A Distant Dream

~~~Crash~~~

Miri and Zeke were unbreakable since then. They bonded over lots of similar interests and mainly because Zeke shared her love for adventures and the Exploration club was cherry on top. Zeke cracked Miri's self isolating cocoon and made her more confident than she ever was. But in contrast, her jealousy grew out of bounds.

She didn't like Zeke talking too much to anyone else. But instead of confronting him, she kept it in.

Sulked at times. But never fought. The thought of losing him was more scarier.

"Ri, what's causing that smile on your face today. You look more happy than ever. Sus."
Zeke cupped Miri's face and looked deeply into her eyes.

"Ah. No..nothing," Miri stammered as she brushed off his hands. But Zeke was not having it.
He pulled his chair near to her seat and whispered with a questioning look.

"You hiding something?"

"All good news to those who wait," was her reply.

"Wowwww. There's definitely something then..... omg... my head's gonna explode. Lemme guess. Lemme guess......ummmmm.... you have a crush. Don't ya...uh ...uh"

Miri shrugged.

"Is that what you came up with. Pity"

She turned and faced the board.

The ever noisy classroom turned quiet when the teacher entered.
But apart from normal, Mr. Tuddle had a worrisome expression on his face.

As soon as the greetings were over, The students expected the usual call to open their books, but they were met with silence. Mr. Tuddle just stood at his desk with his eyes fixated on the door.

"Sir, Is something wrong? You look concerned."

Layla asked the burning question in everyone's mind.

"N-Nothing, let's start.... turn to the page where I left off," Mr. Tuddle replied in a shaky voice.

Something was definitely wrong.

Just then, a loud crash was heard outside the classroom, it seemed like someone threw a big rock in one of the science labs nearby. Mr. Tuddle rushed outside the class in a flash before anyone could realize what was going on.

"Zeke, what's happening?" Miri asked looking at the half open door that revealed a small peak at the hallway.

Zeke held Miri's hand and followed the others who were going towards the door.

Suddenly, someone shrieked. Zeke and Miri pushed through the classmates to have an idea of what was going on.

A fainted Mr. Tuddle lay on the ground, and before him was a locker which was splattered with blood. Inside it, a bloodied red doll hung by its few strings of hair and stuck to its face was Mr.Tuddle's daughter's photograph who died when she was seven.

It was Zeke's locker.