[Win- 7:45 a.m.]
The school bell rings.
Not the one that tells you to run to class or pack up for the day.
This one's softer. Light. Like a wind chime you'd hang on your porch.
It only rings once every year — on Children's Day.
And every time it does, I roll my eyes.
Laughter fills the halls. Loud, irritating, too sweet.
Stalls are set up all over the courtyard, little booths of cotton candy, games, and cheap face paint.
Kids run between legs, security tries to keep them from getting flattened, and seniors like us…
We're just trying to survive until noon.
I sit near the science block steps, earphones in.
Noise-cancelling.
Or, at least they were — until he showed up.
"Winnieeeee~!"
Here we go.
"Don't call me that," I mutter, not looking up.
Palm flops down next to me like he owns the world — or at least, the concrete I was quietly trying to rot on.
"You look like a depressed anime character," he says, stealing one of my earphones.
"I am a depressed anime character."
He grins. "Then I'm your annoying love interest who fixes you with food, chaos, and a soft yet traumatized backstory."
I turn my head to finally look at him.
Palm Chaikamon.
Loud, chaotic, definitely gay.
And somehow, the only person in this entire infected cesspool of a school who talks to me like I'm a human being.
"Well?" he asks.
"Well what?"
"Did you see the new girl?"
"What new girl?"
Palm wiggles his eyebrows. "She transferred yesterday. No one knows from where. She's creepy. I like her."
"I don't care."
He smirks. "You will."
[9:12 a.m.]
The stalls are fully open now. Balloons everywhere. Students showing kids around, teachers acting like clowns.
Literally. One of them is dressed as a clown.
It's terrifying.
Principal Panadda gives her usual speech on the mic, ending with:
📣: "Happy Children's Day! Make new memories, make new friends, and don't forget to SMILE!"
As if we all haven't been dragging ourselves through hell since midterms.
Palm drags me toward the food stalls — he claims I haven't "eaten happiness" in months.
"Cotton candy or grilled squid?" he asks.
"I'd rather die."
"Great. Two cotton candy sticks, please!"
[10:48 a.m.]
That's when I see her.
A girl standing alone near the old staff building, away from the crowd.
Uniform perfectly ironed, socks pulled tight.
Eyes like empty windows.
Palm whispers beside me, "That's her."
"The transfer?"
He nods. "Kao. No last name given."
As if she hears us, Kao turns. Slowly. Too slowly.
She doesn't smile.
She just looks.
And for some reason, my chest tightens.
[11:17 a.m.]
A loud pop echoes from the canteen area.
At first, everyone thinks it's part of the fair. A balloon maybe.
Then someone screams.
The kind of scream that doesn't belong at a school.
It's wet. Real.
Another one joins it. Then another.
Teachers rush toward the noise. One doesn't come back.
I feel Palm grab my wrist. "Win…"
People start running.
And that's when I see the first one.
Dragging its feet out of the canteen entrance.
Skin hanging like boiled meat. Eyes… nothing but hunger.
No one knows what to do.
Except Kao.
She's already walking away —not running—
As if she knew this was going to happen all along.