77 A Close Call 2 (1/2)

So what happened to Wendy after Chris brief disappearance there?

A few minutes ago, roughly the same time as when the gloomy guy first received notice of Wendy's plight from the unbound system, Sofony Mendez also got notified by her ever so sarcastic and grumpy companion. And unlike Chris who only came to know about this due to his qualifying quest, Sofony's was due to agreeing with the system's automatic point deductions to alert her whenever Gio, Wendy, and Steffy were in danger.

It was past four fifteen pm. She was waiting for Wendy in the room and chatting with some of her classmates about the hottest topic in the country when the news of Wendy getting mind-controlled by a host got reported to her. The name of the controller was not said outright, but she didn't even have to guess that it was Clarissa Guzman, the only immoral host hostile to her.

'That woman!!!!'

'Dammit!'

'If... If she dares harm my best friend, I'll... I...' she bit her lips as she dared not say what she would do in case this became reality.

Without even bothering to say goodbye or inform anything to her classmates, Sofony immediately ran towards the Faculty Room. She bolted away so fast that those who saw her running on the hallway couldn't believe that the person they saw was their famous nerdy.

Sofony was almost in tears as she continued listening to the report. Worries and insecurities were drowning her. And although she learned that Wendy was still unharmed, when she heard how her best friend stabbed one of the teachers, she unconsciously sped up her running due to the fear that washed over her. This was probably the very first time she hated why her classroom was on the second floor and the Faculty Room on the adjacent building at the left of their Eleventh Grader Building.

'No, no. This can't be happening! I beg you, whoever you are, let me arrive there on time! Just don't let Wendy be taken away!' she anxiously and repeatedly prayed.

'DAAMNNNNNNN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!' Sofony cursed out. Only she knew whether her anger was due to the system's taunts or Clarissa's blows.

Sofony's eyes were already red when she took the last turn. Her breathing was also increasingly growing heavy because she was sprinting at full speed. At the same time, her mind was working furiously, already planning what she should do in case she arrived at the worst time and ways imaginable.

'Just a bit more,' she encouraged herself. Sofony hated herself for not being fast enough to cross the remaining twenty-meter distance.

Sofony started to chant her calming mantras to mind. As she conditioned her mentality for the best plan she had managed to come up, she slowed down her pace. Her eyes busily scanned the place for loitering people, but her steps did not pause at all.

'....Deduct points from me all you want, just destroy any evidence or anything that will record what will happen from now on,' she decisively and coldly said after she withdrew an item from the inventory. If someone could look at her carefully, he would be amazed by how she managed to return her eyes to normal even though she was almost crying just a while ago.

She curtly replied. 'If it's someone, report to me the name, no matter who it is...'

After hearing the system's annoying way of agreeing, she took a deep breath, cleared her mind, and pushed open the door to the room where Clarissa's first crime against her took place.

...

Red. Sticky red.

That was the first thing that registered in her eyes the moment she regained clarity of mind which she felt like she had lost for a long period of time.

The stinky and unpleasant smell was the next thing that rushed into her brain. It was an odor similar to what always haunted her room whenever she clapped a mosquito to death. The scenario was almost the same, except on those times, the amount of blood on her hand was very negligible, something that could easily be wiped off the edge of her mattress. Especially since it came only from an unwelcomed, blood-sucking insect.

But what about today?

Why did she have so much on her hands? Did she kill so many mosquitos today? Or mistakenly wiped them on a pail of paint?

But the smell... It was not the addicting scent of paint or watercolor, but the repulsive scent of ...blood.

'...What the heck happened?'

Wendy furrowed her brows at the sharp headache that assaulted her. Her eyes automatically closed, and a groan came out of her mouth.

”...Uuuhh...”

'Dammit. The heck? What's with this headache? Which devil or deity wants to kill me through a headache? Don't they know it's a sin to torture a beautiful goddess like me? Argh!'

”Y-you!!!”

A terrified shout awoke Wendy from her dazed state. She opened her eyes and followed the direction of the voice. And there she saw one of the teachers who was also Steffy's advisor, Mrs. Santiago. She was pointing a finger at her while mumbling incoherently with her trembling voice.

Actually, when she looked around, she saw that practically everyone's eyes were on her. And none of them bore the usual goodwill or gentleness that every teacher gives to an honor student. Instead, what she saw from the eyes that dared stared at her were fright, disbelief, panic... the kind of stares given to monsters or despicable beings.