The Technique

Chapter 4: Conspirator

I collapsed on the cold ground as I fixed my eyes on Greg. I couldn't control my whole body. It couldn't function well. Everything around me was darker than it normally was. 

Greg kept staring at me as if he was watching a block of ice melting on its own. His footsteps went closer to me. And I hoped this was just one of my nightmares. But I knew it wasn't when I felt Greg's cold hands touching my shoulder. "Come on. Get on your feet, dude," he whispered without any sound of concern. He slipped the knife into his back pocket without wiping the blood there. "You're not supposed to be like this." 

After a few quiet seconds, I forced my body to stand up. I looked sharply at Greg. But my hands were dangerously shaking. "What is wrong with you?" I asked while my voice was shaking. 

"You've seen everything, right?"

 "Yes!" I shouted but not too loud. My eyes watered as I looked at him to the dead teachers. "Why did you do that? You promised me you'd only tell me your..." My voice cracked as a scary idea popped up in my head. Was he doing this for two years? But what was this all for? Was this the technique he was saying? "No way," I whispered. "There's no way you're doing this to cheat." 

He smirked and strutted towards the lying bodies. He pulled the paper up from the hands of one of the teachers and put it up over his head. "What do you think about this?" 

I squinted to see the paper he was holding, and I knew it was an exam's answer key. The blood from his hand splotched the paper. 

"No. Stop!" I shouted and turned my back to him. I felt gelid all over my body. In a single moment, Greg could stab my back with his knife or whatever gory he could think of to hide everything. Then I found myself staying away from the hall. My trembling feet were taking me somewhere. 

But then I heard his voice behind me, "And where do you think you're going?" 

I stopped. I never wanted to hear his voice anymore. I wanted to escape. I felt his cold hands on my arms. I imagined the blood on mine now. It was dirty, scary. I trembled and did my best to pull my arms off Greg. "Stop! Why are you..." I stared at him intensely, and I felt the heat fighting the coldness of the night. I pushed him on the shoulder. "Where did you get the knife? Why did you kill them? Why did you even invite me here? Do you think I won't tell the authority?" 

But Greg didn't budge a little. He just smirked. "Then tell them." He closed the distance between us and whispered. "Remember. The moment you went out of your room to get here, that made you my conspirator already." 

"What? No!" 

"Tell them, and both of us are done for. You won't be able to study in this school anymore. People will stay away from you. Your friends will hate you. Don't you get it?" 

Suddenly, I fully came back to my senses. What was I even doing here? I watched him kill the innocent teachers. I didn't do anything. I only watched. "No," was the only word I'd said. I couldn't think of any other things now. My mind was blanked out. 

Greg folded the paper and slipped it into his pocket. He pulled something out of his other pocket and handed it to me. "Help," he uttered before walking back to the scene. 

I stared down at the towel on my hand. It was shaking. But I had no control. At that moment, the only thing I could think of was to listen to whatever he would say. It didn't matter if I was against it, as long as my life won't turn upside down. 

I slowly went back to the lit hall, and I found Greg putting one of the teachers in a huge garbage plastic. "What are you doing?" I asked. 

"I'm putting them where they belong." He managed to put the woman inside. He stood while breathing heavily. "Come on. Wipe the blood quickly." He turned to the next woman and pushed her into the bag over his habit. 

I knelt and wiped the blood off the floor. My tears finally fell. But I managed to make it as quick as possible. I wiped every piece of evidence off the area. No one should catch a little mistake, I thought. 

Greg pulled the towel out of my hand. I had the blood on my hands, too. "Help me pull them. Time is gold," he ordered. 

I tried my best to pull the garbage bag away from the hall. We walked our way through the dark areas of the school. Greg was way much stronger than me. He pulled the garbage bag in ease as if he was doing it every day. 

All the time, he was looking in front of him. It showed how much he would do just for that paper. I didn't know where we were going. I just followed Greg's steps like a pure stalker. In a few minutes, Greg stopped in place and looked down the grass. There was no light in the area, but I could still see his body moving. He knelt and used all of his energy to pull a hidden door up. It was hidden under the turf. 

A dank and acrid smell wafted the surroundings. I stared at it for a moment, there were stairs down there and more garbage bags rotting. I felt queasy. My feet got weak, and I started to collapse again. I hugged the grass. It was cold, and its smell couldn't fight the reek of the root cellar. 

I watched Greg as he pushed the garbage bags down the stairs. That was where he stashed everyone. They were there together, finally. Their bones might be breaking now, dilapidating. Maybe, they were already dislocated while we were sliding them across the ground. 

No matter how I tried, I couldn't feel my body anymore. I just watched him until he locked the hidden door again. I caught him looking at me, although I couldn't see his expression clearly. Was he laughing at me? Smirking? Or nothing. 

He approached me and offered a hand. 

I didn't dare speak anymore. I stood up with his help. Finally, I could see his expression. 

He wasn't smirking or laughing. As usual, he was back to his natural mood. His cold eyes had no mark of guilt, though I was looking for it. "Let's go back," he said. He turned his back on me and started walking. 

I couldn't still find a way to step. "You're not telling anyone, do you?" 

He stopped and looked up at the sky. "Why would I do that?" He let out a sigh. 

I couldn't help myself from looking up the stars, too. They were shining brightly, but they looked different to me now. I was scared of them. They were like witnesses to this horrible situation. 

"No one will know," he added. "Conspirator."