It started as a normal day. I woke up, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, ate cereal, got dressed, and drove to school. When I got there, something was obviously off. I mean, if you didn’t see anyone at your school, would it be off to you too?
My first thought was that I had come too early. Or maybe it was a holiday. I checked. 7:45 AM. I was on time. It was just any other wednesday. No holidays. No PTA meeting. I went to my homeroom. No one was there. There were backpacks sitting next to the desks. There was writing on the board. It was as if everyone had just vanished into thin air.
I walked around the school for a little while. Looking in the different classes, peeking in storage rooms, opening and entering places I had never been before. I looked in the cafeteria, the courtyard, all the classrooms, the track and soccer field, and even the break room. No one was anywhere. There was one place left to check. The gym. I jogged across the cafeteria, through the double doors that led to the 10th and 11th grade classes, and down the corridor that let to the auditorium and gym. I peeked inside the auditorium and saw no one. I walked inside the gym.
Everyone was sitting there. Some were in chairs in the middle of the floor, some on the bleachers, some were standing. Every. Single. Person. The 493 students, the 173 staff, the 5 security guards and even some parents. All of them were there. The strange part was that even with the 493 students, 173 staff, 5 security guards and some parents it was completely silent. The only sound was the door opening and closing. My breath quickened. My heart beat faster. It was so suddenly eerie.
What made it worse was that everyone, literally everyone was staring at me. Not blinking. Not talking. Not pointing or laughing. Just staring. It was petrifying. Absolutely morbidly, horrifyingly, petrifying. It sent my anxiety through the roof. It made the hairs on my arms straight. It gave me goosebumps, and sent chills down my spine. I made my way to one of the chairs, and began to take my backpack off, while all of their eyes stared at me, gaping at me like I was an alien. Before I could sit down, I heard someone say,”Run.”
It was almost a whisper. I wouldn’t have heard it if there was any noise at all. I don’t know who said it, or why, but they did. It was enough for me. In one swift movement, I swung my backpack on, and kicked my chair behind me. Suddenly, everyone in the room was standing and walking or running towards me. They hadn’t taken their eyes off of me. I sprinted out of the gym. Down the corridor. Through the cafeteria. Down the main lobby. Out the front door. Through the parking lot. To the gas station across the street.
When I got there, no one was there either. I swiped a few bottles of water from the freezer, tossed them in my backpack, and grabbed a few bags of chips too. I hid in the bathroom the moment I saw them exit the building. I locked the door. I barricaded it with the rack full of toliet paper rolls. I pushed my body against it. I turned off all the lights and was as quiet as I could be.
I spent a week in that room. Eventually, I got the courage to come out. When I did, no one was there. Nothing was abnormal. The clerk was serving a customer, and waved a cheery hello to me. I was trembling. I walked out and downtown to the police station. I told them my story. And they kept me there until my parents came to pick me up. They thought I was crazy. It took me two months to go back to school.
I don’t know what happened or why. Maybe I got caught in a temporary loophole that sent me to a alternate universe, and once space realized it, it just sent me back. I don’t know. Maybe it was real, or maybe I am crazy. I have lived in fear of the “Starers” ever since. I don’t leave my house without a backpack of fully stocked survival gear. Am I crazy? Or am I sane?