"What about their bodies?" I asked while wallowing toward the parked car."They will gain their consciousness in less than an hour. They won't meet the grim reaper that easily. Don't stress out.""How can you say that? Even they have bruises and wounds all over their face and body." I debated on him."They have a strong physique." Lanzo started the engine. Our conversation halted even though a desire to protest still seized me. The car carried us out of the academy area through a different gate. It was the shortcut he once divulged.The tricky road and the blackness slowed the car. It took longer than usual to get to the dorm. Lanzo opened the door for me as soon as the fence of the dorm emerged out of the light; I climbed down the vehicle. Weirdly, that boy ascended back to his car. Where was he going to go? "I have to park the car," he exclaimed. The remorse hit me for my prejudgment toward him. Hurriedly, I ran inside. Ms. Greyson and Brad had waited; Brad stood by Ms.Greyson's s

We froze; only our eyes voiced our mind. Yura's incredulous look asserted her bewilderment with my existence. Like me, bumping into the one who looks like her twin was beyond her expectation. "Yura… Dylanesa," we both muttered in unison. The name tag on my cloak was too visible for her to peek at. That was why she mentioned my name. My brain guessed. In slow motion, the sound from our shoes thumped and echoed; our steps brought us closer. Shortly, we stood face to face."This is the first time I meet you in person. Lanzo is right. We look like twins." Listening to her confession, my forehead furrowed. Lanzo didn't even reveal anything about this girl. "Lanzo… What did he tell you about me?" I asked while walking to the nearest stool. Yura relaxingly sat on the one opposite me with one of her legs over the other. Her focus was a hundred percent on me. Catching a deep breath, she began her story.It was in the assembly they first met. Over time, they got closer. A joy rose implicitly

Racing with the time, I scrambled inside the gateway of the academy along with the other last batch intelligentsia to have ID- checked before proceeding into the hall. The girls and boys in red marched toward the one-floor building in ordered lines like troops of soldiers. The head of the academy and academics welcomed us inside the room. Their faces tightened with no smile on their lips. None of the academics showed their enthusiasm or warming gaze at us even when the first day I set my feet in this Academy during the assembly. Their classes ran ordinarily; they just rigidly delivered instruction. In other words, it was as if they acted like robots, doing anything under control. I wondered if others felt the same way as I did."Good morning." A greeting echoed as the room was a soundproof area. The head of the academy, whom we never referred to by his name, stood with one hand clasping the microphone and the other falling beside his sturdy torso. His eagle eyes sharply shot straigh

There was neither wail nor moan; only eeriness remained under the night sky. The death had claimed that poor driver. Viciously, those heinous hoodlums trudged his corpse to the edge of the road. His passing thumped my chest with agony. Inside the car, I sobbed softly amidst their laughter. The incident froze Yura in her seat. The rearview mirror reflected her snow-like pale face. The car's door was pulled open all of a sudden; a violent guy in a mask, all of them wearing masks, brutally hauled Yura out of the car. Her shrieking voice then filled the dark, mixed with the thugs' yell of triumph and In a minute, her outcry faded away along with the whoosh of the wind. And I could do nothing except wrap my hands around my body and crouch in great fear.Frosting where I was, I helplessly surrendered when they maliciously towed me and dumped me to the ground. Instead of woe, I let anger burn me inside. With my clenched hands, I managed to get up. My appearance changed. The soil stained a

It'd been five days since Yura's disappearance, unfortunately, the head of the academy turned blind eye to the case. No one regarded her missing as a crucial issue to investigate. The classes kept going as usual. The activities ran like normal. Lanzo's oblivion with Yura's matter disheartened me more. That boy even avoided me after yesterday's incident in the swimming pool. My carelessness hardly brought me to havoc. They might have impaired me if only Lanzo didn't thwart them at the right time. Yet, I had hurt his heart, spontaneously hitting him in the face. It was my bad to do that after everything he had done to me. I should have deemed all his good deeds before doing that dumb thing. Blaming myself wouldn't do any good. Besides, he might have despised me. I exhaled to release the burden that loaded my chest and brushed my watery eyes with the back of my hand. Only loneliness chaperoned me; piles of assignments seized Marin, my sole friend that we couldn't make time to catch up