I can’t believe this niglet has not come back. The next time I see him it’s on site. When I say on-site I mean he will get some of this and a little of that. I say as I act out different punches and slaps and kneeings. That last one will go just perfectly right to his groin. I can’t wait till he’s back. I’ll just stay here for him for a little while longer. I start waiting for Joe standing about 10 feet from the door. So I’ll be ready to tackle him, but oh no, I’m going to lull him into a false sense of security. Then when he least expects it, when his back is turned, I tackle him straight. To. The. Ground.

I wait, and I wait, and I wait some more. Anger turns to worry and worry into panic. I have nothing to keep track of time, but I know it’s been more than twenty minutes. There is no way Joseph has left me up here. Yeah, there is no way. He’s probably perfectly healthy and just didn’t keep track of time. Everything is going to be fine. He’s going to walk through that door any second now.

Then I wait some more. It feels like it’s been hours since I stood staring at the door. At this point, my mind has gone to the worst possibilities. I keep replaying when he left and I’m tearing myself a new one about not going. I should have insisted. Or I should have secretly followed him. I wanted to do many things differently, but that didn’t matter now. My best friend is probably really badly hurt and there is nothing I can do about it….

Wait is there nothing I can do? I did say I would go after him if he weren’t back in 20 minutes. It’s been way longer than 20 minutes. Fuck this, I am going and nothing can stop me. I say that as I continue to stare at the door. Then back at this crazed creature that tried to kill me. If I met one of these things out in the hall I’m done for. I can’t help but want a weapon. No, I need a weapon. Well, there’s none in here so I have to go out there to find one anyway. Either way, I have to leave. I take slow steady steps towards the door.

Making sure not to step in any of the green blood that has been slowly oozing out from this creature. I don’t want to be slipping and sliding if I have to run for my life. I can only laugh self-deprecatingly at myself. Knowing that is a real possibility, me running for my life. I can’t believe my biggest worry this morning was hoping no one caught me vaping in the bathroom.

I get to the door and try not to freak out too much of what would be outside that door. I take a quick peek and see more creatures dead on the floor. I cover my mouth to stop from gagging and make too much noise. But good thing they were all dead. I hope these things can’t pretend to be dead. That would probably be the end of me. Fuck that probably would be. No.No.NO. Can’t I just wait in the bathroom for a few more minutes? Maybe Joseph is already on his way back. It’s not like him being gone for hours means that he’s hurt or dying, right?

God, I can’t even convince myself that is right. There’s no way he would leave me here and not at least come back and tell me he was okay. Talia, you got this. No matter what Joeseph would leave you hurting alone and that goes the same for me. No way am I letting him risk his life to find a way out for me and just sit back and do nothing.

Now if only my hands would stop shaking as I step out of the bathroom. I walk tentatively around the first creature the second and so on. I walk past the doors of classrooms and make my way to the beginning of this hallway. Nothing is in this hallway which gets a sigh of relief from me. I take a step toward the stairs, but I can hear squeaking coming from behind me. I turn around so fast I almost get whiplash. But I steady myself and look around frantically. Only to not see anything. The squeaking continues so I look down. What I see causes me to pinch myself to make sure I’m not seeing things. I see what can only be described as a guinea pig, but a foot too big.

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I can’t tell if it will try to hurt me. I mean it’s just staring at me. Then it turned around and looked back at me. It did that a couple of times. Looking back every time. I can’t help but think it wanted me to follow it. Which, wouldn’t be the craziest thing that happened today.

“Hey there..little guy? Do you want me to follow you?”

Then the guinea pig nods at me and continues walking forward. I guess knowing now that I understand what it wants I’ll just follow a sentient guinea pig. It takes me a minute to take my jaw off the floor, but I do it and start following the guinea pig. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to hurt me and it’s not immediately trying to kill me. That’s always a plus.

Soon it turns into a classroom and once I’m past the doorway I can hear sniffling. I search quickly around the classroom to find the source. I end up finding him in a corner curled up into a ball.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” Speaking as softly as I don’t to not startle him too much. He comes out of the little ball quickly and tackles me to the ground before full-on ugly crying. I just wrap my arms around him and try not to cry myself. I can’t imagine going through the start of this mess alone. So I just hold him while he cries and rub his back in a soothing motion.

“Hey, umm, it’s going to be okay. Most likely…maybe…I hope” As I spoke I got quieter and hugged tighter. As a couple of my tears trickled down her cheeks.

“I saw them, out in the hallway. I saw them kill someone and I didn’t even know who they were. It was awful.” His voice was barely above a whisper. If he spoke too loud it would mean that this new reality would be cemented in place. I couldn’t blame him though. The shock of knowing that those things have been murdered here in this building causes me to still and go into shock for a couple of seconds. Someone was dead. My best friend had left and walked down the very same hallway this guy was saying someone was killed in.

I immediately pull him off me and put my hands on his shoulders pushing him into a kneeling position.

“What did the person look like? When was this? I need you to tell me.” I say while trying not to throw up from anxiety. He looks me in the eyes and then his eyes start to water and tears start sliding down.

“I rather not think about it. It was… There was so much blood.” He says defeated. Trying to deflate into me for a comforting hug. I stop him and keep my arms straight. I sigh and bite my lip. What I want to do is slap him for not sharing the information immediately. I take a shuddering breath and try not to let the overwhelming fear that Joe died after he left the bathroom Instead I look at him in his eyes and ask the question again.

“I know it must be hard… But I had a friend with me when this started and he left to go find a way out. He hasn’t come back in a really really long time. I’m terrified that the person you saw might have been him. My friend is a tall black boy, has a goth/emo style even though his parents hat it, and has long dreads. Was that the person you saw… D… DI…Die?” I force out the last words while choking back tears. I don’t know what I’ll do if he’s gone.

“Ohh, Oh God No, that wasn’t what the person who died looked like at all. I think it was a teacher. A young teacher, but he was definitely a teacher, he wasn’t in the school uniform. I didn’t see anyone come down from that looked like that.” He says with a sad smile. Probably, having mixed feelings about giving me hope. But I don’t care, all I have is hope in this fucked up world we find ourselves in. I take a deep steadying breath and then let it out.

“Okay let’s go.”

The look of confusion on his face is valid. But I was not going to rest until I found my best friend.