Flickering Lights 1-2 #Wattys2014

Chapter 3

It wasn't long before teachers rushed in to see what was happening. They seemed even more freaked out than the students. Their faces instantly turned a sick shade of green.

"Right children! You've seen enough- everybody off the corridors! Off!" Miss McCarthy was shouting shoo-ing children away.

We didn't know what to do with ourselves so we just hung about in the corridors for ten minutes until the cleaners brought the bloody cat out in a bin bag. It smelled disgusting and the cleaner was holding it reluctantly away from her face walking as quickly as she could.

I was still shaking. That J . . . Surely it couldn't have been for Julie. What were the chances? Hopefully very slim. I forced the thought to the back of my mind.

Somehow I had a feeling that this wasn't the worse thing to happen today.

Slowly and careful not to step where the cat had been we shuffled into the maths corridor and into our lessons. I had Mr Wigan. My worst teacher but hopefully he would show me some mercy after being off for a month.

I sat down next to Carrie, one of my friends and she greets me with a warm hug then quickly pulls away remembering that I was supposedly off because I was sick. I laugh a little at that. First time in a while.

"Hey have you got a pen?" Carrie asks. Typical. . .

"Yeah" I stay reaching into my blazer. "Here. . ."

"Oh than- Urm you can let go now." I turn my head to her

"Oh sorry" I say distantly. I was too focused on the teacher. It certainly wasn't Mr Wigan. That much was clear. It was a woman. And she looked so similar. . .

I knew I had seen her before. . . I leaned in to Carrie. "Who's she?" I asked suspiciously. She only shrugged her shoulders. Unhelpful.

The new teacher walked to the front of the class and wrote her name on the board in large font. The class was silent. It read

"Miss Angelo".

After we had all read it she began speaking slowly and firmly.

"I am miss Angelo. Your new teacher. Mr Wigan unfortunately isn't here any more. So I was called in."

A hand was raised with a question "Why? What happened to him?"

Miss Angelo hesitated before answering with a smile "That's not for me to say"

And so the lesson went on with us all secretly questioning and gossiping about the new teacher and what we all thought happened to Mr Wigan and the cat.

The next lesson was P.E so after we had got changed we all went to the sports hall.There were about twenty four of us here altogether. A mixed class of boys and girls. I saw Marc in the corner and went to stand next to him.

"Hey did you see what happened in maths?" He asks me about the cat. I nod my head remembering. I squeeze his hand and he squeezes it back.

The P.E teacher comes in and stands at the front. He has a piece of paper I notice.

"Will everybody who's name I call stay here. The rest of you walk to the field. . .

Julie

Marc

Carrie

Isabelle

Katie

Lewis

Harry

Sebastian.

Those children wait here. A teacher will be down for you. Ok everyone else. Let's get outside."

So that's what happened. The teacher and everybody else went outside to do P.E while we were left in the sports hall puzzled. I couldn't help but notice that the Windows were boarded up too. I didn't like it.

Then without any warning, the lights start to flicker. Panic took over me. I would have screamed but for some reason I was dizzy and my head started to hurt. I fell back hard hitting the cold floor. Through blurry eyes I saw the same happening to everyone else. The last thing I heard was the lock of a door before sleep pulled me in unwillingly.