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Principal Knott sighed as she opened the doors to the school. Striding towards her office, her heels clicked on the tiled floor, almost drowning out the screams in the distance.
“Let me out! Please! Please, let me out!”
Stepping into her office foyer, she nodded to the secretary, the suited man returning the greeting, eyes tired and face drawn.
“Please! Anybody! Can anybody!? Let me out!”
The man sighed. “How long are they going to leave her there? It’s getting…aggravating.”
Gladys Knott winced. “I agree, but there’s nothing we can do for the poor girl.” With that, she moved on to her office proper, settling at her desk and booting up her pc. Logging into her emails, she absently noted the sudden lack of screaming, and relaxed a little. She had five minutes before it would start again, giving her ears and nerves a brief rest. She immediately felt guilty at the thought. It was not the girl’s fault, after all.
Seeing that there were no new emails, from either the PRT or the school board, Gladys sighed and stood again. Walking past her secretary, she spoke to the man. “Clive? I’m going to visit them. Call me if there’s any updates.” Without waiting for an answer, she carried on walking past him, and down the corridors.
“Let me out! Please! Please, let me out!”
The screaming started again, and Gladys slowed her pace. If she timed it right, she would arrive after the noise stopped. The empty halls echoed with the combined sounds of her heels and the screaming. Not many attended Winslow these days, not since the incident. The vast majority had been pulled out by their parents, and the school itself had several lawsuits pending. Hell, the only reason Gladys got the top job was because she was the only staff member with experience that survived the purges. Blackwell, Gladly, Quinlan, and everyone else had either been fired or arrested once it came out what they were willing to do to keep a ward attendance stipend.
“Please! Anybody! Can anybody!? Let me out!”
Gladys sighed again, a stray tear dripping down her cheek as she rounded the corner to see a loose semicircle of students surrounding one of the blocks of lockers. All of them had their phones out and pointed towards the central locker, with gleeful expressions on their faces. Stopping just short of the students, Gladys watched as the screaming petered out, becoming a muffled sobbing emanating from the locker. Then, the small window above the lockers shattered as a small device flew through it.
The device beeped, and suddenly Taylor Hebert was in front of her locker. Her eyes flicked to Gladys with a sad expression, as she opened her locker to reveal the revolting contents.
Gladys watched as Sophia Hess manhandled Taylor into the locker as the other students laughed, the door being held shut by the Ward as Emma Barnes secured the padlock, a triumphant expression on her face.
Then the screaming started again.
“Let me out! Please! Please, let me out!”
Tears flowed as Gladys watched again, picking out the sad and scared emotions in the various students eyes as the scenario played out again.
Just as it had for the last month, ever since Bakuda had had a running battle with Hookwolf nearby and missed with one of her bombs. Just as it had since the PRT said that they were doing “everything they can”.
Just like it would, forevermore.