Chapter 53: The Butterfly (2)
In American schools, class breaks usually lasted only four or five minutes—just enough time for students to change classrooms. If a student needed to use the restroom during class, they could simply stand up and slip quietly out the back door. So when Mr. Miller saw Everly wandering outside, he didn’t scold her.
He was, however, puzzled by the sudden silence in the teaching building.
During his patrol, aside from a few classrooms engaged in interactive activities, every other room—teachers and students alike—had fallen into an eerie hush. Everyone had their heads lowered, sitting perfectly still, as if frozen. No one knew what they were doing. In the corridors, only the faint, out-of-place laughter drifting from the interactive classrooms echoed hollowly.
Everly’s appearance gave Mr. Miller someone to question. He called out to her and asked what everyone was doing.
“Mr. Miller, they’re all watching a video,” Everly replied. “The video is very strange. After watching it, everyone acts like they’re possessed—they forget they’re still in class and keep replaying it over and over… I felt a little scared, so I left the classroom.”
Mr. Miller was rather old-fashioned. The moment he heard this, he flew into a rage.
“What?! This is class time! The students are one thing, but how can even the teachers join in this nonsense? Absolutely not, I must put a stop to this at once!”
Everly hadn’t expected the little old man to be so headstrong. She hurried to persuade him. “Mr. Miller, don’t go in. I think something is very wrong. We should call an exorcist to handle this!”
“An exorcist? Everly, I thought you were a firm materialist. How can you be as superstitious as those parents? Witches, curses—those were nothing but coincidences. Back then, our school simply had an outbreak of infectious disease…” Mr. Miller sternly rejected her suggestion. Muttering about past events, he stepped around the girl blocking his way and strode toward a nearby classroom.