I was in school one day. Nothing really notable happened, it as a day like any other. Until it happened. Kids started screaming, yelling, hollering. They ran rampant through the halls. It was chaos. The teachers didn’t seem to mind though. They just sat there. Waiting. Listening. Observing. I went along with it, hell, it was kinda fun, not gonna lie. Then suddenly, it stopped. I stopped too. Everyone, absent-mindedly shuffled, almost like zombies, quietly back to their classes. I was stunned. What the hell is going on? I looked outside. It was dark and I had no service. I was trapped. A teacher walked up to me. She looked confused and slightly concerned. She shrugged it off and started down the hallway,
“Hold on a second. What the HELL is going on?!”
She looked at me and stated calmly,
“You may leave now. There is no need for you.”
What. I was so confused. I couldn’t go anywhere. I was at a private school in the middle of nowhere. My house was an hour away, my car was at home, and I couldn’t call anyone to pick me up. Where the hell was I supposed to go.
“Can I at LEAST get my stuff?”
“No,” she said sternly, “We do not need another one,” she finished as she walked away.
Defeated, I headed outside. It was completely dark except for a single flickering streetlight down the hill. I walked down. The streets were dark and deserted. The road seemed to go on forever in both directions. I looked up. Not a star in the sky. I started down the side of the road. I walked for what felt eternity. I saw a light in the distance. I ran as fast as I could. It was the flickering streetlight. I was back where I started.
Once I was back inside, I peered into one of the classrooms. The students looked like the walking dead. There heads slightly tilted back, mouths agape, and eyes rolled back. Drool formed in glops in the corners of their mouths and dripped onto the desks. The teacher noticed me and sharply snapped her head in my direction and stared. The students followed by slowly turning the heads to stare at me with their cold, dead eyes. I awkwardly smiled and backed up slowly. The bell rang. Students began to slowly wander out of their classrooms and somberly made their way to the cafeteria. I ran. What else was I supposed to do? The teachers, they have something to do with this. I know it. I stormed into the teachers lounge.
“CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!”
One of the teachers sighed, clearly annoyed.
“If you want to know more, ask him,” she narrowed her eyes, “We DO NOT need you.”
Then there was nothing. I awoke in the lobby. Students were staring a me with an absent-minded glare as they wandered around. Out the glass doors there was a thing sitting on the stairs. I wondered if this was him. He was completely dark, a silhouette, a shadow. He wore glasses with lenses seem to reflect light so you couldn’t see his eyes, despite the fact that it was completely dark out. I walked up to him.
“What are you doing?”
“Observing,” his voice sounded broken, like static. He sounded dead inside. Like he had seen this happen before.
“What happened to you?”
“I survived.”
He never met my gaze, instead looked off at some unseen object. This had definitely happened before. That was days ago. The teachers seemed afraid of him. They jump at shadows in the corners. To be frank, I’m not absolutely sure there not him. I seem him occasionally. Never making eye contact. One thing’s for sure, he’s not human. He hovers in the shadows and emits a sort of static. It’s always dark here and the teachers avoid me. No matter how many times I try to leave, I end up back here. So, unable to leave, I have faded into the shadows.
Why me? Why wasn’t I affected? If he survived and he’s not human, doesn’t that mean I’m not human. My voice is starting to change a bit. I’m afraid if this goes on, I’ll become more like him.