The Chorus of Death

BANG! BANG!

I woke up, drenched in sweat. Was that a nightmare? I think so….

I looked at the clock that was on the desk beside me. It read 03.16 A.M. I suddenly felt something vibrate on my desk. I looked at my phone and I realized I had received a text telling me to look out of the window.

There were a few buildings on fire. I could hear screams from the buildings.

I need to help them. There’s a high chance they could die, since I didn’t see anyone else trying to help them. But my subconscious stopped me. What if it’s a trap?

I shook my head. No, it can’t be a trap. Rubbing a sleepy eye, I ripped the covers off, grabbed my coat and ran out of the dormitory.

By the way, my name is Erika. I’m fifteen years old and I’m a boarding student at Eastwood Academy.

I ran towards one of the buildings that were on fire as fast as I could. Right when I stepped into the building, a woman aimed her gun and shot me in the neck. Twice. I fell onto the floor. Seeing my own blood made me dizzy.

Hold on... isn’t this what happened in my nightmare?

I was trying to figure out what was happening when suddenly everything went black.

Am I…. dead?

I woke up in my dormitory again. This time, the clock read 04.16 A.M. and I received another text that told me I was running out of time.

I looked out the window again. There were a lot of buildings on fire now. I saw a black-haired girl run towards a blue, fancy building.

I came back to my senses and grabbed my coat. I decided to go to a yellow building since it didn’t have too much fire burning in it. I stepped into the building and saw the same woman that shot me the first time aim a gun at my head. When she pulled the trigger, I lunged to the left, dodging the bullet. As I got close to her, I tried hit her with my elbow but she managed to shoot me in the head two times. Again. And everything went black.

Just before I fully came to my senses, I heard an ear-splitting scream. The scream sent a shiver down my spine.

What was that?

I woke up again, this time not in my dormitory, but in a classroom. I didn’t recognize this classroom since it wasn’t in my school. I scanned my surroundings and to my surprise, there was a black-haired girl behind me looking just as confused as I was.

Wait…. Isn’t she Kotori, the school president?

“Kotori?” I tapped her on the shoulder.

“Wha- oh, it’s just you, Erika,” she sighed in relief. “I thought I was the only one who got teleported here!”

“Same! Also, are we near the buildings that are on fire?” I asked Kotori.

“I have no idea,” Kotori said.

Suddenly, an explosion echoed throughout the classroom. Its loud sound rang in my ears.

“I have a feeling we need to check outside,” I said, running out of the classroom with Kotori following me.

We burst out of the school, and the scene that appeared before my eyes was probably the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

The sky was a combination of black, grey and white. All the people were skeletons. The houses were either black or grey. Everything in this world was black, grey or white.

“W-where are we?” Kotori stuttered.

“The Death Nexus,” said someone behind us. I turned around and was surprised to see a human like us and not a skeleton.

The person was a girl. She had purple hair and was wearing a black hoodie, some jeans and a pair of white sneakers.

“The Death Nexus is basically a realm for dead people. Occasionally, some people who have the power to return to a specific point in time might be teleported here,” she explained.

“What do we have to do to get back to Earth?” I asked her. What made me worried was the gun in her hand.

“You have to kill me.” She smiled as she shot Kotori and Kotori disappeared.

That’s when I spotted a portal with a picture of Earth on it.

I ran to the portal as fast as I could, trying to dodge the bullets. When I arrived, I jumped into the portal and immediately passed out.

When I woke up, I was back in my dormitory. It was 06.12 A.M. I looked out the window and saw that there weren’t any buildings on fire.

I smiled to myself as I got ready to go to school.

The End