• “Put the knife down, Daniel.” Those were I uttered during the scariest moment of my life. A knife was being pointed at my throat. The night was dark and quiet. We were on the roof of the school. I tried not to panic as I held my breath. My heart was literally tearing itself out from the fear.
    “Don’t worry, Mike.” He said, swinging the knife around making me even more scared. “This is merely for show.” Despite what he said, I could feel the humorous sarcasm in his voice as his sadistic smile reached from cheek to cheek.
    I was speechless after hearing the deep tone of his voice. It was tattooed in my head, even until now. The moment got to me. I couldn’t think of anything else. But all that fear suddenly disappeared after hearing another voice.
    “Was that a treat, or were you serious?” the confident voice said. This voice was different from Daniel’s. It sounded more like a comedic idiot said it. But the sarcasm and arrogant confidence was still there.
    “Do I really need to answer that question?” Daniel answered the boy to his right, being held down by Daniel’s thug of a right-hand.
    “Well, I’d appreciate it if you did.” He answered. “Or… you could let us go.”
    “Give me one good reason why I should let you go.” Daniel answered back, still keeping his knife by my throat.
    “Well, other than the fact that I need to go answer the call of nature, because we’ll promise not to breathe a word of this to anyone.”
    Imagine this guy, making jokes at a time like this. Well, that’s Gabriel for you. The ironic thing is that he’s the reason we’re in this mess, anyway.
    This problem would never have happened though, if not for earlier this month. It all started on a Monday. I was strolling around the lockers during free period, when I heard a scream that reached for the heavens. Like everybody that had the curiosity to see what it was, I ran for the grills beside me, from where you could see everything from the bottom floor up. There, I saw the principal, sitting on a bench outside his office on the ground floor. I could tell he was the one screaming because of his unusual gestures. He was rubbing his hands, which were already shaking a lot. Other than that, his forehead was sweating badly. Looking around, I saw that almost everybody was looking at the dilemma now. Curious, I suppose. The school nurse gave him a glass of water as the principal pulled out a hanky to wipe the sweat from his forehead. At that moment, a large man with broad shoulders walked beside him. He wore a long-sleeved polo, which went well with his red chequered tie and tan slacks. It looked like the complete opposite of our principal’s short skinny physique and his collared shirt and vest, paired with his large circular glasses. The large man was actually Mr. Flicker, our chief of security and discipline, who had worked here as long as our principal has.
    I could tell that the two were talking, most likely about the scream. It was clear that the principal was stuttering as he talked, rubbing his hands even faster and even harder. Although, I was only limited to sight and could not hear what they were talking about. After a while, Mr. Flicker walked away before coming back with a blow horn.
    “Attention, students. Attention, students.” He announced, trying to get to student body’s attention with his deep loud voice. “Classes will be cancelled for the rest of the day. You are requested to leave the campus immediately.”
    Upon hearing the announcement, all the students watching cheered out in joy of the thought of having a day free of worries. They didn’t really give us much of a choice anyway. Security guards were already patrolling the floors, making sure all the students leave instantly. So, I left.
    The next day, I came back to school, but with a strange feeling in the air. As I walked the halls going to my classroom, the people around me would suddenly look away or chuckle as they covered their mouths or even look at me like there was something wrong. Little did I know, that there was something that was about to make this day very unpleasant.
    I was suddenly intercepted by Mr. Flicker’s secretary. “Hello, Mr. Ramirez.” She said, handing me a piece of small paper. Taking it, I read what was printed on the paper. “You are wanted by Mr. Flicker. Meet him in his office, now.” She left me there with the piece of paper as she walked away without another word. What the paper said was exactly what she said, although with a lot less details.
    Suddenly, a voice which, at the moment, was the last voice I wanted to hear, came at me from behind. “What’ve you got there?” I turned around, finding a strange and frightening monster behind me. I jumped on my toes after seeing that. “Why so scared?” he said again, this time taking off the mask. It was Gabriel, as annoying as ever.
    “What the heck?!” he yelled at him, grabbing my chest by the heart. “You almost gave me a heart attack! What’s wrong with you? What is that?!”
    “Oh, this?” he said as he smiled, looking at the hideous mask he wore a moment ago. “It’s for our History class. I think it’s a warrior’s mask. Or was it a dog-trainer’s mask? I don’t know.”
    The guy didn’t even know what he was holding in his hands, which was both stupid and disturbing. “It’s Aztec, Gabe!” he yelled again. “And they didn’t have dog-trainers back then.”
    “Oh really?” he said, reading the piece of paper I thought I had held in my hands.
    “Hey!” he yelled once more, seeing how he snatched the piece of paper without me noticing. “How’d you do that?”
    “Trade secret.” He answered. I knew that he wasn’t going to tell me, but asking him didn’t hurt. “It looks like you’ve got a date with Mr. Flicker.”
    I snatched the paper back from him, not wanting to have the news of my invite into the office of the head of security and discipline. “That is none of your business.”
    “It looks like someone’s done something wrong.”
    “No, I didn’t. I think he’s calling me in to commend me on my perfect attendance last semester.”
    “Hmm… you keep telling yourself that.” He said, sarcastically with eye that said that he didn’t really think so. “Anyway, go. I’ll be with you.”
    “You know you can’t go, right?”
    “Of course, I do. I shall be with you, not in body but in spirit, like a little forest nymph.”
    “That makes no sense.”
    “No, but the best things in life aren’t.”
    “I don’t know with you but I’m leaving.” I said, turning around to go to my destination. I made sure that Gabriel wasn’t following me. I turned my head slightly. Seeing that he wasn’t their anymore, I assumed he left.
    I quickly headed down to Mr. Flicker’s office. He was already waiting at his desk, with his fingers holding on to each other and his shoulders leaning on his surface of the desk. I knocked on the door, hoping to get his attention.
    “Ah, yes. Mr. Michael Ramirez, please sit down.” He said, directing me to a seat in front of his desk and on the opposite of where he was sitting.
    “I was called, sir?”
    “Yes, you were. Do you remember the incident that happened yesterday, Mr. Ramirez?”
    “Do you mean the scream? Yes. Something like that is hard to forget.”
    “Indeed. Do you know what happened?”
    “No, sir. I have no idea what happened.”
    “I see.” At this point, I could see that he was talking notes and placing them on a little notepad he had in front of him. “Let me break it to you, Mr. Ramirez. What happened yesterday was a robbery.”
    “A robbery?” The fear and worry flood my mind at the sound. “What does this have to do with me, sir?”
    “Well, when he police investigated the scene. They found your fingerprints in the area. Plus, the security cameras caught you in the area at the estimated time of the robbery. You were there just before the cameras strangely shut down. These evidences could only mean two things. One; you are a witness to the event and may have crucial information that needs to be informed to the police. Or two; you committed the crime.”