Chapter 4.1

No Wi-Fi? No service?

Even the Emergency SOS sign wasn't showing up!

You've got to be kidding me!

Lilli really wanted to break down right then and there.

She paid for a very expensive 5g phone plan just so this situation would never happen, and you mean to tell her it's not working?!

For a company whose slogan was 'Giving you cell service from one end of the universe to another, guaranteed!', they sure didn't live up to it at all!

The moment she got out of here, she would sue them for lying.

Not willing to give up, Lilli kept dialing 911 while walking around the edges of the classroom, hoping the call would go through.

"Please, please, please, I just need one bar. Just one," Lilli muttered to herself as she stared at the phone screen, trying to will even a single bar of service into existence.

Unfortunately-

[DING DONG!]

The sound of the bell and the PA system being activated froze her in her tracks; her heart went into overdrive, and her mouth went dry as she held her breath and listened with all her might.

[Good morning, Sunshine Academy! This is your principal speaking. The time is now 7:45 AM. Although delayed, we will now proceed with our schedule. It is now time to begin Circle Time.]

[Please start Circle Time within the next 10 minutes so that order is restored, and our students have a fruitful, accomplished day.]

[Click.]

The PA system went off.

Huff.

Releasing her breath slowly, Lilli tucked her cellphone into her apron pocket, next to Flora's gifted flowers, and the torn-out sheet from the notepad, before rushing to her desk and grabbing the supplies she used for circle time.

She would just follow the rules, follow the schedule, and everything would be fine.

The bad feeling would go away, and she would go home and laugh at herself for being so silly.

And with a cheery smile, Lilli walked over and sat at the head of the circle with her students.

"Is everyone ready for circle time?"

"Yesss!"

"Noooo!"

"I want to play with my car, Miss Lilli," Luca complained as he held the red car with flames to his chest.

"Not right now, Luca. You heard Mr. Simon's announcement; we have to listen to him, but don't worry. Soon, we'll go outside and have lots of fun playing together. Okay? Please hand the car over. I'll hold on to it." Lilli gently but firmly refused Luca's whining with her hand held out.

Seeing that she was serious, he stuck his bottom lip out in an adorable pout, but handed the toy over before snuggling closer to his twin brother, Cian.

Forcing another bright smile, Lilli began her lesson.

Thankfully, the circle time went peacefully, with all the students engaged, and nothing strange happened.

Seeing their bright smiles and the relaxed atmosphere, Lilli couldn't help but relax too.

The earlier events seemed like a distant nightmare she had imagined, and perhaps Justina was right?

Maybe she was overreacting, and the principal suddenly became stricter because of a surprise inspection.

The Wi-Fi and cell service could be down because construction is messing with the lines or something.

[DING DONG!]

As the bell and the PA system sounded out again, Lilli's previous calm attitude flew out the window as her heart began pounding hard once more.

[Good morning, Sunshine Academy! This is your principal speaking. The time is now 8:30 AM. Circle Time is now over.]

[It is now time to begin Structured Learning Time. The topic today is - the solar system.]

[Please start Structured Learning Time according to the correct lesson plan for your students within the next 10 minutes so that order is restored, and our students have a fruitful, accomplished day.]

[Click.]

The PA system went off, and Lilli released the breath she had been holding.

Good.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Let's just continue just like this with no mistakes.

"1! 2! 3!" Lilli called while clapping loudly.

"Eyes on me!" her students responded while looking at her.

"Let's all take a seat at our desks. Today, we're going to watch an educational video about our solar system, and then we're going to work on a model of the solar system and color our planet in your favorite colors, okay?"

"Kay!!!"

"I want to sit next to Katie!"

"Well, I'm sitting next to Flora!"

As Mallory settled the kids on their brightly colored table and chairs, Lilli quickly gathered and distributed the supplies they would need to build the solar system models and color in the planets.

Styrofoam balls, glue, yarn, construction paper, safety scissors, metal hangers, markers, crayons, and more.

Once everyone had their supplies, she dragged over the rarely used oversized television on a cart that was shoved into the corner.

Plugging in the dusty old DVD player, she put in the antique solar system DVD, which had probably been made when Mr. Simon was a teenager.

After a bit of a struggle with the remote, she turned it on and dimmed the lights, and they all began watching the educational video by Bill Nye the Science Guy.

10 minutes passed by peacefully with the students staring attentively at the screen.

Then-

[DING DONG!]

What now?

Each time the PA system came on, Lilli felt her heart drop to her stomach, and her palms started sweating.

A quick glance at the clock showed that it wasn't time for a schedule change, so why was the PA system going off?

As static came from the PA system, the TV screen began to glitch.

Then, the principal's voice sounded out.

[Teacher Karen White has violated the schedule and broken the rules.]

The TV display changed from speaking about the planet Jupiter to black-and-white static.

[All those who are found in violation of the schedule and rules shall be punished.]

Slowly, the static began resolving into the image of a familiar person standing in a familiar-looking classroom.

[She shall be dealt with accordingly.]

The person being displayed on the TV was Karen, the most seasoned teacher, who had been employed the longest at Sunshine Academy.

[Observe.]

[Click.]

The camera angle was high up, which captured everything in Karen's classroom.

Karen was standing in the center of the room, surrounded by desks, with her students sitting at them.

She seemed to be yelling something while turning around in a circle, but there was no sound coming from the TV.

Nothing seemed to happen, then things began flying from all corners of the room and attacking her.

First, it was a sheet of paper that sliced her wrinkled cheek, leaving a thin, bloody trail and embedding itself in her skin as if it were metal.

As Karen grasped it and ripped it out, shredding her fingers in the process, a Styrofoam ball bounced against her head, almost knocking her over.

Strings of yarn began wrapping around her body while she flailed and fell to the ground.

Then, brightly colored scissors flew at high speed and embedded themselves in her eyeball, causing blood to squirt out.

Lilli had to cover her mouth to hold back a scream.

She watched the students on the TV begin crying silently and running away as more and more things continued to fly at Karen, attacking her and slicing into her body.

Some of the students in Karen's class tried to open the closed classroom door; some were hit by flying objects and fell to the ground, completely still; and others tried to hide behind pieces of furniture or under their desks, their little bodies shaking from fear.

"What is going on? Why? What? Why can't I look away?" Mallory whispered in a choked voice.

Lilli felt the same way.

Her eyes felt glued to the screen, and she couldn't tear her eyes away even as the school supplies ripped into Karen and began taking her apart like some type of macabre biology dissection.

"Miss Lilli? What's happening to Miss Karen? Why is she on TV? That looks like it hurts! Ouch!" a quivering voice asked, jolting Lilli out of her shocked stupor.

"Don't look! It's just a scary movie we teachers were making for fun! It's adult stuff!"

Lilli immediately grabbed the TV cart and tried to swing it away from the kids while trying to turn the TV off, break the screen, anything to stop seeing this dreadful scene!

She hoped it was fake.

Hoped it was somebody's sick idea of a joke, but inside, she knew it was real.

Even though her eyes couldn't look away, she could at least make sure the kids didn't see anything.

"Power, power! Please turn off. Why isn't it working? Why won't the plug come out!"

"Miss Lilli?" A shaky voice called her name.

"Not now, kiddos. Why don't you guys start coloring the worksheet? I want you to decorate planet Earth with your favorite colors. It's a gift for your parents," Lilli said as she tried to turn the TV off.

Unfortunately, no matter what she did, the TV felt as if it had suddenly become a thousand pounds heavier, and none of the buttons worked!

She had barely turned it away from the kids when she saw a pair of kid safety scissors roughly bisecting Karen's skin from head to toe before peeling her skin back.

While Karen squirmed on the ground in a shocking red pool of blood while trying to keep everything inside, some blood-covered organ was torn out by a metal coat hanger, while entrails were slowly pulled out of her and tied together with a string.

Staring at it, Lilli realized that a familiar shape was forming.

In fact, it was one of the shapes that her students had just learned about.

The newly created object then floated to the chalkboard, where a floating chalk pen neatly wrote [Jupiter] as the…object was pinned to the board.

The object that had been formed from the body parts of Karen…was the planet Jupiter.

Horrified, Lilli did her best to swallow a scream while hoping this would end.

But it didn't!

The process was repeated for another planet.

Then another.

Then another.

By the time the last planet was 'created' and pinned to the chalkboard, the remnants of 'Karen' that was on the floor had stopped moving, the classroom displayed on the television was a shocking red color, and there was no sign of movement.

Everything was entirely still.

And suddenly, Lilli could move.

"Blarrrrrghhhh!"

Mallory ran into the class bathroom and immediately threw up with tears pouring down his face, while Lilli carefully turned off the TV, which had returned to the educational clip they were previously watching, with her shaking hands.

Huff huff.

Huff huff.

Even though she was released, Lilli felt stuck to the ground, like a fly in a trap.

She couldn't even feel her body.

Her vision was blurry.

She felt as if she were about to pass out, and she could feel the everything bagel that she had eaten for breakfast was making its presence known as it worked its way up.

What the heck was going on?

Why had this happened?

How had that….

What rule had been broken?

Why had…

As she thought of what happened to Karen, tears began streaming down her face.

She couldn't understand why this was happening.

What had they done to deserve this?

Why them?

[DING DONG!]

The moment the PA system sounded out, Lilli's body immediately tensed up.

She wanted to run but didn't know where to go or how to get out, so she did the only thing she could do.

She glanced over at the children, relieved to see them coloring their papers diligently, even though some looked worried, then listened with all her might to make sure she remembered everything that was said.

[The punishment has been dispensed.]

[Please continue Structured Learning Time so that order is restored, and our students have a fruitful, accomplished day.]

[And remember to follow the schedule and rules so the order is restored, and our students have a fruitful, accomplished day.]

[Click.]