Weeping Willows

This Aint No Sunday School

One Month Ago

"Good morning, Kat!"
Halting in my steps, I glanced behind me while readjusting my purse on my shoulder.
My eyes quickly fell on Daniel Cruz, our schools principal, also known as my boss.
Quickly placing a warm smile on my face, I greeted him, "Good morning Daniel,"
Daniel grinned and quickly fell in step beside me as we made our way into the school.
"How was your vacation to Europe?" He asked in an effort to start a conversation.
"It was amazing. Italy was really cool but France by far took the cake, only problem was there was a horrible layover on the way home. I mean, like 2 days! I guess a whole bunch of people have been getting really sick over there. It sounds like some nasty virus or something, " I explained, stepping into the school as he stepped ahead and unlocked the door, opening for me.
He frowned at this.
"Really? I've heard some people in the city have been getting really sick as well. They're even attacking each other, I guess, " he explained.
My eyes widened at this, "Really? Wow, I hope they get everything under control soon. My brother lives in atlanta. "
He quickly smiled, "I know, everything will work itself out! The CDC is right there after all. "
"True.." I smiled softly before we fell into awkward silence.
Finally, we made it to the door of my classroom.
"Have a great day, Kat! Oh, don't forget we are doing state testing next week!" Daniel smiled as he continued his journey past my classroom and down the hallway towards the office.
"Yay," I muttered sarcastically to myself as I stepped into my classroom and turned on the light.
Sitting down at my desk, I quickly settled in, logging into my computer, tucking my purse into my lockable desk drawer, setting my thermos of coffee on tops of a small apple shaped coaster.
Glancing at the clock at the right corner of my screen, I sighed.
"I hate Mondays,"
Opening up my web browser, I went to find my lesson plan when an urgent news article caught my eye.
Furrowing my eyebrows, I read the title.
"Not all who walk are alive? What kind of news article is that?"
Just as I was about to open it, the bell rang signaling school was going to begin soon.
Quickly moving past the article, I pulled up my lesson plan.
"Miss Willows?"
Jumping slightly, I cursed under my breath, holding my chest. Looking up, I smiled at the boy in front of my desk.
"What can I do for you, Carl?" I smiled softly.
The brown haired boy frowned and looked down at his feet, shifting uncomfortably.
His appearance made me frown slightly.
"Carl?"
Standing up, I walked around my desk, crouching slightly in front.
"What's up, bud?"
"It's... about my dad.."
I couldn't help but let my face fall. Carl's father was a good friend of mine, and I was really sad to hear about the accident a few weeks back.
From what I had heard, Rick and his partner Shane had found themselves in a shootout, and Rick had gotten shot.
Since then, he has been in the hospital in a coma. From what Lori has disclosed to me, the doctors weren't sure he was ever going to wake up.
"Hey. Your dad is going to wake up. I truly believe it in my heart. It may not be today and it may not be tomorrow, but your dad is a very strong man and I believe that he is gonna pull through and he's going wake up okay" I smiled widely crouching down to his height and resting my hand on his shoulder.
Slowly, a smile pulled to his lips, and he blinked away his forming tears.
"Y-yeah. You're right... thank you, Miss Willows. " he smiled slightly.
Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling school had started, and my students slowly began pouring into my classroom.
"Why don't you head to class, Carl? If you ever need to talk again, you know where my door is. " I smiled, ruffling to top of his head and watching as he threw his backpack over his shoulder and headed out the door towards his class.
As I watched his back get farther and farther away from me, my smile faltered slowly.
I was well aware that the doctors had told Carl's mother that it was very unlikely he would ever wake up. But I was also aware that those were not the words Carl needed to hear, and when he did, it couldn't be me who told him.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Everybody eyes on me, eyes on me, eyes on me! Everybody eyes on me, it's time to switch centers!" I sang loudly to the tune of London Bridge is falling down, in order to make sure all 15 of my 1st graders were able to hear me.
The children quickly put away the toys in their centers and moved on to their next areas.
Smiling, I walked around the classroom, observing each child and making sure they were all in the correct areas.
"Miss Willow! Look, I drew this picture for you!"
Turning on my heel, I dropped my gaze down to the shy brown haired little boy in front of me.
Smiling, I dropped down to his height.
"Wow! Great work, Ronan! I really like the choice of blue you used for the sky, it's beautiful!" I praised him resting my hand on top of his head and using the other hand to take the picture from his hands.
He grinned happily.
"Thank you, Miss Willows! I'm so glad you like it!"
I smiled and watched him off back to the table with 2 other children , and they continued to work on different coloring sheets.
"Katrina?"
Furrowing my eyebrows, I quickly turned my head and saw my co-teacher and roommate, Lillan, step into the room.
Immediately, I took note of how pale she was. Her hands were trembling, and it looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"Lillian?"
Frowning, I glanced at the kids, making sure they were all on task before quickly grabbing Lillians hand and pulling her back towards the children's cubbies.
"What's wrong? What happened?" I whispered, my voice clear with concern.
"Have you seen the news?" She whimpered.
Furrowing my eyebrows, I shook my head.
"No? And since when have you watched the news?" I teased.
"Katrina, this is serious. People...people are eating each other out there!" She whispered.
I scoffed and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh really? What are they zombies? Maybe you should take today off. Go home and relax. And maybe switch the news channel to a rom com instead yea?" I chuckled, placing my hand on her back, carefully guiding her back towards the classroom door.
She went to speak again when a commotion in the classroom caught my attention.
Peeking my head around the corner from the cubby area, I was surprised to find a parent standing in my classroom, gathering their child in a panicked rush.
"Woah? Hey, is everything okay, Mrs. Mendez? No one in the office mentioned that you'd be picking up Shilo early?" I smiled politely at the seemingly frantic women.
"You all need to get out of here!" She whimpered, picking up Shilo in her arms before rushing out the door.
"What the.." I muttered under my breath, and my mind began to race.
Quickly turning my head over my shoulder, I saw Lillan staring at me even more horrified than before.
Slowly, my mind began to race as I turned back to look at the now fourteen 1st graders staring at me, startled by the sudden commotion.
Rushing to the back of the classroom, I quickly began to pull up the news on my computer, and that's when I saw it.
Videos from all across the states of cases of people eating each other. The dead coming back to kill the living.
I couldn't help but sit back in shock, my hand finding its way to my mouth as I felt tears begin to well up in my own eyes.
"Miss Willows? What's wrong?"
Glancing down at the owner of the small voice, I saw that it was one of my students named Makenzie.
Looking behind her and at all the other children behind her, I knew there was no way I could leave them behind to save my own ass. I didn't have it in me, but I also knew there was no way I'd be able to keep fourteen 7 year olds alive all on my own. At the very least, I had to hold out until a couple more parents came.
Biting my lip, I quickly forced a smile on my face and did my best to pretend everything was fine.
"Of course! Go ahead and switch to your next station! I'm sure your parents will all be here very soon, " I smiled.
"Our parents? But it's still morning?" Makenzie frowned, tilting her head slightly.
Gritting my teeth, I kept my forced smile on my face.
"Today is an early release," I lied carefully.
This seemed to convince her, and she replied with short "oh, okay" and returned back to the Lego station.
"What do we do?" Lillian whispered, taking a step closer to me and keeping her voice low.
"Now you need to go get Rosie from the sitter and then go back home and pack your things," I spoke firmly.
"What? What about you? What are you going to do?" She exclaimed.
"I'm going to stay here and wait for the parents," I spoke shakily, wringing out my hands as I filled with anxiety.
"What? What if they don't come? This thing is spreading. You're as good as dead her -"
"I will not leave a bunch of defenseless children!" I snapped.
Immediately, I could feel the eyes of all the students and quickly turned my back to them, glancing to the side at Lillian.
"What if it was Rosie? Wouldn't you want me to stay?" I quickly added, hoping to get through to her.
She froze, not expecting me to say something like that.
"Okay. But I'll come back for you!"
"An hour. I'll give them an hour, and then whoever is still here comes with us. Take my car," I quickly placed my keys in her hand and looked up at her sternly, "Go back to our apartment and grab it all. Food, water, blankets, flashlights, and batteries"
Her eyes widened, and the fear was easy to read, but she clenched her jaw and nodded firmly, wrapping her hand around the keys I had handed her.
She went to go by me, but I quickly caught her arm.
She jumped very slightly, startled, and turned back around to look at me.
"Under my bed is a lock box. It's the little silver key on my key ring. Inside is a pistol. Grab it. We will need it. "
She hesitated but nodded again. This time, I let go of her wrist and watched her rush out the door.
I felt the panic still rising in my chest, but I threw my head back, looking up at the ceiling and closed my eyes with a sigh.
"I am severely underpaid for this,"