“You want to talk? Then talk.” I averted my attention to Meli’s possessed body.

“I’m giving you one chance to leave the school, for your own safety.” A face in the wall formed and spoke instead of Meli’s obsidian body. “You aren’t my target.”

“Leave the school? Why?” I decided to get comfy in the gorilla’s palm.

“Your principal is evil. Under her rule, the school is an institute of evil.” Said the evil guy who is holding six people captive.

“Principle Nguyen, evil? That’s hysterical! You’re the only evil.” A cocky Yoolhee spoke, despite being at knifepoint.

“Shut up, you brat!” Meli’s body gripped onto Yoolhee a bit tighter. “Please, Wonwoo. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“You don’t want me to get hurt? You don’t even know me!” My frustration began to build.

“You’re right, I don’t know you. I’d like to know you, though. I wasn’t there for you during your childhood, but I can change. I can be a better father. Just don’t attend the school anymore, please. I beg you.” The face on the wall had a desperate look on its face.

“This is your father?” Vernon looked over like he was watching a drama unfold. The face didn’t like his interruption and forced the gorilla to tighten its grip on Vernon.

The conversation I had with my mother just before I went to orientation came flooding back into my memory. At the time, I hadn’t believed her claim of his possible return. However, I also didn’t believe Principal Nguyen’s claim of me having superpowers and look how that turned out. Now that my father is alive, apparently, all I can feel is anger. How dare a man leave a mother and son? I know my mother didn’t want me speaking poorly of him, but this is all I can do.

“I’ll never leave the institute. Unlike you, the institute has taken care of me and loved me. Above all, it’s kept me away from the path of evil. So, no, father, I will NOT be leaving the institute.” I looked straight into the earth’s face.

“Then you will all die down here and I will declare war on the institute. Goodbye.” The earth all around us began to shake. Shards of the roof began collapsing all around us. Soon, the entire top layer of earth would collapse on top of us.

The gorilla’s grip tightened around me and Vernon. I glanced over to Vernon, who was now turn blue and leaning forward. At the same time, Meli’s blade-of-a-hand raised over Yoolhee’s head in a swiping manner. Her arm, with amazing speed, swung over to Yoolhee’s neck. Just before it made contact, Jun appeared and performed some sort of technique that shattered Melissa’s entire arm.

Out of rage, my body grew vines into the body of the gorilla, making their way throughout its entire body. I could feel the life of the vines, almost as if they were my veins. I glanced over, one last time, to a dying Vernon and let out a roar. Spikes shot out of the vines coursing through the gorilla’s body, breaking the beast into a massive pile of smaller rocks. Vernon fell to the ground and lay motionless. My leg seemed to be numb as I limped over to an unconscious Vernon.

The color in Vernon’s face slowly returned and he opened his eyes. His immediate reaction was to take a big breath of air and ask for a banana. Slowly, he realized where we were and what was happening, though he couldn’t really move.

Jun was having an easier time than I was. Meli’s body was now a pile of broken obsidian, sadly. Yoolhee was finally safe of anything sharp near her neck and they both ran over to help. We, excluding Vernon, all pitched in on moving around the rocks in search of Mingyu. After a minute of looking, Jun managed to find him and pulled him out of the rubble by his arm. The sight of Mingyu made my heart ache. Seeing his dusty face and his wrapped up arm really made me realize how much of a jerk I was. When Professor Alexander’s powers went all willy-nilly and DK asked me whose eyes I saw in pink, I should have just confessed. I shouldn’t have been afraid of anybody’s reactions. A tear ran down the side of my face and landed on Mingyu’s cheek.

“We need to get out of here!” Yoolhee tapped my shoulder and heavily coughed. All around, the walls were falling apart, revealing rock. The whole place was filling up with a thickening cloud of dust, making it harder and harder to breathe.

I picked Mingyu up like a baby and limped through the door we came from. Jun and Yoolhee helped carry Vernon as they followed. As we were leaving, the pile of rocks from the gorilla and the pile of obsidian from Meli started reforming. Maybe there is a chance that Melissa can still be alive. Going back the way we came was much more difficult due to pieces of the ceiling falling, dust preventing our vision, and the fact that we were incredibly tired from being beaten up by my father.

We made it to the stairs with the single light bulb and opened the door at the top. Today was not our day; upon opening the door, we were greeted by the y trap animals who were very upset that we didn’t stay around to play with them. An angry wolf lunged at me and clawed at my stomach. It wasn’t long before a lion came to the rescue, tackling the wolf off of me. I stood up and clutched my burning stomach, afraid to look at the damage.

Yoolhee, Vernon, and Jun mounted the lion as we entered the flooded room. Water escaped into the hallway and we forced our way into the room. The lion must have been enchanted with some sort of steroids because it managed to hold three people, swim against a current and jump up and out of the cave. Maybe it didn’t happen as quickly as I thought it did, I’m probably slowing down.

Despite being injured, I managed to carry a knocked out Mingyu and swim into a flooded room with a river flowing into it. Directly where the hole opened up, a small ray of sunlight reflected off of the surface of the water. I swam to it and looked up into the sky. The cave tunnel we fell down was gradually closing up. At the top of the tunnel, the silhouette of Yoolhee raising her hands in the air was the only thing I managed to make out before the tunnel completely shut, leaving me and Mingyu stuck in a flooded room without an escape.

eeeee…

What’s that?

eeeeeEEEEE….

With whatever strength I had left, I raised Mingyu’s head above the water so he wouldn’t drown while I stayed under.

eeeeeEEEEEEAAAAAAHHH!

The spot where the cave originally opened was beginning to crumble. Out of fear the world was imploding, I swiftly swam to the side with Mingyu in hand. The roof collapsed into the water, causing the river to flow back down. I glanced back up at the now revealed sky and saw three more silhouettes standing with Yoolhee. A long body stretched down to us, revealing a fluffy Woozi who wrapped around us and pulled us up to the surface.

The sunlight immediately made me feel better, not completely, but better than dying. At the top of the hell-hole, a small medical tent was set up. Inside, Megan treated Vernon. Jun fed the hungry lion that seemed to be friendly. Megan ran out of the tent and took Mingyu out of my hands. Everything happened at such an intense speed.

Before I knew it, Jun was tearing my shirt off and laying me on the floor. His hands met my stomach, which was now beginning to burn. My eyes met my stomach to see giant claw marks slowly closing from Jun’s medical technique. DK brought over a cup of water and I sipped from it. I assume he was the “eeeee” sound that broke the floor. His cheesy and large smile made me feel a tad bit better of our sad predicament.

“Professor Suarez wants to talk to you.” Woozi’s hands extended out onto my forehead.

“Is everybody okay? Hello? Wonwoo?” Professor Suarez sounded like he was talking into a microphone that he wasn’t sure was working correctly.

“No, we are not okay. Turns out my father is an evil psychopath who wants to declare war on the institute.” I said out loud and the newer members stopped what they were doing and listened in. “I think Meli went rogue, she almost killed Yoolhee! Nice selection of a rescue team, by the way.”

“She didn’t go rogue. She turned into obsidian, unknowing the villain could control anything from the earth.” Yoolhee defended her, despite being at knifepoint from Meli.

“Well, either way she is dead. Jun shattered her into pieces.” I pointed out the facts.

“As we were leaving, the pieces were forming back together; there is a chance she is still alive and under his control.” Yoolhee corrected.

“Alright, let me see if I got this correct: Your father kidnapped Mingyu, randomly, and almost killed the six of you, perhaps he might have killed one, with his ability to control aspects of the Earth. And now he has declared war on the institute.”

“As crazy as it sounds, yes.” I could feel my energy reviving due to Jun’s healing.

“Did he specify why?”

“He mentioned something about Principal Nguyen,” I paused and thought about what I should reveal. What if my father was right about Principal Nguyen being evil? “Something about him not liking her.” Jun and Yoolhee both looked at me because of the lie I told, but decided not to say anything.

“Alright. Come back quickly, we have to prepare for war. Tell the group they have until nightfall to be back. We must teach every student at this school about your father’s power.”

Woozi took his hands back and went back to assisting Megan. After everyone had enough energy to move around, we packed up everything and began our trip back to the institution. The field that used to be filled with different cliques of flowers was now desolated and baron. I’m surprised I hadn’t realized it sooner.

We passed through the corn field and I saw my used-to-be-tree lying on the floor. Soon, we were back in the city. None of the citizens seemed to notice our ripped and dirty clothes, or maybe they didn’t care. The sun was setting was we arrived at the school. Upon arrival, our lunch crew, the ones who weren’t already with me, greeted us at the door.

“Everybody inside.” The Principal broke up our little reunion.

As I was walking in, we made eye contact and something told me that my father might have been right about Principal Nguyen.

QUESTIONS:

Do you think Melissa is still alive?

What do you think happened to Mingyu?

Do you think Principal Nguyen is evil?