“Welcome to class. My name is Lexie. Call me anything else and I kick you out of my class. Now, I need someone to volunteer.” I looked around at all the kids in front of her. I was not that much older than them, but I couldn’t see them as anything but kids. Everything that happened my first year and since then had left me feeling much older than 22. Three years had passed since I had seen Shea. Three years since I had told her to come back alive. I had no idea if she was. I could only tell myself that it wasn’t possible for her to be dead. She had too much power in her. My best friend couldn’t be dead.
Fighting back tears, I refocused on the class in front of me. One brave soul raised his hand. Everyone in the room was at least eighteen, and yet none of them looked it. “Thank you. What’s your name?”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “My name is Evan. I just have a question though.” He looked up at me uncertainly. His blond hair and light blue eyes only seemed to make him look even more innocent.
“What’s that Evan?”
“What is this class? What are we going to do?” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“This is a class of my own making. I haven’t told you anything about it because this class doesn’t have a curriculum. This is a sort of introduction class to this school, but it will also teach you to stay alive. Evan, you already volunteered yourself by asking the question, so come up here with me.”
He seemed hesitant, but something in his pride would not let him refuse. I looked out at my class, making eye contact with everyone. “Rule number one: Always pay attention to your surroundings.” I turned towards Evan, bringing my fist with me. I stopped less than an inch from his nose. “I could have hit him before he had any idea what was happening. It is a tough lesson to learn. Be thankful I am telling you now. You can sit back down now Evan. I’ll need another volunteer.” A brown haired girl in the back raised her hand. I nodded at her, gesturing for her to come forward. I pulled a blindfold out of my pocket.
“I need you to turn around now...”
“Raleigh.”
She seemed unsure, but did as she was told. I put the blindfold over her eyes, but didn’t tie it in the back. “Can you see anything through this Raleigh?”
She paused before replying. “No, am I supposed to?”
Chuckling, I took the blindfold off of her eyes. “No, you weren’t. Now I want you to tie it over my eyes.” I held the bandana out to her. She raised one eyebrow at me, wondering if I was serious. In response I placed the blindfold in her hand and turned around. As she started tying it over my eyes I spoke. “The way I see it, I have no credibility until I can prove what I say. Anyone disagree.” I turned back towards the class, though I couldn’t see any of them. I took the silence as a no.
“Wonderful. Now, I don’t care who does it, but I want someone in the class to throw something at me.” I paused, waiting for the sound of movement. When I heard it, I adjusted and felt the air of the object brush against my face. I could hear some of them whispering. At the sound of another movement, I readjusted. This time I felt the air pass by my waist. More whispers broke out. This continued a few more times. I could hear the whispers of disbelief. They had no idea how quickly they would learn to do this. I heard movement right next to me and immediately started to react. At the same time I heard glass behind me break. I grabbed the arm I had just dodged and sheltered the girl under me.
“DOWN!” I screamed just as I felt the shattered glass behind me. I screamed as I felt glass slam into my back. Struggling, I slowly lost the battle to stay conscious. I hit the ground, barely feeling it before everything faded away.
Slowly everyone in the room stood up. Everyone looked around confused. They saw bleeding faces, bleeding arms, and confusion everywhere.
“Oh my god. Lexie! Lexie please wake up!” Everyone’s attention snapped towards the front of the room. Raleigh was crouched over her, trying to get her to wake. The room fell silent when everyone saw the glass in her back. Blood was gathering on the floor beneath her.
“I’m finding help.” Raleigh stood and sprinted out of the room. Less than ten seconds later someone else sprinted into the room. The person looked like a teacher, but no one recognized him. He had dark brown hair and green eyes. His face seemed to pale as soon as he saw Lexie on the ground.
“Lexie! Can you hear me? Please talk to me babe.” He seemed to go even paler, if possible, when she never responded. He took off his shirt and started ripping it into strips. He applied pressure where he could, doing anything to stop the bleeding. He looked up at the class for the first time. “Hit the emergency call!” When everyone looked at him blankly not moving, he yelled, “The button in the case on the wall behind you!” Evan turned and saw the button directly behind him. He hit the case off and hit the button.
Immediately a voice came on, “Amy is already on her way to your room. Who’s injured?”
Evan immediately replied, “Our teacher, Lexie. She was protecting this girl in our class and now she won’t wake up.”
Just then a middle aged woman burst into the room, sprinting straight for Lexie. “What’s going on with her Blane?”
He seemed slightly comforted by the woman’s presence. “The glass went straight into her back. I’ve applied pressure where I could, but she’s losing a lot of blood. She won’t wake up. We have to get her downstairs to get this glass out and stop the bleeding.” Amy turned and pulled cloth and sticks out of her bag. Faster than anyone in the class could follow, Amy turned the pieces into a stretcher.
“Count of three move her. One, two, three.” Perfectly in sync, they lifted her onto the stretcher. “Let’s get her downstairs.” They picked up the stretcher and left the room as fast as they could.
Just as they left, a woman everyone recognized as the headmistress walked in. “Everyone is to return to their rooms immediately. We will update you with news on Lexie when we can. Thank you.” Everyone got up and filed out in silence, too stunned to do anything else.
Mrs. Abendroth turned and looked at the gaping hole where a window used to be. Something that exploded on impact must have been used to create this much damage. She had no idea how someone had entered the grounds undetected. Security was tighter than it had ever been. They were taking no chances after what Night had done, even if it was four years ago. That was hardly any time at all. She walked toward the window, the glass crunching under her shoes. The sun struck the glass, casting rainbows in the room. It was almost beautiful.
She glanced down at the ground, wondering how this could have happened under her watch. A piece of metal caught her eye, shining different in the sun amongst the shards of glass. She bent and picked it up, realizing it must have been part of the exploding device. There was one word on it, etched.
Begun.
A pit formed inside of Maya Abendroth as she wondered just what this had been the beginning of. This time, Shea would not be around to save them.
