The cafeteria is filled with empty echoes of our conversations. A dull scraping sound comes from the other end of the school. I perk up and look around, trying to find the source of the sound. “Did y’all hear that?”
Joy looks at me like I’m insane. “Hear what?” she says, but I ignore her. I’d just heard it again, louder and longer this time. A clicking comes from the same area. Without a second thought I bolt to where I think the sound is coming from.
I can hardly hear Joy’s yell of “FINN! GET BACK HERE!” from the wind whistling in my ears. Her footsteps are following behind me, ever so faintly. She nearly rams into me when I stop. I stare into the pitch black.
“Finn what the he-” I stop her mid sentence and point right in front of me.
“Do you see that? That movement?”
She shakes her head. “No. C’mon. We should head back. They’re probably worried about us.”
At that she screams as she is knocked to the ground by some sort of black creature. The darkness envelopes her and muffles her cries. I’m frozen in terror as Joy still has not emerged from the shadow engulfing her. When she is once again visible, I put my hand up to my mouth to stifle the gasp that inevitably escapes my lips. I stumble over to her, body motionless except for the shallow, rapid rise and fall of her chest. Her torso covered in blood.
I sit down next to her and grab her hand. She squeezes lightly in response. A lump forms in my throat as I push her bangs out of her eyes. Her face is so still and oddly calm, yet still visibly in pain. Her eyes flutter open and looks at me. She smiles the biggest smile her lips will allow before it becomes painful. Tears sting my eyes, threatening to spill over at this gesture.
More footsteps, heavier this time, come from behind me. I’m not afraid. The only thing I can bother to be scared of at this moment is the smile on her face fading away, not to be seen by any living being again.
“Finn.” Eddie says, his voice reverberating through the empty hall. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing for this whole experience to be a dream. When I open my eyes I will be in my bed and Joy will be alive.
When I finally open my eyes, her smile is gone, replaced with the face of someone who’s asleep. I would love to believe she is just asleep, but she is not. Tears begin to fall and sobs start racking my body.
“No no no! This can’t be HAPPENING!” I say, getting progressively louder. “SHE’S NOT DEAD! SHE CAN’T BE! She’s gonna wake up and make a joke about it and we’re all gonna laugh and we’re gonna go home and tell stories about how she pretended to die for years to come. She’s. Not. Dead.”
Eddie has to rip me away from her so he can carry her back. I insist on carrying her to the others. After many minutes of begging, he lets me. A fresh stream of tears race down my cheeks.
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