The Phantom School - 104 Communication

I did not know what to do. Obviously, locking her in was out of the question. I no longer had a working key, and the moment I let go of the door, I was afraid of the girl taking her chance and running away. Or worse… continuing whatever she wanted to do with the knife.

I decided to keep the door shut myself and call for help when someone came nearby.

“Help me!” I shouted into the hallway. The only response I got was the echo of my own voice. It was unusually silent in the school. Like the school had already ended, and people had already left the building some time ago…

There was one choice. I had to deal with this girl myself. The only thing I was relying on was her… ‘neutrality’ and will to talk to me.

Slowly and ever carefully, I opened the door; ready to close it again at the first sign of danger. I peeked inside from a little gap before I completely opened the door and exposed myself. Things got a lot weirder from that moment. The girl… She was no longer there.

“This is impossible.” I muttered as I walked into the lab in disbelief.

After I stopped holding the door and proceeded further into the lab, I heard something just behind me. I felt a short and weak airflow on my back, accompanied by a loud sound. I turned around with defensive intentions. I had only managed to catch a glimpse of the girl running out of the lab and closing the door. I immediately ran to the door to catch her, but unfortunately, my movements were far too slow. I tried opening the door the regular way, but failed. I breathed in deeply, and punched the door a few times.

“Open the door!” I shouted. I wasn’t sure if she was still on the other side of the door or not, but this could be my only chance.

“You idiot.” I said to myself. “Overconfidence will kill you one day.”

I punched the door once more. This time, I heard a weak noise from the other side. She was still on the other side of the door. Having learnt this, I began punching over and over again, non-stop.

“Get me out of here!”

I stopped trying once I heard her sobbing. She was… She was crying!

“Damn it… Why is it so hard to communicate with you?” I said and sighed. I sat down, resting my back against the door. After I did that, I heard her body slowly sliding down to the bottom of the door as well.

A long, long silence followed. There was no one walking around. No one chatting. The bell wasn’t ringing anymore. In this poor environment, I was focused on the three pigeons on the window. They were the only animate objects here; the only thing that could have my attention.

In order not to fall asleep, I got up and walked to the window. As soon as they noticed my approach, the pigeons flew away. I watched their departure towards the woodland, then looked up. It was getting darker. The dark blue color of the sky was slowly turning into orange and red, with the edges of the clouds towards the sunset colored pink. It was a wonderful and pleasant view, even in the situation I was in.

I had calmed down. I was no longer feeling the adrenaline, or the need for a defensive attitude. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t even sure if the girl was still there. I could no longer hear her sobs.

I slowly approached the door.

“Hello?” I said. From the noises, I judged that she stood up. There was no response.

“Are you still there?” I asked. This time, although with hesitation, she answered me.

“Y-yes.” She was trembling.

“What is your name?” I asked. She breathed in like she was about to say something, but then stopped.

“What are you doing there?” I changed the question.

“N-n-n…nothing.” she said.

“Will you let me out of the lab?” I softly asked.

“No!” Her reply was too sudden. I had no idea what I had expected, but considering we were talking to each other nicely now, this was rather shocking; even though she was clearly out of her mind.

I did not know what to say next.

“Why not?” I finally asked.

“I’m scared.” she replied, after a short pause.

“What are you scared of?” I asked. She sobbed.

“I… I can’t tell.” she said. “You.”

“What did I even do to you?” I asked her, with a renewed shock. I got no response to that question.

“Nothing good will ever happen if we stay here for the rest of our lives.” I told her, raising my voice a little bit.

“Nothing good will ever happen.” she replied. “Nothing good ever happened.”

It was slowly becoming harder to talk to her.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Life is not fair.” she said. “Justice doesn’t exist.”

“Life…” I couldn’t decide how to start my sentence. “Maybe life doesn’t have to be fair.” I said.

“Huh?” she said. From her voice, it was clear that she had started crying again.

“Please tell me what your problem is.” I said. “I might be able to help you.”

“N-no.” she said. I was out of ideas. And just like that, the conversation was over. I gave up trying, and sat down leaning against the door again.

The sky was slowly turning black. Since we were not so close to the central districts of the city, the light pollution was minimal here. Night sky was looking wonderful.

While I was busy admiring the interesting view, something more interesting happened. The girl herself wanted to talk to me.

“What will happen to me, Mr. Kenan?” she asked. After thinking a little bit, I replied with a question.

“What do you mean?” I said.

“I mean…” she couldn’t say what she wanted to tell me. I took that chance to ask her a question I perhaps shouldn’t have asked.