A boy lay on a bed, a thin ivory blanket covered his body up to his chin.  The boy slept, so still, so dead to the world. The rhythmic rise and fall of his chest was the only indication he was alive. 

Suddenly, his eyes shot open, almost bulging out of their sockets. But this reaction only lasted for a second. The boy’s expression slowly shifted back to the stillness that was once present during his sleep. Only this time, his eyes were open, blinking steadily.

He rose from the bed, like a puppet being pulled up. He sat on his bed for a good while as he tried to process everything. 

He had died. 

He had died for love. 

But that love had been in vain. 

His senses, that had been numbed during the time of his death, took a while to come alive. He looked around and found himself in a dorm. A single dorm, as bare as its pure whitewashed walls. There was no shock in his eyes, just a sliver of curiosity in the depth of his dead orbs.

The only thing that stood from the room full of white walls, white curtains, white furniture, white everything, was a sleek black leather book. Jun mechanically got out of bed, the thin white blanket slipping to the floor. His gaze traveled up the white bedside table to the leather book resting on it. His fingers traced the ebony leather that bound the mysterious book. 

He had no clue about how and why he was here, and he felt that it was a waste of time and energy to get to the bottom of it. After all, everything that he wanted to live for had been forcefully ripped away from him. 

Jun flipped the book open, his movements slow and methodical. The table of contents was printed in a fancy cursive. Only the first slot of the index was filled out - Eternal Love. 

Jun turned to the next page. The page was empty but just as his fingers came in contact with the page, a sentence emerged, in the same cursive used throughout the book. 

Jun froze.

‘You can go back or live a new life.’

‘You have a choice.’

It took a while to process what the book was saying. 

Did it really mean that?

Truly? 

Blood rushed to his head. Like a marionette freed of its eternal shackles of the pain that tormented it, he was finally able to look forward to a new life with a bright future.

A few drops of wetness hit the parchment, slowly bleeding into the yellowed paper. Jun had a moment of realization. 

He was crying. 

He hadn't cried when his own sister betrayed him. Betrayed him for the step brother that tormented Jun throughout his childhood. 

He didn’t shed a tear when his drug addicted mother came begging for shelter only to stab him in the back and take all of his money away. 

He didn’t express grief when the person he loved called him out on a date only to drug him and dig his heart out for their loved one.

But now, when presented with a chance, a choice, something he wasn't offered even by the people closest to him, he couldn’t help but shed tears. He didn't know if these tears were of sadness and despair of all that he had lost or of joy for the anticipation of what was to come.

He wasn’t sure if the words of the book could be trusted. But beggars can’t be choosers. True or false, an opportunity had been given and he would try his best to grab it. 

Touching the page was the trigger for the mysterious appearance of the words so Jun reached out for the paper again. 

‘But first, you must complete a few tasks’

‘7 of them, to be exact’

‘One for each day of the week’

‘If the task isn’t completed in the given time period , the day will reset’

‘Good luck beta tester Jun.’

“Wait, beta tester? Is this some kind of virtual reality?” Jun wondered aloud. 

‘You aren’t authorized to inquire about classified information.’

‘Complete 3 or more tasks to ask questions.’

Jun quickly flipped to the next page, his actions more hurried and eager than his previous attempts. On the right side, ‘Eternal Love’ was written in cursive.  The left side of the page was empty but Jun knew the procedure. He lightly skimmed his fingers over the paper. As expected, a paragraph surfaced. 

‘Ivory Hills Academy’

‘A worldwide prestigious academy that rose to fame a couple of years ago due to the school's continuous production of outstanding students. The students that emerged from this academy were the cream of the crop; soon to become renowned in their particular fields.’

‘You are Jun of 3 - 3, higher secondary division.’

‘Investigate the reason students are going missing. Your mission is to prevent them from going missing’

‘List of missing students:
Mara - 23rd Dec, XX35
Jameson - 28th Dec, XX35
Sandra - 21st Dec, XX35
Zack - 24th Dec, XX35
Jean - 25th Dec, XX34
Rosemary - 26th Dec, XX34
….’

‘Goodluck beta tester Jun’

Jun picked up the book from the table and moved towards his closet. He pulled open the closet and felt a chill down his spine. Previously, he had noticed that the room was completely white, from the blankets to the doors, but at that time he didn’t give it much thought. However, now when he looked at the row of identical clean white uniforms in his closet, Jun shuddered. Everything in the dorm room had given a rise to an eerie feelings within him 

***

Jun walked through the long winding corridors, nervously clutching the leather-bound book to his chest. 

Bed. Clothes. Shoes. Doors. Walls. Everything was white. 

It had taken some time to get used to everything being white. But now Jun’s brain automatically ignored that everything around him was white. 

Jun wasn’t nervous due to the fact that he was in a completely new environment but the fact that some teacher might confiscate the book that obviously wasn’t a school textbook. He didn't want to lose his only salvation. 

Surprisingly, none of the teachers he had walked by seemed to even notice the book. It was as if the book didn’t exist. 

The class he had been assigned to was at the end of the corridor. Jun didn’t enter the class but stood near the door and peeked inside. 

The class was filled with nervous chatter. Questions like ‘Have you learnt this…’ ‘Did you learn the full process of…’. Amidst the nervous chitter, Jun heard a few exclaims about how today was the last final exam and that they were finally going to be free. But those excited voices were quickly shut down and replaced with groans when someone mentioned that they had to start applying for colleges and universities. 

He didn't feel particularly nervous because, as a grown man, Jun felt that he could bluff his way through it. 

Someone gently tapped Jun on the shoulder. He turned around to find a teacher looking at him with …a soft and sympathetic look(?)

Jun: ...Why are you looking at me like that?

Teacher: “Don't be afraid to enter the class, Jun. The examinations can’t be avoided by not entering the classroom. I know you are nervous about failing again, but you have studied hard for this exam so give it your best!! I personally have seen all the effort you put into…”

While the teacher went on with her motivational speech, Jun couldn’t help thinking, ‘Nervous? Who is nervous? I’m simply collecting information ah. Also this Jun failed?! How could I, a straight A student fail?! This Jun really must be a poor replication of me…’

The teacher finished off her emotional and motivational speech with a pat to Jun’s shoulder. She then gently ushered Jun into the classroom. 

After entering, Jun took in the entirety of the class. It was a huge classroom and as usual everything was white. The chairs, windows, everything. The seats were placed abnormally far from each other but Jun assumed it was due to the ongoing examinations. 

He casually looked around, trying not to be obvious that he wasn’t sure where to sit. Most of the seats were occupied, but there was an empty seat at the farthest right corner. 

Few moments after he sat down, a girl walked up to him with a weird look on her face, “Jun, why are you sitting in my place? Can’t you see my roll number on the corner of the desk? Your seat is the one next to mine. Did studying too much damage your brain?”

Jun stammered out an apology but the girl didn’t seem to mind as though she truly believed that studying too much had damaged Jun’s brain. Taking a chance, Jun randomly mentioned the abnormal distance of the seats from each other. 

“Sure enough, studying really did damage your brain”, she muttered “Idiot, it has always been like this, since a few years ago. The headmaster stressed it in his orientation speech that the distance will discourage students from chatting with each other during class and make them concentrate better. He mentioned this like a hundred times, how could you forget it?”

Sheepishly apologizing a few more times, Jun went to the seat the girl had pointed out. The headmaster’s explanation really did make sense, but something felt off about it. 

The teacher who had spoken to Jun entered the class with a bunch of papers in her hands. “All 39 of you, be seated. I will now be distributing the question paper. The reading time lasts for 20 minutes. You may start writing after that.”

For a long time, the only noise in the class was the shuffling of paper being passed around. Then silence ensued. The silence was soon broken by the teacher. 

“Students, you may begin writing.”