Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary!

Chapter 755: Mystery of Class 3-C [4]

“Hello.”

The voice came out muffled from behind the wall as the outline behind the faded glass moved slightly.

Kyle didn’t move.

For several seconds, he remained beside the window with his eyes fixed on the figure sitting at Desk 27. The dirty glass made it difficult to see every detail of its face, but that wasn’t enough to hide what was in front of him.

From the same dark hair, to the features…

‘Seth.’

Even the way his shoulders rested against the chair looked familiar enough that, had Kyle seen him anywhere else, he probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it.

That was what bothered him.

“…Kyle.”

Zoey’s voice reached him quietly.

“There’s no need for you to tell me. That’s not him.”

It was hard to see the features clearly.

But his face looked pale. Abnormally pale.

“Hello.”

Kyle’s expression gradually hardened.

There was something missing from the voice now.

The first few attempts had sounded strange because the tone had been slightly off, but it was perfect this time. The tiredness, the tremble, even the faint roughness around the edges sounded exactly as he remembered.

And yet…

‘That’s not him.’

Kyle was sure of it.

The thing behind the glass continued looking at him without moving the rest of its body, its hands still resting neatly against the desk.

Then something changed inside the classroom.

Swoosh—

Every child’s head turned towards the window.

Kyle’s breath stopped.

Twenty-seven faces looked directly at them.

Their bodies remained facing the chalkboard, shoulders perfectly straight and hands still placed on the desks, but every head had twisted in their direction at almost exactly the same angle.

Zoey’s fingers pressed against her lips.

“…This makes no sense. Why are they here?”

Nobody inside the classroom.

The classroom simply stared.

Kyle had dealt with enough anomalies to know there were situations where staying to understand what was happening was considerably stupider than leaving.

This was rapidly becoming one of them.

His gaze returned to Desk 27.

The thing wearing Seth’s face was still smiling.

‘A copy…?’

A few things started to click in his mind.

Mara had disappeared, but people continued seeing her.

Mrs. Vale had eventually come down here and claimed she saw Mara herself.

And now Seth, who should’ve been trapped inside VILE-303 somewhere in Sines, was sitting inside an impossible classroom beneath Valmere Municipal School.

Kyle heard Zoey’s voice from next to him.

“…We should go.”

“Yes.”

Kyle didn’t argue.

The two slowly moved away from the window, taking care not to make any sudden movements as the children continued watching them through the dirty glass.

Kyle had almost reached the turn when something came from inside the classroom.

A chair scraped.

His attention immediately returned to the window.

The figure at Desk 27 was now standing before them window, face pressed against the window.

“…”

The pair of eyes stared right at them, following and tracking their every movement. Its head slowly tilted as though trying to see them better through the glass.

Then, from somewhere inside the room, a grave voice spoke.

“Eyes on your work.”

Every child’s head snapped towards the front.

The sound of the movement came all at once.

The figure at Desk 27 didn’t follow immediately.

For another second, Seth’s face remained turned towards Kyle.

Then it slowly looked forward.

Kyle didn’t wait to see anything else.

“Go.”

They moved.

***

By the time I reached the next classroom, my headache was really starting to bother me. Reaching for my pocket, I tried to pop another pill, but there was nothing left inside.

“Ugh.”

I rubbed my forehead as I followed the children inside.

Seat 27 was waiting near the back like always.

At this point, I barely needed to check the number anymore. The children left enough space around it that finding Mara’s desk was probably easier than finding the teacher’s.

I sat down.

“…?”

My hand paused on the exercise book.

It was already open.

That wasn’t particularly strange. The books were sometimes left that way between lessons, and after several days of moving through different classrooms, I had stopped paying much attention to where the pages were supposed to be.

What caught my attention was the writing.

Half of the exercise had already been completed.

I leaned closer.

“…Did I do this?”

The numbers and handwriting looked familiar.

More than familiar.

They were mine.

The same slightly crooked four. The same unnecessary line I always drew through the seven. Even the way one answer had been crossed out looked exactly like something I’d done myself.

I flipped back several pages.

The handwriting changed.

Mara’s.

Then forward again.

Mine.

“…”

I stared at the page for a little longer.

‘Maybe I did this yesterday.’

That was possible.

Probably.

The nights had started blending together, and the lack of medication wasn’t exactly helping. I could barely remember which classroom I’d been in two hours ago, let alone every arithmetic question I’d solved over the last few days.

Still…

I didn’t remember this one.

Step.

My thoughts immediately stopped.

The teacher entered.

I lowered my head and picked up the pencil as the door closed behind it.

“Continue your work.”

Around me, the children began writing.

I looked at the completed questions again before moving down to the first empty one.

‘More and more problems are adding up. Feels like I’m starting to lose it even more.’

Starting to feel a little redundant now.

For the next few minutes, nothing unusual happened. Which, in this place, usually meant something was about to.

The teacher eventually moved towards the attendance register.

My pencil slowed.

‘Right…’

I suddenly recalled the warning.

Don’t answer.

More specifically…

Don’t let her answer.

I glanced towards the empty space beside my chair.

“Rachel Zims.”

“Present.”

The usual scratching followed.

One name after another left the teacher’s lips. I continued working, though most of my attention remained on the space beside me.

This time, I wasn’t going to let whatever was there answer.

It wasn’t as though I had much of a plan beyond that.

When Mara’s name came, I planned to simply answer myself and hope the teacher didn’t suddenly attack me for sounding different.

It wasn’t ideal, but I planned on testing the situation.

“Mara Balle.”

Eventually, the little girl’s name left the teacher’s lips.

My fingers tightened around the pencil.

I opened my mouth to answer.

“Pre—”

“Present.”

“——!”

Someone spoke before I could.

But…

That wasn’t Mara’s voice. It was deeper, rougher, and… it sounded exactly like mine.

My breath came to a stop.

The teacher’s pencil scratched against the register.

My lips were still parted.

For several seconds, I found myself unable to react.

‘What…?’

Something small grabbed my wrist beneath the desk, but I didn’t react as my eyes remained on the page.

My thoughts remained fixed on the voice that spoke.

‘That was my voice. That was definitely my voice.’

But how…?

How was that possible?

The teacher continued through the remaining names without so much as pausing, which somehow bothered me more than if it had reacted.

Someone had just answered in my voice from the empty space beside me, yet the teacher front merely dragged its pencil across the register and continued as though everything had gone exactly as expected.

I glanced towards the gap between my desk and Elon’s.

There was nothing there.

Elon, however, had stopped writing.

His pencil rested against the page while his eyes remained fixed on Seat 27, and although his expression hadn’t changed much, the way his book had been pulled farther away from mine made it obvious that he had noticed something.

“…Elon?”

He didn’t respond.

Of course, he didn’t.

Before I could try again, the teacher started moving between the rows, forcing me to lower my gaze and return to the exercise. I continued writing while trying to make sense of what had just happened, but the numbers in front of me felt as though they were simming inside of my vision.

‘From the handwriting inside of my book, to my voice…’

Something weird was happening.

…Something that I was really not liking.

By the time the lesson ended, my eyes drifted in Elon’s direction.

“Class dismissed.”

The teacher left first, and after the familiar pause, the children began standing from their seats. Elon followed shortly afterward, but before he joined the others, his gaze briefly met mine.

For the first time, there was something different about the way he looked at me.

His eyes shifted towards the empty space beside my chair, then returned to my face.

It wasn’t fear.

His eyes were too empty for that.

My brows furrowed.

“…What?”

Elon didn’t answer. He simply turned around and followed the other children into the corridor, leaving me staring after him with more questions than before.

Strangely enough, the small fingers didn’t grab my sleeve this time.

After everything that had happened, the little ghost suddenly seemed to have vanished.

I eventually stood and followed the class.

The next room looked almost identical to the others I’d passed through over the last few nights. Same rows of desks, same faded walls, same smell of damp paper lingering in the air as the children quietly moved towards their places.

I rubbed the side of my head while walking towards the back, already looking for the familiar space around Seat 27.

Then my steps slowed.

“…”

The very air around me seemed to constrict.

Staring ahead of me, my entire body tensed.

The seat…

It was taken.

At first, I assumed Elon had moved again, but the figure was a little too big to be the child, its shoulders rising well above the children seated around it.

From the hair, to the clothes…

For several seconds, I simply stood there while the rest of the class continued around me as though nothing were wrong.

The figure slowly raised its head, and my lips parted on their own.

“…What the fuck?”

A pale face resembling my own stared back at me.

“——”