I blinked. That can't be right. I closed my eyes, and opened them, expecting to see Mme LaCroix's mean face staring us down. Instead, all I saw was an empty front of the class.
I turned to Warren to see if it was just me. His longish, curly black hair was rumpled, and the look in his big brown eyes, and the furrow in his medium-tanned brow told me that I was not.
All hell broke loose.
"What the-"
"Did you see-"
"...she go?"
"What just-"
I stepped onto my desk and looked around at the class trying to get their attention. "Excuse me. Hello." I pressed my lips in a firm line and waited. When no one even looked at me I shouted, "Will you all just shut up!" They all stopped and looked at me.
"Do you guys honestly think that we're the only ones this happened to? Teachers don't just randomly disappear! If we're this panicked how panicked do you think the little kids in the elementary schools are going to be? I don't know about you, but I'm going to do something!" I hopped down and went over to the phone, to make an announcement. "Can two representatives from each teacherless class please come down to the cafeteria gym? Repeat, can two representatives from each teacherless class please come down to the cafeteria gym? Thank you."
I looked around the class, into faces that I'd known for years. Somehow, I knew that this was only the beginning of weird events.
"So, which two of you want to come with me?" I asked. "And whomever doesn't want to help, please just go home, or forever hold your peace."
Mace, a super attractive African Canadian put up his hand, and so did Warren.
I grabbed them by the hands, and pulled them downstairs after me.
The gym was filled with what looked to be a hundred and fifty kids- living in the capitol of Canada, even in the suburbs, means that you're living with a lot of people- and they were all talking. There was one group, standing off to the side, that looked... well, starved, and dirty. As if they've been going through Survivor- without any food sources.
I waved my arms to try and get the crowd's attention, to no avail. "Hey!" No one even turned. "HEY!" A few kids at the front turned. They started poking their friends, and friends started poking friends until people started hitting each other in annoyance- but the noise level went down considerably. "HEY!" Everyone was quiet, finally. They watched me, questions in their minds, just waiting to be answered.
"As you guys must have noticed, the teachers disappeared. I have a hunch that it didn't just happen here at Longfeilds Heights High School. There are three elementary schools close by- St. John's, Monsignor Paul Baxter, and Michaelle Jean. We are fairly panicked right now- so imagine how panicked the little kids are.
"I say we help them. If you don't want to, go home. We don't need you here. If you do, welcome aboard. You've just been promoted to the task of organizing a school." I waited to see if anyone would leave. No one did. "Alright. I'm going to split you into four groups, and give you further instruction afterwards."
It took twenty minutes to get the groups all set up, and even then, I needed to put the kids who looked like they'd been to hell and back again in one as well. "What happened to you guys?"
"I think we need to talk..." A boy with sandy blonde hair said.
It took me a few seconds to realize he'd paused because he wanted to know my name. "Kalea. Kalea Hunt."
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"Well then. Is there anything else I should know about?" I asked.
"Yeah we have magical powers..." the one named Caine muttered darkly.
"You have what!?" I exclaimed.
He looked up at me, surprised. "How did you hear that?"
"Well, you said it loud enough." I retorted.
"No, I thought it." he corrected.
"Oh of course how silly-wait, what!?"
"I think we need to talk a little more." Sam conceded.
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"So what you're saying is that I have the power to hear people's thoughts. And you think it's because I came in contact with you, and you've recently been in contact with nuclear radiation." I breathed deeply, trying to keep myself calm. "Alright. Great. Just what I needed." With every second more thoughts bombarded my mind. "How do I stop hearing them?"
"Try and put up a 'brick wall' in your mind; just picture one. Maybe that'll work." Sam talked sort of like a surfer, except with all the 'brah' stuff.
"Alright. I've got to organize everyone. You guys go join group number one." I stated and walked back to the front.
"Alright- group number one, start walking to St. John's. On your way, I want you to look in every house, and gather all the blankets, sheets, pillows and preservable food you can find, and use anything to carry it. Also, look for dogs, cats, babies, anything like that- the pets can be used to calm the little children down. I'll meet up with you as soon as possible. What I want you to do is gather all the kids at school, and bring them back here." Group one filtered out of the gym.
"Group two, I want you guys to do the exact same thing, but go to Monsignor Paul Baxter. Got it?" They all nodded, and gave a chorus of 'yes's and trickled out of the gym. "Group three, I want you to do the same, but go to Michaelle Jean." They nodded and left as well, leaving me with the forty kids in group number four.
"Alright. Now, what you guys are going to do for me is split yourselves into four more groups." they did, but fairly slowly. "Alright. Group four-A. What you guys are going to do is put as many chairs, desks and tables into one room as you can. Please make the lab rooms as free as possible, as well as the rooms in between the labs with the showers, because they will most likely be one of our shower rooms, or dish-washing rooms. Please recruit about twenty more people to help you.
"Group four-B. I want you guys to station two people at each entryway in the school, so that when the kids start coming, you can direct them where they are supposed to go. When you see the kids coming, send one of the people at the door to see the kids of group-C, who will be in here, and I may be here as well." They left, and I was left with twenty kids. "Alright. Groups four-C, and four-D, what I want you guys to do is design the floor plan of where everyone will be sleeping, and where the food will go. When i get back we'll do more work in detail, and get everyone settled for about a week, and then decide things from there. To help you with this, there are 1400 kids at LHHS, about 560 at MPB, about 600 at St. John's and 210 at Michaelle Jean. That gives you about 2770 kids. I don't want to tell you guys exactly how to do things, but we already have a kitchen, and really, we only need one half of the gym to eat in, so maybe you could also use the gyms. I don't know about you guys, but I don't think kids should sleep in the library either."
I turned to leave when a voice stopped me. "Should we put two or three teens in each room?" asked a boy around my age, maybe a year or two older.
"Put four. Two boys and two girls. Then the children can go to each for, their respective gender problems." I smiled.
"I'm Kalea, by the way guys. Kalea Hunt."