Paused Class

"This... where are we?" Asril questioned while warily looking at his surroundings.

"What the fuck is this shit!?" Binard, another classmate who was transported into this situation yelled angrily. He started banging on the door that was in the back left corner of the room trying to forcefully open it.

"Fuck!" He kicked over a wooden chair that was nearby to vent his frustration, heaving his chest up and down. There was also an obvious sign of panic mixed in with anger in his facial expressions when he was looking for other ways to leave.

'I still see some of my classmates sleeping, that must mean that we're waking up at different intervals...' Asril assumed Binard must've been one of the ones who've woken up earlier and finally lost it due to the stress.

"It's best to keep calm in these kinds of situations, the fact that we're not dead or tied up tells us a lot." Asril decided he needed to say something before the situation descended into chaos.

"The hell you say to me? Calm? Fuck you!" Binard shouted back in response, it was clear that he wasn't in the right state of mind to rationalize. Asril only let out a slight sigh and left him alone to calm down.

More of the class woke up one after the other, and the situation was only getting worse. Asril decided to inform his friends the moment they woke up to remain calm and to remain together.

The first to wake up was Trevor, he panicked at the situation but after hearing Arsil out, he realized that was the best action to take as panicking and rash actions will lead nowhere.

The same happened with both Olen and Neil; Olen took it in about as fast as Asril did at first and Neil panicking a lot in the beginning before being persuaded by both of his other friends.

Asril and his group were the first ones to organize themselves; however, the same couldn't be said about the others. There were a few who could remain calm in the situation, but most of them began panicking when they have seen the others acting the same way.

"Hey, guys... that bird is frozen in mid-flight." Niel gestured for our attention outside the window where we saw the exact scene described to us.

"How the hell... is there anything moving outside?" Trevor added.

We peeled our eyes and looked at every angle the window could provide and determined two things, it was not an illusion, and it appeared time has stopped outside the classroom.

When others have seen their group's pondering observation and discussion amongst themselves, they asked what they were talking about. The entire class soon discovered that they somehow discovered something and since they had no reason to hide the information, they shared it with the rest of the class.

"They're right... what the actual hell." Nobody knew what to make of it, it didn't have any definite meaning but it also at the same time holds significant meaning.

Everyone in the class by now has awoken and acknowledged their current predicament. It was after this, without anyone noticing, that the words 'When all are in a calm state of mind will the world continue.' were written on the blackboard in the front of the room.

The words on the blackboard were comforting but also scary at the same time, how were the words written without anyone nearby?

"It's not that I believe the blackboard's message, but I think we should do as it says anyways. Panicking will not bring us any favorable results, we must stay focused." Olen finally spoke after a short bout of silence.

Not sure what to do anymore, most of the class agreed with Olen. A few classmates; however, did not want to listen and continued to even try more fervently to escape. Binard was primarily leading the charge towards freedom.

They tried to smash the seemingly invincible furniture at the windows, pry open the doors that feels like it was sealed for many years, they tried any method they could think of. While the others watched, not all of them remained inactive, while they agreed to be calm in the situation is the best course of action; they still tried to help with any new methods of escape.

***

Half a day has passed for the class, not in reality but relevantly.

The efforts to escape have all but died down, they gave up hope and had looks of defeat. They must've realized it was impossible to escape a while ago but kept trying anyway.

Nobody noticed it at first but everyone aged back to their freshmen bodies, this confirmed that this is no longer the reality that they are used to. They didn't know if it was all some advanced virtual reality, regression to some point in the past due to the non-modern style of the classroom, or transmigration to some parallel universe.

Aging back to a younger body is a blessing anyways in Asril's opinion, it adds a few more years to one's life and it's still the prime age to learn and train. There was absolutely no loss in this; how it happened is unknown, but Asril accepted it as it was; much like the others.

Now that everyone has calmed down, they decided to have a class discussion. It only lasted for around an hour but the consensus was to clean the classroom, sit back in the seats in which they awoke in, and stay calm for whatever may happen after following the blackboard message.

There were obvious disagreements, but it was all decided by a vote. They didn't know if doing all of those steps was necessary but they wanted to be on the safe side. While they don't know what will happen, if anything happens, they believe it'll most likely be a class lecture due to the setting. Especially since outside the small classroom windows facing the hallway outside, there is a neatly dressed man waiting outside the door; frozen.

After all the preparations were set, they sat down at their desks anticipating something to happen.

They waited... 10 seconds

30 seconds...

50 seconds...

3 minutes... Some started losing patience, but they all agreed beforehand to wait an entire hour if need be.

5 minutes... Something finally happened, the room got brighter as the cloud that was barely covering the sun making a gloomy setting was finally out of the way.

The door that some of them tried so desperately to open, moved without a hitch as a tall noble-looking man walk to the podium in front of the blackboard which now had no message.

The man clears his throat before he speaks and smiles at the class.