The Rain

"Due to the rain." Robert explained, "it seems like Xin river has started to flood. They were to open the dam earlier today, and it rained heavily. We will be late to get to school. Please keep quiet while I inform your parents."

and, like the good students we are, we all started talking with no regard to how high the volume gets. I counted the number of vehicles that were stuck with us. At least 50 cars and similar vehicles were in sight, but the rest of the road was too foggy to see clearly.

I pulled out the book that Isabella gave us earlier. no matter how we looked at it, it looked pretty expensive. "Why would she get such an expensive thing for us? just to keep our mouths shut?" I mumbled. As I scanned through the pages, a snoring sound was pouring into my ears from my side. I looked at Tom, who was sleeping soundly. His bag was open and all the stuff was visible, including his book. as I pulled out the book, it dragged a small piece of paper with it. That paper gave away many answers.

[Royal Academy Bookstore]

[Receipt for Purchase]

[Set of 5 Grimoire books= 500 gold coins]

[Discount applied= 70%]

[Payable amount= 150 gold coins]

{1 gold coin is about 100 Suka, my phone cost about 150,000 Suka.} I calculated the money they spent, and sure enough, their salary is well above what they spent. Those two got us expensive books for a cheap price. Tom probably didn't see the receipt, and we got tricked. {well, it doesn't really matter.} I put Tom's book back in his bag and kept the receipt to myself. Then I began reading my book.

[Mana is said to be limited inside a body. but the elements created through mana can be absorbed back into the creator's body. There are many ways found to be successful for doing this and we are still researching. However, there is not a single recorded case of absorption of foreign mana into a body that yielded positive results.]

lightning struck somewhere and the thunder spooked all of us. Tom woke up and while trying to figure out his situation, spilled the contents of his open bag. "What the hell was that?" he asked.

"lightning." Rose answered from the back seat. "it hit there somewhere." she pointed to the mountains in the distance. it was comparatively close to us.

"looks like we are stuck here for a while. What are you guys gonna do?" I asked others.

"I don't know, watch the rain maybe?" Rose said.

"I am going back to sleep," Tom said as he packed his bag. He then promptly went back to sleep in his seat. The bus seemed to be getting quieter.

A few minutes passed with no movement happening, as everyone was getting bored. Some people were napping and some were doing something they liked. About thirty minutes passed, and now the whole bus was void of any loud sounds. Isabella seemed to be taking a nap in the first seat while Robert kept watch. others were sleeping and students who were still awake were whispering at most.

I stared at the sky, the light seemed to be getting dimmer by the minute. I pulled out my phone and called home.

"Hey mom, did you get the news?" I asked her.

"Yes, Robert informed us. Where are you now?"

"still at the same place, looks like it will be late at night when I will reach school."

"I am cooking dinner right now, should I leave yours out? Also, do you want dad to pick you up?"

"Nah, I will just sleep at school, so don't cook dinner for me." I looked outside, it was raining heavily now. "looks like we will get there well past midnight."

"alright. just drop a message when you get there. take care."

"good night."

I stood up and tried to stretch a little. using the headrests, I pulled myself out of the seat. I walked up to Robert in the front seat.

"You should sleep," he said, without looking at me. "all of your friends are asleep, ray."

"and you?" I sat down on the stairs, "you must be tired from all the work, take a break. I'll keep watch."

"really? thanks." he said and dozed off immediately. {Must be really tired. sleep well.}

I looked at the bus driver, he was also taking a nap. outside was getting darker as the sun was setting. I looked at the clouds above us, lights flashing between the gaps of those clouds seemed peaceful. {it has been a few years since it rained like this,}

As I sat there, some old memories started flowing back. {it was the same day as this, huh?} These were not some great memories, but were recorded very vividly in my brain. It was Rita's fifth birthday, and we had recently moved to our house in the same month. The house was empty and we were running around the house. Rita ran out of the main door, and the way she went was where she shouldn't have. I rushed to grab her but fell down the cliffside. I held onto her as we went down sliding through the muddy forest. I was screaming so loudly that Rita's crying seemed insignificant.

Somehow, I managed to grab a small tree root. After I calmed down, I checked both of us for any major injuries. Fortunately, we only had some cuts at the time.

"It's alright Rita." I stood up. "we didn't fall all that far. look."

She got up and brushed her clothes. then she gave a warm smile after finding our house in the visible distance. We walked back, slipping and sliding down on the wet soil. Looking back, the distance we covered was not that large, but it felt large at the time. As we approached our house, mom's voice calling us became louder. Rita rushed to the mom while screaming. The look of fear on mom's face when she saw us standing fifteen feet below the house, was something I was not able to forget. the pale face contrasting with…

"...are you here?" someone shook my body. {huh?}

"what?" I focused on the source of my voice. "sorry miss isabella, I was kind of spaced out."

"I asked, why are you here, shouldn't you get to your seat?" Isabella asked, standing next to her seat.

"oh, that? I was just keeping watch."

"Did Robert order you to do that?"

"Oh, no-no. I saw that he looked tired, so I suggested him to get some rest while I took his place. that's all."

"Oh. you can go back. I'll keep watching now." she said as the driver turned on the night lights inside. others seemed to be waking up as well, so I went back. Tom was running his eyes and yawning openly when I got there.

"finally decided to wake up? I jumped into my seat.

"Are we there yet?" Tom asked, looking around the bus.

"Nope, we haven't moved a bit. but it looks like the rain is stopping." clouds rumbled as our bus started. {finally!}

The bus pretty much crawled the entire way till we got to the Xin river. We finally saw why it took us so long to get here. I leaned onto the window and saw the river torrents taking down a few trees as the river swallowed the banks.

"Holy shit! what the @*%k?" Tom shouted. He was also looking at the river. "I have never seen the river run so wild. Did it rain that much?"

"Do you think I can answer that? see for yourself."

"seems like it is clearing up," Sarah mumbled, slowly getting away from the window. "What is the time?"

"about one hour till midnight I guess." Tom checked his phone. {wait a minute}

"Tom, you had a phone?" I asked him.

"what? Yeah, I have one. didn't I tell you before?" he answered innocently.

"no, you didn't. Give me your number." I saved his number on my phone, "why didn't you tell me before you had a phone?"

"well… you didn't have one before. so it didn't occur to me to give the number. and bringing phones to school is not allowed anyway." he put his phone back. "It is past midnight. you should use the automatic time system of your phone, you know," he told Sarah.

"You too have a phone?" I was feeling betrayed somehow.

I proceeded to save the phone numbers of anyone willing to give me their number. It was a good time pass and socializing for the entire class. We haven't talked that much since we joined the class earlier this year. This helped us get to know each other and keep awake while we traveled. The bus picked up the pace and we reached the school in about one hour.

"Alright kids, gather up." Robert counted heads after we all got our luggage. "all of you whose parents are coming to get them, I will call your names out so line up here." We were sorted into three groups. the ones that were going with parents, ones that were going on their own, and the ones willing to stay the night. Robert took the role of sending away the students, while Isabella escorted us to our classroom.

"We only have ten of you here, so just pick whichever desk you like, and take a nap on it," Isabella said just as we got to the class. After we settled down, she left the room to oversee the leaving students. ten students were distributed over forty-five seats. four of us put the bags down and went to sleep almost immediately, while two were lying down, using their phones.

"you aren't gonna sleep?" Tom asked me, "you didn't sleep on the bus either, are you okay?"

"yeah, I will sleep after I wash up a little, my face feels sticky," I said as I left the class to get to the washroom.

"I am coming with you, I gotta go as well." Tom chased after me.

By the time we got back, six of us were already asleep, while two were still gone.

"Where are Sarah and rose?" Tom asked after sitting down.

"I don't know, let them be. and let me sleep now." I closed my eyes. I was sleeping sitting up, the desks were not that comfortable that I could lie down on them. my neck would hurt like hell after this, I guess. {whatever, I'll just skip school tomorrow}

when I came to, my face felt weird. I opened my eyes to see that the right side of my face was touching my hair. very familiar hair, to be exact. Rose was using my shoulders as a headrest. {that's nice, but when did she get here?} my arm felt numb, and my mouth was dry. I opened my phone to look around the classroom. The place was dark to see clearly what others were doing. [04:38 AM] my screen read, it would be time for sunrise soon.

I heard a soft mumble, it seemed like others were waking up. I slowly tried to move Rose's head and lie her down to a comfortable position. but… she woke up, and looked at me as I was holding her face. The light was too low to see the details, but her eyes were glistening. I felt weird, and just kept my hand where they were.

"um- good… morning?" I said, as it was the first thing that came to my mind. she just stared at me, clearly lost. I let go slowly. she just stayed like that for a few seconds before reacting. she blinked a few times before opening her mouth.

"What were you doing?" she asked in a low voice.

"well- i - I was just moving your head so you don't hurt when I move." I sat on the table, in front of her. "wanna take a walk?"

she nodded and we left the classroom, no one else seemed to be aware of us. After getting fresh and washing our faces, we left the school building. reaching the grounds, we were greeted by cold winds that usually followed the rain. The clouds were cleared up now, and the sky was visibly filled with stars that gave it a pink tint. we walked around the grounds without speaking anything, it felt serene to just enjoy the grounds like this.

"Are you going back on your own?" Rose asked me.

"Yeah, I don't have that much stuff to carry."

"how? didn't you buy a bunch of souvenirs on the first day, where are they?"

"I sent them by mail earlier, Rita was quite mad at me. she screamed through the phone last night, I mean the night before yesterday" I recalled the call I received from her, she was screaming for thirty minutes straight. well, it was deserved, I made only her package pay on delivery. She was pissed at me.

"so, you don't have those things with you?" Rose asked, "I should have done the same, I have to carry all that myself now."

"Well, I can go with you, should I?"

"no, it is alright, I can carry it all by myself. and I don't need your help to fly not either," she said with a smile.

"I guess so."

I looked at the rising sun in front of me, the light winds slowly came to a stop and the birds started circling the school. We walked back to the classroom and were met with the half-awake Sarah and fully awake Tom. He was walking around the room, while Sarah was rubbing her eyes. others seemed to be out of the room at the moment.

"Where is everyone?" I asked Tom after taking my seat.

"They are all in the toilets. no one went there at night. all of them had a lot of shit built up." he said, sitting down near his bag. "Are you gonna get breakfast here, or at home?"

"I think I will eat here, let me get my toothbrush." I went to the changing room and took a shower and changed. There was someone else there taking a shower there, but I didn't see who. After packing my stuff and getting breakfast, I met up with Tom and went to see Sarah off. It was around seven in the morning, and only four of the students were left here.

"Did anyone see Charlie?" Robert asked. He was making sure that all of us were leaving after informing him. only charlie was left that wasn't seen since last night. his bags were still in class, so he had to be in the school building. Isabella was checking the surveillance cameras and we were looking around the building.

"not yet." rose said from the third-floor balcony.

"He is not here either," Tom said from the second floor.

"keep looking. I am going to check the locked rooms next." Robert said from the first floor.

"I am gonna check the changing rooms now. I think he was in the shower earlier." I shouted and started walking. Someone was in the shower when I left the changing rooms. {What the hell are you doing inside there Charlie?} I opened the door, and I heard the water running, meaning the shower was still on. I banged on the door.

"Charlie?" BANG, BANG, "are you in there?" I tried pushing the door, it was locked from inside. After trying not to break the door for some pushes, I used all of my strength in the next push. the door lock broke and the door swung open, hit the shower wall, and swung back at me. There he was sitting in the shower, fully clothed and unconscious. I turned off the shower and checked his body. He was burning, and his pulse felt weak.

"FOUND HIM!" I shouted with all of my strength. Charlie's clothes were fully drenched and felt heavy. As I was pulling him out of the shower, Robert arrived. it was like he appeared out of thin air. Without a word, he picked up Charlie without any effort and rushed out.

"I am taking him to the medical room, bring his clothes there," he ordered and ran with full speed.

"Where is he?" Rose and Tom came running, they were panting. I let them catch their breath and said what Robert instructed. While we were getting to our class, Isabella flew past us to get to the medical room. We rushed there with whatever clothes we found in his bag.

"here." I gave clothes to Isabella. The other two followed behind with other miscellaneous stuff like his phone and shoes. We didn't go in, as Robert was still taking care of the wet clothes and Isabella was guarding the door. We sat there like there was some kind of operation going on inside.

After like ten minutes, Robert came out, his clothes wet and he had Charlie's wet clothes in a bucket. He looked at us and casually said, "he has a fever, I don't see anything too serious but I informed sir norman and he will be here soon. you guys should head home."

We left after dad arrived, I was ordered to escort Rose to her home by him. She looked annoyed but agreed. We headed there as fast as we could, I dropped her stuff and went home directly.

"Welcome home." mom opened the door, "you got changed already? go and drop your bags, you need to get rest."

"I can get some at night, we have a day off tomorrow," I threw my bag in my room and got back down. "many other classes were also stuck in the rain, so they are giving us a break tomorrow."