The Last Time
None of them could have seen it coming. None of them thought this day would be the last time that they would be alive. Miss Coyle was the last one remaining who hadn't been attacked. She knew if she could get to the phone on time to call the police, it would be fine. But she knew that man was about somewhere. She didn't know where, but she wasn't taking any chances. How it had got to this, how this had happened? She couldn't quite convince herself to believe.
It all started on a dark and rather rainy afternoon. The school was completely empty except for four teachers all staying late. Miss Coyle sat focused on her work. Just ten more minutes and then she knew she could go home. She decided to close up her books and started packing away.
Bang.
She suddenly stopped what she was doing. She paused for a minute. She shrugged her shoulders and continued packing.
Bang.
There it was again. She knew there were other people here but this seemed strange. This one seemed louder and closer than the previous one as well. She was growing more concerned by the minute. She put everything down and started to walk towards the door. Slowly, she pulled the door towards her and glanced outside. Silence. Still concerned, she quickly paced up the corridor to the staffroom.
Mrs Pollard, Miss Jenson and Miss Parker were standing at the sink engaging in friendly conversation.
"Here I think there's someone here in the school"
"Did you see anyone?" asked Mrs Pollard.
"No, but I heard loud thuds. They sounded like they came from the front of the school"
"Wait I heard those thuds too, she could be right" said Miss Jenson.
"Yeah, but I think the best thing to do is just to wait" suggested Mrs Pollard.
The three of them nodded in agreement.
"Anyone for tea?" asked Mrs Pollard
"Oh yes lovely"
"I'm parched, that would be great thanks"
Mrs Pollard went into the kitchen across the way. She started searching for mugs. She finally finished making the tea. She turned to go back to the door. But as she did, she froze. A tall black figure appeared before her. She stood in shock, dropped the mugs and they smashed to pieces. She slowly took a number of steps back. She looked for an escape route, spying to the right. She made a run for it as fast as she could until she was safely back in the staffroom.
"There's definitely someone here, I've seen them back in the kitchen" she said breathlessly shutting the door behind her.
"Ok, well, eh what did they look like? Were they male or female or what?" queried Miss Jenson.
"They were wearing a black hoodie, they were a bit taller than me, but I couldn't really see their face." She replied still breathless.
"Did you see them come in?" asked Miss Coyle.
"No I was just at the sink making the tea, I turned to go and they were just standing there." She replied.
"Ok, well I guess we'll just have to watch out for them when we go back to our own rooms, but I think for now we should just stay here." Miss Jenson suggested.
Miss Parker shook her head in disbelief and headed over towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Miss Coyle asked.
"To my room. To do my work funnily enough" she replied vulgarly.
"But there's someone out there who could be very dangerous"
"Yeah, but you don't know that, you haven't actually seen them yourself, have you?" Miss Parker said bitterly and left, slamming the door behind her.
"How could she not believe us?" asked a puzzled Miss Coyle.
"I don't know, but I hope she'll be ok" replied Mrs Pollard feeling worried.
Miss Parker was halfway up the corridor almost at her room. How could there be someone else here? Those other three were ridiculous for thinking that. She was about to unlock the door, when she suddenly spotted a black figure peering before her. She realised very quickly that she didn't know who the person was, and as they began to walk forward, she took a few steps back, and as they got closer, she caught on to exactly what was happening, and ran for her life. She sprinted down the corridor as fast she could.
She stopped abruptly at the nearest classroom and barricaded herself inside. Still running, the person had caught sight of where she had gone. They came to a halt outside the door and tried the handle, hoping she had left it open for them. No luck there. Then with all their force, they thrust their foot at the door. She jumped at the thud, becoming very scared.
Bang.
She jumped again and was now beyond petrified.
Bang.
The door was struck again even harder. She took a step back, her heart racing.
Bang.
Suddenly the door burst open. The person stood in the doorway, a knife grasped in their hand. They started walking forwards. She backed against a wall, shaking violently with so much fear. She was becoming more and more petrified by the second. She kept moving along the wall, further away from them as they came closer and closer.
"Please, no" she pleaded as they were now upon here.
She had seen the knife.
"Don't do this, please don't do this"
But she knew it was useless as the person took a step forward once more and upheld the knife. She knew immediately what was coming next. Back in the staffroom, the three other teachers started to feel very worried.
"I think we should call the police, if there really is someone here" Miss Jenson suggested.
"Yeah, we don't want to be taking any chances, especially if they're dangerous" said Miss Coyle.
"We should all try our phones" suggested Miss Jenson.
"Good idea" said Mrs Pollard.
They all took it in turns to dial 999 but they soon found that none of them could get a signal.
"What are we going to do?" asked Miss Jenson.
They all sat in silence for a minute, then Mrs Pollard remembered
"Wait there's a phone in the office next door, I'll go ring them"
"Ok" said Miss Coyle.
"I'll be back in a few minutes" Mrs Pollard said as she shut the door.
She turned left and was halfway there when a familiar sight stopped her in her tracks. The same mysterious black figure she had first encountered in the staffroom lingered beside the office door. A sudden flash of lightning struck outside, revealing the full appearance of the figure. A man in his 30s, who looked nothing more and nothing less than heel bent on revenge. He was blocking the only way to the phone, so she knew the only thing she could do was run. She took a few steps back and fled. The chase was on.
Miss Jenson and Miss Coyle were still back in the staffroom waiting on Mrs Pollard to return.
"I'm worried, it's been five minutes and she's not back" said Miss Jenson feeling concerned.
"Something might have happened to her, we should go and look for her" suggested Miss Coyle.
"We should split up so it won't take as long" she said as they both started off down the separate corridors. Miss Jenson took the one around the corner from the staffroom, while Miss Coyle took the one to the right of it. Miss Jenson took complete caution checking every room down that corridor. No luck. She came to another corridor. She thought she might have a better chance here. With the first three rooms, she had no luck. Finally approaching the fourth and final room, she slowly pushed forwards the door and took a look around. She suddenly noticed a trail of blood on the floor. Confused as to where it had come from, she cautiously followed it until she reached the end. She was merely horrified at what was looming before her. Miss Parker. Her lifeless body was slumped on the floor beside the wall. She had been stabbed twice in the chest, three times in the stomach and rather deeply in the right side of her neck. Miss Jenson knew hanging around wasn't an option and that she had to find Mrs Pollard
She ran out and found she was back where she had started. She saw the other corridor which she had first gone down. Suddenly she heard what sounded like muffled screams coming from the first room of that corridor. She raced over and hurriedly pushed open the door. She had found Mrs Pollard, but she was too late. She stood, absolutely paralysed with utter shock, as she saw the man standing there behind Mrs Pollard, holding her by the chest with one hand, a knife lodged in her stomach in the other. She watched in horror as he pulled the bloody knife out and repeatedly plunged it back into her. Mrs Pollard shook incessantly. She was completely impotent as breathing eluded her, and as he pulled the knife out one last time, her mouth began to fill with blood, and her last breath was slowly exhaled. Her head dropped off to one side and he finally let her go.
He looked straight up at Miss Jenson, right in the eyes. But it more like a look of curiosity than evil, as if he was studying her. Bu she could see the evil, he malice in them. She didn't know what was going to happen next, but as she saw him take a step forward, she knew she was in trouble and leapt out and ran. She knew he wasn't going to be far behind and forced her legs to go as fast as they could down the corridor. Terrified and almost out breath, she still sprinted down the long corridor. She glanced back over her shoulder. He was gaining on her, but she was determined not to let him get her. He was getting closer and she thought she might never reach the end. But hope was in sight as at last she found a classroom. It wasn't locked so she made her way quickly inside. He was right behind her, he knew exactly where she had went. With an alarmingly powerful thud, the door flew open, and the man, malevolent as he was, lurked silently in the doorway, with the knife positioned just above his head, ready to attack. She saw the evil smile on his face, and started moving backwards. The man marched forwards and lunged straight at her with the knife, and like a bat out of hell, she dodged out of the way, making the knife go straight down through the wood of the table, like crushing weights pressing on human skin. He pulled it out and went for her again. She managed to dodge it a second time, and moved back even further. He tried again a third and final time, but still she managed to avoid it. She then immediately ran for the door, but she was too slow and he got there first. She stood realising she was trapped. He knew this was the perfect opportunity to get her. She made an attempt to run, but he was too quick and approached her with the knife, slashing straight through her shoulder, like a cheese wire through butter. She screamed in agony.
In the corner of her eye she spotted a laptop on the table, and as he tried to attack her again, in a flash, she grasped hold of the laptop, and with all her strength, smashed it over his head. The man instantly dropped the knife and fell straight to the ground unconscious. She looked at him. She was still shaking fearfully, but sighed with relief and dropped the laptop. She carefully walked around him and out the door. She was in absolute agony and held her bloodied shoulder with an unsteady hand. She headed back up to the staffroom, and hlfway up Miss Coyle appeared
"Oh my God, what happened? Are you alright? Miss Coyle asked looking concerned.
"That man… he got me… he attacked me" she replied breathless, clutching her shoulder.
"We'll have to get an ambulance"
"I found the other two, but they're… dead. They're both dead!" she wept.
Softly, Miss Coyle replied "I know, I know, I found them as well."
"There, just sit yourself down here, I'm going to call the police and get an ambulance, I won't be two minutes."
Now she had to get to the phone. She knew if she got there, it would be fine. But that man was about somewhere. As quickly as her legs would take her, she scampered to the office. There, she had made it that far. She scuttled over to the phone and rang the emergency services.
"Hello 999, what's your emergency?"
"Hello, I need the police and an ambulance, there's someone dangerous in the school, and two members of staff are dead, and one has been attacked." She stammered nervously.
"What about yourself? Do you have any injuries?"
"Um no, none"
"Ok, and if you could just give us the address of the school, so we know where to go"
She quickly told them and waited for a reply.
"Ok, the ambulance and police will be on their way now"
"Ok, thank you." She replied.
She put down the phone. She decided to hide and having spotted stationary cupboard, she quickly clambered inside and shut the doors. Suddenly loud screams pierced the air. In a split second she had to decide whether to go or not. She didn't want Miss Jenson to die, but she didn't want to put herself in anymore danger, and decided to stay put. It seemed like hours later, but eventually the blaring sound of police sirens sounded in the distance. She felt an abundance of relief – but she cried tears of loss and despair for her friends, the people who today, had lived their lives for the last ever time.