C19 In Cold Hands

The knob turned once again, with an effortless attempt for the door to creak open at any point in time. They waited with bated breaths, the rate of their heartbeat increased to more than usual as anxiety took the best of them. All they could wish for at that point was for some supernatural powers to disappear or make themselves invisible to the impending danger that was about to explode before their eyes.

Suddenly, they heard a voice calling out Claire's name from behind the door, making the knob suddenly stop.

"Claire," the voice uttered once again as it drew a bit closer to the door. "Mrs. Park wants to see you in the staff room." The voice added.

"Really?" Claire's voice was skeptical. "Did she say why?" They heard her question whoever the informant was as their voices started to move away from the door, heading towards the staff's common room. They instinctively sighed in relief, "That was a close one." Roxy commented. "We better get out of her now before someone finds us. I'm still young to waste 2years at the juvenile."

"And who wants that." Tina hastily snapped in a loud whisper as she briskly turned the keys, locking the door in which they had kept Phidelia. Among the three, Bella was the worst-looking one. She looked shaken up and dense. Standing there in shock with her mind running wild. "We killed her. We killed her. We killed her." These were the only words that kept ringing in her mind. But Roxy and Tina hadn't noticed what was going on with her.

"Let's get going," Tina uttered and they sauntered to the door, about to pull it open. It was then that they noticed Bella still standing on her ground. "Bella?" Roxy loudly whispered but She looked out of herself. The feeling of guilt claimed her subconscious mind.

Tina snarled, rushing back to where Bella stood. "Hey, Bell–" She held her shoulders, shaking her back to reality. Bella who was by now aware of herself, just kept staring at Tina's face. "What are you doing Bell? We have to go now." Tina added.

"We killed her Tina." She instinctively muttered. "W–we killed her." She kept ranting. Tina didn't understand what was going on with her and the sudden change.

"Come on Bell, get a grip of yourself." She hastily snapped in with a slightly raised voice, shutting her up. "I know this wasn't what we planned." She tried to calm her down. "But the harm has already been done and we need to get out of here now if we're to find a way out of this mess," Tina explained.

Bella still felt guilty but then, one thing was true. They needed to get out of this mess somehow. She nodded her response. "Okay." Tina sighed, "Let's get out of here." She held Bella's hand, pulling her to the door and they glided out of the washroom.

AUSTRALIA

The morning had already been quite hectic with some unfinished project work. Phidel sauntered through the corridor with her friends, chatting wittily as they headed toward the library. They still had one last group work to finish before Mrs. Oliver Ross, their Literature teacher's class.

Just as they walked passed the science laboratory, Phidel felt a sharp pain in her heart, "Ah–" she exhaled softly. "What's happening?" She grumbled mentally to herself as she found it strange but then, shrugged it off, associating it to tiredness.

Rio, her best friend was about to ask her a question about the project when she noticed her suddenly paled face. "Hey, are you okay?" She queried.

"Yeah, I guess?" She replied but before she could take her next step, she felt something unusually and unfamiliarly strange which came with a flash of a white light suddenly left her body. She instantly felt weak and her vision went blank. Before her friends could know what was happening, Phidel collapsed to the floor.

"Phidel?" They exclaimed with panic as they knelt over her.

"What's wrong with you." Rio shook her to wake her up but proved nothing.

"Enough Rio," Cora stopped her. "Let's take her to the infirmary rather. You can ask those questions when she regains her consciousness."

"You're right." She sprang up on her feet. With the help of Luna and Cora, they rushed her to the infirmary.

*******

Rowan who had been in wait for Phidelia and Claire kept glancing at the entrance expectantly. She had almost finished his meal but both Phidelia and Claire were not yet back. He kept guessing what might be wrong but found no answers. There was nothing more he could do than to wait.

Just then, he spotted Claire approaching. "Where is Delia?" He queried skeptically, staring over Claire's shoulders as she neared him.

"Is she still not back?" She questioned, quite surprised. Just then, the bell went off.

"It's okay," Rowan said, rising to his feet. "I will just pack these for her. You should head to class first."

"Alright, I will leave first then." She took her bag and hurried off. "Help me scold her when you set eyes on her," she shouted over her shoulders as she found her way out of the cafeteria through the groups of students dispersing to their classes.

Rowan chuckled, slightly shaking his head, and got on his feet. He quickly packed Phidelia's meal in addition to the brown envelope pack she gave them earlier on and rushed off to get to class first before their teacher.

After a 10-minute walk, he sauntered into the class. He glided to his desk and to his surprise, Phidelia wasn't around and neither was her bag. He lurked around the class but she was nowhere to be seen. He swiftly glanced at the next student who had her desk just opposite them. "Penelope?" He called out to her and she deftly looked up from the textbook she was reading. "Have you seen Phidelia anywhere around?"He queried.

"Well.., no. I only saw you guys left together and haven't set eyes on her ever since." She answered and instinctively turned her gaze back to what she was doing. Rowan at that moment didn't understand what was going on anymore. "Where could she be?" He mumbled to himself.

Just then, their teacher walked in. "Alright, everyone let's get seated." He announced. Not long had he said this Tina and her friends also shuffled into the class. Rowan's eyes instinctively settled on them. It was then that he noticed something usual about them.

"Why do Tina and her friends look so troubled?" He grumbled mentally to himself. "Or it's just me?" He stared with a brooding gaze at them as they strolled to their desks and settled in. "Could it be that they..... " He continued but then, the voice of their teacher interrupted his thoughts.