Promises - Joel Pimentel

Chapter 22

"What do you think it is Joel?" I pull my arm back, still furious as to why he was here.

"How long has this been going on for?" he asks.

"Flight number EB263, this is your last call" the same lady repeated over the P.A system.

"I have to go" I turned around and started to run towards the gate.

"This isn't over!" I hear his last words before boarding my flight.

As soon as I had entered the plane, I took my seat, placed my headphones into my ears and drifted off into a nap. Almost an hour had passed and I woke up slightly earlier than I intended to.

"Had a nice nap?"

A man next to me asked. Adjusting myself into my seat, I nervously chuckle in embarrassment thinking of what state this man had seen me in.

"I guess you could say that" I replied taking my earphones out.

As soon as I had reached the campus, I realized how empty it was. Only a few students were roaming around campus since this is where they had been staying for their holidays. I on the other hand, decided to come back early to escape my life back home and I have no regrets. I'm already feeling at peace.

I decided to revise my syllabus for the semester since I'd be waiting three weeks for university to start again. Not that I had anything else interesting planned for the next few weeks.

Three weeks later...

"Maya oh Maya how I've missed you" Bailey harshly kicks our door open with her bags in her hand.

"Uh Bailey, you know you can get in deep trouble for damaging campus property" I place my pen down while I was laying on my stomach in bed, revising my work.

I stood up to help her bring the bags in.

"So? How was summer break?" I asked in excitement.

"Well, I do have one little surprise" she slowly pulls out keys from behind her back.

"Keys?" I ask in confusion.

"No silly, these are my car keys. I bought my own car!" she squeals.

The next few hours were spent catching each other up on our holiday activities.

"This calls for a celebration of my new car. Tonight, me, you and a cup of Starbucks" she smiles happily.

"Hey, who am I to turn down a free ride in your brand new car?" I reply giggling.

7:21pm

'Attention all students. Please report to the main hall immediately for an important announcement' our head professor says over the P.A systems that we had in our hallways.

"Well, I guess that cancels our Starbucks date" Bailey says gathering her phone and wallet.

"Too bad, I was really looking forward to it" I frown, standing up from my bed.

"Hey, don't worry. We always have next time" she puts her arm around me as we both file out of our room and head towards the main hall along with a lot of other students.

The main hall was already beginning to get crowded and packed. Chairs were set up in an order that the students were taking a seat on, one by one.

"Let's go to this one" Bailey grabs my arm and leads me into a row of empty chairs.

It took a while for all the students to finally be seated since there was a lot of us. We were all chattering about what the announcement could be about. I've never seen a university that needs to give announcements face to face so this must be serious.

"Please settle down" our head professor says over the microphone on the podium.

The room slowly became dead quiet.

"The reason why I have called you here is because I have something very serious to announce. I need you all to pay close attention boy and girls as this not only affects you, but it affects the whole city" he starts.

"Well shit, way to scare us already" Bailey whispers to me.

"For those of you who read or watch the news, you may know that there have recently been a lot of murders, robberies and kidnappings happening, especially around our region where the university is located. There has already been many cases of murderers and kidnappings, along with robberies that the police are already looking into" the professor continues.

Bailey and I both look at each other with no facial expression.

"Student of Summer Heights, I can't stress enough as to how important your safety is to us. For your own safety, I advise each and every student to walk around campus or to classes with a friend or in a group. Also, please limit the amount of times you leave campus grounds. We have made it a rule for any students to leave campus grounds, to notify the staff or the office reception"

Our professor steps back from the podium to whisper a few words among his fellow staff members before he begins to speak again.

"Now, for the most important part. This university has a specific siren as to when an intruder has entered campus grounds. Cameras have been placed so we keep an eye out for whoever enters or leaves the ground. I will now play you the siren that you should keep an eye out for, in case an intruder has stepped onto campus grounds"

We then hear a loud siren that filled our ears. This had kept playing for thirty seconds before it stopped.

"We will play it once more just so you guys know the sound you need to be aware of and when you do, please lock your windows, doors, close the curtains and keep your dorm room quiet. This will trick the intruder into thinking no one is on campus"

"Now I'm wishing I didn't come back" I whispered to Bailey as she grabbed my hand to comfort me. 

As soon as the assembly was over, we all headed out of the main hall. Teachers were telling us to 'walk with a friend' and 'stay safe' and what not.

5:12pm

A few days had passed since the announcement and thankfully, our university had stayed safe and intruder-free. The past few days I spend reading the daily news and every single day, there was a new case of a robbery or murder. At the moment, I was scrolling through my social media, of course, avoiding Joel on social media too, while Bailey was in the bathroom.

"I really have to pee" I stand up and walk over to the bathroom, banging on her door.

"Sorry I won't be long!" she yells from inside.

My bladder cannot hold any more and I had to get to a bathroom fast. Leaving my room, I head downstairs alone. There was a huge girls bathroom located in the middle of the campus grounds and that's where I was headed to. The whole ground was empty.

Bailey's POV

"I'm done, sorry about that" I come out of the bathroom, fixing my hair into a bun and stop in my tracks as I realise our door was open and the room was empty.

"Uh Maya?" I look around the room but see no sign of her.

She had even left her phone here. What was she thinking? Leaving her phone here and going outside alone when we were clearly told not to?

I was about to leave the room when the same siren from the hall, began to ring.

"Everyone, stay in your rooms and lock your windows and doors!" a girl sticks her head out of the room and shouts it out so everyone in the hallway heard her.

The siren kept on going as I began locking the windows and doors. Along with closing the curtains so the room was completely dark with a ray of evening sun passing through the empty spaces of the curtain. The siren did not stop, even when I sat down on the ground with my back against the wall.

"Shit!" I whisper to myself.

Maya was still out there. Alone.