I returned to school after the summer break. Perhaps it was the thought of seeing my friends again after all those months that made me feel so incredibly restless with excitement. I pedaled my rickety old bicycle to school, weaving from my house through the crowded market street, turning past a few blocks before finally arriving. After dropping my bike at the parking shed, I ran up to class with an indescribable sense of joy. That feeling of happiness is hard to explain; no matter how many times I experience it, it remains unchanged, as fresh as the very first time.
Back at my old seat, my group of friends was already there, buzzing with animated chatter. "Hello! Long time no see!" I called out. "Get over here and join the gossip, old man!" Chloe said to me. She pulled her backpack toward her and patted the seat, gesturing for me to sit down. As I tucked my bag into the shelf, Maya broke the silence with a piece of news from this morning's paper.
"Have you guys read about the case this morning?" Maya asked. The only response she got was a collective shake of heads. Realizing that no one in the group had even touched a newspaper, she palmed her forehead. "It's that murder case that’s been trending lately. Do you guys really not know?"I shook my head, while the others seemed to perk up with interest. One of them remarked, “Ah, that case! The killer is definitely a pro.” Chloe nodded in agreement. “The victim was found starved for days. But the way the perpetrator posed the body—making it look like she was running for the door—isn't that bizarre?”
"Maybe the victim had a secret affair with the killer, and things ended badly, so he killed her? He probably posed her running out to imagine her running back to him," Felix suggested. That comment sent the whole group into fits of laughter. That guy was always cracking jokes; he truly had a knack for humor.
"Are you lot going down for the assembly or not?" Our homeroom teacher rushed in, clutching a small bamboo cane. She’s still as "wicked" as ever, I thought to myself.
Down on the school yard, our group huddled together. On stage, it was the same "home-grown" performances our school put on every year. The same familiar, gentle songs made me pay even more attention to my friends' conversation... The woman’s body had been found in an abandoned house within the slums. The face and posture of the corpse looked as if she were frantically running in search of something, almost as if she had been "frozen" in time."The Head Prefect this year is so handsome!" a girl from the next class over shrieked. The Head Prefect? At first, I thought he was a teacher because of his height—around 1.8 meters—but it turned out he was a senior. With such a commanding height in the crowd, who would have thought he was still just a teenager?
The opening ceremony ended, and our group headed back to the dormitory. While unpacking, I read more about the victim. Her name was Eleanor, a resident of Alley B. The cause of death was cyanide poisoning. Police concluded she was moved to the house after death.
A knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts. "Go get the door!" I told Leo, my roommate. "Why don't you do it? I’m busy," he snapped back. "So you’re just going to let your elderly father stumble all the way over there..." I croaked in a mock-feeble voice. That did the trick; Leo scrambled up to open the door. Standing there was the silhouette of a young man."Room inspection," the Head Prefect replied coldly.
The young man stepped inside to conduct his sweep. He frowned slightly, nudging his glasses up the bridge of his nose: "Room 36: untidy, minus 10 points; unauthorized appliances... minus 14 conduct points for each person."
I buried my face in my hands, knowing we were "doomed," when Leo leaned in and whispered, "Should we try to threaten him? Maybe he’ll lower the penalty." After a brief, frantic debate, we both ended up bowing at a 90-degree angle, pleading for mercy. Our reward was a look of pure disdain from the Squad Leader. Leo even tried to bribe him with snacks and VIP game cards, which only earned us an extra penalty. As he walked out, he tossed us two brooms to begin the cleanup.
We spent the entire afternoon clearing out the disaster zone Leo had created. By evening, the group met at a lavender-scented cafe. We lost track of time designing the wall newspaper and researching. It wasn't until the cafe announced it was closing that we packed up.Back at the dorm, the power went out at 10 PM. I closed my books, but my mind was filled with the details of Eleanor's case. I walked over to the window and gazed out. Today was the night of the full moon. Looking toward the rooftop of Building B, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure.
At that moment, I couldn't tell who it was, but the scene was truly beautiful. Inwardly, my heart skipped a beat. I stood there, mesmerized, until Leo tapped my shoulder: "Why are you standing here instead of sleeping?"
I started, snapping out of the trance. By the time I convinced Leo to go back to sleep, the figure was gone. A sudden sense of loss welled up inside me, as if something very important had just slipped through my fingers.
