AncilSara leaned back on a table in the staffroom with her head down and her hand over her eyes. She looked as if she wanted to cry but I couldn’t tell. She kept her head down with her hands over her eyes, trying to hide the fact that she was torn up. Justin walked up to his big sister and placed his hand on her back to console her. His face was drenched in tears as the grief invaded his body. I knew exactly how they felt because I had lost family too. I sympathized with them but they were luckier than I was because at least Sara and Justin still had each other. I had no one.
“Maybe we could…. go to the washroom and see if Saraya’s still there,” I said. “If by chance the faceless little girl wasn’t Saraya then she might be hiding somewhere.”
“I hope so,” Sara said after wiping some of the tears from her eye.
“Under one condition though,” I said. “You two have to listen to me and do exactly as I say. NO STUBBORNNESS!!”
“Alright,” Sara answered, stretching her words.
I wasn’t convinced by her answer but I had to let it go for the time being. I took the torchlight from her, tightened my grip on the cutlass, opened the staff room door and headed back out into the darkness.
Sara and Justin followed after me as I walked down the concrete stairs into the washrooms which were just as dark as outside. I told Sara to try to find a light switch.
The sound of dripping water was all that was heard. There was also the disgusting smell of unflushed toilets and rusty metal.
We arrived at the first door and kicked it open. The first thing we saw was the little body of Saraya sitting on the closed down toilet seat shaking like she had seen a ghost. She didn’t even respond to us when we kicked the door open. She just maintained a face of stone. She only responded when Sara rushed up to her and hugged her.
“Are they still outside?” Saraya asked.
“Who are you talking about?” Sara asked.
“The other children.”
“What other children?” I asked sternly, walking closer to her.
Suddenly, before Saraya was able to answer, a number of shuffling sounds were heard. I flashed the torchlight in the direction of the sounds and coming from a hole in the wall a herd of faceless children came shuffling towards us. Some were boys, some were girls, all of various shapes and sizes. All looked just as vicious.
“Grab your brother and your sister and get out of here,” I said to Sara. “Run to the staff room as fast you can and lock it.”
“And what about you?” Sara asked while she was rangling her siblings.
“Go!!” I shouted.
They ran off. The faceless children shuffled slowly but they jumped high and fast. A couple tried to jump on me but I dealt with them using my cutlass. I fought them off to give Sara and her siblings enough time to get to the staff room. I then quickly ran in that direction myself, fighting off the faceless children in the process. The door was locked but Sara quickly opened the door letting me in. We shut the door but it didn’t stop the faceless children from knocking and continually pounding on it trying to get it open. After a few minutes of relentless banging against the closed door, they finally stopped and the place went deadly quiet.
“Are they gone?” Sara asked.
“I don’t know but it’s best we set up camp in here till morning. I’m sure they still out there somewhere.”
“This is not much of a camp,” Sara said.
“Well we will have to make it one,” I said. “How much food do you have in the bag?”
Sara checked the bag and she told me there was enough to last them the night. I took her word for it then we all made our beds on the cold hard floor as hundreds of the faceless children camped around us.
