Clear, undeniable knocking had sounded from the class entrance.
The four people inside stared each other in the eyes, unsure what to think.
Too many illogical situations had happened to them in bulk, causing a few to forget that they were still in a school – believing that only the four of them were stuck in some magical place.
And if this class of originally four pupils was this chaotic, they can only imagine how the classes with 20+ students were faring.
"Who is it…?", the professor asked softly, practically whimpering.
"Hello, I'm the substitute teacher for class G3. I and my students are having trouble with the computers. Can any of you come lend a hand?" the voice of a young woman responded, with no evident fear or nervousness in her tone.
Everyone in the class stared at each other once more, lost in thought.
And the first thing that Alden had come to think about was, who else had seen that horrible image outside the windows?
Given that the girl had screamed for help as soon as she saw the tiger and with the windows facing the gruesome scene's general direction, he was inclined to think that most people had seen her fate.
However, the catastrophic event had taken place quite far from the building they were at now, the western classroom buildings, with it happening near the eastern school gate.
He had no idea as to why the girl had been near the school entrance altogether; her being outside the classroom mid-lesson had caused her unfortunate end.
Come to think of it, the only reason that Alden had even been attracted by the faint scream was that he was near the open windows.
He had doubts believing he would've heard her if the windows weren't open, and the only reason the windows were even open was due to the fact that this particular room's air conditioning needed repair.
Meaning that in most other classes, with the air conditioning functioning as intended, there was no need to have open windows.
So given the known facts, Alden came to a sombre realisation that they were most likely the only ones to have seen the girls' demise – and therefore the only ones with the knowledge of the imminent danger.
Yet he had another doubt… Was Dorian the only person who had vanished?
Without seeing the other classrooms, they had no way of knowing.
"Should we open the door? With how many eerie things we've seen happen today, can we even trust anything she's saying…?" Rowan spoke first, in turn breaking the silence.
"…Even though I get what you mean, her knowing that there's a computing class happening in here – makes her actions completely valid." Vale responded first, although unsure, it was clear he intended to open the door.
Briefly glancing at the professor, only to find him still staring silently at the floor in thought, Rowan proceeded to look at Alden – awaiting his choice.
"…I support opening the door; we can't just stay in here, can we?" Alden mumbled. Like the professor, he too was lost in thought – as if he had forgotten something crucial.
"Uhm, alright, sure. But I'm not going to be the one opening the door…", Rowan whispered warily.
"It's fine, I'll open it," the then silent teacher spoke confidently – an open facade, volunteering himself to the greatest danger.
Calmly walking to the door, the professor took steady steps.
The others all stared at his back, cautious looks clear on their visages.
Upon reaching the door, the old man took deep breaths – in an attempt to calm his nerves.
And yet, while reaching for the door's handle, Alden could swear he saw that the professor's hands were vaguely trembling.
Alden lightly bit his lips while at the same time clenching his fists; thoughts of morality had started to form in his head.
Was it right for an old man to be put in danger while three young men in their prime cowardly lingered at the back?
And yet he did nothing; he did not tell the professor to return, nor did he volunteer to open the door himself.
Because he, too, was scared.
And even more so since much darker thoughts of mortality had gathered with the first.
…Why shouldn't the oldest person in the room sacrifice themselves for the youngest?
For that is an integral part of humanity, society and civilisation.
Since ancient times, parents and grandparents have sacrificed an endless amount for their children and descendants.
How many times has a child's life been valued more than an adult's life in a sinking ship?
So…he chose not to intervene.
Alden just stood there, staring blankly at his back.
"Uhm, hello? Is anyone in there?" The young woman's voice sounded once more, only this time much less patient.
"Yes, yes. I'm opening the door now…", steeling his heart, the professor whispered while simultaneously yanking the door open.
The three "cowards" at the back widened their eyes, ready to jump out the window at the faintest sight of danger.
"Well, hello there. G3 is right this way!" The woman said enthusiastically, now confident she'll be able to solve the computer problem with the old man's help.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, with light smiles appearing on their faces.
"Hey, can I check your phone? You might not believe this, but—" The professor, who was originally intending to check if her phone had a signal, was interrupted by a scream of disbelief.
"Ahhhhhg – what the hell?!" The scream rang down the hall – exactly where the women had been pointing seconds ago.
"Eaeek! How...? How did she just…?" Another sounded from the same location.
"But – but, he was just there?!" The scream, which originally sounded alone, now rang multiple times with different tones and accents.
But they all shared one characteristic: the emotion contained within it was a similar mix of bafflement, confusion and fear.
"What?" The young teacher, believing that a student had been hurt in some form, hurriedly rushed down the hall to where the screaming originated.
With the old professor swiftly catching up behind her, it didn't take long for the three young men to follow suit.
Unsurprisingly, upon entering the class, the first observation that Alden made was the sheer shock and disbelief on the younger students' faces.
Most had not completely recovered, opting to instead simply stare at where Alden could only assume to be the position where the now-vanished students had been.
From the first glance, Alden could tell at least two students had disappeared, simply because the classroom's line of sight was hovering over two empty chairs.
"Guys, please calm down and tell me what happened?" The young teacher raised her voice in an attempt to calm the students down.
"They – they dissipated or something…? First it was a boy, then a second later a girl!" One of the girls in the class, stuttering, attempted to explain what had occurred.
"…dissipated? What do you…?" Before she could continue to get any more information out of the little girl, a faint scream sounded. Alden had a feeling it was at least from two floors above them.
And sadly, this time around the screams did not get contained to a singular classroom.
Rather, it acted as a domino effect, spreading to various other floors, each with multiple other classrooms.
Suddenly hearing screaming coming from all around them, and with the shock of witnessing a disappearance firsthand, a few of the students, who were mostly 12 but as young as 11, started to get teary-eyed.
Seeing this and still unaware of what had truly happened, the young woman tried to reassure her students.
"Hey…guys! Look at me; I'm here, aren't I? Help is coming soon, believe me." Unfortunately, she got cut short.
But not from someone speaking nor someone screaming over her.
She too…
Just vanished.
And following in her footsteps, three more students inside the classroom disappeared not seconds later.
Alden stood there, hopeless.
For what was he meant to do exactly?
He took a headcount of the number of people in the room, and recounted…again and again.
It seemed to him that this class originally consisted of 22 students and one teacher, for a total of 23.
When he first came in, two students had disappeared, and now that the young teacher and three more students vanished in front of him.
It totals six.
…Meaning that 6 out of 23 people had mysteriously vanished in this classroom alone.
Alden could not calculate the exact percentage, but he was sure that it was around 20% to 30% of people in the room.
Meaning that with 1/5 of people disappearing, they had actually gotten lucky – lucky enough to be on the low end, at least.
Alden was confused about what his next course of action should be; he looked around at his companions behind him, half expecting them to have vanished as well.
Thankfully, Rowan and Vale were still there, with equally bad expressions on their faces.
Looking around to locate the professor, Alden found him trying to comfort a few of the crying students.
Having seen an extra 4 people vanish, three being their peers and the remaining one being their teacher – who had just gathered their attention – they were considerably on edge.
So Alden decided to join him in comforting the crying children, but not before he made sure to instruct the other two older boys behind him.
"Vale, go check on the computers; see if they stop operating whenever you start using them again. Rowan, try finding a phone to check if it has a signal, just in case." speaking to them with an odd authority, Alden paid them no heed and went to calm down one of the screaming children.
Vale and Rowan looked at each other, clearly weirded out by Alden ordering them around, yet considering the current situation – they ignored their feelings and went to do as he had told them to.
Walking up to the, oddly, still screaming student – a little boy – Alden knelt down to get on his level.
"… Hey, little guy. Look at me; it's ok; don't cry anymore. Trust me, the police are going to come soon, ok? And they're going to get your friend back from wherever he went. You can trust me, alright?" Alden really tried his best; it's just that he's always hated children, ever sinc–
….
Ah.
He remembered.
"…Really? Really big bro? Are the police really going to find where my brother went? Are you sure…?" The young boy continued talking, unaware of the internal turmoil his words had on Alden's mental state.
Alden remembered.
He was not in this school alone.
He had a Brother.