The three best friends unleash the fireworks, and the night sky becomes a colorful sea.

They wait, silence filling the place, all of them waiting for the prank to happen.

A minute passes, nothing happens.

Five minutes pass, still, nothing happens.

When nine minutes pass and nothing still happens, Aurelio turns to the two statues slash best friends around him with a confused look, "Is something supposed to pop out here or something? Or are we just wasting our time standing here like idiots?"

"Yeah, spill the beans, Milky. We don't get this shit. Tell us what'll happen so we won't get surprised." Josiah adds, not forgeting to tease despite being as confused as Aurelio.

"Uh," Marco looks down and scratches his nape, "Well, I think I forgot to add something. It's supposed to do something more than that."

Josiah raises a brow.

"In simpler terms," Josiah nods at Aurelio, "We did just waste our time, mate," He points at Marco's bashful face with a narrow stare, "I thought you just said it was gonna be epic."

"It was! It just didn't finish! Next time I'll definitely complete it."

"I'm afraid there won't be a next time, boys," Eyes all turning wide, Aurelio, Marco and Josiah turn around, then freeze at the foreign presence in front of them. The bad news? He's wearing a police uniform, "Because you lads are coming with me."

It is indeed a beautiful night - if you ignore what's happening beneath it. Ten minutes after being caught by the police, the three boys get escorted to the station in town by a truck. And now, as unlucky as they can get, the boys are sitting on squeaky plastic chairs in front of the chief, heads lowered. The chief is sitting in the opposite chair. He has his hand massaging his forehead, and it is quite obvious he isn't in the brightest of moods because of these brats.

He speaks slowly, "Do you even know what time it is now?"

Innocently, Josiah raises his head and looks over at the clock, "Ten past midnight, sir. Do - "

The table separating them gets slammed. "I know that!" He glares at the boys, frowning at the "dumbass" comment of the lad with curls to his friend, "And do you know what people should be doing at this time?" Before Josiah can answer once again, the chief adds with annoyance, "Don't answer that! You lads should be in bed right now, what are you doing out at night, huh? Chasing skirts?!"

"Well, sir - "

"Shut up! I'm not asking you!"

"Oh, okay." Josiah mumbles, feeling wronged. You were, though, He wants to add, but didn't. Aurelio snickers and Marco nudges Josiah harshly.

Before the chief could explode in anger, Marco calmly asks, now raising his head after forcing Josiah's down, "Excuse me, sir, what did we do wrong to be here? We merely lighted fireworks. We didn't do anything wrong."

The chief looks at him, fixes his collar and composes himself, "_That's_ what you did wrong, young man. Have you not known that fireworks are illegal in this town?"

"But sir, we're not residents of this town."

The other glares at him, "That wasteland you call home automatically becomes part of this town's responsibility, son."

"Oh, yeah?" Marco retorts, his patience thinning. He glares, "Is turning a blind eye to Aunt Melda's death what you call a responsibility?" His grudge for the town's police shows, and Josiah and Aurelio hold him when they sensed it. "calm down, man" rings in his ears.

The chief's expression changes, "Don't give me that tone, young lad. You don't want to give me that tone."

"You adults shouldn't be too dumb to not sense that Aunt Melda didn't actually commit suicide, right?!" He's shouting now. His hands turn into fists and he stands up, a vein on his forehead twitching, eyes blood-red in anger. "You all are such a bunch of useless fools!"

To everyone's horror, Marco hops over the table and strangles the chief with gritted teeth. Josiah and Aurelio's eyes turn wide, and they try to stop him, but it is too late.

The chief is already dead.

And Jace Marco Dans spends the rest of his lowly life behind bars, eating shit food, fighting with the inmates, and dying a virgin.

Hell, no.

He ain't doing that. Prison food is shit. Prison cells are shit. Being a virgin is shit. He can't live such a shitty life.

So he composes himself, back in that stinking police station when they got caught lighting fireworks, and breathes deeply. Josiah, sensing his impatience, glances at him and puts a hand on his back, patting gently. The chief is still alive, and has just said some bullshit about their "responsibility". No one has replied yet.

"So, how's it gonna be, boys?" The chief adds, leaning back on his seat. There's silence. An awkward silence where the chief just stares at the boys, Marco glares at the ground, elbows on his legs, while Josiah stares at the clock and Aurelio dozes off to sleep.

Just then, the chief's phone rings.

The chief sighs. Picking up his phone, he stands and turns around before the first sound escapes from the conversation.

After the conversation, the chief turns around, but there's something different with the way he look at the boys. If earlier it had been anger and frustration over the boys who disturbed his sleep, now it has turned to joy. Whatever has been exchanged in the conversation turns the chief to look at the young men as if they're now treasures, and that, along with the errie night, makes Josiah tilt his head instinctively.

The chief smiles, "Actually, you don't have to answer my earlier question." He snaps his fingers, and a second after that cue, five men wearing a soldier's uniform step into view.

Marco and Josiah furrow their brows, their bodies get tense. They back away and squeeze their sides. Aurelio's also awoken completely with the sight of a gun on one of the men's waist and his eyes widen. He wipes the drool off his mouth, sitting up straight, "What..?"

"What the fuck is this, chief? Does this has to go this far? We haven't even committed a crime yet!" Josiah looks at the men incredulously. Marco hears him and glares at him, giving him a what-do-you-mean-yet look.

The chief doesn't reply. He looks at the men, and almost as sudden, the men march forward.

The boys squeeze together, almost mixing their bodies. Aurelio first saw one of the men punch Marco straight in the skull, and Josiah next.

In seconds Aurelio's panic-stricken eyes glance at the chief, but only a milisecond after, a blast of pain attacks the side of his head. His eyes shake and his ears buzz. His view gets blurry. The moment his body falls to the ground, he sees the chief removing his nameplate from his uniform and runs his hand through his hair.

Then everything went black.

___

Aurelio groans, feeling pain on his head. It isn't that painful, merely annoying, the kind that makes you want to just lay down on a pillow and spend the rest of your day squirming underneath. Moving his head to the side, Aurelio groans once more. He feels the urge to feel his head so he raises his hand, but when it touches his skin, he feels something soft on his eyes. He takes it down.

"What a fabulous morning, my dear students. You can remove all the cloth now." Someone far away speaks, seemingly using a microphone.

Aurelio's brows furrow. He can feel that the place he's currently in is somewhat spacious by the voice. When he takes the blindfold down, however, a whole new level of confusion eats at his heart.

"What's..?" He mutters instinctively. When he opened his eyes his view instantly gets caught by a very unfamiliar place. The place is indeed spacious, and the voice probably came from the front, where a stage is at. In front of him there are other people sitting on chairs, and, much to his disbelief, he is sitting down on a chair as well. His brows furrow further. It looks like they're inside a stadium of some sort, and a stadium that Aurelio has never seen - because he has never been on one.

When he raised his head, on the stadium there stands a woman wearing a white cardigan. She's smiling in front of a microphone, and Aurelio automatically assumes she's the one who spoke just earlier.

"What the fuck? Where the fuck am I?" Someone beside Aurelio bursts out, eyes unfocused, face scrunching up with panic wide eyes staring at the woman. With his outfit it is obvious he was born with a silver spoon. It shows in his attitude either. He stands up, "Did you abduct me? Did you just abduct me?" He scoffs, "You're gonna regret this, you bitch!" With gritted teeth he gives the woman the middle finger then saunters off, whispering a curse and heads straight to the exit.

But a meter before the exit, the four seemingly statue men beside it suddenly move to block him. The four men dressed like soldiers stand before the young man, faces all stiff and cold, staring at something far beyond what they're blocking.

The young man glares at them and tries to pass still. He isn't able to do so, though, because the moment he took another step, all four of the soldiers' guns are already raised to point at his head. The young man steps back, surprised. None of the soldiers move nor speak. They just stand there, coldly pointing their guns at the boy, eyes on their target that can beat the winters in the Arctic.

Silence surrounds the stadium. No one wants to move. No one wants to speak. Aside, of course, from the woman in front who still has the guts to put on a welcoming smile, "Students, please, obey us and my men will not hurt you. Not even a strand of your hair.

"I am the founder of this school, Marquis Institute. You're all welcome to call me Head Mistress. Do not panic everyone. We mean you no harm, and the reason you're here is for the purpose of helping this school become official and be known to the world."

Aurelio, along with the others, furrow their brows, tilting his head.

She spoke yet again, "This school still isn't registered legally. Thus, people outside won't be able to enroll manually because it isn't registered as a school yet. The institute needs to prove itself worthy to the officials, and all of you, a hundred young men and women, are the first students to ever experience this new school! We will ever be grateful to you for helping this school in the future!

"To try every thing the Marquis Institute has to offer, each of you will spend four years within the school grounds, with proper classes and rest. You will stay in the dormitories so you won't need to go out, and from your coffee to the premium activities that will be held, all of it will be free, so that the students will get to experience it all.

"Lastly, let's talk about the rules. The rules are carved down on the school's barrier. You are all obliged to read them every day. However, for the first rule, and the most important rule of all that you can never violate, I will be saying it here so none of you complains that you're not aware of it: *don't ever go outside.* Understood? No one, even my soldiers, can go out the school premises. Or else, severe punishment will be executed. Are we clear?" All of them nod, and with a satisfied smile, she walks to the side of the stage. She gestures at the papers piled up on the tables in the front. "Now, you can all get one and it will contain all the information you'll need. There will be your schedules, guides and room numbers to get you started for the school. That will be all for today, my dear students. Again, welcome to the institute!" The woman's smile grows, and she claps before dropping the microphone and heading down from the stage. She walks like a model, completely ignoring the hundred of pairs of eyes that are currently staring her down. It doesn't really look like it matters to her though, as if she has long been used to it.

The stadium remains silent even when she left. How can they say a word? The guards are just in the corners, ready to do something when things go wrong.  Thus, glancing at each other, the young men and women suppress their shock and fear, while some would ask questions to another that they don't also know the answers to. The large stadium is filled with confusion, fear, and terror.

Aurelio's mind is still blank as it travels to nowhere. It'll take time for his brain to process all these information. One moment he was at the police station, getting reprimanded for a rule he has never known, and now he's what, in a seemingly huge barn that detains not cows but humans?

"Hey, do you think the guards will really shoot us if we dared go out?" An ashen-faced boy turns to Aurelio, his eyes screaming fear. He's a *ton* larger than Aurelio, someone who probably would grow up into a gym instructor with large muscles, thus Aurelio raises a brow. Then he shakes his head. "What? Do you mean you think the guards will really shoot us? Shit, why did I have to forget my stuff. Damn it."

"Yeah, as if you'd ever be prepared for a kidnap," Marco, who Aurelio didn't realize is actually just behind them, stretches out his arm and places it on the back of his head as he lean back on his seat. He spares him a lazy glance, "Hey there."

"You're also here?"

"No, I'm not." Along with it comes a roll of his eyes, "What's wrong with you people - can't you state the obvious?" He's so out of people constantly forgetting to bring their common sense but he's too lazy to remind them of it. So, yeah, he has to endure them, he has to endure them.

Aurelio ignores him, instead looking in front. The other people in the large stadium begin panicking silently.

Now, what does he do?