The Corner Read Free Page A

mysterious element to his outlook.
    When he turned towards me, I
wasted no time to shift my attention to whatever that lay outside
the window. Still, I could see him from the corner of my eyes. He
was heading for the back rows. My mind went into panic mode when I
noticed that almost all the seats were taken. Only few, including
the one beside me, were available.
    I was
hoping that he wouldn’t sit with me. I couldn’t deal with
it.
    Ended up that he did not. I
couldn’t thank my lucky stars enough for that. However, another
thought surfaced.
Was I so repulsive that he
didn’t want to sit with me?
    Throughout the journey, I stared
out of the window, wondering what was wrong with me.
    At least,
that standing girl didn’t move away when I sat near
her.
    Maybe she was the manifestation
of my anxiety over the need to adjust to a new environment. She
might be gone already.
    When I reached my classroom in a
considerably lighter mood, the first thing that caught my eyes was
the girl standing in the corner.
    Why?

Chapter 4 Ghost?
    Another question sprang into my
mind: should I just ask for a change of seats?
    Who would be willing to do so?
Was ghost sighting even a valid reason?
    The girl just stood there,
looking at the corner as if it was her only friend. Her
surroundings seemed to get darker by the seconds.
    As I trudged through the dense,
stale air to get to my seat, my molars were grinding against each
other, and that familiar yet unwelcomed coldness enveloped me
again. There was an unseen force crushing my heart, which fought
back by pounding harder. My legs felt weak. I almost couldn’t walk
properly by the time I passed by Mandy’s table.
    Mandy stood up to hold me
steady. “Are you okay? Your face is all pale. I know where the
nurse’s room is.”
    “I’m fine,” I gave the most
appropriate answer since I couldn’t be telling her that I was
seeing a ghost.
    Then the corner girl’s fingers
twitched for a split second before going limp again.
    I swallowed a gulp of air and
turned to Mandy. “Had you seen any supernatural stuff around here?”
I was expecting her to laugh at my question.
    Blinking her eyes in confusion,
she gave it a thought before answering, “This place is very old.
And I heard that mass executions were performed on these grounds
before. So I’m not surprised if there’re ghosts hanging around
here.”
    I gave a weak smile in
appreciation of her analysis. Mandy did seem like a genuine nice
girl. But she couldn’t understand what I had been going
through.
    Overhearing our conversation,
Kelly came over and chirped, “A senior told me that during the
night, you can see a headless apparition looking for his head in
LT2! He must be one of the guerrilla guys who got killed during the
Thirteen-Day War.”
    The fact that my school was
associated with the Thirteen-Day War just upped the creepiness. It
was the bloodiest war in the history of Accastle, where a third of
the population was wiped out within the first ten days of the
invasion. Yet it ended three days after the National Army of
Accastle sent out its troops. I first knew of it through a
documentary. Intrigued by the mysteries surrounding that war, I
went on to google on the subject.
    That kick-started my great
interest in history, namely the parts that involved wars and times
of turmoil. I began to study the other significant events of my
country. After that, I continued to feed my curiosity by looking up
on topics related to the history of Iceland and United Kingdom.
    Those countries are the closest
neighbours of Accastle, not taking Mercales into account. Vast,
wide stretches of sea stand between my country and the others.
Well, maybe most countries won’t want to be connected to Accastle
by land due to the reputation of being the accursed land borne from
the corpses of demons.
    In the quest to expand my
knowledge, I also explored the past of the other countries in
Europe, followed by that of Russia and China. Japan’s history would
be