The lights suddenly went out during the History test. The exam hall was pitch black as all the curtains were not drawn over. No lights could enter, and no emergency lights were occupied. Unexpectedly, all the students remain silent as no sound was heard. Mrs Elaine, our Physics teacher who was there to monitor us, said, "Please remain calm and quiet and please be seated at your seat, we will take care of the blackouts and extra time will be given equivalent to the time loss."
After a few minutes, the lights were back. Even though, everyone looked suspiciously quiet and calm, the test was continued without any further delay. After an hour and a half, the test ended without any other dramatic event. No one speaks of the blackout after the test. With all the papers to sit and worry about, the students and teachers were busy struggling for the best.
Only a month later, after the trial examination ended, the talk about the blackout raised among the teachers when the results were out. Suspiciously, no one failed in History paper and almost everyone had perfect score for the objective part and managed to get more than 70% for overall. The question was, how did the results suddenly went up when the last time it was one of the worst in the school history?
Then, the blackout incident came to everyone's mind. Was it intentionally or was it just a mere accident? The four teacher who were in charge at that time were summoned to the principal's office to testify the incident. The whole blackout thing was suddenly became a major issue, where there were possibilities of massive cheating happened.
The first teacher, Mrs Elaine, who testified said, "No one said a word other than the teachers. It was unexpectedly quiet and calm. I was weird of this but said nothing as massive cheating did not hit my thought. Even though no voice was heard showing that no shock was emitted as if it was planned to be so, no sound of movement was heard either showing that the students remain at their seats."
The second eye witness, Mrs Shakeya, reported that no movement was detected, no giggles was heard, and no smiles were caught seen after the blackout. She said again, the students were almost seen like blurred by the situation and was just following the instructions to remain silent.
Mr Kim, the sole man of the teachers, witness nothing as he has night-blindness which means he cannot see anything in pitch black. While the other teachers said almost the same thing, something that hits along the line, the final eye witness and testifier, said a different thing. Mrs Noura reported that the only thing she saw was a white figure flying over the students.
The incident was put on trials by the School Court and Judgement System. The defendants were all the students who sat for the paper, while the plaintiffs were the school itself. All results were suspended from being informed to the parents and students until the case was solved. The trials was held for about two weeks, 14 days in a row. Even Sundays and Saturdays were trial-days. This showed that this case had taken attention from all sides of the schools.
The school reporters made live reports during the trials, the news were updated instantly online. Parents, students, teachers, everyone was eager to find out the truth.
During the trials, 28 students were summoned to testify. Testimonies were taken from each one of the students and teachers involved. Technicians were taken to the scene to check the wires and connections to gain evidence. Answers of the papers were checked thoroughly, many times to avoid mistakes being done.
On day tenth, the judges; the principal and the discipline teachers, almost came to a dead end. The mystery still wanders around the thoughts. Then, came in the idea to use a lie detector, polygraph. However, the idea was not taken seriously as to rent it requires a lot of money. Alternatively, Mrs Elaine and Mrs Xena, the principal and the Biology teacher, together with Mrs Noura, a Chemistry teacher, proposed an idea derived from the concept of polygraph.
They made a do-it-yourself lie detector, using the Science. The existence of the lie detector was not told to public as it may cause the smart students to do something. Therefore, another 28 students were called upon secretly without anyone knows the reasons why they were summoned. After they were test with the self-made-polygraph, they were quarantined until all 28 students were done being tested.
The results were not announced on that day, but instead, they were told on the final day of trial. The final day of trial was a little bit different. It was more grand than the other day as it was the D-day. It was held at the primary school's exam hall, as it was the biggest hall in school with stage provided.
The hall was packed with people. The students involved had already taken half of the hall, the teachers took a quarter, the rest was filled by parents. The other students and more parents were located at the assembly ground just outside the hall with big screen to watch what happened inside.
As defendants, we were given our last chance to defend ourselves and prove our innocence. We had the school's top debaters as our rightfully lawyers. While that, the teachers had lawyer parents to prove them right. As debaters went all out going against the lawyers, the situation became more nerve-wrecking than ever. Finally, the decision was read by the head judge, the principal.
Victory was not on our side as we lost the case. We were proven guilty of committing massive cheating. The decision was already decided before the D-day that was on the day when they did the polygraph test. Out of the 28 students, only two students passed the test. The rest of them failed, thus proved that we were guilty. The two students who passed were not involved and knew nothing. Therefore, they were excluded from the punishment.
Out of 104 students, 95 students were involved in incited, being abettor, planning and executing the plan. The nine students who were not involved were either, not knowing of the existence of the plan or decided not to join in or absence on the day. The rest of us were punished to retook the test, all the positions we had were put on hold for three straight months which means until the beginning of SPM, every Sundays and Saturdays were schooling days until SPM comes, and we were banned from all sorts of activities.
That was the biggest crime I ever made during my school days. It was a good memory to recall back even though it was a dark one. It was the only crime that involves almost all the students in my batch. It was surely one thing that I will never forget for eternity.
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