The History of Art

Chapter Eleven - Josh's POV

            It was time for Nancy to die. I didn’t want her to die. Luke knew about the dates, I had showed him the list I had made. Since Mom and Dad had started going through my room looking for anything I could use as a weapon I had hid the paper where they would never look, in the hidden compartment of my lamp. There was a flip open door in the base that no one could see and I hid things that I didn’t want anyone to find in there.

            More recently I had hidden a razor in there. It was “just in case” kind of thing. Just in case I had one final break. One final chance to stop everything and save whoever was left. But I had made a promise to Lilly and I was not about to break it.

            Luke and I got to school early to wait out front of the school where Nancy’s mom dropped her off early so she could work on her music before the warning bell for class. I just hoped that somehow, she was going to be sick for the first time since grade school and miss her fall down the stairs.

            Sadly, she showed up right on time. She got out holding her violin case in one hand and had her backpack thrown over the opposite shoulder. “Hey guys!” she said as she got out of the car. “What are you guys doing here?”

            Luke and I looked at each other and then back at our friend. “Oh, we just thought we’d hang out before school. Josh is still having a pretty bad time.”

            I was having a bad time, but I was doing my best to disguise the pain. Nancy took a quick look at me and her face softened. She checked to see if her mom had left and turned back to us. “I guess I can skip practice today.”

            Good. That meant that if Art was watching for her regular routine he wasn’t going to be able to push her down the stairs that led to the band room. Luke and I got up off the frozen ground, our butts almost literally frozen to the concrete, and we followed Nancy to the cafeteria. We got some coffee to warm ourselves up and sat down at one of the long cafeteria tables.

            Nancy tried to get me to talk a bit about how I was feeling, like if I wanted to self-harm or commit suicide. If I wanted to do that I wouldn’t tell her, and I told her that. She just sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t want this to be hard for you Josh. I really don’t.”

            “I can’t help that it’s hard!” I stopped and took a deep breath. “I’ve lost three friends and…” I trailed off.

            Luke patted my back and put his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe you should tell her.”

            “No,” I hissed. “We’re not telling her.”

            “Telling me what?”

            I glared at Luke and then looked back at Nancy. “Nothing.”

            “Tell me,” she demanded. I started to panic about what I was going to say when the bell rang. Saved by the bell! Luke and I escorted her to class and made our way to our first period.

            We knew we couldn’t protect her during her classes, so we just hoped that she didn’t get up to go to the bathroom or take an alternate route that involved the stairs in any way, shape, or form.

            When we went into a hold in place…my heart stopped. Luke and I looked at each other for a brief moment, and then at the door. He was thinking the same thing I was. Nancy was dead.

            As we continued class, as we are told to do during a hold in place, I heard sirens from an ambulance getting closer and closer to the school. Eventually I looked out the window and saw an ambulance turn into the parking lot. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I looked up at my teacher to make sure her back was turned and whipped it out.

            It was a text from Nancy’s phone. Making sure that our teacher still wasn’t looking, I tapped Luke’s shoulder and handed him the phone. He breathed a sigh of relief and opened the text to see what it was. “Oh my God,” he whispered. I yanked the phone back to read the text.

            The deed is done young Josh. She’s dead. It was not a quick death. She fell, and she was alive when she got down there. I was forced to avoid her blood and untie one of her shoes and then break her neck. I had to be quick though. People had to have heard her scream. So I took her phone, sent this message, and now I’ll wipe off the fingerprints and place it in her locker. Don’t even think about saving this text.

With Love,

            Art

            I covered my hand with my mouth and re-read the text at least three more times. I shoved the phone in my pocket and raised my hand. My teacher called on me and I begged her to let me leave, that I knew what happened and I was upset. She seemed confused, but let me go, much against procedure.

            Maybe he would make a mistake. He hadn’t even mentioned about deleting the text. And someone would be able to check when texts were sent in and out. What if I did save the message? What else could he do to me?

            Lilly. She was my whole world right now. She had me wrapped around her little finger. Art knew my baby sister was everything to me and I couldn’t lose her. He knew I would do anything in my power to protect that little girl.

            I stopped dead in my tracks and leaned against the lockers. Slowly, I slid down to sit on the floor and put my face in my hands. There was an announcement saying that the hold in place was over and that everyone had to meet in the gym. This was it. I was going to have to hear the inevitable. That Nancy really was dead.

            So I acted casual as I followed the crowd down the hallway and towards the gym. Everyone seemed confused as to what the whole thing was about and were whispering about a secret assembly or possibly a pep rally. But this followed a hold in place. And I knew what had happened. So I knew it wasn’t some surprise the teachers had planned for us in the middle of the day. It was to tell us one of our classmates had died falling down the stairs.

            Luke and I sat together away from our other friends in the very top corner of the bleachers. The principal and vice principal were the only ones standing in the middle of the gym floor, facing all of us with glum looks on their faces. Now everyone knew this wasn’t some pep rally or secret assembly. Something had gone horrible wrong.

            “When we went into the hold in place,” our principal started, “it was because a student fell down the stairs. She was found with a large gash in the back of her head and a broken neck.”

            You could literally hear my classmates suck in their breath at the same time. “Who was it?” someone yelled out. I couldn’t pinpoint the voice though.

            I looked right at the others, who were sitting in the front row looking around, possibly for Nancy or Luke or even me. Luke looked at me with a sad smile and looked down at his feet. We both knew she was gone.

            “Nancy Echols,” the vice president piped up.