The Super Enrichment Programme

Tic Toc

I ran back into the dorm, gathering all my stuff into my bag and slinging it over my shoulder, vowing to not let it out of my sight.

‘W-what…. W-where am I?’ A voice whimpered from a bunk near the bathroom.

I walked along to see a very weak looking Professor Ringwood attempting to stand up.

‘Are you okay Professor?’ I asked when I was near enough.

‘Where am I?’ she asked again, looking around in confusion.

‘We’re locked in controls centre,’ I told her as I helped her to her feet, ‘Emma and the Miners  redid the code behind school lock-down to make sure we were trapped here as well. Now we found out one of her secrets she has started locking down random rooms as ‘punishment’’ I muttered, steering her in the direction of Mr Lee.

It seems that everyone had decided to gather in controls centre so that we don’t get separated into different rooms when the next one is locked down.

‘MR LEE!’ I shouted over the hubbub of activity, and I saw him come running over.

‘Professor!’ he grinned as he ran over. He stopped and eyed my arms, which were the only reason the professor was able to stand, supporting her from under her arms. The smile disappeared from his face.

‘Can you stand on your own?’ he asked and I felt shock cross my face. I could feel the Professor leaning all her weight on me.

‘I can try,’ she looked at my wide eyes, ‘It’s alright Gemma, I trust you to not let me fall,’

I nodded and hesitantly took one hand away and then the other.

She stayed upright for a second before she began to topple to the right, her ankle giving out from beneath her.

I dived forward, putting myself between her and the floor in order to catch her and pull her back to a standing position.

She whimpered as my foot caught her ankle, making me point to a nearby chair and yell: ‘BRING IT HERE!’ to the nearest person.

Luca pulled it over and helped me put the professor gently onto the seat.

‘What’s wrong with your ankle?’ Mr Lee asked and Ringwood shrugged.

‘It hurts,’ she whispered.

‘I’ll be right back,’ I said as I walked over to where Hale and Nolan were helping to move most of the food from the cellar into controls centre.

‘Ringwood's awake,’ I said, taking a massive bag of pasta out of Hales arms and putting it with the rest of the food.

‘I saw,’ Nolan muttered as he emerged from the cellar with a few bags of potatoes in his arms.

‘She can’t stand on her own, her ankle won’t take her weight,’ I explained and Hale came over to me.

‘She’s probably pulled a ligament then, it sounds pretty bad,’ He replied and I pulled him over to Mr Lee, making him repeat what he’d just said and help him treat her.

I returned to Nolan to help him with the food.

‘Do you think Emma still likes me?’ He asked as we passed.

‘I’m not sure, I think the good her does, but the bad her doesn’t. I don’t think the bad her is real, it’s more like something that has taken over her temporarily,’ I explained and he nodded in understanding.

‘The book said that didn’t it?’ He asked and I nodded, a blush creeping onto my cheeks.

He chuckled and went back into the cellar for more food.

‘Tic Toc, Time for another lock-down!’ a voice called out over controls centre, but I was interested to hear that it wasn’t Emma.

I wasn’t glad to recognise the voice.

‘It’s about time I punish you myself…’ Kat hissed and I saw Ringwood start to writhe and scream.

‘HOW DARE YOU BITCH!’ I screamed as I ran to Ringwood's side and grabbed her hand to comfort her.

As soon as my hand touched hers she stopped writhing, and looked at me in surprise.

I stood up, glad that Kat had stopped and pulled my hand away, turning my back on Ringwood, not expecting the screams to resume.

I grabbed her hand again; it must really help her to forget the pain because the screaming stopped again.

Everyone sat huddled together in controls centre as Kat started to torture other people, until there was only me left.

I sat there, bracing myself for the pain that never came.

‘What?’ we heard Kat mutter but the pain still never came.

After 5 minutes we started to go back to what we were doing before being so rudely interrupted. It appeared that Kat got so caught up in torturing people that she forgot to lock down another room.

I went to bed that night praying that Emma wouldn’t lock us in  there over night.