"No. Ya Allah. Please no. Nooooo."

A trail of blood was splashed on the marble floor as far as someone could get their eyes on as voices of different frequencies blared in. They were begging for their lives. For mercy. But the merciless monster was no way near that.

It had had enough. It wasn't paying a single heed to their pleas as it stabbed them over and over again, staring right in their eyes. And it wasn't even sorry. They deserved it.

"Noooooo!" She tautly clenched the sides of the duvet with her clammy hands as the beads of sweat materialized on her forehead.

Suddenly, her eyes flew open and she propped up on the bed with a jerk. Her entire torso was dripping with sweat in the cold weather as she gasped, her disheveled black hair sticking to the sides.

"You okay there?" Asmara asked as she turned the side lamp on from where she was lying on her single-bed, her drowsy eyes; a testament that she was awakened by Safa's screaming.

"Yeah... I-I'm fine," Safa stuttered as she cleaned her sweat galore forehead with the back of her hand.

"Here." Asmara extended the glass of cold water towards her and she took it. "I think I'm gonna go for a walk," she said as she put the half-full glass back on the side table after taking large draughts from it.

"But it hasn't even been an hour since you went to bed," Asmara piped in as she checked the time from the wall-clock.

"Yeah well, sleep and I don't really sit well together, do we?"

With that, she strolled out of the room.

******

The midnight breeze somehow helped cool her down as she strolled on the hunter green grass. The aroma of the after rain wafted through her nose, alleviating the grumbling inside her stomach.

As she took a sip of coffee from her cup, her gaze fell on the figure sitting by the lake, taking photographs of the water.

"Who the hell does photography at 3 o'clock in the morning?" She muttered to herself after checking the time from the wrist watch wrapped tightly around her right hand.

She cocked her head forward a bit to gain a better look of who the person was and was astounded on seeing Azlan.

"I knew he was a madman." She said before moving back to her annex. But what she didn't know was that like her, he had a past, too. And maybe this was his coping mechanism.

******

The entire teaching staff was perched around the elongated mahogany table in the meeting room including her. Azlan was slouched on the one end of the table while the principal of the school on the other as the early morning sun radiated through the large windows.

Everyone listened attentively as Azlan put forward his next strategy he had carved out for the course.

"So what do you think? Any suggestions?" He asked once he had divulged in.

"Well, I think we should..." Safa commenced as she leaned forward, her forearms placed on the table and hands clasped around her mug, but was cut off.

"Did I ask from you?" He intervened with an insolent countenance.

Taken aback by his response, her grip on the mug tightened as she replied back, "I think you just did." She clenched her teeth.

"I was referring to the senior teachers," he shot back.

"So like junior teachers don't have a say in anything? What kind of a trash patriarchy is this?"

"Excuse me?" He rose a perfect eyebrow as his jaws stiffened to his chiseled cheekbone under the bed of his neatly trimmed stubble.

"Pardon, sir. This girl is really innocent. Always says things before thinking," the principal interjected as she put her hand on Safa's and eyed her to stay quiet.

"Yeah well, sometimes the most innocent faces hide the feistiest of beasts beneath." He enunciated each word as his eyes prodded Safa's and her stomach prickled into tight knots.

"Says the beast himself," she retorted furiously before going back to her coffee, aware of the people shooting glances at her. But she simply did not care.

"I am so sorry, sir. She just... doesn't know... I'm really ashamed for her behavior," the principal pardoned on her behalf while Asmara threw her a disapproving look.

"It's alright. Let's move on," Azlan said as he turned the page of the book over and Safa peered at him in disbelief.

******