Later that afternoon, Mr Ruhle explained what had happened to Ms Frizzle and her class to the other teachers. They were appalled and shocked at what had happened to the third grade class of kids on a camping trip in the local woods. Mr Ruhle reassured the teachers that the local police were on the trail of whoever committed these horrible murders, and would bring them to justice.
"As always, if any of you feel affected by the news, feel free to use the school counselor." Mr Ruhle explained as he finished his explanation on what had happened. The assembled faculty staff nodded their heads at what Mr Ruhle said. Outside the school, Mr and Mrs Ramon were picking up their youngest son, Mikey Ramon, who had just finished another day of school at Walkerville Elementary. Mikey was a Mexican-American boy who was a wheelchair user, he had dark short hair, oval eyes, and a sizeable nose. Mikey wore a green baseball cap, a red t-shirt with yellow braces, blue pants, green shoes, and red socks.
"Hello, mum." Mikey said enthusiastically as he wheeled himself over towards his mother. Mikey noticed the rather sad expression on her face, plus the fact his father was also here, when he normally was at work at this time of day.
"Hey dad, what are you doing here?" Mikey asked as he noticed the similarly depressed look on his face. Mikey stopped smiling, he knew something wasn't quite right here.
"Mikey, I'm afraid we have something important to tell you." Mrs Ramon began, trying to hold back tears.
"What is it?" Mikey asked innocently, hoping it wasn't something too bad.
"It concerns Carlos." Mr Ramon replied bluntly, trying to hide his emotions. Mikey gulped, he wasn't liking how this was beginning to sound.
"Carlos?! Did something happen to him?!" Mikey asked worriedly. Mikey knew how protective Carlos was of him, so the fact that his parents were not in a good mood meant something bad had happened to his older brother.
"Carlos, he's, I'm afraid he's, um." Mrs Ramon struggled to tell Mikey what happened to Carlos. Mrs Ramon was wondering if she should really tell Mikey about his elder brother's fate, which only made him more confused and puzzled.
"Carlos is what?!" Mikey asked, clearly wanting to know what was going on.
"He's dead." Mrs Ramon replied flatly, which caused Mikey to gasp in horror and shock. Mikey began to cry as he realised that his parents were serious and that Carlos really was dead.
"He's dead?! But how can he be dead?! Did the bus crash?!" Mikey asked as he struggled to understand what happened to his older brother. Needless to say, tears continued to flow down Mikey's face. Mrs Ramon also started to cry again as Mr Ramon consulled her.
"Somebody attacked Ms Frizzle and her class in the woods, and killed them. We don't know who it is yet, but the police are looking for them." Mr Ramon explained which caused Mikey to be even more shocked and upset that Carlos' teacher and friends were dead too.
"Is it true?! Somebody killed them all?!" Mikey asked as he struggled to hold back tears.
"I'm afraid it's true, Mikey. They're all dead." Mrs Ramon confirmed as Mikey continued to cry.
"I'm gonna miss him so much, especially all of his jokes and puns!" Mikey said as he cried over what happened to Carlos and his third grade class.
"How about we get you some ice cream?" Mr Ramon suggested hoping that it would make Mikey feel better, which was a treat which Mikey and his now deceased older brother Carlos liked to get whenever they were down.
"I guess we can go." Mikey replied as he struggled to hold back tears. Mr Ramon patted Mikey on the back as they wheeled him over to their van. Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Hudson were picking up Dorothy Ann's younger sister, Evan Hudson. Evan had blonde hair that hung just above her shoulders, oval eyes, with a small nose. Evan was dressed in a pink dress, black Mary Jane shoes, and white socks.
"Hi, mummy!" Evan said cheerfully as she wondered why Mr and Mrs Hudson looked so unhappy at the moment.
"What's wrong? How come daddy is here to pick me up?" Evan asked uncomfortably, starting to feel uneasy about their depressed looks.
"Evan, we have to tell you something. Something important." Mrs Hudson said, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.
"What are you talking about?!" Evan asked in confusion, who was getting more and more worried about the sad nature of her parents' mood.
"It's something to do with your sister." Mr Hudson announced without explaining what it was about Dorothy Ann.
"Dorothy Ann? Isn't she away camping with her classmates and Ms Frizzle?!" Evan asked as she became concerned over her older sister's safety.
"Something happened while they were camping in the woods." Mr Hudson began as he started to cry. Evan gasped, she was really hoping whatever happened wasn't too bad.
"Someone, somebody, attacked them in the forest, near Walker Lake." Mrs Hudson tried to explain what happened as she began to cry. Evan's frown grew, this was starting to sound like there wasn't going to be a happy ending to this.
"Is Dorothy Ann okay?!" Evan asked nervously, though she was expecting to hear the worst possible outcome right now.
"She's dead." Mrs Hudson replied grimly which caused Evan to gasp as she began to cry. Despite preparing herself for the worst, Evan couldn't help but to cry over her big sister being dead.
"NO! PLEASE BE A BAD DREAM!" Evan cried out as she continued to cry over what happened to Dorothy became quickly clear that this was no nightmare and Evan's older sister actually was now deceased.
"I'm sorry to say that Ms Frizzle and the rest of her class were killed too. The police are looking for the killer." Mr Hudson explained as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"How could someone be that heartless?!" Evan cried as she took in what her parents were saying.
"I don't know, Evan. Whoever did this even burned Dorothy Ann's book bag!" Mrs Hudson pointed out. Evan gasped at what her mother said, she knew how much that meant to Dorothy Ann, so the fact her sister presumably would have seen her beloved research go up in flames before she was murdered fired her up even more.
"I hope whoever killed my sister rots in hell!" Evan said as she continued to cry, her parents understandably didn't chastise their now only daughter for her language.
"Sweetie, calm down!" Mrs Hudson instructed Evan.
"How can I?! Dorothy Ann and her whole class have been murdered by some scumbag human being!" Evan cried as she continued to cry even more.
"Sweetie, if you calm down, we'll get you something nice!" Mr Hudson promised.
"I'll try my best, but nothing will bring back the one and only Dorothy Ann. I'll be missing her so much, especially whenever she reads me bedtime stories." Evan replied as she tried not to cry. Mr and Mrs Hudson walked over with Evan to their wood paneled station wagon so they could fulfill the promise made. Meanwhile, Janet Perlstein, who was Arnold's cousin, had just returned from Walkerville Elementary. Janet was a Jewish-American girl who had fairly short messy ginger hair, oval eyes, pink oval eyeglasses, and an average sized nose. Janet was dressed in a stripey yellow and white shirt with a monogrammed blue letter J where her heart was, a medium length plain blue skirt, yellow and beige socks, and blue sandals with a single strap across the top on her feet.
"That was just another average day at school. I hope something cool happens around here soon. Maybe I could tag along for another one of my cusion's field trips soon?" Janet said to herself. Janet loved to come along for one of Ms Frizzle's field trips, thinking that she was adding to the experience. However, more often than not, she would prove to be nothing but a selfish bitch who'd brag about how her own teacher is better than Ms Frizzle, how much she knew about the field trip's subject, and would usually end up causing trouble for the class that put them in a lot of danger.
"I wonder what's on TV? I should check to see if anything interesting is on.." Janet said to herself as she walked over to the television and turned it on. Janet noticed it was tuned to WNAC-TV 64, the local Fox affiliate. Not showing any interest in the program currently on, Janet started flipping through the channels with the remote.
"Channel 36?" Janet asked herself as he observed what was on WSBE-TV 36, the PBS member television station of Rhode Island. All that was on was an episode of Sesame Street, which wasn't targeted at Janet's age group, so she changed the channel again.
"What about channel 12?" Janet asked herself as she switched to WPRI-TV, the ABC affiliate for the area. Janet noticed that the station was currently in the middle of a commercial break, so she switched the channel yet again.
"Maybe channel 10 might have something to watch?" Janet asked herself as she changed the channel to WJAR 10, an NBC affiliate. Janet was startled as she saw that the station was in the middle of conducting a weekly test of the Emergency Broadcast System, blaring that annoying dual tone attention signal along with the station's video slide, which consisted of the text "Rhode Island Operational Area Emergency Broadcast System", the Rhode Island Defense Civil Preparedness Agency symbol to the right of the aforementioned text, and the test script scrolling across on the bottom, all on a black background. Needless to say, Janet wasn't a fan of these.
"God, these stupid tests are irritating!" Janet complained as she switched to WLNE-TV 6, a CBS affiliate. Upon landing on the station, Janet noticed it was in the middle of a newsbreak about a group of people who had been murdered in the forest near Walker Lake. Janet gasped as she remembered Arnold's class had gone camping in the area and she hoped that it wasn't his class that the news presenters were referring to.
"We've got some breaking news here. The police have just released the identities of the victims to the public." The station's anchorman stated, causing Janet to tense up.
"Oh no! I hope it's not Arnold and his class!" Janet gasped as she realised what the presenter said. The scene on the television then cut to the campgrounds at Walker Lake, where a news reporter working for the station began to speak.
"The local police in Walkerville have released the names of the nine victims, eight children, and one adult, all of which were announced deceased earlier today after being reported missing late last night." The news reporter began which caused Janet to become even more anxious about what they were saying.
"That's the same number of people in Arnold's class!" Janet realised to her horror, she began to feel nauseous as she wondered if it was her cousin and his class that had died.
"Here are their names. The students are Arnold Perlstein, Carlos Ramon, Ralphie Tennelli, Tim Wright, Wanda Li, Phoebe Terese, Keesha Franklin, and Dorothy Ann Hudson. Their teacher's name was Valerie Frizzle." The news reporter read out the names of the people who'd been murdered.
"NO! Arnold! Carlos! Ms Frizzle and her class!" Janet cried as it began to settle in that Arnold, his teacher, and their class were dead. Janet didn't think much of the news that they'd gone missing when she first about it, as she knew Ms Frizzle would always get her class out of any difficult situation, but this time, she was completely wrong.
"The victims were found disemboweled, with multiple stab wounds all over their bodies, while one boy, Arnold Perlstein, had a swastika carved on his chest." The news reporter announced which made Janet feel even worse about what happened.
"That's horrible! How could something like this happen in Walkerville?!" Janet exclaimed as she began to cry about what happened to the third grade class in the woods.
"Since Arnold Perlstein was Jewish, the police are investigating whether his murder is a hate crime. We've also been told that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been contacted about investigating this incident." The news reporter announced as Janet continued to cry over the loss of her cousin and everyone in his third grade class including their teacher.
"Now back to the studio for other stories and the weather forecast for tomorrow." The news reporter announced.
"In other news, a truck carrying chicken overturned on I-95 earlier today near Providence." The anchorman in the studio said as Janet turned off the television with the remote. Janet continued to cry over what had happened to her cousin and his third grade class. Janet wondered why somebody would want to murder an entire elementary school class including their teacher. Janet decided that it would have to be someone completely demented to do something as evil as that.
The next day, Mr Ruhle was in his office at Walkerville Elementary. Mr Ruhle was currently giving an announcement on the murder of Ms Frizzle and her entire class in the woods near Walker Lake over the public announcement system. To avoid upsetting the younger students of the school, Mr Ruhle had decided to suspend classes for the first graders today, not that the rest of the students would find the news he was delivering any less upsetting.
"If any of you have been particularly affected by these events, please feel free to check in with our counselor." Mr Ruhle ended the morning announcements. After he turned off the microphone, Mr Ruhle sighed to himself. It was not easy to make such an announcement, even if it was his responsibility as the principal of the school, that didn't make it any easier. Liz approached Mr Ruhle at his desk and offered him a jam scone.
"Thank you, Liz." Mr Ruhle said as he took the jam scone which he began to eat. Mr Ruhle began to think of where to hold the funeral service for the deceased students and teacher. Were they going to be buried or cremated? Would some of the other teachers like to speak at Ms Frizzle's funeral? Should it be public or private? There were so many questions on Mr Ruhle's mind, and he needed to have them answered sooner rather than later.
"I should really get around to consulting the parents over the funeral service." Mr Ruhle said to himself as he nibbled on his jam scone. Once he had finished the scone, Mr Ruhle turned to Liz.
"Liz, get me the parents contact list." Mr Ruhle requested as he picked up the phone receiver. Liz brought out the contact list that Mr Ruhle asked for, which she placed on his desk. Mr Ruhle called Mrs Li, who wanted to hold the service in the school yard. Mrs Li wanted Wanda to be buried, not cremated. Mrs Li wanted a private funeral with family, close friends, and faculty members attending. It turned out that the parents of Keesha, Ralphie, Arnold, Tim, Dorothy Ann, Phoebe, and Carlos had pretty much identical intentions about the funeral, which was a good thing, as the service would be straightforward.
"I should talk to some of Valerie's friends and relatives to see what they want." Mr Ruhle said to himself. Mr Ruhle called Murph, a cousin of Ms Frizzle who worked at the local recycling plant. Murph also agreed that the service should be held at the school yard, with only family, close friends, and faculty attending. Next, Mr Ruhle called Molly Cule, a musician that Ms Frizzle knew well, and had toured with in the past in a band called The Frizzlettes. It turned out that Molly wanted the same sort of small private service that the others did. In fact, it turned out that the rest of Ms Frizzle's friends that Mr Ruhle spoke to on the telephone shared the same sentiments about the funeral. Mr Ruhle said goodbye to the last friend of Ms Frizzle's he called, R.U. Humorous, a mechanic who operated a body shop which she occasionally took the Magic School Bus to for maintenance, then put down the telephone.
"Everything is sorted out for the day of the funeral. I only wish that it hadn't come to this." Mr Ruhle said to himself as he wished that he could have somehow prevented an entire third grade class and their teacher being murdered by persons unknown.