The sun rose like it always did, indifferent to the chaos it followed.
Rama sat alone in the classroom, his seat untouched by the morning chatter that usually filled the space. The school still stood, its walls unscathed, but the atmosphere had changed, heavier somehow like it was holding its breath.
Whispers floated through the room like restless ghosts.
"Did you hear about the explosion?"
"They say it wasn't an accident."
"Cheng and his gang? Haven't seen them since yesterday..."
"Psst! Don't talk so loud. I heard Rama was there... Might've had something to do with it"
*...Sigh*
Rama didn't react. He just stared out the window, the sky clear and bright, mockingly serene. As if the world had already moved on, while he was still stuck in the moment the explosion echoed in his ears.
Seeing that his teacher still hadn't arrived, Rama decided to go to the toilet, anything to escape the suffocating whispers and the sharp gazes thrown his way.
He stood up slowly, shoulders heavy, trying not to make a sound as he walked to the classroom door.
*Click*
The door slid open with a soft creak, but the moment it did...
He froze.
Standing right in front of him was his homeroom teacher, arms crossed and expression unreadable. But what made Rama's heart skip a beat wasn't the teacher, it was the figures behind him.
Cheng.
And his gang.
They stood there, unscathed, and worst of all, staring at Rama with expressions he couldn't read. No mockery. No laughter. Just cold, blank eyes.
"Rama"
The teacher said, voice tight.
"... Come with us"
--------
Rama followed in silence, his footsteps echoing faintly behind the others. Every step felt heavier than the last, as if the weight of something unseen clung to his back.
The hallway felt colder than it should. Silent. As if the school itself was holding its breath.
Rama's instincts flared again. But this time... There was nowhere to run.
And then.
When they reached the principal's office, the door was already slightly open. The teacher pushed it open without knocking, motioning for Rama to enter first.
Inside, the room was uncomfortably still.
At the center sat the principal, his fingers steepled under his chin, eyes shadowed behind thick glasses. Beside him stood a police officer, tall, broad-shouldered, with a sharp gaze that immediately locked onto Rama like a predator sizing up prey.
And next to the officer… Was a woman.
Elegant. Poised. Dressed in a pristine suit with makeup untouched despite the early hour.
Cheng's mother.
Her eyes, unlike her composed exterior, burned with something far more primal. Not sadness. Not relief. But accusation.
Rama's chest tightened.
"Young man" The officer began, voice measured, gestured to Rama with his hand while saying: "please, have a seat"
Rama didn't move.
His gut twisted. His instincts screamed louder than ever.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
The officer gestured again, but this time with a slightly firmer tone.
"Please. Sit!"
Reluctantly, Rama lowered himself into the chair opposite the principal's desk, his eyes flicking between everyone present. Cheng and his gang stood off to the side, heads bowed, eyes avoiding his.
Cheng's mother took a step forward. Her heels clicked sharply against the floor as she stopped beside the officer.
"My son" She began, voice steady and cold, "was nearly killed yesterday because of this… Child"
Rama's breath caught.
"What…?" He muttered, almost not believing what he heard.
"Mrs. Li-" The principal tried to interject, but she raised a hand and continued.
"He lured my son and his friends into that warehouse," She said smoothly, her words rehearsed. "He must have planted something inside. An explosive. Some sort of trap. Who knows what a Singularis like him is capable of?"
The word Singularis hit the room like a curse.
The officer's expression hardened as he glanced at Rama.
"Is that true, son? Were you near the warehouse before the explosion?"
Rama clenched his fists.
"I didn't do anything. I was just passing by. I heard a noise-"
"And ran away" Cheng's mother cut in. "Isn't that suspicious?"
Rama looked toward Cheng, eyes pleading, not for mercy, but for truth.
But Cheng remained silent.
Of course, he did.
Rama knew that no one in this room wanted the truth. They only wanted someone to blame.
And he was the easiest target.
--------
The tension in the room was suffocating.
Rama sat stiffly in the chair, the cold plastic digging into his back, yet he barely noticed it. All his focus was on the storm gathering in front of him.
Mrs. Cheng's words were poison-wrapped in elegance.
The officer standing beside her gave a faint nod, as if what she said was undeniable truth. He never looked Rama in the eye.
"According to witness statements," The officer said, voice flat. "You were seen near the warehouse just before the explosion. Your presence coincides with the incident"
"There were no witnesses," Rama said, barely above a whisper. "Cheng and his gang were the only ones there. Ask them"
But none of the boys met his gaze. Cheng, arms crossed, stared at the wall like he wasn't even part of this. The others wore guilt-like perfume, thick and choking, but none of them spoke up.
"Enough!" Rama's homeroom teacher finally said with a sigh. "This isn't surprising. He's always been a loner. Never participates. Never connects. A misfit like him... He was bound to cause trouble"
Rama's lips parted slightly, a faint breath escaping like something inside him had cracked.
The principal, sitting stiffly at his desk, rubbed his temples.
"There's no evidence" he murmured, voice weak. "We should investigate properly, not rush to judgment-"
Mrs. Cheng turned to him with a smile that held the weight of a loaded gun. "You wouldn't want the school to lose its funding, would you, Principal?"
Silence.
That was the end of it.
"I suggest," She continued smoothly, "you expel him. Before he brings more shame and danger to this institution"
Rama didn't speak. He didn't scream. He didn't cry.
He just sat there.
Alone.
No one would defend him. No one cared about what really happened. In their eyes, he was already guilty, not because of proof, but because of what he was.
A Singularis.
And worse… A nobody.
--------
The words were final.
"You're expelled"
No ceremony. No formality. Just those two words, spat out like a curse.
Before Rama could even stand, the officer grabbed him by the arm, too firmly for a boy who hadn't resisted. There were no handcuffs, no rights read, no paperwork. Just the firm grip of authority turned rotten.
"Where are you taking me?"
Rama asked his voice a low tremble, anger barely contained beneath confusion.
The officer didn't answer.
Mrs. Cheng smiled, satisfied. Cheng still refused to meet Rama's eyes. The teacher looked away, indifferent.
As Rama was pulled through the hallway, students peered from their classrooms like ghosts behind glass. None dared speak. None dared help.
Outside, a black unmarked car waited. The kind not used for school matters. The kind not meant to be seen by anyone.
He was shoved in the back seat. The doors locked with a cold mechanical click.
They didn't head to the station.
They didn't head anywhere familiar.
The city gave way to industrial ruins, forgotten roads, and the edges of maps no one uses anymore. Fences crowned with rusted barbed wire lined the horizon. The air grew thick with chemical stench. The birds stopped singing.
"What is this place?"
Rama asked again, but still, no answer.
But the smirk on the officer's face said everything: this wasn't about justice.
It was about erasure.
The car finally stopped in front of a decaying facility, half military, half prison, all silence. No guards stood at the gate. No cameras are visible. Just a building left to rot... Or to hide things.
As they dragged him inside, a strange dread settled in Rama's stomach. Not fear of pain, or death.
No.
This place felt wrong. Like the world itself didn't want to remember it.
Dark corridors swallowed light. Faint hums came from beneath the floors. And somewhere, deep in the bowels of that place, something... Dark corridors swallowed light. Faint hums came from beneath the floors. And somewhere, deep in the bowels of that place, something... Something that made Rama's instincts scream as if telling him to leave this place immediately.
He wants to run. But he can't.
....
...
..
.