Glimpse by Steve Whibley Page B

a former military man, just forget about it.
    Woody limped toward his desk. “ Macbeth is William Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy.”
    The large desk in front of the room groaned as Woody sat on the front corner of it. “Act one, scene one: the play opens amidst thunder and lightning.”
    Boom!
    The class reacted with a unified start and all eyes shot to our teacher, whose gaze was now fixated on the door. What was that? I felt the building shake and wondered if Mr. Woodward had timed a special effect to wake up the class. Then the fire alarm sounded and people—both inside and outside the classroom—started screaming.
    â€œ Hey! ” Woody shouted.
    The screams in the classroom quieted, but I could still hear others in the hall.
    â€œWe don’t panic. We’ve done this before. It’s just like the drills.” He moved to the exit doors. “We walk quickly and quietly out the west exit.” His coal black eyes scanned the room. “Understand?”
    The class began to move down the hall toward the exit. Students filed out from other classrooms and shuffled down the corridor while teachers barked orders. Everyone seemed to suck in a collective breath as smoke started to chase us like a rippling black snake.
    I glanced over my shoulder as I followed Woody and my classmates. A black cloud billowed from the far end of the hall. Where was Lisa? And Colin? I tried to remember their schedules. What class did they have this period?
    The black cloud moved closer. I turned back to Woody. He was at the exit, holding the door open and urging everyone to hurry. I started running just as a second explosion boomed through the hallway.

Chapter 10
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    Black smoke billowed from the east wing of the school. The bits of broken glass that had managed to stay in the window frames reflected back the amber lights of emergency vehicles. Students scattered around the parking lot like startled birds.
    â€œBiology lab.” I recognized Lisa’s voice from somewhere behind me and spun around. Tiny pieces of debris clung to her hair, which was now gray rather than the usual deep brown. Soot coated her face, smearing around her eyes and cheeks as though she had been crying.
    â€œJeez, Lisa, are you okay?”
    â€œI’m not hurt. It was the biology lab.”
    â€œWhere were you?”
    â€œHistory. Whatever happened blew a hole in the wall to our class.”
    â€œWas anyone hurt?”
    Lisa’s lip quivered, and she looked as if she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how to form the words. My stomach twisted. I suddenly had a sinking feeling that what she wasn’t telling me involved Colin.
    I looked past her, over the groups of people huddled nearby. “Where’s Colin?”
    â€œColin’s fine,” Lisa said. “He’s looking for you too. We both were.”
    My pulse slowed. “Thank God. But if you knew it was the biology lab, why’d you worry? You know my schedule. I had English.”
    She blinked and turned to the crowd.
    What isn’t she telling me?
    â€œColin!” she raised her hand. “Over here.”
    Colin weaved through the crowd. When he made it over to us, he looked back and forth between Lisa and me like he was waiting for me to react to a joke that I hadn’t yet heard. “Well? Did you tell him?”
    â€œTell me what?” I asked.
    â€œI didn’t tell him yet,” Lisa said. “I wanted to wait for you.”
    â€œTell me what?”
    â€œAbout Mrs. Farnsworthy.”
    â€œWhat about her?”
    Colin looked at Lisa, then back to me. “The explosion, Dean. She was right in the middle of it.”
    â€œW… what?” My earlier hallucination of her screaming face flashed in my mind. No way. It couldn’t be related.
    â€œLook, we don’t know anything,” Lisa said. “But she was just standing there, and then the wall behind her exploded. I saw her