It took her a long time to get her bearings again—she would remember that stark, overpowering smell and her paranoia would sky-rocket.
Saphris had gotten up a while ago and found the stiff window cover, covering the glass. She was staring at the cover, a vacant look in her eyes.
It must've been becoming all the more real for her.
"Monsters? What the fuck do you mean, monsters?!"
"How is that possible…?"
Yeah. Monsters. I think Saphris knows what I mean now.
Meanwhile Dylan couldn't get over the fact that there were probably giant monster spiders roaming the halls now. As if this situation couldn't get any worse.
"What're we supposed to do?" Saphris whispered, defeated. "We're actually trapped, and the authorities haven't shown up yet—where the fuck are they?" She started crying, hiccuping as she spoke. "And where is my family? They wouldn't leave me here… I know they wouldn't." But Dylan could hear the twinge of doubt lurking in her voice. She is the middle child, after all. "Why is this happening?! School was almost over! I would've been safe at home, with my cats." The girl was crouching now, her hands deep in her hair—pulling while sobbing. "I miss my cats!" She wailed out, not realizing—or caring how loud she was.
Dylan didn't think as she got up and walked over to her best friend, settling down on her level and gently pulling her hands away from her hair. She was quick to wrap her arms around Saphris after, squeezing her tightly.
The girl buried her face into Dylan's shoulder, muffling her sobs. Dylan tried not to feel too guilty for feeling relieved that the noise was muted—the last thing they needed was another monster hearing them. The privacy of the window cover did little to reassure her.
She tightened her grip, trying to be a grounding presence for her friend. "I don't even know if Oron is okay!" Saphris moaned abruptly, "what if it happened to the middle school too?!" The despair was thick in her voice.
Dylan's heart dropped. She hadn't even spared a thought as to whether this monster-lockdown might affect the whole district—what if Ryker and Oron were in the same situation as them? Would they still be alive…?
There was no way to check either—not with the service still down.
She pushed the thought back; she had bigger things to worry about. "Hey—hey," she murmured in Saphris' ear, quickly. "I know you're scared for Oron—I'm scared that Ryker's in that situation too… but we can't be thinking about 'what if' scenarios. We have no idea what's happening out there, so we have to assume that it's just us—that our brothers are okay. Okay?" She reasoned, trying to bring her out of her spiral. "We have to. Because we have much bigger issues on the line right now—our lives are at stake. And if we die in here, we'll never find out if Ryker and Oron are okay. Got it?"
She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath and pulling away slightly. Saphris had quieted down a bit, staring with empty eyes. She reached up and smoothed her hands over Saphris' hair, sighing quietly.
"I don't know how long we'll be stuck in here for, but we have to believe that our parents are doing everything in their power to get us out." She spoke softly, repetitively smoothing out her friend's hair. "You know how protective your parents are, and I know my mom wouldn't leave me here—she'd raise hell for me. Okay?" She reassured, making sure Saphris was taking in the words.
The other girl nodded shakily, hiccuping as she breathed in, calming herself. "Okay," she stuttered out, taking a couple more deep breaths. "Okay." She reaffirmed, scrubbing her face with her hands.
Dylan hugged her again before scooting back, giving her space to regulate again.
She glanced around, noticing how dim the room was, and looked to the back of the classroom. There was only one emergency light illuminating the area, but it was better than none.
Who's classroom are we in? Maybe we could find clues—because I know they have something to do with this. There's no way they don't, otherwise we would've seen one by now. She stood up, determined to find answers and headed straight for the teacher's desk in the middle of the room—there had to be something there.
Did all of them get a phone call right before? And where the fuck were these monsters even hiding in the first place? She remembered the floor shaking and then that little boy appeared out of nowhere.
"What are you looking for?" Saphris asked while Dylan rummaged through the desk drawers.
"Did your teacher get a phone call right before this whole shit-show started?" She asked instead, continuing to look through all the papers on the desk—she ignored the calculator next to the computer.
"What—yes?" Saphris answered confused, getting up and walking over.
"Lemme guess: she had to pick something up from the back office after she hung up, right?" She asked rhetorically, already having an idea of what the answer would be.
"How–"
"Because Mrs. Randall had to as well."
"Your band teacher?" Saphris questioned bewildered, but she could see the dawning realization when Dylan looked up at her.
"You're telling me this was all planned?"she continued, horrified.
"That's what it looks like," Dylan responded distractedly. "But I don't know for sure… I was hoping that I could find something here—at this rate though, the back office might be a better place to look." She continued, annoyed at the lack of evidence. "It can't be a coincidence that both our teachers went there before this… lock-down."
"You want us to go back out there? Now?" Her friend choked out.
"Not now." She retorted, "but it might have an answer as to how we can get out." She reasoned, "since the tree is out of the question."
"Stupid fucking tree," Saphris grumbled, rubbing her hand. Yeah, that must've hurt if you were expecting to hit branches instead of fucking rock. "I still don't understand how it moved like that—especially since it's petrified."
"Me neither," she murmured, eyeing her friend's hand. "It was a good idea at the time though."
"I still don't understand that whole thing. I mean, how did it grow so fast? Not to mention how long it takes for a tree to even petrify!" Saphris stressed, pacing in front of the desk.
"Don't forget the semi-sentience and weird glowy leaves," Dylan mumbled, eyeing the sleeping computer. Would there be anything in an email or file or something?
"Don't get me started on that!"
I mean… might as well, right?
She sat down in the desk chair and reached over, touching the mouse pad—curious. The screen flashed, a slew of emails popping up in the next second. Bingo.
"Hey, maybe we can find something in these emails." Dylan spoke, drawing Saphris out of her irritated pacing.
"Shit—you got into her computer?" She said, shocked.
"Her? You know whose classroom this is?" Dylan glanced up, brows furrowed.
"You don't?" Saphris retorted, "it's obviously Mrs. Lift's—look at all the backpacks on the lab tables," she gestured.
"What?" Dylan turned around surprised, "oh! I didn't even notice those!" She eyed them for a moment longer before turning back to the computer. Maybe we can pilfer some supplies out of them? I dunno what would be useful though.
"How'd you figure out the password?" Saphris asked, coming around the desk to look at the screen.
"I didn't. It was on sleeper-mode—she never logged off." Dylan answered, scrolling through the list of emails—most of them from 'classroom' about assignments being submitted.
She must've gone through 200 emails before she groaned, "I haven't found anything yet, and I've already gone two days back!" Saphris leaned over her shoulder, eyeing the list of emails.
"What about using the search bar?" She suggested, pointing to the top of the screen.
"What would I even type in?" Dylan asked, trying to rack her brain.
Saphris hummed, "what about that announcement—before the lights cut out? He said something about a code, didn't he?"
"Oh yeah…" Dylan mused, "what was it? Code…"
"Umm, codeH3-something… I can't remember exactly what it was." Saphris said, apologetically.
"Code H53B has been initiated—this is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. CodeH53B has been initiated. All personnel are required to evacuate the building immediately."
"Oh! It was CodeH53B! That's what it was!" Dylan blurted, thankful for the memory, and hurriedly typed it into the search bar.
Only one result popped up, and it was years old—likely one of the very first emails the account received. It was titled:
In case of emergency: CodeH53B
In case of emergency? She mouthed, wary. "Does that mean this whole thing wasn't planned?" She whispered, disconcerted.
Saphris frowned deeply, "did my mom get one of these…?" She asked, hesitant.
Dylan didn't know what to make of it. "I don't know—did they send these to the subs? Maybe it was just for the teachers?" She spoke, unsure.
She clicked on the email—only for the screen to flash red.
Unauthorized Personnel Requesting Access: Denied
"What the hell?" Saphris muttered, her eyes wide.
"How did it know…?" Dylan trailed off, alarmed.
"I don't know," Saphris answered, freaked out. "I wish I could talk to mom," Saphris murmured, distraught. "Maybe we'd find actual answers then."
"Was your mom even subbing for the high school today?" She asked, looking up at Saphris.
"Yes, but I–" the girl faltered. "But I don't know if she got that same call, or whether she listened to it…" she said in a small voice.
Dylan blew out a breath, "none of this can be easy, huh?" She said, not expecting a reply. "So we obviously have to check out the back office at some point, but right now I'm fucking exhausted—I don't know about you."
"Same," Saphris sighed, pulling out her phone. "It's only 8:30PM"
Dylan groaned. "Damn it, I think what I hate most is that I can't sleep in my own bed."
Saphris looked like she wanted to cry again.
She stood up, pushing the chair in and looked at the lab tables. "I guess we should see if anyone left jackets or something."
"Or something." Saphris mumbled, already walking over and looking through bags.
Dylan wanted to cry. She was not looking forward to sleeping on the floor, or on a desk. Let's get this over with.