Unpaused: Dwell of the Past

Chapter Nine - The Trio

She took a taxi to get there, and within fifteen minutes she arrived. Just like what she expected, there were only few people there, mostly the football players who were practicing for the upcoming competition. Coach Alto's voice could be heard even before she took her first step there.

​She was casually walking pass the security officers to avoid any suspicion. It was only one hour after school time so they still let anyone to get in. The lobby was empty. There were no students or teachers. She walked as fast as she could down the lobby to the back and she realized there was Mr. Peak sweeping the floor near the backdoor. Alexandra went numb; she couldn't move.

​"Evening, Mr. Peak!" she regretted greeting him. "Ugh, why did I say that!" she whispered to herself.

​"Evening!" he replied and went out through the backdoor while holding the brush.

​He didn't remember her at all!

She was relieved. She could now do her 'mission' safely. But her excitement faded when she saw a padlock on the basement door; there was no way she could break it. But the earth was on her side because when she held padlock, it wasn't locked.

"What a series of roller coaster," she said.

There was a mark on the padlock as if it had been broken by someone, but she didn't care. Slowly she closed the door so that no one could hear.

When she closed the door, she felt shivers down her spine. The air was pretty chilling and the dark surroundings made it even worse. She looked up the CCTV and her heart was beating faster when she saw it had been covered with a cloth.

She wasn't alone.

​She quickly grabbed her flashlight from her bag and turned it on. She lit up her step so that she wouldn't step on something that would catch someone's attention. She reached to her side pocket of her backpack and took her Swiss blade. Learning from the police movies she watched, she shielded herself with the blade in front of her on her right hand with the flashlight on her left hand underneath it. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking and she could feel them getting colder.

​She investigated each room through the window to see if anyone was there. The rooms were just ordinary; there were rusty and dented unused lockers, rotted desk and chairs, and multiple layers of dust on the floor. The sounds of rats roaming between the walls—and probably inside the lockers—scared her.

​Before reaching the end of the hallway, she turned off her flashlight in case someone was actually there. When she reached the end, there it was; the room of mystery. The door knob was warm, as if someone had already opened the door before. From the window on the door, she saw a gleam of light from the inside, which looked like flashlight.

​"Now where the hell is it?" a man said with Spanish accent. "Theo must've forgotten to leave it here," he kept complaining.

​Alexandra was fidgeting her flashlight nervously and she accidentally turned it on. The strange man noticed a brief light that shone through the gap from below the door and it made the strange man moved closer to the door. He directed his flashlight towards the door and to his surprise, there was a girl who was watching him.

​"Who are you! Reveal yourself!" he shouted.

​"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that," she said while opening the door.
​In front of her eyes, she saw a man in his late thirties wearing a worn-out t-shirt covered in pale blue shirt and long dark blue jeans. His hair was dark brown, a bit messy, and his eyes looked like pandas'. His eyes were wide open in shock to see someone else there. Alexandra had never met him in her entire life, but deep down she was certain that the man was Alejandro.
​"Are you Alejandro, one of The Trio?" she dared herself to ask.