The Door Won't Hold

My phone slipped from my hand and clattered on the tile.

I looked down.

The floor was moving.

Not the tile - on the tile. Tiny, black, worm-like things. Hundreds of them. They were spilling out from under the lockers, from the vents, wriggling over each other. Multiplying. One second there were ten. The next second, fifty.

My throat closed up. I couldn't scream. Couldn't move.

"Sara!"

Someone grabbed my arm and yanked me backward. I stumbled. It was Maya from chem class, her eyes wide, mascara running.

"Sara, come on!" she hissed, dragging me toward an open classroom door. "What are you doing?!"

I couldn't answer. I just stared at the floor. At the things.

Behind us, Lia - or what used to be Lia - snapped her head toward the sound of Maya's voice. Black veins pulsed under her skin. She started toward us, fast. Too fast.

"Shit, shit, shit-" Rohan was at the door too, holding it open. "Move, Sara!"

My legs finally worked. I ran. All three of us crashed into the classroom and Rohan slammed the door shut. The lock clicked.

For a second, there was just breathing. Mine, Maya's, Rohan's. All ragged.

Then I slid down the wall and started crying. Hard. Ugly. Couldn't stop it.

That was Lia out there. My Lia. The girl who braided my hair last week and stole my fries and told me secrets at 2 AM.

"Hey," Maya crouched next to me, awkward. She didn't touch me. "I'm... sorry. About your friend."

I couldn't even look at her. My chest hurt.

BANG.

All three of us jumped.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The door shook. Someone - something - was slamming against it from the other side.

"Don't open it," Rohan whispered. He was backing away from the door, holding a chair like a weapon. His voice shook. "Don't you dare open it."

"Maybe it's a teacher?" Maya said, but she didn't sound convinced. She sounded like she wanted it to be true. "Maybe someone's still... normal?"

Another slam. Harder. The little window in the door cracked.

And then a voice. Muffled. Wet.

"Sa-ra..."

It sounded like Lia. But it also didn't.

Maya grabbed my wrist. "Is that... is that her?"

I stared at the cracking glass, my heart in my throat.

I didn't know.

The banging didn't stop.

Then the doorknob turned.

I was shocked. All my classmates were shocked.

It was our teacher. She slipped inside fast and we slammed the door shut behind her. Locked it.

For one second, nobody said anything. We were all just breathing.

Then it started again.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

It sounded like someone was hitting the door with a hammer. Hard. The whole thing shook.

"Don't open it," Rohan whispered, but none of us were even near the door. We were backing up.

CRACK.

We all looked up.

There was a hole in the door now. A real hole, where the wood had split. And through that hole, we could see.

All the parasite-like creatures. Out in the hallway. Dozens of them. Kids, teachers - all of them with that black stuff under their skin. And they were coming toward us.

The little ones were already squeezing through the hole, dropping onto the classroom floor.

I couldn't move. None of us could. We just stood there, staring.

We didn't know what we had to do.

We just had to escape from that room.

We just didn't know how.

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