It was soon dinner time that evening. The dining hall was so noisy, filled with students of different grades and ages. They had all divided themselves, forming several groups, all discussing the same issue, which was about the rumors of an alien in town. Right from the time the announcement was given, till this time, the entire school had flared up. Every single person had his/her own opinion and suggestion, there was no room for fence-sitting in a matter such as this one. They all discussed their different points of view.
Why wouldn't everyone be so enthusiastic about a matter like this? This was actually the first time in so many years since the alien species last visited Earth. The last time was during the last planet wars when the Darklings tried to invade Earth. This incident occurred so many years ago when none of the students were born.
Oliver took a final bite from his cheese sandwich, then he silently rose from his seat. He figured that this was the perfect time to leave the building without anyone noticing. It was now or never.
As he attempted to walk away, Jasper, who had been seated next to him, all the time, saw him.
"Yoo, your food is still untouched," Jasper said.
"Yeah, I'll be back. You can clean up if you want, I'm already full," Oliver replied.
He went out to the passage. The hostel master was standing by the main door, with a short lady in nun wear. Oliver knew that no one was meant to see him going out, otherwise they might come after him. He needed to take a different route.
He turned towards the left, and quickly went from under the large staircase, to the other part of the building, before the girl's section. Having observed that the place was quiet, he quietly came out to the passage and began to move quickly towards the door at the end of the passage, with legs that were almost faster than their shadows. He walked straight ahead, without stopping to look back.
He was almost close to the door when the sounds of approaching footsteps were heard from outside. Oliver's heart jumped. He froze on the spot, not knowing whether he should keep going, or turn around.
The footsteps were sounding very close. Oliver was about to turn back, but that moment was when the door opened. It was the principal; Father Moses, along with two HCI agents, the same men he saw at the principal's office a few days ago.
It was quite too late to turn back now. The men had already seen him coming, turning back would only make them suspect him. Oliver, therefore, continued walking straight, hoping that their conversation might take their attention away from him.
"Come on Oliver, act normal, act normal," Oliver mumbled under his breath.
Oliver was so calm and casual. He passed beside the men, and they did not even flick a glance at him. He continued moving forward to the door.
"Come on, come on, come on, don't look back now," he muttered to himself as he went.
Finally, he walked out of the door and came out to the courtyard. As it was not yet time for the lights out, several lampposts were lighting up the place. Oliver heard approaching footsteps coming from the corner. He quickly took cover behind a shady area, behind the large pillar.
Two men came from the corner and stopped in front of the backdoor. They were both dressed in black suits too, and they were having a conversation in low tones. Oliver remained silent and motionless where he was.
As Oliver listened, he overheard one of them talking about some secret auction, and a place called the Snakepit. This sounded so odd to him, he suspected that the agency might be into something illegal.
After a short while, the men ascended the steps, went into the building, and closed the door.
Oliver lowered himself and began to crawl along the wall of the building, behind the line of thick potted plants. He was going to find out what part of the building his window was, so as to search the floor below it for the elf, or tracks it might have left.
As he went, the noises from the dining hall dwindled gradually, till there was no sound at all. Oliver kept on moving forward. His knees and hands ached so badly, yet he didn't stop. After some time, he stopped and glanced at his watch. A flick of surprise displayed on his face.
"What? Eight thirty already?" he mumbled.
He increased his speed. He only had an hour and thirty minutes to find the elf and return to the hostel before the lights out warming, if not, he might be locked outside.
At last, Oliver reached his window area. He easily identified it by the familiar rockstar magazine cutouts that Max had attached to the window. Oliver began to search around there, to see if he would find the elf anywhere. He searched along the flowers, at the spaces in between the pots, and even inside them.
"Where could you be hiding, Ugly? You can't have gone far by now," Oliver muttered.
He kept on searching, moving straight along the wall. There was no sign of Ugly.
"Ugly... Ugly... Ugly..." he called in whispers, as he searched.
As Oliver was searching, something suddenly, drew his attention. He discovered fresh footprints in the ground, about the size of Uglys. He followed the footprints, and they stopped right at the edge of the cemented walkway.
Oliver carefully crawled out to the walkway. He turned left, then right, to be sure that no one was around. He turned left again, quickly, as if he saw something, and then he began to turn back to the right, but slowly this time. He paused, staring straight at the lamppost that stood directly opposite him, at the opposite edge of the walkway. At the foot of the lamppost, lay the little elf, dozing away peacefully.
Oliver was about to cross over and get the elf when he noticed a flashlight approaching from a distance. He immediately went behind the flowers.
The person got closer, and Oliver detected that it was a man. The man was approaching the lamppost area, where Ugly was, and his flashlight was so bright.
Oliver was worried because there was a high chance of the man, seeing Ugly. He picked up a stone, immediately, and threw it far behind the approaching figure. The man, not knowing the actual cause of the sound he heard, immediately turned around and went after it.
Oliver waited till the man had gone far out of sight, and then he quickly crossed over the path, to where Ugly was.
"Ugly, Ugly, wake up," He tapped its sides, for it to awaken, but the creature remained as it was, continuously snoring away.
Oliver called and called, but Ugly seemed to be in a very deep sleep. He carried him up on his shoulders and returned to the back of the flowers. He kept Ugly on the ground and continued to call on him to wake up.
After some time, Oliver observed that the lights shining from some open windows had gone off. He tapped on his watch, it showed 10:30.
"Oh no, this is not good," Oliver muttered, his voice trembling with panic.
Oliver's heart became so uneasy. It was lights out.
He began to move so fast. He had to make it to the front door on time before they closed it, as he realized that there was no point returning to the backdoor since he was closer to the front one.
He was moving so fast. The elf on his shoulder had just woken up, and it was completely confused about where it was. Footsteps were heard from the lawn area. Oliver quickly ducked down. He dropped Ugly on the ground, and carefully peered through the small spaces in between the flowers, to see who was there.
"Oliver Logan!" exclaimed Ugly in disbelief, as he saw Oliver beside him.
"Shhh..." Oliver whispered, signaling him to be quiet.
"Oliver Logan came back for Ugly. Ugly it very grateful," whispered Ugly.
"Ugly, you did say you were in big trouble, so bad, I figured out you're in a bigger one," Oliver whispered to the elf.
Ugly bit his fingers nervously, with his eyes widened in fear.
"W... w... what bigger trouble? Is Ugly going to die?" he asked Oliver, with raw panic in his voice.
"Ugly, listen to me," grunted Oliver, "Pull yourself together," he said.
"Stop fidgeting," Oliver said.
The poor elf was trembling with fear.
"Listen, there are people after you, really terrible people who want to do really terrible things to you. The only way to stay alive is to stay strong, and stay put," Oliver said.
"B... B... But Ugly has nowhere else to go," Ugly said to him.
"I changed my mind. You're gonna stay here for a while until I'm sure you're safe," Oliver whispered.
Oliver spotted two figures, moving along the lawn, towards the direction of the woods beyond the dormitory block. At first, he thought they were just a couple of night vigilantes, but when he carefully studied their appearances, he was convinced that they were both students.
As much as Oliver wanted to find out so badly, who these folks were, and where they were headed, he knew that it wasn't going to be tonight. He had to focus on getting to the front door quickly.
"Come on, Ugly," He put Ugly back on his left shoulder.
"Hold on tight," Oliver whispered.
He ran as fast as he could, till he finally made it to the front door. He took time to scan the environment. He wanted to be sure that no one was in sight, before coming out of his hiding place. The door area was illuminated by bright LED lights. There was no one there.
Oliver had a strange feeling that the door was closed.
"Wait here," whispered Oliver, as he dropped Ugly on the ground.
He quickly went to check if the door was unlocked. When he got there, he tried the handle.
The door did not open, it was stiff.
Oliver's heart jumped, and then it began to pound repeatedly, underneath his chest.
"Come on," he grumbled, jabbing on the handle, violently.
A sweat of frustration trickled down his face.
The door was locked.
He quickly returned to the back of the flowers, where Ugly was before someone spotted him.
Oliver was in a critical state of confusion. If he doesn't find a way to get inside the dormitory, he will have to spend the night outside.