Started: 11-07-07 Completed: 11-27-07
THE MESSAGE
Ameera Vagabond, the blondest of all blondes, and Olga “Shah” Graham, the most brunette of all brunettes, (she was called Shah due to her obsession with Middle East and Egyptian culture) were the campus’ most gifted Physics students and the famous lesbian couple. Both would not go anywhere without the other and no one ever saw them apart. They took classes together, ate lunch together, attended extra curricular activities together and even went to the bathroom together, even though sometimes it was only one of them who needed to relief herself of her full bladder or bowel. The only time they ever separated was when they went home, because Ameera and Shah, although approved by their parents of their relationship, lived in different parts of the city too far away to be able to meet each other without driving for about an hour and a half, and since both families were not exactly well off enough to afford the expenses for them to move out, they’ll have to settle being apart until after they finished college, thus often the result of seeing them hugging and clinging onto each other everyday in front of the school gate when they’ve only separated for a night’s hour.
Rebecca Olson a.k.a. Becka (not to be confused with the Olson twins), on the other hand, was a flaming redhead with very high self-confidence that made her tall and proud despite her minute figure. She and her counterpart Jacqueline Thomas a.k.a. Jackie, the resident tomboy with the longest hair (due to her unruly raven hair that would go wild like a bushfire whenever it’s cut short) and stood twice her height, were the pride and joy of Biochemistry lecturers and the famous Macro-Micro Duo of the campus. Though both were straight and already having lovers of their own (who fortunately studied in another campus lest they get mauled by jealous admirers both men and women alive), these two childhood friends have been together since forever. No one knows exactly who started the friendship first, but they have been through thick and thin and have been going to the same school since first grade. Them and the lesbian couple, after meeting up during orientation week during their first year and discovered their love for science, became like peas and carrots and were often seen together in many academic and extra curricular tournaments—acing them in the process—and became well known as the Valedictorian Princesses of Fearstreet College, with their favourable physique to boot.
As I was saying, the four girls were no doubt the last people in the campus library, judging by the towering number of books surrounding them like they were in Info-topia and the quiet eerie-ness of the empty library. Ameera and Shah were reading a thick book of Physics each while Becka was screwing her mind out trying to memorize the names of all the chemicals in her Chemistry book. Jackie, on the other hand, was scribbling furiously on her notebook, copying down all the notes she needed to study for Biology. It is hard to believe that from first glance, you would think these bimbo-like girls who should be starring in The Bratz Movie or rooting out for the Homecoming Queen competition or be hanging out with a bunch of sweaty, glistening jocks would be science geeks.
“I hate studying! It makes me go insane!” yelled Ameera silently, despite the emptiness of the library.
“Then don’t! You’ll be even sicker,” Shah replied, unable to concentrate herself. “I’d hate to have my girlfriend to suffer a mid-life crisis before her time.”
“Yeah. That would be a sure-fire way to booking a ‘presidential suite’ at Fearstreet Asylum,” Jackie replied solemnly, not looking up from her notebook. Ameera got annoyed and threw her eraser at Jackie, brushing slightly against her ear as she dodged, in which Shah chuckled at the sight.
“I can’t see why we have to put up with this act when we can be just like everyone else, partying and not have the burden to excel hanging over us like dead weights,” Becka sighed as she massaged her temples.
“That’s the price you have to pay for being the campus geniuses, I guess,” Jackie sighed. “Somebody’s gotta uphold the campus and their family names if no one else is willing to.”
The girls became silent again, preoccupied with their own tasks, quietly agreeing to Jackie’s statement. If no one was willing to be the genius and suffer the consequences, who will? Becka was finally getting to remember all the chemicals’ names when suddenly, the lights went out. Jackie screamed at the top of her voice and zoomed underneath the table, for she was fret of the dark, a clear result of a prank gone wrong done by her cousins when they bullied her and locked her in the dark basement overnight when she was a kid and had not yet become the tomboy she was today.
“AAGH! Help! Help! Call the fire department! Call the police! Help!!!”
“Shut up, Jackie! It’s only a blackout. It’ll come round,” Shah said, feeling her way around the darkness.
Becka, who was the campus volunteer librarian and used to the route of the library, went straight to the library door to let in some light for the phobic-of-the-dark Jackie to get out to the bright sunshine. But when she turned the knob, the door wouldn’t budge. No matter how much she pushed and pulled, it wouldn’t move an inch. It was locked.
“Come on, Becka! Open the door and let the light in!” Jackie yelled from underneath the table, still shivering with fright, “I’m getting a nervous breakdown here!”
“It won’t move! I think Mrs. Marge has locked us in when she left for the toilet,” Becka replied, giving up on the non-moving door. She tried the windows instead, but no matter how much she tugged at the drape cords, none of them budged. It got to the point where Becka pulled so hard at one of the window drape cords that it snapped and broke, but the drapes still remained as it is: unopened. Everyone was astonished, especially Jackie, who finally came out the table and held Ameera’s arm tightly; so tight Ameera squealed, “Ouch!”
“Looks like we’ll have to wait for Mrs. Marge to come back from the loo then,” Shah sighed as she started packing her books after she jealously and protectively yanked Jackie’s hands away from her lover, “let’s get out of here as soon as she opens the door. There’s nothing to do during a blackout, not to mention study.”
“Yes! Do let’s!” Jackie agreed at once, for once not sounding like her tomboy self. “I can’t stay a minute longer here! I’m sure something bad will happen. I can feel it!”
So the girls started packing their books as soon their eyes adjusted to the darkness and sat at the table nearest to the door. While waiting, they chit-chatted about their latest gossips of who-and-who, where-and-where and when-and-when. There were so many goings-on between them when they are together. Slowly Jackie felt less afraid, but still kept a watchful eye over the surroundings just in case.
Suddenly a familiar ‘BEEP’ was heard, coming from the library computer. The 4 became silent and turned towards the direction of the computer, including Jackie who, had calmed down before, got terrified again.
“Did you hear that?” Jackie asked, panicking.
“Yeah, I think I did,” Ameera was quite nervous herself. She moved nearer to Shah, clinging to her lover’s arm like her life depended on it. Obviously, Shah had always been the more masculine and dominant of them two.
“I think it came from the computer at the check in and out counter,” Becka said, not taking her eyes away from the direction they were looking.
“Isn’t it supposed to be a blackout? What’s with the computer?” Ameera asked.
“Look! There are words printed on the screen!” Shah exclaimed, pointing at it.
The girls rushed towards the computer to see what the message was, despite the fact that no one besides librarians or volunteer librarians are allowed beyond the counter (Golden Rule of Fearstreet College Library to prevent information tampering). The message filled the screen in bold letters, writing only one sentence: ‘LET YOUR DOOMS BEGINS!’ Slowly the words began to separate into small specks of particles, forming a pair of sinister-looking eyes and an evil grin. The eyes glowed continuously from red to green and back again. The whole library was filled with the most bloodcurdling, eerie laughter that rang through the speakers of the computer.
The girls were dumbfounded. None of them moved. They were too scared and shocked even to react. They just stood there like statues looking at the spooky face on the screen amidst the mocking laughter that grew louder by the minute. A few minutes later, which seemed like an hour just passed, the lights went on and everything was bright. The blackout was over. The laughter stopped and the only thing left on the screen was the sentence ‘It is now safe to turn off your computer’, blinking mockingly at them.
The door of the library internal office upstairs opened and the girls screamed out loud, finding their voices again. There stood the Mrs. Marge who was taken aback by their sudden exclaims.
“Oi, are you OK? You gave me a fright!” Mrs. Marge asked, patting her chest in shock.
“Mrs…Mrs. Marge? Weren’t you at the loo?” Becka started the conversation, quite astonished.
“No, I was in the office room finishing up the filing and paperwork. I couldn’t find my way around during the blackout and had to ride it out until it came back on before I saved all my recovered files in the computer and finished printing and stacking the files and ledgers into the shelves. When I came out, I just saw you girls all here in front of the computer,” Mrs. Marge explained detail by detail (a rather OCD habit of hers), “by the way, why are you all here? You’re not playing with the Internet, are you? And Becka, non-librarians are not supposed to stand behind the check in and out counter. You know better than to let them past that territory.”
“Didn’t you hear that laugh? That spooky, banshee-like laugh?” Jackie exclaimed, her face gaining color.
“Laugh? The only thing I heard is you girls laughing, that’s all,” Mrs. Marge replied, looking surprised, “Are you girls leaving? ‘Coz I have to leave now. And please move away from the counter. It’s a restricted area.”
So saying, she went to the library door and the knob. Like magic, the door opened, as if it was never locked at all. Becka felt like a sucker because she was the first to try out the door. The other three were equally surprised. They couldn’t find the words to explain it all. Without even a peep, they gathered their things and went out of the library as silent as never before.
As they collected their bags from their locker, there was one question that rang through their mind simultaneously: What the hell is going on?
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