At the Brink of Insanity

Chapter 3: Madness

The air in the abandoned building was suddenly heavy, uncertain, as if a boulder was placed on everyone's lungs, making it hard to inhale the God given oxygen they needed. Small, quiet breaths escaped the mouths of frightened children. So small, no one took a notice of them. So small, as if the kids didn't breathe at all, as if their fate already caught up to them. As if they were dead.

Silence. Silence and dread embraced students of the "Death" class. They were all scared, each and every one of them. There was no point in acting brave, when they knew what awaited them. There was no point in being scared either, since they were all notified what came with enrolling in their class. They sealed their own fate.

"From now on," Dante was the one to break the stillness, "the isolation of our class will begin. For the good of other students and professors, we are bound not to make any contact with other people in the school. We'll get only one professor appointed to us, since everyone else is scared to lecture us. We are allowed to use school's library to find out more about the whole curse we have upon us, but are forbidden to ask anyone about it."

"That's the best they could come up with?" asked Laura. She actually expected to be banned from the school, but that wasn't the case. She looked at Dante, who was still on the couch and staring at the ceiling, sensing there is more he has to tell them. Something that might be more important then anything else. She gulped. What if they never find the answer to their problem and just die? What if she was the first one to die? Those questions bothered poor Laura, just as they were bothering everyone else in the room, until Dante decided to break their train of thoughts.

"I've been to the library." Dante started explaining. "It took me long enough, but after rummaging through everything I could find in so little time before coming here, I found a notebook. In the notebook, someone who was a member of the 'D' class wrote that once the killing starts, every day, one of the student dies. So, the last one to die has approximately twelve days to live."

That earned another silence. How in the world were they supposed to tell their families they're about to die in less than twelve days? Would their families even believe them once those words escaped their mouths? Would they laugh it off like it's a joke, or blame it on their child's imagination?  Which brought their minds to one important question.

The question as to why they really joined this cursed class lingered in the air. 

"I've been wanting to ask you guys something for a long time." said Elsa. She decided to be straight about it, no holding back, but before asking, she still took a deep breath and asked. 

"Why did you join this class in the first place? You must have heard some stories about it, but just like me, you're all here." She waved with her hands at the students, empathizing her point.

"I think my answer is quite obvious." spoke Iris Wallenstein, group's artist and musician. "All of the other classes were full and this one was the only with open seats. I didn't have any choice."

Others nodded in understanding. 

Iris Wallenstein came from Washington, due to her father's new job. While she was scared she wouldn't fit in and wouldn't have any friends, students in Hollow High proved her wrong. They were all nice and friendly, helping her accommodate to Denver and school program. 

She was always a shy girl, and since she was diagnosed social phobia and depression, it took a lot of time until she found the courage to overpower her fears. She did it with the help of her friends, Dante and Kim mostly, because they went through the same thing, many years before.

She's an amazing artist and a great musician. She planned to enroll into Academy of Art University here in Denver, once she finishes Hollow High. That way, she would stay close to her family and friends. But, despite knowing the stories behind her class, she was still happy she was a part of it, she was truly happy here.