A Beautiful Nightmare

3

Cole stood frozen for a second, staring with eyes wide at the librarian curled up into a ball on the floor.

"Go!" I yelled at Cole, breaking him out of his trance. He looked at me for a second as if he just realised my presence.

But finally, he turned and ran.

It took a good few minutes before anyone showed up. And in those moments, I found myself sitting in silence by Ms Ashton. She was staring blankly ahead. There was a small puddle of blood pooling under her neck which was worrying me with each passing second.

"Ms Ashton?" I asked gently. "Can you hear me?"

She didn't move. She didn't blink.

"Don't worry. We'll get you to the hospital. You'll be fine," I continued, hoping she could hear me.

Then, I watched as her gaze slowly shifted towards me. She looked scared. Of me.

Her lips trembled as she was trying to say something but all that came out was air and the sound of her wheezing. One shaking finger moved up and she pointed at me. No. Her eyes widened and I realised that she wasn't pointing at me.

I snapped my head in the direction. There was no one behind me.

And maybe my brain was playing tricks but for a second, I really did feel a presence there. It must be the anxiety of the whole situation messing with my head.

I noticed that the librarian was lying still now, that blank look clouding her eyes again.

"Where?" I heard a voice drift down the room towards me. There was some shuffling and rushed footsteps. I leaned back to see the deputy headmaster practically running towards me, his grey blazer wavering like a cape behind him. He was a tall, grey-haired man who looked too lavish to be working as a teacher.

"How did this happen?" he snapped.

"I don't know. I was just sitting in me chair-"

"And we heard her scream. And so, I went to check up on her..." Cole had not only rudely interrupted me but he was also twisting the story. He was not with me when I heard the scream.

"What were you two doing here? Why weren't you in lesson?" the teacher retaliated, his face stern.

"We were late to our lesson so, we were told to catch up in the library," Cole answered. He hadn't looked at me once since he came back.

"Right. Well, I would ask you why you're late but I don't have the time to. I'll deal with the two of you later."

We were both sentenced to spend the rest of the time sitting in chairs at one of the tables by the librarian. We sat there in awkward silence as we watched the teacher pace around helplessly.

Finally, the sound of distant sirens floated in through the windows. The teacher straightened up like a dog that smelled food.

"The two of you are to stay here. Do not move and keep an eye on Ms Ashton," he quickly babbled out before running almost cartoonishly towards the exit.

A few minutes later, a whole procession of paramedics, teachers, policemen and firefighters filed in one by one. Each one of them automatically took on their assigned jobs around the room. The firemen examined the fire exit door which I just noticed was wide open. Meanwhile, two police personnel made a beeline in my direction.

The headmaster was also there talking calmly with one of the paramedics whilst the grey-haired teacher flitted to and fro like a fly buzzing around him.

"I hear the two of you were at the incident?" one of them, a woman, with blonde hair and deep-set brown eyes asked me.

I nodded while Cole answered with a "yes".