a quiet mind | huang renjun

Chapter 36

"Here, is the school that basically haunted me till I died" Renjun gestured his hands towards the rows of classrooms and an enclosure that look like a prison rather than a learning space. Xinyi had her hands in his, glancing around at the moss that grew in the corners and the dust that created small beds for insects to sleep on.

Renjun had taken Xinyi on a road trip, having Xinyi drive a couple hours all the way out of the city to have the date Renjun had promised. But she didn't expect him to bring her into an abandoned school.

"My dorm is down there" Renjun pointed at a rusting door that barely held on to its hinges. He chewed his lip, the nostalgia hitting him like in uneasy waves.

"I had a dorm with Jaemin back there, you might know him but he's living happily as a human right now. God, bless him for making it out of this place" Renjun chuckled, bringing her towards his room. Inside was two beds, both rooms filled with cobwebs and debris from the crumbling roof. There was an old wooden desk with a broken lamp, several books ripped and torn across the surface.

"This place was as if hell was summoned upon earth. The students here...even if they escaped this war, they'd never forget the trauma that came with it" Renjun sighed, scanning the area he despised and never want to experience ever again. But he trusted Xinyi, and he knew she deserved to know a bit more about his background

"How did you die in a school though? That in itself sounds odd enough" She followed him down a flight of stairs as he chuckled grimly.

"You wouldn't believe the rules this city had before the government parties from other states got involved" Renjun sighed "Down there, behind this big vault door was the scariest place I've ever been"

Renjun released her hand, turning the handle and pushing his whole body weight against it. The hefty door whined, creaking open to leave a gap for Renjun and Xinyi to squeeze through. Inside, was a long hallway with walls painted utterly black and the floor texture suddenly switching to a clanky, metallic material. The aura was eery and unpredicting, even for someone like Xinyi.

"What is this place" Xinyi was at a loss of words; she had known Renjun had no good past, but the least she had expected was for Renjun to have to walk through a hallway as dark and terrifying as this one.

"Turn right" Renjun audibly gulped as his grip around her fingers tightened. They turned right. There it was, a huge glass container situated in the middle of the floor. There was a camera hooked directly opposite, a ladder extending from the floor to the top of the container. But what shocked her most, was the pair of handcuffs attached to deteriorating chains, carved right into the bottom of the container.

"Holy..." She could not believe her eyes. This looked like a torture contraption

"And that camera was the last thing I saw" Renjun pointed to the camera. It processed to Xinyi that clearly, this was no ordinary school, but a school designed like the hunger games.

"What happened here" She stepped forward, grazing her finger over the glass only to have a smudge of grey paint over the tip of her index finger.

"I drowned in there; handcuffed with a camera like a pair of eyes mocking me as I slowly lost my oxygen. It was no normal school system back then; it was high marks, or death. Scary huh" He watched her circle the container, staring at it in utter bewilderment. This was no place for students—this was no place for any humans at all.

"That's why you're so afraid of water..." She murmured

Renjun looped around towards her, pulling her waist towards him as he leant his head against hers.

"I was so scared at that time. I remember, people shoving me and telling me to get in. I had small crush back then too"

Xinyi elbowed him