Little nightmares: nightmare across time chapter 4: the school
It had been 6 hours since the four had entered the pale world looking all over the pale city for Hilda, occasionally distracting the viewers and eventually they sheltered themselves in an old apartment building "so we've been wandering this place for what feels like forever and yet we still can't find Hilda!" Frida complained "what if she's been turned into one of the monsters like the hunter?" David asked "not helping!" Eventually the hunter had busted the door open and pulled out his shotgun and started firing. The children immediately ran underneath him and gave chase. They ran across the street before climbing onto a fire escape until it fell off and landed onto the hunter pinning him to the ground "agh! Not again!" He groaned as the tall man wandered forward towards him and groaned.
After running a couple of blocks. They catched their breath before noticing something. They were at a large school-like building with a playground in front of it. They exploded outside of the building before noticing something on the seesaw, a small black beret "look! Over there!" Frida yelled pointing towards the beret before mono climbed up as the seesaw fell on the other side "this belongs to Hilda!" Frida continued "where's the rest of her?" David asked, "look!" Six pointed out seeing muddy footprints in the shape of a boot, leading into the building "oh no… she's inside the school…" six said frightened "why? It's just a school!" David asked, confused. "Yeah but in our world our school is… different…." "Different how?" Suddenly one of the windows was busted open and from there a small child dressed in a school uniform and a doll head had fallen to the ground groaning, the other children looked inside and saw many other doll headed children known as the bullies absolutely demolishing the school smashing stuff, beating each other up setting things on fire, one bully collapsed suddenly and behind him was hilda struggling to break free from the bullies grasp "ugh let me go!" She yelled as the bullies carried her away "look guys! They're taking her to the bathrooms!" Six pointed out just as the children ducked their heads "but are we gonna get past all of them?" "I know! We walk in and ask them for her!" Mono explained just as they heard more bullies screaming "mono, that's a horrible idea!" Six pointed out "sorry…." "I know! One of us creates a distraction and the rest of us grab hilda!" "Oh wait! I wanna be the distraction!" "Ok… I guess it doesn't matter who does the distraction…`` Mono then opened the doors as the others snuck inside. Mono then stood in the center of the halls "ahem can i have everyone's attention!" The bullies immediately swarmed around mono as his eyes widened in terror "... I have to use the restroom…." "It's… right over there…." The bully pointed towards the restroom seeing the other kids sneaking inside "um… stupid contacts oh here it is! Let me wash it off!" Six and the others followed mono inside "MONO! YOU CALL THAT A DISTRACTION?!" Six shouted angrily "what? Am I not allowed to have a potty break?" Mono complained six then opened the door and saw the bullies hanging hilda upside down and lowering her over a toilet, the bullies then rushed towards them six then immediately mauled and ripped them to shreds frightening hilda David frida and mono "well that was the most brutal thing i have ever witnessed…." Hilda said frightened as the others untied and lowered her down. "Yeah I got my hands dirty!" Mono then lifted six to the soap dispenser and it started to bubble "guys check this out!" Everyone cheered "weee! Bubble party!"
Everyone began partying with bubbles filling the room, however during the commotion mono's paper bag fell off his head and the wind blew it outside. Everyone continued to party until the voice of an old British woman caught their attention "HEY! Where did this paper bag come from?" It shouted "the teacher! Mono your bag!" Mono noticed his bag fell off his head everyone peeked outside and saw outside the hall was the teacher an old distorted woman dressed in 1950s woman attire gray eyes and ragged hair and in one of her hands was a large thick wooden ruler in which she smacked the bag to bits "you all know the rules!" She continued "all kids not wearing doll heads will be beaten senseless by every able bodied bully in the school school" the bullies said in unison "that's right. So who's not wearing one!?" The children frantically started to reform the remains, meanwhile outside no one answered "so… no one knows…." The teacher said suspiciously "maybe it was-" "SILENCE!" the teacher smacked the bully with her ruler "someone in here is not a real student…." The teacher then spotted the group In disguise trying to escape "you! We're on an intruder hunt and don't think we don't know how to weed em out…." Six and the others were horrified by the teacher's presents as she screamed once more "NOW EVERYBODY LINE UP!" The bullies six and the others then formed a single file line "dj! Prepare for the test…." The dj bully then played a disk and the pa speakers then played an odd song "no intruder can resist chanting to this…." Six and mono were frightened by this "six… it's Veronica's TV song!" Mono whispered "I know…." As the music played the teacher wandered around the line looking for the intruder among them looking at the bullies sternly. Six and mono continued to resist the urge to sing along "don't… sing along… mono…." "I'm trying… trying so hard…." The teacher noticed the six and mono shaking frantically in their costumes; the teacher then sinisterly sang the same to them just as they were about to break. Suddenly two bullies sang out loud startling the three "well well…" the teacher laughed sinisterly as she walked towards the students "which one of you little imps was it!?" She shouted "it was him! Uh… he did it!" They said at the same time "i never even heard of it…" the bullies accidentally started singing once more before covering their mouths as the rest of the bullies surrounded them "well children… looks like we got ourselves a double intruder!" They then proceeded to beat the two bullies up as six and the others made their escape only to see the door was locked so they immediately went the other way and hid in the ventilation ducts….
They were crawling through the ducts until they fell into the gymnasium they found the locker rooms and hid "well that was a close on!" Hilda commented "how are we supposed to get out now? The exit is blocked off!" David complained "we're gonna have to head to the other end of the school…" Suddenly the sound of swinging doors and chater filled the outside. Soon they peeked out and saw more bullies swarmed the area and from another entry came a man with a melted face and dressed in a coach's uniform "alright everyone in the lockers for gym clothes!" He yelled, the bullies then marched towards the locker room. The group panicked immensely hid in random hiding spots as the bullies entered, once they were gone the group exited their hiding spots and walked out into the gymnasium where the bullies were climbing ropes they were halfway towards the exit when mono accidentally knocked over some sporting equipment catching the bullies and the coach's attention "well… kids it's time for some dodgeball…." The bullies then drew out dodgeballs covered in spikes and immediately started throwing at the gang, causing them to run away screaming and the coach to chase them "you're not leaving here alive!" He yelled and pulled out a large spiked wooden baseball bat and metal balls from his chest, he used them to launch at the children before he lost them "so much for her little intruder hunt…"
After a few minutes of running they eventually found an elevator "hmm looks like it needs a key if we're gonna get it open!" Hilda observed "where do you think we'll find it?" Suddenly they heard the sound of chalkboard writing. The group investigated to see the source and found the teacher writing triangles on the chalkboard before turning to the bullies sitting at their desks "now who can tell me the degree of a right angle?" She asked. Mono noticed that in a storage closet was a key "look it's in there!" He whispered "but how do you suppose we get past them?" David frightenedly asked, "moving very very quietly…." The group moved very silently to not attract the teacher nor the bullies "now I'm going to be handing out your assignments for today." She announced with a stack of papers in her hands "and I better not see anyone cheating OR ELSE!" Soon the teacher began passing out the assignments as the group just managed to evade her. Inside the storage closet they saw the key that was on top of some shelves mono started climbing it until it started to fall down mono manage to jump off just as it fell down suddenly footsteps inched closer just as everyone else hid in random areas soon the teacher opened the door and groaned the group peeked out and saw something absolutely horrific the teacher wiggled her neck and it started to stretch and extend she stretched her neck across the room examining the fallen shelves while the group nearly gagged by the sight of it eventually her neck returned to her body and slammed the door everyone exited their hiding spots and David nearly vomited by what had happened "great now I'm completely traumatized!" He cried picking up the key and mono removed the vent cover and then he and the others snuck inside only to open a drawer where the teacher was patrolling the area observing the students. They quietly opened the door and snuck around making sure the teacher didn't find them, they managed to escape but accidentally knocked over a pencil and the loud tink noise alerted the teacher and bullies. They immediately started running towards the elevator and successfully unlocked it and entered before the bullies could catch them.
On the ride the group caught their breath before the elevator stopped. Once it opened they quickly exited to the ground floor where they continued to search for an exit. They discovered they had entered the kitchen where there were hundreds of bullies outside in the cafeteria and some in the kitchen cooking. The group quickly tried to escape but the bullies surrounded them, mono noticed a rusty spatula on the ground and picked it up "SOUPS ON! KIDS!" He shouted and started to bash the bullies' heads in one by one until they were reduced to dust, mono then dropped the spatula and saw some heads came off he and the others then grabbed them and put them on as disguises as they wanted the cafeteria seeing bullies destroying everything and causing absolute chaos, eventually they managed to escape the kitchen and into the hallway where even more bullies were ravaging the area. Just as the gang were halfway through the halls the doors swung open and the lights turned blue, everyone turned to see the tall man wandering the area searching for the children "who's skinny right here?" Asked one of the bullies the tall man then groaned before kicking him slightly "out of my way you doll headed imps!" He shouted "you're all lucky you're not on my kill list…" the tall man then turned around and saw the gang making a break for it he then teleported towards them before they escaped through a door, everyone hid in different hiding spots as the tall man opened the door he searched the area before the hunter busted the door outside and the tall man turned around and closed the door behind him, everyone then exited their hiding spots and searched the room "hey look we can use whatever's inside that glass jar up there to help!" David pointed out six then climbed up top of the room and found the jar inside was a brain submerged in water six gently pushed it causing the jar to fall and shatter into pieces suddenly footsteps were heard everyone retreated to the hiding spots before the door opened and the hunter was there shotgun in hand searching the room "just some rats… this place is crawling with them…." The hunter grumbled before slamming the door, everyone then returned to the glass they saw the brain David gagged at the sight of it "maybe this was a bad idea…." Six then grabbed the brain and threw it at a button and another door opened they entered to see they were in another room it looked like a biology class they found the teacher writing on the chalkboard and stuffing plastic organs in a fake body the children jumped onto the table and snuck behind the glass jars and beakers then wandered into the next room undetected, once they were out they entered the ventilation system once again then the hallway once were there, they immediately ran towards the next room until the door behind them swung open and the tall man stepped in noticing them, the gang ran at high speed with the tall man in pursuit, he was about to catch them suddenly the gang stepped onto a floorboard that triggered a trap that caused a bucket swing in front of them the kids ducked their heads and hit the tall man in the face he became angry and screamed causing the lights to explode and the environment to glitch heavily and the others to run away from the tall man who was ever more angry they eventually ran to the next room the tall man was about to strike but suddenly heard a voice in his head causing him to turn around and see the hallway behind him and turn again and see the others were long gone….
Meanwhile the others were in another hallway and heard the sound of someone playing the piano. They entered the room where the teacher and the coach were playing the piano and drinking coffee "so i saw those brats in my classroom earlier…" the teacher announced "and you didn't catch them? You can literally stretch your neck across a canyon. I've seen you do it… twice!" The coach replied "and you're the guy who is literally a walking locker!" As the coach and teacher were continuing their conversation the two had snuck around them "so who's the weirdo in the suit running around the building?" The coach asked "don't know. The guy showed up to town with that wilderness creep!" "Don't get me started on that guy! He's some wilderness freak who just roams the woods searching for animals like those guys on those reality shows!" Hilda became angry by the conversation "hey! I'm from the wilderness! And I don't eat bugs and animals! I love animals!" She argued, alerting both monsters "nice going miss wilderness…." Six said sarcastically. Both monsters immediately started chasing they turned and ran into a vent, they thought they were in the clear but suddenly the teacher's head had rammed her head through the shaft and biting and snapping at them the group instantly turned and dashed through the shaft with the teacher's head in pursuit, they were almost eaten before they managed to escape and seal off the other side only for the coach to bust through the door and pulled from his chest some tennis balls that were on fire he threw them at the children but missed "guess it's time to get my hands dirty…." the coach then opened his chest and arms slithered outwards with various weaponized sporting equipment in hands the kids were just about to escape through another door when the coach grabbed Frida and dragged her across the ground just before Hilda grabbed her hand and pulled as hard as she could six noticed the floorboard and stomped on it and a locker fell from the ceiling crushing the coach's arm and releasing Frida as the coach screamed in pain. The kids turned and ran out the door and into the streets, the teacher then followed, seeing the coach pinned down "how is it that a man who literally has a million arms under that jacket lost to a bunch of brats?" The teacher proclaimed "just get me out of here!" The coach shouted as the teacher groaned and lifted the locker.
Outside the children ran across the streets "thanks for the save back there!" Frida thanked "consider repaying your debt for saving me!" Hilda replied before they continued to roam the streets "now to find the mirror… and get out of here…."
Meanwhile back in the school the tall man and the hunter noticed the open door and growled before hearing a whoosh of paper the tall man turned and saw mono's beaten paper bag and picked it up and stared at it before taking off his hat showing his eyes were pitch black, he slowly placed the bag on his head and sighed "heh, still fits…" "HEY!" Suddenly the teacher and her bullies surround the tall man and hunter as the coach and teacher confronted them "you may not know it dapper Dan!" The coach yelled "but we got a rule around here about putting other things on their heads…." the teacher snapped her fingers and she, the bullies, and the coach said the rule in unison "all kids not wearing doll heads will be beaten senseless…" Before the rest of the rule was addressed the tall man punched the teacher in the face sending her back with the force of the blow as she landed in the front entrance as the bullies and coach finished the rule slowly in surprise. The entrance then collapsed open allowing the hunter and tall man to escape into the streets "guess i know what buttons not to push…" the hunter noted as the tall man took off mono's bag and put on his hat, the two continued to relentlessly search for the children they would not stop until their mission was completed….