sister’s name. At school I would be known as Sasha Spurlock.
We left the office just as the bell to switch classes rang. A few students joked and laughed, but, overall, they appeared to be a downtrodden group. Another ten or fifteen had the dazed look of someone on a heavy dose of tranquilizers; one girl had silent, unnoticed tears streaming down both cheeks. She didn’t even bother to wipe them away; her cheeks were red and chafed as if the salty droplets had been flowing for some time.
Seth walked our pseudo-mom outside; I told him I would meet him out there shortly. I wanted to observe my soon-to-be fellow students. Only one of the kids even looked my way. He was tall and thin, with neatly combed, short blond hair. His letterman’s jacket was well worn, leading me to believe he’d had it for at least a couple of years. I was a bit surprised when he approached me, seeing the way the other students seemed oblivious to my presence.
He stopped a comfortable three feet away, smiled a smile that didn’t come near to touching his eyes, and said, “Hi. I’m Brendon. Are you new here?”
I smiled back. “I am. I just signed up. I’ll be starting tomorrow.”
He wrinkled his brow and leaned in closer to whisper, “I don’t want to scare you away or anything, but, if there’s any way you can get into a different school, you should. This place isn’t doing so good right now.”
“Why? What’s going on?” I asked, also whispering.
“I’m not really sure. I just know something’s not normal. I’m sure you’ve heard about all the suicides? Well, that’s just the beginning of the weirdness. Nobody’s acting like themselves. Anyway, I need to get to class. Maybe I’ll see ya tomorrow … but I kinda hope not, for your sake.” He smiled his sad smile again, waved, and walked away.
Wow, the kids there really did need our help. I met up with Seth outside and told him what Brendon had said as we walked home.
“That’s not a good sign, Paige,” Seth said, shaking his head. “I wonder if we should take some extra precautions while we’re here.”
“Like what?” I asked, curious to hear his answer.
“I don’t know exactly. How could the … bad guys, I guess … be getting to the students? That’s what we need to figure out or hypothesize about first, before we can decide what precautions to take. Do you have any ideas?”
“Well,” I began, “I guess my first
hypothesis”—
I smiled at his use of the word; always the scientific one, our Seth was
—“
would be the food. The tanks John and I saw looked like they could have held some kind of liquid, so I suppose they could be adding whatever it is to the food. Maybe that would explain why some kids aren’t affected.”
“Right. The food. That’s exactly where my thoughts went. I think we need to expand that train of thought to include fluids—like the drinking fountains and soda machines and stuff,” Seth added.
“Okay. But if it was in the drinking fountains, you’d think all the kids would be susceptible to whatever it is. I don’t know of anyone that wouldn’t use the drinking fountains. And what about the teachers and other adults? Don’t they eat school lunch, too? Maybe we should focus on things that just the students do.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. I guess these are the things we’ll have to figure out while we’re there. Just to be safe, though, I think we should take our own lunches and drinks.”
“I was afraid that was where this was headed … even though I was thinking the same thing. I was really looking forward to some good old deep-fried school burritos.” Seth kicked a rock on the sidewalk to emphasize his disappointment.
“Well, maybe we’ll figure out it isn’t the food after all, and you can eat all the greasy burritos you want, ya big baby.” I punched him lightly in the arm.
He grinned at me. Seth was always good for a grin.
“Let’s go home so we can run this stuff by the rest of
We left the office just as the bell to switch classes rang. A few students joked and laughed, but, overall, they appeared to be a downtrodden group. Another ten or fifteen had the dazed look of someone on a heavy dose of tranquilizers; one girl had silent, unnoticed tears streaming down both cheeks. She didn’t even bother to wipe them away; her cheeks were red and chafed as if the salty droplets had been flowing for some time.
Seth walked our pseudo-mom outside; I told him I would meet him out there shortly. I wanted to observe my soon-to-be fellow students. Only one of the kids even looked my way. He was tall and thin, with neatly combed, short blond hair. His letterman’s jacket was well worn, leading me to believe he’d had it for at least a couple of years. I was a bit surprised when he approached me, seeing the way the other students seemed oblivious to my presence.
He stopped a comfortable three feet away, smiled a smile that didn’t come near to touching his eyes, and said, “Hi. I’m Brendon. Are you new here?”
I smiled back. “I am. I just signed up. I’ll be starting tomorrow.”
He wrinkled his brow and leaned in closer to whisper, “I don’t want to scare you away or anything, but, if there’s any way you can get into a different school, you should. This place isn’t doing so good right now.”
“Why? What’s going on?” I asked, also whispering.
“I’m not really sure. I just know something’s not normal. I’m sure you’ve heard about all the suicides? Well, that’s just the beginning of the weirdness. Nobody’s acting like themselves. Anyway, I need to get to class. Maybe I’ll see ya tomorrow … but I kinda hope not, for your sake.” He smiled his sad smile again, waved, and walked away.
Wow, the kids there really did need our help. I met up with Seth outside and told him what Brendon had said as we walked home.
“That’s not a good sign, Paige,” Seth said, shaking his head. “I wonder if we should take some extra precautions while we’re here.”
“Like what?” I asked, curious to hear his answer.
“I don’t know exactly. How could the … bad guys, I guess … be getting to the students? That’s what we need to figure out or hypothesize about first, before we can decide what precautions to take. Do you have any ideas?”
“Well,” I began, “I guess my first
hypothesis”—
I smiled at his use of the word; always the scientific one, our Seth was
—“
would be the food. The tanks John and I saw looked like they could have held some kind of liquid, so I suppose they could be adding whatever it is to the food. Maybe that would explain why some kids aren’t affected.”
“Right. The food. That’s exactly where my thoughts went. I think we need to expand that train of thought to include fluids—like the drinking fountains and soda machines and stuff,” Seth added.
“Okay. But if it was in the drinking fountains, you’d think all the kids would be susceptible to whatever it is. I don’t know of anyone that wouldn’t use the drinking fountains. And what about the teachers and other adults? Don’t they eat school lunch, too? Maybe we should focus on things that just the students do.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. I guess these are the things we’ll have to figure out while we’re there. Just to be safe, though, I think we should take our own lunches and drinks.”
“I was afraid that was where this was headed … even though I was thinking the same thing. I was really looking forward to some good old deep-fried school burritos.” Seth kicked a rock on the sidewalk to emphasize his disappointment.
“Well, maybe we’ll figure out it isn’t the food after all, and you can eat all the greasy burritos you want, ya big baby.” I punched him lightly in the arm.
He grinned at me. Seth was always good for a grin.
“Let’s go home so we can run this stuff by the rest of
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