March 23, the year
(Ate (Ah-te with all short vowel sounds) is the Filipino word for older girl, Kuya (Koo-yeah) is the filipino word for older boy.)
Sedimentary Ore Stein was a tactile child. She could feel the little imperfections in her family's rock collection, she could feel the bumps in a braille cell, and she could often feel things around her that felt not quite normal. Normally, she'd take the advice of her cousin, Metamorphic, and forget it, but a lot changes when you enter residential school.
I don't know when Sedimentary's suspicions began, so instead a have chosen a day close to the climax of her investigation: March 23rd of the year we succeeded, a little over five months after she begun studying in Res Novae with her twin sister, Igneous. In those five months, Sedimentary had charmed her way into many friendships with the upper years, including eight grade Tess McQuoid.
This part of the story begins at 1600, after class hours.
(Note: the Res Novae program begins at seventh grade)
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Sedimentary, or Seydie, held Tess's arm in one hand and pushed her shades up with the other. Tess was busy checking her phone, so Sediment took the opportunity to recheck her theory. Again.
Sedimentary let her finger glide beside Tess's elbow. There, she felt it. A patch. Not like the crack in human skin, it felt metallic. And it was not the kind of metal that came from surgery, as her cousin had suggested. It was round and when she focused hard enough, she could almost feel a line engraved on it, like that on a minus screw. That's what Sediment had labeled it in her notes: The Screw.
When they entered the dimly lit residence hall, Sediment let go of Tess and pair to login via the face scan in the first floor lobby.
"I'll check with Iggy," said Sedimentary, referring to her twin.
"Same time tomorrow?" asked Tess.
"Of course," said Sedimentary, heading to her room while Tess went outside to play volleyball with her batch mates.
Sedimentary hurried to her second-floor room before her roommates could arrive. She closed the curtains to help her see, and put her backpack on her bed to find her tablet. She opened a journal app she had downloaded some months ago. Before she began writing, the lights began to flicker the way they do in horror films.
Sedimentary put the cover on her tablet and hurried three doors down on the other side of the hallway. She held on to the doorframe, standing still. From inside, she could hear heavy breathes and groaning.
A few seconds later, the sound and the flickering of lights both stopped. Sedimentary knew the drill. "Ate Morana, are you okay?"
A few seconds, no answer. A girl with a hood came out. "Yeah. Thanks."
"Okay, just checking," said Sedimentary.
Sedimentary called it The Phenomenon. That is, the simultaneous flickering lights and Morana's episodes. She had asked Tess after it— twice, actually— but Tess said it must be a coincidence and that the other Reforms would rather not talk about it.
No one else seemed to notice The Phenomenon.
Sedimentary wrote a few theories as to why. Maybe because it always happened when they were playing outside or in the cafeteria, which has a different power line, if not in the early morning when the only lights on were study lamps and the lights in the hall. More so, Morana did not seemed like the type to make close friends outside the Reforms. Maybe no one deemed it polite to ask.
Of course, Sedimentary was wrong in that one. My associates and I noticed, but Sedimentary did not know that.
Sedimentary went back to her bed and opened her digital journal. Under the date, she noted "Screw— there. Phenomenon— 1634 o clock."
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Study bihour is the two hours a night dedicated to review. During the period, most of the students leave their gadgets downstairs— with the exception of those with passes. This particular night, Sedimentary sat on the floor with Igneous, both already dressed in pajamas. Two of their classmates paced in front of the trophy case, playing arnis.
Arnis is a martial art from the Philippines. You and an opponent take one or two thick, wooden sticks each and attempt to hit each other. Of course, many parents would be upset if a school these days had children hit each other with wooden sticks. Thus, children are only thought how to do the basic hits in a choreographed pattern.
Another thing to know about arnis is it can be played stationary or with steps. The seventh graders at Res Novae found it more entertaining to play with steps, which is why they had to take turns.
While two other students were practicing, Sedimentary sat on the floor by the science teachers' unit. She heard familiar footsteps. She got up and went to the staircase, where she found Credulous, her eldest roommate, dressed in a dirt-and-grass-stained uniform.
"The Phenomenon happened again," said Sedimentary.
Credulous knew Sedimentary's notebook words like The Screw and The Phenomenon. Of all the three people Sedimentary attempted to discuss her theories with— Igneous, Metamorphic, Credulous— Credulous had been the only one to listen intently.
"Maybe you shouldn't watch people that closely, said Credulous.
Sedimentary sighed, as though to say 'you sound like the others. I do know what I'm talking about. I do.'
Credulous changed the subject. "You have an extra stick?"
"Yeah," said Sedimentary.
"Want to play in the room?" asked Credulous. "After I take a bath."
Sedimentary smiled, grabbed a thin clothe back with two sticks in it, and returned to her room. Since Christmas break, it had been difficult to find time with her favorite roommate. In her journal, Sedimentary blamed the amount of activities the seniors had. As I look back, I wonder if that's why she grew obsessed with the Reforms.
When Sedimentary got to their room, Credulous was getting dressed in the toilet. Credulous came out dressed in a sports shirt and leggings.
Sedimentary pulled the sticks out of her thin bag and handed one to Credulous.
They spent a very few minutes getting used to the rhyme, the pattern of the strikes. Once they were settled, Sedimentary spoke.
"What was the RCP, Ate?" Sedimentary asked. "What exactly happened?"
"The school never really disclosed," said Credulous. "But I hear the kids involved are taking counseling."
"But I hear this wasn't the first trial," said Sediment. "Surely you've heard word on the street about the previous batches."
"You can't believe word on the street," said Credulous. "Although, I think Ma'am June was in the program. She's was our teacher last year. She said it was boring, but okay. Full of mind training games like memory and stuff, you know?"
A bell chimed through the hall and in the room's public address system, signaling the end of study bihour. "I've got to go," said Credulous, handing Sediment her stick.
Sediment sat on her bed, where the bag was. She slid the sticks in and tucked them between the bed frame and the wall. The halls filled with chatter and footsteps as students went to retrieve their gadgets. Sedimentary had a permanent pass since she used her phone as a reader.
Sedimentary checked the time on her tablet. 2103. She turned on the video camera. She placed it on the windowsill, filming the picnic tables below. She watched the street lamps on the screen, flickering the way LEDs sometimes do on video. The door opened.
She turned to see her roommates had returned, except Sinang from the other seventh grade class, who was likely staying overtime with her friends, and Credulous, who had just left a few minutes prior.
"What's up?" asked Peggy.
"Research," Sedimentary said. "For personal purposes."
Peggy exhaled the way some people do when they find something cute and interesting. Sedimentary enjoyed speaking with Peggy because they shared an interest for the show Thoughts, which is about a war between beautiful thoughts and undesirable thoughts. Peggy seemed to like it because of the relationships between the characters. Sedimentary would spend nights fact-checking the facts and philosophies presented in the show. Regardless, it gave them something to bond over.
Once she climbed her top-bunk bed, Peggy searched for something on her phone.
"The season 3 trailer's out," said Peggy, handing Sedimentary her phone.
Sedimentary took the phone and pressed play. The sound of horses running filled the room. Sedimentary rushed to tone it done. The Undesirables said something about the child soldiers in Colombia. The next scene showed a young teen in a cloak, walking up to someone in the woods. The screen went black. A voice came on screen, but Sedimentary got distracted.
Sedimentary looked to screen, where there were figures running, almost like in the scene but without the forest. They were accompanied by running sounds and a command from Sir March, the arts coordinator. He seemed to be talking to someone from the cafeteria, but Sedimentary couldn't make out any people from in there.
"Not interested tonight?" Peggy asked.
"No, it's not that," said Sedimentary. "It's just... can you see anyone in the cafeteria?"
Peggy leaned toward the window. "Just some students, and Ma'am July. Probably calling them to their rooms."
"Ma'am July?" asked Sedimentary.
"She's the odd-years' councilor this year," said Peggy. "Maybe they're checking if anyone's sneaking around, or maybe the receptions better out there. They're adults, they can do that."
Sedimentary stopped listening after "maybe." Sedimentary returned Peggy's phone and went to write Ma'am July and Sir March's names on her tablet.
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