The Darkness - Part Three

She assigned a few trustworthy junior high students to organize the bins and began giving instructions to another group of junior high students.

"In a moment, we'll have lots of scared little kids in here. There will be approximately 300 of them. We need to get all the kids in these two rooms for right now." She pointed to the end of the hall. "You two go in there and make room. You three take this tape and a ladder and close up any sources for outside air. Have the instructors give you a hand. Don't worry, it's only temporary. You two, turn off all the thermostats. Make sure there isn't a single one on. You, start putting this black butcher paper on the south door. I need you ten, go into the curriculum room and stack the books nicely in the corner. You three, start carrying the book cases out into the hall as soon as they are empty. After we lock the doors, you ten need to start moving the desks from the other classrooms into the south end of the hall. You can fit about sixty desks and chairs on that end. Be sure they are stacked high and tight."

She breathed for a moment and the doors opened again. More tubs and children came filtering into the small annex building. It was getting crowded in the hallway. Mrs. Johnson stepped outside to check the clouds progress. Ten minutes until they were locking the doors. Hopefully they had enough supplies and such to make it a few days. The tubs were stacked high in the workroom. The children were crammed in two classrooms. The curriculum room was quickly being opened up for visitors and there was still no sign of the first grade classes.

The black cloud was slowly moving over the roof of the gym. You could see the cloud filling up every inch of the inside. The first grade classrooms were close to the gym. Worst of all, her daughter was in the first grade. She waited another two minutes. Still no sign of them. All the other students were secure in the small building. Her heart race. She began to panic. Where was the first grade. Kindergarten was here. Everyone else was here. The emergency tubs from the first grade had arrived.

She jerked around. Then, she took the remaining junior high students back into the other building. As they ran, she yelled "get them out of here. Carry them if you have to. No bathroom, no phone calls, no exceptions. Pick them up with their stuff and get them to move."

She panted as they passed the main foyer. The black cloud was moving across the playground. You couldn't see through it. It was a black pit of nothingness like she had never seen. They passed the hallway to the gym. The cloud was beginning to leak in through the cracks in the doors. They ran faster into the chaos of the first grade, Children were crying. Some had run to the bathroom. She looked desperately for Destiny. She found her. She picked her up. She instructed the others to do the same. They charged into the bathroom and carried little ones out kicking and screaming. They ran back down the hall. All fifty first graders, the teachers and each junior high assistant.

Mrs. Johnson glanced to her right. The could was advancing down the hall and the air stirred by the stampede was helping it along with its vacuum effect. One of the students grabbed a cart with wheels and three others joined her in grabbing all spare backpacks and coats they could grab as they ran.

She checked the clock as she passed the main foyer. There was only three minutes left. They had to run.

"Hurry, times almost out." The cloud on the playground was dangerously close to the breezeway. She radioed to open the doors and wait. They hefty wind from the troops in a rush pushed the cloud back a moment while they stamped through the doors.

Taking the kids to the end classrooms, she dropped her daughter and went to do a quick check. She had each class count off their numbers and confirm they were present. She quickly made the junior high do assembly role call. Everyone appeared to be with them, until she looked out the door. The art teacher and the gym teacher were trying to fight their way through the cloud. She saw them on the brink of escaping. Then it seemed to swallow them whole. Then they appeared again.

One door was being taped up when she thought she saw something. Her sight was confirmed with a scream from outside. There was a small kindergartner who had snuck outside to play. The teachers grabbed him and kept fighting. Mrs. Kline let out a yelp of pain as she fell to the ground and could no longer be seen.

The cloud moved in quickly as if it could sense life in the building. Mrs. Johnson took out the master key. She looked at it for a moment. The cloud would overtake the doors in the next five minutes. She could wait no longer. She pushed up the door bolts, locked the doors and began to tape them shut. The black paper was just being taped on when the black cloud arrived. There was pounding and screams from outside.

"Please!!! Please!!!" They heard. But she urged everyone to press on with their assigned duties.

The pounding on the door was fierce. First, you could tell it was just one set of fists, then two sets, then more. It was almost deafening. They finished securing the building. They stacked all the desks in the way of the door. In the process of moving everyone around, pounding began on the north door and on the windows. The children covered their ears. The screaming was loud and overwhelming. Little ones were crying. The older ones turned pale at the sounds.

They sat listening to the pounding and screaming until everyone was asleep from sheer exhaustion. Everyone except Mrs. Johnson. She sat awake all night listening to the shrieks of pain and the thumping on every surface. Suddenly, she was happy there was black butcher paper on the windows. She didn't want to see what she could hear.

The Darkness - Part Two

She turned to the children and rushed them inside. The fear on their faces was evident.

"How about a game of quiet ball?" she asked.

The class was immediately excited. Quiet ball was their favorite game and they only played it when it was rainy or too cold outside for recess. As they entered the classroom, she walked to her desk and closed the blinds. Then she reached into her drawer to produce the bright pink quiet ball.

"Zack." She stated as she threw it to him across the room. The class played about four rounds of quiet ball. She tucked herself secretly into the hallway and to the computers. Then she found a radio station. The dark cloud was moving across town in a southwest direction. They were about as south as you could get, but they were smack in the middle of town from east to west. She called a meeting of teachers. They all converged in the hallway desperate to discuss their options.

"There are only four of us in this building. What about the other one?" There are over 600 kids in there." The sixth grade teacher was obviously shaken.

Suddenly, Mrs. Johnson received an ominous feeling.

"Mrs. Larsen - gather a dozen or so of the strongest sixth grade girls. They need to help clear out the classrooms in the other building. Mr. Green, take a dozen of sixth grade boys, your strongest ones and collect all the emergency packs around the school. Miss Anderson, I need you to help clear out the Junior high and get them in here. When they come, they need to bring their emergency bins and help you get ladders, trash bags - all of them and cleaning supplies from the janitor's closet. I need duct tape and lots of it. I know there are three or four rolls in here. I'll get them. Grab the radios from the work room. Pay attention. I'll take some of the kids and we'll start to double seal all the windows and doors. We will seal the doors at the south end of the building in thirty minutes. You all only have thirty minutes to complete your tasks. I will not wait for anyone."

She examined the group to be sure each understood. They walked to the workroom, each took a radio and they went to complete their tasks. Mrs. Johnson began taping up the north door and windows. Then, she covered them with black butcher paper. She wasn't sure why she did. After that was done, she had two of the classes move their desks into the end of the hallway to make room for the incoming children.

There were four regular classrooms, one small classroom, the teacher workroom, and the curriculum room in this building and they had to fit 750 kids in this building. She began taping up the east windows and saw the cloud had reached them. It was starting to creep up onto the gym.

She grabbed her radio. "It's here and it's infiltrating the gym. Get those younger elementary kids out of their. Make sure they bring their backpacks and coats. It may be all they have for warmth."

Quickly, she moved all the fifth and sixth graders into the two cleared out rooms. Then she handed the tape off to two other instructors to continue taping up windows, instructing them to raise the blinds and apply black butcher paper as she had on the doors and then close the blinds. Most of her instructions didn't make any sense to her. But she followed her instincts.

Some students moved more desks into the end of the hall until you couldn't see the doors anymore. The chairs were stacked where backpacks and coats used to be. Then the junior high students began to filter in the building. She asked them to start stacking the emergency bins in the teacher's workroom. As she held open the door for them, she saw the cloud begin to drift over the roof of the gym.

The Darkness - Part One

It seemed like a normal day. The clouds were rolling in for another winter storm. Mrs. Johnson entered the building at 7:45am as she did every morning and began her day at her desk, recording attendance, card moves and other random tasks that needed to be done before the kids arrived. As she looked around the room, she couldn't help feeling that this day was different from the others.

The day proceeded as planned. Nothing out of the ordinary in reading or in math. She found herself wondering where the time of the day had gone when she noticed the clouds getting darker outside.

"Yeah! A two day snowstorm at this rate. Wonderful for recess duty." she thought to herself. Then without another moment spent on the weather, she rushed to her spelling class. When she got there, things seemed odd, but she shook off the feeling again as she taught her half hour lesson.

Back to class she sprinted. Her teacher needed help with history. Then there was one recess, another class, after school care and finally - home with her two adorable, lovable children. She couldn't wait. Spending time with her family was her favorite activity.

History seemed to whiz by as she kept busy at her desk with her tasks. It was getting darker outside moment by moment, but that was normal with a big storm. Her class lined up at the door to go to recess. She grabbed her recess bag, but as they entered the hall, they were a little too noisy. Forcing the excited children to stop, she reminded them that other classes were in session and they were in the hall.

The annex fell silent again as they marched toward the door. She pushed it open and made the regular turn to her left. And as she walked out from under the connected roof, she looked up at the sky. It was pitch black outside. The only light was what looked like the moon, but it was in the wrong place in the sky.

Apparently she wasn't the only one shocked by the sight. Her entire class had stopped behind her, fascinated with the abnormal conditions.

"It's not right." she whispered under her breathe. "Something isn't right."

Mrs. Johnson hoped she was going to awaken from a dream. This all seemed so familiar. As she watched, the clouds by the light gave a visible swirl. Something seemed to be up there. Then her attention was grabbed by something out of the corner of her eye.

In the distance, the clouds seemed to be rolling along the ground from the northeast. They rolled down the distant mountain in a way that frightened the teacher. She turned to the students and rushed them back indoors. This wasn't right and all she knew was her instinct told her not to be outside right now.