Project: Death for Classroom Zero

Chapter 62: Final Phase

At the moment that Tristan and Amara reached where the other students can be found, they were standing at the outside of the building, all looking at Professor Buenavista who was standing at their front, on her usual podium which made her looking high and powerful.

They quickly made their way towards where their group was, who was standing at the middle of he ground.

“Hey, you guys, where have you been? We’ve been panicking here, thinking that the both of you might be danger.” That was the first words that Tristan heard from Timmy. Looking at her face, she was indeed panicking and full of worries.

“I’m sorry. I have slept quite longer, and that loud bang of the bell earlier was the one who woke me up,” Tristan said, trying to cover the thing that he and Amara had done earlier. He felt guilt as he did lying, as if what he had lied about, was a murder.

“I was the same. I just met him on the hallway,” said Amara.

Tristan gave a meaningful look at Amara. He nodded at him, as a sign of agreeing that they will keep everything that they know first. They need more time to consider telling everything, especially to Rain. It’s not because Trista or Amara doesn’t fully trust the others, but because they just wanted to be sure to everything that they are going to do. With that, they believed—and hoped—that keeping those things to them yet, was not a harmful act.

“It’s okay,” Rain intervened, and said, “long as you’re both here safe and alive. We don’t want to worry about you missing, just like … Caspian.”

In truth, Tristan still remember what Rain had done last time, when he was on the verge of breaking, discovering the missing of one of their friend. She had done nothing, and even let those men in white from the clinic to drag him, and place him inside the detention center.

He wasn’t mad at her. No, he don’t want to feel anger to her because she gave a lot of helpful things towards him, and she has been trusting him with a lot of things. He was her partner, and she too was his partner just to survive inside this demonic place—he doesn’t want that to be tainted just because of how she ignored him when he needed her the most. However, he could not help himself but to feel a pinch amount of sadness and disappointment to her. Yet, he believe he would be able to just forget the feeling in a sooner time.

“What was the thing why we’re here?” Tristan asked.

“We don’t know. We just found Professor Buenavista standing here, looking stiff and robotic. Most of us suspected that the reason why the bell rang, was because that professor is going to announce something,” answered Rain.

“Yet, she hadn’t said anything,” Blaze interfered, and added.

“Sh—she wasn’t even moving. She was l—like a doll or a r—robot,” said Tammy Cruz.

“Even more terrifying, man, she wasn’t blinking her eyes,” added Timmy.

The whole place—despite the fact that there is a crowd—was filled with deafening silence. All of them, though they were not discussing it, has waited to whatever Professor Buenavista would do or say. Also, they had agreed that they will wait for it in silence—they don’t want to lose their energy in spending it in sharing different views about what would possibly happen. Because they were sure that it will all be unpredictable.

They have even seem to forget that they should be having their rest day now—they should be free from the stress this day, yet, the very appearance of the professor on their front was giving them enough stress hormones that made them forgot their supposed to be free day.

While waiting in silence, it was a sudden, unexpected banging of the giant bell from the main campus of Josen High, which gave them both the feeling of shock and fear. Tristan hasn’t expected the banging of the bell. His chest pounded hard, and electrifying sensation has crept and terrified his whole body.

Yet, as soon as the bell stopped booming in the surrounding, they noticed that Professor Buenavista started to move her body. Tristan even noticed the way how the professor blinked—because, according to Timmy, is what she was not doing. The terrifying curve of her smile was now back to her face as she started scanning her environment—as if she was a robot.

“Good morning, my dear students,” she said, then widened her demonic smile. Tristan has sincerely hated and feared that smile of her, because the moment that the professor would do that thing, he knew there would be bad, worse thing that will happen. That is why, he avoided looking at it.

“I am glad that you have made it until this day. I know, you’ve gone through a lot. You’ve experienced a lot of ecstatic and satisfying experiences you can ever have in your life. And I am glad that you haven’t died yet from those.” Professor Buenavista has out of nowhere, spread her arms, tilted her face upwards the sky, and then laughed.

Tristan could not believe of what she was doing. He could not even think of why do there were those kinds of people like her, or even Principal Copper—people who enjoys from the suffering of other people.

After a second, Professor Buenavista stopped from her laughs. It wasn’t the normal way of stopping a laugh. It was sudden and weird. One second, she was laughing as if it was the last day she could do it, then in a snap of another second … it was gone. Dead. Dry. Silent.

“I know, it was supposed to be your rest day,” Professor Buenavista continued. Then she smiled again. “But since because I love seeing every sufferings that you have, I decided to remove that stress-free, peaceful day of yours.”

“What a sadist,” said Timmy. Tristan then noticed how Timmy was gripping her fist as she gazed at the professor. Those stares … it was as if she was throwing thousands of sharp knives towards the woman who was standing at the podium.

“Dear students, there was a sudden change of how the things are usually working inside the Project Zero,” continued Professor Buenavista. Another terrifying smile appeared on her face. Without having any reason, tears suddenly fell into her eyes. She was smiling terrifyingly, as if she was a demon who was about to hunt a soul to prey on—yet, her eyes were filled with tears that Tristan could not identify if it was melancholic or not.

“I welcome you, my dear students … to the final phase,” said Professor Buenavista. After that statement, something from inside Tristan has suddenly sparked—literally. Tristan held his chest. His throat turned dry and burning. He grunted. His knees weakened. Feeling the sudden weird sensation creeping through his body, he fell to the ground. He felt his body numb, yet he knew that he was shaking—as if he was being once again electrocuted; just like the first time he discovered the real nature of this demon’s den.

Before his eyes closed and shut down, he saw Rain, Amara, Blaze, Timmy and Tammy all falling down, shaking, and about to consciousness—just like him.