Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Ten

Five minutes later I was sitting in an auditorium full of people. Originally, the auditorium was tiny, and with it filled to the brim with everyone in the school, it felt even smaller. I was surrounded on all sides by other students, every one of them I recognized. Zander sat in the front row next to a couple of other people. I expected to see him talking animatedly to his neighbors, but he wasn't. He was staring straight up towards the auditorium stage with a blank face, showing absolutely no emotion.

A loud tapping noise erupted through the speakers in all corners of the miniature room. Immediately, everyone looked up towards the stage and stopped their conversations which was surprising, since usually nobody actually wanted to listen to any speeches given in the auditorium. The only reason they were listening now must have been out of curiosity. Announcements were planned far in advance so everyone would already know what days they had to go to the auditorium. The fact that this was told to us with no warning, made it even more intriguing.

"Welcome, students." On the stage was our principal, Mrs. Jarven, white hair and cherry red lipstick smiling down at us from her position. "I'm extremely sorry for this surprise announcement, but it is very important." The way she spoke made it sound like she was talking to a bunch of three-year-olds, which was the only way she seemed to know how to speak. "I would just like to welcome a new staff member who will be with us for the next week." She smiled brightly, and then turned around to beckon someone behind her forward.

"Let us all welcome..." She paused dramatically, giving a teeth-showing grin to the crowd. "Mr. Neilson!" She began clapping wildly in response to her own announcement. The crowd joined in, not at all as enthusiastic as Mrs. Jarven was. But nobody was ever really as enthusiastic as Mrs. Jarven. She seemed to be in her own bubble of enthusiasm and optimism twenty-four seven. Or she just wanted to keep up her "I'm a preschool teacher" persona.

Mr. Neilson, the same man I'd seen mere minutes ago, stepped forward to stand beside Mrs. Jarven. She continued clapping frantically, as if her life depended on it, as Mr. Neilson took the microphone.

"Thank you, thank you...I'm glad to be here," he spoke and gave a tight smile as he waved stiffly at the crowd in wait for everyone to shut up. It took only a few more seconds before the last bits of clapping faded away into the atmosphere.

"As Mrs. Jarven so kindly mentioned, my name is Mr. Neilson, and I'm honored to tell you all, that I will be here for the next week. You'll be able to find me in the principal's main office, and will likely see me in the hallways." He began smiling like Mrs. Jarven had seconds before, white teeth glinting, eyes scrunched up from the forcefulness of his smile. To anyone, the smile looked genuine, honest, trustworthy. To me, it reminded me of a shark.

"And I've also come with another announcement, and I'd like to comment before I say this, that all your parents or guardians have been notified."

A soft chatter emerged into the air at that note. It had to be important if they were going to notify everyone's parents or guardians about it.

"The recent addition of Animuses into society has allowed us to finally conduct a necessary inspection throughout the school. This inspection will last the course of a week." The low chatter got louder, but Mr. Neilson wasn't done.

"And because we'd like to have greater focus on everyone, we will be having students from other schools come here seeing as this school is one of the smallest in the surrounding area, and in this way, we can concentrate our resources here. And," Mr. Neilson paused, dramatically waiting for silence. The way he was pausing made it feel like he was about to press a button that would blow the entire school up. Maybe he would.

"And," he repeated for emphasis as the students quieted down, "you'll all be staying here for the entire course of the week. Each of you has been assigned a room that will become your bedroom for the next week."

Bedroom?

As in...sleeping at the school?

And then I realized the total probability that this was all a dream.

What Mr. Neilson was saying? Impossible. Even the entire scene that had gone down this morning was bordering on reality. After all, what police officers actually dragged students from class rooms just to tell them that they needed to roll their shirt sleeves up?

Maybe even the entire thing was a dream. Even the Animus, even the giant shot that I'd been given so that my thoughts could be seen by everyone. Maybe I'd wake up in a couple minutes, still safely in my apartment to hear Olivia making breakfast down the hall. And then I'd go to school, real school, and see Zander who would never have figured out my thoughts and who'd never have gotten angry at me. And then I would sigh in relief, realizing the gun was fake, the suicide was fake, the Animus was fake, everything was fake.

But the way I was thinking gave me déjà vu.

Trying to make everything just a dream. Imagining none of it was real. It was all familiar.

From when it happened.

A chill fell down my spine as my mind couldn't help, but bring back pictures. Flashes. I quickly shut my eyes, trying to shut them out, but it didn't help. They were inside my mind, poisoning my brain, slowly deteriorating my optimism and hope for a life where I could live worry-free. Because there was no life where I could live worry-free. What had happened would haunt me, be imprinted in my mind for the rest of my life, and even when I finally feel safe, even when I finally have the security and happiness that I've lived my entire life to find, it'll be there, waiting in the background. That thing, the truth that any moment of any day that thing could come out and take everything away from me.

I quickly shot out of my memories.

Hands were raised across the auditorium, but I doubted their questions would be answered since Mr. Neilson was already handing the microphone back to Mrs. Jarven who was still keeping up her steady smile and optimistic tone as she began speaking.

"Let's all give Mr. Neilson a warm round of applause! We are excited to spend the next week with you!"

But instead of applause Mrs. Jarven got shouts. People were standing now. None of the teachers, all students. Some were shouting insults, or curses, while others shouted the questions that they couldn't have answered. I'd never seen the entirety of the student body like this. I'd never even seen a group of students shout out about anything unless it was concerning yelling to a friend, or doing something idiotic. But this was different. It was practically a riot, yelled questions such as, "You're trapping us here?!", and "Is this even legal?!" rang in the air.

Teachers seemed to see the situation getting out of hand, but none of them did anything. Actually, a lot of them seemed just as shocked as the student body. Apparently, they hadn't been in on this plan.

Some of the teachers were even walking up to Mr. Neilson or Mrs. Jarven and yelling complaints. Already the two were surrounded by a mob of about five teachers, trying to understand why they had said what they had, and probably wondering if it was secretly some huge prank or joke.

I was wondering if it was a joke.

I doubted it.