the book in return, you could probably-" I interrupted Cansu.


    "Whatever, forget I''ve ever said that." I said. She didn''t say anything in return, and I kept running.


    I came to an intersection and turned left. Ahead of me, at the end of the corridor, there was a steel door illuminated by a single flickering lamp on the ceiling. I approached the door and pushed it; it didn''t open. The door was locked. On further examination, I noticed a keypad on the wall, just next to the door. I''ve seen something like this before...


    "Oh my..." I said. "Maybe you are right. Maybe I need to find that book."


    "One-five-nine-nine-two-three-five." Cansu rapidly said.


    "What!?" I was surprised.


    "Try it." she said.


    "Say it again, but slowly." I said.


    "One-five-nine-nine-two-three-five."


    I entered the numbers using the keypad, but the password was wrong. The keypad made a buzzing noise, and the door remained locked.


    "This isn''t right... Did you really memorize them, or are you just randomly spitting out random passwords from your mind?" I asked Cansu.


    "I memorized some of the passwords while we were looking at the book, I thought it might come in handy... But I can''t remember which password belongs to which system..." she said.


    "Can''t you use your powers to open it or something?" I asked.


    "Hold on, close yourself up to the keypad and let me try it." she said.


    I pushed my chest against the keypad to provide Cansu with easy access to tamper with the system. It was a really absurd scene. There was no one else around, but I could still feel my face going red.


    "There we go..." Cansu said. "Now... Oh no, it requires not just numbers... Hmm..." she was muttering to herself. "Huh, I remember another one! R... T... E... dash... P... T..."


    *buzz*


    "Argh!" she was frusturated. "I''m out of passwords... Let me try to hack it or something instead..."


    "Take your time." I said, and sighed.


    I heard a few gunshots behind me, but the sounds were coming from the far reaches of the facility. Judging by the distance, we weren''t in any immediate danger, but I was still worried.


    "Actually, don''t take your time." I said. "Maybe there is a faster way around or something..."


    "No one would be stupid enough to install a locked door with an unlocked ''way around it''." Cansu said.


    "Oh, yes..." I said. "Makes a lot of sense."


    "How did you even become a teacher with so little brain?" she said.


    "Shut up, I am just..." I couldn''t finish the sentence.


    "You are just what?" she said.


    "Just carry on." I said.


    "You illiterate idiot." she muttered. I heard it, but completely ignored her. She was right after all...


    All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. It was feeling like a well-sharpened knife or a needle running through my body; starting from my chest, going through my stomach, my crotch, my legs and all the way down to my feet... I could feel all my veins, arteries and neural connections in the lower half of my body. Despite the pain, I couldn''t react; I was frozen. My legs didn''t obey my commands, instead, the sudden contraction of my muscles threw me away from the keypad. As soon as I got away from the keypad, most of the pain was relieved; but a very bad smell covered the corridor. It was the smell of burnt human flesh... I was almost electrocuted to death. Fortunately, my body had only short-circuited the system for a very short time, allowing me to survive the shock.


    The steel door swung open as I was laying on the floor, trying to recover from the shock.


    "I didn''t know you could do that." Cansu said.


    "I didn''t do anything." I said.


    "Wait." Cansu said. "We are late. They are already here. We will have to chose anoth-"


    "IDIL!?" I yelled. There she was, standing on the other side of the steel door, staring at me. Her expression was sad and gloomy; her eyes were... hollow. She was standing still like a creepy doll with some blood on her clothes. Her skin was unnaturally pale.


    A soft breeze hurled her hair from her shoulders.


    "What happened to you?" I asked her. She didn''t say anything and kept staring.


    As I was trying to get up, I heard someone approaching the corridor we were in. I recognised the sound of the slider on a handgun.


    Idil took a step forwards and got past the steel door.


    "Stay where you are!" the man behind me shouted. Idil stopped right there.


    I turned around and looked at the man behind me. He was aiming at Idil.


    "No!" I yelled and rushed towards him.


    Idil pulled out a gun she has been hiding behind her and aimed towards the man.


    "No!" yelled Cansu.


    I was trying to block their line of fire. I was supposedly friendly to both sides, neither Idil nor one of the scientists would risk shooting me.


    *BANG*

 84 The Beginning of The End

    I saw a flash of light in front of me. I wasn''t fast enough, the man had already pulled the trigger, aiming above my shoulder. The bullet flew past me, just near my right ear. It struck something behind me.


    I heard some weak moaning and looked back. Idil dropped her gun and got her hand on her chest. Her eyes were closed shut, she was trying to breathe between her clenched teeth. The blood from the wound on her chest began leaking from her hands. Shortly afterwards, she quietly fell down like an empty sack. She didn''t even try to soften the fall.


    She was still like a doll. No breathing. No heartbeat.


    That was it.


    She was... dead.


    An emotional lightning struck my heart. My brain stopped, my thoughts flew away. I turned around and looked back at the man.


    The man suddenly got scared and stepped away from me. I had no idea how I was looking like, but it surely was frightening.


    He was saying something to me, but I was not listening. I couldn''t hear him with everything going on in my mind. His mouth was moving, but that was all. He was still holding his gun and trying to keep the distance as I was walking towards him.


    I could hear Cansu''s voice as well, but the sounds were all... indistinct, blurred. I couldn''t understand a word anyone was saying, and for that matter, I wasn''t caring anyway.


    "How... did you..." I began talking. He was still trying to say something to me.


    Eventually, he reached a wall as he was walking backwards. I closed up the distance as he bursted into tears. I took one more step forwards. Now, his gun was touching my chest, with it''s barrel pointing towards me.


    I was seeing everything in red.


    I struck him down with a single hit. He hit his head to the wall and dropped down. That left a very distinct mark on the wall, as well as some of his and my blood.


    I looked down to the man''s face in anger and hate. He was unconscious. I didn''t understand if he was dead or not.


    But this... This wasn''t enough.


    I grabbed his gun from the ground and aimed at him. I hesitated for a fraction of a second, but eventually, I pulled the trigger.


    *bang*


    I breathed in, and out; still looking at the man. I wasn''t feeling the slightest amount of compassion or pity. I was disgusted and angry.


    *bang*


    I pulled the trigger over an over again, until I ran out of bullets. After that, I threw the gun away.


    A few drops of tears formed in my eyes. I sat down in a corner.


    I was losing everything... I had lost my friends and my high school memories years ago, and now... I had lost some of my lovely students, my old teacher and friend Mr. Kenan, and finally Idil... After all of these, I was about to lose myself.


    I cried silently, and watched the tears flowing down my cheeks, to the ground.


    I looked at Idil''s body. "Wake up!" I yelled, with no real expectation. It was simply... impossible to accept. No matter what we''ve been through, she had somehow managed to stay alive and strong, yet... She couldn''t make it this time. Until now, it always seemed like this would be impossible.


    It was my fault. Instead of running towards the man and accidentally creating a shield for him, if I went to shield Idil, she could''ve won that duel. Moreover, if I were not caught and brought to this facility through-


    "No... no, no, no..." I muttered. It was not my fault. I looked at the man on the ground, in disgust.


    "You did this to her..." I said. "You did this to my students. You did this to everyone!" I was breathing heavily. "YOU DID THIS TO ME!"


    I was hardly breathing. I coughed a few times.


    "I hate you. I will kill you all." I said. "I will never forgive you!" I yelled. There was no one around to hear my words. Cansu was staying silent.


    "We will never forgive." someone said.


    That was her. It was the voice. Just like Cansu told me before, The Community was here. I had a flashback to my years as a student.


    ''WE WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU''


    I couldn''t remember where I had seen this writing.


    "We will never forgive you." I repeated the words in my mind.


    "It took you this much to realise..." the voice said. "Was it worth?"


    "Mr. Kenan was... right about many things." I said.


    "He was right, he was just... too naive." the voice said. "No any more than you, but still; he had the wrong methods."


    "I will kill them." I said.


    "Don''t let our souls rot in agony." the voice said. "This is why we couldn''t destroy each other, it was our destiny; we shall now avenge everything we have lost through decades."


    "You always had a plan." I said.


    "If only you had seen it sooner... We have told you this a few times before: You would never regret being a part of us." the voice said. "But perhaps this miscommunication between us lead to many other good things. I hope, now, you understand us better than ever."


    "Our path is now clear." I said.


    "We know what to do from now on. Simply keep our secrets to yourself, and we will lead the way." the voice said.


    "What happens now?" I asked.


    "Stand up."


    I stood up.


    "Although you may have done this without knowing, after many many decades, you''ve given us the only chance to acheive our original goal of destroying this facility." she said. "All this time, we''ve always thought they could repel us if we''ve done such an intrusion into this facility, but now, we know the truth... Without the knowledge you have, their defences are no more."


    "Lead me." I said.


    "We will proceed deep into the laboratory and command sections, and this should suffice. If we cripple critical systems and kill key personnel, they will be no more." she said.


    "They don''t deserve to exist." I said.


    "No, of course they don''t." the voice said. "And they shall receive no mercy even after their death."


    I glimpsed at Idil''s body once more.


    "You didn''t deserve this..." I said. "We didn''t deserve this."


    "Neither did any of us." the voice added.


    The last drop of tear fell down as I walked away.

 85 Heart of Iron

    I grabbed Idil''s gun from the ground and left the scene, walking towards the inner parts of the facility. On my way, I checked the gun; the magazine was full. I hastily put everything back together and kept walking fastly with the gun in my hand. Most of the doors have already been unlocked either by the evacuating personnel or The Community. I encountered no one in the corridors for a while.


    I was still feeling the rage, anger and the need for revenge. There was no way for me to calm down anymore. I couldn''t think about anything else, but... a part of me was still wondering what Cansu was doing.


    The surroundings were looking a bit familiar, but I was in a part of the facility I''ve never been to before. But the people trapped in capsules, placed near the walls... It was the same technology I had seen before Cansu had rescued me. But the ones here were mostly empty.


    I encountered a locked door ahead. I walked straight up to it, and the door automatically opened, most likely with the power of The Community.


    Inside the room, I saw three people in front of consoles apart from each other, trying to do something in a hurry. They heard the door opening, and curiously looked at me. I stared back at them for a few seconds. I was feeling nothing. I would give them the same value they gave to people they worked on... Their lives meant nothing!


    They were standing still, like they were waiting for me to say something. A quick glance revealed that they were completely defenseless, despite their superior numbers.


    "May I help you?" a young man with glasses softly asked.


    I raised the gun. He stepped back a little and raised his hands, looking directly into my eyes.


    I didn''t even hesitate. I pulled the trigger and shot him in the head. One of the two remaining men tried hiding at the opposite corner of the room, while the other one tried to charge me. I quickly aimed and shot the attacker in the chest, twice. He dropped dead. I walked into the room, and approached the other man. He noticed me and stopped trying to hide. Instead of trying to hide, he looked at me, sitting on the ground with a sad look on his face.


    "Please d-don''t kill me, I will do whatever you want, p-p-please don''t..." he was talking really fast. He was shaking, sweating.


    I aimed at his head. He closed his eyes and kept pleading for mercy. I didn''t pull the trigger for a while, just to watch him suffer. He couldn''t even talk properly anymore, poor guy could die from his fear... After a few seconds, he stopped talking and opened his eyes a little, perhaps hoping that I might have spared his life. When he saw the gun, he screamed and closed his eyes again.


    I pulled the trigger and shot him in the head. His blood bursted out of the other side of his head and painted the wall. I looked at the body in disgust for a while. I wasn''t calming down, furthermore, I was feeling more pain every second... A part of me was feeling empty, still wondering about Cansu. Maybe she had realised her failure and went into exile...


    I walked around and examined the consoles. There were numerous buttons, some sliders, and one of them had a small lever; but most of the controls had no labels. And the ones that were labeled were generic things, like control on/off buttons and console brightness sliders. I didn''t touch anything and kept walking towards the inner parts of the facility.


    There was another room just next to the room that was filled with consoles. The door wasn''t locked, so I entered to take a look. It was a big room that was resembling a library. There were folders and papers all around the room. It was most probably some sort of database, or an archive. It wasn''t very well organised, it seemed like someone had scattered everything around on purpose. Perhaps they were trying to save the important documents, now that their facility was falling apart.


    A small folder named ''CLONE ARCHIVES'' drew my attention. I grabbed the folder and opened it. In the folder there were information about the cloning process, and various people that were cloned successfully. Most of those people were test subjects, but some of them were facility personnel.


    The cloning process described here was much different than the classical method; though I couldn''t understand much of it, it was clearly way more advanced than asexual reproduction. The method didn''t just create organisms with exact same genetics, but it also allowed multi-cellular organisms to be reacreated as exact replicas almost instantaneously. Exact replicas of people, perhaps more look-alike than twins...


    I continued turning the pages, and noticed that there was a paper for every person that has been cloned. Every page was containing the photo, name, gender, height, weight, age and health information of an individual. And, at the bottom of the page, the number of clones and the locations they were sent.


    There weren''t many pages, so I had enough time to take a look at every one. I turned the page, trying to recognise people.


    I finally recognised one of them. It was the man I called ''The Librarian''. Supposedly, he had one clone that was located in another lab section. But it didn''t matter anymore, since both instances were already dead.


    I kept turning the pages. After the facility personnel''s pages, I started seeing test subjects. As far as I could tell from their photos, I could tell that they certainly didn''t have good times.


    "Come on." the deep voice of The Community said. "We have to go."


    "Just let me look at this for a minute." I said.


    "No. It doesn''t matter. These things already happened, and the longer you look at that folder... you will only find more pain." she told me. "We are on the verge of victory."


    "I have to see." I said. She didn''t reply. I turned a few more pages, and encountered pages about failed cloning attempts on some subjects.


    "Are you done yet?" the voice said.


    "Hold on..." I said.


    I turned a few more pages, and suddenly, I dropped the folder. I was startled by what I had seen. Idil was on that list; like some other subjects, she was also cloned once... The clone was supposedly located in Cell Block B, where I have encountered her the first time!


    I rushed out of the archive room, with the folder in my hand.


    "Wait!" the voice yelled. I didn''t know what to say. I was going to retrace my steps all the way back to where she was killed.


    As soon as I got out of the room, I saw a gun in my face. With that panic, I dropped mine.

 86 Choice

    I got kicked in my stomach and fell down. It was a pretty strong push, the awful feeling in my gut forced me to vomit out what was left inside me. I coughed and tried to keep breathing. I tried to get up as soon as I recovered from the initial hit, but I was pushed back down to the ground from my chest.


    I looked to see who I was fighting with. That moment... It could be the most confusing second in my life. There she was! It was Idil, or most probably the other instance of her. She was aiming the gun at me, keeping me on the ground by pressing against my chest with her foot.


    "Calm down, it''s me, it''s me!" I said.


    "It''s not you." This wasn''t Idil''s voice at all... Cansu was back, and she was talking to me.


    "Please turn the gun away, you are going to kill me!" I said.


    "You were pretty sad about not having sacrificed your life earlier, weren''t you?" Cansu said. "Now, you let yourself become a part of the evil and you are now a most serious threat to us. A threat... that we can not allow to last long enough."


    "Bold words for someone who ran away from the warzone at the first opportunity." the voice of The Community spoke. "Unfortunately for you, the truth is now revealed to him."


    "And that''s exactly where you fail." Cansu replied. "Giving in to the dark feelings; the anger, the need for revenge you have accumulated through years; instead of thinking everything logically and trying to save-"


    "We already tried it that way, and if it could solve anything, he and she wouldn''t be here today." the voice said, referring to me and Idil. "We allowed Mr. Kenan to try to keep everyone away from danger, yet... It failed. Many times. That''s when we understood that we will have to show our teeth. You still think of us as enemies, but in the greater picture; this is the best for all of us. Now, don''t stand in our way, or face destruction."


    "You''ve become the very thing you were supposed to destroy." Cansu said.


    "Although I don''t like your ways, I must admit, I am a bit amazed that you thought of your destruction as a wiser choice." the voice said. "So be it. Many people who decided to face us didn''t make it, nor shall you. Not owning a physical body isn''t an advantage on your side."


    There was a short silence. I was preparing to push Idil away and escape at any time.


    "Let us make a deal." Idil spoke for the first time, and broke the silence. "Leave him to us, and we will not stand in your way."


    "How will we trust you with that?" the voice asked.


    "What are you doing!?" Cansu yelled at Idil.


    "The facility is already on the verge of destruction." Idil said. "Your victory is inevitable. So, at least as a gratitude for his services, let him go."


    "It was his choice to join us." the voice said.


    "It most certainly wasn''t." Cansu said. "It is known that you can take advantage of emotional breakdowns and take control of people through manipulation. I know this, because I was with him there. So, in this case, a better question would be... how will WE trust YOU?"


    "We have nothing to lose by not making a deal with you." the voice replied.


    "We have located the mass grave your bodies were buried into." Idil said.


    "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" the voice suddenly got excited.


    "Now, you are willing to discuss a deal, aren''t you?" Cansu said.


    "Give us the information!" the voice shouted.


    "No, no, no... This is not even close to a fair deal." Cansu said.


    "Why is this such an important infor-" I was about to ask something.


    "Shut up, we''ll get to that later." Idil told me.


    "What do you want?" the voice said.


    "First of all, him." Idil pointed at me.


    "This is not possible, he chose to be with us!" the voice said.


    "If that''s true, let go of him and let him say it again!" Cansu said. "Let go of him!"


    "Alright." the voice sighed. "But in that case, she will have to point the gun somewhere else. Only then it can truly be a free choice."


    Idil pointed the gun down, away from me, and looked into my eyes sharply. I was suddenly feeling... different. Like something had been out-of-place all the time, and someone had just put them back correctly.


    "It is up to you." Cansu said. I was trying to think about the choices and their consequences, so I stayed silent for a while.


    If I sided with Idil and Cansu, would The Community betray and attack us after they got what they wanted? On the other hand, if I sided with The Community, it would be near impossible for me to save Idil or Cansu. Or perhaps, even worse... Cansu could risk killing me if I sided with The Community.


    Despite not having any weapons pointing towards me, it was feeling like I was constantly being targeted. This was not a free choice at all...


    "Don''t let their strenght deceive you." Idil said. "We''ve survived a lot of-"


    "Silence!" the voice yelled. "Let HIM decide." Idil shut his mouth.


    Although I didn''t get why it was that important, Idil and Cansu apparently had some important information in their hands which The Community wanted so desparately. It could be useful to gain some time.


    "I..." I began talking. "I am not a member of The Community."


    That was it... Why was it so hard to say?


    "You heard him." Cansu said.


    "You have something we want." the voice said.


    "We had not stated all of our demands yet." Cansu said.


    "What else can you possibly ask for?" the voice said. "He is proven to be a most important asset for all the groups participating in this quest."


    "I need to talk to him." Cansu said. "Then, we will continue discussing."


    The voice went silent for a while.


    "You are given five minutes." the voice said.


    "Walk to the intersection." Cansu said to me. Idil helped me get up, and I started walking to the nearby intersection. Idil followed.


    "Not you." Cansu told Idil. "I need to talk with him in private."


    Idil stopped following me. I finally came to the intersection. There was no one around.


    "What are we doing here?" I asked her.


    "First of all, you need to take care of your weak mind." she said. "I am disappointed in your ability to recognise and resist the manipulations, despite your vast experience in this field."


    "I... I know, but I relied on you. What were you doing all the time?" I asked her.


    "I was trying to rescue someone you know." she said.


    "About that..." I wanted to talk, but Cansu didn''t let me.


    "Well..." Cansu said. "She is a clone. The one you saw a few seconds ago... She is not the real one."


    "Wait, what? How do you know?" I asked her.


    "Trust me on that one." she said. "Her body is same, but her mind is very different. You would understand better if you had my abilities."


    "So, the real one is..."


    "Yeah." she said. "She is dead..."


    Another silent moment followed those words. I looked down, depressed. What would we do with a clone of her? How would we treat it?


    "...almost." Cansu said. "The real her is almost dead."

 87 Glooming Beauty

    "Okay, if..." I paused. "Wait, what did you just say!? W-what does that mean?"


    "She is, technically, dead; but it might still be possible to revive her." Cansu said.


    "How? And... what are our chances?" I asked her.


    "Not good enough to rely on, but might be worth trying." she said.


    "Don''t leave me with a dilemma of some sort again." I told her.


    "If you want to revive her, we will need additional time before The Community strikes the central parts of the facility." she said.


    "Oh my... If I know them, they will absolutely HATE this one." I said.


    "Yeah, I know..." said Cansu. "So, if you are not willing to risk it, we are just going to take what we have and find a way out as soon as possible."


    "But if there is even a small chance, I have to try saving her; we have a promise to each other. But, there is another question... What should we do with this clone?" I asked her.


    "At the very least, it is a human being; and she deserves to be treated like an actual person." Cansu said. "Probably no one will recognise her though, but just you and me."


    "Eh!?" I wasn''t expecting that.


    "...which means... you will probably have to adopt her or something." she said.


    "Are you out of your mind!?" I unkowingly raised my voice. "How can I just ''adopt'' an adult woman?"


    "If that''s a problem... maybe we will just dump her on the way and let the others take care of her." Cansu said.


    "You mean..."


    "The Community, yes." Cansu completed my sentence.


    "Well, that''s straight up cruel." I said. I was about to continue talking, but Cansu interrupted.


    "...but, if we successfully revive the real her, we will no longer need to worry about the clone." she said.


    "Wh-why, how does that even work?" I asked.


    "You see, the memories, the thoughts, the consciousness and the habits... Those stuff, the kind of stuff which makes a person who he or she is... The central nervous system is responsible for all of it." she explained. "If we are not late, we can resurrect her; transferring her neural patterns and connections into a healthy, living body..."


    "An exactly identical body." I completed her.


    "Yes... a clone." she said.


    "And what is our plan?" I asked. "How will we do that?"


    "If we somehow manage to persuade The Community to give us some extra time, we will enter the facility and seek help from the scientists who has knowledge in this field of biology." she said. "They will no doubt help her, because of you."


    "The Community will NEVER allow it though." I said.


    "They don''t have to know what we will do in there." Cansu said. "We have a trump card in our hands, and they will be willing to satisfy our demands."


    "A fake trump card, mind you..." I said. "If they see through our lies, we are dead."


    "So keep your mouth shut." she said. "Now... Are we doing it or not?"


    "No matter the risks, I have to try." I said.


    "Good... good." she said. "Now, leave the talking to me, and do as I say... my dear teacher."


    "Stop calling me-"


    "Zip it."


    I walked back to where Idil''s clone was standing.


    "Just in time." the voice of The Community said. "We were almost getting worried, thinking that you were trying to deceive and run from us."


    "Not even four minutes have passed, you freak!" Cansu said. "Anyway, we will now state our remaining demands."


    "Go on, we are listening." the voice replied.


    "We are asking for additional time before you proceed deeper into the facility. We have things to take care of. After that, you will be free to do whatever you want." Cansu said.


    "We are not fools." the voice said.


    "An hour and a half will suffice." Cansu said.


    "Fine, fine... But he will have to remain outside." the voice said, referring to me. "We can''t allow him to enter the core regions of the facility."


    "I don''t trust you enough to leave him alone with you." Cansu said. "Who knows what you could do to him?"


    Another dead-end in the negotiations. We stood in silence for a minute or two.


    "Are you going to give us the information or not?" the voice said.


    "Not until you fulfill our demands." Cansu said. No one replied.


    Another minute of silence.


    "Thirty minutes." the voice finally said.


    "Thirty minutes what?" Cansu asked.


    "You can bring him in with you, but you will only have thirty minutes to do what you want to do." the voice said.


    "Thirty minutes?"


    "Thirty."


    "Agreed." said Cansu.


    "Your time starts... now." the voice said.


    "Now, follow my instructions." Cansu said to me. Listening to her, I began running through corridors, trying to find where I had left Idil''s dead body. Her clone was trying to catch up with me, but wasn''t very successful at it.


    "There she is." I said. The body was laying on the ground exactly where I had left it. I quickly grabbed her and lifted the body. Her clone looked at the body curiously, standing in my way.


    "Get off of the way, we need to hurry." I told the clone. She just kept standing there.


    "What is your problem?" Cansu said. "Give way to him!"


    "Let me look at her." the clone said.


    "We have no time!" I argued.


    "Let me look at it!" the clone shouted.


    A short moment of hesitation.


    "Let her look." Cansu sighed.


    I carefully rotated the body and showed it to the clone. The clone got closer to the body and reached out to her with her hands. After a while, she began running her hands through the hair of the corpse. The head of the corpse slowly tilted towards her. Hands and clothes of the clone was now covered in blood.


    "She is beautiful..." the clone said as she kept looking at it curiously. I didn''t know what to say or do.


    "Can I hold her?" the clone asked. I couldn''t reply. She slowly took the body from my hands, carefully laid it down on the ground and lifted her head. I didn''t resist.


    "Come on, we have to go." I finally said.


    "Oh no..." the clone looked at me with a gloomy expression. "She is not going anywhere." She said that as she caressed the corpse like a baby.


    "She is not going anywhere."

 88 Guilty

    "We are running out of time." Cansu said. "Take her."


    I reached out to Idil''s body, but the clone slowly dragged the corpse away from me.


    "What is wrong with you!?" I yelled at her. She didn''t say anything, and turned away from me, like she was trying to hide the body.


    "We are going." I said and approached her from behind. Just as I got closer, the clone held the body from it''s neck and started squeezing and shaking it violently.


    "NO!" yelled Cansu. I kicked the clone away and caught Idil''s body with my hands. The clone fell down and turned to me. She was looking at me with hate.


    "What are you doing!?" I shouted. As a reply, she just screamed. She slowly got up and began approaching me.


    "Give her to me!" she said.


    I slowly laid Idil''s body on the ground and faced her, blocking her from reaching the body. She tried to get past me, but I pushed her away and held her back.


    "We have no time for this." I said.


    "Hold on, let me handle her." Cansu said. The clone suddenly stepped away from me.


    "Alright, now, hit her." said Cansu. "Lightly."


    "What?" I said.


    "Trust me, I know what I''m doing." she said. "Hit her!"


    I softly punched the clone, and she fell down unconsciously.


    "The way is clear." said Cansu. "Now hurry up, we now have two bodies to carry."


    "Wow, how did you just do that? And... what was that all about?" I asked as I tried to lift Idil''s body up again. "What was she talking about?"


    "Probably some sort of personality crisis." Cansu said. "We will carry the clone''s body in first, as a security measure. We wouldn''t want to leave the original body alone in there when we came back to get the other one."


    "Right." I said and slowly released Idil''s original body. I lifted the clone and began walking towards the inner sections of the facility.


    After walking past countless corridors, we got through a few steel doors on our way and finally reached the lab section again. I was already memorising this part of the facility by now.


    Someone saw me when I got inside. I recognised the man, and he seemed to recognise me as well. I was prepared for hostilities.


    "Finally, you are- Where are you carrying that!?" he asked me. His behaviour was friendlier than I had expected. Undoubtedly, he was unaware of what I had done to the facility a while ago. He was still seeing me as an ally.


    "I need help." I told him. "I need to save her!"


    "Alright..." he said. "Hey, wait a minute-"


    "We have no time!" I said.


    "What do you want to do?" he asked me.


    "Her original body is decaying, we need to rescue her!" I said.


    "Where is the original body?" he asked.


    "I need to go get her." I said.


    "Okay, okay, give the clone to me and get her!" he said. He was very quick to distinguish a clone from an original biological body. But it was normal; this was his profession after all...


    I ran back all the way to where I had left Idil''s body and grabbed it. I made my way back to the facility in a few minutes. The scientist I talked with was already waiting for me there, inside a room I had seen before; the one that had tubes all around.


    "Unfortunately, I can''t contact the other members of my team." he said. "I can try to do it with the help of automated systems, but it will take some extra time."


    "What happened to other people here?" I asked. He tried to reply to me as he rushed around the room.


    "Some of them had been killed, some are missing." he said. "Honestly I am not sure anymore, I might be the only one left in here."


    A very heavy feeling of guilt began growing inside me. I might have killed some of those people...


    The scientist carefully lifted the unconscious bodies and placed them into adjacent tubes. The glasses in front of the tubes were closed, and the inside of the tubes were illuminated. The scientist was standing in front of a console, carefully observing everything.


    "Good thing the bodies have arrived without suffering much damage." he said.


    I heard something behind me. The sound was coming from the speakers. Cansu was probably trying to say something to me without the scientist noticing. I got closer to the speaker.


    "Ask him how long the operation will take." she said. I silently nodded and got away from the speaker. The scientist was trying to operate a very complex piece of machinery by himself, he was already frusturated.


    "How long do you think it will take?" I asked him.


    "I don''t know." he said.


    "A guess?" I said.


    "I can''t tell." he replied. "I don''t know, I''ve never done this just by myself."


    I joined my hands and started waiting. There was nothing more I could do, and this feeling of being unable to help was incredibly unsettling. My thoughts were wearing me down like never before.


    We were both startled with a loud noise. Someone bbarged into the room and instantly grabbed me; pushing me against a wall by my shoulders. I got a very strong punch in my stomach and the pain was unbearable. I dropped down, with my back against the wall. The man kicked me and I hit the back of my head to the wall. I was bleeding.


    Everything was blurry.


    "Hey, stop it, what are you doing!?" the scientist shouted. He apparently knew the man.


    "Stop the operation!" the man in front of me shouted back, and looked at me again. "This man is dangerous; he is a traitor, and a cold-blooded murderer!"


    I had lots of things to say, but no power to do anything.


    "D-d-d-d-d... d-d-don''t let her... die." I said.


    "Leave him!" the scientist said.


    "If you had just seen what I saw him doing, you wouldn''t be able to look at his face." the man said.


    I coughed out some blood. The man grabbed me and lifted me up. I couldn''t resist. He threw me away, towards another wall. I fell down again, and laid still on the floor.


    "Stop whatever he asked you to do." the man told the scientist.


    "But... but I can''t stop it!" he said. "Not after this point, the process is mostly automated. You know what happened when we cancelled it the last time!"


    "And do you think I care about what you think?" the man said. "I give the orders around here!"


    "Alright, alright." the scientist sighed, and walked to the console to stop the operation that would save Idil.


    I was so close...

 89 Dead End Deal

    I slowly got back on my feet to see what was going on. The scientist began doing something on the console. Suddenly, the glass doors of the tubes opened, Idil''s body and her clone was released. Yet, both were standing still inside the tubes, unconscious. Not even the clone was doing anything.


    I looked at them in sadness. I couldn''t keep my promise, despite all she had done for me... I couldn''t save her.


    The scientist noticed me looking at the bodies. I looked back at him. I could see the regret and sorrow on his face. He really wanted to help, but he had no choice.


    My head started itching. My ears were ringing with a high pitched noise.


    This sensation was familiar. I knew what it meant.


    A soft, cold breeze cleaned the air inside, and slowly began turning into a storm. The scientist and the other man was surprised.


    "What is going on?" the man asked.


    "No idea." the scientist replied.


    "The time''s up!" Thirty minutes had elapsed. The Community was here. For the first time in my life, I was feeling happy with their presence.


    "Who is there?" the man asked. No one replied to him. He slowly walked to the door to take a look at the corridor nearby.


    "It is now or never." Cansu whispered to me.


    "Wait." I softly replied.


    The glass doors of the tubes closed back again.


    The scientist then left the console and went to the back of the room. There, he grabbed something from a shelf and slowly walked back. He silently approached the other man from behind.


    He raised his hand, and with all his strenght, he hit the man in the head. I was startled. The man dropped down. The scientist dropped whatever he was holding in his hand, and looked at the man. After a couple of seconds, I heard a chuckle from him.


    "What is going on?" I asked. The scientist''s chuckles slowly turned into some sort of manic laughter.


    "Please go. There is nothing else we need to do." Cansu insisted.


    "Wait." I said again.


    "No." she said. "There is nothing we can do. There is nothing we will gain by standing here."


    The scientist slowly turned back, towards me. He was still laughing, with some blood on his white uniform. I was scared of him, but the exit door was on the other part of the room, where he was standing. I didn''t know what to do. I couldn''t say anything.


    He ignored me and walked back to the console, still laughing. After a while, the glass doors in front of the tubes opened again. Idil''s original body fell off the tube, but the cloned body stood there.


    The clone slowly opened her eyes. She looked around in wonder.


    The scientist left the console and got out of the room, but his manic laughter was still audible for a while.


    I slowly walked up to Idil''s cloned body.


    "Where are we?" she asked.


    "In the core segments of the underground facility." I explained.


    "What is going on here?" she said. Judging by her lack of knowledge about recent events... It could be her real self.


    "Cut the chatter." Cansu told me.


    "We have to quickly get out of here." I said. "The Community won."


    "Help me out." she said. I helped her as she got out of the tube. We got out of the room and started running. I could no longer hear the scientists.


    We got out of the core segments of the facility, and started walking around in search of an exit. This place was huge, so it could take a while.


    After we entered a wide corridor, the doors in front and back of us suddenly closed, trapping us inside.


    "Aren''t you forgetting something?" The Community had followed us as we ran away. "You have some piece of information we want to get. Now that you got what you asked for, it is time for us to get what we wanted in return."


    "We need to secure our exit first. Then, you will get the information." Cansu replied.


    "This wasn''t a part of our agreement." the voice said. "We deny. Your lives are in our hands."


    "What the hell did happen when I was gone?" Idil asked. "What did you guys agree on!?"


    No one replied to her.


    "Okay, let me think." said Cansu. It was next to impossible to deceive The Community again. Just when I thought we were finally safe... We had got ourselves into another trouble.


    "Perhaps this will help you think." the voice said. The wall on our right began making a loud sound, and moved a bit towards us, narrowing the hallway.


    "They are going to crush us!" Idil shouted.


    "No, no; you got the wrong idea." the voice said. "It wouldn''t be fun."


    A little hole appeared on the wall, and the surrounding parts cracked open slowly. There was some noise coming from the hole.


    "What is this?" Idil asked.


    I carefully approached the crack on the wall to take a look. As I approached the crack, I began smelling rotten flesh. I noticed some blood dripping out of the crack.


    "Oh, I hate this already." I muttered and peekd into the hole. Inside, there was someone trying to crawl to the tiny hole. On closer inspection, I saw that it was a naked adult man. He had wounds all over his body. He noticed me peeking into the hole. He looked up to me, screamed loudly into my face and tried to reach me with his fingers. I pushed myself away from the hole in horror. Idil was also startled, and she ran away from the crack.


    "What is this!?" I shouted.


    The man was now hitting the wall from the other side, trying to widen the hole to get through. His behaviour was resembling those of an animal rather than a human being. Perhaps he was one of the subjects who had escaped the facility during the crisis. At least that was the best explanation I could come up with.


    "Hold on, I though we had a deal!" I shouted.


    "And we are now gathered here to ''enforce'' the deal." the voice replied and laughed. "We met your demands, but we still got nothing in return." Her voice suddenly got a lot more serious.


    "Was this a part of your plan?" I asked Cansu.


    "Okay, well, my teacher... Admittedly not."

 90 The Tunnel

    An arm came out of the hole on the wall, full of cuts and bruises. The man was trying to crawl out of the hole.


    "I will try to force the door." Cansu said. "Get me closer."


    I walked back and leaned towards the door on my back. Idil was waiting in the far corner of the room, trembling.


    "Come on!" I said to Cansu.


    "I''m sorry." she said. "They are stronger than I imagined. There is no way I can open this door."


    "Well?"


    "Well, my teacher, we are done for." Cansu replied. "It was fun being with you."


    Our chances were not good, but I wasn''t going to give up without a fight. I got away from the door and approached the hole, staying out of the man''s reach. He was trying to get his head through the narrow crack on the wall.


    I stepped back and attempted to kick him. Just as I hit him, he suddenly grabbed my leg and pulled me closer to himself. I cried in panic, trying to get my leg back. Idil saw my struggle and ran closer. She held my upper leg and tried to pull me away, but it didn''t work.


    I heard a menacing laugh. There was no doubt our situation was entertaining The Community. And, if we died here, we wouldn''t get any rest after death either.


    "It isn''t us who the evil manipulators are..." the voice spoke, like she had just read my thoughts. "It is you who betrayed the deal."


    She wasn''t entirely wrong, but this didn''t change the greater picture; THEY were the evil manipulators. We were simply trying to protect ourselves, using any means necessary, which included deceiving. They have exploited our naive nature for too long, but they no longer had the chance.


    It was also possible that they have seen through our lies, but pretended to believe and let us proceed; just so they could strike us back with it.


    These thoughts passed through my mind in a few short seconds as I was trying to free myself and get away from the crack on the wall. I was in no position to reply to the evil voice, not that it would make any difference in the first place.


    Idil stopped trying to pull me out. She stepped back, and kicked the man''s arm at full strenght. The man didn''t release me, and in the end, this attempt only hurt my leg. I screamed in pain and fell to the ground.


    The hole widened, and we could now see inside clearly. The cavity was large enough for a man to fit inside now. There was a tunnel going far back into somewhere I couldn''t see.


    The man began pulling me inside the hole. I was being dragged on the ground. Idil held me by my arms this time, and tried pulling me back. Unfortunately, she wasn''t powerful enough.


    "Don''t let me go!" I yelled.


    "I''m trying!" she yelled back.


    I was scared like never before. Until now, either me or someone else close to me had an escape or rescue plan of some sort, but this time, we were caught at our worst moment. We had nothing to do, and no one could come to our rescue anymore.


    My head passed through the crack, and eventually, Idil could no longer hold me. Instead, I tried to grip the sides of the tunnel, but it didn''t work. The rocks came out of their places without helping me. My body was cut in a few places by the sharp edges of cement and rocks.


    As I was being pulled further inside, the light at the end of the tunnel was getting smaller and less bright. Idil was helplessly looking at me from there. Suddenly, she fell down with no apparent reason. I saw her being dragged away from the hole. We were both caught.


    The man stopped dragging me when we reached a relatively wide part of the tunnel. This part was wide enough for me rotate myself easily. I took the risks, pushed myself up and swung a punch towards the man. It was right on target. The man released my leg, which allowed me to kick him as a next move. He was disoriented, and possibly in pain.


    I grabbed on of the rocks at the tunnel''s sides and hit the man in the head with it countless times. With every hit, a lot of blood splashed everywhere. The man tried to turn back and hold me, but he wasn''t fast enough.


    He was no longer moving. I was feeling... tired. I could feel nothing else.


    After I caught my breath, I tried crawling back out of the tunnel. I crawled for a while, trying to ignore the pain of the cuts on my body. After a while, I finally reached an end. There was no hole, my way was blocked. I couldn''t reach Idil anymore. With no choice, I crawled back in the other direction.


    The man was still laying there, where I attacked him.


    "This can''t possibly be this easy." I said to myself. "The Community wouldn''t let me go this easily."


    The rest of the tunnel was slightly going upwards.


    I kept crawling and climbing through the tunnel for many minutes, and finally saw the other end. I slowly got to there and peeked out of the hole.


    "What in the world is this!?"


    It was a somber room that had lots of pipes running through. I slowly climbed out ot the tunnel and got inside the room. I looked around, as my eyes tried to get used to the darkness. I couldn''t see much around me. I tried to find my way using my hands. As I was walking around, my right hand hit something on the wall next to me.


    After a buzzing sound, the fluorescent lamps flickered for a few seconds, and a few of them actually managed to light up completely. Although poorly, the room was now illuminated. I looked back into the room to understand where I was. The pipes inside the room was connected to some large pieces of machinery, and there were valves at the connections. Some electric lines were running along the corners of the ceiling.


    There was a green door next to the switch I accidentally pushed. On the door, there was a plastic label.


    This was the boiler room, the heart of the school''s heating system. I was out of the underground facility, back inside the actual building on the surface. I couldn''t decide if this was a curse, or a gift.


    I walked further into the room to explore. I could hear water running through some of the pipes. There were a few electrical switches and colored lights on the wall, a few small digital displays... But nothing worth noting.


    How, and more importantly, why did this tunnel that brought me here existed?


    Just then, I noticed something on the floor. There were blood marks, leading to somewhere in between the large metal cylinders ahead. I kept walking to follow the marks. As I went further, the marks got more visible.


    There was something behind those cylinders. My heart was beating like crazy.

 91 Tex

    I slowly walked forward to see what was standing there.


    It was Mr. Kenan''s body. At least the half of it. One of his legs were missing, and his torso was cut open from the top of his chest. Even though the head and the shoulders were missing, it wasn''t that hard to identify. Some blood was still flowing out of the body. From where I was standing, I could see his damaged lungs and heart. I didn''t look for too long and stepped back.


    "Come on, you''ve seen much worse." I tried to calm myself down.


    I got back to the middle of the room.


    "Didn''t people know about his death? Why is this body here?" I asked Cansu loudly.


    I was wondering what Cansu had to say about this, but unfortunately, there was no way for her to talk to me right now. When I noticed it, I decided to get out of there and find a phone or something similar.


    I got to the door and opened it. There was a dusty passage leading to the bottom floor of the school. No wonder I haven''t noticed this place before, it was hidden too well. Perhaps they didn''t want students wandering around.


    I got throught the passage and ended up somewhere near the cafeteria. There was no one around, and it was slightly dark with just a few lights working. It was night. I had no idea how much time had passed while I was in the underground facility, but it was nice to be up here once again.


    I left the cafeteria and headed to the chemistry lab. If that was where Mr. Kenan was murdered, I could find some answers there.


    I made my way there and gently opened the door. There was nothing unusual in the lab. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.


    Having found an opportunity at that moment, Cansu spoke to me through the intercom.


    "Despite my hatred, I think The Community wasn''t involved in his death." she said.


    "What makes you think that?" I asked.


    "There is something wrong." she said. "I''m not feeling his presence near here. If he was killed by The Community and ended up being trapped here, he would''ve contacted us by now. There must be something different."


    "You may be right... But what could it be?" I said.


    "I don''t know, teacher, I don''t know... We have to keep searching." she replied.


    "I''m more worried about what The Community is trying to do to me." I said. "They let me escape, but what was the point of leading me here?"


    "Strange..." she said. "I don''t sense them nearby. We are alone."


    "What!?"


    "...which also means you are free to get away and never come back." she continued.


    "But they know I won''t do that." I said. "They are up to something, but... I don''t get it."


    "Keep looking." she said. I kept searching around the lab, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn''t find any useful clues.


    "Whoever murdered him did a pretty clean job." I said.


    "There was a smaller room that can be accessed through this lab, remember it?" Cansu asked.


    "I think..."


    "The one where you sent me to die, my dear lovely teacher..." she said.


    "Hey!" I said. "Only if I knew-"


    "Okay, okay, whatever..." she didn''t let me talk. "Want to take a look?"


    "Of course." I said. I found the door to the smaller room and opened it. Inside the room, the head of Mr. Kenan''s body welcomed us. His missing leg was also there, standing in a corner. The room was full of blood. I hesitated to go inside, but Cansu forced me.


    "What are you waiting for, teacher? We might have found something."


    I carefully walked forward, looking around.


    "Okay, I''m taking my words back. Whoever murdered him did a really bad job." I said.


    Suddenly, I heard something loud in the room. My heart skipped a beat as I ran back to the wall behind me. It was Mr. Kenan''s cell phone. I went there and grabbed the blood-covered phone from the ground. On the screen, there was a single notification, a text message. I opened the message to read it.


    ''LOCKER MAP''


    "What does this mean?" Cansu said. "Who sent this?"


    "No idea." I said. "There is no name of the sender. Don''t you sense anyone nearby?"


    "No." Cansu said. "Which is why it''s so weird."


    "So... maybe this is an actual message from an actual living person." I said.


    "Possible, but doesn''t seem likely either." she said.


    The phone vibrated in my hand. Another message. Another copy of the very same message.


    ''LOCKER MAP''


    "Okay, this time, I''m sure 100%, I''m not sensing any spirits or something nearby." Cansu said. "Who is sending this?"


    "I told you, there is no name." I said. "It doesn''t even say ''anonymous'', there is just no name, or number, or anything."


    "Lack of knowledge is truly a curse on it''s own." Cansu replied.


    "You are able to control these devices, why don''t you take a look yourself?" I asked.


    "I just make use of the built-in speaker, smarty." she said. "The whole communication thing is way too complex. I can''t understand any of it."


    Another message. I turned the screen on again.


    ''LOCKER MAP''


    "This is not making any sense at all." I murmured.


    "Sorry I can''t offer any help." Cansu said.


    "Actually, you can." I said. "Why don''t you jam the connection like The Community used to do, and see if the sender can send the text again?"


    "But what if they weren''t going to send another text in the first place anyway?" she said. "That could mislead us."


    "You are right, but if we DO receive the text during that period, it will help a lot in understanding what this is about." I said.


    "Yeah, I guess..." she said. "So, right now, I''m beginning to jam all the communications."


    Suddenly, the phone began vibrating like crazy. Tens of notifications appeared on the screen, a flood of text messages... And every single text contained those two simple words:


    ''LOCKER MAP''

 92 Locker Map

    "Locker map!" I said in excitement.


    "Oh, shut up, I get it already..." Cansu was frusturated. "What is a locker map?"


    "No, it is not a locker map." I said. "The map is in the locker!"


    "You are not making any sense whatsoever, teacher." Cansu said.


    "There was a map in Mr. Kenan''s locker." I said. "I need to find it!"


    "There we go, that''s much more understandable." Cansu said. "What''s so special about this lock... I mean, the map?"


    "Mr. Kenan had the old architectural plans of this school, or rather, this prison." I explained.


    "And?" Cansu said. "We already know this building inside and out."


    "Do you think so?" I said. "We recently discovered many hidden places. Maybe we can find more if we look carefully."


    "Hmm..." Cansu thought for a while. "Perhaps you are right."


    "I''m going to get the map." I said. "Be on the lookout."


    "For what?" she asked.


    "Anything. Hidden rooms, passages... The Community... Anything."


    "Okay." she said. I left the chemistry lab and started walking to the teachers'' room. On my way, I saw something I had not seen for a long time: The metamorphosis effect. The hallways were slowly transforming into their much older states.


    "Are you sure there is no one nearby?" I asked Cansu.


    "Yes, teacher, you just asked that a few minutes ago." she replied. In great confusion, I kept walking and finally reached the teachers'' room. I grabbed the doorknob, but hesitated for a moment.


    "I''m out of door jokes." Cansu said. "Just get inside already."


    I opened the door. What a relief... I was actually expecting to see a horrible scene. My adventures here have turned me into someone who is scared of everything in this school.


    The teachers'' room was exactly how it has always been. Everything was in place, and there was nothing to worry about. I stepped inside, and walked towards Mr. Kenan''s locker. As I opened the locker, a small black spider rushed out. I let the spider go and grabbed everything inside the locker to put them on the table. Rummaging through the contents of the locker, I finally found the piece of paper I was looking for. The plans of the building... at least the upper parts of it.


    "Is this what you were talking about?" Cansu asked.


    "Yeah." I said.


    Just then, I noticed another piece of paper taped to the bottom.


    "Wait... This wasn''t there before!" I said. I quickly unfolded the paper and looked at it. It was containing the missing parts of the plan; and it was much larger than the part of plans I had first seen. The plans were now showing everything all the way down to the enterance of the underground facility, but unsurprisingly, the actual underground facility was never shown or mentioned anywhere in the paper.


    "Don''t we already know what lies there?" Cansu asked again.


    "Shut up and let me examine." I said. I carefully looked at the plans. Between the computer-drawn black lines, I noticed a hand-drawn red circle. It was showing a supposedly empty place, just a few meters under the bottom floor.


    "Look at it." I said. "What do you think it is?"


    "Eh?" she said and got silent for a while. "I haven''t got the slightest idea." she finally replied. "But I think I figured out something else."


    "Which is?" I asked.


    "Mr. Kenan was definitely up to something, and his death is related to it." she said.


    "How did you understand?" I asked.


    "Gut feeling." she said. "Okay, seriously, I don''t know... But it is too big of a coincidence to ignore."


    "This is not helping..." I said. "What do we do?"


    "We can go and see what''s out there, in the circled area." Cansu suggested.


    "How do we go there, there is no way that leads there." I said.


    "Dig." she said. "You will need to dig deep down."


    "How?" I asked. "With my bare hands?"


    "There is a large woodland surrounding this school. Surely there are some tools related to digging and cutting stuff." she said.


    "Good idea. I think I will try to get outside." I said. She didn''t say anything. I got to the main exit and opened the door. It was really easy, there was no resistance. No sign of interference from The Community.


    "It is tempting." Cansu said. "We are outside. We could just run and it would be done for us."


    "At this point, I''m sure they know that I won''t leave Idil inside, and I won''t leave this place without bringing an end to all the pains." I said.


    "Sure they do..." she sighed.


    I got into the woods and headed towards a certain long tree. Near the tree, I found what I was looking for. There were a bunch of gardening and lumbering tools. Even though the woodland was not a part of a park or industry, there were still a lot of stuff that required care.


    "How did you know where those were?" she asked me.


    "Long story." I said. "I had a previous unpleasant experience here, in the woodland. I happened to learn back then."


    "Okay, anyway..." she said. "Let''s get back to job."


    I grabbed a pickaxe, a shovel and walked back to the school with the guidance of the moonlight. I walked down the hallway on the bottom floor and stopped in the middle.


    "I think the map shows here." I said.


    "I agree." Cansu said.


    "I wonder what''s awaiting us down there..." I sighed. I dropped the shovel to my side, held the pickaxe with both of my hands, raised it above my head, and hit the floor at full strenght. The tiles and the insulation broke apart, the structural material of the building''s foundation was revealed.


    "I think there is nothing down here." I said.


    "Keep going." Cansu insisted. I kept trying to reach the lower parts. It was unsually easy to break through the structure.


    "How can this building even carry it''s own weight with this poor structural integrity?" I asked.


    "You are a maths teacher, and I am... well, nothing. Leave that to the architects, this building has been standing for decades. Keep digging." Cansu said. She was impatient.


    I hit the pickaxe once more. Suddenly, the ground underneath me was gone. I found myself falling into the darkness below.

 93 Mass Grave

    I slided down into a pitch black hole. My ankles were hurting because of the fall. During the short fall, I had spent a lot of effort in order not to accidentally hit myself with the pickaxe. It was truly amazing that I was still alive, while it was so easy and simple to die...


    I had no idea where I was. The only source of light was the hole above me which had sent me down here. I could only see one or two meters ahead at best. I had a wall near me, but there was nothing else to see. I raised the pickaxe and hit the sides of the hole to enlarge it; this way, I could see more easily. As I hit the pickaxe, small rocks and pieces of cement started falling from above. I immediately regretted my desicion. A small rock hit my right shoulder and bounced off.


    "I swear, this building defies the laws of physics." I said. My voice echoed a few times. I wasn''t expecting that.


    "Hello!" I said, and listened to the echoes again. It was clear that there was a large emptiness in front of me.


    "Is there anyone down here?" I said. My voice echoed and faded out again. It was the only thing I could hear. I gathered my courage and stepped forward into the darkness. Listening to my own steps, I walked a few meters ahead and suddenly hit my head.


    "Ouch."


    There was something in front of me. I hesitantly inspected it with my hand, and I realised it was a door after I found the doorknob. I turned the knob and the door silently opened. However, just afterwards, it got stuck. I couldn''t push it further, and the gap wasn''t enough for me to get through. I thought the pickaxe could be useful.


    "The pickaxe!" I said loudly. It wasn''t in my hand. "I must have forgotten it back where I fell." I thought. I wasn''t going to try to go back.


    I got away and pushed the door with my foot. After a short struggle, I could manage to push the door further. I got past the door, navigating in the dark with the help of my hands.


    It suddenly got cold. This was usually a sign of the presence of The Community.


    "Not you again!" I said and stopped where I was. I waited for a minute or two, but nothing happened.


    "Perhaps it really is just cold in here..." I said and kept walking slowly. As I progressed further, it began smelling really bad. Trying to breathe through my mouth, I continued.


    Suddenly, I heard a faint voice in the hallway and froze in terror.


    "Stop torturing us!"


    Scared, I began looking around in panic even though I couldn''t see anything in the dark. My breathing got a lot heavier.


    "Set us free!"


    Interestingly, those words ringed a bell. I may have heard these exact words somewhere before, but my memories weren''t clear enough.


    "W-w-wh-who is there?" I said. No response.


    Slowly, I began seeing things in the dark. A dim blue light appeared ahead. I was in some sort of hallway. It was dusty, and the walls were rough.


    "Do I know this place?" I said under my breath. At that moment, I felt something touch my neck. I panicked and turned around, but there was no one there.


    "What is going on here?" I was trembling. This was not the sort of place anyone could feel safe. While I was still panicking, I felt something else on my hair. I got a few steps back from where I was and I touched my head, trying to understand what it was. My hand got wet.


    I looked up. There was water dripping down a crack on the ceiling. I had a relief, there was nothing dangerous that I could see.


    "I hope that water doesn''t come from the sewage." I said. This could very well be the reason of the bad smell. I started walking again, this time, with the guidance of the blue light that had appeared in the hallway.


    As I got further forward, I began noticing things on the walls. There were objects of various sizes and shapes buried into the walls. Just then, the realisation hit me hard.


    "I know this place, don''t I?" I said. With my bare hands, I tried to dig into the walls. These ''objects''... They were bones.


    "Oh, screw me, I know this place!" I yelled. I have come here once before... This was the labyrinth-like path that lead me into the underground facility for the first time!


    "This was it!" I yelled. "This is the mass grave you were searching for! Only if I knew earlier, only if I could remember..."


    I carefully looked around. Buried deep down here, there lied the bodies of many poor souls... The spirits of the members of this Community. I had no idea why the location of this grave was so important for them, but it was the time to complete the deal we had. If I had any chance to rescue Idil and bring eternal peace to this school, or prison; this could be it.


    I really wanted to hear Cansu''s reaction about this discovery, but unfortunately, she had no means to talk to me down here. I was sure she was just as excited as I was.


    I began running further into the hallway to find my way back into the underground facility and contact The Community.


    Just then, another realisation hit me. The Community had stopped following me for a while now. The reason for that... Could it be... Could they know I was somehow going to end up here!? It sure sounded crazy, but I couldn''t help thinking about it.


    "Wait for me, hold in there..." I repeated as I kept running and running. After a while, I got to an intersection. There was one path to the right, and one to the left. They were identical, and both of them were illuminated by the same blue light.


    I stopped right in the middle of the intersection.


    "Which way was it?"

 94 The Melody

    I could not remember which way I had to go in order to reach the facility. And after all, this was one of the purposes of this labyrinth. I kept looking both ways, and at some point, I even tought of walking back the way I came from.


    "Well, I''m not going to get anywhere if I stand here for an eternity." I said. Right or wrong, I had to make a choice. "What is the worst thing that could happen?"


    I thought of what I had just said, and laughed. The anxiety kicked in. I was incredibly lucky the first time, but... What could happen if I chose the wrong way? Perhaps... Perhaps it was better not to go before making sure that I was going the right way. I could end up getting lost, trapped, injured, dead and so on. Unfortunately, I had no guidance whatsoever. If only I had the book, or Cansu could talk to me, it would be a lot easier.


    "Bring us peace!" said a faint, deep voice behind me. "Set us free!"


    This ''mass grave'' was sending shivers down my spine. If I stood there for a few more minutes, I would probably go crazy.


    Then, I began hearing something else. It was... music? The sound got clearer in a moment. I recognised the timbre of a piano. Someone -or possibly something- was playing a melody in the distance.


    As the sound echoed through the hallways, I couldn''t understand where exactly it was coming from. But after a minute of listening, I decided that it was coming from the hallway on my left.


    I slowly walked that way, towards the music. As I got further, the blue light faded away. The walls here were not rough, they were well constructed and painted. On the sides, there were a few doors. One of the doors on my right had a label.


    ''Conference Hall''


    I have never been here before. No one ever knew about this place. Maybe there was a change of plans during the building''s internal redesigning, and people just wanted to completely seal this segment off instead of trying to deal with the hazards and difficulties of this area. It probably had a purpose during the prison years, but now, this was just a part of the school that was never really finished. At least that was what I thought...


    I found a light switch and turned the hallway''s lights on. Luckily, they were operational; at least most of them. A lot of the sockets were never installed in the first place, but there was enough light for me to see everything I needed.


    "I don''t remember this place." I said. "Damn it! This might be the wrong way. But let''s see what lies ahead..."


    As I kept walking, the music got clearer and a bit louder. Following the sound, I approached a door on my right. It had the label ''Music Room'' on it. Obviously, this was the old planned location of the music room, but there was no excuse to leave an expensive asset like a piano down here. Anyway, the budget of the school or the price of a piano were definitely not one of my primary concerns right now.


    I slowly pushed the door open and got inside. As soon as the door opened, the music stopped. Most of the room was empty. There was a piano and a small chair near one of the corners. I walked up to the piano. It was very old,and it was covered with layers of dust.


    Defeated by the silent, magical invitation of the piano, I sat in front of it. I had the chance to mess around with pianos a few times in my life, but never actually learned how to properly play it. I got my hands on the keys and pressed a random one down. Nothing happened. There was no sound. Perhaps I hit the key too slowly, I thought. I hit another one. An ominous, low note howled in the room.


    "What am I doing?" I said to myself, loudly. I had to keep going, and here I was, playing with a piano.


    I got up from the chair and walked backt to the door. I pulled the door open. But, just behind the door, there was a wall. A straight, white wall.


    "Oh, come on! I''m sure I didn''t walk into this room through a wall." I said. "That! I think that''s the sort of thing that happens when you go the wrong way..." I sighed. I couldn''t lose now, I had to find some way out of the room.


    I closed the door and opened it again, hoping things could change. But unfortunately, the wall was still there. Maybe it required some time for the change to happen... I closed the door once again and sat next to the door.


    Minutes passed in silence...


    I got up and hesitantly opened the door again. No change. The wall was still there. This time, I tried to push the wall all around, but I couldn''t do anything. I slammed the door shut in frusturation and disappointment.


    I looked all around the room. It was very minimalistic at this state; just a piano, a chair, a door and four walls... and, of course, a lot of dust. There was nothing I could do here... except maybe playing with the piano.


    "Sure." I said. I was still talking loudly to myself. "Since there is nothing to do..."


    I sat on the chair again, and looked at the keys of the piano. Pushing random keys, I tried catching a slow rythm and getting used to the difference between adjacent notes. My playing wasn''t pleasant to listen to, but I was sure I would learn a bit, slowly.


    Just then, the room started shaking and vibrating. Could it be another earthquake-like effect? Was The Community back?


    "Hey, I have the information you are looking for!" I yelled. "Listen to me, belive me!"


    No one responded to my cries. Suddenly, I jumped from the chair. The piano had begun playing notes by itself! This... this was the same melody I have heard in the hallway, the melody that lead me here.


    "If you are there, please talk to me." I said, trembling. Again, no one replied, as I expected.


    In my slightly scared state, I ran to the door and opened it again, hoping things may have changed. Behind the door, there was that wall again; but this time, it was moving upwards.


    "What in the world!?" I said. What was I supposed to do?


    At last, the wall was gone, and my way out of the room was unblocked. At the same time, the melody had also stopped again. It was silent. But there was something else out of place... This hallway just outside the music room... It was not where I had come from.

 95 The Pi

    "I am not going out there." I said. "Getting further lost wasn''t my intention... I just want to go back and pick the right way!"


    I''ve recently been talking to myself a bit too much. I don''t know if it was required to keep my sanity, or rethink about my desicions in the process; but it was certainly helping. Or... was it?


    I closed the door again. If I got out into that newly revealed path, it was possible that I would never be able to even make it back to the music room. So instead, I kept sitting inside the room for a little longer.


    "I am losing so much time..." I said. "Why did I come this way in the first place?" I was getting more impatient with every second. I got up again and opened the door. Nothing had changed.


    "Fine." I said. Maybe there were more ways of getting into this facility. I stepped outside the music room, leaving the door open. This new hallway wasn''t going alongside the music room, but rather directly away from it.


    After I walked for a while, I could no longer see the music room. I kept walking into the unknown, but it was feeling like I had to walk forever to reach something, somewhere...


    Eventually, I decided that there was nothing of interest there and wanted to get back. If only I had the time, I would love to keep going further; but obviously, I had to find a way into the facility.


    As soon as I turned around to walk back to the music room, I noticed that something had changed again. The hallway was different.


    "Of course... Of course it only changes shape when I don''t actually want it to!" I yelled. Unfortunately, I had no choice. I kept walking, into the new path that was just opened. "Just let me find you..." I was repeating inside my head. "I have everything you need, just let me find you!"


    On my way, I saw a dark humanoid silhouette ahead. I froze for a second, then slowly continued. When I got closer, I saw that it was a dead person. His right arm was cut lengthwise... This was a well-known suicide technique, but I wasn''t sure if this was suicide or not...


    "So some people really died inside these labyrinths." I said. I was already going the wrong way, and if I wasn''t careful, I could share the same fate. I slowly walked away from the body, further into the hallway.


    After walking a while, I saw a yellow-orange light ahead. I began walking faster. At the end of the hallway, there was a square room, and in the middle of the room, there was a big pit that was leading somewhere deep down... It was such a long pit that I couldn''t see where it was going at first.


    "What is this, the trash bin of the facility or something?" I said.


    "Finally!" someone shouted. I was startled. "Finally I am free to talk again."


    I was relieved in a moment. It was Cansu; but I couldn''t understand what kind of device she was using to create her voice. There was nothing inside the room that I could see.


    "Nice to hear your voice once again. How have you been?" I asked Cansu.


    "It hurts not being able to talk to you, my teacher." she replied. "I yelled at you for being an idiot countless times, but you couldn''t hear me."


    "I''m glad." I said. "Anyway, what do you think this is? A trash bin?" I asked her.


    "Oh no, look up." she said, instead of answering my question. I leaned on to the pit further in a hope to see something down there. I suddenly froze in horror. Down in the pit, there were parts human bodies... Arms, legs, various organs and even heads...


    "So, this is a trash bin indeed." I softly said. "Just not one of the kind I expected."


    "Look up immediately, you imbecile!" Cansu yelled at me. I looked up. Above the pit, there were chains and ropes dangling down and moving around.


    "Oh my..." I said in shock. "This is very unsettling..." That was, of course, a serious understatement.


    "Not that, damn it!" said Cansu. When I looked more carefully, between those chains, I could see something...


    ...Someone!


    "Oh no." I let those two words out.Accompanied by the menacing sounds of chains hitting each other, tied to those ropes and chains, Idil was slowly being lowered towards the pit. Her eyes were closed, and her body was covered in red-tinted marks of those chains. Some of her veins were clearly visible.


    "You fool! Why did you return?" The Community was here too. What a welcome! "We let you go and search for your destiny somewhere else... You were supposed to forget about this place and never come back..." she said. "Why did you return!?"


    "You really thought I would leave her down here, with you?" I said.


    "Do NOT pity her." the voice said. "She brought this upon herself... And while you still have the chance, run away and never come back. Don''t end up like her."


    "I have the information you need." I said. "This time, truly."


    "Your compassion doesn''t help. You just want us to release her, and you are out of ideas." she said.


    "This is not the right time to argue; just do what you need to do, and we will be done!" Cansu said to me. I began speaking.


    "There is a mass grave at the enterance to the facility, closer to the side with the so-called ''quarantine door''." The voice interrupted.


    "We aren''t stupid." she said. "We took the risks and searched the perimeter before you did, and although I have admit that the place you are talking about felt differently, there was nothing in that labyrinth."


    "Let me speak." I said. "The grave is buried deep into the walls of one of the hallways on the way there. Those bodies are hidden inside the walls! Don''t tell me... You couldn''t have missed that!"


    The voice didn''t respond. The chains stopped moving. Idil was hanging above the large pit. Suddenly, the entire room shaked for a few seconds.


    One of the chains snapped.

 96

    The snapped chain let go of Idil''s right arm, as it swung down. She was still hanging above the pit, but in a much riskier position. If she fell into that pit... I couldn''t guess what would happen. She could survive, but the chances were not good enough.


    "You have what you need, bring her to safety!" I shouted. I got no reply. They were no longer talking to me.


    "They are gone." said Cansu. "It''s not like they are away... They really are gone."


    "What do you mean? What is the difference?" I asked her.


    "Their... ''presence'' is no more. I can''t feel them anymore." she said. "They just... disappeared."


    "What do we do then?" I asked this time. Just then, a rope got loose and flew down into the pit. We were almost out of time to get her down safely.


    "Can you try to climb up there?" Cansu asked me.


    "No way, I can''t jump that high." I said. "But perhaps you can take control of her, like you sometimes do to me."


    "Unfortunately, it only properly works with you, teacher." she said. "I''m sorry, my intervention would be much riskier."


    "Idil!" I cried, hoping that she would hear me, but nothing happened.


    A loud cracking sound came from above, and the whole room was shaken once more. I was disoriented; at the first opportunity, I ran away from the pit in order not to accidentally fall down in there. Idil''s body was softly swinging around.


    "We can try to search for something to push her to safety." Cansu suggested. "I see no other option."


    "Good idea, but leaving her on her own doesn''t sound good." I said.


    "Come on, we are not helping her this way!" she argued.


    Suddenly, one more of the chains snapped and fell down. The remaining attachments could no longer carry Idil''s body, and they began breaking apart one after another.


    "No!" I shouted and ran towards the pit. At that exact moment, the last piece of rope that was holding her above the pit was released. I only had a tiny fraction of a second to think. I was approaching the pit, but instead of bleeding off my momentum, I began running faster. As her body was released and she had started gaining speed downwards, I made a daring jump across the pit. My eyes were locked on her. I raised my arms forward, just prior to our collision mid-air.


    I pushed her to the side of the pit with my arms. Now, she was well within the safe zone, but I couldn''t say the same about myself. I have lost my speed by pushing her, and I could not make it to the other side; I was about to get face-planted into the side of the pit.


    I tried rotating myself before I hit the side of the pit, to orient myself into a legs-first position. This smoothened my collision, but also sent me directly down into the pit. Fortunately, the part of the pit I was falling towards was ''cushioned'' by human limbs and flesh. As soon as I fell down, I got up again. I wasn''t hurt too badly.


    "Damn it!" I yelled. As I said that, the entire room vibrated.


    "Nice save, now climb up!" Cansu said.


    "Climb up what, this straight wall?" I replied.


    "Okay, I have an idea." she said. "Some of the ropes and chains fell down into the pit, why don''t you try to use them?"


    "Okay, nice idea." I said. Although disgusted, I started searching for ropes, walking on and pushing around corpses. Eventually, I found a few pieces of chain and rope. I hastily tied them up together and made a longer rope with a heavier chained part at the end of it. I threw the chain-end of the rope up the pit and managed to get it through one of the attachment rings on the ceiling. The chain-end went through that ring and came down back to me. I now had a rope that I could use to climb up.


    "Do you think this single rope can handle my weight?" I asked Cansu.


    "No idea." she said. "But it should be worth trying."


    I got the lower end of the rope closer to the side and pulled myself up. I supported myself by putting my legs against the side of the pit. I slowly climbed up the pit, and eventually made it out. I was covered in bodily fluids of those corpses down in the pit.


    "Disgusting." I said under my breath.


    "Shut your mouth, it probably wasn''t their idea to die in such horrible ways." Cansu angirly said to me. "I will say the same thing after you die, and see if you like it or not." I didn''t answer her.


    I held Idil, lifted her up and placed her over my shoulder.


    "What now?" Cansu asked.


    "We are getting out." I said.


    "What about... The Community?" she asked. "Is it over?"


    "How can I know?" I said. "But first of all, I''m getting her out of here." I started walking back the way I came from. On the way, the building started shaking frequently and violently. Ocassionally, pieces of the walls and the ceiling would get loose and fall off.


    "Dear random hallways, please have mercy on me!" I said. I walked further, and eventually saw the music room again.


    "Do I need to go into that room or bypass it?" I asked Cansu. I waited for a response for half a minute, and remembered.


    "Oh, you can''t talk here, can you?" I sighed. I ran into the music room and closed the door.


    "Please change the way I want you to change..." I repeated loudly. "Please, dear building, have mercy on me!"


    Suddenly, half of an entire wall of the music room broke apart, opening a completely new way.


    "This building is done for." I said and got out into the newly opened hallway.


    "Oh, I know where I am!" I said in excitement. We were close to the intersection just next to that mass grave I had discovered. I fastly walked to the intersection and turned towards the way that lead towards the mass grave. When I arrived at the mass grave, something wonderful happened.


    There was someone in the hallway, looking at me with a mixed expression of wonder and sorrow. She had a black-crimson colored dress, short black hair and dark hollow eyes. Around her, a dim blue-purple light was shining. I couldn''t take my eyes off of her.


    "H-hello!" I said.


    "Hi there." she replied, and slowly began approaching. This voice! I was visibly scared, but I didn''t move away.


    "You are..."


    "We know each other very well by now." she said as she came to a stop just a meter in front of me.


    "Is this your body?" I asked her.


    "Sort of..." she said. "When I was much younger."


    "Where is the rest of The Community?" I asked. "Are you alone?"


    "The rest of The Community?" she asked. "Oh, well... Let''s say they have found peace."


    "I don''t understand..." I said.


    "I AM The Community. There is no ''rest of The Community''." she replied.


    "What the hell?" I let those words out.


    "No, YOU LIAR!" yelled Cansu. "I have seen and felt many of you!"


    "Oh no, you didn''t." the ''Community'' shook her head.


    "I have seen tens of spirits -if not hundreds- trying to haunt people!" Cansu insisted. "I''ve fought to keep all of you away from him, myself!"


    "How stubborn..." the ''Community'' said. "My dear, you are in for a shock, but there is only one spirit here."


    "Something is really off here." I said. "Even Mr. Kenan said-"


    "He was a failure." the ''Community'' interrupted. "Don''t think of his words too much."


    "It is hard to believe, because even YOU said there were many spirits..." I said. "Then, why and how did you become ''The Community''? And, furthermore, why did you lie?"


    "You don''t understand..." she said. "I AM THE SCHOOL ITSELF. Everything here belongs to me! You are in my universe! I control everything in here!"


    "But then WHY!?" I shouted. "Why let people die and play the victim against those scientists, when you could just get rid of them!? They would not be able to fight against you!"


    "Perhaps I didn''t make myself clear." she said. "The war between that ''Community'' thing and the scientists was a complete lie. The underground facility isn''t independent from me. There is no experiment, it just provides me with a base of operations. People who die in this school are MINE. To maintain my power, PEOPLE NEEDS TO DIE!"


    "Seems like when I died; I didn''t just dodge a bullet, but a 50 caliber shell." Cansu said.


    "All this time, you played the role of a faction in this war... In this FAKE war, you played both sides!" I said. "If you had all the power, why didn''t you just kill everyone in the blink of an eye instead of playing with us? Why did you let people run around, trying to escape for so long?"


    "Oh, I would love to kill everyone in the blink of an eye, but things were different with your generation..." she said. "It was about Mr. Kenan. He was my single ultimate mistake. I tried to use his assistance; but he deceived me and jeopardized my operations, which eventually lead to a decline in my powers. So I had to use more clever manipulations to make up for my losses. And besides, large crowds of people were inhibiting my powers as well, so that''s why I had to wait until school hours have ended."


    "Still, you had many chances to kill us!" I said. "But somehow, you didn''t, and we survived..."


    "Do you want me to kill you so badly?" she asked. "Yes, I had opportunities, but I didn''t posess the required power at the right times. I had to push you into death instead of bringing death to you, which I failed miserably."


    "So, again, why?" I asked. "If that was your wish, then why did you decided to be nice at occasions? And now, why are you trying to tell the truth now?"


    "Because it is over." she said. "I''ve already passed the point of no return. I tried to kill you in time, and failed. It no longer matters now, the time is out... You''ve played my little survival game, and won."


    "What? What happens now?" I asked.


    "I''m losing my powers." she said. "Just go away and save yourself. You are the only people who defeated me, and it pains me to say so, but you deserved it."


    "Still, your actions are not justified and outright stupid." Cansu said.


    "I didn''t tell the full story, and you don''t have to understand everything." the ''Community'' said and then turned to me.


    "Say goodbye to her." she said.


    "Who?" I asked.


    "Your lovely student."


    "NO! You can''t take her away from me!" I said.


    "Her spirit might not be under my control, but her existance isn''t independent." she said. "Don''t worry, you will forget about her, and it will be a painless transition."


    "No!" I started crying. "No..."


    The building started shaking again.


    "I can''t hold too long." the ''Community'' said. "Go away already."


    "I won''t see you again, will I?" I asked her.


    "No." she said. "Farewell."


    "Farewell."


    I walked away, all the way back and up to the bottom floor. The building was a complete mess. Everything was falling apart. I reached the main enterance quickly and got out of the building. Just then, Idil opened her eyes and started moving. I put her down on her feet.


    "What is going on?" she asked.


    "We are free." I told her. "Don''t worry about things for now, I will tell everything. But we have to go."


    We started getting away from the building. Suddenly, with a monstrous noise, one third of the building disintegrated from the rest and collapsed. Pieces of debris went flying all around. Fire alarms started wailing, something was burning in the second floor. The fire was spreading quickly.


    I stopped at a safe distance and observed the building for a while.


    "Should we call the fire dep-" Idil was trying to say something, but I interrupted.


    "No." I said. "Let it burn."


    Soon enough, the entire building was burning. The flames were going tens of meters above the roof. I could hear some explosions inside.


    "Let it burn..."

 97 Outroduction and Authors Last Words II

    @@


    This is the end of Volume 2.


    The Phantom School has been a longer and much deeper story than I have imagined when I started writing this book. At most points, I let my mind go along with the flow of the story despite all the twists; perhaps this is how the twists happened. Who knows?


    Like the first book, I tried to preserve the balance between mystery and violence/action in a relatively homogeneous way; avoiding turning the story into either Sherlock Holmes or a Japanese gory horror movie.


    As you can understand, I didn''t always answer all the questions and solved all mysteries; and this one was on purpose. Because, as a reader, I always like it when the writers leave some space for the readers to speculate and create theories about. So, that''s sort of what I tried to do. I might not have reached some of my goals, but it is okay, because I''m happy with the world and the story I created.


    I thank all my readers, I hope you enjoyed the book. BUT a few special thanks will go to the following people;


    - Chronische(n) for his insightful comments that made me think about how my story was going and how I was telling it.


    - Mainly cherry08 and a few others for boosting me with excessive enthusiasm that made me keep writing this story with little delays.


    - All of my reviewers for the kind feedback, occassional constructive critisizm and just letting me know that people were actually reading my book.@@

 98 Vol 3 Troubles of the Evening

    I heard someone running behind me in the hallway. With a folder in my hand, I wished the best for myself; that this sound wouldn''t bother me in the near future. I just had to get to the teachers'' room as soon as possible and make it out of here.


    "Teacher! Teacher!"


    The sound was getting closer. My heartbeats were getting faster, eventually syncronising with the footsteps. I simply kept walking, pretending I didn''t hear anything. It was possible that the word ''teacher'' wasn''t used to address me, there was more than a single teacher in this school. My hope was that there were more than one in the hallway as well, even though my short term memory told me there weren''t any.


    "Teacher!"


    This... This couldn''t be happening. Just when I thought I was done with everything... She was just behind me already.


    "Kenan teacher!"


    There was no escape anymore.


    "What is it, m''lady?" I turned around to face my annoying student who had found me just when the school was about to end. Even though I was tired, it wasn''t her fault. These people, my students... As a teacher, they were what I was living for; and I had to give my best efforts to be as helpful as I could.


    The girl had a book and a pencil in her hands. She got closer to my side and raised the book a little for me to see.


    "The fourth question." she said. "I think the anode and cathode labels are placed incorrectly. In this state, the voltage is negative."


    I looked at the question she was talking about.


    "May I have the... the, umm..."


    "Here." she gave me her pencil. Turning the pencil in my hand, I started thinking. It was a weird habit of mine: I could only concentrate if I had a pencil in my hand.


    "Yeah." I eventually said and looked at her. "There is something wrong with this one. You can skip this for now, I will have another look tomorrow."


    But instead of listening to me, she was focused on the spinning pencil in my hand. From her expression, I couldn''t understand if she was worried about her pencil or impressed by the rate at which the pencil was spinning.


    In her hypnotised moment, I softly pushed her book back to her.


    "Okay?" I said. She stared at the book in confusion for a brief moment, and replied.


    "Okay, thanks." she said. Of course she didn''t have the courage to ask me to explain things again after spacing out in mere seconds. I looked after her as she walked downstairs, defeated by her spinning pencil.


    "I should stop doing the pencil thing." I said to myself. It was being distractive more than helpful. Moreover, it had some addictive effects on me. I would feel an emptiness in me if I didn''t hold a pencil in my hand constantly.


    Fighting with my own thoughts on the way, I came to the teachers'' room. A lot of people had already left the school by now. There was only one teacher in the room when I entered; another chemistry teacher named Yasin.


    He was the only person in this school that I actually hated. Our mutual hatred was mostly based upon our attitude towards students and our methods of dealing with problems in the school. I would often critisize his cold attitude towards students, his strict and traditional teaching style and his sympathy for corporal punishment; while he would accuse me of being a laid back teacher and an ''a radical, lawless anarchist; a failure of the system'', as he liked to describe it. Other teachers, even though they had their own views, would try to avoid getting involved in this everlasting fight of ours.


    As soon as I saw him, I averted my gaze. I didn''t want to get caught staring at him. Even that could be a reason to get our guns out. As I was tidying up my locker, he silently got his belongings and left the room, like he was afraid of making any noise that could disturb me. At least we had one good thing in common; we both didn''t enjoy fighting.


    As he walked out of the door, I sighed in relief. It was another successful, eventless day. At least that''s what I had thought for that moment.


    He stopped walking just after he got out, and spoke with his back turned to me.


    "The lab isn''t your property." he said.


    I looked at him. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I knew he could hold me responsible for any trouble he was having in the school. ''Perhaps he just didn''t have such a nice day.'' I thought.


    "Mind your own business." I replied, praying that this wouldn''t start a heated argument just when I thought I was free to go.


    He didn''t even turn back to look at my face. He stopped there, in front of the door, for a few seconds. He didn''t reply to me. It looked like he had something to say, but he didn''t want to. After this short silence, he simply walked away and out of the school.


    "Schizophrenic rat." I said under my breath and closed my locker. With slow and short steps, I got out of the school without encountering Yasin on my way out. I was almost sure he was trying his best to increase the distance between us, just like me.


    If I had the power and influence, I would get him out of this school as soon as possible. To hell with it... If I had the power, I wouldn''t let him be a teacher in the first place. Someone like him didn''t deserve to be in an education center.


    I got to my car waiting for me just outside the woodland surrounding the school. A little, dark blue Lada. There was no telling how old that car was, I wouldn''t be surprised if it was older than me.


    "Okay, this day wasn''t that bad so far, so don''t start acting up!" I muttered as I sat in the driver''s seat. I inserted the key and tried to start the engine. The result was amazing, it had worked the first time!


    "Off we go!" I said with a childish joy in my heart. The only thing that could make me sad today was the unlikely event of the engine stalling while I was driving... which eventually happened.

 99 Missing Materials

    While my car was still moving forward, I tried restarting the engine a few times, but my attempts were useless. I gave up and pulled over.


    "Things just have to go wrong every time!" I yelled out loudly, knowing there was no one around. I had barely come a hundred meters from where I had originally parked my car. Then I noticed something pretty odd... The fuel tank, which I had completely filled yesterday, was now empty. Frusturated, I got out of the car and had a look at the underside of my car, as well as the road I was driving on. There was no sign of a leak.


    "No one in the world can look at this car and tell me that there are laws of physics."


    It was pretty clear I was going nowhere with my car today. I decided to leave it there and simply walk to the bus stop a few kilometers south of my location.


    - - -


    The next morning, I got off the bus and started walking towards the school building under the morning sun. In my mind, I was constantly jumping between thinking about lessons, my car, and that terrifying humanoid creature named Yasin; whom students called ''teacher''... At least some of them.


    Just like that, I had already began troubling myself with my uncomfortable thoughts, before I encountered the first real problem of the day. My car... My car wasn''t where I had left it yesterday evening.


    "I didn''t really need that trash can anyway." I muttered in a slightly angry tone. I did, in fact, need that car.


    After a while, when I got past the woodland, a majestic building became visible. The Chersonese High School... Before entering this magical place and seeing my students, I had to leave my bad mood outside the building. This was what it meant for me to be a teacher; my students deserved the best! I put a smile on my face before stepping inside.


    "Did anybody see my car this morning?" I asked while entering the teachers'' room. This sentence have redirected everyone''s attention to me.


    "Maybe the ministry of education wanted a f**king payback!" someone yelled from the other side of the room. Even though I couldn''t see him, I already knew who it was. Yasin wanted to start the fight early on today. That smile I had just put on my face quickly disappeared.


    I couldn''t understand what he was angry about, or what he was trying to tell me; but after all, he could blame me of anything unrelated when he was in the mood to fight.


    As our small fight heated up, an uproar began in the teachers'' room; mostly caused by the use of bad language and shouting. A few other teachers stood up and tried to calm us down. I qucikly gave up trying to face him, but deep inside, I really wanted to punch him in the face.


    "We are off to a good start to the day, aren''t we?" I said myself as I opened my locker and began preparing for the lessons.


    After a while, I got out of the teachers'' room, with a book in my hand. I headed to the classroom for the first lesson. But, when I arrived, something pretty peculiar happened. There was no one in the classroom. There were a few schoolbags and notebooks around, but the students weren''t there.


    "Hello?" I said. "Is anyone there?"


    There was no response or movement. I looked at the clock on the wall to confirm that the first lesson was about to begin. I was right... it was about time.


    "Guys, if this is a prank, I will play a worse one on you later on." I said. Still... Nothing happened. I looked around in confusion and eventually left the classroom. I wanted to go back to the teachers'' room to ask people if there was anything special today.


    On my way, I heard a few students calling me.


    "Teacher!"


    "Mr. Kenan, where are you going?"


    The realisation hit me. I had promised this class that I would demonstrate a few acid - base reactions in the lab. They were waiting for me down there, just like I have told them last week.


    "Where were you, teacher? We got worried." a student said.


    "I lost my way." I jokingly said as I unlocked the door. As soon as I pushed the door open, I witnessed a horrible scene... The lab was a complete mess. Lots of broken cans, tubes and glasses were on the ground, and the shelves were in complete disorder. Upon further inspection, I saw that some element and compund samples were missing. There were puddles of water on the ground, and a small black burning mark at the corner of the wall, just near the door. The blackboard in the front was damaged.


    I looked at the floor for a while, and then, to my students. They stared back at me in silence. We were all confused. No one knew what was going on.


    Finally, the class president Tolga spoke a few simple words.


    "What is this?"


    Having no answers, I redirected the question to the rest of the class instead.


    "Any ideas?" I asked, without expecting any answer. A few students shook their heads.


    I glanced at the lab again.


    "Back to the classroom." I said. There was a noise of disappointment among the crowd, but I couldn''t do anything right now. I could only think of finding Yasin later today and asking him about the situation of the lab.


    "First I lose my car, then I fight this idiot in the teachers'' room, and then, this!" I said to myself while I watched the crowd of students walking back to their classroom. "What am I being punished for?"


    As soon as I closed the lab''s door and locked it, I heard something inside. With quick movements, I unlocked the door and swung it open. I looked around very carefully. There was no movement inside, yet, I was almost sure I had heard something.


    "Hey!" I shouted. One of the students in the hallway turned around and looked at me.


    "Mr. Kenan?"


    I looked back at her.


    "Nothing..." I said and sighed. I would have to carefully clean this mess, push the school''s budget to get new materials and face Yasin once again.


    I slowly closed the door and locked it again.

 100 A Silent Inciden

    After the third lesson of the day, I found Yasin alone in the hallway, most probably walking to the teachers'' room. I straight up approached him as he tried to evade me. But, understanding my intention, he gave up and let me talk to him.


    "We have a serious situation." I said.


    "No joke." he replied. Since we were in the hallway, and there were lots of students around; we didn''t want to look unprofessional. We had to swallow all the curse words we wanted to use, and leave the fighting for a later time.


    "Come over here." I said. Although unwillingly, he followed me. I guided him to the chemistry lab. I looked at his face, then inserted the key and unlocked the lab.


    "Please have a look." I said. Yasin looked at me with suspicion, and then slowly pushed the door open. The horrible situation of the chemistry lab was in view.


    "What?" he said. "I thought you would already have cleaned it."


    "You- you..." I wanted to curse really badly, but I held myself back. Only he and I had the keys for the chemistry lab. And if I wasn''t the one who did this mess, then he was responsible for it. Yet, with an unexplainably daring move, he was still accusing me.


    "Don''t mess with me." I said. "Who else could''ve done this!?"


    "It is definitely you!" he replied. "Wouldn''t I know if I was the one who did this?"


    We both paused and stared at each other when we noticed the strangeness. A few earwitness students nearby later joined this short staring contest.


    Maybe Yasin and I didn''t really like each other, but I knew that he wouldn''t lie about this.


    "What is going on here?" I asked this time. Yasin looked inside the chemistry lab again, worried about the event.


    "I have no idea." he replied. Our voices were lowered, and we were no longer trying to fight each other. Perhaps, for the first time in our lives; a common goal, a mystery had united us.


    Just then, a few curious students came closer to take a look at the lab themselves.


    "No matter how it happened, we have to clean this up." I said. He nodded.


    "The hard part will be asking for new lab materials. Our budget is tight." he said.


    "Don''t enter." I told the student nearby, and entered the lab. I began picking up shattered glass parts from the floor.


    "Don''t bother." Yasin said. "I will get something to clean this up." He left the lab''s door.


    I stopped picking up glass parts and began waiting for Yasin. Just then, the bell rang, indicating the next lesson was about to begin. I had to close up the lab and leave for the time being.


    - - -


    After the fourth lesson, I came to have another look at the lab. Just next to the door, I saw Yasin with a mop in his hand and a mask in his face. He saw me looking at him unlocking the door.


    "Got to be careful when dealing with chemicals." he said, showing me the mask on his face.


    "I already breathed all that air in, nothing happened." I said. "But sure."


    He pushed the door open and got inside. I tried getting inside too, but I was stopped by Yasin.


    "No, I can handle it myself." he said. "Consider this as an apology for shouting at you with no evidence in my hand to accuse you."


    "I did the same to you." I said. "We are equally responsible."


    "Fine." he said and sighed. "Okay, well then... I can clean the place up, but you will do the explaining to the administration."


    "Okay, agreed." I said. I felt a strange happiness after this short conversation... It was good to know I could, in fact, talk to Yasin like a normal adult human being; trying to get things done without constantly fighting and hurting each other.


    I left the lab and tried to prepare the exact sentences I would say to the principal. He was not going to be happy, and I had to mentally prepare myself to get yelled at by a person who wouldn''t normally yell at me.


    I walked upstairs, busy with my thoughts. I made my way in the relatively empty hallway, towards the principal''s room. When I got there, I saw another teacher waiting in front of the door. She was Ayla, a relatively old and experienced English teacher. She was liked by some, and disliked by some other people; but with no doubt, she was one of the best teachers in his field.


    I simply nodded to her as a greeting, and knocked on the door. The principal didn''t reply.


    "I think he might not be inside." Ayla said.


    I waited for a few seconds before I knocked on the door again. If he had some business, I wouldn''t want to disturb him; but I really wanted to get the talking done since I had everything prepared in my mind.


    No reply again.


    This time, without waiting for his response, I pushed the doorknob and opened the door. In the worst case scenario, he would just get angry with me for a while, and that would be it.


    I silently let myself in as Ayla looked at me worriedly.


    My brain froze. My blood pressure went high. I could feel my hands shaking. My heart almost ripped my ribcage apart.


    "Sir? Mr. Principal?" I could only make a weak voice. Hearing these words, Ayla stepped inside and slowly came next to me.


    "EEK!" she cried when she saw the principal, laying there motionless on the floor. His coat had blood on it, which probably came out of the long cut on his neck. There were puddles of mixed blood and urine on the floor.


    I immediately held Ayla by her arm and got out of the room.


    "I''m calling the ambulance." I said as I closed the door. While this was happening, a student council member had arrived there as well. He wanted to see the principal. Just when he approached the door, I held him by his shoulder.


    "Don''t." I said. He looked at me, confused.


    "Just don''t." I repeated. "Trust me."

 101 Suspicion

    Later that day, although not very soon; the ambulance and the police both arrived. After a really quick examination by the paramedics, the principal was immediately transported to the ambulance. The students were let out early without an explanation, but a lot of them were worried because of everything going on around the school. A few police officers secured the principal''s room and the surrounding area and waited for the crime scene investigators to arrive.


    As soon as the news reached the ministry, one of our vice principals, Mr. Ender was chosen to become the next principal. The administration was now one member short, but the solution for that problem was delayed to a later time.


    The police naturally investigated me and Ayla, and inspected the crime scene in great detail. Yet, no weapons or a possible suspect was revealed. The single wound on the old principal''s neck did not provide enough information to understand what really happened. But, since no tools were found at the scene, this could mean that it was not a suicide.


    While the investigation was happening, I had some weird ideas in my head. What if... What if the mess in the chemistry lab had something to do with this? This was a double-edged sword... Yasin and I were the only people who had the keys to the chemistry lab, and Yasin should have already cleaned the place up by now... I really didn''t want to be a suspect.


    Suddenly, a much darker idea formed. There was a thunderstorm in my mind. What if... What if it was Yasin!? He had not allowed me to clean up the lab, and wanted to do it himself!


    I wanted to take a look at the chemistry lab to see it''s condition. Yasin must already have finished cleaning the place up and left the school by now.


    I got downstairs, approached the door of the chemistry lab and inserted the key. Just while I was unlocking the door; I saw Mr. Ender, the new principal, in the hallway.


    "What are you doing, Kenan?" he asked me.


    "I was going to take a look at the chemistry lab." I said.


    "Why? Is there something you need?" he asked.


    "I was just going to make sure that it is ready for the lessons I have next week." I replied. Because if I was wrong about my accusations, there was no going back. I lied since I wanted to play it safe.


    "I suggest you do it at a later time." he said. "We shouldn''t touch anything until the investigators are done with the building."


    Well, he was right. Walking around the building in a seemlessly aimless way was a stupid move, even though the police had only blocked the relatively small area around the principal''s room.


    I didn''t enter the lab, and got the key out. But I was determined, one way or another, I was going to tell the police about Yasin''s suspicious behaviour.


    Ender approached me.


    "You should leave. It is already past midnight, and you really have nothing to do here. The investigators are going to leave soon as well, as far as I know." he said. There was nothing I could argue about that.


    "Of course." I said and sighed. Having been investigated by the police already, there was nothing I could do to help right now. If I spoke about the suspicious events in the chemistry lab, they would be more suspicious of me rather than anyone else, since I was trying to enter the lab with so much excitement. Besides, my disliking of Yasin was well known among other teachers. I could find a more suitable opportunity later.


    I left the school building, walked past the police cars and got home.


    - - -


    The other day, there was an uneasiness on me. It was understandable, the grave happenings yesterday was a bit too dark, but, I had to have a clear mind.


    "You didn''t do anything, Kenan. This has nothing to do with you. You just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time." I tried calming myself down. Today, the first thing I wanted to do was finding Yasin. If I chose my words very carefully, I believed that I could get him to blurt some information out. This would be enough to accuse him of the crime, safely.


    I took a deep breath and entered the teachers'' room. In the morning, the room was full of busy teachers as usual. I looked around the crowd to spot Yasin, but I wasn''t lucky. I asked a passer-by.


    "Did you see Yasin this morning?" I said.


    "No, I didn''t." the math teacher Metin replied. "What? Did you miss fighting with him?"


    "No, no..." I said, but then paused and thought about me. "Maybe."


    Metin laughed, I sighed. Perhaps Yasin had not arrived yet.


    "Did you hear the news?" Metin asked me.


    "No, what news?" I asked back.


    "The principal did not die." he said. "Not yet anyway. They say that he was still alive when he reached the hospital. His condition is still critical, but man..."


    "This is... extraordinary!" I said. "I had seen his wound, I thought he was already dead when I found him!"


    "Crazy man." he said and kept walking to do whatever he was about to do before I stopped him.


    I sat down on a chair and started waiting anxiously. A lot of time passed, but there was no sign of Yasin.


    "Perhaps that idiot wanted to run away..." I said to myself. "Screw me! I shouldn''t have been this late to report it."


    I hastily walked out of the teachers'' room. I quickly made my way to the chemistry lab, and inserted the key. I turned to key to unlock the door, but it didn''t happen.


    "What the hell!?" I said. I tried a few more times with greater strenght, but the key wasn''t turning.


    "Damn you, Yasin; what did you do to the door?" I said as I started to shake the door back and forth, violently.


    "Dude, once I report you to the police, you are done for." I said. After what I had seen so far, I was sure he was responsible for a lot of things.


    "I trust you for a day, for a SINGLE damn day, and this is what happens." I kept cursing. As much as I hated him, I was having a hard time forgiving myself for trusting him as well. "You stupid disgrace of humanity..."


    Then, the door''s locking mechanism got loose. I had managed to unlock it with the help of some brute force. I immediately pushed the door open. What I encountered next had completely wiped my thoughts out.

 102 A Hard Hour

    The chemistry lab was not cleaned. As a matter of fact, it was even more messy. Furthermore, there was a much unsettling addition to the lab''s previous state of chaos. I wanted to have a closer look, but before doing so, I looked back. I wanted to know that nobody was observing me. When I made sure, I got inside and closed the door. Just to be sure, I locked the door afterwards.


    Towards the middle of the room, there were some new substance on the floor. I was smellingvarious chemicals, but I didn''t even bother getting myself some protection. I walked towards the middle of the lab. The smell was getting heavier.


    And there it was. I wasn''t wrong. This... this was definitely blood. Next to the puddles of blood, there was some black hair. And next to those, something else.


    "What is this?" I said as I approached the object. I wanted to take it and have a closer look at first, but then immediately backed out. It was a human finger. Most of the skin was there, but the fingernail wasn''t. So much tissue chopped away from a body... What could''ve possibly happened here?


    I remembered about the small room just behind the lab. I wanted to take a look at there too. Trying not to step into the blood, or in fact anything on the floor, I slowly and silently made my way there. Anxiously, yet determinedly, I turned the doorknob. The door did not open.


    "Oh, right, the key..." I said as I inserted the key to unlock the door. I unlocked the door and tried opening it again, but it got stuck. Maybe the lock mechanism wasn''t working. Some brute force could get rid of this problem, just like it did with the lab''s door.


    I pushed the door with my leg, and the door made a tiny gap. But, it didn''t open completely. Turned out, the door was fine; the problem was the heavy object behind it.


    As soon as the gap was created, I heard something from that small room. Someone was moving in there.


    "Hey!" I said. "Yasin? Is that you!?"


    The door was suddenly closed back. I tried pushing it open again, but it wasn''t a successful attempt. I kicked it a few times. No use. I quit trying. The person in that room was already trapped. I could simply get some help from other people and find out what was going on. There was a bit of a mystery to these events, but there was one thing certain; the school would have an... "interesting" reputation if everything behind these events were found out.


    I wanted to take my key back, but it didn''t come out. This one was a serious problem. Without it, I couldn''t get past the chemistry lab''s door to the hallway. If I couldn''t get my key back, I would have to break it down; which definitely wasn''t something I wanted to do.


    In an attempt to communicate with whoever was on the other side, I spoke again.


    "Hey! What are you doing?" I said.


    There was no response. The silence continued for about half a minute. Then, suddenly, someone started banging on the door. This startled me, and I left my key to get away from the door a little bit.I have been walking into uncomfortable places for a while now, but this was the first time I was actually scared. Perhaps it wasn''t such a good idea to do things on my own, but it was a bit too late to think about that for now. Currently, I could''ve been in danger, and I had to get out of here to call for help.


    While I was staring at the door in horror, my key slided away and dropped down from the keyhole. With some hesitation, I crouched and moved forward to get my key back. As soon as I grabbed the key, I moved back away. Unfortunately, there was a terrible surprise for me. The front half of the key was gone. It was broken. In my hand, there was only the circular part at the back of the key. The rest was probably stuck in the keyhole. There was no way for me to get it out without destroying the whole locking mechanism. Even then, I couldn''t use it anymore anyway.


    I had no choice left.


    I got back to the lab''s door and tried pulling it open with brute force. The door didn''t move even a little bit. For a long time, I kept trying. Eventually, I was too tired to continue this struggle.


    The banging on the other door at the back of the lab had already stopped long ago. I sat down on one of the clean chairs on the lab. While I was walking, I heard a loud, startling sound just behind and below me. I ran away a few steps, then turned to look at it. It was my cellphone, now covered in some sort of yellow - greenish fluid. All this time, mostly because of panic, I couldn''t think of using my cellphone.


    I carefully grabbed my phone, holding it by it''s clean parts, which actually didn''t refer to the most of the phone. It was almost covered in that fluid. Using a lab spoon nearby, I pushed the buttons on my phone. The screen wasn''t working, the sounds weren''t working... That phone was done for.


    Fortunately for me, this wasn''t the only way of communication. I already had a great idea. I approached the door again, and started hitting it, trying to make a lot of noise in the hallway. Eventually, someone would hear me.


    Until I got tired again, I kept doing it. But my already low stamina didn''t let me continue for long.


    There was still some hope in me. I had lessons today, and if I didn''t show up in time, someone would look around the school, searching for me.


    I sat down on a chair again, trying to get a little rest. I wasn''t fearing anymore. For a long time, nothing had happened in the lab. It was creating a sense of security. Hopefully, not a false one.


    I was spacing out, and later, getting a little dizy. Sitting on a chair for hours was making me numb.


    "It shouldn''t take this long." I was repeating to myself. "Just a little more patience."

 103 Are You Happy?

    I had completely lost the sense of time. The only thing I knew was... it''s been quite a while. I remembered hearing the bell ring a few times, but I didn''t ever remember anyone coming by. Or... it was also possible that people did come by the lab, but I missed my chance.


    I stood up again, and started walking around aimlessly. This was actually a pretty hard task, considering the mess and trying to not step on anything wrong. I could try cleaning the place up while I was still here, but I really didn''t want to spend any effort on that.


    Suddenly, the door to the room at the back of the lab swung open by itself. A few sounds of movement followed. Whatever it was on the other side of the door fell down. Disregarding any signs of threat, I ran towards the room.


    "Hey!" I yelled as I barged in.


    "Yasin..." a soft voice came out of me, the moment I saw him. Although I hated him so much, he was a human being after all; and deep down, I still had some compassion towards him simply because of that fact.


    The more I looked into the room, the worse it got. The amount of blood in this room had surpassed that in the lab itself. This was not so much of surprise though, especially compared to finding a dismembered body. There were parts of ripped off clothing, and human limbs standing around. Skin, muscles, veins and bones were clearly visible. But, even in this chaos, there was something so neatly done; yet it was terrifying more than anything. The limbs were cut off too perfectly... Arms were cut so precisely from the joints, just like the legs. Yasin''s head was so cleanly separated from the soulder. Although the motives were not clear, whoever committed this crime certainly knew what he or she was doing.


    ...it took me dangerously long to realise...


    ...whoever committed this crime was probably with me, in this room right now. The door I came in through was the only way out of this room. But, looking around me, I could see no one.


    "Are you happy now, Mr. Kenan?" The source of this voice was standing way too close to me. I rushed back to the open door. In the middle of that small room, there was a girl; most probably a first-year student. Her uniform was a little dirty, and had some blood on it. In her right hand, there was a large, shiny knife. If she was responsible for this, it was a mystery how she had managed to accomplish all of this with a simple knife.


    She was standing there and looking at me, staring deep into my eyes and penetrating into my soul. Hopefully, that would remain as the only penetration into my body.


    "Wh-wh..." I hesitated between saying something along the lines of ''Who are you?'' and ''What the hell did you just do!?''. In the end, I couldn''t even form a complete sentence. My brain was having a really hard time processing the recent events. This was so hard on me that I could barely react to the gory scene I have encountered just now.


    The girl in the room was looking so calm and relaxed. It was like her conscience has been taken out of her, and she was forced to live without emotions and rational thought. Observing my difficulty talking to her, she softly asked the question again.


    "Are you happy, Mr. Kenan?"


    I did not remember ever seeing this girl, but she apparently knew me. But the question she was asking... It was too... absurd, and a bit surreal. Did this question have a right answer? Could the wrong answer bring death to me?


    She kept staring deeply into my eyes as her expression slowly changed. Her emotionless face slowly turned into a sad, worried one. This time, the question was slightly different.


    "Are you not happy, Mr. Kenan?"


    I came to my senses and actually prepared myself to answer her. Preparing myself to defend against any unexpected move by her, I spoke softly; like I was afraid of startling her.


    "I... I am not happy." I said.


    She tilted her head to the side. It looked like she didn''t understand what I was saying.


    "Huh?" this weak voice came from her. Have I done something wrong, I thought.


    "Why?" she continued speaking with her soft voice.


    I froze. How could I answer this one? We were literally standing in the middle of a murder scene, and this was what she was asking me. Why? Why was I not happy?


    This girl undoubtedly had many mental issues, and I did not want to share the a similar fate. I stepped back. She stepped forward.


    "Where are you going, Mr. Kenan?" she asked. She had raised her voice a little bit.


    Seriously, where was I going? What was I even thinking? The door was locked, and I was trapped here with this girl. My best chance of survival was taking her down, not running away from her.


    I was prepared, but this wasn''t helping me a lot. I was fearing the knife in her hand, and this fear was justified; I could be stronger than her, but so was Yasin...


    I could try grabbing her arm with a swift move, but she was standing a bit too far away for that. Maybe she was aware of my thoughts, and were playing it safe. At this time, I could expect anything from her.


    "What do you wish for, Mr. Kenan?" asked the girl. Judging by the questions she asked, it was almost like she was trying to help me out instead of murdering me. Unfortunately, this wasn''t any more relaxing or less terrifying in any way.


    "Let me go." I have said that without thinking.


    Her expression changed again. Once again, she wasn''t showing any emotions.


    "As you wish..." she slowly said. I heard something behind me. The lab''s door was unlocked. I immediately ran to the door that lead to the hallway. Now that I had the chance, I would close the door and lock her in here. The police would come here and arrest her immediately.


    I looked back, and the girl was standing very still there, inside the lab.


    I was not going to take any risks. I closed the door, and searched for my phone to call the police; only to remember that my phone was no longer working.

 104 Communication

    I did not know what to do. Obviously, locking her in was out of the question. I no longer had a working key, and the moment I let go of the door, I was afraid of the girl taking her chance and running away. Or worse... continuing whatever she wanted to do with the knife.


    I decided to keep the door shut myself and call for help when someone came nearby.


    "Help me!" I shouted into the hallway. The only response I got was the echo of my own voice. It was unusually silent in the school. Like the school had already ended, and people had already left the building some time ago...


    There was one choice. I had to deal with this girl myself. The only thing I was relying on was her... ''neutrality'' and will to talk to me.


    Slowly and ever carefully, I opened the door; ready to close it again at the first sign of danger. I peeked inside from a little gap before I completely opened the door and exposed myself. Things got a lot weirder from that moment. The girl... She was no longer there.


    "This is impossible." I muttered as I walked into the lab in disbelief.


    After I stopped holding the door and proceeded further into the lab, I heard something just behind me. I felt a short and weak airflow on my back, accompanied by a loud sound. I turned around with defensive intentions. I had only managed to catch a glimpse of the girl running out of the lab and closing the door. I immediately ran to the door to catch her, but unfortunately, my movements were far too slow. I tried opening the door the regular way, but failed. I breathed in deeply, and punched the door a few times.


    "Open the door!" I shouted. I wasn''t sure if she was still on the other side of the door or not, but this could be my only chance.


    "You idiot." I said to myself. "Overconfidence will kill you one day."


    I punched the door once more. This time, I heard a weak noise from the other side. She was still on the other side of the door. Having learnt this, I began punching over and over again, non-stop.


    "Get me out of here!"


    I stopped trying once I heard her sobbing. She was... She was crying!


    "Damn it... Why is it so hard to communicate with you?" I said and sighed. I sat down, resting my back against the door. After I did that, I heard her body slowly sliding down to the bottom of the door as well.


    A long, long silence followed. There was no one walking around. No one chatting. The bell wasn''t ringing anymore. In this poor environment, I was focused on the three pigeons on the window. They were the only animate objects here; the only thing that could have my attention.


    In order not to fall asleep, I got up and walked to the window. As soon as they noticed my approach, the pigeons flew away. I watched their departure towards the woodland, then looked up. It was getting darker. The dark blue color of the sky was slowly turning into orange and red, with the edges of the clouds towards the sunset colored pink. It was a wonderful and pleasant view, even in the situation I was in.


    I had calmed down. I was no longer feeling the adrenaline, or the need for a defensive attitude. As a matter of fact, I wasn''t even sure if the girl was still there. I could no longer hear her sobs.


    I slowly approached the door.


    "Hello?" I said. From the noises, I judged that she stood up. There was no response.


    "Are you still there?" I asked. This time, although with hesitation, she answered me.


    "Y-yes." She was trembling.


    "What is your name?" I asked. She breathed in like she was about to say something, but then stopped.


    "What are you doing there?" I changed the question.


    "N-n-n...nothing." she said.


    "Will you let me out of the lab?" I softly asked.


    "No!" Her reply was too sudden. I had no idea what I had expected, but considering we were talking to each other nicely now, this was rather shocking; even though she was clearly out of her mind.


    I did not know what to say next.


    "Why not?" I finally asked.


    "I''m scared." she replied, after a short pause.


    "What are you scared of?" I asked. She sobbed.


    "I... I can''t tell." she said. "You."


    "What did I even do to you?" I asked her, with a renewed shock. I got no response to that question.


    "Nothing good will ever happen if we stay here for the rest of our lives." I told her, raising my voice a little bit.


    "Nothing good will ever happen." she replied. "Nothing good ever happened."


    It was slowly becoming harder to talk to her.


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "Life is not fair." she said. "Justice doesn''t exist."


    "Life..." I couldn''t decide how to start my sentence. "Maybe life doesn''t have to be fair." I said.


    "Huh?" she said. From her voice, it was clear that she had started crying again.


    "Please tell me what your problem is." I said. "I might be able to help you."


    "N-no." she said. I was out of ideas. And just like that, the conversation was over. I gave up trying, and sat down leaning against the door again.


    The sky was slowly turning black. Since we were not so close to the central districts of the city, the light pollution was minimal here. Night sky was looking wonderful.


    While I was busy admiring the interesting view, something more interesting happened. The girl herself wanted to talk to me.


    "What will happen to me, Mr. Kenan?" she asked. After thinking a little bit, I replied with a question.


    "What do you mean?" I said.


    "I mean..." she couldn''t say what she wanted to tell me. I took that chance to ask her a question I perhaps shouldn''t have asked.

 105 Locked by Words

    "Did you kill people?" I asked her. She began crying loudly. It was making me uncomfortable as well, but I was determined to push it further.


    "Did you kill the teacher in the room at the back of the lab?" This time, my question was a lot more specific.


    "I didn''t want to." she said.


    "What happened, then?" I asked.


    "You did." she replied.


    "What did I do?" The conversation was getting more confusing every minute, with every new question.


    "You wanted him dead." she said. My eyes opened wide. I couldn''t believe my ears. This was not true, but if she had said that in a court or a police station, I would be in a very big trouble.


    "What are you saying!?" I said. "I did not want to kill anyone!"


    "You didn''t. You wished he would die." she said. I noticed after thinking a bit on it. So, there was a distinct difference between ''wanting to kill someone'' and ''wanting someone to die''.


    "Where did you get THAT idea?" I asked her. I was slowly losing my patience, and perhaps my mind too.


    "You did, didn''t you?" was her response.


    "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I was shouting now.


    "You did." she simply replied. "Oh, you did..."


    I was frusturated.


    "What is your problem?" I asked her.


    "You are not happy." she said, forming simple sentences almost like a baby. I wanted to remain calm, but she was really getting on my nerves.


    "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"


    "I want to know what you want." she said. "What do you wish for, Mr. Kenan?"


    I punched the door in frusturation. With that punch, I might have scared her a little bit.


    "Get me out of here!" I yelled. She immediately went silent. I was breathing heavily. This was the first time in my life I felt that... intense.


    I got away from the door and went to look outside the window again. I breathed in, and out. Closing my eyes, I tried to forget everything I''ve seen and heard today, at least momentarily.


    After my heart rate got a bit lower, and my breathing was slowed down, I walked over to the door again. I had no intentions of spending the whole night in here; yet... There was no way we could understand each other with the girl on the other side. But at least I had calmed down for the moment, so I could try talking normally again.


    "Are you still there?" I asked.


    "Yes." She wasn''t so hesitant to answer me anymore. This was good, at least, after everything we''ve talked, there was some sort of connection between us.


    "What do you want to do?" I asked her.


    "I don''t know." she said. "The sun will rise again tomorrow."


    I didn''t find any correlation between my question and her answer. Since asking about it would move the topic off-track, I didn''t push it any further. Instead, I thought of something else.


    "Your parents are worried about you." I said.


    "You don''t know that." she replied. I couldn''t argue. She was right about that one.


    "You parents are most probably worried about you." I altered the sentence a little bit.


    "I don''t have parents." she said. It felt like I hit a brick wall. I paused for a moment.


    "Where do you live?" I asked her. "Who takes care of you?"


    "I don''t live." she replied.


    "So..." I said. "What are you?"


    "..."


    "Please." I said. "I am serious."


    "I used to believe that I was a human." she said. "I used to believe I deserved to live."


    "What changed your mind?" I asked. "You don''t think you deserve to live anymore?"


    "I don''t." she said. "This is not life."


    "Everyone deserves to live." I said.


    "Then why?" she asked. "Why did this happen to me?"


    "You are not telling me your problem." I said. "I honestly and truely want to help you."


    "They said that too." she said.


    "Who are THEY?" I asked. She stopped.


    "I can''t tell you!"


    "This is why!" I shouted. "If you don''t talk to me, if I don''t get to know you, how are we going to solve your problems?"


    "I''ve been doing just fine myself." she said.


    "No." I replied. "No, you were not."


    She didn''t say anything in return. This moment was familiar by now. A long silence was awaiting me. I had already accepted my fate. Thinking of it, I could actually try falling asleep for a while. She wasn''t going anywhere anyway.


    - - -


    "How do you feel?"


    I didn''t know what time it was when those words woke me up. This time, I was going to play differently. I didn''t answer her. She didn''t say anything again for a long time.


    "Mr. Kenan..." she eventually tried talking again. "Are you mad at me?"


    Against this question, silence could mean ''yes''. I didn''t want to risk losing the already weak connection between us. This question had cornered me pretty well.


    "No." I said, softly.


    She sighed.


    "Oh my... What did I do?" she murmured.


    "What are you doing?" I changed the question to talk about the present, rather than the past.


    "Hmm?"


    "We can''t change what happened in the past." I said. "Let''s try for a better future."


    "..."


    "Let me out of here so I can help you." I said.


    "Will you... Will you really help me?" she asked.


    "Yes." I replied.


    "No matter what I did?" she asked. This was a hard question, but I had no other chance.


    "Yes." I said.


    "Are you happy?" she asked. I was caught off-guard. I did not belive the question was as simple as it sounded at first. What did she mean with that? What was the deeper meaning behind this question?


    "Am I..." I said, thinking about what to tell her.


    "...happy?" she completed the question. I sighed. I did not know what to do. The words I was choosing could potentially be very dangerous.


    Instead of answering the question, I asked the same question to her. Not only this would give me more time to think, I could get an answer to that question from her.


    "Are you happy?"


    There was no reply.

 106 Punishmen

    I didn''t hear anything for quite a long time.


    "What is your name?" I asked her again, after a long time. Maybe now, she could have the courage to tell me. But I was wrong. She didn''t reply to that question either.


    I sighed.


    "What do you think will happen once the sun rises tomorrow?" I asked. She was still keeping silent. Even though I couldn''t say that I knew her that well, this was weird.


    "Are you still there?"


    I wasn''t sure anymore. Still in disbelief, I held and turned the doorknob. Contrary to my expectations, the door actually opened. There was no one on the other side. The hallway was empty. That girl... She was gone. Perhaps a long time ago.


    I did not exactly know how to deal with her, but I had to find her. I ran to the building''s enterance. She wasn''t nearby.


    "Where are you?" I loudly asked as I kept walking and looking around the school. "Where did you go?" At that moment, I heard something tumbling upstairs. I immediately got to the upper floors.


    "Don''t run from me!" my breathing was getting faster. I had not seen her, but I had a gut feeling that was telling me she was somewhere nearby.


    "Stay away from me!" This was her. I ran towards the general direction of the voice. I looked around, but I still couldn''t see her.


    "I thought we agreed on something." I said. After a few seconds, she got out of one of the classrooms ahead and starting running away from me, towards the stairs at the other end of the hallway. I began chasing her, but I stopped when I heard something behind the door which she had emerged from.


    After a short, yet tense moment of indecisiveness, I decided to check the door. I had lost her track for now already.


    I approached the door and pushed it open. Inside the classroom, the desks were arranged in a square, and there was a single chair in the middle of the class. On that chair, there was a second-year male student, sitting motionless. He was sweating, and looking at me with tears in his eyes. He was tied to the chair, and his mouth was taped.


    I knew this boy very well. His name was Berkant. He was... practically a ''bully'', a very troublesome student. I wasn''t his teacher, but I would often have to warn him about something whenever I encountered him around the school. However, his chemistry teacher Yasin did not agree that simple warnings were good enough to deal with him. In my opinion, the hostility he saw from Yasin was just making it worse.


    I couldn''t look into his eyes for much longer; it was making me uncomfortable. I quickly opened his mouth, untied his hands and feet. Judging by his behaviour, he was traumatised.


    "Are you okay?" I asked. His eyes turned towards me, but he didn''t say anything.


    "What happened to you?" I tried talking to him, but he probably required some time. I gave up trying to talk for now, and just sat on a chair nearby. He took his time looking at the floor, the ceiling, the walls; crying and breathing heavily.


    "Teacher..." he began talking quietly. I got closer to hear him clearly. "She... she trapped me. She tied me up and hit me. I- I- I think she was going to kill me!"


    "Do you know who she is?" I asked him.


    "Yes! Well, no, but..." He was really anxious. "I happened to see her a few times at the school during breaks. I think she is a first-year."


    "Do you know her name?" I asked.


    "No." he replied.


    "Did you ever talk?"


    "No... I think." he answered. His voice was a little... suspicious.


    "You think?" I asked.


    "..."


    "Come on."


    "Well..." He was getting more nervous every second. "We might have argued a little..."


    "A little?"


    "..."


    "Tell me what happened." I said.


    "One time, we argued over who would use the gym. Their class were preparing for the tournaments, but we had everything planned and all-"


    "And that''s why she did this to you?" I asked.


    "..."


    "You are not being honest."


    He went completely red. He looked down ot the floor again, and began talking again after a while.


    "I might have behaved badly to her." he said.


    "Now, that''s better." I said. "You don''t have to hide anything from me."


    "..."


    "Please continue. It''s just the two of us." I tried to encourage him.


    "One day, I took her food at the cafeteria and she got real mad." he said.


    "Why did you do that?" I asked.


    "For... fun. I had lost some sort of a bet with my friends." he said.


    "Is that all?" I asked.


    "No. A few similar things happened during the year. But then, another day, she barged into our classroom to confront me."


    "...then?"


    "The entire class was watching us. Everything escalated quickly. There was a heated argument."


    "So?"


    "I ended up hitting her." he said. Hearing this, I barely held myself back and hid my anger. If the situation was different, I would have punished him badly for his behaviour. But for now, I just needed him to talk to me and tell everything he knew about that girl.


    "What did she do?" This story was getting more interesting.


    "That''s where everything began going downhill." he said. "I think... She tried to avoid seeing me but it didn''t work very well. Whenever we came close, my friends would start making fun of her as well."


    I slowly shook my head to indicate I was still listening to him with interest. He continued.


    "So, anyway, one day, I was passing by the restrooms..." he stopped there. It looked like he was trying to remember something.


    "Well?"


    "I heard... I heard something..."


    "From the restroom?" I asked. Suddenly, the door of the classroom opened with a very loud sound. That girl... She was there. She was still holding that shiny knife in her hand. I stood up. In fear, Berkant jumped from his chair and came closer to me.


    "Stay right there." I told her.


    "Go away!" she replied.


    "You won''t touch him!" I said.


    "He will receive the punishment he deserves." she said.


    "What exactly are you talking about? If you simply tell me what the-"


    "Get out of my way."

 107 Delusive Justice

    She pushed me aside with unexpected strenght, I tumbled and fell down. Berkant screamed and immediately ran to the corner behind him. Before I could even get back up, the girl had reached him. In front of my eyes, she threw him on the ground; pressed his chest down to the ground. I could read Berkant''s fear in his eyes.


    The girl noticed me getting back up and approaching her. With her knife raised above Berkant''s head, she gave me a sinister look. I froze. I couldn''t approach any further.


    Berkant looked at me in tears... He was helpless against her. He was silently begging me to help him. It was a heartbreaking moment, because all of this happened within a few seconds. I had little time to react, which I had spent just by staring at the horrors in front of me.


    The girl looked back at Berkant, and with incredible speed, the knife penetrated into Berkant''s neck. Swifty, she pushed the knife to the side to enlarge the wound. The splash of blood, and the sound of bones cracking... The color of red spraying all over her and the floor... Berkant tried to scream, but couldn''t. He was gasping for air, making terrible gargling and hissing sounds. I felt a very uncomfortable feeling around my own neck, just by watching it.


    She pulled the knife back out of his neck.


    "Do not pity him." she said without looking at me. She was watching the blood flowing out of Berkant''s body.


    Trying to make good use of her slight relaxation, I ran towards her. This was it. I would catch her myself. But just when I was about to attack her, she made an acrobatic turn and kicked me away. I fell down once again.


    "I am not your enemy." she said. "Don''t get in my way."


    "Your actions can not be justified in any way!" I said.


    "You don''t know that." she replied.


    "If you want justice, it will be served in the court." I was getting angry.


    "Don''t I know? Law doesn''t work the same way for rich people." she said.


    I wanted to defeat her faulty logic to possibly stop her, but everytime, she had managed to defeat me instead.


    "Is it worth ruining your life?" I asked. "Everyone''s life?"


    "I don''t ever remember feeling happy in my life." she said. "Until now."


    I noticed that I was still sitting on the ground, and slowly got back up. She watched me like I was doing something weird.


    "If you don''t tell me what your problem with life is, we will never understand each other." I said.


    "I want the best for both of us." she said.


    "What does this have to do with me!?" I asked.


    "..."


    "Tell me, please." I begged her.


    "We no longer have to live in constant pain." she said.


    "Well, you could... You could always-"


    "No." she shut me up. "I know a way out of this endless hole."


    "What you do is not helping anyone." I said.


    "Because you are getting in my way. If you only knew what I know..."


    "THEN TELL ME!" I was getting frusturated with this girl again.


    "It is not a knowledge I can transmit with words. You have to see yourself." she said.


    "Show me."


    "There are some people in this world who do lots of nice things, then get nothing but suffering in return." she said.


    I was about to say something, but I couldn''t say it.


    "This won''t continue that way. There must be... some sort of karma, justice..." she continued. "And I found the way to realise it."


    "How? By killing those who annoy you?" I asked.


    "Annoy me? Annoying? Oh, you know nothing about people, do you, Mr. Kenan?" she said. "Although I must say, I really envy the naivety... You know, I think this is why you were chosen."


    "Chosen?"


    "The time will eventually come, if you don''t stand in my way and simply let me do whatever it is I''m trying to do. I didn''t choose you, but I can see why... Now, I want the best for both of us."


    "You are living in your own world of delusions." I said. "You can''t see the world the way you need to see."


    "When the time comes, it will be you who realises he had been utterly blind to the world." she replied almost instantaneously.


    This talk was really getting interesting, but meanwhile, I was also looking for chances to strike her down. Unfortunately, my anxious movements had made her suspicious. She backed away a few steps.


    "When the time comes, you will be grateful." she said and ran out of the room. I didn''t even had the chance to follow her. I slowly walked out of the classroom, and looked both ways in the hallway. There was no sign of life anywhere, but there were some blood stains on the floor. All this blood... I didn''t remember seeing it before. This was new.


    Watching my surroundings carefully, I followed the blood, all the way downstairs and into the... chemistry lab.


    "You just HAD TO ruin my favorite spot of the school..." I said, and sighed.


    I heard a thunderclap. Normally, I wouldn''t mind it; in fact, I would love watching thunderstorms. But this time... I was scared of it. I was feeling uneasy. The sky was completely covered in dark, low altitude clouds, rapidly passing overhead. The stars were no longer visible. A strong wind began howling. Some of the loosely installed windows started clinking.


    A flash of lightning illuminated the hallway. During the short pulse of that blue-white light, I thought I saw something in the hallway, several meters ahead of me. While I was walking towards where I thought I have seen that ''thing'', raindrops began hitting the windows. The rain slowly intensified.


    It had gotten really dark in the building. The moon wasn''t in the sky, starlights were blocked by the clouds, and the city lights were blocked by the woodland surrounding the school.


    I slowed down, and with some hesitation, I stretched my arms to the front in order not to hit anything. I could see everything without much difficulty until now, but perhaps it would now be a good idea to find a light switch.


    Suddenly, the lights on the ceiling flickered and I felt a soft breeze in my face.


    I was startled by a sound far behind me.

 108 Unending Darkness

    Instead of proceeding forward, I turned around started walking towards the sound. I could hear some thumping, and some weirder sounds which I couldn''t associate with any action in my mind. These sounds were mixing together with those of the rain and the wind.


    I carefully continued as those sounds got louder with every step. I trembled as chilling breeze touched my arms. Lightning strikes were ocassionally illuminating the hallway, but it wasn''t helping me a lot. I was still lost in the darkness, and the only thing I could trust was my memory of the building''s interior layout.


    My hands eventually touched something. The texture was similar to wood. It wasn''t as cold as the cement walls were. It was... a door. It took me a lot of time to realise. I searched for the doorknob using my hands, and found it shortly afterwards.


    The thumping was going on. My heart was beating very rapidly. If I opened the door now... What would happen? Was it worth the risk?


    I held my breath for a few seconds, preparing to open the door.


    ...


    I released my breath. I... I didn''t do it. I couldn''t. I wouldn''t open that door in this darkness. I slowly pulled my hand away from the knob and started walking away from the door, without making any noise myself. Just after I went a few meters back, the thumping stopped.


    I increased my walking speed.


    I heard some footsteps, and the sound of the door opening. I turned around to look, but the only thing I could see was blackness. Even the windows had the darkest shade of gray on them.


    Another lightning - this one illuminated a humanoid shape in front of the door, albeit for a very short time.


    I turned around again to run away. Yet... it felt like I wasn''t even moving. Perhaps the darkness was clouding my sense of speed and distance.


    My sixth sense activated. There was... something. Something just behind me. I could feel it. For a reason, I knew it.


    I heard someone breathing behind me.


    ...and I started feeling it on my skin.


    There was no use in trying to run anymore. I gave in.


    I felt a warmth on my back. A pair of arms wrapped around me, tightly.


    I recognised the girl by the sound of her sobs. Being held by her like that... It was frightening, but not really surprising... I would prefer being held like that rather than having a knife penetrating into my body. Expecting such threat, I was involuntarily contracting the muscles all around my body.


    I felt a warm wetness on my back. I wanted to do something, but I was afraid of making a wrong move.


    Her arms moved up a little bit, and so did my anxiety.


    "Save me." she whispered.


    I could not say anything for a long time. She held me tighter.


    "How?" I asked.


    "Come." she said, and started to gently pull me back. I had no idea where we were going, but I didn''t resist. As scared and nervous as I was, I was also curious to see what was about to happen.


    Her right arm let go of me, and touched my hand.


    "Hold it." she was trying to give something to me. I held it. It was some sort of very hard plastic or metal.


    Her left arm released me as well.


    "Turn around." she said. I did my best to turn a perfect 180 degrees in the dark.


    "Kill me."


    I didn''t believe what I heard the first time. I was about to ask again.


    "Wh-"


    "Do. Kill me." she repeated.


    "No." I said.


    "This is the last thing I want." she said. "I want it."


    I stepped back, and on something weird. It made a sickening sound. There was something on the floor.


    "Why?" she asked.


    "I should ask the same." I replied.


    "We are one step away." she said. "Let me find peace. Let US find peace."


    "I still fail to understand you and your motives." I said. "And I won''t be doing anything."


    I heard her moving around. I suddenly heard my breath behind me.


    "Sit." she said. I slowly sat down in the darkness, landing on a chair that was apparently behind me.


    "I love how the darkness obscures all bad things there are." she said as she kept walking around.


    A strong wind started howling loudly, pushing the windows. Another lightning... I was in a classroom, and she was sitting on a chair in front of me. That was all the detail I could gather in that short time.


    "So... you are a man." she said.


    "Yes." I said. What did it have to do with anything?


    "People are so different."


    "They... are." I answered. I couldn''t see what she was getting at.


    "Do you like people?" she asked.


    "W-well..." I paused. "I can''t give the same answer for all people."


    "I hate all of them." she said.


    "Why?" I asked.


    "They are monsters." she said.


    "What makes you think that?"


    "Most of them are greedy, selfish... They have no consideration for others." she said.


    "There are a lot of good people too." I said.


    "...or they end up being weak, miserable psycopaths." she continued, totally ignoring me.


    "If you look for negative things in life, you are guaranteed to find more." I said. "Maybe you should change your point of view."


    Yet, another lightning... The rain intensified.


    "But there are worse..." she continued. She wasn''t even listening to me. "I can understand people who become evil for their own benefits, to a point... But I can''t understand those who do it for momentary pleasures."


    "I... That boy I saw before, the one that you attacked, had told me about-"


    "It is not him." she interrupted me.


    I wanted to say something, but I couldn''t.


    "A man with strong desires is an animal. A monster." she said. "A man who lost control of himself..."


    I remained silent. She sighed.


    "The grown up men who I trusted from the bottom of my heart... once..."

 109 You Donst Have To Know Everything

    "Wha... What are you talking about!?" I was feeling a weird pressure building up on me.


    "I would prefer not to talk about it." she said. "I don''t know what I think... Perhaps you would understand me a bit better. Perhaps it needs to not go untold. Perhaps you deserve to know it. I-I-I... I don''t know."


    I remained silent as she began crying again. She gradually calmed down again, and continued.


    "But I think have to. Something is pushing me to tell you about it."


    "Please do." I softly said. "Tell me. Tell me about it."


    "This makes me sick." she said. "I don''t even want to remember it, let alone talk about it."


    "Please!" I was practically begging her. She coughed lightly and cleaned her throat.


    "They had completely lost their senses, and their connection to the reality..." she said. "They weren''t the people I knew; they couldn''t be! I wish they weren''t..."


    "Who?"


    "Them." she said. "Both."


    Even without the names or titles, it was pretty obvious who they were. I believed her with little doubt, but at the same time, I was having a really hard time swallowing and processing everything she had just told me.


    "I was so weak I couldn''t even resist." She was sobbing occassionally. "They... They used me for their sexual desires. I was hopeless against their strenght. They were... they were ravenous. Moving, behaving under the influence of their wildest emotions, desires, instincts... Animals!" she started raising her voice and eventually yelling, probably without knowing.


    "When did this happen?" I asked.


    "A day? A few weeks? I don''t seem to be able to remember... I''m losing it, am I not?" she said.


    "Why didn''t you tell anyone? Why didn''t you come to talk to-"


    "Do you think it is so easy? The trauma? I''m not a cold blooded machine-like being. At least, I think I wasn''t." she said. "But... but..." there was a long pause. "...someone knew it."


    "Who?" I asked.


    "Someone you don''t know." she said. "Someone even I don''t know very well... yet. Someone who had suffered from similar things in her lifetime. Someone I could share my feelings with. Someone who could truly understand me."


    "Please tell me about it. Who witnessed it, and did nothing about it?" I asked. The events were getting more complex.


    "Oh, they did something about it." she said. "They did something wonderful."


    Thinking of it, maybe she was right... Maybe she was, in fact, losing it. ''She'' had just turned into ''they''.


    "What happened?" I asked.


    "This. The justice. Serenity for the soul." she said.


    "Do you think this is justice?" I asked.


    "No." she replied. "This is not. There are a few steps left."


    "Eh?" I said. "Which is?"


    "I need to go." she said.


    "What?"


    "Kill me." she whispered.


    "No!"


    Just when I said that, a thunderbolt struck one of the trees nearby; burning the top of the tree and sending a few branches down to the ground, glowing red as they were falling down from the sky. The strong flash, the loud sound and a weak shockwave of rapidly expanding air had broken my concentration. One of the windows were about to break apart.


    In that period, I only had a really short chance to look at the girl sitting in front of me. She was looking down, with tears flowing down from her cheeks. The blood from her own wounds were mixing together with the blood of others...


    "What is your name?" I asked. I wasn''t going to give up until she told me.


    "Do you want to turn me in? Go ahead and call the police, I don''t think I''m going anywhere anymore." she said.


    I didn''t reply to her question. Obviously I could no longer call the police, but if I still had a working cellphone? I had no idea what I would do. Calling the police seemed like the correct option, but I now had some weird connection to her that was clouding my common sense.


    She sighed.


    "Melis." she said. "...is my name."


    "Oh." I said. This was a little bit of a surprise to me. Since I couldn''t get an answer the previous times, I wasn''t really expecting an answer this time either. "You have a pretty name." I said, as I could think of nothing else at the time. At least I wasn''t lying.


    "You are a first-year?" I asked.


    "Was." she said. "I don''t think I have much time to spend among those people anymore."


    "What class were you-"


    "You want to turn me in so much, don''t you?" she asked. "Well, a sensible choice, so I can''t really say anything against."


    "Look." I said. "I''m not going to turn you in, I''m just trying to get to know you, to understand you." If I tried hard enough, I could turn my inability to call the police into an advantage.


    "She can tell you more about it." she said.


    "Who is that ''she''?" I asked. "Also, why do I have to ask everything five times to get an answer!?" I added shortly after.


    "Such impatience... You don''t have to know everything." she said. "We still have time. It''s not even midnight yet. Oh... maybe you were planning to go home?"


    "I''m getting sick of playing around." I replied.


    "If that''s the case, you know what I''m waiting for." she said. The conversation had made another complete loop, coming back to the exact point where it began. "Kill me." I was stuck here. There was no way out of this.


    After thinking in silence for half a minute, I released the knife she gave me; dropping it to the floor.


    "You don''t believe me." she said.


    "I do believe you, but there is no logic in what you do and what you are asking from me." I said.


    "So, you don''t want to believe me."


    "What do you want me to believe in!?" I asked, getting my voice a bit louder. She didn''t say anything. The only reply I got was the sound of raindrops hitting the windows like they were going to tear the building apart.


    Suddenly, the lights on the ceiling flickered. The classroom we were in was illuminated. I looked direclty ahead of me. She was no longer there.

 110 Mistaken

    "Where are you?" I asked. She didn''t answer. I was thinking that, finally, she was about to be a little more cooperative with me. It turned out, I was wrong.


    Everything she had told me just now... It was too heavy. But despite her dark nature and my initial defensive behaviour, I wanted to get closer to her, hoping that I might be helpful. From my initial point of view, her actions were definitely not justified and she had to be stopped by force; but deep inside... I couldn''t help feeling some sympathy towards her. Maybe I was slowly going crazy as well, listening and trying to deal with her.


    At this point, I just didn''t know what to do. She was keeping her distance, and it was feeling like she was talking to me just because she was somehow forced to. Perhaps I was doing something wrong.


    I walked around the classroom for a while. The thunderstorm was still ongoing, showing no signs of slowing down. At least now, with the light turned on, I could see my surroundings inside the building.


    I got out of the classroom, and once again, I was searching for her in the building. Why she had left the classroom and what her intentions could have been... I had no idea, but I definitely didn''t like it.


    The lights were flickering because of the disturbance on the power lines caused by the storm. The classes and hallways were way dimmer than they were supposed to be, but it was good enough to let me navigate and find my way around the building.


    Coming to an intersection, I heard something to my left. There was a pile of clothing on the ground and there was a trail of blood coming from one of the classrooms, leading up to that pile. I looked around to see if there was something else of interest, and then slowly proceeded to approach that pile. I stopped when one of the lights ahead lit up and revealed that the ''pile'' was in fact a person.


    That person... was a student. She was laying on the ground on her stomach with her eyes looking ahead. She was trying to pull herself with her arms to move forward. That blood trail; it was her blood. She had... She had no legs.


    Her eyes turned up and she looked at me, to the man standing a few meters in front of her. Her sour expression changed a little bit. Her eyes lit up. Some blood came out of her mouth. She stopped for a second, then continued dragging herself to my direction with greater effort. Her eyes were locked on mine.


    "...gah...ha...huh...HAA!" She was making lots of weird noises while she was coming towards me. I took one step back, and suddenly, her expression soured again. She tried to increase her speed. This caused me to panic even more.


    "...haAAH...wo...nnnnngghhh...ghh..." It was possible to understand her struggle simply by listening to those sounds.


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    "Stop!" I said as I took a few more steps back. She dropped a few tears, and started making louder noises, while trying harder to go faster.


    "...HAA!..NAAA!..UH-AAAHH!" I could hear nothing intelligible. There was no indication of friendliness or hostility from her.


    Suddenly, she grabbed my left leg. While I was trying to decide my next move, she had come here faster than I anticipated. Thinking quickly in that moment of panic, I swung my leg around to push her away, but she was too strong and heavy for me to do that. Instead, I ended up hitting her face with the bottom of my shoes. She released my leg and was dragged away on the ground. Lots of blood came out of her head. She stopped where I had pushed her, and looked up to me once more, with great sadness.


    That moment, I felt more fear and sorrow than I did through my entire life. She was scared more than I was, and she was simply looking for someone to protect her and get her out of this horrifying place; and... What have I done?


    "...ghhooo...pffuuu...huuu..." She was coughing out lots of blood and trembling; looking at me with expectant eyes.


    This time, I started walking towards her. I had to save help her out and save her. But when I started approaching, she began pulling herself away from me.


    "I... I will help you, I will get you out of here!" I said. She didn''t listen and kept moving away. I was running way faster than she could move, so I quickly closed up the distance. Even though she tried to resist, I held her and lifted her up to carry her out of the building. Eventually, she gave in.


    "It is going to be okay." I said. She looked at me in silence, still in tears. "I''m... I''m sorry." I softly said. After a moment of hesitation, she held me me tightly, wrapping her arms on my shoulders, around my neck.


    I carried her until we were about to arrive at the main enterance of the school. Just then, her arms suddenly squeezed me, and her body twitched violently for a few seconds. Afterwards, she slowly released me and her arms dropped down. A weird sound came from her stomach and her head slided to the side.


    "No." I said, breathing heavily. "No, look at me!"


    I looked at her face. Her eyes were looking at different directions, moving freely. A mix of saliva and blood was coming out of her mouth. Then, I noticed that she didn''t have a tongue; that was why she couldn''t talk to me.


    She was no longer moving, or responding to my actions in any way. That was it. She was gone, probably because she had lost so much blood. Just like that, my mistake had brought her death.


    With blood dripping down from her body and my clothes, I slowly put her down on the ground. I was pouring tears in sorrow, regret and frusturation. I put my head on the wall next to her, and cried silently for a while.

 111 Sacrificial Ceremony

    For the first time, the rain had slowed down a bit; like it was trying to compensate for the tears I was pouring. Meanwhile, a gentle wind was drying up the tears on my face. It was feeling cold, hot, and cold again... or maybe that was just my heart.


    Supporting myself by pushing against the wall, I got back on my feet. There was a trail of blood the way I had come from, leading to that legless girl''s body on the ground. I had brought her all the way here, but I had no idea where she was coming -or perhaps running- from. I decided to follow the trail backwards and try to find out more about it.


    With slow and silent steps, I started walking back the way I came from, and eventually went upstairs. I quickly arrived at the spot where I had encountered with the girl. The trail was going deeper into the hallway, so I kept going.


    The lights began flickering and a loud sound just overhead startled me. One of the lights went out as crimson sparks flew away. I had panicked a lot, so I stopped there for a few seconds to recover from the shock.


    I looked around to see if there was someone else, and began walking again. The trail went further, almost to the other end of the hallway; but then made a turn and lead me to one of the classrooms on my left side. The classroom''s door was closed. I held my breath, grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open.


    There was a big surprise for me. Even though everything was right in front of me, I was having some difficulty accepting the things I was seeing. This, the room... It wasn''t a classroom. The floor was different, the color of the walls were a bit different as well; but most importantly, there were no desks, no board or anything else required in a classroom.


    "Was there maintenance here?" I was thinking, trying to remember. These sort of things would generally be done at the end of semester. But I wasn''t entering any lessons in this classroom, so even though everyone would normally be notified, it was possible that I didn''t hear anything about it; especially if it was something so quickly decided. In the end, I didn''t force myself to remember, and I silently stepped inside the slightly darker room.


    I suddenly froze. I thought I heard a faint voice behind me. I couldn''t understand any words, but it was terrifying for sure.


    I looked behind, but there was no one there. "Stop making things up, Kenan." I said to myself. While I was looking that way, I heard another sound inside the room.


    "Hi there, again." This was Melis. I had found her, but this was... I thought this was a bit too easy and obvious. Was she really trying to run from me, or lead me into something?


    "It''s you." I said. "You know what, I''m not even going to be nice to you anymore. You are a monster. You have turned into the very evil thing people like you once suffered from."


    "Oh, my..." she said. "I was going to try to persuade you, but it looks like I won''t even need to try."


    "What are you talking about?" I asked. Her reply had made me really confused.


    She pushed a light switch on the wall to illuminate the room. Near the wall on the other side of the room, there were the bodies of a few first-year students I knew. From this distance, I couldn''t understand if they were unconscious or... dead. She walked towards them and inspected the bodies without saying anything to me.


    "What is this?" I asked. "I know those people; they could''ve done nothing to you!"


    "Calm down, I didn''t say otherwise." she said.


    "Why are they here?" I asked, and started walking towards the students. She noticed this and blocked my way.


    "Oh, no-no-no..." she said. "Since you are not going to cooperate with me, or rather, with us; I was thinking of alternate ways to accomplish my goals."


    "Us!?" I asked. "Who are YOU?"


    "Me and her." she said. "She has the control and the power of tens, hundreds of poor souls."


    "Who is she?" I asked. Whatever she was believing in, it wasn''t making any sense. "Don''t make me ask the same thing over and over again like you did before."


    "You will get to know her." she said. "But there are some steps we need to take before that one."


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    "Eh? Like?"


    "I will have to make some sacrifices myself since you are not willing to kill me." she said. "Those innocent souls would make really good sacrifices." she looked over to the bodies of the students. "She needs the power of those souls..."


    "No, no!" I said. "What in the world-"


    "Would you like a better sacrifice, Mr. Kenan?" she asked me. "Perhaps someone more... familiar with those kind of things. Someone no longer so innocent..."


    I was surprised with her calmness.


    "Someone like me..." she said. "Wouldn''t that make everything better?"


    I approached her slowly as she was walking around in the room, talking to me. She noticed this, but didn''t do anything.


    "Why?" I asked.


    "Don''t worry, mister, you will learn everything from her." she said.


    "Let my students go." I said.


    "Very well..." she said. "In that case, you know what you need to do."


    "I hate you."


    "I know." she said. "I know..." She stopped walking in circles and came to a stop in front of me, and turned her back to me.


    "But, just so you know..." she continued speaking. "I actually like you, mister. I really do. It was good to get to know you, even for such a short time."


    She was playing with the knife in her right hand, rotating and swinging it around softly; probably waiting for me to say something.


    "I know what you are thinking." she told me.


    I breathed in, and closed my eyes for a second. My next move would be decisive. As soon as I opened my eyes, I punched Melis with great force.

 112 Seek & Destroy

    Melis fell down and let out a scream. She put her hands on the ground to try to lift herself up again, but she required some time to recover from the shock. Using that chance, I held her and pushed her back down on the ground. She was caught pretty well, and this would be the end of the massacre.


    "No one will die." I said as pushed her down with my leg and tried to catch her arms.


    "Impressive." she replied. All of a sudden, the lights went out. The room went completely dark. I was pushed back by my chest and thrown away. She had escaped.


    Such strenght... I had really underestimated her power.


    "Don''t be so silly." I heard her voice, followed by the sound of the door locking. In the blackness, I tried searching for something, in fact anything, using my hands.


    "A lot of blood was unnecessarily shed already. No one has to die." I said.


    "It is a necessary sacrifice." she said. "Someone has to die."


    "You are insane. You somehow believed in the words of a crazy cult. You let people manipulate you, and eventually went insane."


    "Only when you meet her, you will understand you are wrong." she replied.


    "You know what? I don''t believe in her." I said. "She doesn''t exist. Whoever told you about her, was wrong. Let it go."


    "How stubborn..." her voice changed a little bit. "Those people showed me the true nature of things."


    "Okay, who the hell are those people!?"


    "You will get to know her, only if you let me finish the job." she said. This weird transition from ''those people'' to ''her'' was really, really confusing.


    "What happened to ''those people''? Who is ''her'', and what do these two have to do with one another?" I asked. Even forming this question was hard itself.


    "They are all bound to her." she said.


    "So... she is their leader?" I asked.


    "No, not exactly." she said. "She IS them."


    "Eh?"


    "We talked about this before, didn''t we?" she said. "She has the power and the will of hundreds of souls."


    "Tell me more about her." I said.


    "There is not much I can tell you." she replied. "You have to talk to her yourself. In fact, you better do."


    "I have nothing to do with a terrorist." I said.


    "Be careful about the words you choose." she warned me. "You might end up regretting it."


    "She is a criminal." I repeated.


    "You don''t know her." she said. "Things are not the way they look. She is a good person."


    "I want to talk to her." I said.


    "Do I need to remind you-"


    "Shut up." I said. I knew very well where this was going. "No one is going to die. Just tell me where she is, and we will have a talk."


    "You are asking for the impossible." she said. "She needs more power to surface. Unless the sacrifice is complete, we won''t make any progress."


    I sighed.


    "Look, it is not too late. Drop your knife, come to me, and everything will be okay." I said. "I understand life hasn''t been good to you, but there is a way out of this."


    "You don''t understand." she said. "I am okay. I feel fine. I''ve never been better. I already know the best way out of here. I just have to do this. You are leaving me with no choice..."


    I heard some footsteps. She was walking around.


    "What do you mean?" I said.


    "You had the chance to kill me, and you refused it with such a stubborn manner... You made your choice, to push me to continue the sacrifice with those ''innocent'' people here."


    "No!" I shouted.


    "Would you like a better sacrifice, mister?" she asked. "Well, too bad. I already gave you the chance."


    "Hold on, we can talk about this!" I said.


    "If you really want to handle this properly, why don''t you call the police already?" she asked. "Oh, let me guess; because you can''t!" She chuckled. "You are not only blind, you are completely helpless."


    "Your actions killed every litte bit of sympathy I thought I once had for you." I said.


    "Good. Maybe you will come to understand how I really feel." she replied.


    I heard another set of footsteps. She was getting away from me.


    "Okay, okay..." I was sweating badly. "If you need to kill someone, let it be me." It was a futile attempt.


    "No, you are way too important for this sort of thing." she said. "You were chosen by her."


    The footsteps stopped. I heard something tumbling.


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    "I am sorry." she whispered. "It wasn''t your mistake, but this is for the greater good."


    It sent shivers down my spine. I couldn''t see anything in the darkness, but it wasn''t hard to understand what was going on by listening to the sounds. She had just stabbed one of my students.


    "NO!" I cried.


    She pulled the knife out, and sticked it into my student''s body again... and again...


    I roughly oriented myself towards the sound and ran that way; but when I arrived where I thought she was, I couldn''t find her.


    "You demon, you killed my student!"


    "We are getting closer." she said.


    I had made my mind. I was going to play the game by her rules, and kill her. At least this could limit further casualities... and, although painfully, it seemed like the only way to stop her.


    "I will kill you." I said.


    "No, you won''t." she said. "Not anymore."


    The lights flickered and turned on. She was nowhere to be seen.


    "Where did you go, you heartless coward!?"


    I stood there, in the middle of the room, in silence. Then I turned to look at my poor student who had just been stabbed.


    His body was just next to me. He was stabbed by her chest, exactly from where his heart was. There was another wound on his stomach, which caused some part of his intestines to poke out. His left eye was removed, the nerve endings and veins were visible.


    "You monster..."

 113 Death March

    After that traumatic moment, I came to my senses rather quickly. She was not done yet. The sacrifice wasn''t complete; and that could only mean one thing... She was searching for the next victim. I had to find her, and I probably didn''t have much time left.


    Suddenly, I heard some movement near me. In a bit of panic, I turned my head to look at that direction. One of the unconscious students have woken up.


    "Where am I?" he moaned in a sleepy voice. With some excitement, I held his arms and shook him a little bit.


    "Hey, hey, look; listen to me." I was talking fastly. "You need to get out of here. Quickly. Hurry! Don''t get sidetracked."


    Having just woken up, he didn''t even understand me.


    "Mr. Kenan? YES? I-I-I WASN''T SLEEPING!" he shouted, thinking that he fell asleep in one of my lessons.


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    I slapped him very smoothly.


    "What is going on here!?" he was finally seeing everything in detail. He looked around and saw the blood-covered body of his classmate just next to him.


    "WOAH!" he said and escaped from my grip, running to a corner of this room.


    "Listen to me!" I shouted. "Get out of here, don''t look back, just run!"


    Hearing and understanding my words completely, this time, he didn''t even hesitate. He ran out of the room, and away; towards the exit. Hopefully, he could make it without encountering Melis on his way out.


    There were two more students in this room, still laying unconscious. I could stay here and try to keep them safe, or I could go out and look for Melis. I didn''t know if there were other students trapped around in the building, and it would require a long search to find out.


    A loud ''pat'' I heard downstairs made my mind. I ran out of the room and went downstairs. I ran for a few meters in the hallway before seeing a body on the floor. When I approached, I saw that it was moving. He rolled around. It was the student I have just sent to run out of the school.


    He was injured, but he could still move.


    "Mr. Kenan..." he pointed at something. Melis was running towards him, but when she saw me, she stopped. Just after I took a few steps towards her, she turned around and started running away. I tried to catch up with her, but she was faster than me. In under a minute, I had lost her sight again. I decided to check the classrooms nearby, thinking that she could be hiding in one of them.


    I approached a classroom on my left and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I proceeded to the next one.


    "This one is locked too?"


    The third door wasn''t. I entered the classroom, but found nothing of interest.


    "Damn it..." She had probably ran unpstairs. I did the same. While I was passing by the restrooms, I heard some struggle in there. I had definitely found her. But before I could interfere, the struggle ended and Melis came out of the restroom. Somehow knowing that I was close, she didn''t even look back. Instead of following her, I decided to try to help the poor person in the restroom. There was some blood leaking by the door.


    There was a girl, stabbed by where her kidneys were. It was actually a very small wound, but it was surely painful. She was dragging herself on the dirty, wet floor.


    "Teeeacchh-"


    "Calm down." I said, lifting her up and getting her out of the restroom. I put her down by the wall.


    "We will get to the infirmary." I told her.


    "There are more!" she said.


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "Teacher, she is about to kill them!"


    "Where are they!?" I asked. She pointed to one of the classrooms ahead, on the right. I looked at her and nodded, leaving her there to run to the classroom. This was a very hard thing to do, but I had very little time to make decisions, and I could only protect so many people at the same time...


    I barged into the classroom I was directed to. Inside, there were three girls tied to each other and the chairs. They were constantly struggling to escape. They saw me entering the room, but I had almost gave them a heart attack barging in like that.


    "No!" one of the girls yelled.


    "Calm down!" I said as I approached them. After struggling for a while myself, I had managed to loosen the ropes a bit. The girls handled the rest, except for one of them; who was so traumatised by everything going on. She was crying as her friend were helping her out.


    "Did you see Idil?" one of the girls asked.


    "The short girl with medium black hair and brown eyes?"


    "Exactly!" she replied.


    "She is near the restrooms, but she is wounded." I said. "Is there more people you know about?" I asked.


    "I had seen some other students, but I don''t know anything about their wherabouts." she answered. This was most unfortunate. I had to keep going and search for other people.


    "Look, forget about everything, don''t look back, and run away from here!" I told them. This was the same mistake I had just done a few minutes ago, but this time; we were in a group and I would acoompany them on their way out of the building.


    We got out of the room and I watched them closely as they ran downstairs, and to the exit. When we arrived there, I noticed that the boy I had previously sent here was no longer around. He could''ve escaped while I was chasing Melis, or... a lot of things may have gone wrong.


    "Out!" one of the girls said and tried to open the school''s enterance door. But ultimately, we were stopped. The door wasn''t opening.


    "We are going to die!" one of the girls cried.


    "No, no you won''t." I said. "Stay in a group, and we will find a way out."


    "Where are you going, teacher?" one of the girls asked, worryingly.


    "I have to stop her." I said as I kept running. She tried saying something else, but I couldn''t hear. I ran back upstairs. I still had a few students to rescue.


    Just when I got upstairs, I heard something from a nearby room. Melis wasn''t even trying to hide from me anymore; relying only on her speed.


    When I entered that room, it was already too late. The two students inside... were murdered. It was no longer affecting me as it did before. This was hard to admit, but I was... I was somehow used to encounter death. My heart and mind was... immune.


    Melis was still inside the room when I arrived. I blocked the door to prevent her from getting out.


    "The sacrifice is complete." she said. "I can feel her arrival..."


    "This is the end of the line." I said. "You can''t run anywhere."


    "Oh my, do I need to?" She laughed, and threw her knife away to the other side of the room.

 114 Rise of the New Reality

    Lowering her defenses like that... This was indeed suspicious, but I was determined to stop her for once and for all. I ran and quickly captured her. She didn''t even try to fight back.


    "She has emerged." Melis said. Believing in her own evil fantasies, she was probably dreaming of weird things. I had no idea what she was seeing right now.


    "There is no one other than us here." I said.


    The thunderstorm, which had previously quietened down, was intensified again. The wind got stronger again, the lightnings struck with greater energy. The rain was much faster than before. This could be a disaster; such rain could flood the lowest parts of the building in no time and carry the upper layers of earth away from the woodland.


    "Connect to her." she said. She was staring at me with her... no longer innocent eyes, yet... I was feeling something strange. Her expectant glance was powerful. It was giving her an innocent appearance, like nothing going on here was her own fault. Like she wasn''t the murderer I had been trying to catch all this time.


    "No..." I said silently. "I won''t be defeated by your false innocence again. You won''t escape this time."


    "Hold my hands." she said. This would be a stupid move. I knew it. I knew it would be a wrong thing to do, and I would not listen to her anymore. But... something was pushing me to do it. I couldn''t resist this magical force. Instead of holding her arms tightly together, I lowered my own arms and held her hands. As soon as our hands touched, she raised them up to her chest level and held my hands tightly. Her hands were pretty cold.


    "What the hell is going on, hold it together, Kenan!" I was angry with myself. It was feeling like my brain had no control over the rest of my body.


    "Look into my eyes." she said. There was no way I could look somewhere else. Looking into her eyes, I could feel that I was seeing a completely new dimension. Adjusting for the depth of what I was staring at, my eyes were no longer seeing anything in my surroundings. There was an imaginary tunnel from her eyes to mine. She wasn''t blinking. Now that I was aware of it, neither was I.


    Tears formed in my eyes, and hers. Maybe not because of any emotions, but to keep our eyes wet and clean. Meanwhile, my breathing was slowing down and syncronising with hers.


    "We are here."


    Melis'' lips were moving, but this voice... This voice definitely weren''t hers. This was a deep voice, probably the voice of an old woman.


    Calling this ''weird'' would be an understatement.


    "Who are you?" I asked.


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    "The people you denied the existance of." she replied. "She was telling the truth."


    "I don''t understand." I said. "And please understand me as I''m having a hard time believing in what I am hearing." It was possible that this was an effect of some kind of drug Melis was using. I wasn''t even sure if I was talking loudly, or making these up in my mind. Maybe, together with Melis, I was going crazy too.


    "We have been with you all this time, and we will always be with you." she continued.


    "No." I said. "You don''t exist. I don''t believe in this, this is simply a hallucination."


    "What kind of evidence do you need to confirm our existance?" she asked.


    "I don''t... want..." I was having a hard time talking. "I''m not talking to a non-existant being!" I shouted. Melis'' eyes opened wide. She held my hands even tighter.


    "You have been blind to the world around you." she said. "Stop limiting your reality with the laws of three dimensional physics. There is more to this universe..."


    "This is a bad dream." I said. "A nightmare. I will eventually wake up."


    "We are the awakening!" she replied me.


    "Shut up, Kenan, clear your mind!" I was repeating. I dropped down on my knees, still looking in Melis'' eyes and holding her hands.


    "So naive..." she whispered. "You were clearly the right choice, Mr. Kenan."


    I could not take it anymore. Trying to deal with this girl''s mental problems, I was only losing my mental health with her. I was giving up. I would no longer try to help her, or anyone else. The only thing I wanted was to make it out of the building and preserve my sanity.


    I pushed Melis away, and averted my gaze. I turned around and ran into the hallway. I located the nearest stairway and continued running there. But when I arrived, there was a very unpleasant surprise waiting for me there. There was a locked iron door blocking the enterance to the stairway. Around the door, there were impenetrable iron bars. There was no way I could get out that way.


    "Okay, this definitely is a bad dream!"


    I started running to the other end of the hallway, hoping those stairs would be available. But this time, my way was blocked by another set of iron bars before I could even make it to the stairs.


    "If I die in my dream, I will wake up in the real world." I said. "Yes, I just need to do that... This is lucid dreaming, I can control myself... It is time to control the environment!"


    In great disbelief, I was trying so hard to leave this ''fantasy world'' and wake up. I sat down near a wall and got my head between my hands. Later, I got up again and tried to force the iron bars to get through. It was no use.


    "Where are you going, Mr. Kenan?"


    Melis had suddenly appeared behind me. This time, it was her own voice.


    "Demon!" I said. "Stay away from me!"


    "Things will only get better from now on." she said. "But we need you."


    "There is no WE, it is just YOU." I said. She started walking towards me. "Stay away!"


    "This is not a dream." she said. "Don''t be afraid of the new reality."

 115 Mother

    This was not a dream. I simply wasn''t ready to face that side of the universe; so I was trying to deny the things I''ve witnessed, hoping it could cause a morphine effect.


    It wasn''t working. That girl''s ''cult'' was something real.


    "We don''t mean harm." Melis said.


    "Whatever you are going to do to me... It is going to hurt a lot, isn''t it?" I wish I could say this loudly.


    "You are free to do whatever you want. We are only asking for a favor." Melis'' voice was getting calmer.


    "What... do you want me to do?" I asked, without questioning my own actions. I was pushing the morals aside at this point. My desparate efforts to get everything right were proven to be useless. My only aim was to survive.


    "Let me talk to him." this voice... This was the voice of that old woman I heard previously. I couldn''t see where the voice was coming from.


    "Yes, mother." Melis looked down and stepped back.


    "Mother?" That word slipped out of my mouth.


    "We are sorry for... alarming you so unnecessarily." the woman said. ''Alarming'' me? She must have been joking... But of course, this was no time for me to point out this absolutely colossal understatement. Without knowing what to say, or do; I nodded in an awkward manner.


    "Mr. Kenan, you are a good person." she continued. Coming from someone like her... What did this mean to me? "We are grateful for people like you who allow the society to enjoy many great things."


    I was amazed, shocked, but mostly weirded out. The only missing thing was a gold medal around my neck.


    "...and we need the help of such pure, clean blood." she finished her sentence. I looked at Melis. She noticed me watching her and nodded, showing that she was agreeing with her ''mother''.


    "Yes." I said, and gulped.


    "Although few in numbers, there are some other people like you around here." the woman continued talking. "We are in need of power they possess."


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    "What kind of power?" I asked.


    "The power that can allow us to manipulate the world around us, to make sure the mistakes we''ve done in our lives are not repeated." she replied. The answer was not as clear enough as I wished.


    "What do I do?" I asked.


    "We need you to bring some of your students to the cafeteria." she said. "But don''t worry, they will not be hurt. We have different plans for them."


    I almost had a stroke just by hearing it. Doing this -whatever it is they want to do- to my own students... Perhaps I had to rearrange my priorities, putting my survival after theirs.


    "Yes." I said that even though there was something completely different in my mind.


    For a while, I didn''t move from my spot. I just wanted to listen to the silence and process everything in my mind.


    I saw Melis standing in the distance, leaning against wall; watching me without moving or saying anything. I watched her with the corner of my eye for a while, then stared directly back at her. She didn''t get uncomfortable, and we kept staring at each other for a long time. Maybe we weren''t talking, but I could feel that we were communicating in some way.


    Eventually, she broke the silence.


    "Will you believe me from now on?"


    "I... kind of... don''t want to." I said.


    "Look, they know the best." Melis said. "Just go already."


    "MURDER!" I said. "This is mass murder! What you are doing is killing people! Have you lost all your connection to the real world!?"


    "Let me remind you, this is the real world." she said. "Besides, death is a very natural part of life, and there is nothing wrong with it."


    "I will not assist you, I will not be a part of this massacre!"


    "They will not be killed." she replied, calmly as usual.


    "THEN WHAT!?" I shouted. "Will you burn their faces? Will you cut their arms? Will you stick their legs together? WHAT!?"


    "They will be put under mother''s protection." she said.


    While we were talking, the woman was not interrupting us. I was wondering if she was ''gone'', or was merely giving me some time to understand everything.


    "Why do you call her mother?" I asked Melis.


    "She is my mother." she said.


    "She... was your mother..." I said. "I see..."


    "Is." Melis said. "She IS my mother."


    "Oh..."


    "Well, she may not be my biological mother, but she was the woman who was meant to be my mother." she continued.


    "I''m... not sure I understand." I said.


    "My... My biological mother... She was terrible." Melis sat down, putting her back against the wall, and kept talking. "She never cared about me. When I was little, she would often give me housework to do. Cleaning the floors, dishes, making the beds... But because I was too young, I could never do anything nearly as good as her; and... And she would use these as an excuse to yell at me, and sometimes... she would beat me."


    She started crying. She was trying to hide it, but I could see the tears flowing down her face.


    "Please tell more." I said.


    "And my father... I don''t know which one was worse. He would outright ignore what my mother was doing to me. He was constantly drunk. He would completely ignore me unless I was standing in his way or playing with his stuff."


    "I had no idea-"


    "But that''s not it." she said. "Same things have happened to my little sister as well. I tried to protect her, but I was incapable of doing so."


    "How did you meet your... ''Mother''?" I asked.


    "One winter night, I woke up in the middle of the night. I went to my little sister and woke her up too. We''ve had that moment planned for weeks."


    "Let me guess... you ran away from your house?"


    "Yes. At least this was what I had in mind... Anyway, the apartment''s door was locked, so we had to think of something else. We went to the kitchen, and to the balcony. Our apartment was high enough for an uncontrolled fall to be fatal. So, we wanted to use an old curtain to drop down slowly to the ground."


    "How did it go?"


    "I had made sure that the fabric was strong enough to carry both of our weight, so everything was ready. We just had to tie the top part of the curtain to something sturdy, so it wouldn''t come out. I chose to tie it to a metal gas pipe at the bottom of the heater in the kitchen. I couldn''t trust the plastic water pipes."


    "And you went down?"


    "Everything was fine. I was going down. But when I was about to drop down, the lights of the kitchen turned on. My so-called mother and father had woken up."


    "What did they do?"


    "My sister panicked and jumped down from the balcony, holding the curtain. The curtain, or rather, the thin metal pipe couldn''t carry both of us at the same time. We both fell down, along with the curtain. Luckily, I was already low enough to survive the fall with minor injuries."


    "Your sister?"


    "...she..." Melis gulped. "She wasn''t that lucky."


    I wanted to say lots of things, but I couldn''t. I didn''t want her to recall her emotions. So, I simply wanted to continue the story. "What happened afterwards?"


    "A small explosion started a fire in the kitchen. Probably something ignited the leaking gas. My mother and father burned alive."


    There was unbelievable tragedy in this girl''s short life.


    "The fire woke the whole neighborhood up. My mother found me when I was running away from the apartment. She took me to a small hospital nearby, then to her own home. I have been living there since..."

 116 Semra

    Melis stopped talking. She was looking tired. As for me... With everything I was learning about her, I was getting more and more curious.


    Melis catched her breath and continued telling the rest of the story.


    "Unfortunately, I didn''t get to know my mother so well when we were living together. But I could at least tell that she wasn''t a bad person like my biological mother. Well... Of course it wasn''t all lovey-dovey all the time, but she wouldn''t yell at me for no reason, and I could actually feel her love. She really did care about me."


    "So... How did she become... you know, the thing she is now?" I asked. "And how did you find this out?"


    "She was a really good person. All her neigbours liked her. People called the mother ''Aunt Semra''. She was someone respected, with good reasons. Despite her poverty, she would try to help everyone in need. She wouldn''t hesitate to buy things for me. Maybe I couldn''t leave the table with a full stomach, but I wouldn''t be under constant stress like before." Melis'' eyes rolled down before she continued. "However, this happiness didn''t last long."


    "What happened?"


    "One evening, I was playing with neighbours'' children. My mother had called me home already, but I just couldn''t leave the playground. I was having too much fun..."


    "Then?"


    "A strange man walked towards me and held my arm. My friends ran away. I can''t blame anyone, in fact, I think that was the right thing to do. We were too little... Anyway, I looked at him. His face was injured, and he was using sunglasses even though the sun was setting already."


    "Did your mother see it?"


    "Not until I screamed. He looked down to me and said ''We are going home, honey.''"


    "He was-"


    "Yes. He was my so-called father." Melis said. "I screamed my lungs out. Mother saw me from the window, and suddenly disappeared. My... father tried to pull me with him, but I didn''t want to go. I resisted, but like I said, I was just a little girl. I had no chance. But then, my mother cut his path."


    "She confronted him?"


    "She threatened him to let me go. My father didn''t. They started yelling at each other in the middle of the street. People were watching us from the windows. After a while, my father started walking again, practically dragging me with him."


    "And your mother-"


    "My mother shot him in the chest."


    This was an unexpected turn.


    "My mother shot him in the chest, using the gun inherited from her long-dead husband." she completed the sentence with greater detail.


    "What happened then? Did everyone see it?" I asked.


    "A lot of people saw it. My mother told me to get into the house and hide in the best place I could find. I ran to her home, hid myself under a bed and pulled some cardboard in front of me to hide myself. This was the last time I saw my mother. I think the police took her."


    "What happened to you?"


    "I hid under my bed for a very, very long time; until one of the neighbours got curious about me. She entered through the open door. She knew Aunt Semra''s house very well since they would usually go to each other''s houses. When I noticed her searching the room, I got out of my hiding place. I was starving. She took me to her own home and our neigbours took care of me for some time."


    "You are living with your neighbours now?"


    "I eventually grew up, and started using mother''s house. I began taking care of most of my own needs. Despite my age, I started working in my free time. Sometimes I worked at markets, sometimes I cleaned people''s houses... The money was barely enough to keep me alive, but I didn''t like depending on others too much. But, even then, my neighbours helped me a lot. They gave me money without expecting anything in return. They took me to doctors when I got sick. Even though it was a year or two late, they even sent me to school."


    Melis sighed. It was not easy to talk about these things.


    "But something very peculiar happened when I started high school. Something I wouldn''t believe if someone else told me. My mother... After all those years, she contacted me."


    "How?"


    "Just like how you two talked to each other minutes ago." Melis said. "Strange, I instantly knew it was her. With time, I got to know her better. And, well, I think I don''t need to tell the rest."


    Everything was coming together. Pieces of the puzzle were connecting. Now, it was my time to talk.


    "Did you know..." I started speaking. "This high school building has been converted from a former prison."


    "...And?" Melis was confused. She was searching for a correlation between her story and what I was trying to say.


    "What are the chances..." I continued. "...that she was sent here when, or if, the police had caught her after she shot your father?"


    Melis went silent. This was an interesting thought.


    "Probable." she said. "Maybe we should ask her."


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    "You are not wrong." this was the voice of the mother. She had finally spoken again. "I drew my last breath here. In a riot. Long time ago. With a lot of people."


    "But the real question remains unanswered." I said. "How did you contact her?"


    "With a bond of love strong enough, and the will of a pure blood." the voice answered.


    "Hold on." I said. "Something doesn''t add up. This building has been serving as a school since the 70s. It is impossible for you to start high school this late!"


    The mother laughed. Melis also began laughing.


    "You have no idea what we can do with the powers we have." the mother said. "From within the realms of the dead, we can give life to people we wish."


    "You can defy... death? You can resurrect?" I asked.


    "No." the mother answered. "Defying death, as it is an essential part of life, is impossible. But manipulating spacetime... That is possible."

 117 Blind Knowledge

    I turned to Melis.


    "How old are you?" I asked. She chuckled.


    "I think you''ve got it all wrong. There is nothing weird with me. I am at the same age with my classmates." she replied.


    "But your approximate date of birth is in contradiction with your actual age." I said. "How old are you, really?"


    She sighed.


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    "Twenty? Thirty? I don''t really know either. But it doesn''t matter. I am, or at least I used to be until today, a high school student."


    "Mr. Kenan..." the mother interrupted. "I understand that you want to learn more about this whole new world you''ve been introduced to, but now, it is time to act. Although the time is somewhat under control, wasting it is still discouraged. There are people in this building that requires our protection."


    I had almost forgot about that ''favor''.


    "Yes." I said. "What do I do?"


    "Convince your students to follow you into the cafeteria." the mother said. "You will see the rest of it as it happens."


    "How will I do that?" I asked.


    "That''s your job. Those people respect and trust you as a teacher, and as a person. There is no doubt they will follow your words." the mother explained.


    "I understand." I said.


    "I know you wish the best for your students, so I am sure you will have no second thoughts." the mother said with a calming voice. "For now, farewell."


    I looked at Melis.


    "As a student, I will accompany you." she said. "Let''s go."


    I carefully listened for movements in the building. It was good to know that there were still some life among all the inanimate bodies laying around inside the school.


    "Downstairs." said Melis. "They are downstairs."


    She followed me silently as I walked downstairs. In the hallway, there were two students. A boy and a girl. I had seen the girl before, but I couldn''t quite remember the boy.


    "Hey, you there." I called them. They turned their heads to look at me, and their eyes lit up as soon as they recognised me.


    "Teacher!" the girl said and ran up to me. "I thought we were alone..."


    The boy slowly followed her. He was a bit more relaxed than she was.


    "Mr. Kenan, the door has been locked. We are stranded here." he said.


    "We found bodies!" the girl added.


    "Okay, calm down..." I said.


    "Mr. Kenan said that he will get us to safety now." Melis said that before I could try to explain anything.


    "Please!" the other girl got excited. There was nothing else I could do.


    "Follow me." I said. Then, I glanced at Melis, trying to express my anger. She shouldn''t have been interrupting me like she did just now. This straightforward approach was not what I had in my mind. Apparently, she was aware of that.


    "They don''t have to know everything." Melis whispered to me. I said nothing in return.


    "Where are we going, teacher?" the other girl asked.


    "I..." I had to make up something to satisfy their curiosity for now. "I know a safe place where we can stay until I unlock the exit." I said.


    "Does no one really know where the keys are?" the boy asked.


    "Oh, shut up, Arda!" the girl said. "He probably has to get them from the vice principal''s room or something." In reality, the boy -apparently whose name was Arda- was completely right to be worried. But I had to keep cool and make sure my cluelessness was unnoticed.


    We came in front of the cafeteria, and I pushed the doors open. The students walked inside before me excpet for Melis, who was trailing me a few meters behind. When I got inside, I heard the doors closing. Melis had pulled the doors with her as she entered. Now that we were here, I only had to wait.


    "What is going on here, Mr. Kenan?" asked Arda. "Having ourselves trapped in this place doesn''t make me feel any safer. In fact, it is the opposite."


    "Someone is on it''s way to rescue us." Melis replied him instead of me, then swallowed the rest of her words. Unable to handle herself, she had almost screwed everything up. "This is what Mr. Kenan told me, right?" she tried to cover up her own stupid reaction.


    "Oh, yes." I played along. "Someone is on her way to get us out of here."


    Both students were confused by the awkward explanation Melis and I tried to do, but they decided not to push it.


    I was walking towards Melis to talk to her in private, but just as I was approaching, she turned the lights off by pressing the light switch near the door. It became completely dark.


    "Whoah!" Arda said. Judging by his voice, he was far behind me.


    "Melis!" I shouted.


    "Arda?" the girl was searching for her friend in worry.


    "Where are you!?" I asked without specifying a person. No one said anything. I started searching around with my hands, slowly walking around in random directions.


    I heard a few footsteps. Someone ran past me to my left. I tried to follow the sound, but when I arrived at the point that the sound had stopped, I couldn''t find anyone. After a while, I gave up trying. I picked a direction and walked until I reached a wall. Then I followed the wall using my hands until I came to where the cafeteria''s doors were. Guessing the distances by my memory of this place, I reached out to the light switch. The lights turned on in a few seconds. When I turned around to have a look inside the cafeteria, I saw no one.


    "Melis!?" I yelled, but got no response. I had lost everyone. There was nothing I could do, as they were not going to materialise out of thin air; although, having learned about a lot of interesting things today, I wouldn''t be too surprised if they did.


    I tried to open the doors of the cafeteria to get out. I had done what I was asked to do, and I had no intentions to trap myself in this large, useless room. As soon as I opened the doors, I heard the voice of the old woman.


    "Please allow me to take some of your time." she said. "I just wanted to talk to you in private."


    I hesitantly closed the doors again and walked back into the empty cafeteria.

 118 Back into the Unknown

    I couldn''t see the old woman talking to me, but from her voice, I could understand that she was having some difficulty talking. She wanted to say something a few times, then stopped.


    "Is there something wrong?" I asked. Maybe I shouldn''t have asked this, because without any specifics, the answer was obvious in this hellish environment.


    "After all of it, I..." she started her sentence, then paused for another long period. "I hate to admit, I have failed."


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "That''s why I wanted to talk in private." she said. "After everything she lived, my dear daughter shouldn''t have to know about this."


    "I can''t understand you."


    "The truth is..." It was apparent that she was paying no attention to my words. "I wanted to do something good for all of us. All of you. And I thought... I thought WE did."


    I chose to keep silent and just listen to her.


    "Our souls have been united for the common goal of protecting new generations. Until now... Until we finally had the chance to project our power, that was what I believed in. I was deceived!"


    "Hundreds of souls..."


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    "I''m afraid I''m losing control." Her voice was getting worse. She was genuinely frightened. "Now that we have the power, they are lusting for revenge instead of compassion."


    I was now scared as well. Not only for my life, but for others'' lives as well... Because, to a degree, I was guilty of allowing such power to surface. If this was a mistake -obviously it was- I had to take some responsability.


    "What is going to happen?" I asked.


    "I don''t have much time. Those of us who are loyal to our path of compassion are outnumbered. I shall now try to suppress the burning fire of revenge and return to the darkness we emerged from." she said. "I need to contain our power before that burning fire of revenge starts controlling me."


    "What will happen to us?" I asked.


    "Making good use of my last minutes here, I will erase people''s memories." she said.


    "It won''t be any use when the school is such a mess." I said.


    "I won''t erase some of yours." she said. "You deserve it. Rest of the cleaning, however, is up to you. After I''m gone, time will continue as normal, and you will no longer have an infinite night."


    "We had an infinite night!?"


    "And remember, in the morning, no one will ever remember anything about today." she said. "Farewell."


    "Hey, wait!" I yelled, but she was already gone.


    I looked around myself. The cafeteria was still empty, as expected. It looked like I was the only person in the building. Now, after all those events... I had to clean everything up and continue like nothing ever happened this night. It was going to be some really hard work, but at least the intense thunderstorm could be blamed for some of the mess.


    That was the longest night of my life. Not only metaphorically, but also literally.


    As soon as I was finished, I went to the main enterance, which was now open. I ran away from the building, thinking about seeing a psychologist soon enough (and, of course, buying a new cell phone). But since I was the only one who knew anything about that night, I had no real excuse to not go to the school tomorrow, so I had to keep my thoughts to myself.


    - - -


    The next morning, having slept only for a couple of hours, I had managed to appear at the usual time I used to come to school everyday. I tried to relax myself and entered the teachers'' room, listening to people around me. I exchanged a few greetings, but I was concentrated on other teachers'' conversations. I had to make sure I knew what they knew about yesterday.


    Teacher 1: "Were there any club activities yesterday?"


    Teacher 2: "Why did you ask?"


    Teacher 1: "Didn''t you see the hallways? What a mess! Those kids don''t know how to clean up after themselves..."


    Teacher 2: "Geez, go easy on them, they are still children."


    Teacher 1: "They are not babies, though, and they have to learn manners!"


    I couldn''t hold myself and joined the dialogue.


    "Maybe it was the thunderstorm." I said. "Maybe we were not careful and someone could have left the windows open at night."


    Both teachers turned to me with odd expressions.


    "What?" I asked with a questioning tone. What was so weird with me, or whatever I have just said?


    "What storm?" One of the teachers asked me. Damn it! I had stepped on a landmine. Despite carefully choosing my words, I had made a mistake by genuinely thinking the storm was real. I didn''t have much time to think of a reply now, and there was no real way to revert this mistake anyway.


    "It... it was a metaphor!" I said and tried to fake a laugh. Not only this didn''t work, but it made the situation even more awkward. Now, all the people in the teachers'' room were looking at me. I was feeling like a little mischievous kid. With everyone''s eyes on me, I retreated to my locker and buried my face in my papers until the attention was diverted away from me. With such embarrassment, I could just stand there and cry for the rest of the day.


    The bell rang. Someone touched my shoulder.


    "Come on, Kenan; your class is on the opposite corner of the building. Get going already." a math teacher said.


    That was interesting. I was almost sure my classroom wasn''t ''on the opposite corner of the building'' at the first lesson of the day. I went to take a look at my program.


    Fascinating... He was right. Perhaps my memory was getting blunt.


    "Wait." I said. Inspecting the whole program, I noticed a lot of inconsistencies between my memory and the printed-out chemistry lessons program. They were entirely different.


    "When did the program change?" I asked. "Why did no one tell me!?"


    "The program is the same." The math teacher I had seen just now replied to me. "What''s wrong with you today, did you not get enough sleep, Kenan?"


    I couldn''t believe it. Upon further inspection, I noticed that Yasin''s name was missing in the list. That was right; his ''non-existance'' had to be compensated somehow.

 119 Extra Duty

    It was the last break time before the last lesson. I was sitting in the teachers'' room.


    The entire school day had passed just fine. Everything was in place, and everyone was behaving normally. Except for one person... Me. I was about to lose my mind. No one was asking or worrying about the missing chemistry teacher Yasin or the absurd amount of absent students. Was I... a schizophrenic? Was everything I thought I had seen last night merely a dream?


    No. It wasn''t. I knew it. I knew the time would come, and I would eventually question myself. I knew it, and because of that, I had deliberately left some of the building in a mess; so when I arrived today, I would know the last night wasn''t simply a nightmare. Even other people had seen it!


    But knowing that, truly believing everything that had happened last night... That was even harder than I imagined. Was I unkowingly teleported into an alternate timeline where those students didn''t exist? Or... Were they completely erased from the only existance I knew of?


    "What''s with that face?" The person asking this was English teacher Ayla. The exact same person who had witnessed the principal''s unconscious, wounded state a couple of days ago. Even she was behaving like nothing weird was happening in the school.


    "What''s with my face?" I returned the question.


    "You look... thoughtful." she said. "Maybe more like, err... stressed?"


    My facial expressions were on autopilot for a while, and I had no idea how I looked from the outside until now. I coughed softly and tried to cheer up.


    "I was just..." I said. "You know, thinking about stuff..."


    Quickly understanding my unwillingness to continue talking, she got directly to the point.


    "Well..." She sat down on a chair as she started speaking. "There is something I wanted to talk with you."


    "Which is?"


    "You know, there has been some... weird occurrences recently, in this school..."


    Great. That was a bit relaxing; contrary to my observations so far, at least some people were paying a bit of an attention to all the ''weird occurrences''.


    "I know." I said.


    "Some of us are positive that, a majority of those weird events has been taking place when the school building was mostly empty."


    Ayla and I weren''t sincere, but what was with that informal tone of speech she was using? It almost had the atmosphere of a military briefing.


    "And?"


    "And we decided that we, you and Ilayda, should stay in the school building at late hours and investigate these... events."


    Ilayda was a young lady, who was teaching literature. She had come to this school just a year ago. I turned around to look at her. She just nodded.


    It was anything but assuring. This could be a potential death trap. As much as I disagreed with the plan, I knew I had to keep what I knew as a secret. This was such an ugly trade-off of trust and security... People''s lives could be at risk because of the secrets I was keeping.


    But, apart from all that, a further cause of concern on my part was the fact that I wasn''t involved in this whole decision-making process. Everything was already decided without my opinions, I was chosen to stay, and I was being informed about it just now.


    But, at the end, I would vote for staying in the building anyway; so I could do my best to make use of everything I knew to protect the rest of the people, if the need arose.


    "I understand." I said. "When was this decided?" I asked just afterwards.


    "It was the principal''s decision. It was your turn for extra duties."


    ''Extra duties'' were a non-official term we were using for things no one could officially be forced to do, but was required for the well-being of the school.


    "I... I see." That was the only answer I could possibly give.


    "Look, you''ve not been looking good the whole day." Ayla said. "If you have some sort of problem, we can exclude you from the list and find the next person on the list to stay this night."


    "NO!" I was a bit too excited. "No, it is okay, I want to stay."


    "I... didn''t know you were THAT enthusiastic." This was Ilayda''s voice. She had apparently heard my ''NO!''. She came closer.


    "Does spending a lonely night with me sound fun?" she whispered.


    "We will see just how lonely it will get." I said mockingly, and then, lowered my voice. "There will be monsters all around us, crawling and climbing the walls..." I was trying to narrate the horror story I made up in my mind.


    "Geez, Kenan..." she said to make me stop. I changed my tactics of mocking her.


    "Find a boyfriend already!"


    "I spend half of my life in the school; and the other half in bed." she said as she walked away. "There is no way it is going to happen, I am a lonely loser!" Her laughs faded away as she got out of the teachers'' room.


    "I want someone I can get along with." I said to Ayla. "Where is Mete?" I asked. She laughed.


    "No, you will be just fine!" Ayla walked away as well. I sighed.


    - - -


    After the final lesson, I got back to the teachers'' room. While everyone was packing up and leaving one by one, I was sitting there motionless. There were no signs of Ilayda.


    "Hopefully she decided not to come." I said myself. My dreams made a crash-landing as soon as she entered the teachers'' room. I averted my gaze and started playing with one of my pencils.


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    "Sorry, had to go to the bathroom real quick." she said as she wiped her wet hands on her clothes, running around the room to find her belongings. By then, everyone had left already. Only a few teachers and the vice principal were walking in the hallways now. Most probably, they were going to leave soon.


    "You look tired." Ilayda said.


    "You look too energetic." I replied.


    "Oh, hey, I am a young lady with many ambitions!"


    "Sleeping a full 24 hours undisturbed?" I said. She laughed loudly.


    "Well, that will be a fine addition to my to-do list!" she said cheerfully.


    "Well..." I said. "We are going to be here for a while, so you have plenty of time to practise."

 120 Return

    Me and Ilayda were sitting in the opposite corners of the teachers'' room, saying or doing nothing; just like we''ve been doing for the last 2 hours. Although a bit relieved, I was a bit surprised by the lack of action around here. Perhaps the spirits have really returned to where they came from. But, even though that was the case, I didn''t want to spend too much time here, trying my luck.


    I looked over towards Ilayda. She was just sitting there, looking at the ceiling.


    "It''s been hours, nothing is happening around here." I said. "I think we can go."


    "Maybe ''they'' are just waiting for us to leave." she said.


    "If it is going to make you happy, I can take a look around." I suggested. "But come on, do you really want to spend your night here?"


    "Nah..." she said. "Alright, you know what? You go have a look around, and I will try to get some sleep."


    She couldn''t be serious.


    "You can''t be serious." I said. "Go sleep at your home."


    "If I stay here the whole night, no one can accuse me of slacking." she said. Unable to understand her weird logic, I dismissed the conversation and got out of the teachers'' room. Looking around carefully, I started walking around the school aimlessly, expecting pretty much nothing.


    While I was passing in front of the chemistry lab, I thought I heard something. I quickly got to the lab''s door, and opened it. There was no one inside. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I closed the door after the short glance.


    I heard something. This time, I was sure. It was like... someone was whispering something into my ear. Actually, not exactly ''someone''; but a lot of people at the same time... A horde of invisible people were whispering things to me. There were no distinct words I could identify.


    This could be anything but a good sign. I had to send that other teacher, Ilayda, away somehow, so I could try to deal with this without having to worry about someone else. I turned back and prepared to make a run to the teachers'' room; however, I was stopped by a set of steel beams in the hallway.


    "No, not this again!" I said. I turned the other way and started running. I was going to go upstairs and bypass the steel beams by running through that floor.


    Before I could reach the stairs, I heard someone running down to the floor I was in. I stopped there and started waiting for that person anxiously. Who could it be in the school at this hour?


    The answer was clear pretty soon. Melis, one of the students who had mysteriously disappeared the previous night... The daughter!


    She didn''t stop and ran up to me. I was frozen. I couldn''t choose between trying to protect myself or being more... ''welcoming''.


    I really wanted to ask her where she had just appeared from, or where she had been the entire day yesterday; but she didn''t give me any time to start talking.


    "Mr. Kenan!" she said, trying to catch her breath. "Save them!"


    That sentence had lots of missing information.


    "What is going on?" I asked.


    "Things went terribly wrong." she said. "Mother has been defeated. And... and if we don''t hurry, I will also be!"


    "What are you talking about!?"


    "The lust for revenge overwhelms the spirits of good will. Mother had fallen under their influence. And if they find my connection to the mother, I am afraid I will no longer be in control..." She was crying.


    Already knowing what Melis could do to people, I knew that would be a catastrophe.


    "Just... what do I do?" I asked.


    "The others... The other students we found last night, they are at the top floor. We have to get them out before their souls are consumed, and they fall into the darkness!"


    Without saying or listening to any other word, I immediately started running upstairs. Having a little trouble catching up, Melis followed me.


    "Damn it!" I said. A metal door had cut the stairway''s connection to the top floor. "We will have to use the other way."


    I ran down one floor and got across the building to use the stairways at the other side. Fortunately, that one was open. I got to the top floor. There were sounds coming from the principal''s room, so I immediately headed there. Without any delays, I opened the door to barge in, oblivious of whatever was going on in there.


    "Principal!"


    The school''s old principal was there; the man who had his neck sliced open and were rushed to the hospital a while ago... Near him, there were the two students who had mysteriously disappeared along with Melis last night. Both students were sitting uncounscious, half naked.


    The principal slowly turned his head to look at me. Melis slowly stepped back and hid behind me.


    "Well..." the principal started talking, watching Melis trying to hide behind me. "I guess I don''t have to explain anything."


    He slowly moved his hand to grab the stapler on the table next to him. I suddenly attacked him, bringing him down before he could make a move. Melis was watching from the distance.


    With a swift move, I threw the stapler away. The principal, with an unexpected agility, reached out to my neck and started choking me. I punched him in the head a few times, but he didn''t release me.


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    "Let... go... you... ogre!" Needless to say, I was having a hard time speaking.


    I stopped punching him as soon as I thought of something more effective. I started pushing my fingers into his eyes. He could close his eyes in time, but that didn''t help him too much. He started screaming frantically.


    The jelly feeling on my fingers was disgusting enough, but it got worse when some liquids started flowing out of his eye sockets. He let go of me in pain. I got away from him, gasping for air.


    While the fight was going on, Melis was trying to drag the students out of the room.


    The principal somehow managed to get back up despite the unbearable pain and lack of vision.

 121 Rescue

    As soon as he got up, I tried to kick him away. But my mistimed attack gave him the chance to counter my move. Despite not seeing anything, he caught my leg mid-air and launched me to the side. Luckily, I didn''t hit anything on my way and fell down on my arms.


    The principal left me lying there and turned toward Melis, who were still trying to drag the students out of the room.


    "Melis!" I shouted. She looked at me and saw the danger she was in. However, it was too late. The principal and Melis got into a fight of brute force which Melis was guaranteed to lose.


    I got up and tried to get to him, tottering. I caught the principal by his shoulder and pulled him back, but not before he managed to punch Melis. Fortunately, it wasn''t a very bad one.


    With unexpected agility, the principal turned around, hurling me away. I fell down, and the principal was on top of me. There was a great pressure on my chest. I couldn''t lift him. He tried to punch me a few times, but I could dodge simply by moving my head.


    Suddenly, he started screaming crazily, and rolled on the floor, away from me. Melis was there. She had the stapler in her hand. That was some good thinking on her part, and a very timely rescue.


    While the principal was still on the floor, Melis carefully approached him and stapled various parts of his body. The principal was shaking. He tried to reach out to where he thought Melis was, but couldn''t.


    Meanwhile, I got up and the partial paralysis feeling on my body, which was caused by the weight of the principal, started clearing up.


    "Let''s go!" I said. Melis looked at the principal laying on the ground, who was crying in agony.


    "We can''t leave him alive." she said. That caught me by surprise.


    "Wha- Why?"


    "He is under command of the evil." she said. "If we let him live, he will eventually get back up. And we won''t like the consequences."


    "We are not murderers!" I said. "At least, I am not." I couldn''t say this second part out loud.


    "If you want to talk about morals, think of your students." Melis said. "You know this is the only way."


    Melis kicked the principal''s face, breaking his jaw apart. His bones were dislocated, his teeth were broken. The sides of his lips were ripped open farther apart than I thought was possible. His tongue was seen dropping out of the widened mouth cavity, as a lifeless lump of meat. With his skin torn apart by his own bones, blood was flowing out of every hole.


    Watching this was making me feel sick. I looked away. Insted of waiting for Melis to do whatever she was trying to do, I got my half-naked students out of the room. I carefully placed them side by side in the hallway and began inspecting their wounds. It was horrible.


    The injuries of the students were more often located on their backs. Some cuts and open wounds on their bodies were closed using office staplers. I have never seen something equally cruel in my life. The pain aside, an infection caused by such action could end up killing them.


    The sounds from the principal''s room stopped after a while. Melis came out of the room, breathing heavily. She was... tired. She must''ve tried too hard to make sure the principal wouldn''t come back to life.


    "Go." she said to me.


    "No." I replied, looking at the students.


    "I will take good care of them." Melis said. "Although she is slowly being pulled into the darkness, mother''s powers can hide me for a while... However, you have to go."


    "..." I certainly didn''t want to leave my students there.


    "I promise." Melis insisted. "They will be okay. But if you stay here any longer, you won''t. Go!"


    "You promised." I said and walked away.


    On my way, I noticed that some of the metal doors and iron bars I have seen while coming here were removed. Unfortunately, I had no time to examine the building, or the nature of these occurrences.


    While making my way out of the school building, I remembered Ilayda. I had to get her out as well. I was only hoping that she didn''t encounter anything weird in the building, and wouldn''t ask too many questions about all the noise I had just made upstairs. If that was the case, I would have to tell a pretty good lie.


    I entered the teachers'' room anxiously. To my relief; I found her sleeping on one of the chairs with her arms connected, putting her head against a wall. I slowly approached her in order to wake her up.


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    "Hey!"


    She didn''t react.


    "Ms. Ilayda?"


    Nothing.


    "Ma''am, the sleeping beauty, wake up!" I raised my voice.


    Her eyes slowly opened. She was blinking pretty rapidly.


    "Are we there yet?" she said as she yawned.


    "You are about to miss your lesson!" I replied. Hearing this made her get up pretty quickly.


    "Where, when, who, why, how?"


    "The extra duty, remember? We''ve been here for hours." I said. "And, Miss, you have been slacking all this time. It is time to go home."


    She slowly came to her senses.


    "Ahh, shorry." she said. "Couldn''t resist the... sleep."


    Without spending more time in there, I guided her out of the building. After we got out, she was feeling good -awake- enough to walk and find her way on her own.


    "What was that in the hallway?" she asked me.


    "What are you talking about?" I asked.


    "What? Didn''t you see? There was this... like... blue light hanging overhead... Like a really dim one, but... ugh. It was weird, maybe it was purple." she tried to explain. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I was curious. On the other hand, if this had something to do with the spirits... It wouldn''t be good for her to know.


    "You are sleepy." I said. "Are you seeing fairies too? Tell me you do."


    "Come on, I saw it!" she said. "I''m awake!"


    "Well, why didn''t I see it then?" I asked. She paused. Rolling her eyes around, she thought about it for a while.


    "I am sleepy." was her response.

 122 Denial

    During the night; my thoughts alternated between calling the police to secure the building and finding a crazy individual who claims to have dealt with ghosts before. Both seemed impossible. All the crazy stuff was happening in a secretive way... I had no real guide or ''legitimate'' threat for calling the police, and no exorcist would be crazy enough to believe in ''real'' ghosts no matter what he would say to me.


    What? Was I really going to tell people I was scared of ghosts roaming around the school building? I would probably end up in a mental hospital.


    A mental hospital... Maybe that was it. Maybe I needed to go to a mental hospital. I was schizophrenic. Nothing really had happened yesterday, or the days before, and it was all in my mind. I was imagining crazy things. I had let the stress of life get to me. Something had happened, and I was now crazy. No wonder Ilayda, or anyone else for that matter, had not seen or heard anything all that time. It was all in my mind.


    But, if that was the truth... What about all the people I once knew, that suddenly went missing? What about all the mess in the school building? Were they all my doing? Furthermore, was my mind making up random people out of thin air?


    It was dangerous for me to continue going to school and working as a teacher. It hadn''t been so problematic for the people around me just yet, but who knew what I could do next? I decided not to go to school tomorrow, and went to sleep.


    Early in the morning, I called the school from home and notified them of my ''necessary absence''. I got yelled at pretty badly, but in my opinion, this was worth it. I used being sick as an excuse; which wasn''t entirely a lie. I just didn''t go into too much detail and mention the mental part of it.


    I left my apartment and went to talk with a psychologist. I spent a lot of effort trying to get an appointment for afternoon, claiming my issues were serious. Even though they had to rearrange the rest of their plans for that day, the info/admission desk managed to make some time for me.


    Time passed pretty quickly, and I got into the psychologist''s room. The room was cozy, and most objects were wooden. It was illuminated by the light coming from a single window. In the room, there was an old man with white hair, sitting on a chair behind a desk. He had round glasses, which were looking like they were barely holding to the man''s nose without falling. His voice was calm.


    He looked at me for a few seconds when I entered the room and closed the door.


    "Please have a seat." he said. I sat down on the couch, just about a meter or two in front of his desk. He looked at something on his desk, and back to me. Maybe he was trying to read my facial expressions.


    "How shall I refer to you, mister?" he asked.


    "Kenan." I said. "...is my name."


    "So, Kenan... What are you feeling right now?" he asked.


    "Anxiety..." I said. "Helplessness... Fear!"


    As I talked, he kept looking at me trying to keep a straight face, but I could see some slight changes on his expressions.


    "So, Kenan... First of all, I think you want to know..." he said. "I can confidently say that you are in the right place. Whatever you experienced so far seems to have left a prominent impact on you."


    "Is that so..."


    "You are worried about something outside this room." he said. Was I that easy to read, or was he simply too experienced as a psychologist?


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    "However, this is not going to help." he continued without asking me why I came here, or what my problem really was. "Try to leave it outside the room, just for now."


    "I... I can''t." I tried to say, but I couldn''t.


    "Hmm?" He figured that I had said something, but he couldn''t hear it.


    "Yes." I decided to play it his way.


    "You are a pretty interesting individual." he said. "Tell me what brought you here."


    "I left it outside the room, for now." I replied. "...just like you told me to do."


    "Good, but that''s not what I was asking for anyway." he said. "You wouldn''t come here yourself for someone else''s problems, right?"


    "Yes." I said.


    "So tell me..." he said. "How did you decide to come here?"


    "I was... I found myself helpless against my own thoughts." I said.


    "I''m not going to ask for specifics yet, but what kind of thoughts are these? Can you tell me more about it?"


    "Crazy ones. I''m scared of my own mind."


    "Right on point. That''s what I wanted to hear about." he said, and paused for a few seconds. I started looking around while he was thinking about something. "You are seeking for help against your own mind."


    "Yes." I said. "I don''t think I am in control anymore. In a brief moment of realisation, I found the chance to bring myself here."


    "You used the opportunity to bring yourself to safety." he replied. "Do you feel like you are in control now?"


    "..."


    "Do you feel like you found help?"


    "I hope so."


    "You are afraid." No matter what he was saying, the man''s calm voice was really pleasant to listen to.


    "I want to trust you." I said.


    "No, you are afraid." he said. "If we are going to help each other, I want to trust you too. But you have something else in your mind; and you can''t leave it outside the room. I am asking you for a short time."


    "I can''t do that." I finally said it.


    "You are afraid." he repeated. "You think something bad is going to happen, and you feel helpless against the seemingly inevitable thing. Your mind can''t let go of the thought, and you constantly feel the pressure."


    This man''s observations were really good. A bit... too good. In fact, it was so good it was making me uncomfortable.


    "But I know it is not real!" I said. "Nothing is going to happen. I know it!"


    "You want to deny it... At this point, just tell me already." he said. "What are you scared of, and what are you trying to deny?"


    Ghosts! Evil spirits! Death! Murder! - that was everything I wanted to say. But... I was holding myself back. I couldn''t say it. I couldn''t say that I believed in ghosts, I didn''t want to.


    "No, I know they are not real..."


    With a quick change of mind, I ran out of the room. Everyone looked at me, clearly surprised. After that brief pause, I ran out of the building and quickly got away.


    "You are okay." I said myself. "It wasn''t real."

 123 Watching Over You

    After running back home from my psychologist appointment, I spent the rest of the day watching TV shows, reading some of the books in my bookshelf that I''ve already read before, and simply staying in bed. I was normal. I had a breakdown, but right now... Everything was okay. Probably no one had noticed a lot of weird behaviour anyway. I was going to stay calm, and go to the school next morning like nothing happened. Because... that''s what I wanted to believe in. Nothing had happened.


    Everything was okay.


    The world was making sense.


    I was feeling good.


    I was okay.


    I was doing good.


    I was... asleep.


    - - -


    I woke up in the middle of the night. It was 00:15. I was sweating.


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    Everything was not okay. Something was off, and I knew it. Maybe it was a gut feeling, maybe it was a doing of sixth sense, or perhaps someone was trying out telepathy. Somehow, I knew something was off.


    I looked out of the window. The street was silent. The only sign of life around here was a gray cat sleeping near one of the cars parked outside.


    I unwillingly turned on the lights, and went blind for a brief moment. After my eyes adjusted for the light level, I changed my clothes and got outside. From a certain point of view, I didn''t know what I was doing; but I was confident in whatever I was about to do.


    I started waiting for one of the late night buses that came once every hour. In this silence, I could hear the engine sound of the bus hundreds of meters away. The bus then appeared from the corner of the street and came to a stop in front of me. I got on the bus. Aside from the driver himself, there was only a single passenger sitting alone, looking out of the window. While walking back towards the rear seats of the bus, I glanced at her. She was a pretty young lady. I couldn''t see her face.


    She noticed me, but didn''t move her head. I was a bit embarrassed, so I looked away and walked by. But, just when I got past her...


    "Mr. Kenan."


    !!


    I froze there and looked back at her. She was... No! That couldn''t be!


    "Melis?"


    "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" she asked, with a very low voice.


    "I should ask the same." I replied. She got closer to the window, and gestured for me to sit by her. I did.


    "Mother needs my help, teacher." she said. "I fear... I fear that something bad is going to happen today."


    "Did you feel it?" I asked.


    "Did you feel it too?" she asked back. I nodded.


    "This is my mistake." she said. "I have to clean up the mess I''ve done. Unbeknownst to me at the time, you were right, even though you didn''t know a lot back then."


    "What now?"


    "If I leave mother alone, she won''t be powerful. I have to go and help her."


    "How?" I asked.


    "My presence there will make the difference." she said. "If there are no more deaths, we can push the darkness back to where it belongs. The entire community of spirits will vanish."


    "You can''t possibly mean that you are going to-"


    "Look." she interrupted. "If you are going to stay in my way, just get off at the next stop. You have nothing to do with this, and you can keep living your life like nothing ever happened."


    "..."


    "So?"


    "Are you confident in your ability to do what it is you want to do?" I asked.


    "Do you want a honest answer?" she asked.


    "Yes, please."


    "No." she said. "But there is nothing else I can do. It is like a civil war at this point. They won''t listen to each other."


    "Wh-what if you fail?"


    "I don''t know. Leave. Just leave. Tear the building apart and leave. Burn it. Bomb it. Whatever... Just keep people away." she said.


    When she raised her voice without knowing, we got a questioning look from the bus driver through the mirror. I stared back at him through the mirror, and he looked back at the road without saying anything.


    We eventually came to our stop and got off the bus. We still had to walk quite some time to reach the school. While walking towards the woodlands surrounding the school, I saw something with the corner of my eye.


    "Wait." I said.


    "What happened?"


    "Just wait here." I said and walked between some trees.


    "Mr. Kenan?" she shouted behind me.


    "Hold on!" I shouted back. When I got there, I felt a combination of happiness, sadness and astonishment. An old, dark blue Lada... It was my car! It was far away from the school, and almost invisible from where the road was. It had crashed into a tree; the hood was crumpled, the windshield was cracked, the bumpers were bent, the headlights and mirrors had came out of their places.


    While inspecting my old car carefully, I heard something behind me. Melis was walking towards here to see what I was looking at.


    "What is this?" she asked.


    "My car." I said. "Was." I added a moment later. "I will have this debris pulled out of here, but this car won''t be going anywhere else anymore."


    "How did this happen?" she asked. That was a nice question...


    Probably, after I parked it that one night, the parking brake failed and the car rolled down the road on it''s own. I was lucky that it didn''t harm anyone.


    "I don''t know." I answered Melis. "I left it parked somewhere near the school, then it went missing."


    "You were lucky for not being in that car, you know..." she said. That was right. If the brakes had failed while I was driving, it would be a disaster.


    "We are not used to think about it in our daily lives, teacher..." she continued. "But death is always so close to us."


    "Right..." I said.


    "It is good to have someone watching over you." she said. What was she getting at?


    "Right..." I repeated.


    "Besides, you didn''t like that car anyway." she said.


    "Did I tell you that?" I asked.


    "I didn''t like it either."

 124 Walking in the Shadows

    I have been truly blind to the world around me.


    And yet, even after noticing that after a long time... I was trying to ignore it. Deny it. Just because I disagreed with it. Just because... Just because I didn''t want to see it.


    But my last encounter with Melis had shattered this blurry layer in my life into a million pieces.


    I looked at her, walking next to me towards the school. Although she knew it was hopeless, she was going to do what she thought was necessary.


    I normally wouldn''t let her, but thinking of it... All this time, I was the wrong one. And this time... I actually wanted to trust her judgement. Maybe if she went away, her mother''s connection to our world would end, ultimately freeing people of the evil influence.


    "Hey." Melis called me out with a low voice. My thoughts wandered away into the distance, between the trees, to never return.


    "What is it?" I asked.


    "Duck."


    "..."


    Melis suddenly jumped towards me and pushed me away from my chest. I fell down, and Melis landed on my chest. This was good enough to trigger my fight or flight responses, but I was already in a disadvantage in every possible way.


    Luckily, that stressful moment didn''t last long. Apparently, my reactions were just a bit too slow; after I fell, a beam of light illuminated the school''s enterance, and disappeared.


    "Shh!" Melis gestured me to stay silent.


    There was someone in the school. Or possibly, more than one person.


    I softly pushed Melis aside. Realising the awkward position we were in, she got embarrassed and moved away herself.


    "Sorry, teacher." she whispered.


    We both got up to take a look inside the building through the windows. I spotted a black humanoid silhouette roaming around the cafeteria.


    "What is going on here?" Melis asked.


    "I don''t know." I said. "Do you think that, maybe, just maybe, your mother..."


    "No!" Melis accidentally raised her voice.


    "Shh!" I shut her up.


    "She doesn''t occupy physical space." she continued with her softer voice.


    "Wait, I might actually have an idea." I said.


    "What is it?" Melis got curious.


    "Recently, some teachers were getting suspicious about some late night activity in the school building. Last night they had picked me and another teacher to look after the building."


    "During the night?" she said with a questioning tone.


    "During the night." I answered.


    "So, you think they may just be some teachers patrolling the building?" Melis completed my thought.


    "Yeah, that''s what I think." I said. "And if they see us, we will be in a big trouble."


    "If they figure anything out, THEY will be in big trouble." Melis said.


    "I don''t like your tone, young lady." I said. "Your... mother, and this entire ritual of yours had ideals. We don''t touch innocent people."


    "You still don''t understand how it works, do you, teacher?" Melis asked. "Or you don''t want to understand because it sounds too... unorthodox."


    "HEY, YOU THERE!" That voice came from somewhere inside the building. I knew that sound. One of the math teachers, named Cihan, was shouting from the window. Judging by his words, we were spotted, but not identified yet.


    "Come on." I whispered to Melis. "We have been discovered. Time to run!"


    I started running towards the denser parts of the woodland near the school. Melis started following me. Hopefully, before the teacher could make it out of the building, we would be long gone.


    I ran between the trees and found a suitable place to hide. I jumped behind a bush between some trees and covered my whole body. Just then, I noticed Melis was no longer with me.


    "Melis!" I whispered and looked around, but couldn''t see her. She was probably about to do something crazy, but I didn''t know what I could do about it. I chose to remain stealthy and observe the events behind the trees.


    Not long after, Cihan came out of the building, waving a flashlight around. He seemed angry.


    "I swear, I will kill you when I find you two!" he shouted, and started walking around the building.


    After he got a little far away from the enterance, I decided that I could try to get into the school unnoticed. But before I made a run for it, another teacher came out of the building. A biology teacher, named Adnan. He looked over to where Cihan went.


    "Did you catch them?" he asked.


    "God damn, no." Cihan answered. "But when I do..."


    "IF!" Adnan interrupted. "IF you do..."


    "IF I do..." Cihan continued. "They will be begging for mercy. Damaging school property like this is not a light crime! They have been messing with us for many days now!"


    Adnan slowly walked towards Cihan.


    "After seeing you like that, I don''t think they will be coming back anyway." he said, probably trying to calm Cihan down and cheer him up a little.


    "Ugh. Why don''t we have security cameras to begin with!?" Cihan kept yelling.


    "Oh, but we DO have security cameras..." Adnan said. After that, they both lowered their voices to a level I couldn''t hear from that distance; but the conversation kept going for quite some time.


    The teachers were talking to each other outside, and this was my chance. I silently got out of the woodland, carefully made my way to the enterance; and while they weren''t looking my way, I managed to sneak into the building.


    I walked to the end of the hallway and started going upstairs. Suddenly, I felt something grab my neck tightly and squeeze it.


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    "I... hagh... khhk..."


    The immense force suddenly disappeared. Whatever it was squeezing my neck released me.


    "Oh." this was Melis'' voice. "It was you. You made it."


    She came to my view from behind.


    "What was that for?" I said, coughing and trying to breathe in.


    "You could at least notify me when coming by." she said.


    "Like hell I could." I said. "What? Do you want me to call you out when there are people out there actively searching for us? I didn''t even know where you were!"


    "Well..." she said. "Fair enough, I guess."


    "Honey, I''m home!" I said mockingly.


    "Okay, fine, alright, I get it..." Melis said. "Sorry I couldn''t think of that."


    I heard the main enterance door opening.


    "Damn it!" I whispered. "They are coming back!"

 125 Puzzle Countdown

    I made an attempt to run upstairs to hide, only to be stopped by Melis.


    "Shh! Don''t run, keep silent!" she warned me, as she tried to listen to the footsteps of the teachers at the bottom floor. The teachers were talking among themselves, but more importantly, they were coming this way. This time, I slowly started walking upstairs, refraining from making any noise. I touched Melis'' shoulder to signal her. She started following me, silently.


    "Did I see something up there?" This voice was Cihan''s. As soon as I heard it, I prepared to run; but Melis stopped me once again.


    "Are you kidding me?" Adnan replied to Cihan. "Look, dude, I get how angry you are, but you need to calm down."


    "No, I''m dead serious, I saw something over there and I HAVE TO look." Cihan said.


    "Fine, if it is going to make you relax..." Adnan gave up. At that moment, Melis released her grip on my arm. She looked at me and said a single, powerful word.


    "Run."


    Before Cihan could come upstairs to look around, we ran upstairs to a higher floor. However, all the sound we made has exposed our existance and position.


    "Dude, I told you!" Cihan shouted as he started running to follow us. Both teachers began running to catch us. We ran to the top floor, and towards the other end of the hallway. Fortunately, we were faster than them, and we had managed to put some distance in between.


    "I have a great idea." Melis said.


    "What?" I asked.


    "I will get them to chase me. Meanwhile, you will go disconnect the power line." she said. "We will be in advantage."


    "But-"


    "They can see me, there is no problem. But if they see you, you won''t be stepping into this school ever again." Melis certainly knew how to persuade me to do something.


    The footsteps were getting closer.


    "You block the other side." Cihan was guiding Adnan to the other stairway. We were about to be trapped by them.


    "So much for that." I said. "Both ways are blocked."


    "Quick!"


    Melis pulled me into a nearby classroom, and closed the door. I hid behind a column next to the classroom''s wall, while Melis stood next to the door to listen to the voices in the hallway.


    "They are both on this floor right now." she was whispering the situation to me as I was peeking from behind the column.


    "Damn it, they are checking the rooms!"


    "Hide!" I warned her. She got away from the door and hid herself behind a small cabinet near the blackboard.


    Finally I started hearing some footsteps outside. It became closer, and teachers came to a stop in front of the classroom''s door. I stopped peeking behind the column and completely hid myself. The door opened.


    "They are hiding somewhere near here." Cihan said. Both teachers entered the classroom. They started walking towards my hiding spot. Since the column I was hiding behind was adjacent to the wall, I had no chance to constantly keep the column between me and the teachers. If they got past the critical point, I would be out in the open.


    I held my breath.


    "Hey, there! I found one"


    Was this the end of the adventure?


    I heard something falling down, and both teachers immediately ran out of the classroom.


    "You brat!"


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    Melis had exposed herself to save me, and they were now chasing her. I took a deep breath at that moment of relief. However, this was my only chance to get out of here, and I had no time to lose. I got out of the classroom and went the opposite way which Melis was running. I hastily, yet silently made my way downstairs; constantly checking the whereabouts of the teachers. Melis would normally run much faster than both teachers, but it was looking like she was delibarately trying to keep the chase going on for longer by simply maintaining her distance; not close enough to be caught, but not far enough to make the pursuers give up.


    When I came to the bottom floor, I got to the electrical panel on the wall. This panel controlled the building''s main transformer, and also included the safety fuzes.


    "Oh, come on!"


    To my surprise, the panel was locked. I had to find a key to unlock it. That made sense, considering the safety of people in the school. But, unfortunately, I had no idea where the key could be. To cut the power, I had to find another way.


    "If you don''t cooperate with us, ma''am, your actions will have severe consequences!" The teachers were still chasing Melis upstairs. I could occassionally hear them.


    I listened to the voices for a short while, and looked back at the electrical panel.


    "The fuze!"


    There were three cables coming out of the panel; colored red, white, and blue. They were protected, and I couldn''t disconnect them by brute force; but, I could try something smarter. I ran into the nearby cafeteria to look for cooking gloves. They were really thick, and had no conductivity. After a while, I came back with the gloves.


    A really loud noise came from somewhere above me.


    "You will pay for this!"


    "EYAAH!" This was Melis'' scream. I assumed the worst, but I could not risk going up there and trying to help her out. I simply had to be quick with whatever I was doing.


    I ran to the chemistry lab, which I had the key for. I went inside, got a piece of magnesium sample. This was one of the best substances I could hope to find in order to start a fire. After that, I got some paper and left the lab.


    I got back to the electric panel. Using the magnesium and the lab key, I managed to create some sparks. The paper caught fire, and I carefully held it under the cables to melt through the plastic covers. Those plastics had almost unmatched electric resistance, but they couldn''t stand much heat.


    However, before I could melt the plastic covers, the fire alarm started.


    "Not now!" I was about to lose my only chance to do this.


    Some other noises came from upstairs.


    "Come on, quicker!" I was getting impatient.


    The red colored cable started to bend downwards, towards the white one.


    I heard some footsteps. They were coming downstairs.


    *POW*


    Lots of yellow-orange sparks flew around the hallway, followed by a black smoke from the electrical panel. The red wire had touched the white one, sending all the power directly to the ground wire. The short-circuit caused the safety fuzes to blow up, and the lights went out.

 127 Corrupted Hearts

    She pulled me all the way to the chemistry lab. We got inside, and she closed the door shut.


    "This is out of control." she said. "What happens next, I don''t care anymore. I don''t care if people finds me, sees you, or whatever. Protecting the innocent ones and keeping the darkness away... I thought this was something that mystical community agreed on. But, it turns out, power can corrupt the most innocent hearts!"


    "What is going to happen? Why did you bring me here?" I asked.


    "While those who are loyal to our cause are still with her, I need to go. For the rest of the journey, you will be on your own. And, hopefully, if, and once we are victorious... The spirits shall phase out of this world to their own, to never bother the beings of this physical world ever again."


    "But, that doesn''t explain; why did you bring ME?"


    "Please bring me peace, I beg you!"


    She dropped on her knees as she completed the sentence.


    "For one last time... What does this has to do with me!? Why do I have to witness it?"


    "Mr. Kenan, you are not a bystander. If Mother chose you, there is a reason for that." she sighed. "In case I fail..."


    "..."


    "...you will take my place in this world, as the representative of the great ideal of my mother. If the right time ever comes, we shall connect to this reality through you."


    "I don''t understand."


    "You are a fail-safe, an early warning!" she said. "...although I hope our next meeting will be for better reasons."


    "I..."


    "Unlike the previous time, the clock is ticking, Mr. Kenan. She doesn''t have much time, so neither do I. Please, let''s get this over with."


    "There must be some other way..." I said. "Let ME go instead!" How did I just say that? How could I say that!? I had no idea what I was thinking.


    "I can truly see why Mother chose you for this duty." Melis commented. "But there is no other way."


    "..."


    "Listen... You are being selfish. Let go of your emotions, and do the best for the people. Needs of the many outweights the needs of the one."


    I could have turned her in to the police and it would be done.


    I could have turned myself in and everything would be okay.


    I could simply run away instead of getting dragged into this mystical world.


    I could...


    I could''ve done many things differently.


    But not anymore. Not after it all came to this. I could save myself, but I would never forgive myself. If we were going to entrap the evil we have unleashed, there was no other choice.


    If I was supposed to dedicate the rest of my life to keep the darkness at bay, that was what I was going to do.


    "One last death to put a stop to this madness..."


    Was she talking to me, or was I making things up?


    I got a good hold of Melis'' neck and strangled her, squeezing her neck with all my power. Her eyes opened wide, and her face muscles began moving randomly. I was feeling a weird vibration on my fingers. She was trying to scream, but couldn''t. Her mouth was wide open, with her tongue out.


    She started sweating, and the color of her skin changed. I could see the veins running just under her skin.


    She began waving her arms around, and eventually, she grabbed my arms to try to push them away. I knew she was in great pain, but there was no turning back. She knew it as well, but couldn''t help herself.


    She moved her legs around, pulling them closer to herself and trying to crawl away from me. I didn''t let her. Her movements turned into random kicks into the air.


    Her grip on my arms loosened. Her eyes slowly slided upwards. Some sort of foamy liquid came out of her mouth.


    Her muscles relaxed, and her head dropped to the side under it''s own weight.


    She stopped moving completely. I released her after going on for a few more seconds. I held her from by her shoulders, and softly placed her body on the ground.


    Suddenly, a weird, blue light appeared in the room. I got up, scared and curious.


    Melis'' eyes lit up, shining with a light tone of yellow. Looking into her eyes, I felt like I was being pulled into it. I had a tunnel vision now, locked onto her eyes.


    "Although the spirits shall phase out..." I was hearing the Mother''s own voice again. "...her memory can stay with you."


    "Memory? What will happen to her?"


    "Thanks to you, she will be okay with me."


    "Her memory-"


    "Farewell."


    All the lights faded out.


    I was feeling empty, and a little dizzy. What was I going to do here?


    "Teacher?"


    "Melis?" A student at the school, in the middle of the night?


    I looked at her awkwardly as she got back up. I thought I had just killed her.


    No. Where did that thought just come from?


    "Is there something wrong, Mr. Kenan?" she asked me.


    Was she real?


    "No, no; not at all!" I chuckled. "So tell me, why are you here in the mid-"


    Of course she would be here. She had brought me here in the first place.


    "Teacher, get some rest."


    "Okay, okay." I said. I couldn''t remember why we were in the chemistry lab.


    What was I even thinking about? Of course I would be here. I had felt that urge to come here in the middle of the night.


    "So, this may be a bit awkward..." I continued talking. "Do you remember why I called you here?"


    "Did you call me here?" she answered with a question of her own. "Hehe, guess I forgot all about it~"


    How could she forget about everything that just happened here?


    But, again... Why was I here? Why were my thoughts oscillating back and forth?


    They were taking the memories!


    Who were doing... what? What was I saying? I was confused by my own train of thoughts. No, this was more like a rollercoaster.


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    "I think it is enough for today." I said. "Let''s get out, shall we?"


    "O-okay." Melis responded, giving me an even awkward look. We got out of the school.


    "Don''t mind me." I said on the way out. "I think I might be a little too tired. I don''t know what I''m saying."


    "I figured." said Melis. "You sound like you are drunk, teacher!"


    "I don''t drink!" I said.


    "Okay, but hold it." my inner voice talked to me. "Is she real?"


    "Are you r-" I was about to ask it out loudly by accident.


    "What?" said Melis. "I couldn''t hear you."


    "Nothing." I said and kept walking. What a strange thing to ask! In what fantasy world was I living in?


    We walked the rest of the way in silence and arrived at the bus station. I sat on the bench and started waiting for one of the late-night buses. She did the same.


    "Let go." Melis said. "Our memories shall be erased like their existance."


    "What?" I said. I couldn''t understand it. Was this a quote from a popular book or something?


    "Oh, nothing." she said. I couldn''t ask her to say it again.


    I was dozing off when the bus arrived. Melis woke me up, and we got on the bus. I sat next to her in the empty bus.


    I was apparently dozing off again. Melis woke me up when we got close to my apartment. I had unknowingly put my head on her shoulder.


    "I''m sor-"


    "It''s okay." she said. I stood up and prepared to get off the bus. Melis turned around in her seat to look at me.


    "It wasn''t your fault." she said as I stepped outside. Before I could ask anything to her, the doors closed, and the bus left the station. I looked after the bus until it turned to another empty street.


    What have I done? What was she talking about?


    I suddenly changed my mind and started running after the bus. I could still hear the engine sound, and I knew the route. If I was fast enough, I could make it.


    After I ran past three streets, the sound faded out. I had lost the bus, and Melis was nowhere to be seen. But, she was my student after all... I could ask tomorrow anyway. Now thinking of it, I had no idea what day of the week we were in.


    "I might really be drunk." I said myself. "Or maybe it is the chemicals..."


    I barely made it home that night.


    - - -


    The next morning, two teachers were found dead in a classroom by a few students. School was cancelled for some time. Some parents considered sending their children to other schools, concerned about their safety and well-being.


    According to the police, all the evidence was pointing to suicide, but... There were lots of questions, the most obvious being "Why?". They were simply tasked with patrolling around the building...


    Those questions went unanswered. But because of the safety concerns, a series of rules were agrred on by the teachers, and were put into effect at Chersonese High; most notably banning late hour activities in the building.


    After that event, no one have ever seen or heard from the Mother or the community of tortured souls.


    ...until years later, when a group of friends decided to make an extended stay in their school building. Despite all of the precautions taken by their teachers, they would find themselves in an adventure full of action and mystery.

 128 Outroduction and Authors Last Words III

    Okay. I will be honest. This book wasn''t meant to be written. I''ve already told some parts of the story I wasn''t supposed to tell, but I have no regrets.


    But that''s the thing about mystery. If you had seen everything I have deliberately left out of the books, it could make another trilogy on it''s own.


    What happened in the time between the third book and the first? Or the first and the second? How did Melis contact her mother after her death? Why did the teachers commit suicide?


    Some questions like this, and more... They remain unanswered, like they should be. You don''t have to know everything.


    You may wait for another book, you can create your own theories, or perhaps... You can find and follow the secret hints I may have left here and there. And, that''s why mystery is fun. That''s what mystery is supposed to be.


    Speaking of all this...


    I think it is time to share something. The Phantom School has a wiki. It is not very easy to keep track of an entire universe, you know...


    https://the-phantom-school.fandom.com/wiki/The_Phantom_School_Wiki


    Some parts of it are outdated, and a lot of it is incomplete and poorly written. So, if you look carefully, you may find out things I''ve never included in the books.


    And if you decide to contribute... Who knows what may come next?


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 129 Sigh...

    @@I wanted to do something special for the new year, like publishing the missing parts of the story or revealing the secrets and easter eggs through the story, but it is too much work and I don''t really have the time right now :(


    Ended up just creating a new and cleaner cover for the novel. Meh, better than nothing...


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