The classroom is bustling with noise as usual in the morning. Everybody talking about what they did in the weekend. But, there seem to be always that person at the back of the class sitting alone. While other people discussing about today's school trip, she just blankly stare outside through the window. A glint of coldness pass through her eyes, she suddenly remembered something and laugh coldly in her mind. Never would she have thought that incident in the past will be the cause of everything happening to her. The start of her misery.
Serena laughed coldly, mocking her life. Nobody looked toward her direction, pretending as if she doesn't exist. Serena sometimes think that it would have been better to be bullied rather than ignored as a whole. And all of this just because of her 'different' way of seeing the world. She can see 'the others'. A taboo topic in their society, as they feels 'the others' will just bring bad luck to those in contact with 'them'.
Serena take a glance at the bustling classroom. "I hate this school." she muttered.
[Then you should destroy it.]
Serena hear a noise that sound so familiar to her. As she tried to listen again for that familiar sound, all she hear is the classroom noise. She tried to clear her head as she brush the uncomfortable feeling sprouting in her heart. She looked again towards the window to just see the bus that is going to bring them for today's trip have arrived.
* * *
Serena walked toward the last bus, because it is usually the most vacant bus as other bus is usually already filled up with student. She sits at the middle, not near her teacher in the front nor near the crowd of popular students which always choose the back at the bus. She pulls her red hoodie to cover her face. She look at every excited students in the bus while thinking, "I definitely won't be coming to this trip if only it's not better than spending time at that house."
She sat near the window and put her bag in the seat next to her. Serena tried to sleep with her face covered. A two-hour trip with nobody to talk with will be very boring. While trying to sleep, her mind wander to the voice she heard in the classroom. Reminding her of her older sister.
* * *
"You crazy girl! What are you screaming about just now hah?! You really must be learning from your good-for-nothing mother! Cih! Useless thing!"
A little girl looking around 6-year-old was spanked by her grandmother. The girl just shut her mouth and trying so hard to keep her tears from falling down. Making her grandmother evem more furious and spanked the child harder.
"Grandma, stop! Serena is still small. Please don't hit her." A girl wearing a white-grey uniform come running inside and try to stop her grandmother from hitting Serena further.
"You! Laura! You should stopped protecting this crazy girl! She didn't even have the right to carry your shoes. All because of that mistress, our family.."
"My mother is not a mistress!" Serena screamed as she ran upstairs towards her room and slammed her door.
"That crazy girl.." Grandmother gnashed her teeth angrily.
"Grandma.. you should stop. It's not her fault. She is still a child." Laura try to calm down her grandmother's rage.
"Every day she just screamed here and there that's it's not her mother fault your father died. Only if both your father and your mother is still alive."
"Grandma.."
"Stop, don't say anything. If only she can be as obedient as you. Huh!" Grandmother walked back to the kitchen, ignoring Laura.
Laura helplessly looked towards the kitchen. This happen everyday when she comes home, Laura walked slowly upstairs to Serena's bedroom. She knock Serena's door with their special code. 2 slow knock and 3 fast knock. They made this knocking code as a way to let Serena know that only Laura was coming into her bedroom, and there is nobody else outside.
Click. The door is unlocked.
Laura came in to see the dark bedroom with messy things around the bed and Serena trying to wipe her tears from her eyes. Serena closed and locked her doors again. She walked slowly and sat down on her messy bed. Laura smiled and followed her to sit.
"You really.. You should have stopped making Grandma angry. In the end, you are the one that ended up getting hit." Laura take a tissue near the bedside table and wipe Serena's tears.
"Thank you. And it's not my fault. All the kids in the neighborhood keeps saying my mother is a gold digger, a mistress. They keep saying I'm a bastard daughter. They even said mother is the one that killed father. So I just beat them up." Serena clench her fist right in the air.
"Rena, stopped trying to act strong in front of me. Do you think I won't notice?"
Serena put her hand down and looked at Laura. "Sister.. is it true that mother is the one that killed father?"
"...ah. No.. of course not. What are you even saying? Hahaha." Laura laughed the question off.
Serena looked back at her clenched fist while ignoring her half-sister hesitation in her answer. "You know, sis. You're the only one that treat me the best. Even Grandmother hates me."
"What are you even saying, Serena." Laura pat Serena's head. "You know.. Grandma is old, she has her own worries. So she ended up being harsher on you. Maybe if you act nicer to Grandma, she will care about you better. Okay?"
"Yeah.."
"Well, I'm gonna go to my room and get changed. It's hard being a high-school student." Laura pat Serena's head again and unlocked the door.
"Don't forget to help me prepare dinner later. I need to get ready for tomorrow school trip."
"Umm.." Serena just nod her head slowly while still looking down at her hand.
The door is closed and the room suddenly become very quiet. Serena locked her bedroom. The room is completely dark. While seemingly unbothered by the stillness, a little smile come to her face.
* * *
"This is annoying." Serena uncomfortably moved and wake up because of the noise in the bus.
"Why is it so loud?" The moment after she thought that. The bus suddenly become very quiet. A suffocating atmosphere seem to surround her. She pulls down the hoodie covering her eyes. The bus is empty and completely dark.
"Where is everyone? No one is here. The bus isn't moving? Why is it dark? Nightime? But we went in the morning?" Countless thought flashed her mind.
Squeak!
A very small squeaking sound can be heard in the silentness. Serena stand up to search for the sources of the sound. There it is. At the back seat of the bus.
A person. Staring at her. Smiling.
"Wha.."
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The bus suddenly shake. Serena jumped from her seat only to see the bus driving straight to what someone would called a black hole. It's a pitch black hole as if nobody can see what lies behind it.
'Hi hi' Laughing sound of a woman suddenly reverberate the whole bus after the bus has been swallowed by the black hole.
Tap!
Sound of something hitting the glass makes Serena look at the window. Serena can see a palm touching the window.
Tap! Tap! TAP!
Suddenly, more hand comes up reaching the window as if wanting to pull the bus down together with them. Many faces can be seen smiling at the new prey they are catching in the window. Their smile doesn't even hide the gruesome and bloody wound in their faces.
Even Serena who has seen 'them' for years goes pale looking at the amount surrounding the bus. She shuts her eyes and squat down.
SCREECHHH!! BAM!
'Come here.. Play with us.. HIDE.. ITS YOUR TURN! HIHIHI"
She tries to cover up her ears from the sudden scream. Her ears keeps ringing. Her back is soaked with cold sweat from the shock.
As the ringing gradually disappear, Serena starts to hear some muttering sound. Multiple people. She slowly opened her eyes. It's still the same bus, an empty one.
She looks outside the window slowly. Rather than bloody and horrid faces, all she see is trees. Unfamilliar yet familliar surrounding.
Tap!
A hand touched her shoulder. Her body jumped as she looks to the owner of the hand. A girl, her classmates.
"Um.. sorry. They told me to call you." The girl apologized realizing she scared Serena
"Ah yes sorry, no problem, what's the matter?"
"Umm.. you see. I think we are stranded. The teacher are making us to gather outside the bus to see what's going on. We also cannot find the driver."
She looked outside to see around 30 people gathering behind the bus.
Serena quickly get off from the bus with the girl. The teacher looked at her but couldn't bother to say anything in the situation.
"Student! Attention! Now everyone is here. I will just explain some situation. As I think everyone agree that we slept in the middle of the journey and didn't have any memory about the trip here. I think we are kidnapped by the bus driver and are placed in the forest so we can't escape. Plus it already past sunset seeing the forest is dark, so I think we are also drugged. That is the most logical explaination here. So now, we only have one teacher, me, and a total of 30 students. We will temporarily camp here as I think we have some supplies in the bus. We will sleep in the bus. As it will unknown danger in the forest, we will take a turn of 4 people for every hour to stand by. Any question?" The teacher explained.
"Sir, do you know where we are?"
"Will we get out this forest?"
"Why the driver want to kidnapped us?"
"What happen to other busses?"
"Students, slow down. Too bad I don't know where we are. I don't remember any forest like this near our campsite. I will try to call the rescuer and the school to rescue us. For the whereabout and the condition of other busses, I don't know."
Serena looked around the dark forest. No light can be seen through the tall tree covering the sky. They start their trip in the morning and should have arrived by noon. She didn't think she would slept that long. Ignoring the familliar feeling, she couldn't help but consider the possibilities of being drugged and ended up arriving at some unknown place.
Then suddenly she realized something. Her face paled. Serena keep looking around to search for something. None.
There's none.
Tap!
The pale-faced Serena almost jumped from the touch in her shoulder for the second time of the day.
"What's wrong with you? The teacher told us to search around for some firewood around and some water source, as our current water will only be enough for 1 day. Uhh.. why did I get on this bus?"
Serena just nodded while the guy just looked at her weirdly and leave.
Serena looked at her surrounding one more time and keep blinking. She still sees nothing. Just a plain dark forest.
She cannot see 'the others'. For 10 years she has lived, the world has been so crowded and filled with them. This is the first time the world seems so blank.
"What happen to me.."