Day 3 in August 17, 2017
Time: Unknown

Laine was sobbing hard. Her intake of air was constricted and she hicupped at every inaudible sound that left her lips. She completely forgot that there were other people that's in the hallway with her. But she couldn't seem to feel their precense. No matter how bad she looked, no matter how hard it was breath, she just couldn't seem to care. No one seemed to care but then, a hand touched her back and rubbed circles on it. And how nice had it been. It was sweet and it was the most humane gesture she had ever since she came into this word.

"Laine..." someone called her, voice light as a feather. When she turned her head to look at the person, it was Fei. Her half-lidded eyes showed something. Sympathy perhaps. And her lips were neutral, not on a frown nor a smile. And Laine knew it was the best she could do to cheer her up. She wasn't made for comforting people, that was a fact, but seeing her try like this made Laine stop her tears from flowing-- honoring Fei's goodwill towards her.

She nodded when she sniffed an incoming snot. "We can't leave Josh out in the open like this. Can you please cover him up?" she asked, handing a white sheet to her. Laine took it with both hands, agreeing to what she said. They couldn't leave him like this. And his body being stuck beside the clinic's door made it harder for them to enter. He couldn't be staring at them with his half open eyes everytime they passed and they couldn't do the same towards him.

She widened the sheet and stood in front of him, taking one last look. Her eyes were a mixture of regret and horror to what happened to him. The sight of his corpse was finally veiled by white, only leaving his silhouette under the sheets.

"We're going to scan the school grounds again to see if things have changed." Sammy resurfaced from beside her, asking her with her eyes on Josh' covered body. "You can stay here if you don't want to come with us." There was a pause and it made Sammy's eyes direct itself towards her. "Do you want to come?" she asked again.

Laine shook her head, meeting her eyes, her expression weak. "Can I stay here a little longer? Please?" she asked.

"You can." Sammy nodded and stood with the others. "Just don't go anywhere while we're out," she said before turning her back towards her and marching away deep into the hallways. Laine didn't watch their back, she wasn't even worried if they decided to leave her there and never return. Her eyes just focused itself towards the white sheet again, blinking hard when she thought she saw the body underneath shifted.

Their steps echoed the hallway, urgent and fast paced. It was led by Sammy who turned her head left and right whenever they passed each room, resembling a fast vacinity check guards used to do. "James, can you repeat what you told me yesterday?" she asked, her tone professional, not even looking back.

"The classrooms we've been still has it's damage. It was messy, it was a garbage dump and when we came to our own classroom that thing was still there. Just... standing." James reported, shrugging at the last part he said.

Sammy filed it up in her head and added it in one of the records in her memory. The monster that appeared in their room was still there last night. They made a turn towards the familiar route.

And... it was still here, she thought as she watched the creature paced the room. It was walking back and forth in front of the board. The board. Her eyes focused on the said thing. The monster's actions only made her realize more that the board held more significance than it already had. Maybe the people in this world were not just for displays and wasn't actually programmed to only attack until provoked, maybe they had a motive in everything they do. And this monster still being here proved their analytical skills. Maybe this monster wasn't sent there just to scare them out-- it was to keep them out. A shiver ran through her body. Who was the mastermind? Did they have eyes everywhere? Did they have collective thoughts? They're already dangerous as they are right now and they would be more if they came together, united with one goal-- the goal to eliminate the outsiders. Them.

She steeled her eyes and took a breath. She couldn't show the others how terrified she was. She couldn't until there's no definite proof. She cleaned her memory of it, filed it up and stored it at the back of her mind. Her eyes left the the board taking note that the date had changed on it. Last time it was August 11, now it's 12. It's counting down the days all the way back to the first day they came here. The only one who changes the date was her, meaning that in the other untwisted version of the board was her-- oblivious and leaving her mundane life. If only she could communicate using that. They would have to try but they couldn't charge recklessly, they have to find out more before they start planning. It had to be foolproof and it had to guarantee that they would come out alive. For now, while they're in this world, information was power. If they played their cards right, they wouldn't need to lift anymore knives and other make believe weapons. She'd do everything to make that happen. But for now...

Her head turned back to the others, another pressing matter in hand. She might've kept her mouth shut all this time but the burning sensation in her stomach is getting a bit too painful for to stay silent. Her stomach has been growling so bad like she didn't ate anything in almost a week. All of a sudden something clicked inside her head, spreading coldness in her gut that makes what she's feeling even worse.

"Do any of you feel hungry?" she asked, her hand unconsciously grasping her stomach.

Mark hummed in thought. "Now that you mentione it... yeah." He nodded. "I am hungry. So so hungry."

"But you ate most of the pizza last night," Fei told him.

"If there's anyone who should be hungry, it's me!" James invited himself in their conversation, rude and yelling. "I ate like one slice and now it makes me hungry like crazy. I only talked about it now 'cause I don't want to be such a little bitch about it!"

Sammy listened to their bickering and pieced things together. They had a descent meal last night and yes, they may not have their breakfast yet, but this is too much of a reaction.

"Eveyone," her voice sliced through their noise and captured their attention. "I think it's because of this world. Everything we eat is from this world and we all know it returns to it's previous form at a specific time of the day. I think that also includes the food we eat," she said, her voice was merely a whisper, afraid to be heard by other than them. "Maybe all this time... we've never really ate anything." Her whispered theory travelled to everyone's ears and it froze them.

They never ate? Were they just killing themselves all this time? Were they digging their own graves without them knowing? Something heavy settled in their stomach and it's not just hunger.

"Does that mean we're go-gonna starve to death?" Fei asked, voice hysterical.

"I don't know." Sammy shook her head. "I think we do actually eat but it only makes us full until the reset happens. Once it resets, all of it was taken from our body leaving us more hungry than ever. There would be a duration of time where we would feel that hunger, during that time we would need to refill ourselves fast." Sammy paused. Silencing what she's about to say. Soon, a day would come where we woudn't be able to move anymore, there would be no strength left to even lift a spoon. It was a depricating thought, one they shouldn't know. "I-I think it may give us a chance but it's not sustainable." She looked at everyone's expression. There were fear in their eyes but no one made a face of someone who knew their death was already set in stone. That made her a bit relieved. There's still a way, she's sure of it.

James laughed but it was quick to come into an abrupt stop.

"The fuck?!" The smile that accompanied his laugh earlier disappeared. "Does that mean even if it turned into shit it would still revert back into it's curry form?! What kind of sick logic is that?!"

"Ma-Maybe we could look at our bags and see if there's still food left inside. Sammy told us that the only thing this world can't influence are the thi-things that we brought with us," Fei answered instead, her voice rushed and shaking.

"That's a good idea." Sammy nodded. But she didn't count on it. There may be some but she knew it won't last long.

"Hey, maybe this world has that weird place where it's connected to the real world or something. Maybe we could get something from that," Mark added, keeping the hysteria on a roll.

"Forget about finding places that's just somehow connected to the real world. How about we find a way out of here? How's that sound?!" James yelled back, his voice cracking.

"Please calm down!" Sammy yelled, reverbrating the whole corridor and sending them in an abrupt stop.

"Let's continue our walk around the school, that'll be the best way to find place's that's connected to the real world and at the same time, it could give us more information on how we can get out here. By doing that, we can hit two birds with one stone. Is that okay with both of you, James? Mark?" She turned her head towards both boys, her forehead creasing as if she was reprimanding a bunch of kids. Both James and Mark nodded at that, their faces dumbfounded at how she fit all their demands in one go.

"And Fei..." She moved towards Fei, the only unproblematic member of this group. She made her voice softer for her. "Once we get back to the clinic, we'll check the bags, just like you said."

Fei nodded at her and Sammy smiled.

"Now, let's go," Sammmy said and they took off again to scour the place.

A few minutes passed and they found nothing weird in the rooms they'd peeked their heads in, they were about to mark the whole place clean of supernatural until they made their way back the teachers' lounge. Sammy took a look at the date first. It was August 17, as always. They circled the room and James was about to annnounce their search to be a waste of time until he saw a smoke rose from one of the teachers' desk. He held his tongue for a moment and walked towards it, his brows furrowing. He couldn't see what was making the smoke. The thing was surrounded by book and files so once he's in front of it, he shoved it all away, startling everyone in the room.

While they jumped in shock, James screamed in joy, his eyes wide open and for the very first time, it was not because of something bad happening-- it was because he found food. Glorious, glorious, processed cupnoodles, steaming and on a large-sized bowl. Never in his entire life had he been so happy seeing an "artificial" food and not get pissed off of it.

"Food!" Mark yelled enthusiastically.

"It is!" Sammy said and they all approached it slowly as if they were a predator hunting for their prey, even though the noodles was immobile, even though it had nowhere place to go, they still did it-- hunger does that to you, apparently.

"It's seafood?" Sammy said. "Mr. Jones always have cup noodles with him every morning."

"Yes, I remember he reeks of food seasoning whenever he arrives at class," James answered, his nose crinkling.

"Maybe he eats it in here every morning before class," Mark added. "Then, if that's the case, that means we're safe! We can live off of noodles every single day!" Marks hand shot up the air in a "hallejuah" pose, ready to kneel at the miracle that had befallen them. While he did that, James was all up in his mind, creating a different interpretation of it. He finally found one and it made him erupt in a full blown laughter.

"You mean to tell me," he pointed at the food, "on the other side of this dimension, Mr. Jones was about to eat this?" He pointed at it more aggressively. "THIS?!"

"Yes, we've just discussed it," Sammy answered, his laugh playing in the backround.

"No no no." He waved his hand at them. "You don't understand, this is his breakfast and we're about to swipe it under his nose, from another dimension! The bastard wouldn't be having his breakfast for the next few days!"

It was now Mark's turn to burst into laughter.

"That was--" he wheezed, "that's good- you got me go- you got mehihihi."

He can't even form his words without it ending in hihihi or hahaha.

James slid the food off the table and hog it all for himself. "That damn teacher failed me on his subject without any reasons. Hey--" he elbowed Mark. "Imagine what he'd say when he found this out. He'd be like: Ooh!--" He made his voice deeper and raised his free hand to made robotic movements with it, it didn't even resembled Mr. Jones. "Where did my food go? Welp, I guess I'll just deduct that to Mr. James Sullivan scores then. Fucker-- I'm not there!" He laughed again, flapping his hands on the last part as if he was yelling at the teachers face himself. Mark made a crying noise and elbowed him back, he couldn't take the laugh torture anymore and was begging for it to stop.

His pained laughing expression made Fei laugh and Sammy joined in, having another reason in mind why she does so. Yes, seeing their amusing face was a part of it but what's more funnier to her was the fact that those two always seemed to agree to weird things, especially one that deserved a good laugh. They really loved their jokes and if you looked at them now-- shoving and laughing together-- you wouldn't believe that these two hated each other's guts, was always fighting and had opposite morals. They were dorks in their own way and she loved that.

"Guys!" Someone's voice penetrated their noises of joy and they stopped, stilling the air around them. All their eyes went to the door and there, they saw Laine, a white fabric was tied on her wrist and it led to somewhere or something.

"You won't believe what I found!" she announced happily, her smile bright but something about the thing she found and think was a "good" thing scared them.

She stepped into the room and pulled. Something invited itself inside and their eyes grew wide as it approached from behind her. There, on the other side of the tie with a knot on one of it's writs was Josh, connected to her by the very sheet that they used to cover his dead body. His clearly dead body. But here he was now, in front of them, he came back from the dead once more but unlike the first time-- they weren't happy about it. This was not their Josh. It was just a walking corpse, pale, gray and...

"Get away from it!" James yelled, dropping their food back on the table.

Laine flinched, her eyes innocently trained on them.

"What, why?" she asked.

Sammy took wary steps towards Laine, offering her hand for her to take. "Can't you see?" From behind Laine, it stood steady, it has swirling black holes where the eyes should be, there were no eyes, the only thing that's meeting her gaze was her own reflection on his flowered glasses, staring back at her. "He's one of them."