After School II

Ch 7: Discovery

    "Come on, come on!" Priya muttered as she flipped through the pages of a journal. "Found anything yet?" She asked Shirley, who was taking out some books from the shelves, glancing at them and tossing them back.

    "Nope. No luck. Maybe we should give up and go help the boys. And where is Prabhu? He's been gone for a while now." Shirley responded. 

     Priya just shrugged and returned to her book. 

    It was quiet for a short while, the only sound heard came from the rustle of pages.

    Prabhu suddenly burst in, panting, and Shirley jumped, startled. "Oh, you're back! Where were you?" She asked him. 

   "Ho-Hold on.. Lemme catch a breath-" He panted, emanating great big sighs, as he tried to shake away the sudden exhaustion. "Phew. I remembered Sai looking at this paper, so I went to get it from the dorms. It has the news about the murder and stuff, hopefully." He explained, and handed it to Shirley. 

    "It has a large chunk ripped out.. Lemme guess, Sai did that?" Priya asked. 

    "Yup." Came the reply.

    "I'm starting to read it....Wait, It looks like the main part is gone, the news about the murder, but there are details about it...  'Arun Swami, the watchman, reported it was a stormy day, and all classes had been suspended early. The four boys had stayed back to get their lab records signed. Mrs Jessie, a physics teacher, said that after they got their records signed, one of the students, a boy named Bharath said he wasn't feeling well and needed to rest in the infirmary for a while. '. Hmm. What's up with that?" Shirley finished. 

    "What? that's it?" Prabhu asked, surprised. 

    "Well, yeah... The main portion is torn out." Shirley sighed. 

    "Something doesn't sit well with me... We know they were killed on the third floor, right? What's up with this infirmary thing?" Priya noted. 

   "Yeah.. I don't get it either... Shall we go check out the infirmary?" Shirley asked.

    "NO!" Prabhu shouted. "You said we'd go help my friends!"

    "But we still don't know anything!" Priya said.

    "I don't give a damn about that! I'll go warn them, and then go around, solving mysteries. " Prabhu shot back. 

    A look of hurt flashed across Shirley's face, but she quickly masked it, and said, "Prabhu, It's really dangerous to go there, but I understand you care for your friends. I don't want anything to happen to them either. Let's go get em, and go to the infirmary right after." She said.

    "Oh.. Um, thanks..." Prabhu said, embarrassed. "Sorry I shouted at you..", He said sheepishly.

    "No problem!" Shirley replied, smiling, and stood up. 

    "Come on Priya! Let's go...to the third floor."

_____ _ _____

    The Man-creature was stumbling around the room in a state of confusion, knocking things around. He actually looked..afraid. 

    The three boys huddled in the corner looked terrified though. No one could blame them. They were caught between a dead body, an undead body, and a metallic sound with no body. 

    The Man suddenly looked up like he'd heard something, and rushed out of the classroom. 

    "...Guys? Now's our chance, lets get outta here!" Chris quickly whispered. 

    They didn't need to be told twice. The three of them ran out of the classroom as fast as they could, only to stop in horror. 

    They weren't in their school at all! 

    The whole place was totally different. It was their school, and at the same time, not. The walls were painted a different color, there was no basketball court or swimming pool!

   That wasn't the most shocking thing. It was teeming with people! They were dressed up in a very...ancient looking uniforms with their school logos on their shirt pockets. It was afternoon, it looked to be about 2:30 pm, but raining. 

    "What in the world is going on?" Ajay screamed. 

    Anoop looked back at classroom X-C and gasped. There was no sign of the damage. Not just that, about 20 students were seated inside, and an old woman stood in front of the blackboard, teaching them something!

    He looked at the blackboard and almost swooned in shock. 

    In the top-right corner, emblazoned in white chalk. 

    13 Aug. 1981

_____ _ _____

  A/N: Hello readers! What do you think about this chapter? 

    Btw, just a reminder. Ajay, Anoop and Chris are totally blank. They don't know about the murder that happened that day. Only the others do. Just imagine what they're thinking about right now!