Chapter 3: Fear

As I stepped cautiously into the classroom that day I noticed that both of my so-called ‘friends’ were already there. I slowly made my way to my seat, making sure I didn’t acknowledge either of them.

“MR REID!” screamed a familiar voice. She stood in front of me, blocking the path to my desk. I looked at her innocently. “Where were you yesterday afternoon?” she asked, putting on a calm voice.

“Erm...I...I was...” I started.

“He was ill, Mrs Henley, very ill, so I told him to go home.”
I looked at Lou; he didn’t look back at me. Why was he sticking up for me?

“Mr Stevens?” She sounded shocked. “You know that you don’t have the authority to allow someone to leave, don’t you?”
He nodded slowly. “I’m sorry, Mrs Henley.”
I didn’t know what to do, so I just stood there staring at him stupidly.
Mrs Henley thrust her finger in my direction aggressively.

“I’m sick of both of you, get out of the classroom!”
I continued to stand there, only looking at her stupidly instead. Lou stood up calmly, tucked his chair under the desk neatly and left the room.
She glared at me.

“I’m sorry, I think you misunderstood.” she said quietly, “I WAS TALKING TO BOTH OF YOU!”
I took the hint and left the room swiftly. Lou was waiting outside for me, leaning against the wall casually. I went and stood next to him, noticing a large bruise on the back of his neck.

“Lou, I’m sorry about pushing you. I’m not normally aggressive. I don’t know what came over me. I really am sorry.” I said quickly, hoping he wasn’t too angry with me.
He looked at me and smiled. “It’s ok, it doesn’t really hurt.” He touched the back of his neck. “See.”

“Good.”, I said, “I really am sorry though.”
There was an awkward silence for a while.

“Back then, in the classroom, you didn’t have to help me. Now you’re in trouble as well when it was nothing to do with you.” I said quietly, looking at the floor.
He chuckled and patted me on the back gently, “Don’t worry about it. What are we supposed to do now though?”
I looked around the corridor suspiciously. It was an unusually quiet day; there were normally loads of people in the halls at this time of day. Come to think of it, it had become quiet in the classroom we had just left as well. I shivered suddenly; then shrugged it off. There was an unpleasant feeling in the air and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. I looked at Lou.

“Does it feel different in here to you?” I asked, eyeing him closely for signs.
He looked at me blankly, “What do you mean?”
“You know...quieter and...colder.” I shivered, putting my hands under my armpits.
He shook his head but I saw him looking around worriedly. I sighed heavily; I could see my breath! I breathed out experimentally and a white cloud emerged from my mouth, then vanished.
I rubbed my arms, “I...It’s really...c...cold in here.” I said, panicking a little; I looked at Lou. He was looking back at me, a confused expression on his face. He stepped over to me and placed his hand softly on my cheek. His hand was warm and I found myself pressing my cheek against it, hoping for some of the heat to transfer to me. He pulled his hand away slowly and looked at it for a while.

“Why aren’t you cold?” I asked, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.
He looked at the ceiling, as if he was thinking, then looked back at me.
“We have to get out of here.” he said, suddenly grabbing my hand and dragging me down the corridor.

“What do you mean we have to get out of here? What’s going on?” I protested, trying to pull my hand out of his; but he was holding on tight. He skidded to a halt by the front doors and I nearly collided with him. His grip on my hand loosened and I pulled it away roughly. I was annoyed at him for pulling me like that without telling me why; although the run had warmed me up slightly.

“Tell me what’s going on!” I shouted angrily. He ignored me. He was running his hands across the door. Then he opened it. My mouth dropped open as I stared outside. The sky was a dark, blood red.

“What? I don’t understand. It’s only ten in the morning why is it dark?”
He tried to pull me back from the door quickly but it was too late, I saw it. There was blood splattered across the school grounds like red paint. I followed the trail with my eyes, then wished I hadn’t. There was a severed hand lying limply on the ground, the fingers were curled up into a fist, as if whoever’s hand it was had put up a fight. I screamed as loud as I could, turning quickly to run.
Lou wrapped an arm around my waist to stop me, closing the doors quickly. I continued to scream, covering my face with my hands. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, obviously trying to calm me down. It wasn’t working.

“It’s not real.” He whispered in my ear softly, “I promise it’s not real.”

“W...what do you mean? I...is this...a...dream?”, I sobbed, turning to face him. He nodded, smiling.
I leaned on his shoulder, “B...but it’s n...not a dream. It’s too...real. Tell me what’s really...going on.”
I forgot what I was saying suddenly and jolted upright as a horrible thought crossed my mind.

“VICTOR!” I shouted, pushing away from Lou and running back towards the classroom. “VICTOR!”
I skidded to a halt in front of the classroom, kicking the door open. I whimpered. The students were still there. All of them were unconscious. I panicked and looked to the back of the classroom where Victor was. I ran over, slipping and landing on the floor next to his desk. He was face down on the desk, his arms draped over the front.

“Victor.”, I said quietly, shaking him gently. He didn’t move. I pushed his hair off his face. “Victor!” I shouted , on the verge of tears again. I heard Lou come into the classroom after me.

“Woah.” he said, walking around the class of sleeping children, occasionally stopping to shake one of them. I ignored him and continued to shake Victor, calling his name weakly.

“Wake up!” I cried, slapping him hard across the face. To my surprise his eyes flickered open and he sat upright, shaking his head.
“Victor!” I sobbed, jumping up and flinging my arms around him. I looked at my hands over his shoulder and realised what I had slipped on when I ran into the room. I fell back onto the floor, shaking. Victor stared at me in a dazed way. He hadn’t realised what was happening yet. I whimpered, wiping my hands on my trousers and leaving red smears on the material.

“WHY IS THERE BLOOD ON THE FLOOR?!” I shouted at Victor.
“B...blood? Where?!” he looked at the floor and frowned. Lou came over and pulled me up. I sniffed, wiping my eyes on my sleeve. I looked at the floor. There was a large, glistening pool of blood, with skid-marks through the middle where I had slipped. Lou suddenly covered his mouth and ran from the room quickly. I was about to follow him but Victor stopped me by pulling on my jumper.

“Tim, w...what’s going on?” he asked me, rubbing his eyes and blinking repeatedly.
“I don’t know!” I snapped, putting my hand on my cheek and closing my eyes, trying to breathe slowly to calm myself down. I needed to use my head. We couldn’t get out of here so our best option was probably to hide until it went away. Then again, I didn’t know what ‘it’ was; so that plan was useless.

“Where’d the new guy go?” Victor suddenly asked, standing up.
I shrugged, “Maybe he’s afraid of blood.”
Victor nodded slowly as if contemplating this. “Do you think we should go after him or wait here?”
“I don’t know.” I shuddered, putting the back of my hand to my lips and sitting down. I was starting to feel dizzy and slightly sick. Victor sat next to me.

“Are you ok?”
I chose not to answer this, because I thought it was pretty obvious how I was feeling in this situation. In truth, I was cold, frightened and confused.
Lou came back into the room and made his way towards us. He completely avoided the pool of blood. When he got near us he put his hand over his mouth and nose. We both stared at him.
“I hate the smell of...blood.” he said; and I noticed that his hand was shaking.

“What are we going to do?” I asked quickly.