Chapter 5 I don't need your help

Cerina arrived at the principal's office at exactly 5:50 pm, "Oh! You're quite on time", the principal said as he looked up at her. She sat down on a chair, crossed her leg and faced the principal. " Yeah I am, I don't like being late", Cece said with a weary smile.

He scoffed and turned to continue his work. She glanced around feeling bored.

By 6pm, two security guards arrived at the office, then the principal stood up and Cerina followed suit. About 15 mins later, they finally got to the building. An old building in the school vicinity but quite secluded. The cool evening breeze blew around sending a shiver, fallen leaves littered on the ground which showed people barely ever came there. It was a one storey building which seemed old and worn out already.

"Soo what am I expected to do here? Sweep the whole building or what?", Cece asked curiously.

"Sweep? No no.. You'll be doing something much easier than that. You'll be spending the night inside the building. All you have to do is study. Study all night and pass the tests from whichever book you choose to study. Whichever test you fail in there, you'll receive due punishment ", the principal explained.

"Punishment?! Who's gonna punish me?", Cece asked raising a brow.

"Nobody. You're gonna be alone there. All alone. This is how it works. There'll be variety of books. You pick one and read. After picking one, the rest clears up, once you're done reading, you indicate and a test from the book shows up. You have to answer correctly. If you don't, you'll serve a punishment and go on to read the book over again till you're able to pass the test and then you move on to another book. You have to read and successfully answer tests from five books. You'll be granted access out only after you've completed your tasks. Hopefully you can do that before day break?" The principal explained.

Cece let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. Studying five books in a night? Sounds rather horrifying. The principal not waiting for her to respond signalled for her to walk inside. The moment she did, the door was slammed shut behind her with a loud bang.

The hallway was dimly lit and Cece looked around her new environs. On the walls were ancient writings and pictures. Cece could recognize some pictures as she had studied history before. She walked down the hall and stopped at a library that was at the end of the passage. Books carefully and neatly stacked on the shelves.

"Welcome Cerina Ceril, go through the books on the shelf and pick one you would love to read.", she read from the large screen in front of her.

Cerina looked round and finally picked a general studies book from the counter. After picking, she settled in a corner because there were no chairs or reading space made available. Just as she was settling down, she heard sounds of something crashing and her heart raced rapidly. She listened, paying close attention to the sound but there was none. She decided to ignore whatever it is and began reading.

Meanwhile; the principal was walking to his office when a figure stood before him blocking his path. He looked up to see who it was and surprised to see Dylan. He stood there wearing a clean set of white shirt that deeply contrasted the dark ominous presence he represented at the moment. His eyes filled with anger as he looked at the principal.

" What are you doing here at this hour?," he asked.

"I should be asking you that sir!. What are you doing here?", Dylan asked, wearing all shades of anger.

"You can't come here and start questioning me. I am the principal of this school, and what I do here has nothing to do with you!", the principal fired back

"What you have done has everything to do with me. Seems you have forgotten your place." Dylan said with a gaze that could pierce through his soul.

The principal took steps backward, but determined not to lose composure spoke up; "I'm only punishing a student for her wrongdoings. This is only to teach her a lesson, and make her change her ways"

"A lesson? Really?!. We both know that she has done nothing wrong, yet you went ahead to be so brutal like this. What gave you such nerves?", Dylan asked with fury.

"No wonder she said those", Dylan thought to himself recalling when she had passed by earlier and said she knows he's responsible for this.

"She insulted you in the cafe today, why are you standing up for her?", the principal asked, trying to justify his guilt.

"I want to get back at her, and I'll do it my way. No need for you to do so for me. Who was responsible for the incident at Mr Ben's office and what did they tell you on the phone". Dylan replied and asked the principal.

Knowing fully well that Dylan was already aware of what had happened, he realized there was no need to put on a show about it anymore.

"I don't know who did it, they only called me after the incident and told me not to bother investigate the case and should just give her mega detention. They only wanted her punished so as to discipline her. They didn't mention who they are or anything else and they transferred such a huge amount to me. She already has a bad record and she can do worse, so I figured there was no need to hold back", the principal said.

Feeling suffocated by the principal's absurd explanation scratched his forehead and sighed in anger. "Back to the building! Go let her out now!!"

Being forced to study is certainly the worse punishment you could give a bully who has no interest in studying, but for Cece, it wasn't because she had always loved reading books, and she felt grateful for the opportunity.

Few minutes into the book, Cece was engrossed in reading as she found it interesting and seemed to be learning quite a lot, she heard the noise again, much louder than the first. It seemed to be coming from the first floor. She quickly sprang up on her feet, curiosity getting the best of her. The noise became louder, and all of a sudden, it stopped.

"Thump, thump, thump...", Cece's heartbeat got faster and louder. Then the lights went out and there was total black out. Everywhere became pitch black, she couldn't see anything at all. She instinctively moved to a corner conscious of the oblivious.

Footsteps began to approach her, and she could feel the intensity of the atmosphere rising up to her chest. She had no clue what was going on but it's definitely not good. The air around her suddenly became so chill sending shivers down.

"Who is there?!", she shouted

There was no response, she could feel the presence getting closer but she couldn't tell just how close. It was pitch dark, she couldn't even see the hem of her own clothing.

"Who are you?", she asked. "Don't come any closer, I'm warning you", she spoke

In the next second, Cerina felt a strong grip on her neck, threatening to wringe out the life she had in her "Cerina Ceril! Time to join your father!"