LHS

Chapter 4

"Code black, this is a code black"

This brought many questions when the intercom clicked off.

'What does that mean?' Came up several times as well as 'what's happening?'

"Calm down, calm down," mr. Turner said, "it's just a drill. They must have moved it from next week to today. Everything is fine."

He grabbed a clipboard from the wall with papers of many different colors attached to it. He flipped through orange, red, and blue to get to black. Austin Hughes raised his hand.

"Yes Austin?" Said mr. Turner.

"If this was a drill, wouldn't the woman on the PA say so?"

"Yes, Austin, she very likely would. But mistakes happen, and she could have forgotten to press the button on the microphone. Now, on the code black drill sheet, it says that we must turn the lights off, and gather in that corner."

He pointed to the corner six feet to his left.

"But before that, I must double check attendance."

He started calling out names. I waited patiently for mine to come.

"Hartley"

"Here"

"Harven"

"Here"

"Hatcher"

"Here" I croaked. I hadn't talked in a while and my voice was quiet and raspy.

"What? I can't hear you, speak up, boy" he mocked.

I cleared my throat, "here, mr. Turner."

"Thank you"

He then went on with the list. When finished, he said,

"Now the principal will come around to check on all the classrooms and determine whether or not all of the classes are in a safe position. Now everyone sit in the corner and I will turn off the light."

He went over to the door and flipped the lightswitch. We were then immersed in darkness, save for the light coming through the door's window.

He sat at his desk, watching the door. We were all staring at the door. We waited for principal Troy, but he didn't come around. We waited more. No one came around. Austin spoke out.

"Mr. Turner, I thi--" right then the lights in the hallway went out. Mr. Turner gave a start, then dismissed it as the staff in the office making an attempt to authenticate the drill.

"It's fine, it's fine" he announced, "nothing's wrong"

"But mr. Turner, hasn't this drill been going on way too long?" I watched other kids roll their eyes at Austin's annoying blurting. I thought it might be fun, so I did it as well for the heck of it. (woooOOOOoooooo) wow that WAS fun! I kept on Rollin' my little peepers, only stopping to stare at people who were frowning at me. I kept on smilin' on my face, and Rollin' the orbs inside of my face. Then we heard loud footsteps coming from the hallway.

"There he is" mr. Turner said. "I'll go talk to him"

He opened the door and stepped out.

"Hey what took y--oh my god."

"Get back in the room." Another voice said.

"Okay, okay, I'm going" mr. Turner squeaked.

"Go." The voice said, "Now!"

Mr. Turner hurried back into the room. We all stared. As soon as the footsteps faded away, mr. Turner muttered, rubbing the back of his neck,

"Nope. Not a drill."