Todd Strasser - Wish You Were Dead

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IT WAS THE coldest morning so far that fall. A few white flakes drifted out of the gray sky. I had just gotten out of my car in the student parking lot when I heard a scream. Kids all over the lot turned and looked. A few began to jog toward a small patch of trees at the bottom of a short slope next to the school. Others walked slowly toward the trees, as if they wanted to let the runners get there first. Still others, myself included, didn’t want to go, or look, or know.

Looking down at the trees I felt a shiver of fear. Now what?

A boy named Tanner Wilks ran up the slope as fast as he could. With terror in his eyes he raced past me, yanked open a door that led into the gym, and disappeared inside. Meanwhile, voices, gasps, and shouts came from the wooded area. A girl trudged up the slope sobbing, her face buried in her hands, her shoulder cradled by a grim-looking boy.

The gym door opened and Mr. Alvarez, the gym teacher, raced down the slope towards the woods. The door had hardly closed when it swung open again and Principal Edwards came out, speaking urgently into a walkie talkie as he ran.

“Everyone back! Get back!” Mr. Alvarez’s booming gym-teacher voice echoed up the slope. Now Mr. Edwards joined in the chorus. “Everyone go! Get away from here! Go inside. Now!”

A few male teachers went down toward the trees. A small group of female teachers and secretaries came out but stayed near the gym door and watched.

In the distance the police sirens started. Even though they sounded far away, I turned to look and found Tyler standing a few feet behind me. I gasped and felt startled.

He frowned. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Sorry, I’m just freaked.”

“What’s going on?” He looked somber as he glanced past me toward the trees.

I shook my head. I didn’t know. The sirens were getting louder. I counted two, maybe three different ones, and felt a terrible sensation of foreboding. Tyler stepped closer and I felt his arm go around my shoulders. I shivered and hoped he’d assume it was from the cold, but the truth was, I didn’t know how I felt. Yes, I wanted to feel his arm around me, but only if that arm was attached to someone who had nothing to do with the terrible things that were going on. And right now I wasn’t sure of that.

A police car screeched into the parking lot. Two officers got out and quickly jogged down the slope and into the woods. An ambulance arrived next, and some EMTs carrying orange medical cases ran down the slope. A dark green sedan pulled into the parking lot, and Detective Payne got out. Our eyes met for a second, and then he hurried down the slope.

Mr. Alvarez and Principal Edwards came out of the woods, both grim and ashen-faced. In a voice filled with angst Principal Edwards shouted, “Everyone, back into school!” In response, kids moved faster toward the doors than they might normally have. Down in the wooded area, a police officer was going from tree to tree, stretching yellow crime-scene tape.

My stomach was in knots and I began to feel light-headed and sick.

“You okay?” Tyler asked.

I nodded but stumbled when I took a step. Tyler slid his arm around my waist. I couldn’t tell him that part of my discomfort stemmed from not knowing if I could trust him.

Inside, the PA blared, “Students, go directly to your homerooms and take your seats. Do not congregate in the halls. Go to your homerooms and wait.”

The hallways were filled with frightened-looking students. Everyone wanted to know what was going on. Tyler and I passed the nurse’s office just as Mrs. Johnson, the school psychologist, rushed in. Through the doorway we could see Tanner Wilks sitting on a cot with his hands over his eyes and Ms. Perkins, the nurse, sitting beside him with her arm around his shoulders.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“It’s obvious,” Tyler muttered as we continued down the hall.

“But we don’t know. I mean, obviously it’s something bad, but we don’t know.”

“The only thing we don’t know is which one.”

“Please don’t say that.” At the same time I thought, One, or ones? If it is them, how does he know it’s not all three?

The thoughts only made me more uncomfortable. I wished he’d take his arm from around my waist. Thank God we were in a crowded hallway at school. I was so uncomfortable with him at that moment that if we’d been someplace else alone, I think I might have screamed and run away.

I was glad when we stopped outside my homeroom. I eased myself out of his grasp. “Guess I better go in.”

“Talk to you later?” Tyler asked.

I nodded, but inside I wasn’t so sure.

Inside the room Ms. Skelling was sitting quietly at her desk, staring out the window. At their desks, kids were talking anxiously about what was going on outside. Over the PA came the static that often preceded an announcement. “Quiet!” Ms. Skelling suddenly snapped. “Listen!”

“Please pay close attention.” Principal Edwards’s voice came over the PA. “School has been cancelled for the remainder of the day. If you have a cell phone and can reach a parent or caregiver, please call them and have them come to school to get you. After you’ve placed your call, please allow someone who doesn’t have a phone to use yours. Parents and caregivers are to come as soon as possible. No one will be allowed to leave school alone, even if you came by bicycle or walked this morning. This order has come directly from the chief of police. Teachers, we are depending on you to make sure no student leaves unless accompanied by an adult. Students, if you cannot reach a parent or caregiver, please remain in your homeroom until further notice.”

The PA clicked off. There was a moment of silence, as if no one could quite believe we’d been told to use our phones in school, and then kids began calling. I got Mom on her cell. “You have to come get me.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you sick?”

I explained that something bad had happened and that school been cancelled. Mom was silent for a moment. Then she said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

It wasn’t long before a line of cars was snaking into the school driveway and kids were being called over the PA. “Carley Applegate, Jason Prine, James Row, Lacey Williamson. Your rides are here. Students who have not been able to reach parents or caregivers, go to the auditorium. Stuart Davies, Melissa Sloat, Randal Ellison, Benjamin Carlucci, please meet your rides.”

We watched silently as the kids whose names were called rose and left the classroom.

Tabitha raised her hand. “Can I go to the bathroom?”

“No,” said Ms. Skelling.

“But I have to go,” Tabitha insisted.

Ms. Skelling rolled her eyes. “Maura, please accompany Tabitha to the young ladies’ room and make sure she doesn’t go anywhere else and comes right back.”

“I don’t need a chaperone.”

“If you don’t like it, you can sit there and pee in your pants,” Ms. Skelling said.

Murmurs rippled through the classroom. While Tabitha and Maura got up and left, the rest of us exchanged glances. We weren’t used to teachers speaking to us that way, least of all Ms. Skelling. But some in the class suddenly saw an entertaining opportunity to make the time pass.

“What do you think’s going on, Ms. Skelling?”

“You’ll know soon enough,” she replied.

“You think it has something to do with the missing kids?”

“You’ll know soon enough.”

“You think there’s a killer going around killing kids?”

“You’ll know … soon … enough,” Ms. Skelling grumbled through clenched teeth. “No … more … questions.”

Another list of names was announced over the PA and mine was among them.