“Stop writing.”
Classroom is filled with relieved sighs and groans of regret. Jun himself is somewhere in between. The test had been on History and the questions were easy, but he wasn’t sure up to which extent the history between the two worlds were similar. Either way, with his bluffing skills maxed, he had given it his best.
“Please wait in the classroom, the results will be announced shortly.” With this sentence, the teacher quickly left the classroom. The students didn't seem surprised as they got up from their places and flocked towards their friends, excitedly whispering about the upcoming vacation.
Jun for one, was left in an awkward position. Apart from the girl who spoke to him earlier, he didn't know anyone else in class. Even then, he didn't know her name.
Luckily this awkward predicament was automatically solved when 3 guys naturally approached his seat.
The shortest of the 3 directly climbed onto his desk and slumped bonelessly in such a way his neck looked dislocated. Of the remaining two guys, the lankier one remained standing while the other guy - he was extremely handsome - brought a chair from nearby and made himself comfortable.
From the conversation, Jun was only able to discern shorty’s and lanky’s name; Drake and Zak. Sadly he wasn’t able to figure out Mr. Handsome's name.
Yes. He deserved the title.
Just look at him! From his dark eyes that turned a pretty shade of brown under the sunlight, to his jawline sharp enough to cut diamond. Even his voice was slow and soothing, making Jun want to fall asleep listening to his voice-
Ahem.
After snapping out of his day dreaming, he tried to get his priorities straight.
Missing people.
Ah yes, how could he forget? Now Jun kind of felt ashamed for getting distracted by a man who had the prettiest eyes; laugh so soft, so melodious-
Missing people.
Jun once again checked the list to make sure he got the names right. Surely these people would know who he was talking about if he said the names right? After all, these people went missing just last year.
Well he assumed wrong.
They didn't know any of the missing people. Neither the names of the people who went missing 5 years ago nor the people who went last year rang a bell to them.
Odd.
Did they really forget that easily?
Or were they forced to forget?
If so, How?
How did the kidnapper, whoever they are, manage to get away scot free after kidnapping a handful of children every year? How? Who was it? And why were they doing it?
Was something supernatural involved? Surely the book would have mentioned it if it was so, right? Right? But then again the book never mentioned that nobody remembered the missing people, so he had to keep the fact that all this could also be supernatural.
But if it was supernatural, how could he defend against it? How could he prevent the students from going missing? How? How? HOW-
Jun’s head started to hurt
The clue left by the book only brought more unanswered questions. So many questions, yet so few answers.
While Jun was busy mulling over questions with no visible answers, the teacher entered the class with a thick stack of paper. The tiny groups formed all over the class scattered and returned to their own seats. The class immediately quieted down, tension present in the air.
Anticipation with a tinge of apprehension coursed through him. Jun felt that, momentarily, he had gone back to his school years, waiting for his marks to be revealed.
Leaving no time for suspense, the teacher quickly handed out their marksheet to everyone. Once again, relieved sighs and sad groans resounded throughout the class. One in particular had come from his right; the girl who had spoken to him earlier.
Jun checked his own marksheet. Although it was disgraceful marks compared to his usual, the Jun of this world had passed his exams. Barely. The history paper he had previously written was the saving grace that lifted his overall percentage. Satisfied with his own work, Jun turned to the girl whose groans had now dissolved into soft sobs.
“What's wrong?”, he softly questioned although he had a pretty good idea as to what was wrong.
“I-I-I f-failed”, she blubbered, burying her head further into her hands. Jun felt slightly sympathetic but there was nothing he could do about it. Although she couldn’t see it, he flashed a small smile in her direction before walking towards his ‘friends’.
***
After the marks distribution, all the students were sent back to their dorms. In the evening, a farewell party was organized by the class representatives of the whole grade, so they had asked everyone to dress formally when joining later.
Jun lay on his bed, as fragmented thoughts and questions were brewing in his mind. He picked up the leather book and poked at the pages in search of answers.
There was no response.
Jun was mildly disappointed as he was hoping the book had answers to all the questions plaguing his mind. Jun momentarily gave up trying to solve the mystery behind the missing students.
With nothing else to occupy his mind, Jun's thoughts slowly drifted towards his life.
Past life.
Jun and his sister were orphans and not many were willing to adopt them; a 7 year old child along with his deaf sister.
Time passed and finally, a willing couple appeared. They had no luck in having children of their own so they wanted to adopt. ‘Father’ was a burly man with kind eyes. ‘Mother’ was a petite woman with the most expressive face.
Sadly, not even a week after the adoption, their ‘Father’ passed away. There was a chemical explosion at his workplace that had instantly killed him. ‘Mother’ became distraught.
You guys are an ill omen, she had said.
Nevertheless, she kept them, the kids whom she blamed for her husband's death. Life continued, moving forward slowly and methodically. On Jun’s 11th birthday, ‘Mother’ returned late from work, full of smiles.
I’m getting remarried, she had said to them.
Jun and his sister packed up their bags. They moved into their new ‘Father’s house. He also had a son of his own. The son had gone out to play at that time. However, ‘Mother’ kept talking about that son, singing his endless praises. When the said son returned home, Jun finally realized why ‘Mother’ loved him so much. He had her late husband's unique eyes which glowed gold.
At that time, poor little Jun didn’t know that this was the turning point in his life where everything started going downhill.
***
Jun arrived in the classroom dressed in formal clothes that were stashed away at the corner of his closet. His eyes immediately zeroed on Mr. Handsome standing near the windows of the classroom. Mr. handsome was gazing out the window with a bored look. His long, well defined fingers were fiddling with the cuffs of his white shirt that snuggly fit his body-
Stop. Stop. Jun really needed to stop.
At the present, it was merely physical attraction that Jun felt towards Mr. Handsome and he really didn't want it to develop further into anything. He was still traumatized by his previous crush.
The very crush who called the desperate him out on a date only to add rohypnol1 Commonly known as roofie. It is a date r@ape drug. A drink with this drug may not look, smell, or taste any different than a normal drink. to his drink. When he woke up, he found himself bound to a chair where his crush oh so kindly explained that they were going to gift his heart to their ailing crush.
Although he assumed Mr. Handsome wasn't a psycho like that, he had lost trust in his taste in men and women alike.
Jun was snapped out of his thoughts when the class representative called out to everyone. “Alright! All 38 are here? Good good. Everyone please gather around, this celebration is to commemorate the beginning of our life as an adult!....
….We class representatives have put a lot of effort into making sure that this evening will be enjoyable and memorable.…”
While everyone was cheering, Jun looked pale as a sheet of paper. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants and turned to the nearest person, desperately holding onto his crumbling hope. “Hey, did I hear that right? The class representative said 38, didn't we have 39 people in our class?”
The said person just shook his head and went back to cheering; getting hyped up for the upcoming party. That last bit of hope shattered.
A student had gone missing. Right under everyone’s nose.
No one had noticed.
And no one remembers.
