Dominic sat in the parlour, watching the news in rage. The news reported reported the mysterious disappearance of Joe's High School students.
"The police have promised the worried parents they would find their missing children", said the news reporter, concerning the breaking news.
"This man has abducted the children. I tried using Rita's phone to get to my sister as soon as we left the principal's office but her line wasn't reachable. I would have called her earlier but my phone was switched off", he said to Mum when he noticed she was behind him all along.
"Parents lament not being able to get to their children over the phone", reported the journalist.
"I wish I'd listened to Tricia when she first said she didn't want to go for the tour", Mum became moody. Gradually, she began to sob.
"I'll go to that school first thing tomorrow and give that Mr principal a piece of my mind for lying to me...that's if I'll even see him, he must have fled. The police haven't updated me on his home address, so I don't know where he lives", Dominic felt desperate.
* * *
The principal was not happy about what he had seen on the news. He got more furious when Mr Joseph's line could not be reached after one more try.
"What could have gone wrong? No one's line is reachable. That national park surely has a strong network reception", he said to his wife, looking very worried.
"Were they kidnapped or something?", she got shocked.
"It can't be!", he shook his head with certainty, "Kidnapping people in a coach is quite difficult. They could easily be run over", he replied as he thought deeply.
"Or you feel Mr Joseph has something to do with this?", inferred his wife.
"That thought got into my mind but, why would he do something like this? I mean he sees those students as his very own children right?", he wanted doing away with his baseless suspicion.
"Let's only hope they're in a place where there's no network reception but they're in a good condition as well", his wife felt optimistic. She caressed her husband's shoulders.
"I'll have to explain everything to the police", he thought.
* * *
Over where the students were, they all were outside the house in their various groups according to their class levels. A campfire placed at the centre was the source of light for everyone.
Every student had a food to eat, depending on their choice. Tricia's dinner was the simplest of every other, a plate of cornflakes in liquid milk.
The driver and Mr Joseph sat together, while they had their own dinner. The driver was having the food he had bought along the way while Mr Joseph was having bean cakes with custard.
The driver showed Mr Joseph his phone. "As you can see, no reception. Don't know where you brought us to", he chuckled over it.
Mr Joseph smiled slyly and showed him his own phone. "As you can also see, mine has no reception also. I'm in the same situation as everyone else", he said.
The driver could not endure the spiciness of his food any longer and expressed so. "Can't handle the spice any longer, let me go get some water before it burns up my throat", he excused himself and got up. He went to go get water, leaving his food behind with Mr Joseph.
"Just give me a minute", the driver gestured.
"Take your time dear. Take your time", he replied with a magnetic smile.
Mr Joseph brought out a small bag from his pocket in a haste. He took a pinch of the white fine powdery substance from the bag and sprinkled it cautiously over the driver's food. It dissolved into the food. He hurriedly got up and left the place to avoid being suspected. He joined the JS2 students in their chat.
Over to where Tricia and her classmates were all gathered, some boys were playing games on their phones. The girls were the frustrated ones as they knew they would not be able to chat online with some friends as long as they were in the middle of a forest.
"I wish I had at least a game in my phone...would have used it to keep myself busy", a girl groaned.
"My paranoid best friend would probably be thinking by now I'm ghosting him", another girl felt bad.
"My parents would probably be thinking I've been kidnapped", Tricia stressed hers. Her classmates knew she was very right.
"Are we all going to be here until the 25th? On Christmas day?", a boy asked suddenly. They all replied with a no in hesitation.
"Even Mr Joseph wouldn't want to stay here for ten days when there's no network here", Tricia gawped at him.
The driver held a half empty bottle of water and sat beside his food. He had a handful, sensing a sour taste in his food. "What got into this food?", he wore a grimace feeling disgusted.
Out of the blue, he felt a sharp pain at his stomach. He held his stomach with serious discomfort before another sudden sharp pain hit him at his chest region. Joseph spotted him at a distance reacting to the poison and wore an evil smile. He did not want to inform anyone about it.
The driver slowly laid on the ground, shivering violently as he crossed his hands round his chest and stomach. He coughed out blood continuously.
Samuel who was not involved in a conversation with anyone, including his best friend because he was saddened by the lack of network reception, sighted the driver in a bad state when he looked up towards the bus.
"Oh my God!", he yelled, which caught the attention of everyone. He got up quickly and ran to the driver to know what was really going on.
Seeing where he was heading to, everyone realized the driver was in a horrible state. Many of them hurriedly went to find out what was going on while a few only stood at a place, waiting for a feedback from the rest.
Everyone was worried except for Mr Joseph who faked up his though. He was among the people that ran to check on the driver.
By the time Samuel had approached the driver, he had already passed away. The sight of blood around the driver frightened him. He looked at the food close to the body and a thought went into his mind;"Was he poisoned?" He turned behind and saw the rest joining him.
"What happened to him?", Mr Joseph questioned with a feign concern.
Samuel said nothing, only getting out of the way for him to see for himself.
"My goodness!", he exclaimed dramatically. He glimpsed at the food and turned to his students. "He was poisoned", he shook his head in dismay.
"But that was the food he bought on our way coming here", Tricia replied to him, frightened by the blood around the driver's body.
"That makes it so complicated. He was having his food here alone. How then was he poisoned?", Mr Joseph stuttered in reply.
Tricia and Ben glimpsed at each other, both knowing it was someone amongst them. Tricia observed Mr Joseph's sad face and felt deep down it was not genuine. Besides, she clearly remembered Mr Joseph and the driver having a conversation at the very spot some time ago, though he said the driver was having his food alone. Everything she thought of led to she impeaching on Mr Joseph's motives. She was beginning to feel he could be the one behind the driver's demise, but with no evidence in hand, she kept silent.
"I'll get to the bottom of this", she said inwardly.
"Please everyone should go inside while I find a place to keep this body", he instructed his students, who all felt reluctant to do so. A lot of them became scared, no one being able to say a word.
"Everyone should get inside right now!", he raised his voice. They gradually turned to go away, dragging their feet but he then called on them. They stopped to hear what he had to say.
"There's a traitor amongst us and I'll make sure that person doesn't get away with this", he told them angrily.
They looked at each other in utmost confusion. Who really poisoned the driver - no one could even suspect the other of doing such. They gradually walked away.
Tricia whispered to Ben;"When we get inside, there's something I wanna tell you." Ben looked at her and could sense the urgency in her eyes. He nodded his head in response.
Mr Joseph lifted up the corpse, feeling extremely satisfied with what he had done. He went into the darkness, into the woods to go dump the corpse somewhere.
He got to the cliff. Down the cliff were dry bones of all the victims used for their rituals. He tossed the corpse down the cliff and it dropped hard on the bones on the ground.
"First part of the work accomplished",he said feeling satisfied.