Chapter 3
The librarian placed in charge of today's detention was a carefree woman, she didn't care if students did the tasks assigned to them. She just sat behind her desk, clipboard in one hand as she ticked off the attendance. Erin sat on one of the chairs, legs crossed over the table. She played with her fingers like nothing else mattered. Liam on the other hand, sat a few chairs away from her, he still had that bored expression on his face, but he had a few thoughts running through his head.
Jayden was the only one who seemed to be making an effort, he moved from shelf to shelf, picking out the old rusty books. Earlier, he had tried to get both Erin and Liam to help out, but they had unanimously told him to "buzz off."
Erin glanced at the clock at the corner, the time displayed 4:47. A small sigh escaped her mouth. She chuckled bitterly at the thought of seeing her parents tomorrow. Her life had been complicated. Absent parents, an aunt who refused to give her closure, tough life at school and the constant stubbing of her toe didn't make it any easier.
The silence in the library was loud. Soon enough, it was interrupted. The door opened slowly, everyone raised their heads with curiosity. A student entered, she had a small frame and a heavy backpack hung over her shoulder, she held it like her life depended on it. She scanned the room nervously as she adjusted the glass hanging on her nose.
The librarian signalled her to come over and she did.
"Name?"
"E-Eira Monroe." she stuttered, adjusting her glasses again.
"Hmm," The librarian glanced at the trio before looking back at the student known as Eira. "What's your offence?"
"I uh…I.."
"Go join the others, they'll tell you what to do."
Eira turned around, she walked over to Jayden who was now reading a book about the French revolution. It had apparently piqued his interest, he didn't even notice when Eira stopped in front of him.
"Uhm, she said to come here, you're to tell me what to do"
Jayden placed the book down slowly, "We're supposed to get rid of the old books" he simply said.
Eira still looked very nervous, always glancing around, like she was scared of something and Jayden quickly picked up on this. He placed his hands on her shoulder, a worried look displayed on his face as he asked:
"Hey, you okay?"
Eira shivered as soon as he made contact. It was very obvious that she wasn't okay. She was scared of something. She walked off to another shelf without replying.
Two hours went by in a blink, Jayden had managed to clear one shelf.
The librarian stood up as soon as the clock hit 7 p.m. it was her cue to leave but she addressed the students first.
"So I see you two decided to be unbothered about this whole situation," she glanced at Erin and Liam. She continued.
"Whatever you guys decide to do, you better not leave this place until you're done, understood?" she asked, but didn't wait for an answer. She exited the building afterwards.
Clearing the shelves wasn't wasn't easy job, Erin and Liam's doing absolutely nothing had eventually gotten to Jayden. He slammed a couple of books down on a desk close by then he started walking over to Erin and Liam.
"Are you two just gonna sit here all night long," he asked, trying to contain the frustration growing inside him.
"Yes." Erin replied casually.
"The sooner we finish this, the sooner we all get to go home. I don't know about you, rich kid, but not all of us have maids at our disposal. Some of us actually have chores to do."
"Speak for yourself, Brody. I've got nothing to do at home." Erin chuckled, turning to Jayden.
A vein popped in his forehead. Anger and frustration growing slowly. Eira just stood in a corner, watching the situation unfold. She glanced at the window like she was waiting for something to happen.
"Alright look, we're in detention, there's no one here to supervise us. We might as well take the time to have some fun," Liam suggested.
"Fun?" Jayden scoffed. "The time is 7 p.m. no one stays this late."
"Why? Is mum gonna scold you for missing your curfew?" Erin mocked, she stood up and walked over to Jayden, stopping right in front of the captain of the football team.
"I've been very patient with the both of you, I've had it up to here." Jayden gestured, pointing to his throat. But Erin never backs down, she always had the best comebacks.
"Well, go hang yourself. There, a rope." She pointed at nothing in particular. Jayden's jaws clenched, but he wasn't going to attack. He wasn't that kind of person to start a fight, most especially with a girl.
He backed away, slowly.
"We can play a game."
Heads turned. All eyes landed right at Eira. She flinched a little at the sudden stare she was getting from everyone.
"She speaks?" Liam teased. "Gotta admit, a game sounds nice."
Liam glanced at Erin who simply shrugged in agreement. Then he glanced at Jayden. After a while of contemplating, he finally agreed.
"Fine, but after this, we work. Everybody. So we can get the hell out of here."
"Fine by me."
–
All four students sat opposite each other, The Rebel, Erin Thorne. The Valedictorian, Liam Ashford. The Athlete, Jayden Brooks. And the mysterious one, Eira Monroe. They had no idea their world was about to turn upside down…or did they?
"So, what game do you have in mind, weird mystery girl?" Liam asked.
"Maybe we can ask questions about each other,"
The group exchanged glances but nobody said anything. They began taking turns, asking questions.
Meanwhile, right outside the school building, the atmosphere had shifted into something else, it was cold at the same time warm. The color of the sky had changed. It casted a red glow across the entire compound. None of them noticed it yet because they were inside.
The wind outside started turning wild, swirling, picking up leaves scattered across the school compound. The ground underneath the school started to heat, steam escaping the little pores on the cemented ground. It was starting…
Back inside, Erin who quickly got bored of the game stood up to leave. She wasn't exactly feeling thrilled to share her life story to a bunch of strangers.
"Hey, where are you going?" Jayden asked.
"Anywhere that isn't here, with a bunch of delinquents." Erin replied almost immediately.
"We're all delinquents." Liam stated matter-of-factly.
She exited the library and into the rather long hallway. She started walking, no particular destination in mind.
Soon enough, she noticed the glow seeping from one of the open windows, the darkness made it impossivle to miss it.
"What the hell?"
The sky had completely turned blood red and the wind did nothing to ease the tension brewing inside her.
Erin quickly turned around and sprinted back to the library. All of a sudden, the ground shook violently, almost knocking her off her feet. She managed to catch herself at the last minute.
The entire school vibrated again, it became obvious to her that this was an earthquake.
Back inside the library. The trio as expected, also felt the massive shooking of the earth. Liam was already trying to assess the situation. Looking for a scientific explanationas to why an earthquakejust hit, Jayden looked confused as hell, and Eira, Eira seemed awfully calm about the whole thing.
The door swung open and Erin ran inside, panting hard. It took a while but she eventually caught her breath.
"What the hell is happening?"
"It's an earthquake. Nothing to be worried about." Jayden assured.
"Earthquake? Nothing to be worried about? " Erin scoffed as she walked over to the window, she pulled the curtain violently and the red glow from the sky hit the library.
"How do you explain that?" Erin screamed.
"There must be some scientific explanation. Maybe a chemical reaction, o-or—"
"This isn't the time to be a genius, genius." Erin interrupted Liam.
He quickly raised his head, looking at her. So she did know who he was afterall.
"How are you so calm, Eira?" Jayden asked.
Just then, the ground shook again, this time, it felt like the school itself was moving. The four of them quickly grabbed on to something. Lightning violently and soon enough, it fried the school's electricity. Everywhere went dark.
The storm continued, raging the school grounds. This whole freak storm only seemed to be ravaging in the school, the rest of the city was unaffected.
"Do you guys feel that?" Erin asked.
The ground started heating up, steam slowly started covering the library, like they were being cooked alive. The ground cracked open, revealing what looked to be like lava, seeping from underneath. The crack extended to up to three metres, each one if them backing away slowly.
Almost instantly, like some sort of mystical pull, each one of them got sucked inside the ctacked floor. As Erin passed through, she didn't feel fear, she felt free. She closed her eyes, accepting her unexplained death, at least she knew that now, she wouldn't get to face her parents ever again.
After swallowing them whole, the ground closed up. The storm immediately seized and the electricity came back instantly. Like nothing happened, except four students had just mysteriously vanished, into the unknown…