Chapter 5.1

As the chilling PA announcement ended, Lilli just stood there trying to gather herself so she wouldn't burst out screaming and run out of the room even though she really wanted to.

Her hands were shaking so badly that she could only stuff them into her apron, gripping the little toy car and dirty flowers while she tried to regulate her breathing.

In through the nose. Hold for 8 seconds.

Out through the mouth.

Repeat.

"Miss Lilli. Is Mr. Mallory sick? He frew up?"

She glanced over at the speaker.

It was Flora who stared with blue eyes filled with concern before forcing a smile.

"Ah, yes. I think his tummy hurts. I'll check on Mr. Mallory right now, so why don't you all continue coloring, okay? I'll play some music for you guys, too. How about Peter Pan?"

"Okay!"

"Great!"

Giving the kids a thumbs up, Lilli ran to the old CD player and pressed play.

Immediately, the sounds of drums rang out before one of the songs began playing.

'We're following the leader, the leader, the leader.

We're following the leader, wherever he may go.'

As the kids began singing along to the familiar song, Lilli dashed to the bathroom where Mallory had his head under the running faucet while gagging.

"Mal. A-are you okay?" Lilli asked quietly.

"How the h*ll would I be okay after seeing that?" Mallory shot back as he turned to glare at her.

"Watch your language! What if the kids hear you?" Lilli instinctively scolded him before glancing out of the bathroom door.

Thankfully, it seemed that the kids hadn't heard anything as they continued to sing and color.

"Kids? I don't give a rat's ass about the kids. I'm leaving now! Now!" Mallory snarled before shoving her aside as he marched out of the small bathroom.

THUD!

"Ooof!"

As she fell to the ground, Lilli clutched her aching hand before rushing to her feet in realization.

She couldn't allow him to leave!

Not just because she didn't want to be alone, but because it was one of the rules the principal had mentioned during the meeting.

['If you are found wandering around outside of permitted times, you shall be punished.']

If what just happened to Karen was an example of the punishment, Mallory absolutely couldn't leave!

Dashing out of the bathroom, she saw Mallory approaching the door with his jacket and bookbag and rushed to grab his arm, pulling him back with all her strength.

"Mal! Calm down! You have to calm down! You can't leave!"

"You want me to calm down and stay after seeing that?! No! Let go!" Mallory screamed as he pointed at the now turned-off television.

The two of them began to struggle and fight until Lilli finally blocked the door with her arms outstretched.

"Yes, calm down! We need to follow the rules! If we follow the rules, we'll be fine!"

"The only rule I'm following is calling 911 and reporting that psychopathic murdering principal. And if you hold me back, I'm reporting you too." Mallory yelled.

From the side, Lilli heard several small voices crying, and from behind the door, she thought she heard someone screaming, which made her flinch.

Whatever was happening in the hallway didn't sound good at all!

"Get out of my way, Lilli!"

Mallory's voice snapped her back into focus, and she glared at him.

"No! I'm telling you you can't leave or you'll get punished! We need to think this through! Together!"

"Hell no! I'm done thinking! Move b**ch!"

Yank!

As Mallory grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground again, Lilly felt her legs and arms go numb from the force.

That would leave an ugly bruise later.

And even though she understood that he was scared, he had gone too far!

Enough was enough!

Tired of being pushed around and not being listened to, Lilli finally lost her temper.

Jumping to her feet and using all of her strength, Lilli yanked Mallory away from the open door by his backpack straps, and when he turned to look at her-

Slap!

She slapped him so hard across the face that her palm began stinging.

While Mallory stared at her, mouth open from shock, Lilli didn't back down.

"Don't curse in front of the kids, and don't you ever push me around like that or call me names again. Understand? We are teachers. Parents trusted us with their kids, and we're responsible for them. I may not know everything, but I'm telling you what we need to do to survive. If you don't want to listen, fine. I guess I'll be seeing you on the TV."

Glancing between Lilli, who stood in front of the doorway, and the television that her finger was pointing to, Mallory couldn't help but flinch from fear.

Even now, his mind was still replaying the horror he had seen, and he felt vomit coming up again.

He wanted to scream and destroy everything around him and run away, and he couldn't understand why Lilli seemed so…normal.

She wasn't panicking and looked so confident and normal after they had both just watched such a horrid thing.

Like she had experience dealing with crazy situations.

Was she insane? Was she in on it?

Mallory's mind began wandering before he clenched his fist and made his decision.

He was absolutely going to leave and quit this job!

And nobody was going to stop him!

Not even her!

With his mind made up, Mallory began marching toward the open door, shoving Lilli out of the way, and then froze the moment he took a single step out.

The previously familiar hallway, with bright golden lights, checkered floors, and walls lined with students' colorful artwork, was now completely different.

The lights were now an uncomfortably dim, sickly grey and flickered at uneven intervals.

The ground now looked like a swirling dark mass, and even from where Mallory stood, it felt so cold that he could actually see his breath.

As Mallory stared at the ground, the shadowy ground seemed to reach up to him with a tentacle slowly moving towards his face, then turning into a small shadowy hand, while another tentacle wrapped around his leg.

At the touch, Mallory's entire body felt cold and numb, and he began hearing strange whispers in his ears, urging him to move forward, to come closer, to enter the shadows.

"N-no! Let go!"

As Mallory began struggling to free himself, he heard a shrill scream from further down the hallway.

And as he turned to stare down the shadowy hallway, trying to make out the identity of a strange moving mass, the sound he was slowly coming to dread rang out.

[DING DONG!]