All at once, the 7241 boys all awoke.238Please respect copyright.PENANADgv3CxcdAq
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They had all heard a large crash outside, in the center of campus, they were all startled, a little fearful, and some incredibly curious. All four of them, sitting up in bed, looking either near their open window or at each other, through the void of darkness that was their room at 2:40 am. Every single one of them wanted to open their mouth and comment on the situation, but couldn’t. Nobody exactly knew what was going on. Was it a car crash? A plane crash? A gas-related explosion? A bomb? Regardless of what it was, finally, some form of voice broke the silence. One of the boys, Dwight, a tall skinny man, mentioned the situation. But before he had spoken, he slowly approached the window, then, with what he had scanned with his own eyes, the most appropriate words he saw fit to say was that “It looks like it happened in the 5th district.”238Please respect copyright.PENANAEM5QdRGZXC
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After the silence broke from Dwight's soft-spoken words, the rest of the 7241 boys began sharing their comments on the situation.238Please respect copyright.PENANAM8vbNN2h2U
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“Is there any smoke? Any lights from where you see it?” Said Mich, Dwight’s closest friend.“238Please respect copyright.PENANAb6QpeTJIsr
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"Smoke. But no lights. It doesn’t look like anything got damaged from here though,” said Dwight.“238Please respect copyright.PENANACzvzU5f0vL
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"Hopefully nobody was hurt,” Camden stated.238Please respect copyright.PENANA4187tmmSBO
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After a bit of chatter, the 7241 boys all continued to stay still, perhaps they should just stay where they were. Maybe something would come up in place to show that nothing was wrong.238Please respect copyright.PENANA1vgqr9NozN
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Everybody had eventually fallen back asleep, most of them at least. All but Dwight. He still laid there, a little shaken by the situation, was it an explosion? What would’ve exploded in that area? There’s no way it could’ve been a bomb. There are no vehicles that could get back there either. Maybe it was a part of the 5th district building, and not just near it. But that guaranteed somebody there was hurt, that’s the most compact building on campus, and it’s filled to the brim with people. All these things collided in Dwight’s mind at once, and as he thought, and thought, he eventually would fall asleep. He awoke the next morning, his alarm clock causing him to. He would notice that his friends had already awakened, they were all doing what they usually did, the stuff they’d do before classes began. Either reading, on their cellphones, or drawing. Dwight looked over at all of them, and without a doubt, he’d laid back down to get extra sleep.238Please respect copyright.PENANALeKbwJePxV
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Dwight, due to sleeping in, was woken up a tad late to his first class, Camden, who’d had a class later than the others, got him up. 238Please respect copyright.PENANAlibVMU8w75
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“Dwight, come on man, you’re late,” explained Camden.238Please respect copyright.PENANAr5BhIvh22c
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“Wait what?” Dwight replied.238Please respect copyright.PENANAMM9IPghl1G
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“You slept in. I mean, I don’t blame you, the stress had everybody up late.”238Please respect copyright.PENANAdGzHEbfQ66
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“Ah, crap.”238Please respect copyright.PENANABvnfjaPsAv
They both sat silent for a bit. A question lay on Dwight’s mind, a question he hoped would have an answer.238Please respect copyright.PENANAmsUo7dkbvJ
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“Did they ever find the cause of the boom, you know, from last night?” Asked Dwight.238Please respect copyright.PENANAXcsd3lOzSj
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“Apparently, from what Mich messaged me, somebody had jumped from the 8th story of the building,” Camden stated.238Please respect copyright.PENANAk9kmiVH65d
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“Christ. Who was it?”238Please respect copyright.PENANAJLLBjswmbb
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“It was Amanda Baker, nobody knows why she did it, and from what Mich got out of it, they don’t want anybody investigating further until they get it under control.” Camden continued.238Please respect copyright.PENANAKBAaQrfwxy
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This was incredibly shocking to Dwight, who had thought Amanda was rather enjoyable, he looked down and back up as Camden finished explaining the situation.238Please respect copyright.PENANA8hFCvzo9Ur
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“But yeah, you should probably get going man, class started like ten minutes ago,” Camden said.238Please respect copyright.PENANAKGoQyjXmqy
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“Yeah, yeah..” Dwight said with a bit of distaste in his mouth, as the pill he just had to swallow made him choke up. Regardless of this though, he and Camden had finished getting ready. Dwight raced out the door as he was in a hurry. It was a tad foggy, and it was incredibly humid. As he ran to class, he continued thinking about what had happened, something still didn’t click, and he couldn’t shake the fact that he knew he had seen the smoke. Did she land on a car? What the hell had happened?238Please respect copyright.PENANA6PiqZmAd06
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He finally made it to class, it was a little more full than it was last year. He took his seat and sprawled his papers and books in front of him, he pulled out a mechanical pencil and began to speed through the notes that he had to take, the very short amount that is. Once he caught up he would listen carefully to everything the professor would say, he took heavy breaths as he raced to calm down. The mixture from the stress now kicking in of him being late, the relief of him catching up, and the fact that his classmate had killed herself this morning. It was all too much for Dwight who was exhausted from the lack of sleep last night.238Please respect copyright.PENANAjJEDYJloJm
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As his first-class had ended, he took everything with him and walked to the next building he had needed to be at, he was taking an English class. He took his seat and whipped out his phone to check his messages. He had also checked the college board and noticed that nothing was displayed for Amanda or anybody else that lived in the district building. Was Mich lying? There’s no way that a death in the school wouldn’t be public almost instantly. Now that he thought about it, there wasn’t any way Professor Langley wouldn’t have said anything, his last professor. Maybe he had just missed it. Dwight began to grow impatient as nothing was making sense to him. After yet another class, a class filled with boring notes and an overwhelming presence that drove Dwight insane, he was finally given a break. He didn’t have another class for an hour and he returned to his dorm.238Please respect copyright.PENANAfm9QRwcEEJ
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Once he returned and entered his dorm, he was met with an empty dorm, this was odd because Hunter was supposed to be back from his classes at this point, guess he was just a tad late. Maybe he grabbed some grub, who knows at this point. He jumped on his bed, overlooked his notes for a bit, threw them onto the nightstand next to his bunk which relayed a loud smack as he did so, and he covered his face with his hands. He was exhausted, pissed, drained, and even a little unsettled. He thought to himself; he tried to put some of the pieces together in his head, he just couldn’t let all of this go, he had to figure things out, and nobody was able to properly explain things to him, not at the moment at least, was driving him nuts. He tried to give himself some leisure, maybe none of the staff were informed, maybe Mich was just told by some other delinquent students who overlooked the scene from their windows. But, wouldn't they have emptied the 5th district building? God, this is never gonna leave him alone.238Please respect copyright.PENANAIqyFKf2aAJ
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Soon enough Hunter did return to the dorm, he had grabbed something to eat. A nice bucket of chicken wings. Terry’s Chicken was phenomenal, there was nothing that compared to the elegant taste of the delicious chicken wings you could get there.238Please respect copyright.PENANAOnXYYa87WC
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“You bring food home?” Dwight asked, already knowing the answer.238Please respect copyright.PENANAfDhZ9qNnrl
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“Yup, they’re on the table if you want some,” Hunter said with disdain in his voice. “238Please respect copyright.PENANARDTfj5JKCR
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"What happened to you?” Dwight asked with a little jump in his tone. Hunter sounded frustrated beyond belief.238Please respect copyright.PENANAF5UpLOyFIk
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“My scheduling this year, they screwed it up, completely, now I’m in that damn coding club, figures,” Hunter scoffed. Drama club was alright, Dwight thought. It was better than any of the other clubs there. Besides the one, he was in, drama club, but that didn't start till next week. 238Please respect copyright.PENANAndW4yCUdy8
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Dwight was shown Hunter’s full schedule. Just given enough time to detail it and think it over.238Please respect copyright.PENANAVA5wUti1py
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“Look on the bright side Hunter, you don’t have any classes with Professor Green,” Dwight stated.238Please respect copyright.PENANAKiGasxGEuk
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Professor Green was the English 111 teacher. He always graded late, was terrible at giving out notes, and generally just set impossible standards, expecting his incredibly long assignments to get done in short bursts of time, didn't help that the guy was a total wretch. The bastard always gave slimy looks towards the girls and ended up convincing one of them to sleep with him, not sure how entirely true it was considering it never went past the rumor stages, but I believe it.238Please respect copyright.PENANAOP58lzTTaq
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“That’s true, that guy was and still is a joke, he might always be a joke, who knows,” Hunter replied. Hunter felt a little better, but he still sighed and laid back in his bed.238Please respect copyright.PENANAgWtP04jEaW
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Dwight would get up from his spot to go grab a plate of chicken for himself, he was rather hungry from this dreadful morning. He wanted to ask Hunter about the situation, but he just wanted to let it rest, maybe he’d find out something sooner or later. He sat down and began to enjoy his meal, grabbing the television remote as he did so, which made it slightly greasy, and sleek from the chicken grease on his fingers. He turned the TV on and sat for a moment. “Anything you wanna watch?” Dwight asked Hunter.238Please respect copyright.PENANAQF4dwHYapT
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“I just wanna sleep…” Hunter responded. Dwight heard him loud and clear and sat the remote down as he had the news on in front of him. As he sat and enjoyed his juicy chicken, he watched the broadcasts. They all were mainly talking about big events around the city their campus was in. Nothing relating to the campus at all. As he took another bite he pulled out his phone, noticing a bunch of burnt messages, some had been sitting there almost all night. He was a bit stunned, he doesn’t recall those being there when he opened his phone- He began to tremble ever so slightly.238Please respect copyright.PENANAkOVejm0WX4
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Messages, upon messages from the girl he had a strong crush on, for the longest of a time, detailing how she needed help, somebody was in the hallway, multiple people. She had seen them climbing the steps and they were all wearing gear to mask themselves. Dwight couldn't read any further, nor did he understand anything he read, he threw down the phone and shook, his heartbeat raced, and he tried his hardest not to disturb Hunter. He aggressively, but quietly sat the chicken down onto the nightstand, and he fell under the covers as he tried to process it all, this wasn't an accident, this may have not even been a suicide, this could, and just might be something far worse, he began to tear up and whimpered softly in his head, he thought to himself, wishing that he'd just fall asleep, over and over and over again, wanting the thoughts of an attack on the school to be just a scary thing he thought of, and not an actual event, but the pieces slowly formed in his head, even if he didn't want to believe it. 238Please respect copyright.PENANAF2Pm2ayekZ
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He couldn’t dare look at his phone again, he just laid there in shock and awe as his mind flipped through everything at once. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, something even told him to laugh it off and keep his head up; but he couldn’t do any of that, he couldn’t do anything. He just closed his eyes, and without a shadow of a doubt, he thought of it, he just wanted to fall asleep. Just sleep it away, feel nothing in a paralyzed rest, but he couldn’t chew the guilt, every single word he saw on the messages that he was able to see through the face of his phone flickered through his mind, every single mind ripping detail. It was the only thing he could think of, and eventually, it overtook him. Tears would stream down his face, he didn’t make a noise, but his mind screamed and cried out in agony. He hugged his pillow tight and tried to force himself asleep through his tormented sulking.238Please respect copyright.PENANAvCCEpvygIh
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Through all of this, Hunter had sprawled across the bed and had eventually fallen asleep. Dwight had followed suit after tiring himself out from the sheer amount of dread he had withstood. 238Please respect copyright.PENANA0ugEbnokqX
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Dwight continued to rest, as his dreams began to take hold. He was in a much more peaceful place, somewhere that wasn’t campus, somewhere different, a small warm cabin, with a rug smack in the center, he sat on his bed which was laid in the corner, no creases in between the bed and the wall, it was completely secure. A television set above a warm fireplace on a wall across from Dwight was off, but it was oddly comforting, just like the fire below it. There were no windows, and the door was locked tight with around 4 separate locks, keeping anything from coming in. Dwight laid back in this dreamlike bed and sunk into it like a stone in foam. 238Please respect copyright.PENANAvKXsXxSLu6
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He tried and tried to climb his way out of the foam but couldn’t break free. He was stuck, this comfortable position he was in wasn’t very comfortable, he felt as if the foam was sticking to his body. He sunk as if he had swallowed a bowling ball and it was weighing him down. He couldn’t open his mouth either to cry for help and if he managed to make any noise, he would just wheeze out. Eventually, he began to flail his arms but soon enough he wouldn’t be able to do that either; it didn’t help that he couldn’t feel anything. Eventually, he finally woke up to an alarm that Hunter set, Hunter had a schedule that had him leaving earlier than Dwight, so Dwight would be able to take naps because Hunter would usually wake him up when he left. Dwight looked around panicked before slumping back into bed, seeing Hunter get up from his bed calmed his stressed mind and he laid back and sighed. 238Please respect copyright.PENANAs2tLXQ6kT4