Death of a Rose

They all laughed and went inside the school chatting loudly while something has been bothering Jocephine, "Why is the gate not locked? Where is Bong?" she asked.

Elay turned and laughed at her, "It's been ten years, Phine. Do you actually think that he'd still be living in this school?" she responded with another laugh.

"Oh, right." Jocephine muttered. She took another look at the gate, "But still, not even a guard or a lock? It's... It's kind of weird."

Jayson stopped at an empty, old bulletin board. "We used to decorate this. How could they just leave it this old and ugly?"

The random talks came on long while Ria continued walking until she received a message.

[2 messages from Dark]

Dark: What time should I pick you up later?

Dark: Tell me so I won't forget.

Seeing the message, she immediately typed a reply.

[Not sure what time I'll finish. We've just arrived at school.]

[Why do you need to pick me up?]

Dark: Don't ask any question, lady. Just tell me.

Dark: Your little brother wants to play with you so bad that he even knew my number.

Dark: I'll bring you home after your reunion.

[I'll just message you when we're done.]

[I'm really not sure what time it will end.]

Dark: I'm going to some place a bit far, well, very far. But I'll finish it as soon as possible so I can go get you. Is that okay?

[Where are you going?]

Dark: I don't know about this place. I'm just following the location they sent me.

Dark: I need to go now, talk to you later. I'm driving.

She didn't send a reply so that he won't be distracted while driving. She turned the screen off and put it inside her pocket. She could still hear her former classmates' voices behind her and she smiled, "They are still as noisy as ever."

But as she looked up, she froze, couldn't speak as she was dumbfounded by the sight of what was in front of her.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"Gu—guys!" that was all that could come out of her mouth. They all looked at her and slowly walked towards her, putting a hand over her shoulder, "What's wrong?" Klair asked.

She pointed out in the front, they all looked to where she pointed and their eyes widened, staring at it in horror.

"Holy shit." Ronjay muttered.

"The building is gone!"

All of them looked around the academy, all what's left is the elementary building, the dusty stage full of trash, the rusty playground, the wilted plants and the empty area in front of them with the collapsed building. "Wha-what happened here?"

"That building was demolished many years ago."

They flinched after hearing an unfamiliar voice behind them. They all turned and saw an old man lying down in the long bench. "Who are you?" Keila asked.

He removed the hat covering his face and sat up. "Who I am is not important, I'm just a homeless guy living in here for years."

'For years?' Ria thought about what he said. "You've been in here for years? No one tried to reprimand you? Or tried to go inside here?" Lloki asked, having the same thoughts.

The old man snorted, "No one would try to get near this place, I'm the only one who tried." then he looked at them, "That's why I was surprised to hear many voices."

Ria had a lot of questions in her mind but she couldn't try to ask them all at once, "Why would no one enter here? And does that mean the high school building was demolished many years ago?"

The old man reached for his cane and slowly stood up, putting his other hand on his back and the other is holding the cane that is supporting his body. "You children, should always be updated in the news." he stated, pointing his index finger to all of them. He turned to the hs building, "All the people here, think that this place is cursed." he said.

All of them just stared at him in confusion, but before any one of them could ask a question, the old man turned and walk away.

Before he leaves he looked at them one last time, "Soon you'll know what I meant." he turned his back away from them and walked to the gate.

"Soon." he repeated while walking until he exited the gate. His words echoed in their heads even after the old man disappeared from their sight.

Lloki, Ria and Klair seemed to have thought of the same thing since earlier, the thought that kept bothering their minds. If the school closed several years ago, then,

"How did we get invited to a reunion?"

The others looked at the three, who asked the same thing in unison. They all fell silent, but Elay answered, "Maybe...Maybe they still want to hold a reunion even if it's already closed?" she said and the others nodded in agreement.

Ria shook her head in doubt, "That's possible, but, is it necessary to put the logo and Ma'am Rosa's signature even after the closing of the academy? I mean, they could have just sent a message. I feel no need to put an effort into an invitation of a school that was closed for years." she stated. The others did not speak and Ria felt awkward, "But you guys get my point, right?"

All of them nodded except Jocephine who shook her head. They all turned to her and facepalmed.

"Not only that," Lloki chimed, "Why did the meet up place have to be set here? In a closed academy?"

"Maybe the teachers will also come here, and we'll all go to the reunion party together?" Rica said.

They all glanced at Agatha who let out a heavy sigh, "If that's the case, then my husband shouldn't have left. He could have waited here with us." she stated, referring to Spade who dropped her off.

"Disgusting." Arneau muttered as the other boys played with the soil from the plant box near them. "Aren't you all grown up? You all look like a primary students playing with dirt." he said to Ronjay, Jayson, Jayjay and Sebastian, with disgust in his tone.

Arneau's eyes caught a glimpse of a paper bits in the plantbox, "What is this?" he mumbled as he pull the paper, revealing that it's actually not a small paper, but a newspaper clipping buried in the soil.

Klair rushed over his side and snatched the clipping from his hand. "The one who published this is my dream company. I tried to apply there, but I failed just one question," she paused for a moment and a sudden memory popped into her mind, "Now that I remember, the question was an incident about a school in this area."

She turned to Lloki, "Maybe they were pertaining to our academy."

"Read it to us out loud for us." CC said.

Klair nodded and began reading, "-- -- 2019, The directress of the Saint Michael Academy, Estel...

𝚃𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚘, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚋𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙰𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚝𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚜 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝚊 𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚘𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚜𝚢𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗���� 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛...

6 days..." Klair finished reading it and glanced at them." "Does the teachers know about this?" CC asked. Then she looked at Agatha who is crossing her arms and rubbing her shoulders in worry. Agatha looked back at CC and shook her head, "Spade never told me about this. He probably didn't know too." she answered.

All of them talked and even got into arguments as they try to figure out the meaning of the clipping and the invitation.

Ria just dazed into nowhere and suddenly thought of Dark. "He needs to know about this just incase."

Dark, we've gotten into some trouble in the academy.

If you don't hear from me after many hours, call the poli|

BANG

They all nervously turned to a very loud noise coming from one of the elementary building's room. Ria didn't get to continue her message as she approached the door of the Grade 1 room. The loud closing of the door made some of them nervous and frightened.

As she stopped by the door, she noticed a note taped into the door. When she was about to get it, Justine stood in front of her and went to get it himself. "What's written on it?" Ria asked.

The others waited until Justine turned to face them and raised the note,

"The Rose has wilted."

They all looked at each other in bewilderment, while Sebastian kicked the door open.

They all went inside, it was dark and there was nothing to see as they try to find the switch of a light that they don't even know if it works.

After all of them were already inside, Jayson felt the switch, "I found the switch!"

"Then open it already, idiot!" Arneau said while rolling he—his eyes.

Jayson hit the switch and the lights was still working well. But all of them were startled as Rica screamed her lungs out in terror.

"MA'AM ROSA!"