It's finally a break from my year round school. Leslie, Kasey, and Erin are all going to Cancun for two weeks. We spent the whole two months before that every weekend at the mall when we could get away from our private school. We shopped for swim suits and clothes that would make boys' heads turn towards us. I spent one-hundred and fifty-seven dollars.
I'm stuck in Nowheresville, USA. So much for the one-hundred and fifty-seven dollars I saved up and spent. I have to babysit munchkins in Windrixville because I was apparently copping an attitude to the principal.
I have to admit I'm not always nice to my teachers. I like to play tricks to keep things lively. If it wasn't for me everybody would walk around like zombies. Do you want zombie students? I don't think so. That wouldn't look good for the school.
My last trick got me sent to my Aunt's out in Oklahoma. I let the science lab frogs free in Miss Treschen's room. She's the new teacher at the school and I thought I'd give her a welcoming gift. Everybody in the whole school heard her response. As I said earlier, I'm stuck in Nowheresville, USA babysitting munchkins instead of in Cancun with my friends. Teachers should lighten up. And get this. My aunt is an elementary teacher.
"Annie Scott," Aunt Yolanda scolds, "you have to get your head out of the clouds. Now, I know this isn't exactly your idea of fun-"
I snort. Not exactly? This is what I call optimal torture. Fun is swimming in crystal water with my friends. Fun is getting away with a prank. Fun is sneaking out to the mall. This is not fun. This is torture.
"Annie, you only have two weeks then you can be back at school with all your friends."
"So much for the once in the lifetime two weeks away from parents, teachers in Cancun. Nope. I get sent off to Hicksville," I pout staring out the car window. I hear the squeaking of Aunt Yolanda squeezing the steering wheel probably wishing that was my neck.
"You just have to make the best of what you have," Aunt Yolanda tries. I won't let her positive rays puncture my negative-hope-everything-dies-in-the-next-five-seconds vibe.
"When are you going to send me back telling my mom and dad I'm too much to handle?" I ask. That's what I've been told many a times. I've got spunk is how my dad puts it but it was his idea to send me away to a private school.
"What makes you think I'm going to send you back? You're my niece and I'm enjoying every second with you," Aunt Yolanda twangs lying through her teeth.
"Lie," I sing song.
We pull into the parking lot of a little rink-a-dink hillbilly elementary school. Aunt Yolanda informed me the night before the two first grade classes are going on a picnic on this glorious day. I'm so excited I could scream. Pretty soon I was going to have twenty-five little mess making arm pullers begging me to play with them. Aunt Yolanda gave me a choice, either do I as was told or get punished the hick way. What the hick way was, I have no clue. I'm from Arcadia, California just outside of LA.
The morning droned on and on with the petty problems of, "That kid took my pencil." "That boy pulled my hair." "That girl just drop kicked me and I broke my neck." Okay, so there was no breaking of the neck but I wanted to. Kids are so whiny.
I was happy to finally get on the bus to go on a picnic to Jay Mountain. Maybe this mountain will be big enough for me to hide away on. I was highly disappointed when all I saw was a church on top of a hill.
"That is the dinkiest mountain I've ever seen," I say with disgust.
Jerry laughed, shaking his big belly and says, "Your Aunt was right when she said you had spunk."
I liked Jerry alright. He was a pretty cool guy, for a teacher anyways. I meant to give him a little of my famous spunk by calling him Jerry and he just chuckled.
"All you have to do is keep the children away from the church," Aunt Yolanda says. I've discovered she is a total fun killer and can see why Principal Walters would think she could straighten me out.
"Aye, aye, Captain Funsucker," I salute Aunt Yolanda.
She gives me the eye and says, "I'm serious Annie. That church is old and can come down any minute."
"Then why are we having a picnic by it? It could be a danger zone," I say with like I really care whether it was dangerous or not. I didn't really care but making this little excursion hell for my aunt is just plain fun. Aunt Yolanda purses her lips then says, very low, "Just go."
A painful half an hour of chasing around kids and not choking them slowly ticked by.
"You have pretty hair," a little girl says.
"Thank you," I say appreciating this girl. I was very proud of my long auburn hair. No one else in my immediate family had it. I was the only one.
"Some kids are playing hide and seek in the church, do you want to play?" she asks me with her cute, soft accent.
"What?" I say loudly holding back a curse but still scaring the little girl. "That's off limits. Stay here."
I stomp up the hill. If I have to follow the damn rules so do they. The little demons spawned from Satan. I bust open the old door and take a look around. My footsteps are smothered by the dust. My skin crawls with the sight of cobwebs. Where there are cobwebs there are spiders. I hate spiders and bugs.
"Hey! Munchkins!" I call out into the church.
All silent. They know they're in trouble. The sudden beating of wings above my head causes me to jump back and mutter a stream of curses. Shaking, I listen in on giggles.
"Olioliolioxenfree," I call but only get silence back.
Something in the corner of my eye catches my attention. A door is hanging wide open. I slowly approach to investigate poking my head in. My eyes adjust to the dark and the items point to old supply closet. A broom is standing sideways off the wall and a bucket is sitting next to it. I cautiously step into the closet checking around the corner for any munchkins. None.
SLAM!
I'm thrown into a dark abyss by little monsters. I twist the handle but it's locked. I pound on the door yelling threats to every head standing on the other side of the door. I'm answered with giggles and the footsteps of little feet running away from me.
"Fine!" I yell. "My aunt will find I'm missing and come look for me. And you'll all be in a big pile of sh-touble!"
I try the handle some more but it's still firmly locked. Who the hell puts a lock on a supply closet? What hell were the constructionists thinking? Oh, let's put a lock on this door so a girl thirty years from now will get locked in by a bunch of little kids.
I hate old buildings. There are dead bugs everywhere but I can't forget the live bugs either. They're gonna eat me alive. I whine to myself about how this is all my mom's fault. If it wasn't for her wanting to go to a private school I wouldn't be in the mess.
I stop noticing a new smell besides the musty old moth smell. I sniff the air a couple times. It smells hot and thick. It smells like smoke. I pound viciously on the door screaming for them to let me out. All I get are the kids screaming back.
Smoke begins to fill my little closet and I choke on it. I pound fruitlessly on the door. This is how I'm going to die. I'm going to die in a hick town with bugs. Perfect. At least I left behind a legacy. I sit down to cough and spit and cry into my knees. I don't want to die.
"I still have to cause hell for Miss Treschen!" I scream.
The heat increases about a million times but the door is open. My escape. My angel stands in the doorway waiting for me to get up. I tell my legs to work but I'm frozen. Damn legs. The angel doesn't waste any time taking hold of my skinny little arms and yanking me up.
The second I'm up out of the closet I almost wished I was back in there. Embers fell on my back burning me. I cried out and stumbled but my angel pulled me along.
"C'mon," he twangs pulling me causing me to stumble.
My angel is very impatient. He takes me to two screaming kids. I never would have thought I'd be so happy to see them. They were crying and looked dirtier than ever but I was happy. A boy was picking up a girl and handing her to another big guy outside the window.
"You find her?" the boy asks handing the last child to the boy outside the window.
"Yeah," my angel says shoving me into the other.
"C'mon, let's go!" the boy outside the window says impatiently.
My second rescuer picks me up and shoves me out the window into the arms of yet another boy. This boy was not as kind as the first two. He took me then tossed me right out. I flew through the air then landed on my arm. Intense pain filled my arm so much that I thought it's broken.
I didn't have much time to think about my hurt arm because the second boy was thrown down beside me beginning to become engulfed in flames. He was quickly put out by the big guy smacking his back. He was literally put out. The big guy took him out with one quick swing.
A quick, loud crunch came from the church. That church was engulfed in flames. I scan the area for my angel but he's not here. My rapid heart turns cold. Another loud crunch and the church snaps in half like the titanic and like the titanic screams erupted from it.
The big guy ran back into the burning building. I don't know much about fires but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed run back into a fire. Sirens finally pulled up to the scene just in time to see the big guy roughly pull out my angel. Anything I was feeling a moment ago is nothing. The big guy puts the almost lifeless form of my angel next to me.
"Johnnycakes," he says shaking my angel. "Johnny, wake up."