"Huff Huff"
I was outside the gates, not in Gardenia, but in my world
"Hooooo"
Taking deep breaths of my school, I tried to calm my racing heart and trembling hands as much as I could
When I opened my eyes Catrina and Gabriel weren't here, so I assumed they went back home to do their own things
This was good. I didn't know how I'd answer them if they told me why I was sweating so much and so out of breath.
'more importantly...'
The first thing I did when I came back was take out my phone and take a photo of my neck In order to check the condition of it.
'nothing, no drop of blood, nothing at all'
I had been worried on how I'd explain being injured but-
'there's not even signs of me being strangled'
"..."
My thoughts shifted to the blood trail I saw and my injured leg
'It...wasn't an hallucination...was it?'
There were a lot of unanswered questions, like 'how could I move?' or 'why did I not feel the pain?'
But I didn't dwell on that too much, after all how is it even possible for me to find out right now?
"Future me will find out for me"
It felt irresponsible to say that, but it wasn't like there was a book that could tell me anything right now
To push my mind off of that subject, I started thinking about something even more important that needed to be addressed.
Sitting down at a nearby bench that I found on the road, I brought my hands to my face In shame
"I was wrong, completely and utterly wrong"
Those monsters made some plan to trap me?
They were all working together in order to kill me?
I wanted to go hide in a corner banging my head on a wall for having those stupid idiotic thoughts.
"Well the only good thing here is that no one here knows about my utter humiliating and shameful thoughts"
After I returned from Gardenia, I thought deeply in order to try and understand what was happening and I came to a few realizations.
First those monsters never worked together to try and kill me, In fact those monsters never even cared about me.
"Because what they cared wasn't 'me' but the one breaking the rules"
There was also the slight possibility that those monsters saw me as one of their 'own' but this was simply a conspiracy theory with no solid evidence to back it up and it'll stay that way as I didn't want a repeat of me blindly following my theories as it would confuse me more when I realize that I was wrong.
"Well the thing to keep note of here is"
The monsters who follow a schedule and a set of rules can only act against said Schedule only when someone is breaking the rules. This case being-
"A student staying in the corridor to avoid classes"
I had also realized that I could have removed my shoes to muffle the sound of my footsteps, so I took a mental note of that for whenever I might need to be stealthy next time
The Second thing I had realized in Gardenia, was the fact that those things-
"Have free will"
All of them are forced to follow a schedule, but that's all. They don't have the same thoughts, they think independently and when the schedule ends, they start doing whatever they want.
"Like humans"
Those monsters aren't just imitating students, they are trying to imitate humans themselves.
'They might just be trying to imitate human will though'
I dismissed this, as I didn't know what would they imitate off of human will
And The third thing I had realized was the possibility of tricking the monsters Into going against their Schedule and break the rules.
"If they are capable of having Independent thoughts..."
They might also be capable of going against their schedule. If they are capable of having Independent thoughts, what's stopping them from acting Independently?
'It's punishment'
"oh...if that's the case then that means"
I recall what happened when I got out of Classroom 17 and got sent back to Gardenia High School.
"They didn't know, Did they?"
They didn't know that I 'finished' my class and assumed that I was breaking the rules
"If I had moved, would they have gotten punished?"
there wasn't much clear evidence but circumstantial evidence kept piling up.
'Let's keep this as a strong possibility instead in case I'm wrong'
I could be wrong, after all this is just a strong theory that holds some ground
"I guess I'll find out more If I read this"
I stare at the Envelope in my hand. The first thing my eyes saw the moment I had left and passed through the gates and came back was the Envelope I now hold In my still trembling hand.
"The same as back then..."
The sudden moment when I found myself back at my school and in my classroom with my backpack and Envelope and a long white(?) hair strand on my desk, the only difference between the two being the disappearance of the Long hair strand. I didn't have the patience to go and find some hair strand where god knows where it is by now and that's considering the wind didn't blow it away.
"I think I should go back home first"
Sitting up from the wooden bench
I moved myself towards home, the only place I felt was truly safe
***
Clank
I returned home after what felt like an exhausting day and closed the door behind me
Removing my shoes and placing them on a shoe rack
I went straight to my bedroom and placed my backpack filled with books on my somewhat large table filled with books and textbooks of when I went to middle school.
"should I throw these books out?" I didn't need them anymore, after all the only reason they were still here was simply because I was too lazy to do it and that fact
"Eh I'll do it later"
Did not change whatsoever
"Ah wait a minute"
I quickly recalled that I hadn't locked my locker with the new lock I had bought a few days ago since I heard that High Schools had and assigned lockers to each student, so I bought one to at least have it when I need it but-
"Where is it?"
I rummaged through all of my pockets and even my backpack but it was nowhere to be found
"don't tell me it disappeared like the hair strand did"
My movements grew slightly more tense and more erratic
When the hair strand disappeared, I didn't care a lot because it just suddenly appeared along with the Envelope, having no monetary value to me whatsoever
But my lock?
"I bought that lock with my own money given by my mother! That thing has way more monetary value than a random hair strand found in a locker!"
Back when I got transported to Gardenia High School, I didn't question why I had been back to my class seemingly not late whatsoever with my stuff right In front of me, It's not that I didn't want to think about it, It's that I couldn't find a plausible theory that made any sense.
'I'm lacking too much Information'
My eyes were locked at the potential Information source that was on my table sitting there Innocently.
"This damn Envelope better have some good Information In it"
I grumbled, continuing to curse the person who sent me this Envelope and started this entire ordeal in the first place.