FDD 1

1. Thursday the 13th

Luca had never arrived at school this early during his high school years. He never arrived late. However, he did not go out of his way to come early and always arrived right on time for class. Luca had no great affection for school. This was because he had been taught that attending every class on time was the duty of a student. Luca always found school boring and always wanted to escape from it.

High school would have remained a series of uneventful years for Luca. That is, if it weren’t for just ‘one’ thing. That ‘one’ stirred up excessive emotions in Luca, in both good and bad ways. However, coming to school at dawn wasn’t because of that ‘one’. Well, he wouldn’t say it wasn’t related at all, though.

Unlike usual, Luca was wandering alone inside the school before sunrise. Unlike the noisy daytime, the school at dawn was very quiet and also eerie. As Luca moved forward, shining his phone flashlight inside the school, he suddenly recalled a ghost story he had heard from a relative his age living in Korea.

There were quite a lot of ghost stories related to schools in Asia (Luca guessed it was probably due to the terrifying entrance exams). Back then, he had dismissed with a laugh the story a relative had told him in a low voice about a statue that moved and bled every night. But he didn’t know why that story suddenly came to mind right now of all times.

Fortunately, there were no statues in this school. And right now, the only things in the school hallway were Luca and the long rows of red lockers. However, Luca’s mind was already consumed by fear. In his head, the bright red lockers transformed into blood-stained walls. And the preposterous delusions scattered and vanished like smoke as soon as Luca arrived at his destination and realized the purpose of his early arrival at school.

He turned toward his target, and the light from his white phone illuminated the red locker. He squinted slightly, blinded by the light reflecting off the glossy surface of the locker. After shining the light on the lock, he began to carefully unlock it. Doing so while holding a phone in one hand was not easy, and only after failing several times did he successfully open the locker.

Squeak.

The slightly rusty locker creaked and slowly opened its mouth. While many students decorated the inside of their lockers according to their own personalities, Luca’s was exactly as it had been received, except for the fact that it contained luggage.

When he shined his phone flashlight into the locker, fortunately, the hoodie Luca had forgotten yesterday lay there just as it was. The black zip-up hoodie Luca was looking for. It had hardened, round spots on the cuffs from the glue and a stiff zipper, but it was the one he wore often because the pockets were exceptionally convenient for storage. Even though he knew no one would steal it, Luca felt relieved. After checking that the pockets were still bulging, he put the hoodie into his bag.

As Luca finally found what he was looking for, his tension dissipated, and he felt the drowsiness he had cast far away returning. Unable to bear it any longer, he let out a loud yawn all alone in the dark, empty hallway. He had woken up much earlier than usual. Recalling his bed with its unmade, crumpled blankets, Luca intended to go home and catch up on his sleep. That was until he heard a sound.

Rustle.

It was a presence. It meant that someone other than Luca was at the school. His secret and clandestine plan had been disrupted. The fact that someone was hiding in such a dark school was more than enough to instill fear in Luca once again.

He crouched down and slowly approached the source of the sound. The fear that had faded was engulfing him once again. Standing in front of the classroom door from which the sound had come, Luca took a deep breath. Then, he threw the door open. At that moment,

Whoosh!

Something was swung toward Luca’s stomach. It was long and slender, and it seemed to have a pointed tip. At that moment, the only thing Luca could be certain of was that it had come flying toward him with the intention of attacking him.

“Ugh!”

Startled, he quickly took a step backward. Fortunately, he dodged it, but flustered by the unexpected turn of events, Luca dropped his cell phone. It plummeted to the floor in an instant. The phone’s flashlight stuck to the floor, trapping the dim light inside. Soon after, the space where Luca and the threatening stranger were was engulfed in complete darkness.

His body froze from the fear. However, to survive, he barely managed to move. He tried to quickly grab the phone again, but the other person’s hand was faster, and Luca had no choice but to let the phone be snatched away. The phone, held in another’s hand, failed to recognize its owner and illuminated Luca’s face menacingly.

The light attacked Luca like a long, slender object. Threatened by the brightness, he stepped back and covered his face with his palms. As if those palms, far too small compared to a cell phone flashlight, were the only thing that could protect him. Luca loosened the straps of his bag, intending to swing it. However, due to the soft, high-pitched voice that suddenly rang in the space, Luca’s blue bag, bulging with clothes, was not swung in the darkness.

“Luca?”

It was a voice Luca was very familiar with. And the owner of the voice had no valid reason to harm him. He relaxed a little. However, since people are always harmed by those they are familiar with, he could not feel completely safe. Luca replied in a voice tinged with slight caution.

“Chloe Chopra.”

The person who attacked Luca and quickly grabbed his cell phone was none other than Indian-American student Chloe Chopra.

***

Chloe was a senior female student and an outstanding track and field athlete. She was in the same grade as Luca, who was also a senior. And Chloe and Luca had known each other since before they entered Haddonfield High School.

The ENT clinic run by Chloe’s parents and the dental clinic run by Luca’s parents were located right next to each other. They were on the same floor of the same building, and furthermore, they submitted their prescriptions to the same pharmacy. However, such geographical factors alone could not bring the two wary Asian couples close. It was entirely due to their only children that the first-generation Indian immigrant couple and the first-generation Korean immigrant couple came to know each other and converse.

The son and daughter of each couple were not close to one another. After all, both Luca and Chloe got to know each other because of their parents. Luca and Chloe met because both couples were striving to get their children into prestigious medical schools. Fortunately, the medical schools the Ha and Chopra couples were applying to did not overlap, and thanks to this, they communicated with each other by sharing information. And as Luca received an acceptance letter from a medical school in Boston and Chloe from one in Baltimore, the couples’ efforts bore great fruit.

Chloe’s parents often told her about Luca. They said he was a very upright, handsome, and academically gifted student. Chloe had thought that of everything her parents said about Luca, the only thing true was that he was good at studying.

This was because her parents considered studying to be the highest virtue in life. It was her parents who had told Chloe to befriend a white boy who was unremarkable except for having good grades, describing him as a very decent guy. So, Chloe arbitrarily assumed that Luca would be a nerd with thick glasses and shaggy black hair, just like that white boy. However, from Chloe’s perspective, everything her parents said was true.

Chloe first saw Luca when she had just entered high school. Luca had big eyes with fine double eyelids, and his eyelashes were long and thick, as if he had drawn eyeliner. His eyebrows had a slightly angled arch that counterbalanced the delicate atmosphere emanating from his eyes.

His chin was slender, but his jawline was angular and firm, revealing that Luca was not a soft-hearted person. Furthermore, Luca stood about 6 feet (approximately 182.9 cm) tall with broad, solid shoulders and exceptional athletic ability, making him an outstanding boy by any standard.

Some female students who were into Asian culture said that Luca resembled male characters from Japanese manga or anime, and also said he looked like a member of a K-pop boy group. However, Chloe didn’t know the characters or the members; she only knew that Luca had the looks to be popular.

However, Luca himself wasn’t interested in anything other than attending an Ivy League school. Moreover, his parents were influential members of a Korean church that dominated the Korean community. Consequently, strange rumors circulated that Luca only dated with marriage in mind. Luca did date a few girls. Of course, they were not marriage partners, and their relationships ended after just a single date.

Although Luca and Chloe had known each other for quite a while, they weren’t exactly close friends; however, reflecting on the Luca she had seen, he wasn’t the kind of person who would suddenly turn around and commit an act of terror. Furthermore, Chloe judged that Luca, holding no weapons and with a face full of wariness and tension, would not pose a threat to her. With a slightly more relaxed expression, Chloe returned the phone to Luca. As he took the phone, he glanced at the ballpoint pen Chloe was holding.

“Why did you swing that?”

Chloe looked embarrassed by Luca’s question. Then, she put the ballpoint pen into the pocket of her coat.

“I had a bad feeling.”

A bad feeling? The school was exactly the same as usual, except that it was dark and very early. Though that very fact did scare Luca a little. He felt embarrassed by his own reaction and exaggeratedly denied Chloe’s words.

“Oh come on. Did you have a nightmare today? It’s just because it’s early. But why did you come at this hour?”

As if convinced by Luca’s words, Chloe slowly nodded. Then she pointed with her thumb at the dark back where she could not see clearly.

“I left my phone and laptop chargers at home. I’m charging them for a bit right now.”

A dim flickering light was visible through the darkness. It was the familiar mechanical light of a charger. Luca let out a small sound to indicate that he understood.

“Oh.”

Chloe felt embarrassed about her empty hand, so she took out her ballpoint pen again, fiddled with it, and returned the same question to Luca.

“And why are you here?”

Luca could not explain the specific circumstances in response to Chloe’s question. He simply tapped his bulging backpack and mumbled an excuse.

“I left something behind. It’s in my bag.”

Luca changed the subject and tapped his bag, then felt a heavy object through the thin fabric. He then handed his phone to Chloe, asking her to hold it for a moment. Chloe tilted the phone slightly to shine the light on Luca so as not to blind him, and Luca turned his backpack around and put it on his front.

The dark blue backpack shone in the bright white light of the cell phone, revealing its true color. Luca reached inside the bag and rummaged through it by touch alone. Chloe tried to shine a light inside, but Luca had already found what he was looking for. Then, he handed a sleek, heavy object to Chloe.

“I have a power bank. A fully charged one. Do you want to use it?”

Luka could tell that Chloe’s face, which was shrouded in darkness with her back to the light, was brightening even in the darkness. She nodded vigorously and quickly returned to Luca holding her laptop and phone. She connected her phone to the power bank and excitedly closed the classroom door.

“Let’s go!”

***

Luca and Chloe’s footsteps were as light as feathers. At first, that is. But gradually, their steps grew as heavy as tanks. It was because they simply could not get out of the school. It wasn’t as if all the doors had suddenly vanished or a maze had appeared inside. The school was very ordinary. At least, on the surface.

Luca and Chloe headed first to the door closest to the parking lot, the one the students used most often, and the very door they themselves had used to enter. However, the door wouldn’t budge. It was the same door that had opened very smoothly when Luca had come in.

Thinking they might have pushed the pull door, they tried pulling it, but it still wouldn’t open. However, Luca and Chloe were still relaxed at that point. This was because they didn’t yet know that the second door wouldn’t open either.

The two passed the door on the parking lot side, and walked toward the largest central door.

If it’s that door. If it’s that door, I’ll be able to open it.

Luca thought so. However, that glimmer of brightness scattered and vanished like a mirage. Even the massive double-hinged door in the very center of the school, which absolutely had to be opened, would not budge.

Luca and Chloe wrestled with the door for a long time, but it wouldn’t open. Despite its large size, the door was not functioning properly. It acted like a wall with a handle.

Did all the doors break down in the meantime? No. That can’t be right.

Luca had not given up hope yet. Recalling his comfortable and cozy bed, Luca ran toward another door.

He couldn’t even notice that anxiety was in his footsteps. It was because nervousness had already consumed his brain. Chloe, who had been running ahead of Luca, arrived first and roughly pushed and pulled the door. However, even that door did not open, and she turned to Luca with a face full of despair. Then, knowing that he could not resolve this situation, she asked in a voice filled with hope.

“What is going on?”

“Hmm, did the security system or something kick in?”

The answer Luca came up with after trying his best to find the most reasonable one satisfied Chloe quite a bit.

“Ah, that could be the case!”

As Chloe looked at Luca with a much more relaxed expression, his anxiety subsided. He nodded to Chloe and slumped onto the hallway floor, while Chloe stood beside him and leaned against the wall.

Perhaps because the tension had finally released, he was particularly drawn to this. Luca reached into his inner pocket, pulled out a small object, and fiddled with it. He hadn’t used this inside the school until now, as it was forbidden by school rules. However, immersed in this unusual situation, Luca wanted to do something he wouldn’t normally be able to do. He suddenly asked Chloe.

“Is that security camera working right now?”

He pointed at the security camera mounted in the corner of the ceiling. Chloe looked in that direction for a moment, then shook her head.

“No. They couldn’t find the culprit last time the theft happened.”

“Then why did they install it?”

Luca blamed the school, but inwardly he was overjoyed. Chloe muttered softly, unaware that Luca was thinking that.

“That’s just how public schools are, I guess.”

“Right, that’s just how public schools are. That’s why the doors won’t open and we’re stuck here.”

The thin, white object Luca held in his mouth was a cigarette. He rummaged through his pockets, found a black lighter, and pulled it out. Since it was a button-operated lighter, there was no need to roll the wheel and damage the skin on his fingertips. Excited, Luca was about to light it when he realized that, under the spell of nicotine, he hadn’t asked Chloe for permission. With the cigarette still in his mouth, Luca mumbled a question to Chloe.

“Can I smoke this?”

Chloe, who had sat down beside Luca before he even realized it, looked at the cigarette he was holding and then at Luca in turn.

“Do you smoke?”

She looked surprised. And understandably so. After all, Luca was his parents’ good son. However, he desperately needed a break from the routine. He could no longer bear it. So, Luca started smoking. He kept it a secret from his parents, but Luca often enjoyed putting nicotine into his body.

There were times when Luca engaged in the act of diluting his guilt with nicotine particularly often. It was whenever that ‘one’ tormented him. Smoking did not make things any easier. It only made Luca’s heart ache more. However, he could do nothing about it. All Luca could do was inhale the nicotine smoke.

It was not because of that ‘one’ right now. It was simply that now that the tension had eased, he wanted to deviate from the norm within the school. Not as the always kind and well-behaved student Luca Ha, but as a bad student who smoked inside the school.

Of course, smoking didn’t make him a bad student. Luca was too upright to be considered one. However, by the standards set by his parents, a student smoking was a grave offense. If his parents could build a prison and found out about his smoking, he would have faced life imprisonment. No, the death penalty. Bang.

Even though she hadn’t received a specific answer from Luca, the fact that he was holding a cigarette was a clear answer to Chloe. She slowly closed and opened her eyes to look at Luca’s face. Then she spoke briefly.

“I hate cigarettes.”

“Oh, really? Sorry.”

Luca hurriedly put the cigarette back in his pocket. The cigarette was already in his mouth, and the tip of the filter was slightly moistened with saliva. Luca thought that since he had marked it with his front teeth, he just needed to find a time to smoke it today.

He regretfully fiddled with the cigarette pack in his hand. The rustling sound of the plastic packaging reached Chloe’s ears, but he wasn’t smoking; he was only fiddling with the wrapper. Since it wasn’t harmful to his bronchial tubes, she didn’t bother to say anything.

The sound of the wrapper and Chloe’s rhythmic footsteps tapping on the floor filled the hallway. Before they knew it, the sun had risen, and the sunlight was beating down on the two of them. In the warm energy illuminating the surroundings, Luca and Chloe’s anxiety melted away like snow.

“It will open in time, right?”

Chloe murmured as she gazed at the transparent glass double-hinged door. Luca, who was putting his cigarette pack back into his inner pocket because touching it made him want to smoke more, replied briefly.

“Probably.”

It was a bright weekday morning, too ordinary a time for unusual beings like intruders or ghosts to be roaming around. Except for the fact that the two of them were trapped together in the school, it was exactly like any other school.

Luca scratched at the zipper on his bag with his fingernails. He wondered if he should catch up on his sleep now. It wasn’t a bad idea. So, Luca closed his eyes and leaned his back against the cold wall. However, he could not fall asleep for even a single second.

Because he heard screams filling the school.

“Aaaaaaaah! Save me! Save me! Please, please…”

The screams echoed through the space. And, very disturbingly, it was cut off before it could be finished. Luca and Chloe, who had been sitting languidly in the hallway, jumped to their feet in surprise and looked toward the direction from which the screams had come.

What happened? What is going on?

Luca frowned slightly as he looked at Chloe.