Mary sighed deeply as she absentmindedly stared out of the large window beside her. Yet again she found herself wishing something would happen. Anything would be better than sitting here listening to Ms. Gurta talk about how interesting and important trigonometry was. For crying out loud they were just numbers! If you'd seen them once you've seen them all. Can't they think of anything better to waste time and money on?
Laying her head on her arms, Mary looked down at her watch. It was barely 8:25am. Not even a full half hour had gone by yet since school began. Frustrated she glanced back out the window hoping to spot something interesting. A small group of boys were out tagging some poor sap's car. Some girls were watching the football team doing drills. And Drew was being chased by Johnny through the parking lot again.
Sighing again, Mary decided to go to the restroom. With a nod at Ms. Gurta, she got up and headed for the door. She was almost to the restroom when the first scream sounded from behind her. Startled Mary's head whipped around as the hallway suddenly erupted in shrill screams. Kids started pouring from down the hallway, running towards the exit in a frenzied panic.
Pieces of wood and debris rained down on the crowd, causing them to panic even harder. Pressing herself against the wall Mary tried to figure out what was going on as she scanned the busy hallway.
That's when she saw him. A young boy with strange black tentacles walking out of one of the classrooms. He had dark green skin with spikes going up his back that seemed to be emitting some kind of glow. His eyes were hollow as he scanned the hallway and settled on her. With a smile he took a step toward her.
Mary screamed. Then she looked at the locker which had almost hit her and decided otherwise. Following the crowd she ran outside where the first of the first responders had started to arrive. As she rushed down the steps, Mary was suddenly tackled from behind and slammed onto the ground. Rubbing her head, she turned to see two uniformed police officers lifting someone off her body. They appeared to be struggling to hold the person as she thrashed violently in their grip.
"Get your hands off of me! Let me go! I have to get back in there! I have to save her!" The girl screamed as she struggled to break free.
"Please miss calm down. What's the point putting yourself in danger?" One of the officers said as he reached for a zip tie on his belt. "Please just calm down."
"The flip I will!" The girl screamed. "Let me go! I need to get back in there! Let me go!" She hissed. As he reached for her hands one of the girl's feet slammed between the officer's legs.
"MOTHER-" shouted the officer as he bent over.
By now Mary had recognized the girl as Alyssa from her math class. Though she didn't know her very well, Mary did know one important fact about Alyssa. She was never without her twin sister Izzy. Never.
"Alyssa! Alyssa!" Mary called as she rushed over. "Alyssa, what's going on? Where's Izzy?"
"Mary?" Alyssa called. "Mary! You have to help me! Izzy's still inside!"
Mary looked at the officer holding Alyssa. "What the heck is wrong with you? Why are you doing this to her? Why don't you let her go? Or better yet, save her sister?"
"You don't understand miss it's too dangerous for anyone to go inside. We can't allow it."
"Can't allow it?" Mary demanded. "Why can't you allow it? Isn't it your job to protect us? Answer me!"
"Miss calm down. We don't want-"
"Calm down?" Mary screamed. "Calm down! You're telling me to calm down?"
"Ma'am. Please-"
"No! I will not calm down!" Mary shouted. "Not until you answer me!"
The officer didn't say anything.
"Well? Aren't you going to say something?"
In a flash something grabbed Mary around the waist and lifted her off her feet. Then before she could react, Mary felt her body get slammed against a nearby car. She screamed as her ribs snapped one by one, along with both her legs. Bleeding and broken, she felt her world turn upside down as she toppled off of the car and to the cracked ground below.
Mary slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurring as she struggled to focus. There stood the boy. He was watching her. He grabbed the Mary by her shirt and swiftly lifted her off the ground. His gruesome smile was the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness.
