Chapter 3 : Strangeness

Adam took a couple of steps back immediately and then on seeing a man beside him - twice as tall as him - he quickly flinched back further and observed the strange man.

_ Where am I?_

He observed the man close to him who looked back at him with a perplexed expression and then at the gloomy receptionist, whose gloomy eyes showed a bit of amusement 

Adam was about to question out loud when some information ran through his brain.

It was about the mission he was sent on and things like the body he was in, a kid named Obehi, some things about him, why he was at the desk and who the man beside him was and the last information was probably the most vital cause Adam would come to realize that it had saved his life.

It was about how he should play along with everything, cause everyone there was a ghost, that he was in a part of the land of the dead where they reflect the living - acting out of place will get him killed.

Immediately Adam composed himself, for a kid his age that was pretty impressive. With fear and other emotions under control, he quickly apologized and walked back to his previous stance

"Sorry sir, you were saying?" Adam was even more surprised by his voice cause he knew that wasn't his

_ I wonder how I look_

" Are you okay, kid?" The gloomy man asked with one of his eyebrows raised comically

" I'm fine sir"

" Are you sure, why did you move back just now?" The man beside Adam asked, his raised voice made Adam's heart race faster

_ They are all dead, they are all dead, if you don't want to die too, you have to behave, I know you aren't afraid of death, but since you have a chance to live why ruin it? Wait, how am even sure I'm not dead yet_

" Yes Daddy, I .... Just lost my footing there for a second," Adam said with an awkward smile that frightened even him. He responded in a way he would have to his father.

The man snorted and looked at the gloomy with a dominating clamour he spoke " I'm still surprised the principal refuses to see me, what kind of shit show is this?"

" My apologies sir, the principal is very busy lately, he would have attended to you if he could.

But he has passed the information on that he will give you a call"

With a frown, the man answered" I will be expecting that, and is the registration done? Am I free to go now"

" Yes, they are sir"

" Okay then" turning to Adam, he spoke with an expressionless tone " I'm leaving now, you behave yourself here, I better not receive a call in a day or a week later or at any time for that manner that you did something wrong.

Or else I'll dump you in that military school next, you hear me?!"

Adam was startled by the voice and tone

His mind was crowded with confusion

Just as he was about to respond, a voice that made him jump back in fear resonated

" Can't you respond?"

" Yes sir!" Adam said in fright and watched as the man scoffed before leaving.

_ What was that all about?_

Took a deep breath to cool his mind down and suppress the never-ending fear, it was then that Adam noticed the stench that came out of the man's mouth and it still lingered then he noticed the skin tone of the gloomy man when he turned to face him.

It looked cold and somehow dried, like a corpse.

He knew that the look very much, in fact too well, he had seen the skin tone on the other kids, especially the ones who died, it looked nauseating

And now on thinking back, it seems like his so-called dad's skin tone was even worse.

To avoid suspicion, Adam stopped observing the gloomy man and simply stood close to the counter and smiled at him, hoping that would suppress his fears.

" Your registrations are all done" the gloomy receptionist handed him a file, Which Adam collected, thoroughly avoiding hand contact. " contained in that file are your important document and student ID, and also among those are also the school information, history, and rules, you need to study them so you would have smooth sailing here" he added.

" See that woman over there" pointing to his left, where a woman leaning on the wall with a pitied expression met his gaze

The receptionist added "She would take you to your room and give you a few tip.

Now be gone"

Adam stood rooted there for a second, his brain needed to process a few things, what rang in his head now though was that he needed to leave there, the strange writings had told him he needed to survive the night at least to pass the trial giving him 50% completion rate, meaning death was lurking somewhere.

He needed to be careful

He proceeded to meet the assigned woman, whose look lingered on him before asking

" Won't you get your bags?"

" What bags?" Adam asked back, the woman didn't respond and just turned her gaze behind him, when Adam followed her gaze, he saw a traveling back and a pack back on the floor near the receptionist

He hesitated for a second before going towards it, it seemed like he had gained some memories of the kid because he recognized those bags as him.

_ This reminds me of that movie where the actor entered another man's body and took his memory_ 

Adam shook his head with pity on that thought. _ let's just see how things go_

With suppressed emotions, Adam took the bags and went back to meet the woman who after giving him a long look led him to a corridor.

_ Staying alive is the most important thing, meaning I need to do all I'm told to do.

But still, I need to know some things, like what is this place all about, and what can pose danger to me

Lost in his thoughts of Do's and do n'ts, a hoarse and distant voice called him back to the presen

" It's strange to see a new kid arrive at the school this time of the semester and in the night for that matter.

You might get into danger if you don't know some vital stuff, so I suggest you read the rules and regulations properly.

" Yes ma'am" Adam gave a perfunctory response, his mind still processing lots of thoughts.

_ Nothing bad has happened to me ... yet. Meaning that they see me as one of their own, I better keep it that way, I should be safe for now, I guess._

_ but not for long, like she said I need to know some things and possess lots of information about the whole situation, but surviving is the most important thing now.

" Ma, tomorrow is class, right? Does that mean I just only have to sleep tonight?" Adam knew it was a strange question to ask, but he asked anyway.

His thought was if he could only fall asleep and wait till the morning, doesn't that mean he had passed the trial.

The woman looked at him with more pity, after a sigh she said in a more distant tone.

" That's up to you to decide"

They walked to the end of the corridor, to outside the lounge - then walked passed a garden which led to a road, and on the side of the road were four tall-storey building.

Adam was amazed by the scene, he had only seen such structures and arrangements in movies, never In a real view

_ amazing_

At the end of the road was a smaller building compared to the rest but exquisite, the street lamps lit up the road but it was a complete contrast to the darkness that covered the back of the buildings.

Adam was even more perplexed by the silence, no laughter of kids, no noisy activities he had expected from a school like this.

And strangely enough, the place felt so deserted, the street was awfully clean and Dusty. The loneliness too sucked.

The two buildings stationed on the right looked more like apartments while the other two were connected by a walkway at its center.

It looked more like a School.

It was the hugeness that surprised Adam the most

_How many ghosts are here?_ That thought gave him a chill.

And shrouded in darkness behind the buildings were vaguely seen tree

Funny enough, the whole place is poorly lit

Adam stood rooted for a second to take in the whole scene.

_This place even have an elevator? _ Adam was amazed when the woman took him into the elevator, placing his hands on the wall - afraid of falling - he observed the interior even more with a wide mouth

He only knew this thing was an elevator cause he had seen it in movies - and partly because the woman had called it an elevator- anyways, this is the kind of thing you see white people in, strangely enough, most of their scenes are taken in an elevator, especially romantic ones - not like Adam knew any better

_ This isn't scary at all, can't wait to explore the whole place_ Adam's previous fears had vanished without a trace, and a voice pulled him out of his trance immediately.

" Always take the elevator". The woman looked at him and said

" Huh?" _ of course I will take the elevator, why won't I? The building is so tall._

" The stairs are not safe ... At all, no matter what always take the elevator, it's not in the rules in that file, but these are things you should know."

"Don't worry though, your roommate will tell you more ..... Well if you are lucky ...." The last part was mourned

The part Adam heard was ' The stairs aren't safe

He couldn't imagine he had forgotten that this was the land of the dead, none of them was real or was real but now they were all imitations.

Adam's fears came back immediately, and he gulped, his hands trembled slightly

_ oh mine, I can't believe I thought of exploring this place, I might have lost my mind, what a joke. ..... but why aren't the stairs safe, what could be more dangerous than being surrounded by dead people_

Finally, the woman and Adam stood in front of a room in a corridor using sound censor

_room 606_ an ominous feeling crept into his heart.

" Can't I get another room"

" There are only empty rooms left, meaning no roomies, this one has a spot left for you.

Look, if you don't like it here you can file a complaint tomorrow, but I suggest you don't do that, it will only make things worse for you

Now get in, it's not safe to stand in the passageway for long." The woman said in a hurried tone.

Adam had noticed her tense expression when they entered the corridor, which perplexed him and scared him.

Adam did as he was told, he opened the door not bothering to knock, the woman didn't tell him to, and while at it, the woman had already turned back and walked with hurried steps. Adam stepped in.

He expected gazes and he met them.

There were four people in the room including Adam, someone walked past him and turned on the light which made Adam sigh in relief because he could see now

It was previously dark _ but he could still see - which had given Adam the scares.

A kid with a huge back bag and holding a traveling bag was being stared at by corpse-like humans. With trembling hands, Adam decided to break the silence lest he get eaten by ghost.

" My name is Ad... Obehi. I'm a new student" Outstretching his hands he added "This is... My proof of that, my files."

" The new student, ' huh'? A boy on a bunk said with amusement, he had a handsome and smiley face that could still be noticed even when he talked, he looked seventeen.

He added "We were told this morning that a student will join us soon. My name is Kelvin, that's Kaleb" pointing to the boy at the bottom bunk. " And that's Taiwo. Welcome to room 606. And yeah, that is the bunk you will be given to, used to belong to a dead kid, so be careful, he might come back for it."

Kelvin said that last part with a playful grin.

".....thank you?" Adam was surprised that everyone wore a nice face except the guy called Kaleb though.

 _ what's up with that guy_ if not for their pale skin, Kelvin's being super pale, he would have thought they were real persons.

And that's the scariest part of the whole thing, they were all ghosts yet they acted normal.

" Okay, get some sleep Obehi, you can arrange your things tomorrow, it's not good to leave the lights on at night."

" Turn off the lights Taiwo" Kelvin added before laying on his bed and staying motionless, same with Kaleb, but not before giving him a solemn look

_ what with that?_

The lights went off

It was just him and Taiwo standing in the room now, the pale kid with dried lips, no different from a corpse, and beneath all that was stiffness

Adam was surprised that he could remain sane after all this.

With a stiff smile, Adam greeted "Hi"

" Hi, welcome, your name is Obehi, right? Where are you from? Oh, lemme help with your bags" Proceeding to take his bags, Adam stood rooted to the floor ready for combat, afraid that the corpse would attack him somehow.

" You must be exhausted from your long travels, right? I hope you've eaten?"

Adam nodded, still rooted

" Are you alright?" The kid questioned

_ why is he so nice_ Taiwo was roughly his height and maybe his age too, his skin was pale, but not compared to Kelvin at least. He had an innocent face

" Yeah," Adam gave a reply seeing that the kid was still looking at him weirdly

_ better don't think of eating me... Or whatever it is that ghosts do to humans.

********

Adam had always thought back in that room that if he was to ever escape he would take a long shower, but he couldn't, he was surrounded by ghosts for Gosh's sake, and one of them could strangle him in the bathroom when there was soap in his eyes.

Currently, Adam was reading through the documents with a torch, sitting on his bed, above his head was the top bunk, his surroundings were shrouded by darkness and the torch was the only light in the room.

for a kid his age, reading is nothing but a piece of cake to him, he had some education back in his former Orphanage, before he got transported to his current city, and even then he still reads a lot, of newspapers, magazines, novels, and comics.

Not only was he good at these things, but he was also intelligent and smart, Adam had always believed in knowledge and he thrived to attain it, he had always wished to be an academic not until that hellish place crashed all his dream.

Adam read through the documents with all seriousness, not sparing his attention for anything else, it wasn't hard to read since it was for teenagers after all.

Unknowingly to Adam, someone is watching him in the dark.

Done reading, Adam managed to tear his gaze off the documents and looked ahead - his sight on nothing in particular- the documents contained some mundane information like school rules, punishment, school history, and the founder.

The stuff contained none of the important information that Adam needed but what he found strange was some of the rules, like not leaving the room after dark, no noisy activities, and no turning on the room light after ten

Adam pondered on that stuff mostly because the woman had told him that they shouldn't stay in the passageway for long.

_ These rules aren't simple security measures, are they?_ Adam thought, wondering what he was missing and how to get more information, then accidentally his eyes suddenly met someone's gaze in the dark.

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