Project: Death for Classroom Zero

Chapter 38: It's time

Tristan waited on his quarters.

Having the chance to sit and relax on his bed, he waited for a knock to erupt from his door. He was holding the card that had came inside his room the first day he was inside this place. Still, the illusion of the appearance and disappearances of the letters on the card was still working.

“I wonder who among us were given with this card?” he asked himself. “And why were we given like this?” then he stopped. “And who?”

Remembering the decoded message that he had found on the card, he also recalled the time where he was saved by it during their encounter to the flesh-eating Venus flytrap.

‘See you.’

Having no idea who or why was he helped by the unknown person, he sighed. He let his body fall on the soft cushion, let himself bounce from the soft foam he had on his quarter.

‘See you.’

“Does that mean I’ll be meeting someone sooner or later from this place?” he stared at the white blankness of the ceiling. “But who? And … why? Why does he wants me to see?”

Sooner as he waits, the sensation of wanting to sleep was starting to creep through his veins. His eyelids were about to close. When he was about to be defeated by his sleepiness, four knocks from his door had saved him. He quickly opened his eyes, jerked and stood from his bed, and hurried through the door. Slowly, he opened it, and peeked through the small spaces he had created through the doorway.

There he saw Rain standing and looking down at him. She must probably thinking how weird Tristan is because of their position.

“H—Hey,” said Tristan. Finally sure that she was the person he is expecting, he fully opened his door. With stealthy act, he got out of his room and closed it with extreme care that it would not make any loud sound.

“Where are the others?” asked Tristan.

“The group or our classmates?”

“Both.”

They were walking in the hallway. Knowing that there are small sized closed-circuit television that was scattered all around the place, they walked on the hallway, acting normal. There were no students watching them in the surrounding, but they both knew that there were artificial, circuit-made eyes looking and observing them. That is why they have to act normal. Inconspicuous.

“I told our groupmates to rest. Fatigue from the first quiz was overwhelming. Some of our classmates were resting as well. Some were on the cafeteria, probably stress-eating.”

“Were we not going to the cafeteria first? I’m kind of hungry too,” said Tristan. He even acted caressing his stomach, signal that he wants to eat.

Rain smirked. “That’s where we’re going, actually,” she whispered.

In whispers, Rain explained that in order for them to be no conspicuous student, they have to act as if they have no known place to go to but inside the cafeteria. Then, from that, the cameras would find difficulty focusing where their positions could be—if ever they were being watched behind the upgraded CCTVs. Rain had already observed the place, and seen spots that is a blind eye for the attached CCTVs. From there, they could stealthily sneak around, and observe what was inside this whole building made from hell.

When they entered through the cafeteria, the smell of deliciously cooked food had wafted through their nose. It had made Tristan’s hunger grew bigger. Probably, Rain was starting to feel hungry too, for the irresistible smell placed on the buffet table was tempting them.

“Let’s go eat first,” said Rain.

The both of them went on the buffet table, grabbed a tray, and started picking food that they like. There were other students eating on the cafeteria. Some of them were talking—others had even managed to laugh from someone’s joke—while some of them were silently eating. Alone.

Both Tristan and Rain was wearing a black hooded jacket. They both decided to wear it so that they could cover their faces from the students, and from the 24/7 cameras that was looking and observing at the students of class zero. Grabbing food from the menu, they pulled their hood deeper in order to cover their face, because they can sense the intense lasers of stares from other of their classmates.

“Is this good?” Tristan asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Covering our faces with hood. It would make us conspicuous,” said Tristan.

“We’ve got to cover our faces from the cameras above. That’s our main priority. Our classmates would grew tired staring, and soon would lose their interest to us.”

Tristan trusted Rain’s calculations. He let himself follow Rain’s parameters of plan, and instead of worrying, he went on a table isolated from other students and then started eating. Sooner, Rain followed him, and sat at the chair on his front.

“This is nicely cooked,” he commented. Still, his hood was covering his head, making other students find a hard time to know and recognize who he was, or who Rain was.

As Tristan was about to eat a spoon of rice and pork steak, he noticed that Rain wasn’t eating yet. He peered through her hood, and saw that the woman’s eyes were closed. Her lips were moving, as if she was saying something. Until he realized that she was praying. After a single minute, Rain opened her eyes. She saw him staring at him which made Tristan panicked and pulled his stare back.

“What are you doing?” Rain asked.

“N—Nothing. I was just looking at you because y—you’re not eating your food yet. Only to find out t—that you’re praying.” He was no Tammy Cruz, but he was stuttering.

“Let’s eat this food then,” Rain said.

There was a silence in between of them as they ate the variety of food that they picked from the table. Funny however, because the silence does not have an awkward taste. Instead, it was giving them serenity. Also time to think—of various plans, conclusions, and even strategies.

To what place would they be taken from this plan that they were doing? Will they be able to discover something; far more dark or terrifying or disturbing? Would they find a secret fortress where a place to escape this hell could be found? Would they discover something that should be known through the public?

Or would they discover the feeling of death as they risk their lives observing this whole hellish place?

Thoughts and questions and what ifs are coming through Tristan’s mind. And sure, Rain too. As they silently enjoyed the food on their tray, they were disturbed by different thoughts. Different reminiscences. Different real nightmares.

Tristan came back to his senses when Rain kicked him from below the table. As he look at her, he saw her signaling a direction. Tristan looked at where she was pointing at. There they saw a group of their classmates starting to stand up, and probably was about to go now to their own quarters.

Even though they have only eaten half of their meal, Tristan and Rain fully drank their own glasses of water. They both stood up, and from there, they followed the students, and blend through their backs.

‘It’s time,’ Tristan thought.