The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman by Tim Wellman Page B

said. "I don't
know everything that's going on around here, but none of it is your
faults; I'm sure of that." She opened the classroom door and
allowed them all to enter and then followed them in and closed the
door. "Get your seats."
    Susan paused by Evelyn's desk and dropped a
small piece of paper. As she went on to her desk, Evelyn picked it
up and read it. "20% off." And it was signed by Susan.
    "Miss Crone!"
    She turned toward the young girl's voice, and
then checked her grade book for the name. "Yes, uh... Betsy?"
    "Will you eat with us tomorrow?"
    She smiled and nodded. "I will."
     
    ****
     
    She walked across the small field, a more direct
route to the old dormitory than taking the winding stone path. It
was an old wooden house, probably built a hundred years ago as a
single residence, but had at some point, been divided into small
apartments. Her apartment was on the second of the three floors,
but as far as she knew, she was the only one living there. But, it
was comfortable, clean, and was actually the only place Evelyn had
lived besides her parents' house.
    She dropped a big stack of papers on the table
by the door, kicked her shoes off, and then plopped down on the
sofa. "Well, it's different ," she said. "And you thought
working in a small town would be boring."
    Her cell phone rang. "Hello mom," she said
without looking at the number. "Because you're the only one who
ever calls me." She turned her laptop around on the coffee table,
opened it up and turned it on. "Yes, I'm fine. The school is great,
got a bit of a tragic story attached to it, so I'm told, but that
just makes it more interesting, right?" She clicked the web browser
open and went to a search engine. "No, just some kids got in an
accident at the end of the last school year. I don't remember
reading anything about it when I was checking everything out,
though." She typed in 'Ceres WV tragedy'. "Hmm, oh, there it is.
I'm emailing you a link." She started reading. "Hey, I gotta go, I
need to start dinner. No, but I have a microwave. Talk later. Yeah.
Bye."
     
    ****
     
    "Oh, hello Steve," Evelyn said as she walked
into the hallway from outside. "Another bright and pleasant
morning, huh?"
    "Hello Miss Crone," he said. He nodded, and then
walked away.
    She stood frozen for a moment as her mind
processed the scene. What had just happened? She shrugged, and then
continued to her classroom. Maybe he was just having a bad day.
    "Good morning, girls!" she said. She held up a
brown paper bag. "See, my lunch." All of the girls were quiet, a
couple seemed to have been crying. But they all appeared to be very
scared and upset. "What? What is it, girls? What's wrong?"
    A few of the girls pointed to the chalkboard
behind her and as she turned to look, she cupped her hand over her
mouth and gasped is shock. Someone had drawn crosses all over the
board, hundreds of them, and then in the center, wrote, "Demons rot
in hell!"
    "Did you see who did this?"
    "It was like that when we got here," Susan
said.
    "But... why would someone do this?" she shouted.
She walked to the door, opened it and shouted down the hallway.
"Who did this?!" There was no answer. She hadn't expected one. She
turned back to the girls. "Why do they hate you so much? You're the
victims!" She stomped her feet. "I'll be right back."
    She walked back into the hallway and shouted.
"Principal Stevens!" She shouted again.
    He eventually poked his head out of his door.
"Is there a problem, Miss Crone?"
    "Yes! Yes there is!" she said. "Come here, I
want you to see this!"
    He seemed clueless as he walked toward her and
entered the room. "Good morning, girls."
    She grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face
the board. "This! This is the problem!"
    "Oh my," he said. He turned back to the
students. "Did you girls do this?"
    "Do you think they'd call themselves demons?!" Evelyn said.
    "I assure you, Miss Crone, I'll get to the
bottom of this," he said. "The student responsible will be properly
punished! This