The Phantom School 67 Final Delivery

"You have no power here." replied The Voice. "We easily outnumber and outpower you."

"You have no power anywhere but here." replied Cansu. I dived into the conversation to stop Cansu from antagonizing The Community any further.

"What are you doing, are you out of your mind!?" I asked her.

"From now on, just do as I say." said Cansu.

"Who put you in charge, and what is going on!?" I yelled.

"Eh, teacher, I figured out that you don't have a plan and you don't know what you are doing in general. You were about to get yourself killed a few times by now, so from now on, just follow my plan." she calmly tried to explain to me.

"And what exactly is your plan?" I asked her. I didn't want to blindly put myself into weird situations by following a random plan she randomly made.

"For the first step, RUN!" she yelled. "RUN OUT OF THE LAB, QUICK!"

Without considering the door being locked, I started running. Just when I arrived, the door suddenly unlocked. I was out of the lab, in the hallway. After I got out and took a deep breath, I held to phone by my ear again.

"What did just happen? How did I get out?" I asked.

"You know, I have some magical abilities myself too." she replied. "Be glad to have me on your side."

"You could tell me beforehand." I told her. "Don't do everything by yourself."

"Fine, fine... But you owe me one." she said. "Or actually, I think you owe me two."

"Right..." I sighed. "So, what is your plan, exactly?"

"You will not like it." she replied.

"I know I probably won't." I said. "Just tell me, I don't like not knowing things either."

"For now, just stay with crowds of people in order to avoid The Community. Never return to the lab." she said.

"I really wanted to talk to Mr. Kenan." I said.

"Teacher... Why do you think he spends all his time alone there?" Cansu said. "Because it is one of the only places where The Community has power during school time. Mr. Kenan was their 'amba.s.sador', remember?"

"I am really amazed by your knowledge on the situation." I told her.

"Oh, well, about that... I- I think I can tell the truth now." she said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked him.

"Now that I'm trapped with you, I can sort of... read your mind." Cansu said. I didn't reply to her and thought about it. Could it be dangerous in any way?

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I asked her. "Why did you keep it a secret?"

"Because I thought you could be scared of me, and you would be reluctant to trust me." she said. She wasn't wrong to worry about that, but she already had gained my trust by now. "You pervert." she whispered.

"Shut up." I replied. "Let's focus on the plan, please."

"Oh, okay. So, the plan consists-"

"Wait." I interrupted. "Before we begin, there is something I wanted to ask you. Why did The Community got so excited when you appeared?"

"They thought they had me trapped inside the building like them. They had no idea I escaped from them using your body as a vessel. And now, since we don't occupy the same enclosed s.p.a.ce with The Community, I can be dangerous to them by going to places where they don't have any power."

"I can't say I completely understood what is going on, but... let's continue with the plan, shall we?" I said.

"Okay, listen." she said. Just when she was about to begin explaining, the bell rang. The next lesson was about to begin.

"Well, too bad." she said. "Just go now, I will tell you about it when you get home."

"Understood, Miss." I replied.

"And remember, don't return to the lab!"

"I get it, I get it." I said and headed to the cla.s.sroom.

- - -

After the end of the last lesson, I grabbed my suitcase and left the building as soon as I could. Without even looking back for a second, I hastily walked away from the school, towards the bus stop.

The bus stop was completely empty, but at least I was far away from the school. Besides, I had the protection of Cansu now. I couldn't help feeling a bit relieved. There was still some time until the arrival of the bus, so I sat there and tried to rest.

I closed my eyes and started listening to the soft breezes of the light wind. I've never felt that good for months...

I opened my eyes when I heard footsteps in the distance.

I got up from the bench and looked around. I saw someone walking to the bus stop. He was coming from the same path I used to walk away from the school, but I couldn't recognise him from that distance. I sat down on the bench again.

The footsteps got closer, and the man stopped walking we he got near me. He didn't say anything.

I nervously turned around to look at him. It was the man who introduced himself as 'The Librarian' this morning.

"h.e.l.lo." I said.

"Here." he said and showed me a book. "I fixed it all up."

I slowly grabbed the book from his hands. It was that old book with the leather cover I found laying around in the library.

I started hearing an engine sound in the distance. The bus was about to arrive.

"I'm afraid I will have to go now." The Librarian told me.

"Actually, I'm going to get on the same bus, so-" he didn't even listen to me and walked away for a while as I curiously watched him.

The bus' blinkers turned on as it began approaching the bus stop.

After a moment, an jarring brake. The sounds of the windshield shattering into pieces, and bones piercing into the thin metal cha.s.sis... A shower of crimson blood on to the driver and the pa.s.sengers sitting in the front of the bus... The body of The Librarian being dragged on the asphalt with the momentum of the bus, ripping his skin apart...

He had jumped in front of the speeding bus with little time for the driver to react.

I could hear the screams of terrified pa.s.sengers, and the chatter from those who couldn't realise what just happened. Meanwhile, the driver and I were frozen solid, looking at the body of The Librarian. The poor driver just had the trauma of his life.

Overwhelmed by the horror and depression, I collapsed on the ground.