I'm walking on a concrete pavement, rain falls all around me as I clutch my umbrella. The faint splashing sounds of my own footsteps is all I can hear and the distinct smell of wet grass plays on my nose. Instinctively and for no particular reason I turn my head up and gaze onto an unfamiliar building. (It looks like a school...) I think to myself as I'm tempted to walk inside. I push the metal rusty gate open as it creaks loudly and step onto the dirt path. Before I go any further I recognize the crest, painted next to the gate. "Kirkwalle..." I whisper and the rain gradually gives in. I close my umbrella and look up at the gray sky. Then, a simple thought occurs to me and I look up and down at myself. After a few seconds I realize that I'm wearing an unfamiliar uniform. I don't remember what it should look like, but it definitely wasn't like this. As my feet take me towards the school building, I feel obliged to follow their will. I push at the big double doors in front of me and they move slowly, as they too creak under my touch. What I see before me is not what a normal school should look like, even in my trance I can tell that much. The space around me feels distorted, and the inside of the school itself looks like it's portrayed from inside an abnormal camera lens. A thousand eyes are fixed on me as a big crowd of students, wearing similar uniforms as me, point their fingers to my direction. I hear muffled voices that I can't make out but I soon realize that they're not talking about me. I turn around to see a short and lean girl, standing behind me, hanging her head. Her long and straight dark brown hair cover her face and expression. Suddenly, I feel obliged to step aside and let her walk by. But before she can walk further inside I instinctively call out to her. "Hey..." I exclaim and she turns around, my surroundings turning to a black and never-ending void. Her head is faceless, but I can tell that her gaze is fixed on me. Her uniform is of the same colorway as mine and her posture is slouchy. The students have disappeared and we're now standing alone inside a dark nothingness. She speaks but I can't make out what she's saying. Her voice is monotone and chilly. Suddenly my heart starts to race and my mouth turns dry. "... me" "... me" She repeats over and over again, but the first part of what she is saying can't be made out. Her words feel like static in an old radio. "... ME!" she shouts, her voice making me freeze. Even as she shouts, I still don't understand what she wants to say. My feet slowly make small steps backwards as the now furious girl slowly walks up to me. I reflexively look down at my hands and notice that they're covered in a red thick liquid. "You..." She whispers, her tone threatening and angry. I can hear her clearly now, as if she is speaking through a microphone inside my brain. As she comes closer I try to turn around but my feet are rooted in place, my gaze cursed, only to look at her. I hear the sound of a door shutting closed with extreme force and a key turning immediately after. Soon, the sound of a laugh rings out and I can feel the faceless girl smiling at me. She walks and walks, as I hear her small footsteps get closer. I want to run, I want to get out of here, but I can't. My breath catches on my throat as she finally comes up so close to me, that I can feel her cold, icy breath. Then just like that, she disappears and out of nowhere I'm holding a book. A familiar book, that I can't quite recall where I saw it last. My pulse goes down and my shaky breaths turn normal as I gaze at it. It's mostly black with gold engravings covering the surface. As I calmly graze it with my fingers I see a faint light enveloping everything around me.

Suddenly, I feel my eyes burning and subconsciously raise my heavy eyelids. As soon as I open them I'm greeted by Max's face, as she stares into my very soul. "Lemme sleep Max, for fuck's sake..." I say irritated after taking a big breath while I shift my position next to... Wait next to who? I immediately open my eyes again and look down at my left. There April is fast asleep. My arm over her shoulder. As soon as I realize that we fell asleep like this and everyone's looking at us, heat rises to my face. "Max!" I say with a smile, trying to brush off the fact that April's sleeping in MY FRICKING ARMS. "Good morning!" I say once again as I shake April's body hoping to wake her. "Ha ha ha." She laughs sarcastically while giving me THE LOOK she always gives me in these kind of situations. "Care to explain what IS happening here? And you even went as far as to tell me that love CAN'T BLOSSOM in a school full of traps..." She reminds me once again as April stirs. "Hey come on, I've heard that line already!" I exclaim as the girl next to me wakes up with a yawn. "What's happening..?" She groggily asks, and turns to see everyone looking at her. She looks at me and then at the others, then back at me. Her eyes go wide in shock as we're both under Max's glare now. "You see... Uhm tha-this is... this... is... Uhm..." April stutters and thinks for a second. "Jack? Anything to add?" Max turns to me. "Yeah. Well, this is I guess." I shrug with my half-hearted answer. "This is what?" Max asks after she sighs. "You see... this is..." April prepares herself by taking a deep breath. "...Exactly what it looks like!" She finishes off her sentence and everybody gasps. "Yes! This is exactly what it looks like! Wait what?" I repeat after April, without realizing what she just said and I immediately turn to her. "What?" She asks me, her face red. "We fell asleep like that didn't we?" She says in a loud voice so everyone can hear. "Well, yeah..." I nod as I turn back to Max. "See, you got your answer." I state while looking all smug. Suddenly Max's frown turns to a grin. "I'm super-duper proud of you, Jacky!" She exclaims as she comes closer to me. "...But talk to your FRIEND beforehand about this." She gives me a final glare as she pulls on my ear aggressively. "Ow, ow, ow okay got it got it!" I exclaim before she finally releases my ear. "Jack, should I pray that she doesn't get pregnant?" Anette says with a straight face and my jaw immediately drops. "Whoa, you dog!" Chris says after a fake gasp. "What the hell are you saying!? Do you even know what it takes to get a girl pregnant?! And no it's not just holding hands and a simple hug that does the trick!" I shout at the top of my lungs as April is silently short-circuiting next to me just from the word "pregnant". That is basically how our lousy morning started, making me forget all about the creepy dream I had barely minutes ago.

After having a quick breakfast, and making the necessary preparations we decide it's time to head out and continue the search for the fourth and last key. The yellow light of the sun, filtered by the windows, covers the school's hallway as we all stand outside the Home Ec classroom. I take out my phone and click my tongue on the low battery notification. "Battery saving mode can only do so much I guess..." I mutter to myself as April tilts her head over my arm. "You're lucky, actually. Mine has been dead since yesterday." She points out and I chuckle. I check the time before stuffing it back into my pants' pocket. (Only 33 hours left now...) I think to myself as April taps my back and motions for us to join the others. Soon, we have shifted into our usual formation and the search is about to commence.

Unfortunately, as the hours went by, and while we were sleeping, the malevolence of the school has gradually increased, making the time in which the classrooms shift a lot less than it was before. After practically hitting a dead end we decide to regroup. As we're walking down the hallway of the 1st floor the dream I had this morning comes to mind and I stop in my tracks. The others turn to look at me, almost in synch as I rub my jaw. 'Uh oh he's gone into detective mode..." Max states while the others nod. (That book I saw in my dream... It was the same as the one in the library... Maybe it will help us...) I think as April waves a hand in front of my face and I jerk my head up in a huge "eureka" moment, making the girl in front of me jump back. "Uff that scared me..." She claims, a hand over her chest. "Guys! I think I got something!" I announce and they all look at me quizzically.

After explaining to them the contents of my extremely realistic dream in detail we all decide to head towards the library and look for the said book, hoping to find something that might be of use to us.