Latest / Dr. NoSleep Animations / 3 School Lockdown Horror Stories Animated (Compilation of March 2023

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3 School Lockdown Horror Stories Animated (Compilation of March 2023 · Dr. NoSleep Animations

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Talk to nicely. Edmonds Academy for the Talented and Gifted
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: was unlike any school I had ever heard of. It
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: was a boarding school tucked deep in the forests of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Northern California. The school was incredibly wealthy and had advanced
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: facilities and technology. Every student that attended came from a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: rich family. And most often they were sent to Edmonds
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Academy simply because their snobby parents didn't want to have
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to deal with them throughout the year. This was mostly
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: true for me as well. I had been attending a
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: standard private school near my home, but I never cared
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: much about my education. My parents grew tired of my
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: dwindling grades, but finding the ounce of weed in my
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: dresser was the last straw for them. They had heard
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: great things about Edmonds Academy. Virtually every student who graduated
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: went on to become a powerful and successful leader in
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: their field. Edmonds Academy also proudly advertised that their teaching
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: methods were unorthodox and were geared towards students who could
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: not thrive in a standardized learning environment. Anyway, my parents
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: signed an unusual number of papers, wrote a breathtakingly large check,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and shipped me off to my new academic prison. And
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: prison is the correct word. One day I was hiking
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: through the forest surrounding the campus I wasn't planning on
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: running away exactly. I was just seeing what I could find.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: About two miles out, I came across a massive electric fence.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: What kind of messed up school used an electric fence
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: to keep students in? The teachers were strange, to say
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the least. Their daily attire consisted of white lab coats
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: and dark glasses. Each teacher always carried an electronic tablet
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: with them. It looked as if they were running science
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: experiments in between classes. Honestly, they probably were. The classes
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: were a bit strange, but nothing too out of the ordinary.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Whenever there was a possibility for hands-on learning, the Academy
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: opted for that. We dissected more animals than I could
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: have imagined. But this at least made class entertaining. And
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: my favorite part was that there were no tests. Evidently,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: you couldn't flunk out of Edmonds Academy, which was great
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: news for me. I was in my first year of
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the upper division, basically the academy's version of high school,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: when I began to fully understand the nature of the school.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: It was the last day of our first term in
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the upper division, and my cohort arrived in our designated
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: learning zone like any other day. We had a cohort
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: of six students, and we all attended every class together
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and slept in the same dormitory together, even though we
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: were a mixed group consisting of four boys and two girls.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: The first thing we all noticed was how quiet and
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: empty the building was. We hadn't seen any students or
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: teachers on our way in. We entered our classroom and
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: sat down. Dr. Zellman, our primary instructor, wasn't in the room.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: We waited. Were we not supposed to come in today?
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Al asked me. Al was pretty much the only person
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I could stand at the school. He was a bit
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: snobby like every rich kid, but he was also the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: most down-to-earth. Plus, it helped that he had been able
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: to smuggle in a dab pen with many cartridges of
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: cannabis oil. We would get high together all the time.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Pretty sure, I replied. Dr. Zellman even said see you
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: tomorrow yesterday. Why would he say that if we weren't
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: supposed to be here? The last member of our cohort
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: to arrive was Andy Buxton. He was large for his age,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and his face was heavily scarred by acne. He was hickish-looking,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: which made him appear very out of place in our
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: school uniforms. Although, apparently to make his uniform more his own,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Andy had torn his sleeves off. Everyone knew to stay
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: out of Andy's way. He was menacing, and I hate
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to say it, But if there was one kid from
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: our school who I had to guess would go on
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: some violent rampage, it would be him. I'm not sure
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: if anyone else knew just how scary he was. One night,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I had entered our dormitory bathroom to find Andy. He
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: had stolen a box of frogs that were meant for
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: school dissections. The bathroom reeked with the stench of blood
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: and guts the moment I opened the door. Andy had
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: been tearing the frogs apart, ripping off their legs. peeling
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: their skin back. I never said a word to him
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: about it. I'm not even sure he even saw me.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Andy took a seat in the back and said nothing.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: This is stupid. Katie Forrester chimed in. She was chewing
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: gum obnoxiously. If no one shows up, I'm just going
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to leave. She was a spoiled rich girl, but I
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: agreed with her. What was the point of sitting in
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: this room if no one was here? I was about
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: to say something to Hal when an alarm blared overhead.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Metal blast shields slid down over our windows and the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: door to our room shut and locked itself. An automated
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: voice kept repeating, A lockdown is in effect. Proceed to
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: a designated safety area. What the hell? Katie said and
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: looked around frantically. Do you think there is a shooter here?
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: A shooter? Hal scoffed. So someone came out to the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: middle of nowhere, snuck past security, climbed an electric fence
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: just to kill some kids. You don't have to be
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: an asshole, Katie replied and crossed her arms. I hope
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: it's a shooter, Andy said, mostly to himself. I'd take
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: care of him. We all went silent at this comment.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Hal looked at me and mouthed, Yikes. I stifled a laugh.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: A smell reached my nose. Smoke. I looked up. The
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: vents at each corner of the room had thick smoke
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: pouring out of them. Is the school on fire? Kyle
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Dunswick asked in a panic. Is that why the lockdown
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: was engaged? I ran to the door that sealed our
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: room to try and open it. Edmonds Academy used key
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: cards for all doors. I placed my student ID on
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: the card reader. It made a disapproving beeping sound and
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: flashed red. Megan Livingston. An awkward and quiet girl responded
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: to Kyle. That doesn't make sense. Why would they lock
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the doors in the event of a fire? It doesn't matter!
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Katie shouted. We're all going to choke to death from
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: this smoke! The large touch screen on the front wall
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: suddenly powered on. There was a 5x5 grid, each square
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: containing strange symbols I didn't recognize. The bottom row, however,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: was empty. Anyone know what language that is? Hal asked.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: It's a pattern matrix. Megan said in her meek voice.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: We have to use the information from the previous squares
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: to complete the pattern on the last row. She approached
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the screen and repositioned her glasses. We all coughed as
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the room thickened with smoke. Megan studied the board for
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: a while. I don't want to be that guy, Kyle said.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: But would you mind figuring this little puzzle out before
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: we all suffocate? Megan tapped the screen and cycled through
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: different symbols until she completed the bottom row. Then she
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: pressed enter. There was a buzzing sound and Megan's small
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: body crumpled to the floor. She had been electrocuted. A
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: red X flashed on the screen. Hal and I ran
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: to Megan and helped her sit up. Is this some
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: kind of joke? Hal shouted in anger. Are they trying
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to kill us? Megan was whimpering and pleading. Don't make
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: me touch it again. Please, don't make me touch it.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: My eyes were watering from the smoke. You don't have to,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: I said. Tell me the pattern and I'll enter it.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: You can get it right this time. Just focus. Megan
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: nodded and looked back at the screen. Oh, she said.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: How did I miss that? Change the last symbol to
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the oval with three lines through it. I cycled to
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: that symbol and got ready to press enter. I hesitated.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Are you sure? I asked. Positive. I braced myself and
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: pressed enter. There was an upbeat beeping sound and the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: door to our room slid open. We all ran out,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Hal and I carrying Megan. The school apparently shifted. Instead
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: of entering the hallway, we found ourselves in another larger room.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: As we entered, the door to our classroom sealed shut
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: behind us. There was another locked door on the opposite side.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Above the door, flush with the wall, was a timer
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: counting down from one minute. Looking around, I saw that
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: there were no vents and there was no smoke. We
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: could all breathe easily. Oh, come on! Cal shouted in anger.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Why are they doing this to us? Katie said and
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: began to sob. The timer reached zero, and the walls
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: to our left and right began to move, closing in
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: on us. Some students instinctively pushed against the walls, but
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: it was no use. Then the walls stopped. The timer
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: started again from one minute. Andy was standing at a
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: pedestal in the middle of the room. He picked a
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: single object off it. My blood ran cold. He was
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: holding a dagger. He smiled. There's an inscription on it,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: he said. It says... the key to your survival. The
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: dagger was the key to our survival? I didn't like
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the sound of that. And I especially didn't like that
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Andy was the one holding it. Whoa, Andy, Al said,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: lifting his hands. Let's talk this through. We need to
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: figure this out together. Why? Why? Andy said with a
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: disturbing smile. It's obvious, isn't it? It's Charles Darwin. We
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: read him for class a month ago. Survival of the fittest.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: We need to remove the weak genes. We need to
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: get rid of the one holding us back. Andy walked
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: right up to Megan. My body tensed. Now, Andy began
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: pointing the knife at Megan. I would have thought you
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: were the weakest among us, but you got us out
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: of that room. So clearly you're fit for something. And you...
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: He pointed the dagger at me. You were brave enough
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: to step in and take the shock yourself if she
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: was wrong. Andy walked around all of us, swinging the
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: dagger back and forth in a menacing motion. I know
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: who the weakest among us is. He stopped in front
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: of Katie. You aren't strong. You aren't smart. You're just
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: a useless burden. Hal and I were moving to intervene
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: when the clock reached zero. The walls began to close
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: in even further. While we were momentarily distracted by her
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: increasing confinement, Andy struck. He plunged the dagger into Katie's chest.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: She screamed and tried to fight him off, but she
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: was no match for him. He thrust the dagger into
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: her three more times. She grew still and quiet. The
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: timer reset to one minute and continued to count down.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: The room was already less than half its original size. Hmm.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Andy said, looking at the timer. I guess it wasn't
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: a test to find the weakest. It must be a
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: test to find the strongest. A last man standing situation.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: He was going to kill all of us. He grabbed
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Megan because she was closest to him. I tackled him
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: to the ground and bent the wrist that was holding
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: the dagger. The dagger slid across the floor, but Andy
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: was much stronger than me. He kneed me in the
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: stomach and got on top of me. He raised a
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: powerful fist into the air and he froze. His eyes
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: were wide and his mouth was open. He tumbled off me.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Hal stood there, breathing heavily. He had stuck the dagger
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: in the back of Andy's skull. The clock struck zero again. Quick!
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I shouted. We have to use the bodies to block
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: the walls. Don't think about it. Just turn them sideways.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: We positioned the two corpses on top of each other,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: perpendicular to the shrinking walls. The walls kept coming. They
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: pressed against the lifeless bodies of our classmates and didn't
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: even slow. This was it. We were going to be crushed.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: The wall stopped again. The door to the exit suddenly
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: unlatched and slid open. Dr. Zellman stood in the doorway,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: his bald head shining in the fluorescent light. He was
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: making notes on his tablet. Interesting, he muttered. Yes, very interesting.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: It's been a while since a student resorted to fatal violence.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Three whole years, in fact. He checked something on his tablet. Megan,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: well done solving that matrix. Excellent work under pressure. And Andy,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: great job connecting your situation to Darwin. It's important to
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: always draw knowledge from every... He noticed Andy's corpse on
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: the floor. Oh? Dr. Zellman said. Oh dear. He appears
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to be... Hmm. Yes, well, these things happen. But that
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: reminds me, Jacob, he said, turning to me. Excellent work
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: overcoming your disgust and trying to use the bodies as
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: a stopping block. Very resourceful. I stared at my professor
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: with my jaw open. You were trying to kill us,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I said faintly. What? No, of course not. You never
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: were in any real danger. We stopped the walls before
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: they could reach you. And if you hadn't figured out
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the first room... We would have pulled you out before
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the smoke suffocated you. No real danger? I asked, anger rising.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Two of us are dead! Yes, well, Dr. Zellman began.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: We never told you to kill anyone. This was up
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: to you all. We simply permitted you the freedom to
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: do as you wished. What the hell were we supposed
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: to do? I asked. Oh, the knife was the key. Literally.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: It has a key card in its blade. It would
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: have opened the door. Dr. Zellman said this as if
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: it were the most mundane thing in the world. He
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: looked around at all of us. Look, I can understand
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: your discomfort, but we were trying to get you to
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: overcome your preconceived notions. We gave you a knife, but
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: wanted you to consider that things aren't always as they seem. Unfortunately,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: you chose to use the knife as well. As a knife.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: The important thing is that we all learned something. You see,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: at Edmund's Academy, you don't pass or fail. You just learn.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: He made some more notes on his tablet and then
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: smiled and said we were all free to go. When
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: I arrived at our dorm, my anger had completely transformed
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: into unbearable dread. I realized that there was nothing I
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: could do. I couldn't call the police. I couldn't even
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: call my own parents. And we were all trapped here.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: There was no way out. I sat in my bed,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: knowing that I would remain here for the next three years.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Whatever these people wanted to teach me, or whatever they
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: planned to do to me, I would just have to
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: accept it. I wondered if I would die here. Or worse,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: if I survived, I wondered what kind of callous monster
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: I would be. By the end of my time at
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Edmund's Academy for the Talented and Gifted. The past haunts us.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Of this I was always certain. It haunts us through
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the things we have done and the things we have
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: left undone. But I always thought this haunting was one
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: of spectral grief. Like a shadow that grows to dim
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: our joy and peace of mind. It was in my
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: senior year of high school that I learned that the
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: past isn't always a forlorn reminder. It can come as vengeance.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: The past can rise and swell with real power and
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: come crashing down not only on ourselves, but on the
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: innocence around us. Our town had many ghost stories and legends,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: yet the unimaginable thing that happened at my high school
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: didn't come from any of these. and that should be expected.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Ghost stories are just stories after all. No, the event
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: that left our town's past unsettled was a concrete event,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: albeit a tragic event, but there was nothing mysterious about it.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Some thirty years early, over a decade before I was
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: even born, a girl from our town was murdered. Her
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: name was Daisy, She was a freshman at the very
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: high school I was about to graduate from. She was
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: found days after her death. Bruises on her neck indicating strangulation.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Her body had been hidden in the ceiling above the
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: principal's office. The principal at the time was arrested and
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: charged with her murder. And so, everyone thought the matter
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: was settled. Everyone was wrong. It was a Friday in March.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure which day. but it was the first
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: day of spring. I remember that clearly. The day was
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: unseasonably warm and bright. Everyone seemed to have more pep
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: in their steps, and the end of the week excitement
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: was humming through the student body. At lunchtime, I sat
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: alone as per the norm. I wasn't a popular kid,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: to say the least, and I had no friends. But
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: soon I was to graduate, and I assured myself that
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: college would be different. While I was sitting at that
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: old table in the corner of the cafeteria, biting into
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I felt a shiver
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: run down my spine. It was as if a sudden
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: draft of cold had rushed past me. Only, I wasn't
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: near any open doors. Then, I heard a whisper. The
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: whisper said, All alone. I turned to see who was
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: taunting me. but there was no one there. It sounded
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: like a younger girl. I thought it must have been
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: an underclassman who had darted away before I turned around.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I was used to freshman girls bullying me. I shrugged
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: off the mean taunt and proceeded to my next class
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: after the lunch bell rang. I had AP Calculus with Mr. Hartfield. Mr.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Hartfield was a man who looked far older than his
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: age of 60. Honestly, He looked like he was pushing 90.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: He was one of the only teachers who had remained
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: after Daisy was murdered. Maybe he aged so prematurely due
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to the trauma of Daisy's death. It was rumored that
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: he had been close to her. something like a father figure.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: He was a serious but kind man, and my only
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: friend in the whole school. Often, I ate lunch with
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: him in his classroom. But sometimes he told me I
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: needed to go out and be with the other students.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I understood that he was trying to help me. But
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: this exercise was pointless, especially considering I was about to
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: leave this school forever. In the middle of calculus, I
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: gave the correct answer to a complex problem, to which Mr.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Hartfield smiled and said, Very good, Daniel. Someone behind me coughed.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Teacher's pet! Everyone laughed. Everyone except Mr. Hartfield and myself.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: I was turning around to make some comeback. that would
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: have made all my classmates despise me even more, when
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: a piercing sound filled the room. It was the school alarm.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Our principal's voice came over the intercom. All students and
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: faculty proceed to the nearest classroom. This is a lockdown. Mr.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Hartfield checked the area around our room. No students were nearby,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: so he immediately closed the door and locked it. I
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: don't know what this is about, he said. but let's
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: proceed as if it's an active shooter. Daniel, help me
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: close the blinds. Everyone, pull the tables to the corners
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: of the room and get under them. He switched off
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: the lights and placed a green piece of paper over
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the rectangular window in our door. This not only prevented
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: anyone from seeing in, but also indicated that all students
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: in the class were accounted for. I pulled the blinds
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: shut and ducked under a table. All the students near
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: me were muttering to each other, Lizzie Smith was clearly
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: in a panic. She was clutching her boyfriend, asking if
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: he really thought there was a shooter in the school,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: as the principal had not said it was a drill.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: He pulled her close and said, nah, I'm sure it's nothing. Besides,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: if there is a shooter, we could just push Daniel
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: out first and run. He nodded to me. I was
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: appalled that he could seem so casual while joking about
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: me dying. I was even more appalled that Lizzie laughed
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: at this. My glare in their direction went entirely unnoticed. Ring, ring!
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: The old landline phone in the classroom, which the faculty
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: used to quickly communicate with each other, began to ring. Mr.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Hartfield picked up the phone. I watched his face. He
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: grew pale at whatever was said on the other side.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Then he said, Yes, understood, and hung up. Dean, Lizzie's boyfriend, asked,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: So what's up, Mr. H.? It's just a drill, right? Mr.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Hartfield stared at no one in particular and said, Drill? Er, no,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: not a drill, but nothing to worry about. Everyone just
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: remain calm and quiet. Knowing that something was wrong, I
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: crawled over to Mr. Hartfield's desk. Mr. Hartfield, I said,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: I know something bad happened. I won't tell anyone else,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: but can you please just tell me? He sighed. Oh, Daniel.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: They found a body. What? Who? A student found Mr.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Davidson's body in the hallway. It appeared that he had
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: been strangled. He barely managed to say the last word.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: So there's a killer in the school? I asked incredulously. Yes,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: but no one knows where, and no one saw anyone
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: enter the school. What else do we do? We just wait,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: stay quiet. But there's one more thing. No one has
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: been able to contact the police. No calls can be
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: made outside of the school. As he finished speaking, the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: room fell into a deeper darkness. It was as if
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: a shadow had fallen over the school, blocking out the
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: rays of light that had been filtering through the blinds.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Then the room burst with brightness as someone switched the
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: lights on. Mr. Hartfield stood up in anger and yelled,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Who turned that light on? But no one had moved,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: and the light switch was still in the off position.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: I peeked through the blinds. There was nothing but a
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: black void outside the window. I couldn't see anything. Lily
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: let out a scream. I followed her gaze to the whiteboard.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: A black, dry erase marker was suspended in midair, floating
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: with its cap off. The marker moved and began to
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: write on the board. As the marker squeaked, I tried
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: to wrap my mind around what was happening. The writing
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: on the board was neat and unassuming. The marker dropped
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: to the floor. What was written on the board read,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: When considering triangular formulas, what is the opposite divided by
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the hypotenuse equal to? It was a math question, and
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: an easy one at that. It was something a freshman
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: would be studying in basic geometry. The answer, of course...
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: was sign of the angle, or sign of theta. Thinking
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: that answering correctly might help our situation, I shouted, sign
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: of theta! A chuckle ran through the air. It sounded
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: like a girl was laughing, only it seemed to radiate
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: through the room. The lights began to flicker as a
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: terrible screeching noise pierced our ears. Something else was being
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: written on the board, only this time, it was as
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: if it was being carved into the board with an
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: invisible knife. The writing was jagged and sloppy and consisted
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: of only three letters, S-I-N. It was the answer to
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the question, the abbreviation for the word sign, written as sin.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: As we all stared at the board, the strange laughter
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: that seemed to come from everywhere at once increased. The
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: lights flashed in rhythm with the laughter. Then the laughter stopped.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I felt the cold chill down my spine again. And
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the same voice that had said all along now said,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: If you want anyone in this school to live, come
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: outside and talk with me. The voice of a young
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: teenage girl. No one else seemed to hear it. They
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: were all still frozen with fear at what had just happened.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: I stood up and walked to the classroom door and
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: unlocked it. What are you doing? Mr. Hartfield shouted. I
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: ignored him and ran into the hall. The hall was cold.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: A cold had made my skin tingle. Everything had a
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: strange dimness to it. Yet, I could still see clearly.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: I looked to my left, down the hallway of lockers,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and saw Mr. Davidson's corpse on the floor. And there,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: floating just above him, was a young girl. She was pale, semi-transparent.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Her hair was pulled back in two pigtails. To the
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: right side of her scalp was a hair clip. And
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: on that hair clip was a daisy. What's your name?
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: She spoke like any other freshman girl. I opened my mouth.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: It took all my strength to squeak. To Daniel. Hi, Daniel.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: She said and smiled. Do you know who I am?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: The girl who... You're Daisy. That's right. Even though she
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: was positioned above a man she had just murdered, I
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: got the sense that she didn't want to hurt me.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: I like you, Daniel. You're like me, all alone. I
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: know what it feels like. I was bullied every day
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: that I walked these halls, and abused every night that
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: I went home. I had one friend. Do you know
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: who that was? People have said you were close to Mr. Hartfield,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: but I've never heard him talk about you. Oh? She questioned,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and cocked her head to the side. She stuck out
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: her bottom lip like a baby pouting, and in an
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: obviously fake whiny voice said, He doesn't ever talk about me.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: He's gonna break my widdle heart. I stared, not knowing
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: what to say. Daisy's demeanor darkened. The air got colder. Daniel,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: he was like a father to me. Do you want
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: to know why he doesn't talk about me? Do you
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: want to know what happened here 30 years ago? In
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: that very classroom? She lifted a ghostly hand. pointed to Mr.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Hartfield's room. Is that where the old principal, you know? No, Daniel.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: It's where Mr. Hartfield, you know. No, I said in
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: a whisper. Yes, Daniel. He stuffed my body in old Mr.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Calloway's office and had him framed for murder. And now
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I need you to bring Mr. Hartfield out here so
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: we can... She placed a hand over her throat. Talk?
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: I don't understand. Why can't you just go in there yourself?
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: The air turned even colder, and the hallway grew darker.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Daisy spoke in a harsh whisper. I can't go in there.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Did you know what he did to me in there?
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Did you know what he did before he strangled me?
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: That man who was like my father. Daisy squeezed her
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: eyes shut. Now there was a genuine sorrow in her voice.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Do you know what he did to me while I
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: begged him to stop? While I screamed and begged? As
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: if from a living memory, I heard the voice of
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Daisy all around me. She was screaming and crying. Please,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: please don't do this! Someone help! Then the scream turned
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: into the sounds of choking, then silence. I felt Daisy's
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: sadness rising inside me. Daniel, she said, bring Mr. Hartfield
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: out here. But he was always so kind to me.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Kind to you? Did you not hear what I just said?
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I know, but you're going to kill him. Daniel, she said,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: her tone gentle. He has to pay for what happened.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Bring him out here so that justice can prevail. I nodded,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: and I was about to go and do as she
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: asked when I saw Mr. Davidson's body again. What did
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: he have to do with this? Why did you kill him?
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Daisy remained silent. I took a step back. You're lying,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: I said. This isn't about justice. This is revenge. I'm
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: sorry about what happened to you, but you just murdered
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: an innocent man. You're no better than Mr. Hartfield. At
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: those words, I felt the very air grow hostile. Daisy's
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: pigtails came undone, and her hair began to writhe. Her
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: eyes turned into soulless pits. Innocent? Her voice changed. It
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: now sounded as if many girls were speaking all at once.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: It sounded like something ancient and horrible. I am the
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: only innocent one. I am the power of the powerless,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the victims of the world. The lockers around us burst
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: open and closed repeatedly. School supplies flew out of them
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and began to spiral around Daisy as if she was
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: in a tornado. She rose higher into the air. I'm
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: the blood avenger. She went on in that collective, nightmarish voice.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: The slaughter of the innocent must be paid with blood.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: And if he doesn't come to me, I will make
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: these halls run red. I will upend brick from brick.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: I will pull out the earth from beneath him and
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: this entire town. Dits of the walls began to tear
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: free and spiral around Daisy. I felt weak and fell
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: forward under the weight of her power. She was going
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: to kill me. She was going to kill everyone. Just
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: as I felt myself about to lose consciousness, I heard
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: a voice shout from behind me. Daisy! Everything stopped. The
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: school supplies and chunks of debris spiraling around Daisy all
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: froze in the air. I gasped. Mr. Hartfield had taken
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: a step outside of his classroom. You're right, Daisy, he said.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: I must pay for what I did to you. Not
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: a day has gone by that I don't feel like
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I'm drowning in shame. I'm sorry, Daisy. Please don't hurt
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: this boy. Please don't hurt anyone else. Daisy walked through
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: the air, taking soft steps as if there was an
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: invisible floor in midair. She stopped just in front of Mr. Hartfield.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: For a moment, she seemed hesitant, even afraid. Then she
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: lunged at him with fury. She choked him, not with
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: any supernatural power, but with her own bare hands. Forced
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: to the floor, Mr. Hartfield gasped and sputtered. Big! Daisy shouted.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Her voice now a simple child's again. Bet for me
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: to stop! But Mr. Hartfield didn't beg. He writhed for
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: a little while. Then he was still. His open eyes
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: stared at nothing. Daisy sobbed softly for a moment. Then
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: she vanished. As she left, the darkness covering the school
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: went with her, and daylight returned. All the objects floating
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: in the air fell back to the floor. I could
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: sense that the wrathful energy was gone. Everything was calm.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Even now, I can't understand why Mr. Hartfield went so willingly.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: He had let an innocent man rot in jail for
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: 30 years, never once owning up to his crime. Perhaps
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: it was seeing the spirit of Daisy, finally forcing him
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to accept the truth of what he had done. I
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: can't reconcile the kind of man I knew. with the
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: man who did such a horrible thing to a little girl.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: But I suppose I don't have to. The past came
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: with determined wrath to reconcile it itself. My mother was
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: already in the kitchen that Monday morning, preparing me a
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: breakfast of eggs and hash browns. Good morning, sweetie, she said.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I rubbed my eyes and gave a half-hearted warning back
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: to her. I forked an egg into my mouth while
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: partially listening to the chatter from the television set in
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: the living room that my father was watching. Mysterious disappearance
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: at the San Francisco Zoo. Investigation underway. Sam? My father
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: called from the other room. Have you and your friends
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: heard anything about this? I rolled my eyes. Heard about what, Dad?
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: These zoo animals just disappeared overnight. Guess whoever was supposed
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: to lock up that night is out of a job.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: I think my friends and I have better things to
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: do than worry about where some animals went, Dad. My
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: mother gave me a stern look as if to say,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Be nice to your father. Mom, I whispered. He's gotta
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: stop watching the news all day. It just gives him
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: a million pointless things to worry about. My mother shrugged
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: her shoulders, but I knew she agreed with me. The
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: bus is here, she said. Have a good day, sweetie.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: She handed me a brown paper bag with her heart
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: drawn on it and kissed me on the cheek. Mom,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: I'm in high school. I groaned in protest. But you're
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: still my baby boy, she said, and grabbed me and
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: kissed me again. I laughed and pushed her off me
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: and ran out the door to the large yellow vehicle
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: waiting for me. Apparently, every kid on my bus had
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: a concerned, news-obsessed father as well. because the topic that
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: dominated the conversation for the whole ride was the escaped
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: zoo animals. The high schoolers were spinning their own wild
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: conspiracy theories. One student claimed that aliens had abducted the
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: animals to conduct research. Another saying that a religious cult
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: had exhausted their supply of animals for ritual sacrifices and
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: were seeking to replenish it. Brad from AP History had
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: the most reasonable explanation. It was simply that the exotic
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: animals in the San Francisco Zoo could sell for ridiculous
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: amounts of money on the black market. Stealing these animals
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: was akin to stealing gold bars from a bank. I
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: figured that had to be the correct reason. The bus
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: pulled up to my high school, and we all shuffled
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: out and into the school itself. First period, I had
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: English literature, so I made my way to the far
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: end of the school where Mr. Jameson taught. Entering the room,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: I gave my best friend, Pablo, a fist bump and
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: sat down next to him. That day we were discussing Hamlet,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: and to make it more engaging, Mr. Jameson was drawing
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: comparisons between it and The Lion King. Near the end
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: of class, he showed us a clip from the movie.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: It was a scene in which the protagonist, Lion, was
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: fighting his uncle. Only the clip wouldn't load. It was
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: frozen on the lion's open mouth. We heard a ferocious roar. Mr.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Jameson looked around in confusion. Why is the audio working
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: when the video won't load? He muttered. Something felt wrong.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: It didn't sound like the roar had come from the
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: classroom speakers. Screaming. There was screaming coming from the hallway
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: just outside her classroom door. We heard another spine-tingling roar.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: Then there was a piercing ringing sound. Our school's alarm system.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Our principal came on the intercom and spoke quickly. This
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: is an emergency lockdown. All students and faculty move to
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: the nearest room and lock the doors. There are predators
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: loose in the school. Predators? We were all stuck to
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: our seats. My eyes were fixed on the little glass
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: window of her closed door. Someone slammed against it hard,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: and there was a splattering of red across the window.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: It was the school janitor, and she was screaming, banging
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: on the door. Her face was torn open, three long
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: gashes pouring blood. She fumbled with the handle and found
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: that the door was unlocked. Pulling it open, she fell
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: forward onto the floor. We were all too frightened to
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: even move. I saw that her back also had large
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: gashes on it. She was trying to lift herself up
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: when a lion with bulging muscles sunk its teeth into
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: her back leg and dragged her screaming from the room.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: The door automatically swung closed, but not before I saw
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: the lion tear off a chunk of flesh from the
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: janitor's thigh. Her screams were worse than the lion's roar. Mr.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: Jameson's mouth was open, his eyes wide. Everyone, everyone remain calm.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Already kids in our class were sobbing, some of them
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: huddling together in the corner of the room. I turned
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: to Pablo. Dude, what the hell? He just stared at me,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: then looked at Mr. Jameson. Mr. Jameson was dialing 911.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: We overheard an automated voice say something about a large
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: volume of calls, and no one picked up the phone.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: His face dropped and he looked up at us and said,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sure someone is coming to help. We just need
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: to stay and there was a thunder at the door.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: The whole room shook. The entirety of the little window
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: of our door was covered by something black. The room
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: shook again and the wall around the door began to
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: show cracks. Something was hurling itself against the door. A
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: final thunderous sound sent the door and parts of the
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: wall sprawling to the ground. In the now gaping hole
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: stood a massive gorilla, larger than I could have ever feared.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: It locked eyes with Mr. Jameson and charged immediately. It
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: picked him up with its massive hands, holding one of
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: his arms in each hand. Mr. Jameson was screaming and
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: kicking at the beast, but it didn't seem to even
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: notice his assault. The gorilla began to pull his arms
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: out to the side, like a child trying to pull
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: apart a dog. I heard sinews tearing. The area of
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: his shirt around his shoulders turned red. I knew what
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: was about to happen. His arms would be ripped from
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: his body. Pablo grabbed me and guided me out of
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: the hole where our door used to be. I heard
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: a wet, tearing sound. Mr. Jameson stopped screaming. I didn't
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: look back. The hallways of the school were alive with chaos.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: Apparently many students and faculty members had been outside of
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: classrooms when these animals had entered the school. There were
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: now two lions feasting on the body of our poor janitor.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Fortunately for us, they were distracted, and we slipped right
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: past them. To our left, a group of students were
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: huddled together on top of a table as a large
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: alligator paced around on the floor beneath them. Another group
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: came into view, sprinting down the hall. Behind them, the
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: ground itself seemed to move. A large gathering of serpents
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: slithered across the floor. One of the students at the
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: back of the group was struck on his ankle by
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: a serpent. The student screamed and fell to the floor.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Almost instantly, The rest of the serpents swarmed him and
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: coiled around him until only a writhing mass of snakes
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: could be seen. Pablo and I sprinted to the main
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: plaza of our school, seeking the front entrance. The entrance
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: was crowded with students and teachers. Why weren't they leaving?
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: When we approached, I heard a student crying. They locked
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: us in! Why would they lock us in? My eyes
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: moved to the large double doors. They had been locked
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: from the outside by a thick metal chain. What is
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: going on? Pablo asked. Teachers were hammering against the windows
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: with chairs and various objects they could find, but it
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: was useless. The glass was bulletproof, and even the strongest
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: of our faculty couldn't leave a scratch on the surface.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Out of the corner of my eye, I saw our
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: principal pacing back and forth in his office. Come on, dude,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: I said to Pablo. Maybe he knows what's going on.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: We ran to his door and found that he hadn't
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: even bothered to lock it. Mr. Hadley, I said. Do
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: you know what's happening? He barely even seemed to notice us.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: He had apparently just gotten off the phone with someone
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: and was in great distress. With one sudden motion, he
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: flung his phone across the room in anger, then buried
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: his face in his hands. Mr. Hadley! I shouted. He
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: looked up. I'm sorry, boys. I don't know what else
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: to do. What is happening? I asked again. Something malicious.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what. but I finally got through to
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: emergency services. The police said that this is happening at
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: almost every school in the Bay Area. It's some kind
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: of terrorist attack. They said they don't know when they'll
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: be able to send anyone our way. Oh man, Pablo muttered.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: He was looking at his phone. He angled it towards
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: me and said, look at what's trending on Instagram. It
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: was a video featuring a man sitting in a forest,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: wearing a metal mask, that was half human and half gorilla.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: He spoke with a deeply modulated voice. Hello citizens of
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: the Bay Area. This is OAL, Order of Animal Liberation.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: For too long we have been ignored by the public.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: We have sought peaceful solutions even in the face of genocide.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Despite the ruthless slaughter of innocent creatures, we've remained patient.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: But no longer. You, along with the whole world, are
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: complicit in the abuse and murder of countless animals. You
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: steal animals from their families and place them in cages
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: just to bring your children to gawk at them. You
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: took Mother Nature's children from her. So now, we will
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: take your children from you. This is her wrath. She
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: demands blood for the slaughter of her kin. We hope
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: that this will wake you up to the reality of
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: our situation. Let us move forward into a world where
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: humankind and animalkind can exist in harmony. You have to
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: be kidding me. I said. These psychos are okay with
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: murdering children? This is bad, Mr. Hadley said on the
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: verge of tears. This is really bad. I was looking
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: at Pablo, uncertain of what we should do, when glass
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: shattered to our right. The window in Mr. Hadley's office,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: which pointed out into the main plaza of the high school,
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: had been shattered by a large ostrich. Bits of glass
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: fell through the air like diamonds, and the creature let
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: out a screeching noise. Get behind me, boys! Mr. Hadley shouted.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: We obeyed. He held up one of his hands as
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: if to push the bird away. It paused and stared
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: at him. Slowly, he turned, trying to position us closer
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: to the door. The ostrich followed his gaze and cocked
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: its head to the side. Then, in one swift motion,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: the bird lunged its head forward and plucked Mr. Hadley's
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: right eye clean from his head. He stumbled back, clutching
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: the bleeding wound with his hand. The bird held the
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: eyeball between its beaks. A long, red, flashy cord dangled
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: from the eye. The bird tossed back its head and
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: swallowed the eyeball whole. Run! Mr. Hadley shouted. We sprinted
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: from the room as the ostrich lunged at Mr. Hadley.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: Back in the main plaza, the teachers and students had
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: scattered due to what entered the room. On the opposite
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: side of the plaza, emerging from the shadows of the
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: left hallway, was a massive white rhinoceros. It let out
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: a low grunting sound and paced back and forth. I
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: looked around at the frightened faces. I heard the cries
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: of wild beasts and the cries of innocent children being
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: devoured all throughout the school. I had an idea. A
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: very stupid idea. Walking to the front doors, I positioned
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: myself exactly in the middle. I took a couple steps forward,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: locking eyes with the rhino. Pablo realized what I was doing.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: He approached me. I thought he was about to tell
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: me I was crazy. and dragged me away. But instead
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: he patted me on the shoulder and said, You go right,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: I'll go left. I nodded. The rhino was no longer pacing.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: It was staring straight at us. I lifted my arms
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: in the air and waved them frantically and shouted to
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: challenge the beast. It snorted and bobbed the ground with
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: its front hoof. Then it lowered its head and charged.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: The ground shook as it charged across the polished floor.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: My heart was pounding in harmony with the thunderous footsteps
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: of the beast. I wanted to jump away immediately, but
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: I knew I had to wait for the last possible moment.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: Only then would it go crashing through the front doors.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: It drew closer and I was preparing to dive to
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: the right when suddenly the great beast collapsed as if
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: it had tripped. Its body rolled once over due to
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: its movement. Then it slid across the floor and stopped
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: right at our feet. It was dead. Everyone in the
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: plaza just stared in silence. There was squawking to my left.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: The ostrich emerged again its beak bloody. But the creature
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: was walking as if it was drunk, stumbling back and forth.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: Then it collapsed as well. All across the school, the
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: animals just dropped dead. Help finally arrived an hour later.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: The police cut open the door and helped everyone out.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: The ambulances that arrived could do nothing but transport lifeless bodies.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: Days later, the full story came out on the news.
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: The OAL had released deadly animals into many school districts
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: across the Bay Area to ensure a bloody outcome. They
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: had given all the animals a serum that enraged them
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: and heightened their aggressive behavior. But they apparently hadn't tested
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: it well because it eventually induced a heart attack in
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: every animal they had set loose. Ironically, this animal rights
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: group was now responsible for the death of countless animals.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: All schools closed for three weeks. supposedly to allow us
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: to grieve and process what happened, as if that was
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: enough time to recover. Today is the first day we
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: have to go back. I'm sitting in my room in terror,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: imagining what can happen again, knowing that the leader of
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: this terrorist group hadn't been caught by authorities. I walk
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: downstairs to the kitchen. Our dog barks at me as
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: I enter. That sound, that raw, animalistic sound, brings back
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: every image of mutilation I had seen three weeks prior.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: I collapse on the ground and sob.