In a place far away from prying eyes, Cale stood close to a corner with the envelope in hand.
'What is this?'
It felt familiar to memory, but when attempting to remember the reason why it brought upon such a feeling. Cale's train of thought had stopped completely at the hazy road ahead.
'Should I open it?'
He felt a strange repulsive feeling welling up inside him when the thought to open it crossed his mind.
Which—
Tearrr~
He completely threw out the window.
'It's their fault for dropping this, I am just punishing their careless attitude'
If it were important, they would have been more careful anyway.
"...?"
The young boy frowned at what was written down in the envelope.
"...The..hell?"
[Insight: P. ^R^87++_++ ----> 'Route Taker'
Due to the individual 'Iye Idiyele', the authority of resurrection has been granted momentarily to 'Cale', however.
Krizantemë has refused further cooperation, negotiations have not reached a favorable conclusion]
"Whoever wrote this, is a damn weirdo.."
The author of this book took a blow from the comment.
'Couldn't they just keep their fantasies in their head? Also is that my name? Or maybe a coincidence...?'
It felt stupid to read anymore of this, but despite this. Cale kept reading further, after all, what harm could be brought in doing so?
The letter afterwards felt more like a document of what had transpired beforehand than one where fantasies were written and mulled over the more he read through it.
[A verdict has been reached. Krizantemë will allow the resurrection to happen safely only if the target 'Cale' passes a trial they set up themselves]
"...."
Cale stopped breathing at the next lines he read.
[Present: 'Cale Dice' has failed to pass the trial]
It was his name and—
It was crossed with red.
He had been part of a trial and had failed it.
He didn't even know the why, just that he failed.
"Get a load of this"
A scoff left his lips, he walked over a trash can and threw it in.
However. As it fell down and the wind made it flutter, the parchment glittered and new rushed lines overlapped with the previous one.
[Present: 'Route Taker' has successfully adopted a passive effect. 'Cale' has been implanted with the Ego Shard.
The trial the God of Death had created specifically for this occasion will commence shortly. Thank your for your devout understanding ^-^]
*
*
'What do I do?'
Cale was still outside, they didn't call him back in. And stupid or not, he was getting very nervous after reading the envelope. After all, it did drop his name at the end, anyone would rightfully be scared of that bombshell.
"Still, if I failed the trial or whatever..am I done?"
'No more importantly'
"Am I...dead?"
It seemed that way currently and it would also explain the strange feeling he had of being out of place perfectly.
'But then again. Who is this Iye Idiyele? It said because of her, I was granted the temporary authority to revive'
But it didn't make sense, was he right now in the afterlife? Even if he was, had he not failed the trial?
Many questions surfaced, but none could be answered at this time.
He walked around to see if there were anything else just like the envelope he found. Even though nothing much could be found, one interesting thing did reveal themselves.
"...."
'This, is definitely not real...'
He frowned upon seeing the red paint on the wall.
DEATH
Was the only thing written, but walking, he could glance at the other words.
TO
"...."
His lungs felt heavy with each breath he drew, he could very well predict the next lines on the wall.
CALE—DICE!
His name was plastered on the wall without his explicit permission.
Ba-Thump
His heart began to beat with a certain heavy pressure choking it.
"Then, he walked to the other wall and saw his name repeating along with curses.."
"...??!!"
Cale snapped towards the sound.
But.
"He only grew confused the more he looked around, trying to see where the source of the monotone voice came from, his efforts in crystal vain"
"His eyes widened more, Cale tried and ran to see where the voice came form, but he realised"
"...."
"They all came from every single direction"
Step
"A step ticked and could be heard from behind"
"His feet, fingers and mouth twitched at it"
Step
"The step kept hauntingly replaying in his ears"
"But soon"
"...."
"Clarity returned"
"And he rushed to the closest room to him"
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
"His little feet tapped against the marble of the restroom"
Step
"The step didn't stop however, it only cut more into his innocent heart"
"He felt the beat of his heart sink, only the steps hollowed the sound"
"He walked further in, as if a worm huddling itself to a hole he found to avoid the giants outside"
"Safety yet a certain unease crept onto him, his back turned against the darkness and he saw only the outside"
Ba-Thump!
"A heart beat"
"But it wasn't his"
Haaa....
"It was the panting individual behind him that had grasped his neck that beat so loudly"
"!!!!"
"He looked back, astonished by everything happening so quickly"
"...."
"Only to find nothing there, the sound of a voice he did not know of kept resounding in his mind"
Drip!
"The dripping of water from the faucet woke him"
Step
"And the prominent step heard before, invoked fear into the small heart of his"
"It was outside of the restroom"
"A hunched silhouette crouched even more down and forced itself into the restroom"
CRACK!
"It's joints tore, shoulders dislocated from forceful enter"
"The small boy, remained nowhere to be seen"
"The figure spotted a closed door"
"A door, that was the only one closed from the others"
"It's hand slithered under the gap of the door, its arm turned to a bizzare jagged shape"
Click!
"The door....clicked and opened wide"
?
"However, there was nothing inside"
"It scratched its head"
Rustle
"At first, gentle"
"But as time progressed"
Crack!
"It scratched the scalp on its head, so hard that its frail finger broke"
Drip!
"Blood flowed from his scalp and finger, and it dripped to the floor"
Flick! Flick!
"The lights above flickered wildly until—!"
—It all turned silent, the lightbulbs had burned completely dead.
And the figure, had disappeared from sight, sound, touch and smell.
Emerging from the far end of the restroom was the young boy.
"...."
'Seriously'
He looked outside and saw the scenery change in real time the moment he blinked. From the outside he had come from, to the cafeteria.
'What kind of bullshit have I stumbled upon?'
Cale was currently, for some reason in the women's restroom, which was on the complete other side of where he had originally been.
'None of this makes any damn sense'
Cale swore curses and his features grew irritated.
"Well, what now?"
'It seems like, because I failed the trial or whatever, everyone is out for my blood or something'
No matter how much he thought about it, there wasn't much he could do in this kind of situation.
He was very screwed.
"Should I go back?"
It seemed like the only thing he could do at the moment.
Every option he had was essentially restricted, climbing away was an option, but that option had its consequences.
'The walls are too high for me to climb'
So there was no way by climbing the wall he could survive.
'I might just die from falling down and getting a concussion instead'
'And if a God was the one to have created this trial'
He was even less likely to survive in that case.
'What to do...seriously what to do...'
He pondered for a while, nothing had happened during that time until—
Click!
"..!"
The sound of the keyboard made itself clear in his skull, he looked back.
"...Haah?"
Instead, he only tilted his head and saw what was in front of him.
"...A computer?"
"Yeah, that's what it's called dumbass"
The classmate next to him made fun of Cale, but Cale was even further plunged in confusion.
'Why, am I in here???'
He had heard a clicking sound, then turned around, attempting to see the source of it, only to now see and be seated in front of a blocky computer.
A post-it note stuck to the edge of the computer.
The letters were too smudged to read.
'Wonder what it says'
He squinted to see what it said, the letters shimmered slightly and glowed.
'I've just got to finish all of my classes and then I get to leave!'
'Dad, where are you? I am so scared...'
'Can't you come back? And take me away from this scary place?'
'The hell? who even is writing all of this??'
It felt too convenient for Cale to come across these out of pure luck, they had to have been placed there specifically for a reason.
'So, they must be important right...?'
Everything is there for a reason, it could be a simple reason or a complicated one. Like hate, joy, and fear.
At least that was what Cale believed.
"So, finish all the classes and then leave?"
It seemed oddly simple, but simple things are often not the ones people get wrong about the most.
Click! Click! Click! Click!
The sounds of keys being pressed down brought Cale out of his internal thoughts.
Looking around, he saw every single one of his classmates typing down something on a pseudo language program.
His eyes eventually fell on the whiteboard he could now clearly see with no problem. The surface was coated by the light of a projector.
[Algorithm AOP
Read A,B,C
AVGS <-- (A + B * C)/3
Reveal 'The AVGS of this student is', AVGS
End AOP]
It was simple, easy to read yet also easy to forget all about the next day.
Nothing difficult for a child his age to do.
He begun by first opening the pseudo language program on his desktop. There wasn't really any specific reason as to why he suddenly wanted to do this, it just felt right to do.
He glanced at the whiteboard.
"Ah, it changed..."
The contents of the whiteboard had changed.
"Teacher!"
Cale raised his hand towards the teacher.
"What is it?"
The teacher looked at him. Cale cleared his throat before deciding to his vocals to speak.
"Can you go back to what was written before"
The teacher's jaw hung when he heard the words leave Cale's words.
"...."
The silence dragged, as if the teacher wanted to ponder between two options that were most likely, finally, clenching his fist firmly he spoke.
"You"
"...?"
His expression resembled one of anger, Cale did not know why.
'Pf'
The small laughter of the students bounced from the walls and echoed towards him.
"Just what have you been doing..."
His voice growled towards Cale, not wanting to believe what might be true.
Step!
He sharply stepped towards the desk of Cale.
"...."
He saw all of the blank spaces on the screen.
"35 minutes since teaching...."
He glared at the Cale who finally realized why he was angry.
"And you did nothing?!"
Bang!
He slammed on the desk, Cale flinched under the sudden loud sound.
"This is the most simple, most easiest thing anyone could do, yet you could not do even that"
"Well, I wasn't even here to begin wi—"
Bang!
Cale involuntarily flinched again.
"I can see that! how about instead of wasting your time on daydreaming, you go do something that has meaning?!"
Every classmate of his in Class chuckled silently, yet when Cale glanced at them.
"....."
They were all strangely deathly silent.
"That's it! get out! don't even think of stepping back in, you got it?!"
Cale looked at the teacher for a while, contemplating what to say, his mouth opened and closed several times before finally coming to his own conclusion of what should be done in this current situation.
"No, I will stay here and write everything down"
"....?"
The teacher blinked his eyes at what the student before him said. His teeth grinded against each other, veins popped at his forehead.
"Did you not hear—!"
"If I did something wrong, I should work and make sure not to repeat it, right?"
Cale cut him off.
The tensed face of the teacher relaxed slightly at the words.
"Us kids make mistakes. So, with that..."
He exhaled a sharp breath and spoke after inhaling again.
"Shouldn't you teach us not to repeat them again?"
His elbow, placed at the desk, propped his tilted head with his palm.
It wasn't the teacher's job to teach kids how to behave during class, that was the parent's job, but that had been only a lay up to what he would plead to the teacher.
"So, can't you give one more chance?"
"....."
The teacher had by now completely turned silent at the words he heard from the student.
Finally, he turned his back onto him and said.
"Fine, but your parents will still be called"
Cale only smiled.
"I am happy to hear you giving a chance to your student, teacher"
The room felt like it had turned to a freezer, with the shivering Cale experienced from his own body and goosebumps he felt from his cold spine, one would naturally come to assume that.
The teacher, sitting down at his desk, called out to Cale.
"Everyone is already done"
Cale raised a brow.
'Already?'
"You are the only one remaining"
The room was filled with students, yet the moment he said that....it strangely felt like only the teacher and Cale was there sitting.
"I can only give you 20 minutes, type and write down everything"
Motioning with his chin to check the screen on the computer, Cale looked at what he had to write on the computer.
"...Ah?"
He had come to realize that he had to write 9 different algorithms.
And, he also had to do one more thing.
"Ah, also write them all down in your notebook"
Cale's face slightly paled at the words, because 20 minutes..
"You have one, right?"
Was hardly enough time to write in the computer and to also jolt it all down in a notebook.
"If you don't, oh well. Then I guess"
The teacher stifled a grin on his face, one that stretched unnaturally and creepily long.
"You are just tourist, and not. A student"
He left only those words to the already typing Cale.