No Smart Kids Allowed

Chapter 20: Everything is Okay

"Everything is okay," Felix smiles on our way back to class.

"Everything is fine," I say.

"We're calm," we say together. "No harm will come to us if we obey.

Felix stops first in front of his class. "I must go now.  Perhaps we shall find out the answers we're looking for."

I nod at him. "Yes. Listen and obey," I say before he walks into his classroom.

"Yuuu-hoo." Someone behind me shouts. I turn around and see Rachel walking towards me with five other children behind her. One girl, in particular, looks oddly familiar. Out of all of them, she's the only one carrying a bookbag. Her eyes grow big as we exchange glances. I turn to Rachel, focusing on what I should do. "Cosima, here are the kids I told you about. I have other matter to attend to, but I'm sure they'll be alright in your care."

I smile at Rachel. "They'll be just fine with me."

She waves goodbye and makes her way down the hallway and out of sight. "Hello," I say. "My name is Cosima. I will tell you all everything you need to know about this place."

"Is it fun?" A boy asks.

"Yeah, is there a lot of homework?" Another boy asks.

I look at them and my smile fades. "You come to school to learn, then you can become something, and when you make all that good money from being something great...then you have fun."

All of them remain quiet. "The school is very fair," I continue. "Making friends here isn't tough at all. Everyone is treated equally. We do have a set of strict rules to follow here, but that keeps everything in balance."

The girl that looks familiar raises her hand. "I have a question. What are the rules here?"

"The rules will be explained at the end of the day," I say.

She begins looking around as if this place gives her the creeps. 

"Something the matter?" I ask her.

"No," she says, looking away from me.

I walk down the hallway as they follow behind. "The cafeteria food is great. No need to bring lunch!" I laugh. "School ends at 2:45 PM. We have buses to get here and back." I stop and face them. "It's a school. Not much to explain. We're like every other school, the only difference is we do things the right way around here."

"You like it here?" The girl holding her bag says.

I give her my best smile. "It's to die for. I have no other words to express my love for this amazing place."

*BUZZ BUZZ*

A loud buzz comes from her bag. She takes out a phone and as she struggles to unlock it, her ringtone goes off. The ringtone goes, "I won't let you be the death of me. No, I refuse to let you bring me down. Bring me down. I won't let you make me out to be. The one who's in the wrong. You know I've lost my mind before."

"Sorry, my phone froze and I can't unlock it," she says.

"Turn it-" I try and tell her to turn it off, but I feel light headed as the music keeps on playing.

"I love Asking Alexandria," one of the boys start to headbang to the music. 

She finally gets it to turn off and when she does, she stares at me. She nods slightly as I'm trying to regain my senses as if she knows what's happening.

 "It is true," she whispers.

The light headed feeling is gone and I have my senses back. "What...what's happening?" I ask.

The girl with the bag takes my hand. "Remember me?" She asks. "We met a few months ago."

"Months?" I say, indeed remembering her. "I've only been here a few days. Maybe even a week. I'm not sure."

She shakes her head. "It's been four months."

"That's not possible," I shake my head. It just couldn't be true.

The other kids are just listening to our conversation with confused looks on their faces. 

"I knew it," she says. "My grandmother used to tell stories about this place. I couldn't convince my mother hard enough to not come here. She says this is where I belong."

"Hey," one of the girls say. "My mother said I belong here too. She says I need to be straightened out because other schools don't have structure anymore," she rolls her eyes.

That's strange. "Is this your first time here?" I ask, but face everyone meaning to ask them all that same question. All of them replied with a nod. If this is their first time here, then that means that these creatures and teachers are recruiting people from the outside as well before they attend. 

That meant that they could be anywhere at anytime...

"Rachel," I say, finally remembering her name and that she has the same name as that woman who made me escort them around. "Did your grandma tell you how people could escape."

She thinks for a moment. "There's a room with a sewer line hidden underneath floorboards. She said that's where her great great great grandparents were known to escape during the fire."

"Where's this room?" I ask, needy for answers.

She takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. She never mentioned it. The room has a number, though. Room 001."

"Ugh," I groan, wanting to hit something. "I need to find this room."

"If you do," Rachel adds. "Be careful. I don't know what you'll find there, but just know many bodies were found in that room a long time ago. They were those trying to escape. Most of them were teachers who couldn't get in because too many kids were inside."

That sentence frightens me more than it should have. I can't  imagine finding the room full of dead bodies. "Thank you," I tell her. "You all should leave now. Now, now, now!" I begin to push them towards the stairs so we can make our way down.

As soon as we reach the exit door, we stop. There are five adults standing there with their hands crossed. 

"Mom?"

"Dad?"

The kids recognize them as their parents, but if they look closely at the fingernails, they can see that those aren't their real parents...

*More updates tonight! I'll try 2 more!:)*