ss. He heard a voice calling to him. As the figure drew closer, he gasped, "Dad?" Disbelief washed over him as he recognized the face of his father, who had been missing for two years.
"Victor, come home," his father said, blood Chapter Three
Victor made his way to Kelvin's dormitory, his footsteps echoing in the quiet of the night. He knocked on the door, but there was no response. He knocked again, louder this time, but still no answer. A creeping sense of isolation washed over him; it was late, and he was alone. Anxiety began to seep in, and his knocks grew more frantic. The cold wind cut across his face, and for a brief, unsettling moment, he felt a cold, clammy touch. Startled, he spun around, but there was no one there. His heart hammered in his chest. In a panic, he pounded the door, the rhythm of his knocks making the hinges shudder. Then, the wind returned, fiercer this time—almost like a claw, reaching for him.
The wind stirred the trash around him into a swirling vortex, and in the middle of it, a shadowy figure appeared. Just as his blood ran cold, the door creaked open, and Kelvin's sleepy face appeared.
"People need their sleep, you know?" Kelvin mumbled, clearly irritated.
Victor, pale as a ghost, stared at him. "Did you see that?"
"See what?" Kelvin asked, looking bewildered.
"Never mind. Let's just go," Victor said, his body vibrating with fear like a 2011 Nokia phone on full buzz. The strange feeling from before had vanished, but the terror still clung to him.
Kelvin raised an eyebrow. "So, uh, where exactly are we going?"
Victor, still trembling, stammered, "To… hunt… ghosts?" The words felt ridiculous even as they left his mouth.
Kelvin gave him an odd look. "Okay, but where do we start?"
Victor sighed, as they climbed over the wall surrounding the dormitory, a mix of frustration and fear in his voice. "It's not like you can just call them, or... choose when to see them. It's—"
He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Kelvin's wide-eyed, panicked expression. Kelvin was pointing behind him. Victor's blood turned to ice as he followed Kelvin's gaze. Telling from wouldn't like what he would see when he turned. Slowly and fearfully he turned and in a distance a figure—no, several figures—stood at a distance, hidden in the shadows. Were they spirits? Watching them? Slowly, they began to approach.
Victor spun around, but Kelvin had already turned and was running in the wrong direction—straight toward the school yard, the worst possible place to go at this time of the night.
Victor, despite being a bit more muscular, couldn't keep up. Kelvin moved faster, like an ostrich fleeing from danger, and Victor's legs felt like lead. The figures were closing in, their hollow eyes following every step.
Kelvin rushed into a classroom, closing the door he hid, his breath ragged and his heart pounding like a bass drum in his chest. His mind screamed that the creatures would hear him, but as he glanced around, he saw nothing—no one was chasing him, it was just a classroom full of chairs and interesting shadows cast by the light from the corridor, great he thought to himself as the itching edge to turn the light on was all he could think of. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. It's all in your head, he told himself.
Then, he opened his eyes.
A girl was standing right in front of him. She had no face.
In a trance, the faceless girl crouched and handed him a piece of paper. Kelvin's mind screamed, but his body couldn't react. His vision blurred, and everything went black.
When he came to, he was sitting at a table. His wrists were bound.
He noticed two people sitting at the other side. One, he didn't recognize but the other was…Emilia?
"How…? What…? Who?" Kelvin's voice cracked, his confusion mounting.
"Oh, you're awake," Emilia said, her tone cold. "Where's Victor?"
quite often but still he was completely confused.
What's going on?"
Emilia fixed him with a sharp look. "We're the ones asking the questions. Who are you? What are you?"
Kelvin blinked, his head spinning. He couldn't comprehend any of this.
Emilia leaned closer, her voice heavy with suspicion. "Listen…" she said and leaned forward "… a spirit called Mr. Smiley was released into this school. Every year, he comes out to take a student. He's already claimed one this year…," she took a deep breath "… but when you showed up... he came back. All the spirits—both known and unknown—are active tonight. And to make things worse, you've already communicated with one of them. So, tell me: who are you? Are you one of them? Did Mr. Smiley send you? What do you want?"
Kelvin could only stare at her, his face blank with confusion.
"Speak the truth," a muscular boy beside Emilia growled, his voice low and commanding. "Or die."
"I'm… I'm…" Kelvin stammered, his voice failing him.
Emilia didn't wait for an answer. She shoved a piece of paper in front of him. On it were the words: SREWSNA.
"What does this mean?" she demanded.
"I… I don't know!" Kelvin's voice trembled, his panic rising and he pied in his pants. "Please, don't kill me. I'm telling you the truth! I don't know anything!"
The boy beside Emilia grimaced in disgust. "Yurk." Without another word, he and Emilia retreated to talk in private.
Emilia. "I don't think he knows anything."
The muscular boy's voice was harder. "What if he's possessed?"
"Well… if that's the case, there's only one way to find out." Emilia's voice was grim.
"Tomorrow," the muscular boy added.
They both turned back to Kelvin. "We'll release you for now, but meet us here tomorrow, right after school. This is Stephen, the librarian. We'll sort things out then."
Stephen gave him a stern look. "If you don't show up, even the 'Big G' won't find your soul when the time comes."
Kelvin swallowed hard and nodded. Then, Emilia knocked him out cold.
When he woke up, he was lying in a classroom, disoriented. He heard voices nearby, soft and rhythmic, like chanting. Fear seized him, and he instinctively ducked lower.
A group of people—students, he assumed—walked by, all draped in red cloaks, holding candles and chanting in unison. Then, someone grabbed him from behind, clamping a hand over his mouth to muffle his scream. They pulled him deeper into the shadows.
It was Victor.
Kelvin ripped his hand away. "What the hell is going on in this school? Who are they?" he whispered, wide-eyed and panicked.
Victor's face was grim. "That's the school cult. I've heard rumours, but I've never actually seen them. Tonight... I've seen things I only thought were stories. You must be really special for all this to be revealing itself now. Who are you?"