…An erring, suffocating silence.
"Argh...!"
"Ouch...watch it!"
"Who's pressing on me?!"
"Where… where are we?"
Groans, curses, and panicked breaths collided in the darkness. Bodies shifted against one another, limbs tangled, the cold floor biting into exposed skin.
"Is everyone alright?" A calm female voice cut through the chaos steady, controlled.
"Class president… is that you?" someone asked shakily.
As eyes slowly adjusted, the room revealed itself. Around twenty students lay scattered across a vast, circular chamber. The walls stretched impossibly high, smooth and colorless, swallowing sound.
At the center of the room, a fractured beam of sunlight poured in from an opening far above, too high, too narrow. A cruel tease. Escape through there was impossible.
"Amy!" A messy blond-haired boy pushed through the crowd and pulled her into a sudden hug.
"Uhn—?" She stiffened, already knowing who it was. "Axle?" Amara said, glancing over her shoulder.
"Knock it off." A tall boy with long silver wolf cut hair stormed forward and yanked Axle away. His hands trembled as he turned back to her, eyes scanning her face, her arms, her legs.
"Are you hurt?" Xavier asked urgently. "Anywhere?"
"I'm fine, Xavier." She gently tugged his ear, grounding him.
He froze then buried his face into her shoulder, clutching her tightly. His body shook. "I thought I lost you," he whispered hoarsely. "Please… don't leave me."
"I won't," Amara murmured, stroking his hair. "I promise".
"Tsk." Axle scoffed. "Enough of the crying."
Everyone turned toward him. "We're stuck in some God-knows-where place," he continued, face darkening. "So instead of hugging, can someone explain how the hell we got here?"
The students slowly gathered beneath the light fear etched onto every face. "Yes," someone whispered. "Where are we, Class President?"
Amara swallowed. "I don't know," she admitted. "But panicking won't help. We cooperate. We think. And we find a way out."
A girl's sob broke the silence. "Are we… going to die here?"
"No," Amara said firmly—though her heart betrayed her. "We're leaving this place. I promise."
Axle turned away, scanning the walls.
And somewhere in the silence, something unseen seemed to listen.
Axle had already moved away, circling the room like a predator. "This feels wrong," he said. "Too clean. Too perfect."
Xavier frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Like someone built this," Axle replied. "On purpose". A low hum vibrated through the floor.
Everyone froze.
"Did you hear that?" someone whispered.
The sound vanished as suddenly as it appeared, leaving behind an even deeper silence.
Amara's gaze drifted upward to the unreachable light, to the walls, to the emptiness surrounding them. Somewhere beyond their sight, something unseen seemed to wait.
And though no rules had been spoken…
every one of them felt it. This room was not meant to be escaped easily.