Chapter 2: Nail
Zein's Point of View
The next morning when we woke up, we immediately went to Madame Violet, the Headmistress.
"What can we do for you?" She asked in an all smiley face. She was even playing the pen she was holding and kept on tapping the tip against the table.
She's still wearing a black dress. Even her lips and nail polish are black!
"Good morning Madame Violet. We would like to leave the school now," Vanessa uttered in a respectful tone.
Madame Violet's brows slightly moved, and then burst into laughter seconds later. She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Why? What's the problem? I thought it's COOL?" She asked.
"This school is a complete mess! Useless! Why hasn't this school been shut down?!" I couldn't stop my mouth from speaking up.
"Easy, Miss Zein Shion. Hell University is an independent school. The government doesn't have authority over this, and they have no right to meddle in it."
"How come?! Whatever! Lead us the way so we can leave this damn school!" Dave ordered.
Madame Violet gave us a piercing look. That pure intimidating black eyes--- They are up to something. Just who is she?
"We have a motto here. Once you enter, there's no turning back." She then gave a weak laugh.
My jaw dropped on what she said. So, we can't leave?! No way! We're not safe in this place. All students here are evil! They are so scary and I am very sure that the longer we stay here, the more dangerous it is for us.
"What do you mean?!" Mia asked angrily.
Madame Violet played the tip of her hair using her slender pale fingers, curling and twisting it over and over again. I feel so nauseous watching her do it all over again so I shifted my gaze. She's just really messing with us and not taking us seriously. Damn.
"We are not joking here! Lead us the way out!" Matt ordered.
"Nah. You entered here when no one forced you to. All you have to do now is… stick to it!"
Jerome stood up and slammed Madame Violet's desk, the impact was so strong it created a deafening sound.
"Bullshit! We're leaving this place. We're going to find a way! We're going to report you to the police!" Jerome muttered angrily. Vanessa moved closer to him to calm him down.
"Go, Mr. Jerome Marquez. Find the way out if there is. No one's stopping you." Madame Violet mumbled in a humorous tone.
My eyes squinted. Is she toying us? Is she purposely making us annoyed? Is she serious? UGH!
"Anyway, here's your uniform. Together with your schedule."
Our eyes dropped on the plastic that she took out with our names written on it.
"Wait, do we really need to study? Do you really have lessons to teach? Or the only thing you know is how to kill?" Vanessa asked in sarcasm.
She's having one of her nasty moods again. Well, I can't blame her. This woman is really weird, and her smile is so irritating.
"Hell University is still a school. We have lots of teachers. We choose our teachers wisely, in fact only a few of them passed our qualifications. So I can really assure you that you will learn a lot here over the other schools. They're all good."
It slowly sinked in to me that Hell University is a literal hell, when it comes to their one and only rule. It seems like Madame Violet is also telling the truth, but I am not convinced to study here. No way.
"Whoa! Are there still teachers that want to teach here despite the danger? Amazing!" Matt exclaimed sarcastically. His tone was too bland.
"Let's just say their salaries aren't normal either. Their salaries are not only doubled or tripled. Enough of the discussion . Go to your respective classes now and wear your uniform. You might get caught by the President. And I am very sure… that you guys will not like the punishment."
We couldn't do anything but follow her. Now we're here in the comfort room and currently changing our clothes. The boys went ahead of us because we have different schedules.
"I must say… their uniform is cute." Mia praised the mini skirt that we're wearing. She tied her while mine remained loose.
Our conversation halted when a tall girl entered, I mean, a little taller than me. Since I am the tallest among the girls in our group.
I couldn't help but glance at her in the mirror. She's washing her hands. Her hair is dark as well as her eyes. She's so pretty.
"Newbies." She uttered without even sparing us a glance.
I pulled my eyes from the mirror and fixed my blouse. I could feel that she's staring at me now. Shit! Why am I scared of her?
"So the news is right that there's six rats who entered here. Pathetic." My ears winced upon hearing her that I couldn't help but to look at her with my eyebrows raised.
"Don't worry, we'll leave." Vanessa responded with an obvious hint of displeasure.b
She gave out a weak, insulting chuckle. She faced the mirror once again and put lipstick on her lips. We watched her actions. She has a scar from a cut on the neck, though it's not obvious.
"You're leaving? Show me the way when you find it, okay?" She said while laughing.
"Huh?! You don't know?" I asked.
She grinned at me before putting her lipstick back on her pouch.
"No one knows. Once you enter, there's no turning back… unless you're dead, or…" she trailed off.
She walked towards the door, but before she fully left, she completd her sentence.
"You can leave if someone from the HU with high rank will help you. Guess who?" She slammed the door shut and left the three of us in daze.
What was that?!
Confirmed, Madame Violet was not really joking when she said that the teachers here are high class. Our first subject is Math, and it's easy to understand now because it seems like all of the complicated long methods have their own methods that make it easier for us to understand.
"Zein. You don't notice anything?" Vanessa whispered to me. Mia sat on my left while I'm in the middle of the two, and the three of us are in the back.
I didn't answer her question and just observed the surroundings instead. I knew it! Almost everyone in the class is looking at us. There were others who were subtly glancing at us from their seats while most are just obviously not trying to hide their stare. Some of them had grins in their faces while others seemed to have… worry in their faces.
"Mia?" I tried to get Mia's attention, her gaze was outside the window and seemed to be lost in her thoughts, but she's not even paying attention to me.
I was suddenly startled when I heard her sob, and hugged me tightly. My eyes immediately went outside, to the same direction where Mia had been looking earlier.
A scream came out from my mouth when I saw a boy tied into a chair. His hands were tied in the back, he had no shirt on and had multiple stab wounds in his body. What stands out the most is his dangling tongue.
I heard several murmurs and screams when they all saw the poor boy. They all moved towards Sir Alvarez, our teacher in math. But I couldn't follow them because Mia was still hugging me tightly.
"Shit! Who did that? They are so heartless…" Vanessa commented while patting Mia's back to calm her down.
I glanced outside and saw a group of students crowding the situation. Some are also staying inside the classroom, too scared to even go out.
"Devil. Only a heartless person can do such a thing." I said.
They are demons. Damn! Now we really need to the hell out of this place. We're not safe here, no one is.
"Are you guys okay?!"
"What happened to Mia?"
The boys arrived while catching up their breaths. Worry was visible in all of their faces.
"She's okay. Just scared. I think it's better to bring her back to the dorm to rest." I suggested which all immediately agreed.
Dave carried Mia while Vanessa and Jerome assisted them.
"We learned something about this school," Matt muttered seriously.
I was just about to ask him what he was talking about when he suddenly turned around and went to the crowded students. I followed him. I covered my mouth upon seeing the man's lifeless body up close.
My eyes widened and felt so nauseous I almost wanted to vomit after seeing his tongue nailed. It looked as if it had been pricked with a heated iron because the mark was faintly deep.
"They did it again.." the girl wearing glasses whispered. She then looked at me, the side of her lips rose.
"Zein, right?" She asked, I only nodded in response.
"I'm Meico. 3rd year student," she introduced herself. I only nodded my head since I don't really have any interesting in getting to know everyone for now. I can't trust anyone. Damn it. Our situation is so hard.
"That nail in his tongue symbolized the Black Blood Gang. This is the first time that they did something again after what happened last week." I couldn't help but to listen to her and feel so confused. What is she saying?
"It just means that another war will happen soon… And I know that it'll be much more worst now because they killed the only brother of Raze Silvenia, the leader of the Devil God Warrior."
I gulped my own saliva after hearing those things. Shit! We really need to leave this place as soon as possible if we don't want to involve ourselves for something big to happen in the future.
"Let's go?" Matt came out of nowhere and asked me. I spared a quick glance on the poor boy in the chair before nodding my head.
We were already walking away from the crowded place and the lifeless body but the picture of it is still inflicted in my head, most especially the way how his tongue was nailed. How brutal can they be? Or maybe, this is only the beggining of their devilish antics.
"Rounge Silvenia. He's the only sibling of Raze Silvenia." Matt muttered seriously without sparing me a glance. My ears remained on what he's going to say after, waiting for further details about the situation.
"Who are they?" I asked, even though I already knew he was referring to Raze, the leader of the Devil God Warriors, as Meico had mentioned.
Matt wrapped his arms around me while grinning.
"Enouh. There's nothing you should know about, Zein, 'cause if you do, leaving this place would be so impossible for you, and I won't let that happen," he finished.
I can'y undertaker him. Why does he seems to know more? Is there someone out there who told him? How about him? If he knows too much, then is it possible that he will never ever leave this place?
We found Mia sleeping the moment we arrived. It seemed like she really had been spooked about on what she witnessed earlier.
"You guys should eat… and by the way, what's your subject?" Vanessa asked us while preparing the table. Jerome and Dave are probably in their rooms.
Matt pulled a chair for me so I smiled at him. "English," he answered while he was putting rice on my plate. Vanessa glanced at me and waited for my answer.
"History," I simply answered. I've already memorized my schedule.
"So you're the only one who's separated from the rest of us?" Vanessa replied in which made Matt stopped mid-way from giving me rice.
"You're all taking English?" I asked just to make sure, and she nodded.
"You're alone Zein, do you want me to watch over you?" Matt suggested while staring at me.
"No, it's fine. It's nothing!" I immediately replied while chuckling.
I'll admit that having trillion of butterflies in my stomach. And I'll also admit that I have been crushing on Matt ever since, he's just too oblivious about it.
Mia woke up right after we all finished eating, her eyes were puffy from crying.
We all sat down in front of her, and just then, Jerome and Dave came out from the rooms, the two seemed to have been sleeping the whole time too.
"How are you feeling?" Dave asked and sat beside Mia. "I-I'm fine. Thank you." She replied.
My mouth already feels so itchy to ask more questions but I stopped myself, I might have shocked and trigger her trauma if I don't watch over what I say. I know that she saw the people who did it.
"Can you really attend the class?" I asked Mia while wearing my blouse. She was taken aback after hearing my question, but smiled at me after she recovered.
"You're the one I'm worried for, you're the only one separatd from us," she uttered.
"What are you saying? I can handle myself. I can do karate!" I joked to lighten up the mood.
It's already noon, and the scorching sun almost burnt my skin as I walked alone towards the farthest building. There only few students scattered around since it's already class hours and I know that I'm already late. I fastened my pace and tried to shake off the stares coming from everyone around.
What's wrong with them? They still can't get over the fact that we really entered this school on our own accord? I was greeted with silence when I entered my classroom. The teacher isn't yet. I could feel all of the eyes on me the moment I appeared before their eyes, so I just bowed my head awkwardly until I sat on the farthest seat in the back as possible.
"You're late? You've got a nerve, huh." I was startled to see my seatmate being the girl from the comfort room. That one with red lips and black pupils. Her stare feels so scary.
"You should be thankful that Suprema didn't caught you," she muttered while shaking her head before returning her attention to her notebook.
My eyes widened when I saw what she was drawing.
A nail?