After breakfast in the morning the new students were ushered in to their various classes to begin the academic year. Daniella was very happy but Mia was still worried about the dream. She tried to draw meanings to it but nothing seemed to make sense to her.
The first class for the day was a brief lesson on Arts History. While most of the student payed attention to what the Professor was saying. Mia only heard a few gibberish lines coming out of his mouth. The Professor Peggy realized Mia was way in the clouds while she taught. "Hello Miss! Hello!! Are you here with us", she quizzed. But Mia was still lost in her thoughts. She suddenly felt a tap on her back. She came rushing back into reality. Mia realized she had been gone for a very long time. "Can you pay a little more attention", said Peggy as she liked to be called by her students.
After class Daniella introduced Mia to a few of her friends back in Pycea who had also gotten into Oakwood. It was the same girl who gave her the tap on the back to awaken her from her deep thoughts. "Hi Mia I am Isabella, this is Rose and that is Olivia. Daniella told us about you". "Nice meeting you all she replied."
Daniella had a 3 friends who equally had rich parents just like herself; Isabella, Rose and Olivia had attended the same High School with her in Pycea and had dreamt to also attend the same college.
While exchanging pleasantries, Olivia asked Daniella what she thought about the warnings of Mr. Grater the head of security for the college. Olivia revealed that she had a plan to go through the breach to prove that the stories were just a myth to scare new students. She had already convinced Rose and Isabella to join her and had hopes of winning over Daniella and her new friend.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you", chipped in Mia. She was still frightened by the nightmare she had the previous night. Daniella remembered that Mia had awoken amidst screaming deep in the night. She figured it was the right time to ask Mia to tell her what it was that frightened her that much.
After Mia finished narrating her dream, Olivia broke into uncontrollable laughter. It looked as if she had not heard anything Mia sad. "Don't be a cry baby Mia. You had that dream because you were scared of what Mr. Grater said during his speech. There is nothing more to it. Trust me".
After chattering for sometime Olivia brought back her plan of scouting the forest behind the walls of the school. This time around she managed to get Daniella to join the 'crew'. They agreed to meet at the wall when everyone had gone to sleep.
On the way back to the hostel Mia tried to convince Daniella to chicken out while she in turn did her best to persuade Mia to join them to have fun. "Don't be a cry baby, there is nothing behind that wall. We will be fine, I promise". After a couple of tries Mia saw that she had no other option. She knew she could lose her only friend if she decided not to follow them. She agreed to follow them take a quick peek and then return to bed.
Soon came darkness, Mia still looked frightened. Daniella kept looking at her watch waiting for the right time to make her move. The school was as cold and silent as a cemetery. Daniella and Mia made their way to the breach just they had agreed earlier on. Mia still had worn her favorite gown. At the wall, Mia realized all the other girls including Daniella had putting on track suits.
"I am glad you could make it", Olivia said with a wide grin on her face. Daniella with a smile replied, "just like high school". Daniella then told Mia they had gone on a similar scout back in high school to debunk a long myth back Pycea.
Olivia removed her side bag and brought out four flashlight she had acquired purposefully for this occasion. Rose and Isabella held grabbed the log that had been used to create a barrier to prevent anything from entering or exiting through the breach. Olivia handed a flashlight to each of the girls and then took the lead entering the hole in the wall to the other side. As each of the girls took the turns in pushing through the narrow hole, Mia stood still trembling. She was having flashbacks of her dream the previous night.
"Hey you can wait here if you want while we have all the fun, cry baby", Rose said in a teasing tone. Mia was tired of everyone calling her a cry baby. She slid through the hole though still trembling.
She noticed it was nothing like her dream. There were all kinds of flowers and plants behind the wall. "Could it be someone's garden?", she wondered to herself. "I knew there was nothing here", Olivia remarked sniffing at some of the beautiful roses she had plucked. Mia gave out a sigh of relief she thought it was all over. "Can we go back now?", she said turning back to face the hole in the wall. "Hell no! We still have to scout it out."
They went in a little deeper into the garden. This part of the garden had prettier flowers than the ones just behind the wall. Olivia invited Mia to take a sniff at some of the flowers. Mia was hesitant, she was really starting to regret her decision. Daniella winked at her. She took a sniff and exclaimed "wow that's nice". The flowers smelled very nice. She had never smelled anything like this before.
As they continued searching for flowers tree after tree, they moved deeper and deeper into the garden. "Mia! Mia!! Mia!!!" Frightened to death Mia turned to see Olivia making fun of her. They burst into laughter. Halfway into their laughter Mia realized something weird. There were no flowers around where they stood all the beautiful flowers had vanished into thin air. All she could see was dead leaves and darkness all around her. They had wondered deep into the forest.
She tried to retrace her steps back to the wall but all her efforts proved futile. They were lost. Her heart started racing in her body. She started flashing her light every direction trying to catch her way back into the school.
Mia had begin to sweat profusely as she always did whenever she was scared. She brought out a piece of cloth from her pocket to clean her face and swat the bugs that were trying to feast on her juicy body. The bugs grew more aggressive the more she tried to drive them away. All this while Daniella and the other girls stood clueless as to what to do next. They were lost in enjoyment as they looked at the flowers that none of them took notice of where they passed to that point.
One of the bugs successfully landed a painful stunk on Mia's hands. She moved back trying to swat it. Mia lost her balance and fell of what seemed like a concrete slab hurting her knee in the process. The others girls rushed to help her up. She could see little drops of blood coming out of the bruises she had from falling on the slab.
Mia was scared was her nightmare going to come true. She could feel the earth shaking beneath her. At first she thought she was just imaging things. Then she heard amidst thunder a very loud voice. It seemed the voice was coming from beneath the concrete slab she was sitting on.
"Who disturbs me from my slumber", the voice shouted. Mia looked at the other girls who were perplexed just as herself. She quickly stood up ready to make a run for it if anything should happen. The voice shouted for the second time. Now it was clear the girls were in danger for the earth around them started shaking and moving circles. They had nowhere to go. They could barely move.
The concrete slab broke apart and what came out scared the life out of Mia. She could hear her companions calling her name from a far as she fell onto the ground while losing consciousness.