The secrets of Gettyson preschool

Chapter 13

JJ followed the child, and found himself and the girls back in the wooden room.

As they entered, the door slammed behind them. As he went to the door, he saw dirt covering the outside; they had been buried inside.

"OH, WHAT NOW?!" JJ screamed. "AFTER EVERYTHING WE HAD DONE, AFTER WHAT WE HAD JUST FIGURED OUT, YOU'RE JUST GONNA KILL US?!?!?!"

He suddenly heard a creaking noise from behind him, then Micahleah's screaming. He turned around quickly and saw a very strange-looking skeleton holding Micahleah in a chokehold.

"JJ..." she choked out, but was stopped when the skeleton gripped harder.

"Put...her...down," JJ said nervously, not expecting the skeleton to listen.

"I don't think so," it croaked. "It's been many years since my last meal, but those girls were still pretty good, even if they didn't restore me back to my power. But three more should be enough."

"Wait!" JJ exclaimed. "You didn't kill them all. What about that one in the nap room? She was still alive when we found her, but I had to kill her so she wouldn't suffer. And you didn't even eat that one; you just let her die in a horrible way. What's up with that?"

"Don't you get it?" the skeleton replied. "I don't eat the bodies. I eat only their life essence. When I eat that, I store the body in my office, under the floor. But anyway, I was feeding on the other girl when I heard you and your friends running about. I watched you, listened. I knew two wouldn't be enough to bring me back to my power, but five altogether might do just the trick."

When JJ heard him say, "two," he raised a brow.

"Why are you doing this?" Marely asked.

"That's a long story, but I guess we have time," the skeleton replied. "Many years ago, I was nothing but a lowly thing walking the earth. But one day, I figured out what could help me enjoy my time here on earth: purity. But I could only get it from children, since the hearts of adults are corrupted from the world itself. I had taken the disguise of a man to make my job easier.

For years then, I had fed on the kids and kept my strength up. But, one little girl almost ruined my plans. Can you guess who that might've been?"

"Lilia," JJ muttered.

"Very good," the skeleton said. "That one little girl tried to tell someone, and if she had succeeded then food supply would've been short for me, if you can imagine. I tried to get her, but she killed herself before I could reach her."

"Yeah, well, I'm glad she did," JJ said, being fueled with rage.

Fire was coursing through his body, waiting to be released. He couldn't yet, though; he could hit Micahleah on accident. He had to get her out of there.

"Take me first," JJ said as he approached the skeleton. "I can't bear to watch them die."

"You do realize that you won't be able to fight me, right?" the skeleton said sketchily. "Even if you did try, there's no way out."

"I know," JJ replied. "But again, I can't bear to watch them get killed."

"As you wish," the skeleton croaked as he released Micahleah.

Now's my chance, JJ thought.

The skeleton jumped for him, and JJ blasted it with hot, hot fire. The skeleton was nothing now, but JJ couldn't stop. Marely and Micahleah jumped out of the way just in time to dodge his fire, which instead burned the rotten-wood wall.

When JJ managed to get himself back under control, he noticed that not only was the wall burned down to almost nothing, but it was also another room. And it wasn't just any room: it was that cellar that JJ had checked out.

He and the girls rushed to it and climbed out to see the lonely halls of the high school. It was like a welcoming party, except it was dark as night. JJ looked out the window to see that it was actually nighttime; the moon was full and the stars were shining.

"JJ, lets go," Marely said as she took JJ's arm and led him to the corvette, which was still parked under the trees. Micahleah started it up as JJ and Marely hopped in. Micahleah drove, and the last thing JJ remembered seeing before passing out was the ghosts of several children, looking at him from the inside of the school.