Uni-Port
5:10PM
Friday, 10thMarch
Neither of the two noticed anything about the atmosphere on walking to campus grounds, the reason being obvious;
"Give up!"
"No!"
They were too busy arguing.
They had parked the jeep somewhere in the town and used a keke to get to the campus gate -Vivian was the one who payed. Not till they got into the campus did they start arguing on whether they're actions up till then had been futile and if they should continue or back away.
"I'm privileged to be alive today."
"Hallelujah."
Their backs were slouched, they were moving at a snail's pace.
"Who cares if the lecturers are missing? We can just move to a new school anyway."
"Who cares? You did! A few hours ago, now you're just going run away?"
"Yes! I've seen too much, you have no idea what I've been through."
"N-no, no way! I am not passing through the secondary school examination system again! That thing almost killed me back then … 'cringes'." he said, ending with a cough.
"But it's good! You get to correct all your wrong answers, I think… you just don't understand because you were fake asleep the whole time!"
"I lied. I was actually awake."
"Surprise to me."
"Eheh." he couldn't even laugh anymore.
"... My legs are going to snap, carry me."
"Carry yourself, grandma."
It was when they got to the road that led from the school area to the hostels;
CRASH!!!
A student with tattered clothes (and a snipped off neck-tie) was pointing a half broken bottle at another student, with similar looks. "Kai! You've broken my Coke, you will die today!"
"You're the one who broke it on your head just now, are you daft?!!" the other student countered.
Another student came in from nowhere, a flash-light in his hand and a white shirt over him, "Please, stop fighting – let there be peace-"
"I don't want peace, I want problems! ALWAYS!" the one with the bottle shouted.
"Wait o, aren't you a peace protester?" the other one faced the guy in white.
"..."
He backed away a bit, then ran away.
The other two students followed after.
"You idiot! You have mind oh!"
"SEE! IDIOTS, EVERYWHERE, pay me back my Coke you bag of nuts!"
Vic and Vivian who were watching from where they were standing, had their mouths opened.
Then Vic shook his head.
"Oh yeah – this is society now."
"It's this bad, huh?"
'And frankly, I'm not sure that was just Coke'
"Come, let's go look for Bimbo!" he dashed towards the school area, shouting, "She should be at the lecture area for night classes or something."
"It's half past 5 in the evening."
Vic didn't hear what she said, he disappeared around a corner before Vivian's message could get to him
"Well, I'll just go to the hostel then and finally get away from him! I've seen far too much since I met him the other day …" She turns to the left, heading towards the hostel area. "I don't have any transport money - trekking wouldn't be that bad, alone, by myself, all the way there, as usual…" Then she stopped in her tracks, balling a fist."… I wonder if Bimbo is okay though." She turned around and started on the opposite direction.
As she walked along the road, she came across a black cat.
Its fur made it look indistinguishable from the evening shadows, but its emerald eyes and black pupils made it stand out.
It looked at her,
"There is something I forgot to tell you."
It spoke to her.
The cat spoke to her,
"Something you did not see in the daily 9."
Meanwhile
As Vic was running toward the Lecture room, he met a whole faculty running in the opposite direction he was running. They were going to turn at the junction Vic had passed on his way there but he still couldn't tell where they were heading.
He slowed down, wondering what was going on – he went further towards the building where he met his friend, Harry, sitting on a bench with both arms stretched out wide.
Harry sighed, "What does it take to be noticed here? Life is such a drag." He said.
Vic, from behind, walked up to Harry, grinning as usual."Hey!! What's going on?"
"Nice to see you too Vic, you want to sit down or something?"
"Missed you too Harry!"
"Shut up!"
They sat at a bench in front of Lecture hall 2's entrance.
At first, it was quiet between them, from afar, it looked like they were just enjoying the breeze.
But Harry broke the silence.
"Haven't you heard?"
"I am not a gossip."
"MAT 111 LECTURER HAS BEEN SPOTTED AT THE LECTURE THEATRE 1!"
That was Machiavellian Paul, from nowhere.
"What he said, though the timing is nonsense."
Paul came to sit on the bench as well, meeting them there was by chance.
Vic, however, couldn't believe his ears, "Serious? You better not be joking yeah?"
"I'm serious!" He shoved an email on his phone into his face, "Esther herself saw him there and spread the news."
"But… but where did they even go? And who's Esther?"
"Student Union president – she represents us at the senate and speaks for all them students in this school, she also happens to be the VC's daughter – I don't think someone like that would joke about something as serious as this." Harry explained.
"I've bought us seats at the theatre!" Paul added, to which Harry laughed like a pirate.
"ALRIGHT!! Let's see if we can get there in the next 4 minutes!"
Vic, still unable to believe it, formed a smile for them to see,
"Yeah! Let's go!!"
The three of them stood side by side smiling at the road in front of them. Each of them looked quite glad to be having lectures again.
"You guys know I saved the lecturers, yeah?" Vic said.
"Hmph! You deserve that recognition you've been looking for then." Harry said.
"Wait, we're going for maths lectures?" Paul said.
The mood then changed, and the three of them slouched their backs.
"You just had to kill the mood – what were we all excited for anyway, having lectures again after 2 days."
"Gambling would been so much better than this."
"Why did I even save those people...?"
And so, with their backs still slouched, the three friends walked to the lectures without a care as to what had happened so far. They asked Vic along the way about his whereabouts but he told them he was stuck in his room all day, lying to the two of them. He didn't want them to know that he was out looking for the lecturers which would've sounded out of character for him – they would've plagued him for playing detective for the rest of his school years, so he felt that it was better that they didn't know.
As for Vivian, she got to the lecture hall just after the last of the students, Vic and his friends, had left. She wondered where everyone had gone as she was sure she had heard a large crowd coming from there.
Either I'm slower than a snail or I'm hearing voices again, only this time, they're in high definition… but it doesn't matter, as soon as this day – I'll be haunted with its events in my nightmares…'
She entered the hall, taking a walk inside, just wanting to see the desks. That's when she stumbled upon Bimbo by the corner at the front of the hall – tied up, lying on the floor, asleep.
"Whoa!"
She walked up to her and squatted by her side. She gently untied her arms and legs, but the slight movements were enough to wake her up.
"Who's there?" she asked, looking around, then her eyes settling on Vivian, "Well, you sure took your time, Vivid."
Vivian backed away, "You're awake?"
"Obviously." she shook her head, one arm on her forehead. "And I have a grudge against a certain male."
"What happened to you?" Vivian asked.
Bimbo looked at something on the floor, as her expression got even darker.
"Osas did, and this is the last straw!" She stood up to her feet. "Did you know, I dug around the school and checked information in the other departments, get this, the attendance book for academic staff were full for the day by 12 noon, meaning that those people planned all this from the start." She started dusting her glass with her cloth, "I'm not letting that lunatic have his way, no – not as long as I'm here. But even I have my limits… " She sighed, "We must find a way to bring back those lecturers Vivian, you, and me!"
"Oh-right! About that, I don't know where they are – Vic and I went out to look for them but we didn't find them."
"I know." She didn't even look at Vivian. "Jumping into a decision like that is just like Vic. Whoever is closest to him at the moment would fall victim. Which is why I told him not to do anything-"
"Because he would definitely end up doing it."
"You understand."
Vivian sighed, but Bimbo went on.
"It's too late now, tomorrow we can get started on a plan," She jogged to the main door. "I'll probably have one by then if I compromise my night classes, I want you here by 8 am sharp. Oh, and Vivian?"
She looked up at her in reply.
"Good job today." She smiled.
She smiled at her.
And it wasn't anything fake, she felt like she was genuinely praised for a job well done.
It made her blush a bit.