6 Elements [Under Editing]

Chapter 16

We rushed into the school, locking the door behind us. The ringing in my ears hadn’t stopped but it had lessened. I ran over to the window and gawked out at the empty street.

“Jake!” I called, “Go check the windows in the back of the school!” Jake nodded ran down the hall, sliding while trying to turn the corners. On a normal school day, that would be impossible. There would be so many kids in the hallway, I’d be lucky to be able to even run.

“What do I do?!” Jason questioned.

“Just watch Nathan,” I said, the trees outside seemed to be leaning in the same direction. I could hear loud rumbling, almost like a tornado.

“How can anyone sleep through this?! It doesn’t matter the time of the night, if this ever happened to me I would be awake,” I yelled to Olivia over the loud noises. She shrugged. Jake came running back down the hall.

“The same thing is happening back there!” He gasped. This isn’t good, I thought to myself, the fog must be surrounding us.

“I don’t think that’s fog,” Jason said, terrified. I shifted my feet and looked back out the window. The darkness had reached us, it clouded up the window.

“Pick Nathan back up!” I shouted. There was now loud banging sounds, like someone was hitting their first against the doors. Suddenly, the fog started to seep underneath the door into our shelter.

“Let’s go! Let’s Go!” We all ran down the hall towards what seemed to be my first hour class. The door was open wide, easy for us to get in. I waited for everyone to enter and glanced back out into the hallway once more.

The black smoke - or whatever it’s called - was low to the ground like a lion stalking prey, I could almost hear footsteps. I slammed the door shut and Jason handed me the key that was in Mr Novak’s desk.

“Can someone find some duck tape, we need to seal the sides of the doors and windows.” The smoke will get in if we don’t. I caught a glimpse of everyone’s expressions; terrified. We’re only children, shouldn’t we be home in our beds sleeping, not wanting to go to school the next day?

Jake ran up to me and handed me some duck tape he found in a supply closet. I took it and bit of long strips and taped the sides of the door. I tossed the roll to Jason and he did the same to the windows.

We all took one step back and stared at the entrances. All of us were expecting to see the smoke seep into the classroom, attacking us all. But there wasn’t anything. I dragged Nathan to the corner of the room, there wasn’t any windows or doors over there. Soon all of us sat down in a tight group. Jake sat at next to me and Jason sat on the other side of him by Olivia. Nathan was still asleep next to me.

I was lost in thought until I heard a whimper.

“What’s wrong, Jake?” I said, turning toward him, all of us were listening to what he would say. He had pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his head in his knees. He looked up at me, water crowded his eyes.

“I can hear them,” He whispered, “They’re screaming.”

“Who?” Olivia asked, worry filled her face.

“The trees,” He sniffed, “It burns, the smoke burns,” He turned back to me, “I’m scared, Izzy.”

“We all are, Jake, it’s okay,” I tried to reassure him. Jake nodded and let out a shaky breath, he went back to a normal sitting position. He rubbed his eyes and placed his hands on the back of his neck.

“What are we going to do?” Jake asked everyone. We didn’t know what to say, we can’t run or else the smoke will get us, we can't go anywhere. We can’t keep carrying Nathan, he needs to wake up. At that point, I lost all hope.