Mr. Smith was a new teacher to the building; in fact today was his first day. As he was heading to his first class his attention was drawn to two students at the end of the hallway. One of the students was a tall boy wearing a football team jacket, obviously a typical jock. The other student was a shorter boy with dark shaggy hair and glasses. He was carrying a large stack of books. From the looks of things it was the stereotypical nerd being harassed by a jock scene. Mr. Smith approached the two boys and immediately the jock started to try to act normal.
“What’s going on here?” asked Mr. Smith.
“Nothin’ man, just talkin’ to my friend here,” answered the jock.
Knowing what had really been going on Mr. Smith turned his attention to the boy in the glasses and asked, “Was he bothering you?” The kid had a scared expression on his face and from the corner of his eye; Mr. Smith saw the jock make a threatening face. “No sir,” answered the boy in the glasses.
“Because of what I just witnessed, let me tell you why you shouldn’t harass people.” Mr. Smith said turning to the jock. “I’m going to tell you a true story about something that happened when I was in school.”


* * * * *



        It was a rainy Friday afternoon; Derek was sitting in the back of his last period class staring out of the window watching the torrential downpour. It had been raining nonstop for two days now and the weathermen were calling for flash floods. Derek didn’t really care though since he wasn’t planning on leaving the school. He had run away from home two weeks before and had been secretly living in the school on the weekends. He could come and go as he pleased through the very seldom-used basement door. At the end of the school day he would go down to the basement and just hang out there listening to music while he waited for the custodians to lock up and leave.
        Derek really didn’t have to worry about being able to leave the school though, unless he wanted to go out to eat. He didn’t have any friends to go visit since he kept to himself all the time and rarely talked to anyone; that didn’t stop jocks and other lowlifes from harassing him about how he was always alone or about his clothes or anything they’d happen to find.
         Just then Derek was shaken out of his daze by the afternoon announcements.
         “This is your principal speaking. Due to the weather all afternoon activities have been cancelled and all students must leave the building by three o’clock. It is advised that all students go straight home and stay indoors. I also suggest that you do not walk home unless you have no other choice. Be safe, have a good weekend and weather permitting we’ll see you Monday”
          This was good news. Now he wouldn’t have to stay in the cold basement as long as usual. The bell rang and Derek gathered his things. He walked across the building to his locker and put his bag inside then grabbed his CD player. He then made his way downstairs and went through the unmarked door with the broken lock, making sure that nobody was watching. Once in there he sat in his normal shadowed corner where even if someone did come down they’d have a hard time seeing him in his entirely black clothes. He sat there listening to the album Smash by The Offspring.
           He was only down there for about 45 minutes, he waited about 20 minutes to make sure that the custodians were gone, he let the song “Self Esteem” finish then he turned off his CD player. He liked that song, but he wasn’t sure why. It didn’t really matter now though.
He got off the ledge he was sitting on and put his feet into about a foot of water. Maybe the weathermen were right about the floods. This could complicate things, he might have to go live up on the third floor for this weekend, and it was either that or be wet all the time. He packed up his CDs and put them in the pocket of his cargo pants.
            Derek made his way up to the English wing on the third floor. Somehow he knew he wasn’t alone in the building. When he got upstairs he saw that Mr. Travers, called Mr. T by most, was still there with Mark Cullerman; they were talking about Mark’s junior thesis.  Then Kyle and Sean came around the corner, Derek didn’t really know them but he had seen Mark around school. Mr. T and Mark came out of the classroom, as Kyle, Madisen and Sean were about five feet from Derek on the other side of him.
             “You know you guys really shouldn’t be here. Mr. Sullens said that everyone should go home immediately. Do you even have a reason to be here?” asked Mr. T.
             “Chill out, we were just leavin’, right Sean?” answered Kyle.
             “Yeah we were just headin’ out to Kyle’s van.” He paused,  “Don’t be so uptight T.” said Sean.
              As they were talking Derek noticed Mark walk off and out into the rain toward his car. By now the water was almost knee deep on him. It seemed like her had trouble wading through the water. He got into his car and a few minutes passed. Mark got out and looked at his car, seems like he was having trouble starting it. He started wading back toward the door. As he got to the door Rick and Joe, two football players, opened the door for him.  Mark’s blue jeans and Pink Floyd t-shirt were almost completely soaked.
              “Hey Mr. Travers, we got a problem” said Mark as he came closer.
              “What’s wrong now?”  He answered.
              “My car stalled, the cars won’t run I guarantee it. The water is just too deep.”
               Mr. Travers cursed under his breath. “Well that’ll complicate things. Go call a tow truck.” As soon as he finished saying this he heard giggling coming from down the hallway. “That better not be more students.” He said angrily.
               To his dismay, Mr. Travers saw Heather and Allison coming up the stairs.
               “Whoa, I didn’t think people were supposed to be here,” said Heather as she came up the stairs and saw the group.
               “No one is supposed to be here. Don’t you kids listen to the afternoon announcements? You complain about having classes all day then you don’t go home when you’re allowed to, and worst of all, it’s a flash flood warning! Seriously what the hell were you people thinking?”

The rain continued without showing any signs of slacking. Derek stood away from the group and watched. By now everyone had broken off into their own conversations and Mr. Travers was trying to get a signal on his cell phone to call his wife and let her know what was going on.
Derek surveyed the group. First there was Kyle. He was 19, making him the oldest of the crowd. He was about six feet tall and wore dark blue, almost black, jeans with a pair of black Adios. He also wore a white long sleeve thermal shirt under a black t-shirt with skateboards arranged in the form of a marijuana leaf with “Legalize Skateboarding” written under it. His hair was short and dyed a light blue. Kyle’s appearance reminded Derek of Josh Hartnett’s character in the movie The Faculty.
Standing with Kyle was Sean. Sean was about two inches shorter than Kyle but he made up for it with his spiked neon green hair. Sean wore blue cargo jeans and black Etnies. Also, like Kyle, he wore a white thermal shirt under his regular t-shirt, which was also white. Sitting on steps leading up to a classroom nearby was Madisen. She was not much shorter than Sean and had dark red hair that was a little longer than shoulder length.
She wore low-rise blue jeans ripped at the knees, a tight black Misfits t-shirt and low-top red Converse.
“Hey man you got a cigarette?” Sean asked Kyle.
“You really need to start buyin’ your own man,” answered Kyle.  
“I ran out today at lunch, I got more in my locker but I think T.’ll throw a fit if I just disappear”
“You’re probably right, here” Kyle handed him a cigarette.
Allison and Heather were still standing near the stairs. Allison was average height and had long brown hair. She was thin and dressed like an average girl, blue jeans and a t-shirt. Today she was wearing the Ramones. Heather was the basic teen beauty queen. All the guys wanted her. She was blonde and wore a lot of pink, too much in Derek’s eyes. But then again Derek wasn’t one for much color anyway. He usually wore all black and today was no different. He wore loose fitting black jeans with a long sleeve black button down shirt, under that a plain white t-shirt, and of course, black and white high-top Chuck Taylor Converse.
“Hey, where did Rick and Joe go?” said Allison to the group.
“They’re probably off—” Kyle was cut off by Mr. T.  “Watch it Kyle.” He said reproachfully. “How long have they been gone do you know?” Mr. Travers asked Allison. “I think they left right after Mark came back in” answered Heather. “Darn it why don’t you kids ever listen? I’m going to look for them. Stay here!” said Mr. T heading to the stairs. Halfway there he saw two more kids coming up. Eddie and Mike came up and Mike said “Yo Mr. T, did you know it’s like really wet down there?”  
“Down where?” asked Mr. T
“On the first floor. Everything’s at least like ankle deep.” Answered Eddie
“Alright change of plans everyone, since we’ll most likely be staying the night here, we’ll need food. So come on lets go downstairs and raid the vending machines before they’re under water.”
Without much opposition everyone got up and followed Mr. T down to the first floor where the cafeteria was.
“OK so now, buy what you can from the machine and—“ Mr. T was cut off by Kyle. “Out of the way man.” Kyle had grabbed a fire extinguisher and threw it at one of the machines, breaking the glass. “Alright guys grab those two trash cans and load up.”
“Kyle! What’re you doing?!” yelled Mr. T.
“Hey listen, we’re trapped in a school because of a flood. You really expect everyone to pay for this crap? I’m sure I just did what everyone else was thinking”
“Alright, you have a point. Hey where’s Derek? Asked Mr. T
“Right here, I went around the corner for another trash can” Derek said coming into view with a small trash can.
“Well I guess we have to go looking for Rick and Joe now” said Mr. Travers
“Shouldn’t we bring all this back upstairs first?” asked Sean.
“Yeah I guess you’re right, alright everyone back upstairs” said Travers grabbing a trash can and turning toward the stairs.
On the second floor Joe came running down the hall towards them.
“Man we gotta get outta here!” Joe said frantically.
“Whoa, calm down. What’s wrong?”
“He’s dead, I lost sight of him for a second and then he was gone.”
“Who’s dead?”
                “Rick! Him and I were down the hall drinkin’ ‘cause you guys were still standin’ around upstairs. So after a couple minutes he gets up to use the bathroom. Like ten minutes went by and then I heard a noise. I didn’t know what it was so I went to check it out. Around the corner I saw Joe on the floor with half a baseball bat shoved down his throat and blood all around him.”
               “Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
               “Yea man, Rick is dead! He’s down that hall,” Joe said pointing.
               “OK, everyone stay here I’ll be right back” said Mr. T heading down the hall.

Everyone stood in silence, except for Joe who was sitting up against a wall with a hand over his face. Kyle who was leaning up against the same wall walked over and knelt down beside Joe. “Hey man you alright?” he asked.
“I can’t believe he’s dead, he was my best friend. I should have gone to look for him when he didn’t come back. I could have stopped it,” said Joe without lifting his head.
“Hey man it wasn’t your fault, it seems like there’s some psycho in the school, had you been there you probably would have been dead now too.
Mr. Travers came back down the hall. “Everyone upstairs to my classroom now!”
Without hesitation everyone turned and went up the main staircase. Derek brought up the rear behind Kyle, Sean and Joe. Joe was just a walking shell of a person. In seeing this, Derek felt a strange sense of satisfaction that he didn’t quite understand. For some reason he liked seeing Joe this way. Maybe it was because Joe had always been a person that harassed him and now he was suffering, he wasn’t sure. The continued up the stairs and down the hall to room 318. Mr. Travers unlocked the door and let everyone in.
Mr. Travers sat on the edge of his desk. “Everyone please take a seat.” Most people sat on desks or in chairs, Kyle leaned against the wall and Derek sat on the ledge under the window, staring out at the rain.


              “What Joe told us downstairs is true, Rick Jameson is dead. It is how he described and if you didn’t hear him then you’ll just go without knowing because I don’t want to give you an image of the horrific scene I saw. I’m going to try to get out of here and get help. I want you all to wait here and lock the door, I think whoever killed Rick is still here and we don’t need anymore bodies.” Said Mr. T.
               “T, let me get this straight, you expect us to sit here in this room and wait for you to come back…with a killer on the loose in the school?!” asked Sean.
               “Yes, with the door locked you should be fine.”  Answered Mr. T.
               “Don’t worry guys we’ll be fine, go get us outta here Mr. T” said Kyle.
                “Alright, I’ll be back with help as soon as I can,” said Mr. T. He walked to the door, opened it, turned around closed and locked it.
Sean got up from where he was sitting and waked over to Kyle. “What’re you thinkin’ man? We’re gonna get killed if we stay here.”
                “Calm down, the door’s locked, we’ll be fine” said Kyle without even looking at him.
                “Did you ever think that maybe the killer is in the room with us?” said Sean loud enough for everyone to hear. “How do we know that Joe didn’t kill Rick himself?”
                “Look at him man, he’s a shell of a man. He doesn’t look like a killer to me.” Answered Kyle.
Derek got up and walked towards Joe, he wanted to see how screwed up he was.
“Hey Joe, you all right?” asked Derek standing next to him.
“Leave me alone nerd, I don’t need your pity. Why don’t you just go sit in a corner like you always do, people might like you better that way. We all know you don’t have any friends but that ain’t our fault so just leave us alone because we’re not gonna bother with you.” Snapped Joe.
Derek walked over to the door and walked out, slamming the door behind him. Kyle had been watching and listening. He stood up and followed Derek, leaving the door open as he left.
“Yo Derek, wait up.” Called Kyle. Derek turned around and stood where he was. “You shouldn’t let him get to ya, he just lost a friend so he’s gonna be snappy.”
“No, this is normal.” Derek said and turned away. “It’ll never change”
“If this is how it’s always been then you gotta stand up for yourself man, don’t let people push you around like that. Next time someone pushes you around don’t stand for it man, get a backbone.”
“You just don’t understand, you never will” answered Derek and walked away.
As Derek walked down the hallway, Madisen came out of the room.
“Kyle are you crazy? Get back in here before you get killed.”
“Madisen, calm down there’s nobody out here. I honestly don’t think we need to stay in that room. Just as long as we stay together we’ll be fine, this guy would have to be crazy to attack a group.”
Kyle went back into the classroom and spoke to everyone, “We don’t have to stay here, all we need to do is stay together and we’ll be fine. If we wait here he’ll probably come and try to kill us anyway. I think we’ve got a better chance roaming the school than staying in one place where he can have his fun with us. Whoever’s with me, let’s go.”


They walked out of the classroom and down the hall, following Kyle. Suddenly the lights went out. The only light that came in was from the sparse rays of sun that shown through the dark storm clouds.
“Now do you think the power went out…or was it cut?” asked Kyle.
“Um… I don’t know why are you asking me?” answered Sean.
“I wasn’t asking you, it was a rhetorical question.” He sighed as they continued down the hall.
“Hey Kyle, where are we goin’?” asked Madison.
“My locker, I need to get some stuff.” Kyle answered as they passed by a window. “Hey isn’t that Mr. T’s SUV?” said Mark pointing to the dark blue Chevy Trailblazer.
“Yeah I think it is” Sean said as everyone crowded around the window. The car was parked in front of the main office entrance in the school bus circle. The lights were on and the windshield wipers were going back and forth at full speed.
“Hey…is that Mr. T?” Eddie said pointing to a dark figure in the front seat of the SUV.
“OH MY GOD!” screamed Allison. “HE’S DEAD!!!”
“We don’t know that Allison now shut up.” Said Kyle
“But look at him man, he’s all hunched over the steering wheel and not moving” whispered Sean to Kyle.
“Yeah I know, he probably is dead but I don’t wanna get everyone freaked out so just keep quiet,” Kyle whispered back.  “Let’s just keep going, I don’t want anyone going outside.”
“What’re you talkin’ about man? We all know that T is dead and Rick is dead too, if we stay here we’re going to die!” said Eddie frantically. “I’m outta here” he said walking away.”
“If you go off by yourself then you’ll die!” shouted Mark.
Kyle started singing to himself, “…another one bites the dust, dun dun dun, another one bites the dust…”
“Shouldn’t we go after him?” asked Heather.
“No, he left the group…nothin’ we can do now.” Said Mark.
They continued on to Kyle’s locker down on the second floor. Locker number 2379. Kyle entered his combo and opened the door. Everyone gasped at the sight, Madisen’s and Sean’s eyes widened. The inside of the locker was packed with every type of drug imaginable. From marijuana to cocaine to ecstasy, you name it and it was in there.  “Holy crap man, where did you get a stash like that?” asked Sean
“If I told you I’d have to kill you, now does anyone want anything?” asked Kyle.
“You got any regular cigarettes in there?” asked Sean lighting up the second one that Kyle had given him earlier.
“Do you mind not smoking? Besides those things will kill you,” said Heather.
“Hey if I’m gonna be locked in a school all night then I’m gonna do what I want. So Kyle you got any?” Sean said.
“Man, how many times must I tell you? Carry your own. I’m not givin’ you any this time. Answered Kyle shutting his locker door.
“Alright then I’m headin’ down to my locker to get some.”
“Fine, meet us in the main office in the surveillance room.”

Sean walked down the hallway cautiously. It was very dark and he didn’t want to be taken by surprise. It was also very quiet; the only sounds were the rain, his barely audible footsteps and his breathing.
In the surveillance room Kyle and everyone sat looking at all the different monitors, all at different parts of the school.
“Hey look there! Camera 23 on the third floor.  Is that who I think it is?” asked Mark.
“That’s Eddie…oh my god, is he dead?!” said Mike worriedly.
“Well he ain’t movin’ around much that’s for sure, just sorta sittin’ there against those lockers with his head down. We’ll check it out when we go back up there. But hey look there’s Sean on camera 16.” Kyle said lighting a cigarette.
Sean was at his locker putting in his combo. He opened the door and reached in taking out a couple packs of cigarettes.  He put all but one pack into the pockets of his cargo pants. He took a cigarette out of the remaining pack and lit it. He stood there for a second, and as he did everyone in the surveillance room watched in horror. Behind Sean was a dark figure walking towards him. Once he was directly behind him he reached around to the front of his neck and with a flash of metal quickly swiped across. Sean grabbed his throat with both hands and fell to his knees. The killer stepped over Sean and looked up towards the camera, but it was too dark for anyone to see his face.
Allison screamed at the sight of Sean being murdered. She was quickly silenced however by Joe covering her mouth.
“Come on guys we have to get out of here he’s coming this way!” said Mark grabbing Heather’s arm and pushing her towards the other office door.
“ I told him those things would kill him.” Heather said while walking away with Mark.
Kyle stared at the camera in disbelief. Everyone was almost out of the office when Kyle finally came around and realized he should be moving. Before he left he put out his freshly lit cigarette. Kyle followed everyone out of the door towards the main staircase. They ran upstairs to the English wing, right back to where they were. Eddie was propped up against the lockers like he had been on the monitor in the surveillance room. They could now see why Eddie hadn’t moved much. In the back of is neck was lodged a pair of scissors.
“Well that makes four now.” Mark said gravely. “I think I should go try to get help like Mr. T was going to. If I don’t then we’ll all die here.” Mark turned towards the door but stopped when he reached it. “Hey guys, I may not need to go after all. There’s a police cruiser parked behind Mr. T’s car.”
“How long to you think it’s been there?” asked Joe.
“I don’t know but I think we should go look for the cop.” Said Mark.
“If he isn’t dead already.” Kyle added.
“Well let’ hope he’s not because he’s our only chance of getting out of here.” Said Mike.
“Well what are we waiting for then? Let’s go find the man in blue.” Kyle said walking back towards the stairs.


They went down to the first floor. Mark thought it would be easier to start at the bottom and work their way up looking for the police officer. The water on the first floor was about waist deep now. On the first floor they went over and checked out the gym and cafeteria first. No sign of the police officer that should be in the school. The last place downstairs was the administrative hallway.
“Hey look over there. I think I see flashlight light.” Said Allison pointing. ‘
They waded over to where she was pointing. There was a flashlight shining under water. The didn’t have to look much farther for it’s owner. There was a police officer floating face down in the water about five feet farther down the hall. His gun, radio,  handcuffs, pepper spray and nightstick were all missing.
“OK…so what do we do now? Rick is dead, Mr. T, Eddie, Sean, this police officer, they’re all dead! What’re we gonna do?!” Joe said picking up the flashlight.
“Joe, we all need to stay calm, if we start losin’ it then that’s how this psycho is gonna get us. Now where did Mike go?” Mark asked.
“I think he stayed upstairs with Eddie.” Said Heather.
“Darn it I told everyone to stay together. Let’s get back upstairs quick.”
The waded over to the stairs and climbed out of the water. They were on the second floor heading up to the third floor when out of nowhere something large fell from the third floor and swung down in front of them on the second floor. Allison screamed and backed away. The object that had fallen was Mike. He had been hanged and was now swaying back and forth in the stairwell. Allison was still backing away. Kyle saw her and ran towards her, she hadn’t seen that the elevator door was open but no elevator was there. When she saw him coming she backed away ever faster and screamed, “Get away, how do I know you’re not the killer? You probably killed Rick. I know all about the argument you two had. He wouldn’t pay you full price for the pot he wanted because he said it was bad quality. That’s what you get for trusting him to pay you after you gave it to him the day before. He wouldn’t pay you so you wanted revenge. And you never liked Mr. T.”
“Allison, don’t you remember that I was around when all those people were being killed? And why would I kill Sean? He was my best friend.” Answered Kyle defensively.
“Don’t come any closer!” she said still backing up towards the open elevator shaft. She was inches away now and she didn’t even know it. Kyle lunged for her but it was to late. Allison fell down the elevator shaft. And landed with a splash. Kyle looked down the shaft but couldn’t see anything.
“Hang on we’re gonna get you out of there. Are you ok?” shouted Kyle.
“Yea, but my leg hurts really bad. I think it’s broken.” She shouted back.
“Alright hang on,” Kyle shouted. He pulled his head out of the shaft and was about to ask Joe for the flashlight but was interrupted by a loud metallic screeching sound, followed by a scream and a splash. The elevator wires had been cut sending the elevator crashing down on top of Allison. Heather dropped to her knees and cried.
“AHHH!!!, What do you want from us?! What did we do to deserve this? Why can’t you just leave us alone? We’ve done nothing to you, just leave us alone.” Mark shouted up towards the third floor.
“Come on let’s get out of here.” Kyle said picking up Mark.


Kyle, Mark, Heather, Joe and Madisen went back up to the third floor, but not to the English wing, this time they went to the auditorium. Kyle sat on the edge of the stage with one leg hanging over the side. Everyone else sat in the audience chairs. They sat in silence until Mark spoke.
“So what do we do now?”
“Now we wait. It’s just a matter of time until he gets us all. There’s only five of us left, I figure he’ll have us finished before midnight.
“Five of us? What happened to Derek? I didn’t think he’d go psycho after I yelled at him earlier” said Joe.
“I’m right here.” They heard a voice from the back of the auditorium.  “I’ve been here since I left the classroom. Oh and Joe, don’t flatter yourself, I didn’t leave because of you. So where’s everyone else?”
“They’re dead Derek; Rick, Mr. T, Eddie, Sean, Mike, Allison, all of them, dead. Killed by that psycho in the school.  
“Um…I have to go to the bathroom.”  Said Heather.
“You shouldn’t go alone, I’ll go with you and stand outside to make sure he doesn’t come in after you.” Derek offered.
“Yeah I have to go too, so I’ll come along and you can stand outside of both bathrooms.”  Said Joe getting to his feet.
“Fine with me. We’ll be back in a few minutes guys.” Said Derek following Joe and Heather out of the auditorium.
“Now why do I feel like that was a mistake?” Mark asked Kyle.
“Oh come on, don’t tell me you think Derek is the one running around killing people…do you?” scoffed Kyle.
“Think about it Kyle, who is the only one of us that hasn’t been around when someone has been killed? It has to be Derek.” Replied Mark.
“He told us he was up here the entire time. And plus why would he do it? There’s no reason behind it.” Said Kyle.
“He was up here the entire time was he? Then tell me how his clothes are wet up to his waist just like ours are. He was downstairs wading through that water just like we were. And reason? Why wouldn’t he do it? He doesn’t really know any of us. And most of us have probably said something mean to him in the past. Come on, think about it”
“You know Kyle, he’s got a point.” Said Madisen.
“Yea, I know, that’s what I’m afraid of. We shouldn’t have let Derek take them. We have to go check on them. Mark stay here Madisen and I will be right back.”
“Alright, just hurry back.” Mark said as they were leaving.
Kyle and Madisen came around the corner to where the bathrooms were. Derek was nowhere to be seen.
“Go check in the girls bathroom I’ll check the guys,’” said Kyle walking into the men’s bathroom. Kyle was only in the bathroom for less than a minute when he heard a scream. He ran out into the hall to see Madisen leaning against a wall.
“What’s wrong?” Kyle asked.
“Heather, she’s in there. She’s all wet and not breathing. The sink is full, I’m guessing she was drowned.” She said. Kyle turned back to the men’s bathroom and noticed something he hadn’t seen before, a trail of blood leading away from the room and down the next hall.
Kyle and Madisen followed the trail down the technology hall. Down the hall they saw a body on the floor and ran towards it. It was Derek; half of a broomstick lay next to him. Kyle knelt down and checked for a pulse, to his surprise Derek was alive. Kyle stood up and continued to follow the trail of blood; it led to a broom closet. Kyle stood staring at the door for a minute, afraid of what was on the other side. Kyle reached out and turned the knob. He pulled the door open and turned away from what he saw. The other half of the broomstick was jutting out of Joe’s chest. Kyle closed the door and walked away.
“Joe’s dead too.” Kyle said kneeling down beside Derek with her. “Let’s get him into the auditorium.” Kyle and Madisen picked Derek up and carried him back around to the auditorium.
“What happened?” Mark asked as they came in carrying Derek.
“Heather and Joe are dead, we found Derek knocked unconscious out in the hall. Still think he’s our killer?” Kyle asked sarcastically.
“OK so I guess I was wrong. What do we do know?”
“I don’t know what you three are going to do but I’m going to look for this creep. I’ve had enough of this crap.”
“Kyle that’s insanity. If you find him he’ll kill you too.” Said Madisen as she put Derek down in a chair.
“Well if we don’t o something we’re dead anyway. I’m not gonna just sit around and wait to die. I’d rather die fighting than sitting in here.” Kyle said as he left the auditorium.
“I guess it’s just you me and Derek now.” Said Mark.
“I think he’s coming to. Derek you OK?” Madisen said sitting down next to him.
“Where’s Kyle?” Derek said as he opened his eyes.
“He went off to find this murdering creep.” She told him.
“Well he’s looking in the wrong place.”

*****

Kyle searched the top floor first. Finding nothing he went down to the second floor. He stayed clear of the hall where Sean was killed, and then it hit him. Mark was right Derek is the killer. He raced back upstairs to the auditorium. Mark was on the stage handcuffed to a metal folding chair. His eyes were puffy; Derek must have used the pepper spray on him to get him in the chair.  Mark had been shot in the chest and was miraculously still alive.
“Kyle…there’s not much time…. quick Derek took her to the roof. Go, there’s nothing you can do for me. Get out of here!” Mark screamed as his head fell forward. Mark was dead. Kyle climbed the stairs to the catwalk. It was dark and he didn’t have a flashlight. Luckily Derek had forgotten to close the door to the roof and there was enough light coming from the doorway that he could see where he needed to get but not what he was walking on. He stumbled on the catwalk toward the door and the rain. The thought that this could be a trap had crossed his mind but he didn’t care. Finally he found his way to the door and stepped into the cold, blinding rain.


“Derek! Where are you?” Kyle shouted over the rain.
“Up here Kyle” came a voice from behind him. Derek was standing on the roof above the catwalk, the highest place of the building. He was holding Madisen near the edge of the roof. “Come on up, I won’t bite.” Coaxed Derek.
Kyle walked to the ladder leading up to where Derek was. He looked up to be sure Derek wasn’t just waiting to push him off. He quickly climbed the later, slipping a bit on some of the rungs. He reached the top and looked around for Derek. He was farther down the roof dragging Madisen by her hair.
“Let her go!” Kyle called out over the deafening rain. Derek turned to look at Kyle. “Come and get her!” he screamed. Kyle ran forward as fast as he could, but he was too late. Derek pushed her over the edge of the roof. Kyle stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the splash.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” Kyle asked in bewilderment. Derek started to walk towards him, lightning flashed behind Derek illuminating him.
“People have never understood me, they never tried. But maybe you’ll understand why I left you for last. Wanna take a guess?” Derek said in a low voice still coming closer. “No? Well then I guess I’ll just tell you. You are the first person in the past ten years to show me even the smallest bit of kindness when you told me I should stick up for myself. But you see, I had already begun to take things into my own hands. These people deserved what they got. I had contemplated letting you live, but now you know too much and you’ll turn me in. So I guess this is it eh? Ready to die?”
With this Kyle reached into his pocket and grabbed his knife. He ran at Derek who was caught off guard. The knife struck Derek in the chest and he fell to the ground. Kyle climbed down from the top of the roof and sat next to the ladder. It was finally over. Kyle’s fingers slowly opened, dropping the knife with a small splash, as he faded out of consciousness.

*****
Kyle heard voices as he sat with his eyes closed coming in and out of consciousness.
“Sir we’ve got ten dead inside, nine students and the teacher in his car.”
“Captain we’ve found officer Barbrady, he’s dead sir.”
“What’s you name kid?” the officer asked.
“Huh?” replied Kyle coming to.
“Your name, what is it?”
“Kyle, Kyle Schwhiner.”
“Come on, stand up you’re under arrest.”
“What? I’m not the murderer. He’s up there” Kyle said pointing up to the higher level of the roof.
“Kid there’s nobody up there. You’re the only one left alive and you’ve got a knife lying next to you. We found them, all ten of them. Now get up.”
“There were 11. Where’s Derek?” Kyle said more to himself as he was being picked up.


*****
The two students stood captivated as Mr. Smith finished the story.
“They never found Derek.” He told them after a moment.
“What does this have to do with us?” asked the jock.
“It’s to teach you that you shouldn’t push people around or one day they’ll explode and go insane and start killing people.” He said as the bell rang. “Now get to class.”

At the end of the day Mr. Smith got into his midnight blue 1969 Shelby. He drove out of town and upstate to the state penitentiary. He walked in and spoke to the guard.
“Daniel Smith to see Kyle Schwhiner.”
“I’m sorry but he’s waiting for his attorney, we can put you in an observatory room until he can see you.” The guard said.
“That will do nicely, thank you.” Mr. Smith said to the guard following her down the hall.
Mr. Smith walked into the room looking in on Kyle with a two-way mirror. Kyle was sitting in the room alone. Suddenly he looked over to the mirror as if he knew someone was there. He stood up and slowly walked to the mirror. He puts his hands up against it and stared at himself but he knew the other person was staring right back. At that moment he knew what happened on that night fifteen years ago.
Kyle spoke only 4 words very softly.
“I will find you”