23 Chapter 23

I was pulled back and thrown towards a wall.

I held the scissors tightly and moved my arm away to prevent harming myself as I hit the wall. I stumbled and fell down. I looked up to see who it was that pulled me from my back.

It was Onur. I immediately recognised him.

That raised many suspicions. There was no doubt he was aware of something.

I quickly got back up, with the scissors still in my hand. I took a few steps back, away from Onur.

"Give that to me!" he yelled and started running towards me again. But this time, I was quick enough to push him back before he could reach me.

"Stay where you are." I told him. He looked at me, but didn't reply.

His aggression was a clear sign of the existance of 'the community' somewhere near. I have made a wrong choice by entering an empty area in the school, where 'the community' had a great power over the physical world.

"Calm down, and let's talk." I told Onur.

He sprinted towards me, and as a reflex, I raised my hands in front of me to protect myself. That wasn't a particularly bad choice, but it wasn't the best. I was still holding the scissors when Onur attacked me. The scissors made a long cut across his arm. Onur jumped away from me in pain, and I ran to the other end of the restroom, near the door to the hallway.

I had protected myself for now, but I wasn't intending to harm Onur.

Onur screamed in pain a few times. He was breathing heavily. He gathered his strenght again and looked at me. As he was preparing to sprint again, I ran into the hallway and hid near the door. I thought getting into a crowded place could prevent 'the community' from manipluating Onur. Unfortunately, being in a crowded place wasn't entirely comfortable with the blood stains on my uniform and the scissors in my hand. I quickly hid the scissors behind me.

At that moment, Onur came running out of the restroom. I jumped on him and we both fell to the ground. I quickly got up, but he was still laying on the floor.

"Eh?" he said.

"Remember me?" I asked him. I was hoping that he was no longer manipulated by 'the community', since we were near a very large crowd.

"Yes, but... why did you just do that!?" he said while getting up and tidying his uniform.

"Do you remember what you were doing a few seconds ago?" I asked him.

"Uh... Yes, I was getting out of the restroom, and you jumped on me." he replied.

"No, just before getting out of the restroom." I asked him.

"Why are you asking, man? I was probably doing the sort of stuff what you do in the restroom." he told me. "What is wrong with you?"

"'Probably' is not good enough." I told him. "Remember."

"I don't see what you are getting at." he told me.

"You literally pulled me back and attacked me in the restroom." I said.

"What? I don't remember anything!" he replied.

"Yeah, that's what I was getting at." I said. "We both made a mistake. We should stay in crowded areas."

"And... why exactly is that?" he asked me.

"You don't remember anything?" I asked him.

"About what? Not going to the restroom?" he asked back.

It was awkward. He couldn't remember everything we had experienced... Maybe it was right; the people around us were simply 'placeholders' of the real ones. But, in that case... How was Mr. Kenan aware of everything? He had died too, after all.

"You don't ever remember staying late at school?" I asked him, with very little hope.

"No, I don't..." he said. "Wait, actually I do... maybe."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm not sure." he replied.

"Do you remember being trapped inside the school building?" I asked this time.

"What are you talking abo- Wait, did THAT really happen?" he said in excitement.

"So... you DO, in fact, remember something about that." I said.

"Yes, I have a faint memory of such thing... But I was thinking it was just... some sort of dream. Damn, I must be suffering from memory problems." he said.

"How much do you remember?" I asked him. "This is important."

"Well, we had stayed late at school to help for the ceremony preparations. Oh, yes, I remember getting trapped in the art class..." he said that, but couldn't continue talking.

"And, then? How did you get out?" I asked.

"Oh no." was the only thing he could say.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There is no way." he said.

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"I remember people dying..." he said. "My memory is so faint that my wild imaginations are getting in the way... sorry."

It was obvious that he simply didn't want to believe in what he just remembered.

"Unfortunately, they weren't your imaginations." I told him. "Please go on."

"What is going on here? This... This can't be true!" he yelled.

"Keep your voice low!" I warned him.

"Okay, I remember everything now." he told me. "I remember the curse and everything we saw. But how did we make it out alive? I mean... It pains me to say so, but I've seen people die; but I had just seen some of those people alive and well in here right now. What happened?"

"Just so you know, YOU were dead as well." I told him.

"No way!" he said. "But, well, I don't remember escaping from the curse after all... Tell me what is going on, please!"

"Alright, I will, I will." I said, and I summarised everything we have experienced after his death. That was a lot of information for him, but we had to be quick.

Now that I knew the people's memories were at least faintly preserved, we had to reach them out. We had to make them recall the horrible memories of that evening; that way, we could warn them not to stay late in the building this evening. We didn't have a lot of time before the final lesson, but we still had lots of people to warn. I was planning to meet Idil and Mr. Kenan with Onur, so we could plan our next move.

Onur and I were about to walk away when we saw our biology teacher staring at us in the hallway.

"Your arm!" she said, staring at Onur's wounded arm. "What is going on here?"

We had some serious explaining to do.