Whispers [complete and non-edited]

Chapter 14

After Laehal had told Deeliah that he didn't have a pencil she sighed and asked the other detentionees if they had one she could borrow. The guy who had given them the information about Ms. Fowler had had a few, so he gave her one of them, plus an expensive looking eraser and pencil sharpener set. He said he had extras.

Deeliah had gotten comfortable at her desk, and soon her hand was gliding over the paper. Laehal watched as the shape of a work horse was etched on the paper in front of her. She even drew the background. In the picture, the horse was pulling a plow across a field while a fierce wind blew. The field looked like it was in front of some mountains.

She finished it up by adding shading, and a little sun flare to make it look like a picture taken by a camera. Laehal decided he wanted to frame it.

(Lol I had to go to bed right when I finished that sentence)

"Done. What do you think?"

"Wow. You should be famous," Laehal gushed. "It's awesome."

"Thanks," Deeliah smiled.

Just then, the door opened. Their 6.3 minutes were over.

"Can you draw another one?" Laehal whispered.

"Sure," Deeliah whispered back. She then handed Laehal the picture of the work horse.

"Thanks."

"Ahem," Ms. Fowler said to get their attention. "Laehal, could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uhm, sure, Ms. Fowler."

She ushered him out of the room and closed the door behind them.

"Laehal, Mr. Dominic would like to see you. Again. Be sure you hurry. Detention is almost over."

"Uh, sure. See you."

Laehal walked back down the hallway. He looked around himself at the walls. All of the posters were gone. The walls were completely bare. The cork boards were bare, the bulletin boards were bare, even the nice blue paint was white.

"Strange, isn't it?" came a voice from behind him. Laehal startled at the voice. "I don't know what happened. I was watching the security cameras the whole time. Chicken wing?" the voice offered Laehal.

Laehal turned around to see Mr. Dominic holding a bucket of KFC chicken.

"Uh, no thanks," he declined.

"Suit yourself." Mr. Dominic started chewing on a chicken wing. "So, do you have any idea what happened here?" he asked through a mouthful of chicken.

"No, sir."

"Funny, isn't it, that the only person who was in this hallway between the last time I was in the hallway and now, doesn't know a single thing about what happened."

"I'm not lying, if that's what you think. Ms. Fowler was out here for a few minutes."

Just then, Laehal recalled the time it was when Ms. Fowler came back into the room. It was 4:32. She had been out there nearly half an hour.

But surely that wasn't enough time to strip the whole school's walls and paint them over white? That would take at least an hour, right?

Maybe there were some dark magics going on here.... The thought never crossed Laehal's mind.

"Piña colada?" asked Mr. Dominic.

"I think Ms. Fowler did it. No, thank you."

"Ms. Fowler didn't make this! I'll have you know that I made this piña colada all on my own."

"I wasn't talking about the juice. I was talking about the hallways."

"What about them? Do you think they're too full? I just don't know what to take down. Everything is happening so soon that it would be a mistake to take the posters down."

What? Laehal thought. He looked around to see all of the posters and the blue paint back on the walls. What was happening here? Just a few seconds ago, these walls had been bare. How could something like this happen so quickly, while he was in the hallway, too?

"Laehal...," A soft voice whispered. It was coming from central. "Laehal..." It was as if someone--or something--was beckoning him to go towards the whispers. "Laehal..."

The door to Ms. Fowler's room opened, and all the students filed out. they walked past him towards central, where the door to the outside was.

Mr. Dominic handed Laehal his homework, and then took his juice and chicken to his room.

Laehal followed the whispers to the school entrance in central.

"Laehal...," they called. "Laehal...Laehal...Laehal..."