Chapter 4

When I realized that none of my classmates were convinced by my words, I decided to jump onto the rails, but my classmates quickly pulled me back in a fluster.

James looked down coldly at me. "Fine. You don't need to come with us to Northrind for the negotiations, but how can we be sure that you won't snitch after we let you leave?"

Mona suddenly suggested, "There's an abandoned train station warehouse next door. Why don't we lock her up in there and let her out when we return tomorrow?"

This unsettled the rest of my classmates. "What if something happens to her? Celeste is a girl, after all. What if something dangerous happens to her late at night?"

"Nothing's going to happen. That warehouse is really near the train station, and there's a police station next door as well. We'll lock her up there while we head to Northrind to negotiate. That way, no one will be disappointed, and we don't have to worry about anyone ratting us out. It's killing two birds with one stone."

Everyone was relieved as they jumped and cheered. They dragged me to the abandoned warehouse as Mona led the way. My back was drenched in cold sweat when I saw the rusty gates. James suddenly took out a familiar application form from his pocket, and when I saw it, I realized it was mine.

I turned pale and tried to grab it, but my classmates held me down. James shook the form in front of me while raising an eyebrow gleefully. "Just be good and stay in here, and I promise nothing will happen to your application."

"You're the man, James! You've thought of everything!"

They pushed me violently into the warehouse, and the dust choked me so badly when I fell that I could not stop coughing. James' tone was casual when he spoke. "I'll keep your application form safe for now. We'll let you out tomorrow afternoon when we return. It's just for one night. Nothing will happen to you."

With that, they closed the metal gates behind them, and I was consumed by darkness. When I heard them lock the gates behind me, I knelt helplessly on the ground and sobbed out loud. I was filled with fear.

As time passed, all I saw was extreme darkness stretching out in front of me, and right before I completely passed out, I heard someone rush into the warehouse to hold me in their arms. When I woke up next, I was in the school's infirmary.

My class teacher and several heads of the school were looking nervously at me by the bed. I could no longer control my tears as I hugged my teacher and cried loudly. She wiped away my tears anxiously while gently stroking my hair. "What happened? Who locked you up inside the train station's abandoned warehouse? Thank goodness you were smart enough to message me earlier to ask for help, or I wouldn't have arrived in time. Otherwise…"

She could feel me trembling in her arms, and she patted my back tenderly without saying anything further. I sniffled and looked at the school heads. "I can explain this later. Right now, I'm more worried because my application form was stolen."

When my school principal heard this, he immediately told me not to worry and called the education board. With the school heads and my teacher as witnesses to my condition, the education board immediately produced a new application for me to fill out despite the short timeline, taking the matter very seriously.

My tears would not stop falling as I held the thin piece of paper. I stumbled home in a hurry and saw my mother sitting on the sofa, waiting for me. Even my father, who could not get out of bed, forced himself to the door as he waited for me to come home anxiously.

Seeing my parents made me tear up again. My mother pulled me into her arms and said, "You're all right! You're all right…

"Do you know how scared your dad and I were when we received your teacher's phone call?"

I was reminded of their horrible deaths in my past lifetime, and I held back my tears to force a smile as I shook my head and comforted my mother. "I'm fine now, Mom. I'm really fine now." I was not about to let the tragedy in my past lifetime repeat itself.

The next day, I deliberately waited until the deadline was almost up before submitting my application form through my school. The parents of my classmates who had applied for community college for Mona's sake were waiting outside the school, panicking.

"What are those kids thinking? They vanished from sight last night and refuse to pick up our calls…"

Those parents paced back and forth anxiously in front of the school gates. I was about to enter the school when James' mother suddenly came to me and grabbed my wrist. "Aren't you always following James around, Celeste? Do you know where he's gone?"

My mother immediately shielded me behind her and smacked away her hand without hesitation. "Stop interrogating my daughter when you're the one who failed to control your son. You're preventing her from submitting her university application form!"

I walked into the classroom with my mother and saw the other classes filled with students handing in their application forms, while my classroom remained empty. None of my classmates were there. I finally felt relief once my application form was in the teacher's hands.

Only twenty-five minutes remained until the deadline. I saw news online about the train returning to our city from the capital being delayed for an hour because of a thunderstorm. I smiled at the empty classroom and knew that it was the end of them.