THE ESCAPE SHOCK

"Mr Demesi? Is that you?" I cry with relief.

His voice comes, laced with worry, "Yes. What on earth are you children doing down there?"

We all ignore the fact that he called us children.
Delighted out of our wits, we scramble out to the surface after each other, on all fours.

I can hardly believe it. We're no longer trapped underground, fearing that glob is still after us. At least, now I know another human being apart from my friends is alive. Maybe things are not as bad up here as the glob fed my mind with.

The moment I am out and sure that I have dumped Dart into Oscar's arms, I silence Mr. Demesi's questions with a big hug. It feels so good to see him again. I choke back the tears threatening to spill.

He stiffens and keeps speaking, but I don't mind. I'm just so happy that he opened the trap door at that moment.

Cordelia hits my arm repeatedly and that's when I realise she is trying to draw my attention to something.

"What-?" I start to say but I pause mid-sentence when I lift my head and take in the library's state.

My eyes almost pop out and I'm sure my jaw has dropped to the tiled floor. My stricken visage mirrors that of my friends.

The library is in a perfect state. Every book on the few shelves near the reading nook is in perfect position, the rows of smart computers are spread out in their usual perfect sequence and the ceiling shows no sign of the cracks and crumbling that tell of surviving an earthquake.

"Oh, heavens!" I exclaim.

"Holy moly!" Owen is blinking so fast that I wonder if a bug got into his eyes.

Mr Demesi says, "What's up with your faces?"

Oscar slowly walks to the nearest window and peeks outside. From his expression, I can tell that everything outside is normal.

"I feel dizzy," Jadiel stutters. She looks the most hit by this turn of events.
Cordelia holds her by the arm, but the action makes it seem as though she is using Jadiel to brace herself.

"You have just five minutes till recess is over," Mr Demesi says as-a-matter-of-factly.

I stop in my tracks. What?

"But- but we've been trapped down there for... For hours!" Jadiel stutters, her face flushed.

I am speechless. My mind is reeling. From the look of things, it seemed what we experienced in the last hours didn't happen and time didn't pass.

Taking a deep breath, I say shakily, "Guys, I think we have to calm down and figure things out."

The inscrutable expression on Mr. Demesi's face deepens. "Definitely. You have a lot of explaining to do. You guys look terrible. You had me so worried when I got back and didn't find any sign of you. Plus, the CCTV at the entrance let me know you hadn't left, so I resorted to looking for you. That was when I saw the trap door slightly dislodged."

Owen snaps his finger. "That should clear things up. The CCTV."

By now, we have gotten back to the same table where this all began. Mr Demesi drags an extra chair to complete the circle and sits with us, his fingers steepled. I gesture to Oscar to lay Dart on the table.

Owen looks pleadingly and we all follow suit, latching our curious eyes on Mr Demesi. "Could we please check the CCTV, sir?"

"It's out of bounds to students," Mr Demesi says, probably wondering at our intense focus.

Owen pulls out the trump card of his close relationship with Mr. Demesi and says, "Please, sir, we need to see something for ourselves. Besides, you'll be with us to supervise us."

Mr Demesi sighs aloud and stands up, relenting. "Okay, but only because I see you're desperate about this."

We follow him to his desk where a large screen PC sits. Surrounding his ergonomic chair, we peer into the blue-light screen as Mr. Demesi uses his fingerprint sensor to unlock the system. Using his installed AI, Mr Demesi navigates to the CCTV recordings from the moment I enter, narrowing the view to the nook where I and my friends stayed.

Everything plays as it happens, except for a few major discrepancies. There is no fancy, well-worn Apocalypse book. What I take out is an ordinary-looking textbook. Also, the whole blackout and earthquake thing didn't show on screen. All I could see was our startled reactions to all these happenings before Jadiel finally opens the trapdoor and we disappear.

"So, can you explain all of that?" Mr Demesi says, slightly perplexed by what he'd seen play out.

Cordelia begins to rock herself and mumble under her breath, "I can't believe this. This is crazy... Does this mean...?"

"You all are still not making any sense. What exactly happened?" Mr Demesi demands.

Just then, the siren signalling the end of the break period vibrates across the whole school. We all freeze and look at Mr Demesi, waiting.

He leans back on his chair, swivels it to observe us with steady eyes and says cooly, "Don't even think that's your escape. You're not leaving this place until you tell me what transpired while I was away that made you all look and behave like zombies after the apocalypse."

That's when I take the time to observe us. We all look terrible. There is a pulsing bruise on my elbow from where I hit the floor and I can see that my friends are also nursing one minor injury or two.

It also doesn't help that the back of Owen, Cordelia and Jadiel's clothes are coated in soot, thanks to the smouldering contact with the labyrinth's walls. I'm surprised their clothes didn't tear or burn.

The good thing about our appearance and even Dart's partial unconsciousness is that we have some proof to back up whatever we're going to tell this man.

I am happy it's him. He is also a strong Christian, so maybe what I will say about the glob that attacked us won't sound far-fetched.

All at once, we begin to ramble and relay all that happened. Once one person exhausts one side of the account, another person takes up the story.

We gesture wildly with our hands, trying to emphasize the horrors we had undergone down below.

Mr. Demesi takes it all in silently.

I can't tell if he believes us or thinks we all have a severe case of mass hysteria/hypnosis. His face is a mask of blankness.

When we stop at the scene of our escape back to the surface, I risk a glance at him and wait for when he'll burst into hysterical laughter and ask us to stop concocting such a ridiculous story.

Instead, he says slowly, "Do you guys believe in prophecy and supernatural phenomena?"

~~~

Author's note: Guys, did you see this one coming?

Were all their experiences down there just a fluke?
I guess we have to wait and figure out this puzzle together.

Quick question: Which character is your best in this story and why?

As we wrap up this story, I want you all to try predicting how this story will end. Happy, sad or inconclusive?

I think lately, my A/N writing skills have gotten stale. Anyway, I'll blame that on the dark tone of this story.

If you've been enjoying the intrigue in this chapter so far, please do vote and comment as it helps Wattpad's algorithm to help this story rank well so other people can also read it.

I love your comments. I will do my best to reply to every one of them.

Till the next chapter, toodles.