k-12: the shadows

༺ show and tell ༻

alexis

a few days later, alexis was settling down in her seat for next period with miss penelope. just as she was arranging her books in front of her, the bell rang, and she realised with a frown that crybaby wasn't sat next to her as she was supposed to be.

she glanced anxiously around the classroom, but in vain; crybaby was nowhere to be seen.

the lesson began without her, and proceeded in the same fashion. it wasn't until around halfway through that the door opened to reveal an extremely uncomfortable looking crybaby stood in the doorway.

the whole class looked up at her in complete sync, identical and almost creepy smiles fixated to their faces.

alexis shuddered as she realised how many students had already been medicated and brainwashed, potentially not even to their knowledge.

she pressed her lips together in concern as she realised that for all she knew, isabel could be under the school's medicative influence too. a pit opened up in her stomach and she swore to herself that she would find a way to check that her sister was okay, even if they weren't on speaking terms anymore.

crybaby sank into her seat next to alexis.

"alright, class, put down your pens," miss penelope leered from her desk. "today we're going to be having a very special show and tell."

just the way that she spoke sent shivers up alexis's spine.

the class began to cheer and bang their fists on their desk in synchronised excitement as miss penelope wheeled out a small puppet wagon from the corner of the room. as she began to turn a small lever on the side, the heart-shaped doors juddered open and tinkling music-box sounds began to play.

as the doors steadily opened more and more, a small porcelain doll tied to strings was revealed to be suspended in the air within the musical box. alexis's face paled as she took in the doll's appearance;

its half peach, half black hair, gap-toothed smile and pale vintage dress were all uncannily alike to crybaby's appearance.

evidently, alexis was not the only one to have noticed; crybaby's eyes welled up with tears, while the cheering of all their surrounding classmates intensified.

when miss penelope began to move the doll around by its strings, this proved too much for crybaby to handle. with tears streaming down her cheeks, the girl stood up abruptly and hurried out, the door slamming loudly behind her.

alexis sat for a moment in shock.

what the fuck does everyone have against crybaby?

what shocked her further was that absolutely no one made an effort to go and check that crybaby was okay.

alexis decided to take this upon herself, and hurried out of the classroom after crybaby.

"crybaby, wait!" she called down the corridor, blindly following the sound of echoing light footsteps.

she closed her eyes and when they opened again, they were dark; a strange aura was pulling her towards the bathroom.