At Our End

One

     School had begun as normal for 15 year old Ashwyn , and nothing had changed. No one listened to the teachers, and the hallways were a wreck. The only thing keeping her occupied was the ticking of the clock on the right wall as she watched a PowerPoint in her 3rd period English class.
The white walls were stale and overbearing as they glowered down upon the students fighting to stay awake. The same could be said for the short little man up front with his laser pointer.
She wasn't much of a talker, so Ashwyn didn't bother to raise her hand. Some thought she was standoffish, yet she merely was slow to open up.
     Suddenly a crackle of static was heard as the intercom flipped on, "Attention students and teachers, please allow the academic team students to call home to notify parents of the cancelled practice for this afternoon," the calm voice of the principal stated. Standing with a few others, Ashwyn sauntered out the door contemplating which number she was going to call. She had done this many times before, and knew her way quite well to the small low-ceilinged office by the double-doors that signified the exit of the school. Ignoring the snickers from the boy's as the boy next to her made a point to stand up tall to flaunt how tall he was beside her, she signed out of the classroom with a bitter taste in her mouth.
Inside she was accompanied by a few other kids and a rather irritated office worker. Crossing her legs angrily she babbled about her working hard all her life to run the school, then handed over one of the 5 children standing in line his mother's phone number.
      After everyone had gone the irate office worker spat that it was her turn. Slowing she typed the well rehearsed number into the keyboard and waited for her mother to pick up. After 5 rings a rather worn-out sounding voice answered, "Yes?" The woman asked irritably from the other end.
      "Hey mom it's Ashwyn, academic has been cancelled," she answered, keeping her voice down.
      "Okay, well that's the least of my concerns as of now!" Her mom replied angrily, becoming more and more flustered by the moment, "Your sister has come down with some strange  virus. I'm on my way to the hospital now so I suppose you are just going to have to hang on for who's going to be picking you up. I've got to go now." With that the line went dead and Ashwyn rested the phone back on its pedestal. A feeling of confusion and nervousness climbed her throat as she turned. Thanking the office worker she headed black to class her mind buzzing with thoughts of her sister's illness with an odd sound broke the silence, a scream.
    Ashwyn stopped mid-hallway as a woman's shrill scream broke the silence of the hallway. The continuous buzz of the sound of other classes going on stopped abruptly as they strained to listen. It was loud enough to spur the irate office worker from the phone call to slam down her papers annoyingly and saunter down the tile hallway toward the room.
     Ashwyn knew she should have gone on, yet she couldn't help herself but to stay put. Cursing her nosiness she turned back toward the office to look back around the corner. There was the slamming of a door then, the hurried footsteps of the tall boy from her class scurrying back down the stairs to see what was going on.
Before she could say anything,  the sound of the bell signaling to switch classes chimed, the boy's smirking face lost in the rush. The hallway immediately filled with students fighting their way to their next class. Ashwyn fought her way to the staircase, attempting to ignore the whispers from the students about the reported scream.
     When Ashwyn arrived to her next class she was bombarded by the sight of a girl laying face down on the cold tile floor. Her body was odd looking, as if she had been hit by a truck. She was doubled over clutching her stomach as a debilitating cough ripped through her lungs. She watched as the teacher stumbled  to phone to call the office. She couldn't help but be shocked at how fast the atmosphere had changed. The half-asleep class was now wide awake as students talked in hushed whispers. Ashwyn didn't notice at first what it was that was wrong until she noticed the girl was coughing up blood.

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A/N: Hey readers! Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it! If you have any ideas, feedback, or thoughts feel free to comment them here or press that little star button if you liked the chapter. Thank you. :)