Perhaps today is the last day I’ll ever be a middle school student. After just one more entrance exam, I’ll be stepping into high school. The final middle school graduation ceremony was truly emotional. My class had been together for four years. It was especially meaningful after our homeroom teacher joined us in 7th grade, and that year, our class went through our teenage years together. From cheering for our school's football team during matches to screaming at the top of our lungs, and all the field trips we took... For four years, we experienced all those youthful moments together.
After the ceremony in the schoolyard, we returned to our classroom for a party—a final gathering for our student life. Our class of 49 people shared so many beautiful memories during our school days. At first, we were all laughing and talking as usual. No one wanted to cry at this final farewell. But our homeroom teacher was the first one to get teary-eyed. She reminisced about the first day she met and talked to our class. She remembered the spring festival fairs where we sold things together before Tet and the fun parties we had. She cried so much that it was heartbreaking; she loved us like her own children. She was always gentle, or perhaps she was just born that way. Even when she scolded us, it was for our own good, to give us righteous advice. Maybe that's why we loved her so much. It's just a shame that our middle school years were so short and we had to part ways so soon.
The classroom was decorated with balloons and flowers. The desks were filled with cakes, candies, milk tea, and lemon tea. On the blackboard, the words "Class B9 Year-End Summary" were clearly written in bold. The girls gathered around our homeroom teacher at the podium for one last chat, while a few boys comforted her, and others prepared for the party. Some people freely expressed their sorrow and cried out loud, while others, though they seemed strong, felt a deep sadness inside.
When the party started, everyone went back to their seats. Our teacher stood at the podium and shared her feelings about us, her graduating students. She projected images and videos on the screen, showing all the memories we had shared, including our dance rehearsals. She had saved all of them in a folder on her computer. Everyone in the class was overcome with emotion. We all seemed to wish we could express our feelings to one another. Together, we wrote our signatures on our homeroom teacher’s class shirt. The signatures of all 49 students, along with hers, were an unforgettable memory for many of us. The class shirt was now surrounded by the signatures of all the students, with the teacher's signature right in the center, a symbol of our gratitude for her care.
After the party, our class stayed behind to clean up the classroom one last time before we left. In contrast to the initial tears, there was now the sound of giggling in the room. I don't know if I'll ever hear it again. Suddenly, a knock on the door made us all turn to look.
A Trip to Remember
This was probably the last trip of our middle school years with all of our members present. My class had about 47 people; a few had transferred in or out over the years, which probably created many memories for me personally. As for my class, we were quite good at school movements and great at sports, and we were decent academically, with 24 excellent students this year. As for our class's relationships, even if we disliked someone, we still treated them normally. Maybe that's why there was rarely any drama in our class, and if there was, it was often quite shocking. Sometimes, it was just pretty funny.
We gathered at the school at around 5:30, and the sky was still pitch black. To be honest, I was a little late. In the car with my mom, I was probably being a bit silly, begging her to drive faster so we wouldn't miss the departure time. But my mom said we'd probably leave at 6:00 because that's what her classes always did. In the end, I lost a third of the money I planned to spend on the trip because I had a bet with my mom about whether we'd be late or not. When we arrived at school, the sight of students chatting and not being gathered up was a little strange, confirming my mom's point: "I gave birth to you, I know you." I ran to find my class's meeting spot, and a moment later, my friends saw me and pulled me toward the group. To describe that moment? Well, it was a funny, chaotic mess. We had to wait for a while until everyone had arrived before we could get on the bus. I sat next to my close friends; we wanted to be in the front to avoid getting carsick. When the bus started to move, I noticed that the sky was completely bright. I looked at the clock—6:00. Maybe it wasn't worth the effort to get here so early, after all.
The bus rolled on. Once everyone was seated, our class's tour guide stepped out of the front passenger seat. She was probably a recent intern because I thought she was quite young. She wore a standard guide uniform, which seemed comfortable enough for the winter weather. Holding a microphone, she smiled brightly and introduced herself: "My name is Tran Hoang Thanh, and I hope we have a fun time together, everyone." Our class got a little rowdy after hearing that, but then our homeroom teacher shouted, "Quiet!" The noise level dropped to whispers, making it easier for our teacher to talk with the guide. The start of the bus ride was truly a fun time. My best friend and I invited our homeroom teacher to sing karaoke, one friend brought a stuffed animal, and another brought an entire one-kilo box of cakes to share with the whole class. We also pulled some pranks, like tying shoelaces to chairs. That time was so much fun.
Adventure and A-hem, Misadventure
When we arrived at an amusement park, we were given a bracelet-like electric wristband. They all looked the same, kind of like an electric watch, but they were actually used to get through the entrance. The strange thing was that the guards made us wear this wristband to enter the park; if we refused, we would get a refund and not be allowed in. Since that was the only rule, we all followed it. A few people tried to resist but were scolded by the teachers. It was a park rule, and if we didn't wear them, we couldn't go in, so we had to comply.
The amusement park was incredibly spectacular. Comparing it to the fantastical worlds of Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan would be a fair match. There were huge, magnificent mansions, as well as areas resembling oceans and mountains. It was a fascinating place. Our tour guide led us to a place to store our belongings. Our week-long trip was more of a rest and relaxation retreat. According to the schedule, we had to be divided into rooms. You know that kind of room assignment based on the alphabet? We had to be divided that way, but was it really going to be 30 people in one room? Yes, it was the truth. We would be divided into groups based on our names and grades, not our classes, to be fair—to have a mix of athletic people, smart people, and so on. And each group of 30 would have a manager. Just think, 30 boys and girls of this age living together in one space for an entire week... It was a little strange considering the total of 237 students in our 8th-grade class. While I was thinking, I realized that my group had quite a few people I knew, both people I liked and disliked. Fortunately, we weren't sharing a single room, but rather, each person would have their own floor, as rooms were assigned per floor. My room assignment had not been determined yet.
Although we were on the same team, for the games, we would compete with our own class, kind of like a confrontation. The tour guide was still in charge of the games for our class. The first game was a shooting game, which my class was going to play because the area was a mountainous forest. The guide had us divide our class of 47 people (she also participated because the number of players was odd) into groups of 6, 8, or 12, depending on what our class wanted. We chose the 8-person rule, so we were divided into 6 groups. The rule of the game was that when the number of un-shot players drops to about 24, the game would end. We each played a kind of hunting game, but everyone was given a pistol with fake bullets inside. We had 5 minutes to find a place to hide before we started hunting each other. It was a game where physical strength was the main advantage.
My group consisted of me (Chi) and seven of my close friends: Linh, Tue, Bach, An, Duc, and Truc. Even though we were close, our initial plan of finding a team leader caused an argument, as everyone wanted to be one except for me and a close girl friend who immediately withdrew. In the end, we settled on Linh as our group leader through rock-paper-scissors since she was already a group leader in class. That alone took 3 minutes, making it difficult for us to find a place to gather. The area was quite run-down, although it wasn't exactly dilapidated.
The game started with the sound of a shot, though we didn't know where it came from. We left our meeting point and split into four groups to scout and protect our gathering place or to loot. I was assigned to a group with Bach. We were in the same main team, so it made sense. Standing in a tree and observing everything through the walkie-talkie, I could easily contact my teammates, but they didn't seem to be very responsible. After 5 minutes, a voice came from the loudspeaker: "Every 5 minutes, we will announce who has been eliminated from the game and the number of remaining players. Getting to the point, 4 players have been eliminated from the game, leaving 44 players." She kept reading the names of those who were out. Only a few minutes into the game, a whole group of people had already been eliminated, which didn't worry us too much because my group was full of expert gamers, except for me—I'm a bad player.As I looked around, I suddenly heard the sound of a shot nearby. It was someone from Group 1 and someone from Group 7. They probably didn't dare to shoot yet. Bach and I saw our chance and shot both of them. Strangely, they suddenly fainted. We thought it was just acting, so we were a little cautious, but then I remembered what the guide had said: when the bullet is fired, the shell will burn and release some kind of substance that will make the player faint when shot. To protect the players, the forest was equipped with cameras. Remembering this, we took their gear and left, but the things we found were quite interesting: a pair of binoculars and a lot of bullets, and also a suppressor for the gun. Since there was only one, we decided to take it to our base to share. But because of how big this place was, we got lost and ended up at Group 7's base. It was a very luxurious place, and it even seemed to have 4 guards. We could guess that they mostly wanted to protect this place. Did this game really distinguish between teams?
I called my group on the walkie-talkie, and the leader assigned me to stay behind and explore Group 7's base while Bach would take the gear back. I followed the team leader's orders. Fortunately, the deal was that I got the binoculars and the remaining suppressor. Physical strength wasn't my advantage, but my slow movements turned out to be a good thing as I wasn't detected. The suppressor also made it easier for me to hide and get into the base. I actually had to crawl through a dog hole. Just as I dusted off my clothes, a shot was fired. Luckily, I dodged it. After I shot the person who fired at me, I realized it was the vice-class leader of our class. I picked up his gear, which gave me a few interesting things."Number 4, what's your status?" a voice from the walkie-talkie suddenly said, followed by a series of taps. One short tap, then silence; after a moment, one long tap, one short, two long... Maybe it was Morse code? 'A,' 'y,' and 's,' huh? 'Are you sure' maybe? I responded using Morse code with the letter 'Y' for 'yes,' and luckily, I was let through. As I tried to find their weapon storage, I was discovered. I don't know if it was good or bad luck that I was caught while entering their weapons room. How did these guys even organize their groups? In the darkness, I used the light from my watch to my advantage to take down the guard. From the moment I realized I was discovered because of the wristband, I had covered it with my shirt, meaning that the only light on me had become a disadvantage. But the noise from the scuffle made another person come to the weapons room. Hiding behind the door, the suppressor helped me easily take down one more person.
But my luck probably ended there because the announcement of who was out of the game started to echo. Without stopping to listen, I tried to pick up as much gear as I could from the enemy base to escape and find my way back to our base, but it wasn't that easy, as I hadn't thought about the weight of all that stuff.
When I escaped, I lost all my energy. I heard a noise, quickly stopped, and hid in a bush. There were probably a few people who had spotted me. While running away, I threw some of the gear I was carrying in one place, which became a juicy bait. So when two of them poked their heads out, one ran after me, and one ran after the gear. Oh... did I mention I found something called a grenade there? Just as I took down the person chasing me, an explosion went off in the distance. I don't know why I ran so fast at that moment. Before I could even figure out what was happening, a knife was held against my neck. Who could it be?
"The game is over!" the voice from the loudspeaker announced. I sighed and pushed away the person holding the knife to my neck. But this person wasn't from my class. It was Minh from Class E!
The Roller Coaster of Horrors
I returned to our class's gathering point, but strangely, not all of my classmates were there. Only about twenty-something people were there, and another guide came over to lead us. A friend in my class, curious, asked the new guide, "Where are our other friends and our guide?"
The guide replied, "They have gone to another game. We'll do the same. Follow me."
The twenty-something of us followed the new guide. It was a normal amusement park ride, a roller coaster with about 15 carts and 2 people per cart. I sat with Tue, also a close friend of mine. When the safety harness was checked, I saw an employee go into the machinery area. A loud "click" rang out, and suddenly, the coaster cart made a slight noise, and the coaster began to move slowly, then in a flash, it started moving faster. I felt a slight chill down my spine, but it gradually turned into a sense of excitement as the coaster started climbing up high. It stopped for about 5 or 6 seconds, which made everyone a little nervous, but then it started moving again. I don't know why, but I squeezed my eyes shut, followed by the sound of everyone's screaming. When the ride stopped, I thought it was over, but it was only the first part of the easiest level of the ride.After the safety harnesses were checked again, the park employees gave us a few paper bags, probably for vomiting, and covered the coaster with a transparent plastic sheet. The coaster started moving again and went into a large, dark tunnel. When the lights came on, the crystal chandeliers inside looked beautiful, like a mine. We joked, "The dwarves and their mine trip." Before we could finish, a cloud of smoke blasted right into our faces, although it was more like steam. Something fell on the plastic cover, and I saw a small nest of squirming maggots, and then a gush… A moment later, something landed on our heads. A fishy smell began to fill my nostrils. Ugh!... Ugh... The stench made us all vomit. My skin was covered in goosebumps; I didn't think it would be so disgusting. When we got out, seeing the clear sky was a relief, but the sunlight allowed us to get a good look at the source of the smell. At first, I didn't pay much attention, but when it moved, my friend next to me pointed at it. The squirming maggots were crawling all over the plastic sheet, not just them but also insects and dirt. I got an even bigger chill down my spine. The fishy smell still haunted me, so disgusting. But it wasn't over yet. We entered another tunnel. A voice announced, "All roller coaster players, bow your heads and hold them tight with your hands!" Before we could understand what was happening, a powerful stream of water poured down on our heads and gradually subsided as we left the tunnel.
But when we saw the light, we were speechless. There weren't just a few squirming things left on the plastic cover, but also a few drops of fresh red water that hadn't disappeared, making it even more terrifying. We entered another tunnel, but this one was probably just to wash us clean. Throughout the ride, I felt a little disgusted. Luckily, I hadn't eaten breakfast that day. I don't know what might have happened otherwise. After one more loop, the plastic cover was dry, and the coaster stopped. When the cover was removed, I breathed a sigh of relief, "We're free." The fear of the ride was no longer just about the height but also the lingering horror of those other things.
The guide smiled and looked at us: "Did everyone have fun?"
I patted him on the shoulder, my smile behind my mask looking more like a grimace. "Hey man, let's play a game. I want you to feel that smell and the squirming things. Maybe it's not gross to you, but when they start crawling on you or your body, you won't be smiling anymore."
He just looked at me with a patient smile. He put his hand on my shoulder and breathed into my ear, whispering, "Kid, we have even more interesting games than this. You don't seem very brave, do you?"
"Could you not breathe into my ear when you talk next time?" I asked.
He kept his patient expression and said, "Alright everyone, you must all be tired. We should head back to our rooms to rest."
