saw the kid in the red hoodie move next to him at the blackboard. He saw a little hand grab some chalk and begin writing. He followed the hand to the arm to the face of a little boy. The little boy turned to Christopher and smiled. With his missing front teeth. His eyes glowed as he wrote in big, bold letters,
WHO IS HELPING YOU?
“That’s all we need to know, Christopher. Just write it down like a good little boy, and you’ll get out of here alive,” Ms. Lasko said with a cheerful smile.
Ms. Lasko quietly moved to the second row. Cutting all the threads with scissors. Snip. Snip. Snip.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Christopher said.
“Yes, you do,” Ms. Lasko said. “Lunch period is almost here. Tick tock.”
The little boy in the red hoodie dragged his chalk against the blackboard, screeching each letter.
WHO IS HELPING YOU?
“No one! I swear!” Christopher said.
Ms. Lasko went to the back row, cutting the last of the thread free. Snip. Snip. Snip.
“Now, who wants to eat him first?!” she shrieked.
“Oh! Me! Me! Me!” the piglets squealed.
Christopher turned to the little boy in the red hoodie. Desperate.
“How do I wake up?” he whispered.
The little boy said nothing. He just turned to Christopher with his glowing eyes and smiled. With his missing front teeth. The same missing teeth Christopher saw on the skeleton. Christopher felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
This thing was David Olson.
“David, please help me wake up,” Christopher begged.
David Olson stopped, shocked to hear his name spoken aloud.
“Please. I know your big brother Ambrose.”
The boy looked bewildered. For a moment, his eyes blinked and stopped glowing. He wasn’t a thing. He was a little boy. He opened his mouth, trying to speak, but his serpent tongue flicked through the gap like a snake. And nothing came out but hissing.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to say,” Christopher whispered.
David Olson moved to the board. He wrote in big capital letters.
RING.
The bell rang. Christopher turned. He saw the mob of kids running at him at full speed. Their teeth exposed. He ran to the exit door where Mrs. Henderson stood guard in the hallway, holding a stack of library books.
“Mr. Henderson doesn’t love me anymore, Christopher. He always goes out at night.”
She dropped the library books and grabbed his arm. Her eyes were lost and desperate.
“Why does he think I’m so ugly? Christopher, help me!”
Brady Collins and Jenny Hertzog rushed at them. Howling like baby dogs needing to nurse. Christopher wrenched his arm free and ran out of the auditorium. But Mrs. Henderson did not move. She just stood there, looking at herself in the glass of the display case stuffed with decades of trophies and class photos.
“When did my hair turn grey? When did I become so old and ugly?” she said just as the pack of children jumped on her. Their teeth gnashing. Thirsty. Starving.
Christopher ran down the hallway, looking for an exit. Some way to get to the street. Just get to the street. He turned the corner and saw the exit far in the distance. On each side of the hallway were rows and rows of lockers. Eyes peeking out through the vents. Whispers behind the metal frames. Christopher ran toward the exit. The locker handles began to jiggle.
The lockers started to open.
Like the lids of coffins.
Christopher ran past them as fast as he could. He raced through the hallway. Just get to the exit. Just get to the street. He was just about to open the exit door when…
A locker opened, and a hand pulled him back into the darkness.
Christopher started to scream. The hand covered his mouth.
don’t. it’s a trap.
It was the nice man.
Suddenly the front door burst open. Ms. Lasko ran back into the school. Somehow, she had doubled back. She stalked around the hallways. Her face smeared with blood.
“Chrissssstopher,” she whissspered. “Is your friend here now? I think he might beeee.”
don’t scream. that’s how she finds you.
Christopher peered out through the vent. He saw Ms. Lasko walk to different lockers and rap her bloody knuckles.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Eeny. Meeny. Miny. Moe.”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Catch the new friend by his toe.”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“He will holler, can’t let him go.”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Eeny meeny miny…”
Silence.
Christopher stood breathlessly, waiting for her to open the locker. But she didn’t. She went to the gymnasium across the hallway and disappeared behind a door. The nice man waited for a moment. Then, he lowered Christopher down and whispered.