What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse, Part 2
1652 Words
Lunch break.
After a hearty lunch consisting of grilled catfish, French toast, king crab chowder, and sun-brewed green tea...
I receive a copy of the report regarding Cadets Kessler and Pamatong straight from the superintendent himself.
I then just slouch in my bed within Room 614, hoping to get even a passable lead in this string of freak incidents while repeatedly reading the contents of the report, which states...
Sworn Affidavit of Cadets Dietrich Kessler and Xyline Ella Pamatong
We – Cadet Dietrich Kessler, originally from the Residential District, Lebenswasserheim Burghal, and Cadet Xyline Ella Pamatong, originally from Bykskishire, Pulozuela Prefecture – want to disclose everything on what really happened around 1 ante meridiem today in our room, Room 219, of Linus Sebastian Basinger Building.
I, Cadet Kessler, suddenly woke up from my deep sleep simply because my bladder was full and I had to use the bathroom. After answering the call of nature, I planned to go back to my deep sleep. As I was about to close my eyes,
something slimy landed on my face. Once I opened my eyes again, a bullfrog (yes, I confirmed that it is one, simply because I've had the unfortunate experience of having seen a dissected one before in biology class back in senior high school) landed on top of my poor mouth. Knowing that bullfrogs by nature are poisonous, I started to panic and removed the frog right away. I then checked out if my partner Xyline was also affected; and unfortunately, another frog landed on her face, too!
I, Cadet Pamatong, was in my middle of my deep sleep when I felt something slimy on my face. It was indeed a bullfrog, and Cadet Kessler sprang into action to remove that frog from my face right away. Once I came to, I asked him what was happening; and then we saw a few more of those bullfrogs, which numbered around five, hopping around in our room. We panicked, but we also had to keep our cool as we immediately wore gloves to apparently prevent the frogs' poison from seeping into our bodies. But upon close inspection, we found out that the bullfrogs we've encountered were weird; as their skin had a different shade of green-brown, and we never spotted anything secreted from the glands behind their ears. We concluded that the bullfrogs were not poisonous, but we still kept our gloves on to reassure ourselves.
As we have caught the bullfrogs and tossed them into the open windows, we could feel a somewhat ghastly figure hovering near the windows. We paid the figure no mind as the frogs were finally evacuated. We then removed our gloves, washed our hands, closed the windows, and immediately went back to bed. Our deep sleep was briefly interrupted for around ten minutes.
Once I woke up at around 5:30 ante meridiem, my parents contacted me via commugrass, a special plant species whose leaves are used to facilitate communication from one person to another through long distances. They told me that strange spikes suddenly appeared on the front lawn, and they highly suspected these to be the doing of similar ghost-like creatures who were pestering the kingdom last night.
As of this writing, we try to gather our thoughts on who is responsible for all those seemingly harmless pranks. In the meantime, please do not disturb our self-imposed one-day hiatus from school, as we still bear some scars of last night's trauma.
We hereby certify under oath that everything we confessed and wrote in this sworn affidavit are true and accurate to the best of our abilities.
Signed,
Cadet Dietrich Kessler
Cadet Xyline Ella Pamatong
Alright, their testimony is solid enough, and I cannot spot any holes in it.
Oh! My childhood friend and my sister are back!
With a book?
“Brother, I think we've made a breakthrough!”
“We've just visited the Grand Library and chanced upon this.”
The title of this book...
The Hazing Diaries: How Fraternities Achieve Nothing
Compiled by Renson Bravissimo
“How is this related to our case?” I ask.
Laika answers, “It's a given fact that certain souls could only ascend to where the Most High resides when they no longer have any emotional baggage or other issues... that is, if they have lived honorable lives, but those lives were taken away by unjust means.”
“This much is true. Good deeds are rewarded, after all.”
Yulissa follows, “When we've chanced upon that book, I remembered something about hazing and fraternities. They were abolished by His Highness the King almost a hundred years ago... but the victims, their relatives, and eventually their descendants... they wanted more. They wanted to punish directly those who are responsible, brother.”
After giving some seconds of deep thought, I reply...
“Alright. I'll give this a read.”
“Good. Here you go, Keenan.”
This book still holds up, even after decades of storage.
Praise be to the book restorers working behind the scenes.
The book's preface reads...
These are the stories of the victims of hazing and of fraternities in general, as well as of those who were close to them.
Thanks to this book's efforts, His Highness King Vincent Hiei Almarius effectively banned fraternities and hazing altogether. May those poor souls know peace, and may future readers serve this book as a warning to those who dare bring those two atrocious things back.
--The Author
And time to browse select stories that will hopefully support their hypothesis.
“Joining fraternities is stupid.
“I know a lot of people who joined these fraternities with the strange letters. Some were successful, some were not. At the end of the day, the main determining factor of success is the individual. The importance of fraternities in one's career is excessively overstated.”
--Fortunato Foleso
“My older brother was a strong supporter of his frat in college. He would tell me that when he graduates, the brotherhood would help each other professionally and financially for life. While he did stay friends with a few, they all drifted apart after college due to other priorities in life. My memory of him during his freshmen year was the hazing he had to go through; and as a senior, the hazing he himself gave out to his underclassmen.
“When I entered college, a friend of mine decided to join a military-like frat for the same reasons. He was severely abused during hazing. One time, he never came home; and we even lived in the same share-house. They stripped him down and threw water at him and then left him overnight at a secretly-placed 'training room' within the campus.
“I had to nurse him the next day because he was developing a fever. The messed-up part about this... he wasn't liked in his frat, so the abuse was on purpose.”
--Joselito Onio
“I personally don't believe fraternities can help someone achieve a progressive and prosperous life. Why? In the first place, those who fall for that bull believe in the following mindset: When they get a job, they automatically want to become bosses who can, yeah, boss around. They can't move if they're not given anything! They move as slow as molasses if they're not given money, i.e. salaries. When someone takes over their task, they blow their fuse because they believe they were robbed. The question is: Did they work hard for it? Nope, they can't even follow simple rules!! What they want is that when they step into the workplace... they just slouch on their seat, puffing smoke while waiting for lunch break, and then doing the same crap while waiting for 4 post meridiem before they time out. That's the fact!! And when someone from somewhere other than our kingdom replaces them because that foreigner can do a better job than them... they blow up their tops?! They complain a lot? So many excuses! We follow the rules whenever we settle in other lands, but in our very own land... we don't give a damn about the law because we want ourselves to become the law, become a god, become the boss. SCREW THAT FACT!! We love running our mouths, but we can't do even the simplest of tasks. So much gobbledygook! Big stupid doo-doo heads! Fraternities are BS!!”
--Eleuterio Fongger
As I finish reading the select stories, the bell rings, signaling the start of afternoon class.
“Alright, we'll all have to tackle this later.”
And once the school day ends and we three are all done with the mandatory dinner...
We hold a mini-strategy conference, right in our room.
“I do believe you are supporting our hypothesis, brother,” Yulissa starts.
I reply, “Yeah. It holds water. Those little words found in the preface... they could heavily imply that even with that ban, the victims wanted more, just like you've said.”
“And thus,“ Laika concedes, ”We have no choice but to stay vigilant and wait for ghosts to manifest starting midnight. Seances are expensive, you know."
“Good choice. We don't want to sacrifice our sleep hours, so... good night, everyone. See you at midnight.”
“Nighty-night, brother.”
“Good night, Keenan.”
And thus, we three sleep early, at 8 post meridiem.
Once I open my eyes...
I check the timekeeping piece hanging in our room.
It's currently 12:19 ante meridiem.
“Hey! It's now midnight. We need to be on standby for those ghosts.”
I promptly wake my childhood friend and my sister up, even though I still feel sleepy myself.
And once they rise from their beds...
The ghost we're waiting for shows up in our room.
We are a bit startled as the ghost marks his appearance with the following words, said creepily...
“Itchy. Tasty.”
- Writer
