Forward
I was probably 14 when I wrote this chapter. By this point, I had consumed a fair amount of horror literature, but horror movies and video games terrified me so intensely that I avoided them completely. My parents still shielded me from the M- and R-ratings, which further preserved my childhood innocence. I adored the gore and the monsters, but I was so far removed from them.
As such, it baffles and irks me that I unknowingly wrote one of the most exploitative and cliché death scenes in my book. My untarnished mind could have created something unique, something pure. Instead, it followed the tropes of the most stereotypical slasher films.
Although we know that other students have died prior to us meeting Allison and Wendy, it is these two who get to push to plot forward with their gruesome murders. They are powerless, given little character development apart from emotional distress, and then ditched unceremoniously once Warren has gotten his fill of trauma. One is even molested, for shit’s sake.
Their sole purpose is to demonstrate the utter depravity and cruelty of the monsters. In this sense, I believe I was effective, but that means little in the grand scheme of things. You can effectively scare a stranger by screaming suddenly in their ear, but the action is cheap and unlikely to be appreciated.
As I remember later sections of this book, I know I’ll dread how I depict my main female character. The Brain School only ever cared most about Warren, and most other characters were simply set pieces for his development. I won’t blame young Solomon for being inherently racist, sexist, and otherwise prejudiced, but I will thank him for not showing his book to everyone.
That would’ve been embarrassing to a past me. Now, I can pretend to cringe with you.
*
Chapter 5 – The Spiral Downward to Hell
I pushed past crowds of loitering kids as I moved toward the stairs. Already, I could see Mann and Deon escorting the Sands twins to the spiral staircase. Instinctually, I ducked behind a group of kids as the two teachers checked for followers before descending after the Sands twins. My body knew before my brain that I needed to be discreet.
After waiting a few seconds, I approached the iron staircase. My heart beat rapidly as I looked down into the void and waited for the echoes of footsteps to disappear. When I could no longer hear them, I ventured into the shadows. I moved slowly and lightly so my shoes made barely any sound against the metal of the staircase. The descent seemed unbearably long, but I subconsciously knew I would appreciate my decision later.
Finally, my feet touched ground. At this late hour, few lights were on in the hallway. The greatest source of light came nearby from the cracks of a barely open door, the door to Ms Risped’s office. Nervously, I crept a little closer to the door and strained to hear what was inside. I could hear voices faintly but no precise words. Frightened but determined, I crawled to the door and peered inside through the thin cracks.
I had never seen the inside of the office before, but it wasn’t much. A large oak wood desk with a swivel chair dominated the room. The rest was pretty barren although I couldn’t quite see the far left corner of the room due to my position.
Ms. Risped sat in the swivel chair as she looked on at Deon and Mann. The men held the Sands twins. I could only see their backs, but I could sense both girls were terrified.
“-so take the other one to him once I decide who I’ll take,” Ms. Risped commanded her two teachers. “We shall use the next child for experiments, but for now we must address Cowan’s and my diet. There is no reason to worry about Jakes and Hines simply because early tests are failing rapidly.
“I won’t be long in choosing,” she continued, getting up from her chair. A wry smile glared brilliantly off her face as she approached the Sands girls. With each step, the girls trembled violently. I, too, shivered as the teacher neared.
“I’ll take this one,” Ms. Risped said casually, pointing at the girl on the left. “What is your name, honey?”
“Wendy,” stuttered the girl.
“Wendy…” Risped restated, rolling the name in her mouth, “Why don’t you come stand by me, darling? You will be staying with me.”
Both Sands girls glanced at each other. Terror had turned both mute. They seemed to know they wouldn’t be seeing each other again, yet they couldn’t bring themselves to show emotion.
“Wait, Ms. Risped,” Mann spoke as Wendy moved toward Ms. Risped. The principal looked up quietly. “The cafeteria staff has observed a number of kids not eating their full meals. It is possible some students have begun to question the food. How should we deal with this?”
“Do not worry,” Risped replied. “We expected this behavior, did we not? If it seems matters are worsening later, we will alert the Student Watchers. Until then, we do not need to fret about possibilities.”
“So be it,” Mann mumbled, sounding disappointed and worried. He grasped Allison’s shoulder and turned with Deon to the door. Cursing silently, I slid away as quickly as possible.
“Wait,” called Ms. Risped. I imagined both men were turning around again to face Ms. Risped. Creeping back to the door, I found I was right. “I want Allison to stay a while longer,” Risped continued, a smile glittering on her face as she hugged Wendy closer to her.
“A little entertainment?” Deon inquired lightly.
“You could say that.” The two of them chuckled quietly. Mann and the two girls remained somber and still.
“What’s wrong?” Ms. Risped snapped when she realized Mann’s restraint. “Do you have a problem with my decision, Bodie?” Mann flinched.
“Yes,” he stated, his head bowing. “I do not think it right to do this in front of another child. It might come back to haunt us.”
“What do you mean by ‘right’?” shouted Ms. Risped, causing Mann to shudder again. “Are you referring to human morals or to ours? Regardless of which, why are we considering them now, Bodie? Of all times?”
Both the Sands twins and Mann shifted uncomfortably as she continued, “And this would return to haunt us? Last time I checked, we are the “haunts,” are we not, Bodie?” She laughed bitterly. “What do we have to fear when we are the ones who cause it? Have you forgotten that, or has being a P.E. coach made you scared of teenagers?”
She sneered and turned to Wendy. Her hands clamped her hands, and suddenly the girl was thrown across the room. As Wendy’s body collided and cracked against the wall on the other side of the office, the blood drained from me, and I felt cold and terrified. Risped had looked like the woman who could break a ruler but not a teenager’s body, but Wendy was now sprawled on the floor, even more disoriented than I was.
“Wendy!” Allison cried out as she tried to run over to her sister’s body. Deon slapped one hand over her mouth and pulled his other around her waist before she escape his grasp.
He hissed something into the girl’s ear which made her sob louder. Her reaction pleased him; a smile flashing on his face. He muffled a laugh as Ms. Risped sauntered over to Wendy. The crash had confused the girl, but she was still lucid enough to understand the situation. She whimpered.
Ms. Risped reached behind her neck and unclipped the sapphire necklace. She tossed the piece of jewelry on top of her desk. As she stood over the child’s body, her skin began to bubble. Although both Allison and I squirmed at the sight, the teachers were focused on Wendy. Mann had not moved, seemingly emotionless. Deon’s smirk seemed to burn as Risped’s skin did the same.
Wendy managed to lift her head to stare up at the principal, and her eyes dilated when she caught sight of the boiling skin. She began crying, stammering something I could not catch from my position. Allison tried to cry for help again, but all I could hear is her choke into Deon’s hand. He and Mann meanwhile continued to remain calm. I held my hands over my mouth, fearful I would lose it at any moment. A voice in the back of my head screamed that I shouldn’t be there.
Ms. Risped stood over Wendy. “Pathetic thing,” the woman growled abnormally as her face began to sag. “It shall end soon; I promise you that.”
“Why?” Wendy whined timidly. She looked up at Ms. Risped pleadingly. “Why are you doing—”
Ms. Risped pointed a fizzing hand down at the girl’s face. The hand exploded, showering its near surroundings in skin and blood. In place of her hand hung a black, hairy paw, equipped with long, thick claws. Wendy screamed.
Laughing quietly, Ms. Risped inexplicably launched a bulb of white material from her new hand at Wendy. The substance engulfed the girl’s face, silencing her completely. Only an eye was barely uncovered; her mouth and nose had no openings. I retched silently into my palms.
Risped stopped laughing as her body went through a final metamorphosis. Her white skin slowly darkened into a rough black hide covered with coarse hair. Her ebony clothes melded with her skin and disappeared completely. Her normal hand morphed to match the opposite while her body elongated and became centaur-like in shape. Four new stubs grew from the lower portion of her body until they were the same length as her original two legs. All six appendages then became spindly, ending with spear-like points. Around her entire body, stripes of red streaked the small hairs. Most horrible, the thing’s head changed: black hair grew; teeth sharpened and elongated; the lower jaw extended; large, red crystalline eyes replaced the pupils; the ears and nose disappeared entirely.
The movement stopped. In the stillness, a massive spider-like monster had replaced my principal.
I almost wet my pants. Only by biting down on my lip did I control both my bladder and my voice. The twins fared worse. Deon’s hand stopped the anguished screams of Allison while Wendy writhed on the floor. Amused, Deon smirked and watched the spectacle. Mann remained sullen.
With quick, deliberate movements, Ms Risped scurried to Wendy and began to gorge herself. The razor-sharp ends of her legs tore the girl’s body as her hands clawed handfuls of flesh and bone and shoveled them into her gruesome maw. All that went in the principal’ mouth disintegrated as her jaws worked through both meat and bone.
Within a couple of minutes, only blood and a few scattered pieces of meat and bone remained splattered across the room. Finished, the monster went about cleaning herself, running a long, thick black tongue across her claws and fur daintily.
Tears streamed down Allison’s face as she knelt on the floor. She mourned for her sister quietly, unable to scream through her ragged throat. Deon, meanwhile, cleaned the vomit from his fingers with a handkerchief. It took only her vomit to release her from his grasp, but it came too late. Her sister was already dead.
Outside, I paced in circles as I kept a hand on my mouth. My stomach signaled it needed to puke, but I knew I couldn’t. The nausea shifted into dizziness as I continued walking. Each step became increasingly unstable. Unable to continue, I rested against the wall again and looked inside the office.
Ms. Risped was trying to slip the sapphire necklace back over her head with her grotesque claws. Clumsily, she managed to fumble it around her neck. Just like minutes before, I witnessed her morph again. Black fur bubbled back into cream, smooth skin. Four legs squeezed back into the abdomen. The abdomen itself disintegrated, and a black dress grew out of nowhere to replace it. Claws and spiked feet returned to hands and high-heeled shoes. The face changed from the hideous spider to the snide, beautiful face of the human principal.
In barely two minutes—the same amount of time it took to eat Wendy—Ms. Risped had morphed from a behemoth spider to a normal person. Not a single feature looked out of place nor did a single speck of blood stain her person. If it wasn’t for Wendy’s gory remnants, a passerby would suspect nothing.
I pressed my hands to my face and wept a few tears in silence. In my head, the traumatic event recurred again and again. I had never seen more than a few drops of blood in my life before then. To think, my teachers were gigantic spiders in disguise, slowing eating us one by one. How preposterous was that? It was laughable, but I could only cry. I choked down my sobs, too afraid to make any sound. As I wiped away my tears, I looked into the office one last time.
“I shall call the custodial crew immediately,” I heard Ms. Risped say casually. She took a seat behind her desk as she continued, “You two deliver the girl to Cowan before they get here. I believe she has seen enough.”
“Yes ma’am,” the two teachers replied in unison. Mann approached Allison and gingerly lifted the crying girl into his arms. He went back to Deon, and together they made their way to the door—
Crap! I was no longer just a witness in this. If I didn’t move in the next few seconds, I would be the next stage of the slaughter. But where could I go? I couldn’t make it up the stairs in time, could I? No, the classrooms were a much safer bet, but who could I go to? Who could I trust? The name, “Drake,” crossed my mind, and without thinking, I dashed off to his room.
As I ran down the hallway, I never happened to recall that Mr. Drake also wore a sapphire necklace or his one emotional outbreak. At the wrong time, I chose to look at the good traits of people. Entirely oblivious, I crashed into Mr. Drake’s history room just as Mann and Deon were exiting Risped’s room.
Darkness closed around me when I shut the door. Panting heavily, I let my eyes adjust to the black. As the room’s shapes became defined, I noticed desks and chairs but no Mr. Drake. It seemed odd. The teacher was out, but the room was left unlocked. Either the teachers of this school had a lax security policy or, by some stroke of luck, I chose the right class to hide in.
I could hear steps approaching. Frightened, I scampered behind Drake’s large oak desk. Since it faced the doorway and had a long front, it would be my best cover. Just as I had tucked myself under the desk’s overhang, the footsteps stopped, followed by the grating of the doorknob being twisted and the door being creaked open. From the small open space under the desk, I recognized the feet of Deon, Mann, and Allison.
“It doesn’t seem Cowan is in,” Mann muttered softly.
“Really?” snapped Deon. “What gave you that impression?”
I cursed silently under my breath. I had come upon the room of Cowan Drake, Allison’s soon-to-be murderer. Years of ignoring my teachers’ first names had come back to bite me. I had to make a run for it as soon as they all left.
“What’s that, Deon?” called a distant voice from the hallway. I swore again when I recognized it belonged to Drake.
“There you are,” replied Deon. Under the desk, I could see another pair of feet join the group. “You were next on the list, so this one’s yours.”
“How gracious of Risped to allow me my turn,” Drake scoffed. “I thought she promised there would be enough children for all of us to eliminate our fasting schedules. In fact, I ate more when I wasn’t part of this school.”
“Drake,” cut in Mann, “you know yourself that this school is not meant to satisfy your every craving. The serum is our main priority.”
“Don’t treat me as if I am stupid, Mann,” Drake hissed. “I know what is happening. I just hope that serum is finished damn soon.” He mumbled something incoherent. “Fine, I’ll take this ‘gift,’ but please, give me some privacy at least.”
Deon and Mann grunted in reply, and their feet disappeared from my view. The door closed soon afterward, taking with it most of the light. Drake didn’t turn on the lights. As my eyes readjusted again, I listened to Allison and his footsteps travel to the opposite side of the room. Finding safety in the dark and in the distance, I popped my head over the desk to see what was happening.
“Do not be afraid, Allison,” Drake cooed gently, “you are in good hands now. I know what you have seen, and I will do none of that to you.”
Allison said nothing, only trembled.
“Allison, it’s okay,” he reassured as he put his hands on her shoulders. “Everything is fine now.”
Urged by his forceful pull, Allison hesitantly rested her head against Drake’s chest as he closed his arms around her. Her head was situated so she would be looking at me, but in the dark, she was unable to clearly see my head. Instead, she only stared blankly at the wall behind me, and to Drake, she replied, “She killed my sister…tore her apart…how—how…”
“How? How?” Drake answered softly. “She acted naturally, like I am about to now.” As he finished speaking, one of his hands slid off of Allison’s back and went in front of him. Clutching her tightly with his other arm, Drake’s hand went forward, faltered for a second, and then wriggled up Allison’s shirt. Allison broke away from her trance and yelped as Drake began to fondle her. Unable to fight or run for help, I could only watch with burning loathing as Drake’s hand moved over Allison’s body.
“W-what are you doing, Mr. Drake?” Allison cried as she tried vainly to twist from his grip. “Stop it!”
“No, Allison, I shall not,” he whispered spitefully into her ear as he hugged her closer. “Just be good, and it’ll be over soon.”
Using his free hand, Drake locked her into a position in which her back faced him. Freeing his wandering hand from her clothes, the teacher carefully removed his necklace and placed it on a desk. Returning his hand back into Allison’s clothes, Drake released a guttural laugh as his body began to ripple.
The scene looked as if it would make Ms Risped’s ordeal look pleasant. Seeing my teacher molest a student was horrifying enough; imagining him as a spider-like monster in the same situation was even more traumatizing. My body wanted me to look away, but no matter how disgusting the scene was, my brain wouldn’t let me budge.
Early on in Drake’s transformation, I could already tell I had made a terrible prediction about his appearance. Instead of growing extra limbs and body parts, his body retained its shape and grew larger. His clothes disappeared as he became taller, and his muscles expanded to unnatural proportions. Veins bulged from his paling skin as his feet and hands sprouted longer, sharper nails. Glowing red eyes replaced his old ones while long pointy ears did likewise; hair crumbled until none remained on his body; and his canines extended to viper-like proportions while his other teeth became sharper.
Two stumps on his back rose and broke through the skin, revealing bone. Those two bones then grew and broke apart to make the ligaments of two wide wings. Gray skin materialized along the newly-grown bone, and leathery flaps connected the hanging joints.