One Goes Running (DISCONTINUED)

Four

Carly Lockhart looked up from her textbook as the teacher stood in front of her.

"Yes, Miss?" Carly politely acknowledged her.

The teacher, Miss Cherish, looked up from a paper.

"Yes, Miss Lockhart, I need you to go to the office."

Carly looked at her confused.

"Why?"

Miss Cherish shrugged.

"Dunno, but I suppose it's about your parents or something."

Carly groaned quietly and stood up, walking out the classroom door.

What could the office possibly want? She thought.

As soon as she stepped into the office, the smell of coffee overwhelmed her and the sound of a radio was heard from all around. Carly walked up to the front desk with her hands in her hoodie pockets.

"Miss Carly Lockhart?" The office lady guessed.

Carly just nodded.

"Why am I here?" She asked.

"Ah," The office lady mused, typing on the computer in front of her, "You're going home early today, your mom and dad came a little while ago saying your grandma would pick you up."

Carly scratched her head.

"Yeah, but...why?" She asked, a little disappointed in the answer she got.

The office lady rolled her eyes.

"Well, I wasn't told that, missy." The office lady flipped her hair a bit, speaking with such sass that her mom couldn't compete. And her mom was sass-y.

Dramatic much? Carly thought.

"Ugh..whatever, don't tell me." Carly rolled her eyes and plopped down in a chair, drumming her fingers on the armrest.

~💛~ 

Time passed.

No one.

Was there.

To pick.

Her up.

What the hell? Carly thought, irritated.

She had been reading her book the whole time and just now realized that the whole office was locked up and dark. She stood up quickly and grabbed the emergency flashlight from her pocket and shined it around. 

Movement in the corner, she swore she saw it. She shook her head and sat down again, head in hands. 

What was she going to do? There was no form of communication. The phones in the office had been unplugged for some reason. Carly was starting to panic. 

What to do? what to do?  She thought, panicking. 

Then she stopped. Her eyes lit up. The window! Of course, they couldn't have locked the window, right? 

As she made her way around the office, a thought came to her. 

Come to think of it, why am I here? 

Lost in thought, she bumped into a wall. 

"Ow!" She squeaked, clamping a hand over her mouth. 

Shoot. 

She backed up to find a window. Of course, her of all people would bump into the place she was trying to find while lost in thought.

She tried to open the window, but it didn't budge.

So much for escaping.. She thought.

There was always something weird about this school, Carly knew that.

You see, Carly has this thing when she can feel that a place is bad or something bad will happen.

And school was one of them. It's not because she hated school.

But because school hated her.

Ever since she went to school, the teachers would treat her differently than any other classmate of hers.

They would give her extra work.

Give her weird tests.

And keep her away from the students.

Though, that last one didn't work.

Carly had already made a best friend named Lila back in 3rd grade. But Lila had moved away a year ago, Without saying why.

Carly was suddenly suspicious of everything the school did to her, and why Lila moved away.

Carly didn't know what to do.

What can she do?

Then a lightbulb went off in her head.

That's right.

Her parents had taught her to pick locks a couple months back (don't ask why).

Maybe she can pick the lock to the office door and front door to the school.

Carly searched around her pockets until she found a bobbypin. She always had one in safekeeping just in case.

Carly silently walked towards the office door and bent down to the lock and began to unlock it. After a few moments, she was successful.

Yes! She cheered.

She walked out the door and closed it quietly, proceeding to the front door of the school.

But she didn't make it that far.

Because before she made it to the door, she blacked out.

Not because someone knocked her out.

But because she just....passed out.

~💛~

Carly slowly came back into consciousness.

But she couldn't move.

She couldn't open her eyes.

All she could do was hear.

And she could hear voices. This got her anxious. Who are these voices? What have they done with her? She felt her heartbeat speed up.

"So, what are we to do?" A male asked.

"We wait," A female responded, "they'll never know what hit 'em."

"That's good to know." The male stated.

And Oh, was this next response chilling. She could practically hear the smile in the female's voice.

"And after that happens, nothing will remain."

What was that supposed to mean?