Chapter 8 The Black Surface

• “What?” Vero thought she was misheard. There’s no way her father said that she couldn’t come back. “Dad, what are you saying?”
• “You can’t go back here.”
• “Why?!” Vero almost screamed when she asked that. This was the worst news she had heard after moving here. “Dad, don’t pull my leg! Are you not listening to me? The person is still alive! He is here!”
• “Vero, we’ll talk about that later, ok? Now, you must—” Her father’s next voice faltered. Only in the form of fragments of words that Vero could not hear.
• Once again, Vero took the phone away from her ear and looked at the signal indicator on the screen. The signal was very weak.
• “Dammit.” She put the phone to her ear as she walked out of the room. “Daddy! I can’t hear you! The signal is terrible,” Vero said in a hurry. She opened the door to the verandah and stood there, hoping for a better signal. “I was walking out to find a better signal. Don’t hang up the phone just yet.”
• No answer.
• “Dad?” Vero took the phone away and looked at the screen again. The phone has been disconnected. “Fuck!” She is screaming. It didn’t matter if anyone heard her swearing or if her screams disturbed the other dormitory residents.
• Vero didn’t want to end the conversation just like that. She had to make things clear tonight.
• Wearing only light pajamas, Vero walked out of the dormitory to the central courtyard that connected to the administration office. There was nobody there and there was almost no lighting.
• The atmosphere was so quiet that it made her neck crawl. She gripped her cell phone tightly and stopped walking when she reached the edge of the courtyard. She turned on the cell phone and raised it high, then pointed it in various directions to get a signal. But just like in her room, the signal here wasn’t much better either.
• Maybe if she got out of the dormitory area, she could get a better signal, Vero thought. She would also try to go to the administration building to borrow a phone and call her parents.
• Just as Vero was about to take a step, she heard a rustling sound from the nearby bushes. The tension that had gripped her since she was standing here made her immediately jump backward while pointing her cell phone forward.
• “Who’s there?!” she shouted.
• The rustling stopped. A chilly wind blew after that and made her teeth chatter.
• No one, Vero said to herself. It’s just wind.
• Vero caught her breath and clutched the phone tightly to her chest. She must hurry, she thought. She would dash to the administration room, call her parents, and come back to her room.
• Vero took a ready position and, on the count of three, she shot up the walkway to the administration building. She almost fell when she arrived at the door of the building, which was already tightly closed.
• Of course. What was she really thinking? Administrative staff must have working hours and they are also humans who want to rest, right?
• Okay. Plan B.
• Vero turned one hundred and eighty degrees and faced the gate that led to the path by the lake. She could see the black surface of the lake clearly, and the dim lights of the large houses on the other side.
• “You can do this, Verona,” she whispered to herself.
• Vero blinked, and a shadow passed between the gates. So fast that Vero thought it was just a hallucination of her fear.
• Maybe it’s a bird. Vero tried to calm down. There are many birds, or bats, flying low at night.
• Armed with that belief, Vero steadied herself to walk out the gate. When she arrived at the sidewalk that was right on the edge of the lake, the atmosphere was so quiet. As if Vero was in a ghost town.
• How could none of the residents of this city enjoy the beauty of the lake at night? This is a sight not to be missed. Even though Vero was also feeling scared and wanted to hurry back to her room.
• From that moment on, she felt someone was watching her. But every time Vero turned and strained her eyes to look for the figure following her, she couldn’t find them. Maybe it’s just her feelings.
• This fear exhausted her.
• Vero walked to the edge of the sidewalk, almost half of her feet floating over the lake and the other half on land. She switched on her cell phone and checked the signal, then smiled when she saw the three bars of the signal indicator light up.
• She then pressed the button and called her father.
• After trying it five times, her father finally picked up the phone. “Vero, please,” he scolded, and Vero, who was about to greet her father cheerfully, discouraged her from doing so. “We can talk tomorrow.”
• “No, Daddy! You just told me I can’t go home! What do you mean? How can I sleep after hearing your words? I want to know the reason.”
• There was a heavy sigh from the other end of the phone. “I can’t tell you now. One thing you should know, the situation here is not conducive. Once we are sure you can return safely, we will pick you up.”
• “What? What happened? Did one of your business competitors threaten you?”
• “I’m tired. We’ll continue tomorrow.”
• “Wait, Dad-“
• Phone disconnected.
• Anger overtook Vero. She wanted to scream and curse at everything. This situation frustrated her.
• Her father wouldn’t change his mind even if Vero called him a thousand times again, so Vero decided to go back to her room and try to contact him again tomorrow.
• As Vero turned around, something flashed before her eyes again. This time, it was so close that it took her by surprise. She screamed and jumped backward, then fell into the icy cold water of the lake.
• Vero screamed, but it made her swallow a lot of water. She struggled and tried to swim up, but the cold paralyzed all her muscles and cramped her hands and feet.
• This freezing condition quickly tired her out. The moonlight above her head was getting darker and her hair was flying around her face. Vero saw her hands reaching toward the surface in the empty hope that someone would come to save her.
• Slowly, her vision dimmed, and the air bubbles from his last remaining breath shot upwards.
• Vero closed her eyes and saw life flashing behind her eyelids.
• Her father and mother. Her friends.
• Her past.
• She never thought she would die like this.
• Her body was getting dragged to the bottom and everything was getting darker.
• Then Vero felt something tug at her hand, bringing her back up. But by the time she reached the surface, fatigue and shock made her lose consciousness. The last thing she remembered was that the figure who had saved her picked her up and took her away from the lake.