CHAPTER TWO
And then Ms. Sletzki sucked in some air, and let out a horrified scream …
After a moment the cry stopped, and she took in a shuddering breath, her hands and arms shaking, before she quickly began to scream again. Professor Z covered her mouth.
"Why does that stupid thing open up at the most inconvenient times?" Josie demanded.
"Tha-that thing?" Ms. Sletzki stammered, pulling away from Professor Z. "That thing just took your friends! What is it!"
"It's a wormhole," Lucas said, looking thoughtful.
"Like … like, outer space wormhole? But, but, but …" Her eyes were darting around frantically, her mind trying to grasp this bit of information.
"Molly, maybe you should take a seat and -," Professor Zachary started.
"Don't touch me!" Ms. Sletzki exclaimed, pulling away. "All of you just, just stay away from me!" She pulled up her bag and pocketed her camcorder without a second thought, before heading for the door.
"Ms. Sletzki, maybe you could just -."
"Don't you talk to me, either!" She snapped. "We'll just, just forget about this whole thing, okay?" She quickly hurried out of the room, right past Durst. The principal seemed shocked.
"Professor Zachary, what is -?"
"Could you just stay here a moment?" Professor Zachary asked, quickly following after Ms. Sletzki, Josie on his heels.
"But I heard a scream!" Principal Durst protested.
"Just let it go," Vaughn said quietly.
"We've got … everything under control," Lucas added, though not sounding too convincing.
"Ms. Sletzki, just a moment," Professor Z started, the three of them now in the parking lot. Ms. Sletzki was already halfway to her car.
She spun on her heels, looking back at him and Josie. "Did you know about it? Did you?"
"Well, yes, but -."
"Oh my god," Ms. Sletzki said, clutching her head and looking a little woozy.
"But it's not a serious thing. I mean, it is, but -," Josie started.
"It's not serious?" Ms. Sletzki snapped. "Did you see what it did to those kids?"
"I've been through it before," Josie said, trying to sound reassuring. It only made Ms. Sletzki panic more. She looked accusingly at Professor Z.
"You just let your students go through a spin-y, vortex … thing?"
"It's not like that," Professor Z protested.
"Oh, sure it isn't," Ms. Sletzki snapped sarcastically. She threw open her car door and climbed in, quickly fiddling when her skirt got caught in the door. She ripped it away, not caring if there was now a cut in it, she was too frightened.
"Look, if you could try not to tell anyone," Josie began, before Ms. Sletzki cut her off with her horrified look. Eyes were wide open, jaw dropped.
"Those kids could be ripped apart, and you won't tell anyone? No wonder my parents never let me go to a boarding school … you're all crazy!" She quickly threw the car in reverse and skidded backwards. Then she put it into drive and drove furiously off.
Josie looked at Professor Z worriedly. "What are we going to do?" She asked.
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Corrine, still holding Marshall's hand, fell to the floor of wherever it was they landed. She drew in a sharp breath, before looking at Marshall.
"Are you okay?" She asked him.
"Fine," He replied, catching his breath. He looked around. "Where are we?"
"I'm not sure," Corrine replied. "It's too dark." The room was entirely plunged in darkness, the only thing the two could make out in the darkness was each other, and that's because they were so close.
"Is there a light switch around here, somewhere?" Marshall asked, standing up and pulling Corrine with him.
"It depends on where 'here' is," Corrine grunted as she was pulled over to wherever Marshall was leading her.
After a few seconds the room lit up, temporarily blinding the two.
"Marshall!" Corrine exclaimed.
"It wasn't me," He mumbled. He blinked for a few moments, and then glanced around the room. "Hey!"
Corrine followed his gaze and looked to see the janitor leaning against the wall. She frowned, before looking at Marshall, who was looking at her.
"You're not supposed to be here," The janitor said, looking darkly at the two.
"This is why we were just leaving. Let's go, Corrine, he's creeping me out." He started to pull Corrine back to the center of the room, but she stopped and looked back at the janitor.
"Where are we?" She asked.
"It's the science room," Marshall replied, looking around. Then he looked at the janitor. "Why won't it open up? The wormhole, I mean."
The janitor shrugged. "What wormhole?" He asked.
"You're not seriously going to play that game with us right now, are you -?" Corrine was quickly cut off.
"I'm not playing any game," The janitor said, taking a step forward before repeating, "You're not supposed to be here."
"So open the wormhole and let us go back," Marshall said through clenched teeth.
"I can't let you do that. Not now, at least," The janitor replied.
"Look, there's a reporter there, and if we don't get back there she is going to flip on us, okay? So just open the wormhole and send us back." Then he stopped to think. "What year are we in, anyways?"
"1987," The janitor replied.
"It's not the night of the Pearadyne accident, is it?" Corrine countered, looking nervous.
"No," the janitor replied. "One night prior, actually. And you're going to interfere, which is not acceptable."
"He's lost it," Marshall whispered to Corrine. Then he straightened up. "So, we aren't supposed to be here, yet you won't let us go. Would you mind explaining to us what exactly is going on?"
"Follow me," The janitor said stiffly, opening the door and stepping out. Corrine and Marshall exchanged a look before following him.
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Lucas buried his hand in his hands, looking up as Josie paced the floor angrily. "Are you sure she won't tell anyone?"
"Who can be sure what she will do," Josie replied. She looked over at Vaughn. "What did you tell Durst?"
"Eh … I told her you played a trick on her, and now Ms. Sletzki was mad at us," Vaughn said. Josie stared at him in surprise.
"You what?" She demanded.
"Well what else was he going to say? She saw a wormhole and freaked out?" Lucas demanded. "Why don't we try and relax, okay? She said that she'd forget it happened."
"Yeah, well that was before she found out this has happened before," Josie said, slumping into a seat.
"You told her?" Lucas demanded with surprise.
"Well I figured she'd clam down a little if she saw how fine I was," Josie said in her defense.
"I've tried to call her three times, but her phone's turned off," Z said, walking into the room. "Any ideas as to what to do about Corrine and Marshall?"
"Lucas figures that we should monitor the gravity device, and as soon as it opens up, we should go back for them," Josie said.
"I don't think so," Professor Z replied. "We're not about to have the three of you jump through time so that you could end up anywhere – you might not even find Corrine and Marshall. Alright, Lucas will monitor the gravity device. When it goes off again, we will try sending a camera through to see where it ends up. Josie and Vaughn, while Lucas and I are doing that, I believe the two of you should try to work on the Ms. Sletzki thing. Try and get in touch with her, alright?"
The three mumbled an 'agreed', and then separated off into little groups to work on their assigned bits.
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"Molly!" Someone called. Ms. Sletzki froze, startled out of her shock-induced walk. She slowly turned around to see one of her co-workers heading towards her.
"Christian?" She asked with confusion, stopping and letting him catch up.
"Hey, back from that interview so soon? How'd it go?" Then after a moment of looking Molly over, he frowned. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"No-nothing," She stammered. She took her bag off and draped it over a chair before rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Not nothing – I know that look. How bad could it have gone at a school?" Christian asked. Ms. Sletzki frowned, looking at him.
"I want to show you something." She pulled out the camcorder. "It's the video tape of the interview, and you are not going to believe it." She set it on the table and hit the 'rewind' button, waiting for it to begin. After a moment it stopped, and she hit 'play'.
