The Mystery Of Eastbrooks High

Chapter Twenty-Six: Pandemonium

IT HAD BEEN SO LONG SINCE she'd walked around this freely. The last time Norah had walked in the same forest, three of her friends- Callisto, Aiden and Cole- had been alive. It was after that day that their false sense of security had been shattered, throwing them into an endless cave of despair.

And the 31-day carnival-fest Isle Cambrooks was known for had temporarily stopped, in respect for the lost kids. It had restarted after a week, and today was the last day of the carnival. It had been fifteen days since three of them died. All of the bookclub members had been surrounded by security and police all the time. The case was still open. Detectives from other Isles were flying in, taking their interviews all over again, but nothing was being revealed.

All of them were sick of being coddled and surrounded by officers all the time, suffocated in the confines of their homes and schools and not allowed to go anywhere else. The officers seemed to understand that. So they made a pact- the bookclub members had two things to follow: donot wander too deep into the crowd; donot wander away alone and try to get rid of the security around you. Everything was going pretty well, so far, and it was almost the end of the carnival. The only thing left was an ending speech to be given, followed by firecrackers.

Majority of the citizens of Isle Cambrooks were here, attending the last day of their fest. Isle Cambrooks was known for this event that was hosted every two years, and people from all the Isles came to witness it in person. Norah had so much fun during these fests- this was the second year that she hadn't bothered about it. It had been the last thing in her mind considering everything that had been going on.

The bookclub members were walking towards the open space filled with numerous chairs and decked with decorations.

Few of the chairs were already filled up, and the bookclub members were walking towards the chairs to occupy them, not because they were acquiring elderly-like tendencies from all the cooping up at home and wanted to listen to boring things like speeches, but because they've taken maximum advantage of their freedom- something that might be snatched from them the very next day based on the authorities' mood- and did not leave one stall or event unattended, and also because walking around the forest the whole night left their legs aching for rest.

That was when chaos erupted.

Norah heard a dull explosion, and she whipped her head in the direction. She could see smoke, tree branches and dust erupt upwards like a volcano a moderate distance away from them, followed by another boom and another explosion similar to one. The bomb blasts were in a distance, but it didn't stop the crowd from panicking and running in different directions, lunging for the hands of their loved ones.

Three more explosions followed- a total of five bombs, before they stopped. Now that there was no sound of the deafening bombs and its lethal explosions, she could hear the sounds of misery and panic of the crowd. Everything happened too quickly for her to follow. The members of bookclub had learned their lessons when it came to things like this- in the very forest, a gun shot had erupted chaos and led to them separating, isolating Shawn and making him a victim; and another time, a bomb similar to this outside the police station had led the bookclub members to panic, separating Cole and Aiden and leading to their deaths.

So Norah stood firmly on the ground with her heart in her mouth, trying hard not to cry as she looked around for her friends, the way she'd been scanning since the first explosion. All of them had been in a line, Norah somewhere towards the end flanked with Jules, Noah, Jace. Emma was on her other side. But after the second explosion followed, and the people began closing in, separating them from each other and completely shutting their vision of each other. They were pushing in with force, making Norah stumble behind, almost tripping down. But Norah knew that if she fell down, that would be it. She'd be trampled. She reached out blindly, and thankfully since she was surrounded by many people, she held onto someone's arm and pulled herself up.