No Smart Kids Allowed

Chapter 27: Burnt Alive

Scott pushes me further away from the monster and towards the screaming students. "Everybody! Take these needles-" He begins taking some out of his pocket and out of the pouch in my chair. He throws them onto the ground and at some of the students. "This will help paralyze it!"

Some kids don't listen, but some take a few needles, still backing away from the glob coming towards us. "They're not completely out of their trance," Mulan says. "I'm going to sing to some. Aaliyah and Gemma, help me out. Felix and Scott, see if you can get people to put needles inside of them. Hurry!"

Gemma, Aaliyah, and Mulan sing a song to the children. "And all the people say. You can't wake up, this is not a dream. You're part of a machine, you are not a human being. With your face all made up, living on a screen. Low on self-esteem, so you run on gasoline."

"We have to find a safe place for you," Scott says. He pushes me towards the front door and sits me outside pass the broken door. "You can't be in there."

"It's o-okay," I say. "I under-sss-stand." I know if they leave me in the gym, I will be a main target for the glob monster. 

Scott looks at me one more time before running inside. I watch everyone from the outside of the gym. Felix and Scott are able to get a few needles into the glob's legs, yet there's still no effect. Some more kids begin joining in on the action and some others are hiding behind the bleachers.  

The glob swipes it's long black mushy hand around the gym and kids duck out of the way. There are a few boys and girls who are really in on the action. It is like watching a video game. Through all of this, I feel so helpless. Almost in tears, I regret the choices I had made that ended me up here. I want to walk again. I want to be there helping my friends, but I can't. However, the kids are doing a great job avoiding the creature.

Frank and Gerard walk towards me. "Wh-why aren't y-you helping?" I ask them.

Frank shrugs. "We're dead. We can only play our instruments. If we could kill them, we would have done that ages ago."

"W-where will you g-go now?"

Gerard lets out a long sigh. "Back to the room," he says. "If you find a way out of here, find our bodies or bones or whatever, and bury me. I'm tired of this place?"

Frank frowns. "Hey, you have me!"

Gerard laughs. "So you want to stay here with me forever?"

Frank looks up then back at Gerard. "Uh, yes," he says.

Gerard shakes his head and the two of them walk away. When they're out of site, I'm reminded of something and it hits me really hard. They want me to find their bones, but I hadn't even found my parents. This isn't the biggest school, yet I still can't figure out where they could be. 

I'm knocked out of my thoughts when I hear the glob moan then fall to the ground. The kids move out of the way as the glob's skin melts onto the floor and all around them. The kids all run onto the bleacher to avoid stepping into the ink.

I hear the moaning noise again and but not from the gym. A long black hand made out of the stuff the teachers are, stretching towards me from behind a corner. It's too late for me to say anything. The hand grips the electric chair with me in it and raises it in the air. "S-s-Scott," I say. As I try to say his name, the black ink spirals around my body until my face is covered in it, engulfing me in pure darkness.

***

The ink unwraps around me and I end up having to spit lots of it out. The taste of it is sweet and very unpleasant. It slowly dangles off of my lips and chin. I can't remove it with my hand, so I watch as it slowly droops onto the floor. When it falls, I realize that I'm back in the white room.

"So, how do we taste?"

I hear multiple voices from behind me. Whatever soul I have left feels like it's leaving my body out of fear. The voices are deep, low, and the words come out sloppy. I can't turn around. I can only wait for whatever is behind to appear in front of me.

"Cosima," I hear a familiar voice whisper my name. It's my stepfather's voice. All of a sudden his body is thrown in front of me, then the body of an old man that I've never seen before. The old guy lays on the floor and looks at me like he's real exhausted and I can tell that he is. 

"I've been here for 59 years hiding behind that mirror and because of you, they found me," he says. "Because of you and your friends."

A black hand stretches out from behind me, holding a bottle of pink liquid over the guy's stomach now. My stepfather moves away and backs up against the wall. "This wasn't part of the deal," he says looking at whatever is behind me. "I took the money and kept my mouth shut. You have my wife and the girl now let me go!" 

I couldn't believe it. He sold us out!

Whatever is behind me starts howling in strange laughter. As it laughs, it begins pouring the liquid over the old guy's stomach. His stomach sizzles and simmers like crazy. The skin immediately starts melting inward. White puss mixed with blood begins pouring out of the man's mouth and left eye. I can see his insides being cooked and it almost reminds me of lasagne. His blood boils, mixing in with his melting bone, insides, and his clothes. His middle and lower half are gone and the only thing that's slowly dissolving is his shoulders and face. He's dead because the pus is now pouring out of both eyes, his mouth, and now his nose. 

The black hand behind me then scoops up the burning old man's insides and throws it over my stepfather's chest. His chest immediately caught on fire. I know I hate him with a passion. God knows I hate him with a passion, but I would never have wished anything this horrifying onto him...