::The Slain::
Chapter Two:
Blood.
Where there was blood, there was pain.
Kara had plenty of experience with blood. When she was a little kid, even a drop of the sticky red stuff had terrified her. Then she got into sports and constantly ended up with scrapes, cuts, bruises, fractures. Two years ago, she broke her arm when she fell out of a tree, and the sharp bone had pierced right through her skin. She remembered examining the injury in interest, not in fright. There had been a lot of blood then, but nowhere near this much.
Stay calm. You can't afford to lose it now, Kara warned herself. You can't just run away like before. People get hurt when you run away. People . . . die.
Biting her lower lip hard to keep from bursting into tears, Kara tried to figure out what exactly to do. The most obvious changes in the school's lobby were the absence of people, the darkness, and the blood. However, there were more differences, subtle, and Kara couldn't quite put her finger on what else was wrong. She carefully skirted around the blood and walked toward the wall where teachers, students, and staff posted important notices. She wasn't sure exactly what she expected . . .perhaps a flyer that announced "School will not be in session on Tuesday because of a ridiculous amount of blood in the halls!" Kara had to squint to read the papers in the darkness, but there was nothing of the sort, only the typical "Fall Festival this Saturday!" and "This week is Teacher Appreciation Week!" Kara couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed that nothing more was out of the ordinary.
Turning back toward the blood, Kara suddenly felt a familiar tightening in the back of her throat. She tried to desperately gasp for breath, but her lungs refused to obey. This is it, she thought, her mind clouding, her vision dimming, as she collapsed onto the ground, right into the puddle of blood. She coughed, choked uncontrollably. Some of the blood got into her mouth, but at this point she didn't care. You're going to die, her mind informed her. This is the end and you know it. You've had attacks like this before, but never so bad. It's over . . .
A terrible, white-hot pain began to burn deep inside Kara's chest. This is the last thing I'm going to feel, isn't it? Oh mommy . . . Michael . . . I'll be with you soon . . .
Kara didn't mind that she was going to die. There wasn't much left to live for, anyway. Dad was never the same after Mommy and Michael died, and now all her friends and teachers were gone too. But even though she was more than willing to slip into the gentle embrace of death, she wondered, After what I did, when I was selfish and I ran away . . . what if I don't go to Heaven? What if . . .
Just as Kara was about to succumb to the sweet, calming whispers of another world, another life, a single word appeared in her mind: Matt.
She tried to cry his name, but it came out more like a cross between a hiccup, a cough, and a sob. Matt! Kara wasn't sure why, but she just knew that he was here at school somewhere, waiting for her. He knew she would be late for school, and when everyone else left, he stayed there in the history classroom waiting for her, even though he would be so scared here alone in the dark. If Matt was alive, then there was something to live for after all! Kara took a deep breath - and realized that she could breathe again! Oh, Matt, I'm okay, and I'm coming! Her heart filled with renewed hope, Kara scrambled to get up and run to her history class to find Matt -
- and she slipped in the slick pool of blood, sprawling out across the floor. Common sense slowly began to return to her mind. She looked down and saw that she lay covered in someone else's blood, and before long she threw up her traditional midnight cookies and milk all over the place. But it was okay! Everything was okay. She was still going to find Matt! Sure, after that she'd have to go to the bathroom to wipe all this stuff off, and that might be a problem because Matt wouldn't want to go into the girls' room with her, but that didn't matter now. Everything was going to be all right when Kara had Matt by her side!
Kara stood up (carefully this time) and raced down the hall to Ms. Wainwright's third period history class. She noticed something as she passed by the many closed classroom doors. It looks old. That's another weird thing . . . this place was built a while ago, but now it looks like it's been abandoned for a long time. Well, that was no surprise. If the janitor was sloppy enough to leave blood splattered in the lobby, could he really be expected to dust and wash the windows every day? Kara almost giggled at her ability to make a joke even in the face of . . . whatever was going on. Sure, she'd almost snapped for a moment, but she was better now. Years ago, before Dad became withdrawn and just no fun anymore, he used to tell Kara that she was his brave girl, that she would never let him or anyone else down in an emergency. She wanted so much to prove him right. As soon as she found Matt, they would go right to the police station and report that something weird had happened. Then she would be a hero, and newspaper headlines would read, "Courageous Girl Faces Horror of Midwich School Incident". She would call her dad in Brahms and tell him what had happened. Then it would be just like the old days; Dad would start laughing and smiling all the time like he used to, and he would take Kara and Matt to the ice cream shop and the Lakeside Amusement Park, and everything would be perfect. Kara was wondering if maybe the school would be closed and classes canceled for a while when she came upon her classroom and noticed that the door hung wide open.
Normally, an open door wouldn't be much to worry about. But until now, all of the classroom and bathroom and teacher's lounge doors had been shut. Kara cautiously peered inside the room, but she saw nothing. In fact, the darkness inside seemed somehow worse, more complete than the darkness throughout the rest of the school. Although the windows were smudged and dirty, the fog outside was thick, and the weather was bad, a trace amount of sunlight still reached Kara's eyes. Inside the classroom, however, the darkness was solid and impenetrable. Kara was afraid to step inside, scared that the dark would feel as dense and cold as it looked.
I have to go in. Matt is afraid of the dark more than anything. I can't just leave him alone . . .
Kara inched forward, and the toe of her left sneaker hit something heavy and hard. She bent down and picked it up. A history textbook. She turned to the inside cover. Matt's textbook, in fact. And in the corner of the first page, a message was scrawled inside a crudely penciled heart, something that made Kara's own heart pound frantically, but not from fear.
Matt loves Kara.
So, Kara thought, He really did feel the same way I felt all that time. I always wondered, but I never wanted to say anything . . .
Kara knew that she had to go into that classroom. Maybe because she was curious about other notes Matt may have written, or maybe because she was stalling, Kara flipped to a random page in the book and saw something that she hoped she'd never have to see again.
Blood. A bloody handprint, in fact, lying there and staining page 125. Kara had been filled with dread for a while, but now it became more noticeable, more pronounced. She just knew that blood was Matt's. He must need her help so badly . . . Kara took a deep breath and stepped across the threshold into darkness.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, and even then she saw only dim, vague shapes. Something moved in a corner, and Kara immediately shouted "Matt? Is that you? Are you all right?"
There was no answer.
Kara carefully approached the corner where Matt sometimes napped at his desk, where he had spent long hours wondering if Kara might just like him the way he hoped she did, where the sound had originated from. Something lay slumped over Matt's desk, and as Kara stepped closer, she knew that it was him. He appeared to be asleep, facedown on the hard desk, though Kara didn't know how he could have slept through whatever had happened. She tentatively touched his shoulder, and his head rolled to one side. She saw his face.
Matt's mouth was wide open in a silent, frozen scream. His eyes were missing, and tears of blood slowly dripped from the empty sockets.
Kara screamed.
Chapter Two:
Blood.
Where there was blood, there was pain.
Kara had plenty of experience with blood. When she was a little kid, even a drop of the sticky red stuff had terrified her. Then she got into sports and constantly ended up with scrapes, cuts, bruises, fractures. Two years ago, she broke her arm when she fell out of a tree, and the sharp bone had pierced right through her skin. She remembered examining the injury in interest, not in fright. There had been a lot of blood then, but nowhere near this much.
Stay calm. You can't afford to lose it now, Kara warned herself. You can't just run away like before. People get hurt when you run away. People . . . die.
Biting her lower lip hard to keep from bursting into tears, Kara tried to figure out what exactly to do. The most obvious changes in the school's lobby were the absence of people, the darkness, and the blood. However, there were more differences, subtle, and Kara couldn't quite put her finger on what else was wrong. She carefully skirted around the blood and walked toward the wall where teachers, students, and staff posted important notices. She wasn't sure exactly what she expected . . .perhaps a flyer that announced "School will not be in session on Tuesday because of a ridiculous amount of blood in the halls!" Kara had to squint to read the papers in the darkness, but there was nothing of the sort, only the typical "Fall Festival this Saturday!" and "This week is Teacher Appreciation Week!" Kara couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed that nothing more was out of the ordinary.
Turning back toward the blood, Kara suddenly felt a familiar tightening in the back of her throat. She tried to desperately gasp for breath, but her lungs refused to obey. This is it, she thought, her mind clouding, her vision dimming, as she collapsed onto the ground, right into the puddle of blood. She coughed, choked uncontrollably. Some of the blood got into her mouth, but at this point she didn't care. You're going to die, her mind informed her. This is the end and you know it. You've had attacks like this before, but never so bad. It's over . . .
A terrible, white-hot pain began to burn deep inside Kara's chest. This is the last thing I'm going to feel, isn't it? Oh mommy . . . Michael . . . I'll be with you soon . . .
Kara didn't mind that she was going to die. There wasn't much left to live for, anyway. Dad was never the same after Mommy and Michael died, and now all her friends and teachers were gone too. But even though she was more than willing to slip into the gentle embrace of death, she wondered, After what I did, when I was selfish and I ran away . . . what if I don't go to Heaven? What if . . .
Just as Kara was about to succumb to the sweet, calming whispers of another world, another life, a single word appeared in her mind: Matt.
She tried to cry his name, but it came out more like a cross between a hiccup, a cough, and a sob. Matt! Kara wasn't sure why, but she just knew that he was here at school somewhere, waiting for her. He knew she would be late for school, and when everyone else left, he stayed there in the history classroom waiting for her, even though he would be so scared here alone in the dark. If Matt was alive, then there was something to live for after all! Kara took a deep breath - and realized that she could breathe again! Oh, Matt, I'm okay, and I'm coming! Her heart filled with renewed hope, Kara scrambled to get up and run to her history class to find Matt -
- and she slipped in the slick pool of blood, sprawling out across the floor. Common sense slowly began to return to her mind. She looked down and saw that she lay covered in someone else's blood, and before long she threw up her traditional midnight cookies and milk all over the place. But it was okay! Everything was okay. She was still going to find Matt! Sure, after that she'd have to go to the bathroom to wipe all this stuff off, and that might be a problem because Matt wouldn't want to go into the girls' room with her, but that didn't matter now. Everything was going to be all right when Kara had Matt by her side!
Kara stood up (carefully this time) and raced down the hall to Ms. Wainwright's third period history class. She noticed something as she passed by the many closed classroom doors. It looks old. That's another weird thing . . . this place was built a while ago, but now it looks like it's been abandoned for a long time. Well, that was no surprise. If the janitor was sloppy enough to leave blood splattered in the lobby, could he really be expected to dust and wash the windows every day? Kara almost giggled at her ability to make a joke even in the face of . . . whatever was going on. Sure, she'd almost snapped for a moment, but she was better now. Years ago, before Dad became withdrawn and just no fun anymore, he used to tell Kara that she was his brave girl, that she would never let him or anyone else down in an emergency. She wanted so much to prove him right. As soon as she found Matt, they would go right to the police station and report that something weird had happened. Then she would be a hero, and newspaper headlines would read, "Courageous Girl Faces Horror of Midwich School Incident". She would call her dad in Brahms and tell him what had happened. Then it would be just like the old days; Dad would start laughing and smiling all the time like he used to, and he would take Kara and Matt to the ice cream shop and the Lakeside Amusement Park, and everything would be perfect. Kara was wondering if maybe the school would be closed and classes canceled for a while when she came upon her classroom and noticed that the door hung wide open.
Normally, an open door wouldn't be much to worry about. But until now, all of the classroom and bathroom and teacher's lounge doors had been shut. Kara cautiously peered inside the room, but she saw nothing. In fact, the darkness inside seemed somehow worse, more complete than the darkness throughout the rest of the school. Although the windows were smudged and dirty, the fog outside was thick, and the weather was bad, a trace amount of sunlight still reached Kara's eyes. Inside the classroom, however, the darkness was solid and impenetrable. Kara was afraid to step inside, scared that the dark would feel as dense and cold as it looked.
I have to go in. Matt is afraid of the dark more than anything. I can't just leave him alone . . .
Kara inched forward, and the toe of her left sneaker hit something heavy and hard. She bent down and picked it up. A history textbook. She turned to the inside cover. Matt's textbook, in fact. And in the corner of the first page, a message was scrawled inside a crudely penciled heart, something that made Kara's own heart pound frantically, but not from fear.
Matt loves Kara.
So, Kara thought, He really did feel the same way I felt all that time. I always wondered, but I never wanted to say anything . . .
Kara knew that she had to go into that classroom. Maybe because she was curious about other notes Matt may have written, or maybe because she was stalling, Kara flipped to a random page in the book and saw something that she hoped she'd never have to see again.
Blood. A bloody handprint, in fact, lying there and staining page 125. Kara had been filled with dread for a while, but now it became more noticeable, more pronounced. She just knew that blood was Matt's. He must need her help so badly . . . Kara took a deep breath and stepped across the threshold into darkness.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, and even then she saw only dim, vague shapes. Something moved in a corner, and Kara immediately shouted "Matt? Is that you? Are you all right?"
There was no answer.
Kara carefully approached the corner where Matt sometimes napped at his desk, where he had spent long hours wondering if Kara might just like him the way he hoped she did, where the sound had originated from. Something lay slumped over Matt's desk, and as Kara stepped closer, she knew that it was him. He appeared to be asleep, facedown on the hard desk, though Kara didn't know how he could have slept through whatever had happened. She tentatively touched his shoulder, and his head rolled to one side. She saw his face.
Matt's mouth was wide open in a silent, frozen scream. His eyes were missing, and tears of blood slowly dripped from the empty sockets.
Kara screamed.