Alone (Bluford High) (Watty Awards 2013)

Chapter 4

For the next few weeks, Karen had been feeling and seeing strange things ever since that night where she heard the noises. While in a movie theater with her parents, watching Inception, she felt someone breathing on her neck the whole time. She tried to tell Susan and Michael, but they dismissed it. Another time she was at school in the cafeteria alone and saw a figure in a skull mask watching her. She had terrible nightmares every night about people in dark clothing wearing doll and skull Halloween masks crowding over her. 

However, despite these terrifying sightings, Karen refused to tell anyone and even tried to convince herself that nothing was wrong. But as the days passed, more and more kids from ages 10-18 were going missing. What was going on? And why was she having all of these nightmares? She didn't want to tell anyone about this, especially her parents and her friends. They'd think she was crazy. They wouldn't believe her. 

 On April 28th, Karen was at an assembly at about 1:30. It was in the gym, Bluford didn't have an auditorium.  She was on the bleachers with Dale and Elle sitting on either side of her. The major point of the assembly was the announcement of the missing kids. Her principal, Mr. Allen Paleman, was standing in the center of the gym with a microphone in his hand. 
"I brought you all here to let you all know about the disappearance of the kids," he announced.

 Karen felt anxious and worried.
" Now, I know all of you know about those stories and movies about people breaking into houses and choppin' them up and that stuff is enjoyable because its supposed entertain us. It's a movie. Watching that stuff gets you hyped up and gets your blood pumping and keeps you intrigued. I was a teenager once, I know how it feels. Then, once the movie's over, you never think about the real events like that because the story of the movie is fictional. And you think that it's never gon' happen to ya. Now, I'm not sayin' this to scare you or worry you in an intentional way, but all that stuff happens in real life. I'm not talkin' 'bout no bloody, torturous and gory movies like Saw or Halloween. The kidnappings, disappearances and murders of humans happens everyday. Every single day. Its sad. Its pretty scary. I know you guys are like 'That ain't never gonna happen to me. I'ma be just fine' and you're just gonna keep on bein' unaware of the surroundings you go into. You guys need to be cautious and careful. I am BEGGING you to watch out. Because, what if you go walk somewhere you don't know about or go out partying with your friends late at night and the next day you on the news. They talkin' about you ending up missing or dead. Do you know how your parents would feel? How your whole family would feel? What if that was your little brother or-or your little sister on that television screen? That would feel DEVASTATING now wouldn't it? If you guys know anything about the whereabouts of these kids , please contact the police."

  Every student in that room cringed at the big speech of their principal.  Especially Karen. She imagined the scenario of her ending up missing and her parents bawling their eyes out, frantically searching for her. She also thought of the possiblity of Elle or Dale disappearing or even her parents. It was possible. She or anyone else could be a target. 

While the principal continued on talking, Karen noticed the smell of smoke. Before she could react, they all heard the sound of fire alarm. There wasn't any schedule of a drill that day. So they knew something was wrong. Then,  a teacher bursted into the gym yelling,
"There's a fire in the cafeteria!!!"

 At that moment, everyone including the staff, panicked. They screamed loudly and the commotion was rising. Karen, Dale and Elle looked at each other with fear. Everyone headed to the cafeteria and sure enough, there was a large fire near the windows. Karen widened her eyes. Her face full of terror. She had never seen a fire up front. And now it was right before her eyes. She hoped that no one was hurt. The principal then ordered everyone to go outside and they did.

 They were clustered and jumbled up with each other. Karen, Dale and Elle were standing next to each other by a tree. 

"Oh my God!" Elle exclaimed.
"I hope no one's hurt," said Karen.
"Hopefully," added Dale.

 It was horrifying. The smoke was like a puffy cloud. Some people coughed and stepped away from it.  Karen couldn't believe that this was happening. A fire at her own school. The place no one thought something like this would happen. The three of them couldn't help but think that the fire was arson. Nothing in the cafeteria could do something like that. Not that huge. Suddenly, everyone heard windows being broken from above them and in front of them. They screamed even louder. 

 Pretty soon, the police and fire department arrived. They put the fire out within fifteen minutes. The students were sent home, with their parents coming to pick them up. Karen was picked up by Susan, because Michael was at work. But the incident quickly reached the news. Reporters and photographers were surrounding the school and tried to interview some of the students. Karen watched as her mother drove her away.

"Oh, my God!!! Karen are you OK?" said Susan, on the verge of crying.
"I'm fine. I'm fine."
"I'm so sorry this happened!"
"It's not your fault."
"I know, but I'm just so scared now."
"Don't be. No one was hurt as far as we know of. I'm here. Nobody knows if its arson yet or not. Is Dad still at work?"
"Yeah, that's why I had to pick you up."

 When they got home, Karen immediately ran upstairs to put her stuff in her closet. She still couldn't believe that she was in that predicament. She didn't want to believe that it was arson. It was just such a coincidence that kids disappear and a fire broke out.
"Karen, come here!" her mother yelled.

 She rushed downstairs into the living room and Susan was watching the news. Of course, her school was on there. The news reporter said this,

"Now, we're looking right now at Bluford High School. Moments ago, a fire broke out and police are skeptical of the cause of it.  People are still wondering whether its related to the disappearance of kids or not. Now, I just got word that police are still trying to figure out if anyone was injured."

 The camera showed police looking at the burned part of Bluford. They noticed someting in the rubble. The camera focused on it some more. It was a burned face that looked like something out of a horror movie. There was bone showing, like a skull was there.