Chapter 3

The next morning, the atmosphere at Garuda Nusantara High School felt different. The Indonesian red-and-white flag in the school field was flying at half-mast. Several teachers stood near the entrance with tense expressions, watching every student who walked in.

Rian walked slowly into the school grounds, carrying his worn-out black backpack. There was still a bluish bruise on his right temple from the previous day's incident. From a distance, he spotted Bona and Aris waiting under the banyan tree near the canteen.

"Yan! Over here," Bona called softly, waving his hand.

Rian approached them. Bona immediately handed him a chocolate-filled bread roll wrapped in plastic.

"Here, eat something first. You look even more worn out than yesterday."

"Thanks, Bon." Rian took the bread but merely held it in his hand. His stomach still churned whenever he remembered the stench of blood inside the storage room.

Aris, who was leaning against the tree trunk, let out a harsh sigh.

"I couldn't sleep properly last night. The class group chat was full of all kinds of ridiculous theories. Some people said Nadya was depressed because of her physics grades, while others said she'd been dumped by her boyfriend. But the three of us saw her neck with our own eyes."

"The police are weird, too," Bona added while munching on some chips. "How could they immediately call it suicide? When we were at the security post yesterday, that police officer seemed to be in a huge hurry to write up the report."

Rian lowered his head, staring at the bread in his hand.

"I... I feel like I'm going crazy, Ris, Bon."

Aris turned toward him, his eyebrows drawing together.

"Why do you say that?"

"Since yesterday, the dizziness in my head has felt different. When I touched Nadya's hair clip in the corridor..." Rian paused for a moment. His voice trembled. "It was like... I saw strange images inside my head. I saw someone wearing black gloves dragging Nadya away."

Bona and Aris exchanged glances. Bona let out a quiet laugh, but he looked awkward.

"Yan, maybe you're just exhausted from getting beaten up by Farel. How could anyone see something like that just by touching a hair clip?"

"I'm serious, damn it!" Rian interrupted, raising his voice slightly. "I saw it with my own eyes! And when Mr. Hendra ran to the storage room yesterday, there was a pair of black leather gloves in his back trouser pocket. They were exactly the same!"

Aris, who had initially been about to dismiss it as a joke, fell silent. He stared intently at Rian, trying to find any sign that his friend was simply hallucinating. But the expression on Rian's face was genuinely terrified.

"But it can't be Mr. Hendra, right?" Aris whispered. "Sure, Mr. Hendra is strict, but he's our teacher."

"I don't know," Rian said quietly. His hand trembled as he held the bread wrapper. "I'm just scared that my brain really is damaged."

---

The school bell blared through the crackling speakers, cutting their conversation short.

Rian's first class of the day was boring. The classroom was filled with students whispering about Nadya's death. At the back of the room, Farel and his gang were busy playing games on their phones and laughing.

Rian sat at his desk near the window. In front of him, Sarah's desk stood empty. Sarah was a student known for being quiet. Rian had only just realized that her bag was missing from her seat.

When break time arrived, Rian approached the class president's desk.

"Where's Sarah? Why isn't she here?"

"Oh, Sarah," the class president replied while straightening his books. "Her mother called our homeroom teacher this morning. Apparently, Sarah suddenly transferred to a school in another city. The paperwork has been taken care of since last week."

Rian frowned.

"Transferred? But she was still talking to me about our group assignment yesterday. She never mentioned anything about transferring."

"How should I know? Maybe it's her parents' business," the class president replied indifferently before leaving the classroom.

Rian walked back to his desk, an uneasy feeling settling over him. As he bent down to retrieve his pencil case, which had fallen near Sarah's desk, his fingers accidentally brushed against the edge of her wooden desk.

Shrrrk.

An intense, icy sensation immediately crept up his hand. Rian let out a quiet groan, clutching his head as though needles were suddenly stabbing into it.

Behind his tightly shut eyes, blurry images began to appear once again. This time, he didn't see a murder. Instead, he heard Sarah crying inside a car that was speeding down the road.

"No... please, let me go..." Sarah's voice sounded utterly terrified.

Then an adult man's cold voice replied, "Your parents have already signed the papers. You're coming with us."

The vision abruptly cut off.

Rian jerked backward, his breathing growing rapid. Fresh blood dripped from his left nostril again, falling onto the concrete floor.

Panicking, Rian hurriedly wiped the blood away with the sleeve of his school uniform.

He was absolutely terrified. He didn't understand what kind of power this was, but he knew one thing for certain: Sarah hadn't transferred schools under normal circumstances.

Something was wrong with the people who had suddenly disappeared from this school.