Autophagy

Walking up to the window, Song Lei slightly pulled aside the curtains, creating a small crack that he could look out from. As he peeked out of the window, a frown appeared on his face.

"Great..." He muttered to himself. Outside the orphanage building, there was a big fire right in the middle of the courtyard. Looking at it a bit more carefully; Song Lei realized that it was a festival fire that was made by setting fire on logs that were stacked on top of each other, forming a small tower.

Around the fire, it was... chaotic, to be honest. Song Lei didn't know how he would explain the current situation. All of the trainees that were so kind in the morning were having a little festival of their own in the middle of the night. They were all scattered around the fire, doing different things.

Trying to figure out what was going on, Song Lei located Rufus. Rufus, who was slightly chubby and had a wide body shape, was eating another trainee. Bite after bite, he would clamp down on the trainee's abdomen and would pull out organ after organ.

Clark, on the other hand, was sitting on a chair that looked more like a throne. There were more than ten other trainees that were bowing down to him. They looked like they were praying to him as if he was a god.

"Ugh... What the fuck..?" Song Lei muttered to himself. Pushing out the disgust, he tried to locate Aston. Unfortunately, he couldn't do so. Aston was nowhere to be seen.

While he was looking out of the window, Song Lei felt a slight wind hitting his neck. As there was no airflow in the room, Song Lei figured out that this wind was unnatural. He quickly turned around and reached out to catch whatever was about to touch him.

He felt his hand grasping someone's wrist before he could make a move, he was pushed to the side by the wrist's owner. Rolling on the ground, Song Lei tried to get up. However, before he was able to do so, he was pushed back onto the ground.

"Shh! Don't be so loud. We shouldn't fight now," a familiar voice said. After taking a proper look at the assailant's face, Song Lei realized that it was Aston.

"Aston?" Song Lei asked. He wasn't sure about what he had to do. Aston could have gone crazy like one of those but for now, he decided to trust him.

"Yes, it's me. Now calm down," Aston said while getting off of Song Lei. He went to the window and slightly pulled on the curtain to look out. "Crazy, isn't it?" He said with an awkward smile on his face.

"Yes, it definitely is," Song Lei said. He, too, got up and went to Aston's side to look out. "How long has this been going on for?"

"I have no idea," said Aston after sighing deeply. "It has been like this since the time I came to this orphanage."

"What is exactly going on?" Song Lei asked. There didn't seem to be any reasonable explanation behind them going crazy at night.

"Still no idea," Aston answered. He closed the curtain and sat down on his bed. "They get up every night at exactly 00:00. They lit up that fire you see over there and start committing all kinds of atrocities. Orgies and cannibalism are just a little part of it."

"I somewhat get that part but... Why are they praying to Clark?" Song Lei asked. He would be able to somewhat understand it if they were just doing bad things, however, there were some trainees that were worshipping Clark like he was a god. He couldn't understand what was up with them.

"He is their god," Aston said with a frown on his face. "Literally, some of the trainees just sit there all night and pray to him. And Clark does nothing but sit there with that creepy smile on his face."

"And when do they stop, exactly?" Song Lei asked.

"At around 3 a.m. This goes on for around three hours every day," Aston explained.

"And what have you been doing all this time?" Song Lei asked while sitting beside Aston.

"I just sit here all night. What do you expect me to do? I don't know what would happen in case I'm caught," Aston said. He laid down on the bed and put his hands behind his head. "Why? Do you want to try going out?"

"Yes," Song Lei said. Aston looked at Damien for some time and started chuckling.

"You're not serious right?" He said. "God... You're serious."

Song Lei nodded and said, "Of course I'm serious. We have to figure out what is going on. What if they decide to attack us one day?"

"That..." Aston muttered. He didn't have an answer to Song Lei's question.

"If we don't act proactive, they might eventually come for us. We have to figure out what is going on."

Hearing Song Lei, Aston sighed deeply. He knew that Song Lei was right, however, he was still scared.

"What are we going to do then?" Asked Aston.

"What time is it?" Song Lei replied with a question. Aston looked at the clock.

"It's 2:30 a.m. Why?" Aston said. Song Lei tapped his chin and thought for a second.

"We should sleep for today. There's no need to risk it by acting carelessly. We should wake up around the time they start their weird rituals," Song Lei said.

"How are we going to do that? We don't have alarm clocks here," Aston said.

"I don't need to sleep," Song Lei said. He was used to not getting any sleep for more than a day. He would have no problem doing so. "I can wait and wake you up when the time comes."

"That's decided then," Aston said. He sighed and pulled his blanket to his head. Shortly after, Song Lei went to sleep too...

...

As the morning came and the sun showered the orphanage with its light, everybody got out of their bed. Song Lei and Aston didn't talk about last night at all. Song Lei looked out of the window to see if there were any signs of the last night's fire, however, he couldn't see anything. The place was as clean as yesterday.

After he was done with his morning and afternoon classes, it was their free time. Gathering up, four dorm mates formed a circle.

"What should we do today?" Rufus asked. There was an awkward silence that followed his question. Nobody seemed to have the answer to that question

After thinking for another five minutes, Aston broke the silence and said, "I don't know what you guys are going to do, however, I'll go to the chemistry lab. I want to try some things."

"Of course. Have fun," Clark said with a wide smile on his face. The day before, this smile made Song Lei feel warm inside. Now, however, it felt more like a creepy grin rather than that brilliant smile.

Before leaving, Aston cast a silent eye towards Song Lei and left quickly. Noticing this action of his, Song Lei understood what he meant.

"I think I'll follow him. I want to learn what he does by himself," Song Lei said.

"Sure. However, know that he deals with some complicated stuff. It might be a bit hard to understand," Clark said. He then took Rufus with him and walked away.

Seeing them getting farther and farther away, Song Lei jogged to the chemistry lab. After a minute of running, he managed to reach Aston. He was standing in front of the laboratory.

"I didn't think that you would be able to understand," Aston said while taking out a key from his pocket. He inserted the key to the lock and turned it, making a clicking noise.

"They gave you the keys?" Song Lei said.

"I'm the science champion of the orphanage. Of course, they did," he said with pride in his voice. They entered the so-called chemistry lab. The insides of it were pretty complicated with all kinds of chemicals and laboratory apparatus filling it.

  "Why did you bring me here?" Song Lei asked.

"Don't ask, just watch," Aston said. He took a few steps forward and took out a piece of meat from his pocket. Picking up a watch glass from the table, he put the meat on top of it. He then went on to search the shelves that were filled with all kinds of chemicals.

Song Lei heeded his words and decided to not disturb him. Pulling a chair, he sat down and started watching Aston working his magic.

"Here it is..." Aston muttered before picking up a bottle of white chemical from one of the shelves. He went back to the side of the watch glass and poured a little bit of the chemical onto the piece of meat.

As soon as he did so, a sizzling started resounding in the silent laboratory. Song Lei got up from his chair and went to Aston's side to see what was going on.

Shortly after, the meat melted into mush, leaving behind something that left Song Lei's mouth agape....