Wilson Orama - Episode IV - Really Rile

Episode IV - Really Rile

After a few short minutes, interupted by Missy laughing, the girls looked at eachother with wide eyes. Missy turned and looked at the back corner, "Oh my god, Ash'd kill us."

"Us?" asked Sarah, "he wont know it's us."

Missy smirked, "No... He wont."

Newspaper

Ash stood looking out the window at the truck sitting outside the main building. The truck was black, with "Juvenile Delinquency” painted in white letters. He smiled as four figures exited the main building carrying a stretcher between them. But his smile quickly faded as they threw the stretcher into the truck and slammed the door.

“That doesn’t look good.” Said the boy next to him. Ash turned and looked at Andrew.

“Dude, no duh!” he said. Andrew smiled. Both of them turned back to the printer they were managing. “Hey Ash, check it out, Haley spelt “delinquency” wrong on her page. Ash smiled and walked forward to look at the stack of finished papers. Haley Kragness was one of the two Newspaper editors, she was extremely smart, and in Ash’s opinion, cute.

Ash stared at his own picture staring back. “Dude, am I really that ugly?” he asked.

“No.” said third voice. Ash looked up and around, there was nobody there. “Over here.” Said the voice. Ash looked at where the voice came from and saw Tessa’s head looking through the gap between the ink pipes.

“Oh, hey Tessa.” Said Andrew smiling. He looked back at the newspaper in Ash’s hand, “read it, it’s good.” He said. Ash flicked open to the page about the events after the dance. Haley had insisted on putting the whole incident in the newspaper. “It’ll avoid nasty rumors about Caroline.” She had said.

Ash read the final line of the article again, “The board of governors will decide Monday night what the fate of Mr. Rile will be.” Today was Monday, and soon was night, and obviously something was wrong at the main building.

There was a loud grinding noise from the printing press on the other side of the building, “Ugh,” grunted Andrew, “I’ll get it.” He walked around the press, passed Tessa who was playing with something alive. He passed the main office, where Professor Brewer and the editors, Haley and Aubri, were deep in conversation, and arrived at the scene of the problem.

“Hello Andrew.” Said a voice behind him. Andrew jumped, hit his head on a pole, and fell to his knees.

Ash looked up as Andrew groaned, “Something up mate?” he called across the room. Andrew didn’t reply. Ash scowled and walked around the press. He glanced down at the ink cartridges for Tessa, she was gone. He kept walking and looked in through the big window at the desk in the office, the office too was empty.

Starting to feel nervous, he rounded the final corner and looked for Andrew. It didn’t take much brains to spot him, he was laying against some pipes, and a message was on his chest.

Ash ran over and kneeled down next to him, he read the message. “Ash, oak tree, midnight.”

Drama

Caroline looked at Mary who was acting out a scene from Hamlet with Ian. It was getting late, and Mr. Foreman seemed oblivious of the weather reports. Aparently, a hurricane that had hit the coast was to come over the school that evening, and it was now well after 7, the time class ended.

She laughed as Mary tripped on her dress, pulling it down (she had her uniform underneath!). Mr. Foreman looked up at the clock and sighed. “Not long now everyone, we will just wrap up Hamlet.”

Caroline laughed again as Ian tripped trying to help Mary out of the tangle of the dress. She caught her eye and winked, Mary winked back. “Right, Caroline, you’re up.” Caroline froze, not only had she completely forgotten, or just not bothered to learn the lines, her meds had worn off.

She walked nervously up to where Ian was standing. “I don’t know the lines.” She whispered.

“Go contemporary.” He whispered back. Caroline smiled weakly.

“Right, Tommy, you’re up too, you’re Hamlet, Ian, you’re Claudius, let’s see, Michael, you’re… blast, forgot the guy’s name. well, you’re him. Caroline, you’re the queen.” As Mr. Foreman spoke, Tommy, Peterson, and Ian picked up the swords and props. Caroline put the crown on.

“Ready? Right, let’s go!”

“Okay guys, contemporary.” Whispered Tommy. Everyone nodded. He pulled up his sword and pointed it at Peterson. “En garde!” he said mockingly.

Peterson, now known as “Laertes”, picked up two swords. “Hmm,” he said, “This one is stronger, but this one is poisoned.”

His lips curled and he aimed the poisoned sword at Tommy. “Ready?” he said. Tommy smiled evilly.

The two boys stared at each other, then Tommy, now known as Hamlet, lunged forward. The swords swung like mad, and a cork flew off one and hit Kelly, who was standing innocently at the sides, in the face.

“Boys, Boys! Calm down!” cried Mr. Foreman.

“Die, b***h!” cried Hamlet, there was a cry from Laertes as he stumbled backwards.

“One!” cried Tommy.

“No! ‘Tis but a scratch!” cried Laertes. He lunged at Hamlet, and the swords started moving quickly again. There was the sound of metal on metal, and Hamlet started to swear. Ian got close to Caroline and whispered, “Okay, Hamlet will hit Laertes again, and you will say “I drink to your health” and drink from the cup, okay?”

Caroline nodded. There was a sudden cry from Laertes and he stumbled backwards again

“Two!” Cried Hamlet.

“No!” screame Laertes getting Angry.

“Hamet! I, your queen, drink to your health!” Shouted Caroline and took a deep drink from the goblet.

“No Gertrude!” bellowed Ian, Claudius, “It’s poison!”

“Oh,” said Caroline, she dropped to her knees, “I am dead! Hamlet, kill him!” Caroline fell forward.

“You b*****d!” cried Hamlet and lunged forward. He suddenly gave a cry of pain, “d**n!”

“Hah! One to me!” screamed Laertes.

Hamlet jumped forward and slammed his sword into Laertes’ side, who screamed in pain and fell to the floor.

“Three, I win!” laughed Hamlet.

“Yes, you may, but your wound will kill you, the sword was poisoned!” said Laertes with a cruel laughter.

Hamlet screamed, and slammed the sword down on laertes, who died instantly.

Mr. Foreman looked and clapped excitedly, “Good job boys! Now go Ian! Right, um, you, there, Michael Darlington, you’re Horatio.”

Mike walked forward and picked up a sword.

Claudius (Ian) ran to Hamlet (Tommy), “The poison alone will not kill you fast enough, so I will!” The great king raised his jewel encrusted sword to Hamlet and swung. But Hamlet was too quick, with one sweep, he killed Claudius.

Horatio ran to the scene, “Hamlet! What have you done?” He looked around, “Oh my god.” Horatio raised his sword to kill himself, but Hamlet put his hand on him.

“No, Horatio, my friend. The poison is working quickly, you must tell my story.”

Horatio grabbed Hamlet, who fell to the ground, dead. Horatio looked down sadly, then dropped his sword, “A Massacre has happened here.”

There was complete silence in the class; everybody stared at Mike who was standing alone looking sad.

Immediately everybody burst into loud applause, and Mr. Foreman wiped a tear from his eye. “That, was amazing!”

Caroline

Caroline stood up, rubbing her neck where her necklace had dug into her. She scowled at Peterson, then walked over to Kelly. “That was horrible!” she cried.

Kelly blinked, “What do you mean? That rocked!”

Caroline shook her head, “No, not the play, the play was good, but when Peterson fell, he was way too close, and his hand was on my – “

“Yes, I saw, now shh!” said Kelly quickly.

“Right, Class. Class!” said Mr. Foreman, now gaining his voice again. The class stopped their conversation and looked at the teacher, “I think we’re ready, we will have auditions for Hamlet tomorrow, if the storm doesn’t nock us out, and the play will be two weeks from now.”

The class burst out into applause, but Mr. Foreman held up a hand, “No no, now remember to thank Tommy and Michael for their…” Mr. Foreman paused, “Awesome, acting.” He smiled and the class laughed and acclaimed the two boys.

“Class dismissed.” Said Mr. Foreman finally.

Caroline turned back to Kelly. “Ugh, look at the time.”

Kelly looked up at the clock on the wall, “Eight fifteen? Wow, that presentation was longer than I thought.” She cried.

Caroline nodded, “Want to walk back with me? The wind is picking up now.” She pointed to the window, and Kelly looked.

“Yeah, let’s go before it starts to rain.” Before she had even finished speaking, there was a loud clash of thunder. Caroline sighed, and the two girls headed for the door. They hadn’t taken two steps, when someone called them from the back of the room, near the door to the auditorium.

Caroline turned, “Who is it?”

There was no reply, then Kelly echoed Caroline. This time someone replied, “Josh! Now come over here.” Caroline sighed and walked towards the back of the room, Kelly followed her.

They got to the back, now they were alone with Mr. Foreman, "You girls going to be long?" he asked.

"No, I forgot my book." Lied Caroline.

"Okay, the door is locked, so you just have to close it when you're done."

"Okay Sir, have a good evening." said Kelly brightly.

"You too." Replied the teacher as he left the room.

Caroline and Kelly waited for his footsteps to die down the hallway. “Hey, where are you?” Asked Caroline.

There was no reply. “I think Josh was in the hall between the auditorium and this one.” Said Kelly. They walked towards the door, when there came a very un-expected noise from behind them. Caroline and Kelly swung around, the door had closed.

The two girls looked at each other, then ran for the door. They had reached the middle of the room, when Kelly fell in a cry of pain. “What is it?” asked Caroline. Kelly looked up, blinking back tears, “I don’t know, something stung my leg.” Caroline got down on her knees next to Kelly to look at her legs.

As soon as she touched Kelly, the lights went out.

Both the girls screamed. “Kelly?” Asked Caroline. Kelly shivered, and Caroline tightened her grip on Kelly’s shoulder. “Who’s there?” asked Caroline. Kelly didn’t answer.

“Caroline,” said Kelly nervously, “stop rubbing my back.”

“I’m… I’m not touching your back, my hand is on your shoulder.” Replied Caroline. There were a seconds of silence, in which neither girl breathed, followed by a loud scream from both.

The lights turned on abruptly, and the scream echoed around the room. Kelly was breaking heavily. “Look at my back, look at my back, Look at my back!” she said, she was shaking violently.

Caroline crawled around her and looked at her back, there was a note scribbled on her shirt: Caroline, oak tree, midnight.

The Professors

Professor Joseph M. MacArthur, Headmaster of Wilson Middle Academy, paced the office with his arms behind his back. Professor Samantha S. Beau, the deputy Headmistress, watched him, with her head resting in her hands.

It was rare that all 160 teachers met with both headmasters, but this was one of those times.

Professor James Simpson Sr., Dean of Students, looked sadly at the both of them, “Well, We have never had to contemplate such a catastrophe of such class. I cannot begin to contemplate a course of action for such events.”

MacArthur looked sadly at Simpson, “Professor Simpson, I am at such a loss as you, in such situations in the past, we have had a more prior and direct warning as to this.”

“But the Rile boy?” asked Beau.

“He is gone.” Said Simpson, “As far as we know, he ran when he learned they were coming for him early.”

Many of the teachers gasped, Dr. Bilyeu stood, “We must move the students into the hall,” he said, “I have been here many years, as have many of you, but I remember that the main hall in the dormitories was built in such fashion, that it could hold up to no matter what the storm will throw at us.”

Many nodded in agreement with him, “But who can coordinate such a task?” asked Dr. Marshal, a Life Science teacher.

“Easy.” Said Professor Demoons, one of the Civics teachers, “The Student Counsil.”

“Will they be capable of such a thing?” asked Marshal.

“Oh yes, I would trust Ash Cochran, the president, with my life.” Replied Demoons. Many teachers nodded now. MacArthur looked at them all.

“Then it is settled then?” asked Simpson.

“Yes, I believe so.” Said Demoons, “Does someone second my notion?”

“I second” said Marshal

“I third.” Said Mrs. Johnson.

Ash

Ash walked through the wind with Andrew. “But still, where did Tessa, Haley, and Aubri go?” he yelled above the roar. Andrew made an attempt to shrug in the wind. Deciding not to speak until they were inside, the boys struggled along in silence.

They reached the point where the path to the main building met the path to the student entertainment complex. They stopped. “Andrew.” Screamed Ash, “I want to go and get Caroline, I don’t want her walking alone in this wind.”

Andrew nodded, and the boys started walking towards the entertainment center. The sky was starting to get dark, Ash looked at his watch; it was almost eight fifteen. They marched up the steps, and a sudden gust slammed them against the doors.

Ash straightened himself, and with Andrew’s help, opened the doors and stepped in. Once inside, safe from the wind, Ash sat down on the floor. “Let’s wait for a bit.” He said.

Andrew laughed, “The wind too much?”

Ash nodded, “60 Mile per hour winds are way too much for me.”

Andrew pulled Ash to his feet and pushed him down the hall. They had taken two steps when there was a loud scream from down the hall. Andrew looked at Ash, then started sprinting down the hall. Ash followed.

Being a track star, Ash ran ahead of Andrew and stopped at the cross halls. “Andrew!” he said, “I don’t know what way the Drama room is!”

Andrew stopped next to him panting, “S**t!” He looked around. “This way, I think!” The boys started to run down a hall towards the auditorium. At the end, they reached a door and tried it, it was locked.

There was suddenly another, louder scream from the other end of the hallway. “D**n! Wrong way Andrew!” cried Ash, and they turned and sprinted back. Arriving at the right door, they tried it; locked!

Ash thumped on the door, “Are you okay?” he said.

There was some noise on the other side of the door, and then it opened, two girls sped out and slammed their arms around the boys. “In there, someone, note, my shirt.” Gasped Kelly.

Ash pried Kelly off of him and held her at arms’ length, “Kelly, what happened?” But before anybody else could speak, a voice came on the intercom. “Ash Cochran, please report to the Administration immediately, all students report to their dormitories at once.”

Ash looked at Andrew and sighed, “Okay, you take the girls back to their dorms.”

“Ash, we can take ourselves back, thank you.” Said Caroline with dignity.

Kelly whimpered, “I want Andrew.” She latched her arms around Andrew.

Ash looked at them both, “Sorry I can’t help, just tell Andrew what freaked you out, I have to go. Oh, and you do need Andrew, the wind outside is enough to blow you both away, literally.”

He winked at Kelly, then set off for the exit alone. Walking in silence, he wondered why someone wanted him, and not anybody else. He stopped at the cross halls and listened, he thought he had heard footsteps.

Shrugging it off, he continued for the exit. The sky outside was almost pitch-black, if the lights hadn’t have been on, it would have been pitch black. Luckily there was not rain… yet.

With much effort, he pushed the doors open, and stepped out into the wind. Walking almost bent over, he started for the Admin building. “I do hope I don’t have to walk in this at midnight… Maybe I’ll get another note saying ‘forget what I said’” he thought to himself.

He passed the main building, and kept on walking down the path he had only walked a few times down. Looking up at the massive building, he was surprised to see that all the windows had the emergency, heavy metal covers had been activated over the windows.

He walked to the building, and almost stumbled over. He was now in the shadow of the building, where no wind could get to him. Smiling, he walked up the steps and into the building. Strangely, the lobby was empty. He peered into the office-empty.

He started to walk towards the hallway door, but stopped and looked back at the office, there was a flashing button with a stickie note under it. He checked that nobody was there, (which was obvious) and walked in to investigate.

He laughed out-loud when he read the note, “Ash, come to the main conference room.”

2045 Hours – 0115 hours remaining

Ash knocked on the door to the conference room. “Come in Ash.” Said the voice of Professor MacArthur. Ash opened the door and stepped in. His jaw dropped, it looked like the entire staff was in there! “You called?” he asked nervously.

“Yes, Ash, now, you are going to be loaded with much information, so please, take a seat.” He pointed to the seat next to him.

Ash nodded and sat down. “Now, Ash,” continued MacArthur, “You have Heard of the hurricane?”

“Yes, sir.” Said Ash.

“Right, well, it’s just been upgraded to a category 5, and has hit the North Carolinian coastline. Of course, here in Virginia, we’re safe from the category 5, but they’re predicting we’ll get category 1, 2, or even 3 winds.”

Ash gasped, “So why am I here?”

Professor Demoons stood, “Ash, we decided that you are going to run the student affairs at the dormitories. Many of us are going home, so the students will be left alone with few teachers. So we want you to run the student buildings during this crisis.”

Ash’s jaw opened slightly in alarm, “Me? How many teachers are staying?” he asked.

Simpson, the Dean, sighed, “Ash, it’ll be Dr. Bilyeu, Professors MacArthur, Beau, Foreman, Mathews, Mrs. Johnson, and myself. So only seven teachers, out of the 160 plus staff.”

“So, just us eight?” Asked Ash feeling more nervous.

MacArthur laughed, “No no Ash, the whole student council, and Jen Uspal, will be helping you. Now, do you accept?”

Ash smiled and stood, many of the teachers, as a sign of respect, stood also.

“Professors, I accept.” Said Ash smartly.

MacArthur smiled, “Right, here’s the keys,” he handed Ash a large round key, “to the main storage compartment in each building, this,” he handed Ash another, smaller key, “Opens every other door, and this,” he handed Ash a card, “opens every security door in the academy, and the dormitories. Now, I don’t expect you to abuse these. I also expect that you will find everything you need in the main storage compartments.”

Trying to retain all the information, Ash nodded. “And, before we all forget, channel six.” Said Beau kindly, handing him a walkie-talkie and waving her own. Ash smiled at her, and she beamed back at him.

“Got it?” asked Professor James Simpson.

“Got it.” Said Ash. He bowed slightly, then turned for the exit, then Professor Simpson spoke agin, "Ash! We forgot to tell you, now, this is important." He lowered his voice as he spoke.

Ash looked at the smart face, which was now pale. "Ash, Corey, he got loose, and we think he might go after Caroline during the storm."