The Phantom School - 32 Chapter 32

I panicked and tried to crawl away from the door. I no longer wanted to find out what was behind that door. I made a move to get away, but unfortunately, I couldn’t feel my right leg and I had no control over it.

I rolled around on my stomach and tried to get away using my arms and left leg to drag myself on the ground. Just then, Idil noticed me struggling and came by. She held me by my arm tried to lift me up. I managed to get on my left leg with her help.

“Come on!” she said and tossed my arm over her shoulder to share some of my weight.

After that, we could go relatively fast. Melis was running in front of us, and we could catch up with her even though I was pratically skipping on my left leg. While we were running, I finally started to feel something weird on my right leg. It started tingling, and the sensation reached my lower leg and foot over time; yet it still felt like I was paralysed. My wounds started hurting again, but at least I was relieved to know that I had not lost my leg… yet.

We reached the stairs, but I had no idea how I would walk down. For a second, I seriously considered rolling downstairs. But, I could finally feel my right leg, so I wanted to give it a try instead of jumping down one step at a time.

“Let me go.” I told Idil.

She stopped holding me. I tried to walk downstairs as she watched me from above. I finally had control on my leg, so I could start running again. I didn’t hesitate.

Soon after, I realised that it was a bad idea. I slided down a few steps and fell down, rolling all the way to the lower floor. Luckily, I wasn’t injured.

“Damn, you are pathetic.” Idil said and ran downstairs to lift me up once more. I got up with her help.

“Are we safe?” asked Melis.

I looked upstairs to see if anyone, or anything was coming at us. I didn’t see or hear anything.

“I don’t know.” I said. “Let’s keep moving anyway.”

We continued walking into the hallway. As we approached an intersection, we heard something from the left wing of the hallway. Someone was running towards us.

We immediately turned around to run away from the intersection, but we were not fast enough mostly because of my injuries. Fortunately for us, there was no threat. I saw Ata stop running a few meters away from us. There was no doubt he was very tired.

“Oh, finally.” he said, trying to catch his breath.

“Why are you here?” I asked him.

“Oh, for the sake of… The better question is, why are YOU here?” he asked back. “You should’ve waited for us in front of the cafeteria!”

“Things didn’t go as planned. We have lost Onur, so our protection was considerably weakened. We had to find you as soon as possible.” I said. “Why are you separated from the group? Where is Mr Kenan?” I asked.

“We saw Onur’s corpse, and we couldn’t find you at the rendezvous point; so we had a change of plans as well. Mr. Kenan dared to send me to find you.” Ata replied.

“So, the group is waiting in front of the cafeteria, right?” Melis asked.

“Wrong and wrong.” Ata said.

“Why is there a second ‘wrong’?” I asked.

“Our group had run into some unexpected situations, and we were splitted. I can’t tell you more about it right now, per Mr. Kenan’s request.” said Ata. “As for the rendezvous point, this is why I’m here. We have a new rendezvous point planned, so follow me.”

“Wait, where are we going?” I asked. Even though Ata was my friend, I couldn’t just trust anyone like that. He might as well be manipulated and could lead us into a trap. At least I wanted to know where we were headed.

“The roof.” he said. “We will have a better chance outside the building.”

“But last time, we witnessed someone being manipulated on the roof.” I said.

“I…” he couldn’t reply immediately. “I’m not the one who makes the plans. Why don’t you tell this to Mr. Kenan yourself?” he said.

“Alright, lead us.” I said. We went upstairs once more, and made our way to the ladder to the roof. Ata walked near the ladder.

“Come on.” he said, pointing us to climb the ladder. Melis walked up to the ladder to climb it, but I interrupted.

“I will go first.” I said. I still couldn’t completely trust Ata, since he has been running alone in the school building. I thought that Mr. Kenan would never send him for such a suicidal task.

I climbed upstairs and lifted the panel to the roof. I saw a few students around, but I couldn’t see Mr. Kenan. I didn’t climb out to the roof.

“Mr. Kenan isn’t here.” I told Ata.

“He must be near the other edge.” he said.

I was going to be more careful, so I jumped down the ladder. I turned to Ata.

“You go first.” I said.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I told you to.” I said.

He wanted to say something, but he didn’t.

“I… don’t think I get why, but it’s alright, if that’s what you wish.” he said and started climbing up the ladder. He lifted the panel and climbed up on the roof. He looked down from where he was.

“Come on.” he said.

Melis went ahead and climbed on the roof as well. Idil was about to do the same, but I was quicker. I had to see how it was on the roof.

“This is taking too long.” said Ata.

I was climbing up the ladder when I heard a scream from Melis. I looked up to see what was happening, but I could only see the color of red. I released the ladder to drop down, but I was held and lifted up by something above. I was on the roof before I even knew it.