The Headmaster

Drained

"What the heck is going on? How did you get down here?" Maria shone the torch directly in Becca's face. "This room was locked and I don't have a key, we aren't supposed to be down here."

Becca snapped out of the last wisps of sleep. Confused she looked around at the dark boiler room, the bulb above her head was missing, along with the old tank and half of the pipework. She blinked slowly and rubbed her eyes.

"Get out of here now." Maria grabbed hold of Becca's arm and pulled her up the stairs.

Becca didn't resist, she stumbled a few times in the darkness, but she followed Maria's guidance. Words hovered on her tongue but dissolved as soon as she tried to articulate them. The rooms passed in a blur, it seemed like less than a second between standing in the boiler room and sitting in the office.

Maria's rage subsided as she watched the girl tremble in her chair. The girl hadn't spoken a word since she was discovered in the basement. She guessed it was the onset of shock and so set about making a sugary cup of tea. She delivered it with a couple of chocolate biscuits.

Becca took them with a smile, her trembling hands sending sloshes of hot tea onto her knees. It burned, but the pain was enough to finally snap her out of her haze. "I'm sorry."

"What happened down there?" Maria placed her hand on Becca's knee.

The friendly gesture felt alien to Becca, who had grown used to Maria's cold shoulder and scathing remarks. She sipped at her tea, trying to find the words to explain the unexplainable events that had just occurred.

As Becca opened her mouth to speak something outside the room crashed. Followed swiftly by yelling and a scream of rage. The banging and yelling grew louder with every second.

"What is going on now?" Maria gestured for Becca to stay put. She marched her way towards the epicentre of the chaos.

Furniture had been tossed aside with such force that two chairs and one of the camping beds lay broken on the floor. Graeme and Tim were on top of Alan. Mike was supporting a black eye and split lip. Maria clutched the door frame for support, her brain not believing what her eyes were seeing.

Alan was writhing under the combined weight of two well-built men. Rage burned in his eyes as he spat vitriol at his captors. His hands curled into claws, his nails biting into every inch of Graeme he could reach. "I'll kill you."

"What happened?" Maria wobbled into the room and knelt down beside the pile of men.

"He just went nuts," Mike said, dabbing his lip with a wad of tissue. "Saying odd things, making no sense, then he punched me."

"When?"

"Just after you left, he appeared, looking all odd," He tossed the bloodied paper into the bin, "He was pale and clammy and had that rabid look in his eye."

"I'll drown her like that inbred whelp," Alan screamed and attempted to headbutt Tim.

"We need to get him outside, out of this damned building." Maria tapped Graeme on the shoulder. "I'll call Brian and see if there is anything else we can do." She struggled to get her phone out of her trouser pocket. The material was too tight on her thigh and the phone too large to manipulate with ease.

Graeme and Tim lifted Alan to his feet and bundled him towards the fire exit at the side of the classroom. They kept a firm grip as he squirmed. Finally, they pushed him beyond the threshold and he dropped to the ground.

"He's possessed." Maria squeaked into her phone, "Attacked the crew, talking weird, what do I do Brian?"

"Get him off the premises, take him to the church and take some holy water from the font." Brian's voice crackled over the speaker-phone. "Say the lords prayer over him, the more of you that can do it the better."