C20 To Face Death

Rio had been sitting beside Phidel on the infirmary bed for the past hour and a half now with her still unconscious. She kept glancing at her worriedly and confused about the whole situation.

"What happened to her Rio?" Mina, the school nurse queried as she walked over to the bed, checking Phidel's pulse.

"I'm confused myself here Miss Mina. She was perfectly okay when we left the house for school this morning. Even Cora and Luna can bear witness as we had a series of assignments to work on together for our project. We were moving to the library to complete it when this happened." Rio explained.

Miss Mina stared at Phidel thoughtfully and sighed. "I see nothing wrong with her Rio. Has she been going through any stress or something?"

"Not that I know Miss..." She replied. They were still with their thoughts, figuring out what could have caused her unconsciousness when Rio glanced at Phidel's face once again and was surprised to see it drenched with tears. "Hey, Del–" She uttered as she sprung up on her feet in apprehension. "Wake up Del, what's going on with you?" She was anxiously worried, slightly shaking Phidel to wake her up but to no avail. "Do you think I should call her parents in, Miss?" Rio swiftly glanced at Mina who was quite stunned.

"Hmm...," She grumbled, finding her voice. "I don't think so. It will send panic to them. We should wait for a while and see if there might be any change before alerting them. It would be better that way." Miss Mina pointed out. "Anyway, I think you should go back to class. I will update you if anything happens."

Rio glanced at unconscious Phidel once again, a little hesitant to leave but then, she had already missed a lesson which meant a mark was gone. "Okay Miss–," She sprung up on her feet. "Just keep me posted if anything. Cora and Luna will also come around later."

"Sure." Miss Mina uttered with a nod and Rio staggered out of the infirmary, turning her gaze back to Phidel once again before finally closing the door behind her. Miss Mina also did a final check on the drip and Phidel in general before gliding back to her class.

*****

A whole lesson had passed and Phidelia was not yet back. It was so unlike her. She never missed a class not even on the days she had it bad with her asthma. Rowan kept lurking around uneasily as he couldn't keep his mind straight, sitting in the class doing nothing. Moreover, Tina and her friends whom he could suspect were also in class making it difficult for him to figure anything out.

"No, none of these adds up." He grumbled mentally to himself, instinctively springing to his feet. "Have any of you seen Phidelia?" He questioned, drawing everybody's attention to himself.

The whole class stared skeptically at him for some seconds before lurking among themselves quizzically. It was at that moment that the class noticed her absence in the class for the first time. "Oh yeah," Martin, one of their colleagues uttered. "She wasn't in Mrs. Forson's class too. Where could she be?" He queried.

The whole class was confused too. Tina and her friends just stayed still, playing dumb like they knew nothing. "Did she skip class?" Caroline queried.

"I don't think so, Carol." Penelope hastily snapped in, "Phidelia never skips school unlike you." She added and Caroline scoffed. Rowan, on the other hand, stole a glance at Tina and her friends once again as he had earlier on found something strange about them but now, they looked just fine and less suspicious.

"But Rowan," one of the students called out drawing his attention. "Shouldn't you be the best person to know where she is? You two are mostly glued together."She sounded skeptical.

"Yeah, Rowan." The class muttered in unison except for Tina, Bella, and Roxy.

They were still wondering and figuring things out when their History teacher walked in to see the class in quite a rumpus. "What's going on here?" He questioned, shuffling over to his table.

"Well sir," Penelope stood up. "It's about Phidelia. She has missed out in class and we don't seem to know where she is."

"Really?" Their teacher dropped his books on the table turning to face the class. "And when last did you see? And who saw her."

"It was I, sir." Rowan snapped in. "We were going to the canteen when she left for the washroom. I have since not seen her. I'm not sure if she has eaten anything yet. Or what if she had had an attack?" He suddenly added.

The teacher lurked thoughtfully at the considered faces of the students and sighed. "This is serious then. Have you guys bothered checking the washroom?"

Just as the word "washroom" escaped from their teacher's mouth. A flush of panic and anxiety instinctively welled up Tina, Bella, and Roxy's faces. "No, not the washroom," Tina grumbled mentally to herself. I need to do something fast if I don't want us to be caught." She thought.

It was then that she noticed Bella's panicked face and pleading gaze fixed on her. Just then, an idea popped up in her mind. She had earlier seen Isla leave the school in a rush so decided to take advantage of it. "Just remembered sir," She stood up. "I think I saw her leaving the school. She was in quite a hurry too. Maybe something happened at home." She added.

Rowan was a bit surprised to hear that Phidelia had left. To him, it sounded absurd but gave in anyway. "Okay." The teacher mumbled, "Can we start our lessons now?" He queried and the students muttered their response in unison.

Tina let out an inaudible sigh of relief as she settled back in her desk. Praying school ends soon for them to do what they had to do to stay safe.

****

Miss Mina was sitting behind her desk when she heard Phidel cough. She instinctively stood up and rushed out to meet her shrugging up to sit. "Hey–" She uttered as she hurried to Phidel's bed. "Careful." She helped her sit up.

"What happened to me, Miss Mina? Why I'm I here?" Phidel questioned, confused.

"I should be asking you that Phidel. What happened to you? Any pain anywhere?"

"Will, I..." Phidel began but then, a sharp pain from her head made her wince as flashes of unclear pictures of her sister in danger rushed through her mind. "Phidelia." She grumbled and sprung off the bed, rushing out of the infirmary.

"Hey!" Mina exclaimed, deftly turning to the door as she tried to stop Phidel but she was by then, already gone.