Alden forced himself into taking deep breaths, still unsure what exactly he'd just witnessed.
'A prank? Maybe I'm hallucinating?' he thought, trying to find any excuse to clutch at the slightest thought of reason.
Who can blame him? A person he'd just been talking to moments ago simply evaporating right in front of him would cause even the sanest man to lose his senses.
After a few more deep breaths, Alden warily scanned the classroom – unsure if Dorian was the only one to have gone missing.
Luckily – maybe even thankfully – that seemed to be the case. In the classroom, there were now 4 people in total, no longer 5. An old man and 3 young men.
In front of him the old professor stood in disbelief, his right hand still extending forward to grab the whiteboard pen from where Dorian's head should've been.
The pen, which had fallen from Dorian upon his mysterious disappearance and subsequently made the clicking sound, now rests on the floor.
At the back of Alden were the 2 other pupils remaining in the class.
The first, named Rowan, stood tall at a comfortable 6" with a large frame, having average features and a normal character; Alden had never given him a second glance.
Now Rowan sat with an almost comedic expression on his face, an odd mixture of bafflement and self-doubt.
Next to him, with an eerily similar expression, was Vale, another of his peers, which Alden had never given much thought to beforehand.
Vale was slightly shorter than Rowan, missing the 6 feet mark by not more than a couple of inches; however, adorning a pair of green eyes, he was much more pleasant to look at.
Taking his eyes back to the front of the class, Alden took another glance at the fallen whiteboard pen.
"…What the hell just happened to h-", He had originally tried to start a conversation to get back his lost sense of reason.
"AAHHHH…", Unfortunately, before he could even finish the first sentence, Alden was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream.
Recognising that the sound came from outside the class, he took cautious steps to the windows east of the room.
Glancing out the window, he took notice of two vague figures in the distance. Alden squinted – careful not to accidentally push his contacts out of his eyes.
An all-too-familiar wave of disbelief drowned him as the two vague silhouettes in the distance became clear.
To the right stood a girl, not more than 14/15 years of age; she had his iconic red and black school uniform and held a blue backpack attached to her shoulders. Alden logically assumed she was one of his younger peers.
But that was naturally not the reason why disbelief had engulfed him, because confronting the young girl was not something he thought plausible 5 minutes ago.
To the left of her, crawled a creature, an ancient predator long assumed extinct.
It stood on four limbs, wearing a heavy khaki coat; from this distance, the creature seemed to be at least 1.25 metres tall, 2.5 metres long and weighing at least 300 kilograms.
And yet dwarfing the girl in comparison was not its greatest feature, for that title rightfully belonged to its weirdly shaped teeth.
For it had an intimidating, practically fearsome, pair of sabres for fangs.
"Is…is that a sabre-toothed tiger?" Yet again Alden could not believe his eyes.
How? How could the apex predator of the Ice Age possibly be in front of his eyes?
Logically speaking –
"No, fuck that, genuinely fuck logic." First, Dorian vanished right in front of him, and now the sudden appearance of an ancient cat thought to be extinct?
Since walking into that classroom, all thoughts of logic and reasoning have been thrown out the window.
It's as if the laws of physics no longer applied.
Back outside, the tiger – which had previously not even been aware of her position – locked eyes with the young girl.
It seemed to have been irritated by her previous scream.
Staring into its eyes, Alden saw hunger, thirst and greed. Yet, he could swear he also saw hints of confusion and bafflement, much like his own minutes earlier.
Gradually, it started grumbling, never having removed its eyes from her body; the cat slowly circled her.
A bystander may be tempted to ask a very fair question: Why is she not running?
That also happens to be the very same question Alden is having right at this moment, and yet the answer is simple…she froze.
Upon encountering an apex predator in the wild, and with no weapon in hand or machine at assistance, mankind is limited to two very simple options.
Option 1: Fight or Flight.
Option 2: Numbing the Pain
And yet people don't even get to choose which option; your body does that for you.
If the first option is the chosen response, upon receiving data from your senses and decoding the threat, your brain frantically sends signals to the adrenal glands, tasking them with the production and release of adrenaline.
It increases heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate, boosting energy and alertness. And it also redirects blood flow to muscles and the brain, meaning that for a limited amount of time, you are at your peak physical condition.
And even though adrenaline is not exclusive to humans, humans have the best system for its production and release. Making it our greatest "superpower".
And by reaching peak condition, you then have a conscious choice to be made: fight or flee?
But…if the second response is chosen, upon receiving the data from your senses and decoding them to get the level of the threat, your brain does not send signals to your adrenal gland for the production of your most effective defence mechanism.
Rather, it does the exact opposite.
It sends signals for the production of hormones that would numb down your muscles and nervous system, effectively making you immobile and less able to feel pain.
Truly to Numb the Pain before Death.
And unfortunately for this young girl, her body had chosen the second response.
"Eeek...! No…get away from me!" her limbs numb and body immobile, with eyes full of fear.
She had fallen to the ground…
The Beast stopped circling her, with eyes full of a primal hunger; it had already made its choice – in turn sealing her fate.
It attacked.
It did not roar, and neither did it growl, for the tiger did not believe this was a hunt worth celebration.
It felt no pride, and nor did it feel any pity.
It just attacked.
"Ahhhhhh! No, please… hel… anyone help m-", screeching aloud, she was mauled.
She was mauled… right in front of him.
Alden stared.
Again he stood still.
Yet this time not out of disbelief, confusion or bafflement.
There was no disagreement in the nature of what he had just spectated; it was clear – it was simple.
A beast had just killed a human.
And the same beast is now devouring the human.
It was that simple.
And the reason as to why he stands still is just as simple, even simpler.
It was out of fear; Alden was scared.
He was horrified.
And who can blame him? He had just seen a little girl being mauled to death, followed by the consumption of her body – now a corpse.
"Baaarf…gakkk-pukee." While holding on to the window ledge, Alden fell to his knees.
And proceeded to promptly vomit out his lunch for the day, the two cheeseburgers, and yesterday's dinner.
He was horrified, terrified even.
Upon hearing the commotion, Rowan, Vale and the old professor finally snapped out of their trance.
"Alden…? Why are you vomiting?" the old teacher asked, remnants of disbelief still evident on his face.
"Are you ok?" Rowan showed concern; he too, like the professor, had remnants of his previous mental state.
"Wait… What's happening outside? And what was that sound? A scream?" Vale enquired, yet Alden wasn't sure he'd want to know.
Forcing a pause from the vomiting, Alden wiped his lips and pointed at the window.
The three people glanced at each other; the first to head to the window was Vale.
Looking at the scene outside the window, his face paled.
"What the hell…?", mortified, he uttered under his breath.
Stealing a glance at Alden to make sure he himself hadn't gone insane, he went away from the window and sat down on the floor.
Looking lost, he kept mumbling god knows what under his breath again.
Seeing his reaction, the professor and Rowan looked at each other. They weren't sure what exactly was on the outside, but they were certain it couldn't have been good.
The professor, imbued with morbid curiosity, went next.
Looking out the window, his pupils dilated, but he did not scream or create commotion; he just sat back down at the nearest chair, losing himself in thought.
Rowan was now most definitely scared to look at what was outside the window, and yet he steeled himself for the worst and walked to its edge.
Looking outside, he briefly scanned the area but did not find anything of significance.
Remembering his subpar vision, he swiftly took out his glasses case from his left pocket. Finally being able to see properly, he gave the area a second scan.
And this time he found it.
"What in the fuck is that? Is that a tiger? Wait…a Sabre-Tooth Tiger?" Completely befuddled as to why an ancient cat was at his school, Rowan did not notice the cat food.
"I thought they were extinct?? What…what is it eating?" Upon taking a few more glances, Rowan finally saw the full picture.
His stomach churned, and much like Alden, he fell to his knees in horror and disgust.
Also like Alden, he held onto the window ledge, covered his mouth and started uncontrollably vomiting.
Forfeiting his prime vomiting position, Alden stood back up.
In the time frame in which it took all three to look at the window and their respective reactions, Alden had thankfully been able to regain control of his body and restore the tiniest bit of reasoning.
And now that same bit of reasoning was telling him one thing and one thing only.
To call for help.