Tired Of Running

Ray felt as though he could now officially be considered an Olympic marathon runner. He wasn't used to this kind of exercise and just felt like lying on the floor for the rest of the day. That said, he still found this experience to be quite exhilarating.

Every time he reached a corner, he would slow down and peek around it, to make sure he didn't bump into any more of these cult-like weirdos. Luckily, block 5's emptiness seemed to be a recurring theme. He wasn't really sure about what he would do if he ran into them, but he thought it was best to stay cautious.

Once, he got to the third corner, he saw someone on the other side of the hallway. It was a short girl with pink twin tails. She wore a school uniform and for the most part looked relatively normal, with the exception of her face being hidden by a red mask thar resembled a laughing demon.

Ray had only seen her figure from the corner, and as such mistook her for an ordinary student, continuing to run without hesitation.

Upon seeing her mask however, he moved to the left of the corridor, hugging the wall to avoid intercepting her, praying that she wouldn't change lane. 'Jeez, there are a lot of people in the drama club,' he joked nervously.

Similarly to Ray, the girl was also running, albeit in the opposite direction and on the right side. As Ray got closer, it looked like she was clutching tightly onto a black, gift-like box with a white ribbon. She moved like a postman delivering a package, the speed at which she ran was surprising considering her small stature.

The two sprinters were quickly edging closer to each other, but Ray was no longer concerned with the thought of overlapping with her: it became clear to him that she had no intention of interacting since she was staying to the other side of the corridor, not moving from her lane.

As he approached however, Ray heard a voice coming from his left. "What the hell?" a man shouted. Ray instantly took his attention away from the girl and looked in the direction of the commotion. It was coming from a dark classroom. Its door held wide open by a black doorstop.

The positioning of the room was directly between the two so that when they would pass each other, they would align with the open door.

Ray wondered what could be happening in there, while the girl didn't really seem to care, instead focusing on maintaining her pace.

'What!?' Ray thought, shocked as the dark classroom that he was looking into, suddenly shined bright blue. The light being so intense that it even crept to the outside of the classroom's floor, into the corridor.

Ray and the mystery girl were now about to cross paths, stepping in the river made of light.

Despite the two, now being in front of the classroom door, Ray was slightly closer to passing the stream of light while the girl had only just entered the it. This meant that if he continued running, he would have been fine. Even so, from the cult, to this masked girl and the blue light, he was no longer sure of how to react rationally. Instead, he acted on impulse.

Before he could realise what happened, Ray threw his bag and tackled the girl to the floor, moving the two of them out of the light, the gift flying elegantly from hand.

Thud.

Bang!

They were both on the floor. Ray opened his eyes and immediately jumped away from his unsuspecting victim. "Crap!" He squeaked as he realised what he did.

Once the dust cleared, the girl raised her head, clutching her mask that had somehow not fallen off. "What the hell's your problem," she said angrily, still recovering from being thrown to the floor. Looking up, she glared intensely at her attacker.

Ray, unsure of what to say, simply glanced back at the classroom to check to aftermath. When he did this, his expression changed from embarrassed to shock in an instant. The girl, confused by the face he made, looked in the same direction. They both sat there, in complete shock.

The ground just beyond their feet was completely charred. The beautiful river of light had become a black stream of death.

Ray lay there, dormant in thought. If he hadn't moved out the way in time he would probably be in a hospital bed. 'Was that a bomb?' He had never seen an explosive that created a blue light, then again, it's not like was an expert.

While Ray was busy thinking, the girl had already returned to her feet and recovered her gift.

"T-thank you," she said both hesitantly and hurriedly, immediately continuing towards her destination, until she was completely out of sight.

"She left," Ray sighed, getting up, wiping the dust off his clothes. He scanned the floor for the bag that he threw, hoping it didn't get cooked.

After finding it, he picked it up, thanking God that it was still alive. He dusted it of and return it to its rightful place.

Curious, Ray looked toward the source of the blast. The door was surprisingly still intact, though the inside of it was completely black. He looked the scorched ground nervously, then recklessly approached the classroom.

The room was still dark, on the floor near the inside of the door, were two unconscious individuals with laughably bad fashion sense.

They wore matching black sagging pants and white untucked shirts, though their burned shirts ceased to be white in colour.

Ray shuddered at the thought of himself almost being in their position: on the floor burned to crisp.

He continued to peek inside, standing awkwardly outside the door. When he saw what looked like a third figure, only this one was standing in the middle of the classroom. He squinted to get a better look.

A pair of burning sapphire eyes stared at Ray coldly, glowing, almost as bright as the light that signalled the explosion.

Ray was petrified. He couldn't shake this feeling of impending death that he suddenly felt. This was the first time he wanted to run without commenting on the situation in his head. This was genuine fear. So then why? why was he smiling? Part of him wanted to see just how dangerous this man was. But after standing there for some time he overcame these reckless thoughts and the desire to flee took over.

Without saying anything, he ran. There was nothing else to it. No thoughts, no hesitation. He just Ran.

Though, unfortunately, he was late to class.