Chapter 2

He ran outside the classroom with one last look at the dead boy, and then saw the girl entering the staff room in the left side of the corridor. He walked towards the right side and took the staircase down. His heart was hammering loudly and he felt light headed from the adrenaline rush. He thought he had to improvise another kill that day when the wretched girl came into the classroom. Luckily, the dark classroom gave him the perfect cover. Still, he didn’t get to the see the boy dying. He didn’t like the way he was hiding like a prey when the girl came in.

Next time, he won’t hide. Next time, he will hunt.

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The Golden Star International School in Chennai specializes in catering to kids from wealthy families holding considerable status in the society. The school gets hefty donations from these families to look after those students and keep them out of trouble. Some students are not from affluent backgrounds and those are whose parents work in the school as teachers, office staff and security persons. These students get scholarship from the school in exchange of loyalty from their parents.

The school was a four storeyed building with a square ground of about 300m perimeter. Three sides of the ground was surrounded by the school building and the building had staircases on all its edges. There were elevators in the building but they were limited to staffs.

On the third floor of the building, Divya was sitting inside the staffroom with her English teacher, Mrs. Buvana. Fifteen minutes earlier, she had found Mrs. Buvana in the classroom and told her about Harish. Immediately, an ambulance was called in, Divya and Harish’s class teacher, Ms. Sandhya and the Headmaster were informed and Harish’s parents were also informed of his seizures. Apparently, Harish already had a history of having epileptic fits and it was informed to the school by his parents.

Now Divya was left with her English teacher, who had informed her parents of the incident shortly after the ambulance left to the hospital. While she was answering all the questions of Mrs. Buvana, again, her mother came in.

“Divya, are you alright?”, her mother asked. She seemed out of breath.

“I’m fine”, Divya replied.

“What happened?”

After Divya recounted all the events, her mother turned to Mrs. Buvana and asked, “Can I take her home now?”

Before the teacher could reply, she got a call in her mobile phone. After she answered it, she pulled Divya’s mother aside and said something. There seemed to be an argument and when her mother came back, she looked angry.

“Divya, we have to wait for sometime”, her mother said.

“Why?”

“The school has informed the police. They will be coming to take your statement now”

“But can’t I speak with them later? I feel tired”.

Her mother gave a pointed look to her teacher and then spoke to Divya.

“Divya”, her mother said softly. “The doctors have confirmed that your classmate is dead. We should wait for the police.”

“Okay.” She thought about it. “When will they come?”

Her mother turned to her teacher. “Thirty minutes”, the teacher replied.

“Can I lie down till that time?”

“Sure”, the teacher said.

“Sure. Your father will be here by the time”, her mother said.

“Here”. Her mother sat down on the bench Divya was sitting on and made her head rest on her lap. Exhaustion caught on to Divya and she fell asleep immediately.

She had a dream where she was again going inside her classroom and she saw Harish sitting in this place calmly. When she went to talk to him, he was mute but after some time, he opened his mouth to speak but vomited blood instead. Fear took hold of her and turned to leave the classroom. But the classroom door was locked and it wouldn’t open no matter how many times she pulled against it. She felt something behind her back and when she turned she saw Harish before her. His eyes were fully white and his mouth was covered with blood.

“You. Killed. Me” he spoke with his bloody mouth and took a step towards her.

“Nooo”, Divya woke up with a start.

“What happened Divya?”, her mother asked.

“Nothing”. Her heart was beating wildly.

So that’s what Harish had been trying to say, Divya thought. Killed me. It was not an ordinary epilepsy.

He had said that he was killed by someone.

(To be continued...)

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