Chapter 5: Something's Off

"Oh my God!"

"Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance!" Voices echoed in the entire department again, now filled with panic and fear.

"There's no signal!" one of the graduates shouted, which was followed by other voices, complaining the same. Everyone was looking at the cellphones with evident dismay due to the lack of network connection.

"We'll go look for help!" one man said and everyone felt relieved when they saw who it was. Jerome Flores, their former Basketball MVP and a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering.

Other men volunteered to come with Jerome. They were able to form two groups that will go to the two different gates of the campus.

"Why did you have to open the window?" one of the women who were standing at the front of the line cried.

"I…I just tried. I just tried if it would open," the guy who accidentally opened the window reasoned out, obviously nervous.

"You shouldn't have done that!" another woman raised her voice.

"Shut up! How the fuck would we know that there's a dead body inside that window?"

Everybody just watched the two men and two women at the front of the line blame each other. They only stopped screaming at each other when someone casually walked in front of them and to the open window where the registrar's body is still hanging.

"Hey, Ally! Where are you going?!" Ella hurriedly asked her friend who now has everyone's attention.

Ally turned to her for a second. "She might still be alive."

Everybody stilled, slightly shocked that none of them thought of checking the registrar's body, or if she was still alive. They just all assumed that she was dead.

Their eyes fixated on Ally as she tried to peek at the registrar's face which was slumped over the window pane. They all turned confused when she took out her handkerchief and wrapped it around her right hand.

Ally was about to touch the old lady's body when the crowd in front of her was suddenly cut in half.

"Give way! SC! SC!"

Some of the graduates did step aside and let two young men and a young woman, who were familiar to them all, walk past. They were part of the College of Engineering and Information Technology's Student Council during their last year as students.

"Shut you shits and don't cause chaos!' eyebrows furrowed, the young woman wearing a pink dress and with her hair cut in a short bob screamed. She is Hailey Concepcion, the former secretary of the Student Council and a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

"Everybody, calm down!" the tall man who was wearing a white polo shirt and thick glasses said in a loud and full voice. He is Kingsley Rivero, the former president of the Student Council and a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Ally didn't mind the fuss and just let the former officers control the other graduates. She faced the body slumped against the window again and was about to raise its wrist when someone stopped her.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked a young man dressed only in a black pullover, calmly but with an authoritative tone. His hair is down, almost covering his eyes, and his name is Noah Reyes, the former vice-president of the Student Council and graduate of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.

Used to avoiding discussions or any kind of conversation with people she doesn't know, Ally just stood up straight and withdrew her arm that the young man held. She just looked at the registrar again then quietly turned her back and walked away from there.

"Hey, I saw Noah holding your wrist," Ella greeted her friend with a teasing smile while moving her eyebrows up and down.

"Who's Noah?" Ally just asked.

Ella winced. "You know, throughout our college life, you have encountered a lot of handsome guys but you don't even remember a single one. Noah, the former vice president of SC, the IT student before!"

Ally looked back at the guy who is still checking the registrar's body with the other officers. "Oh, is that him?"

"Yes! This is why you're still single!"

Ally didn't pay attention to what Ella said. Her eyebrows furrowed while still looking at Noah. "Why is he here if he's an IT graduate?"

"I don't know." Ella shrugged. "Maybe, because he's a former SC, he'll help organize things today?"

"Hey! Is it true?! Are you alright?!" Terrence asked breathlessly, suddenly appearing behind the two.

"Yes, silly. You're the one who doesn't look okay," Ella said, eyeing their former class representative from head to toe.

"I heard the others talking about what happened to the registrar and then that woman from Computer Engineering who never speaks approaching her dead body," Terrence explained. "We all know who that is."

Ally shook her head and sighed when the two looked at her. She averted his gaze and glanced once again at the registrar's window.

"Who's that girl? What did she do?" Hailey asked as she approached Noah. Her eyes squinted as she sneakily took a glance at the young woman she is talking about.

"I don't know, but it seems like she's checking the body," Noah answered.

"Eh?" Hailey scoffed. "Who does she think she is? A detective?"

"Does she still have a pulse?" Kingsley asked, just approaching the two after calming some of the other graduates.

Noah knelt down to get closer to the registrar's body and used two of his fingers to feel the pulse on her wrist. After a few seconds, he looked up at Kingsley and Hailey then slowly shook his head.

"T-This is obviously a murder, right?" Hailey said, starting to get scared. She took out her phone. "Should we call the cops? I'll call my dad. Damn, why is there no signal? I just posted on Instagram a while ago."

Kingsley took a deep breath. His eyes roamed around the other graduates. "Something's off."

"Good morning, Engineering Batch of 2020. Welcome back to St. Louie University."

"Good morning, Engineering Batch of 2020. Welcome back to St. Louie University."

"Good morning, Engineering Batch of 2020. Welcome back to St. Louie University."

"Hey, it hasn't been 30 minutes yet. Why—" Hailey couldn't finish what she was saying when a loud shrieking noise blared out from the campus speakers. Everyone covered their ears until a different voice echoed, directly addressing them.

"Good morning, Engineering Batch of 2020. Welcome back to St. Louie University."

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