Sublime Messages

Fourth Interlude

Antoinette Williams had been hired at the end of the summer. She'd looked forward to joining her nephew on the Palm Valley High janitorial staff; regardless of the stereotypes janitors faced, she was sure she'd appreciate her position and be appreciated. She worked hard, whatever her job, because that was how she'd been raised—to bring joy, kindness, and light to everything she did. The world could be such a cold, lonely place. Antoinette knew that all too well after years of being on her own, her only child moved far away and her husband long dead. What point was there in making her corner of the planet colder and lonelier? No, she had the Lord in her heart. Jesus had been her savior many a time in her darker moments, and she owed it to everyone around her to spread His loving presence wherever she went.

Some people didn't want to accept the Lord's love. There were many who were too lost in their own lives, too hurt in their own hearts to see that Jesus's message was especially for them, but Antoinette had to allow God to work in His mysterious ways. Who was she to question the depths of another person's soul? That was on Him. All she could do was reflect that love He'd given her, be a mirror for the Lord, and hope that those who denied His graces would soon change their hearts.

These ones, though, the ones hurting her young people . . .

"Oh, Lord Jesus," Antoinette barely breathed aloud, "help me with this next child."

Prayer on repeat in her mind, she slipped from the closet and quick as a chameleon's tongue, tugged the nearest girl out of line and back into her hideaway, locking the door behind them.

"Shhh!" she urged, and the adolescent standing next to her in the darkness did as she was told.

This janitor's closet was situated near the smaller entrance to the gymnasium, and Antoinette had been hiding in it for nearly three days, now. Every time she heard the shuffling and muted conversations of people outside her warren, she peeped through its keyhole and watched, waited for a moment when the crowds of students became a little too thick for their imprisoners to keep a close eye, and when the timing seemed right, she'd snatch one of the teens from the group. So far, she'd managed to squirrel away five young people. Six, including the girl she'd just nabbed.

As the new arrival's eyes adjusted to the gloom of the closet, lit only by the line of illumination that crept underneath the door from the emergency light on its other side, she made out shelves lining the walls to her right and left. The long handles of brooms and mops and other indistinguishable items poked up from the floor; a bucket rubbed up against the girl's bare lower leg. She tried to stand as still and silent as possible while the muffled sounds of movement continued on the other side of the door, and when all signs indicated the people had processed into the gym and shut its doors, Antoinette finally felt it safe for them to breathe.

"Go on, baby," she whispered as loudly as she dared, placing a hand on the girl's back. "You can move a little farther back. There's several more of you sitting there. Maybe hands and knees is best, so you don't fall or knock things. They've made a nice space, and I like to stay by the door."

The girl made her way into the black depths of the supply closet, and Antoinette remained at her position. She'd try to grab another when they all came back out of the gym. Over the slow hours, she'd gained her only information about what was happening from the students she managed to grab. Apparently the young people were being kept in their classrooms until it was decided to gather them into the gym. Then some woman would pick a student from amongst them, and the rest would go back to sit in their classrooms. One of Antoinette's saved youngsters had said the bad people were cutting the students up—the ones the woman chose. Eyes or teeth or privates. Oh it was an abomination! It cried out to God for Justice; it overwhelmed and strained Antoinette's imagination. But she had to keep going. She had to keep saving these kids in the Lord's name. The devil might have come to Palm Valley High School, but she was going to shine God's light against him.