Red Rain

63

A buzzer rang and echoed in the line of classrooms down the hall. The signal to start class. But today no classes would be started.

Samuel knew the doors were locked, and the teachers had given up trying to enter the building. A group of seventh-graders had been given sentry duty, and they kept watch at all the entrances for any attempt to force open the doors.

Of course, the kitchen workers had been greeted warmly and ushered inside. They arrived first, just before seven, to begin preparing breakfast for the kids in the meal program. They soon got over their surprise at finding the new order, the new regime, as Samuel thought of it. The blue arrows were applied to their faces, and they immediately became pliable under Daniel’s will.

Now they were in their white uniforms and aprons, preparing breakfast as usual, only this time for the new arrivals and for the robbery team who returned from their missions with great appetites.

The morning sunlight slanted into the classrooms as kids settled into their new rooms. Some of the light spilled in patches into the crowded, bustling hallway. The mood was cheerful and filled with anticipation for the adventures to come.

Of course, Daniel set the mood, sending his signals to anyone wearing the painted blue arrow, and he could alter the mood, change the emotions and feelings of the two hundred or so followers simply by changing the direction of his thoughts.

Now Samuel followed him down the line of kids who were showing off what they had stolen. He stopped in front of a frail, young-looking blond boy with a galaxy of freckles across his nose.

“What’s your name?”

“David.”

“How old are you, lad?”

“I’ll be eleven next week.”

“Well, I’m impressed, David. Two laptops. Good work! You’re going to be on my special electronics team.”

Samuel watched as a proud smile broke over the kid’s face. Samuel patted the arrow on the boy’s cheek, then pointed him toward the computer room, which had been a sixth-grade classroom but now was a storehouse for stolen computers.

Samuel gazed down the long hall, crowded with followers, some presenting their stolen items for inspection, a group of new arrivals seeking instructions, a girl who carried her brown short-haired dachshund with a blue arrow painted on the right side of its face, a sixth-grade boy with long stringy brown hair, leaning against one wall, softly playing a guitar, several kids hanging back, watching warily as the twins made their way through the patches of dull sunlight in the hall.

“Why did you take these sweaters?” Daniel asked a lanky red-haired girl with red-rimmed glasses.

“I liked the colors,” she said. “And I think they’re my size.”

Daniel motioned with his head toward the girls’ hall. “Go try them on. If they don’t fit, put them in the clothing storeroom.”

She nodded and hurried off with her armload of stolen sweaters.

“So much to organize, boyo,” Daniel said, giving Samuel’s face a gentle slap. “You know. Bright beginnings, right?”

“This school is ours!” Samuel declared. He pumped his twin a hard high five. His excitement actually made it hard to stand still. He wanted to hop and dance and bounce off the tile walls. What an amazing day! He hadn’t felt this alive in many years.

Daniel may be the match, but I am the fire.

Samuel glanced through the window of the art room. He could see Ira standing at a table with several cans of blue and white paint. He was applying a blue arrow to the cheek of a chubby sixth-grade girl with braces.

“It’s so simple. Once the arrow goes on, they’re one of us,” Daniel said, watching Ira work. “Better than hypnotizing them, my lad. They don’t even know I’m putting thoughts in their brain.”

“Ira is getting good with the paintbrush.”

“Ira is a good bruvver.” He flashed Ira a thumbs-up. “Feel like some breakfast, Sammy? We’ve worked hard this morning. But it feels like play, doesn’t it, lad?”

Samuel nodded. “We rule, Daniel. It’s what we always wanted. We waited so many years.”

Daniel had a faraway gaze in his eyes. “It’s a full school. And we rule. But we’ve only just started.”

Samuel snickered. “I know your mind, Daniel. I know you want all the kids, all the kids. . all.”

“All.” Daniel still had the dreamy look. “All. It’s a start, right? Does it make you feel alive, Sammy? Does it now?”

Before Samuel could answer, someone stepped in front of them, someone large, blocking their path. Her appearance was so sudden and unexpected, it took Samuel a few seconds to realize he was staring at Mrs. Maloney, the principal.

She wasn’t in her usual school outfit. She had an oversize man’s white dress shirt pulled over sloppy, faded jeans. Her bird’s-nest hair was matted in spots as if it hadn’t been brushed. She kept blinking and gazing down the hall, as if trying to force away a bad dream.

“Well, what a surprise. To find so many of my lovely chickadees in school so early. What are you all doing here?” she shouted over the chatter of conversations. “Can any of you darlings explain this to me?”

Daniel stepped up to her. “How did you get into the building, mum?”

She lowered her gaze to him. “Daniel? Are you here, too? And your brother? What are you doing here? Why are the doors locked? Can you be telling me what’s going on?”

“But how did you get in?” Daniel repeated.

The principal dangled a ring of keys in one hand. “I know some hidden entrances. This is my school, don’t you know.”

“No. You don’t rule the school, mum.” Daniel spoke softly, blue eyes probing hers. “We rule the school.”

My bruvver looks calm but I can feel his agitation. We made a mistake last week. We forgot to paint an arrow on her cheek. We let her get away.

“Daniel, lad, you don’t make any sense,” she said. Her eyes were over his shoulder. Samuel could see her counting, taking a tally of the kids in the hall.

They had all grown silent. All eyes were on the confrontation between Daniel and the principal. And the tension was evident in the heavy, ringing hush over the hall.

“Who brought you all here?” She raised her head and shouted. “Did someone force you to come here?”

Silence. No one moved now.

“Somebody tell me what this is about. I don’t want to punish you all. But you will give me no choice.”

Daniel nodded as if he agreed with her. He signaled to Samuel with another nod of his head.

Samuel took a deep breath and started to heat up his eyes.

Mrs. Maloney seemed like a nice woman. She should have stayed home. Now she will be sizzling like Irish bacon.

“The police have been notified,” the woman shouted. “They are on their way. I saw a crowd of people outside the building. Many of them are your parents, waiting to see you. How many of you would like to go out and see your parents right now?”

No hands went up. A boy giggled. That made several other kids laugh.

“What’s funny, kiddos?” Mrs. Maloney demanded. “Someone tell me, what’s funny?”

The red curtain had started to form over Samuel’s vision. But he could see the uncertainty in her eyes, and he saw the uncertainty turn to fear.

She tried again. “Your parents will be so happy to see you. Come on, everyone. Follow me. Let’s all go outside.” She motioned toward the front doors and took a few steps. But no one made a move.

“You don’t understand, mum,” Daniel said almost in a whisper. “We rule the school.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Daniel? You? You are behind this bizarre behavior? You and your brother? I. . don’t believe it. You are good lads, I know. What-?”

And then Samuel turned his eyes on her, aimed the full heat of his power at her forehead. He misjudged. Aimed a little too high, and her hair caught fire. That bristly steel-wool hair burst into red flames.

She screamed and grabbed at her head with both hands. And he lowered the beam to her forehead. The skin peeled open, blistered, and split apart.

Her head is opening up. Like a flower blooming.

She raised her hands and pressed them against her burning face. Dropped heavily to her knees. And Samuel sent the fire to the top of her head, a powerful blast that made him dizzy for a second, made him quake, his knees threatening to buckle.

Her head burned like a torch. Her eye sockets lay black and empty now. And her nose was gone, just a dangling flap of charred skin.

The eyes burn so quickly. How quickly a face melts.

The fire moved down her neck, crackling, popping, setting the shirt ablaze. She toppled forward. Her charred head hit the hard floor with a smack. Her big body a beached whale, a pile of kindling.

She ended her life as a bloody bonfire.

Samuel shut his eyes. Kept them closed, waiting for them to cool, listening to the sizzle of Irish bacon.

A hard pounding, a deafening boom, jarred him from the pleasure of the moment. He turned to Daniel as a deep voice on the other side of the front door bellowed: “Open up! Police! Open this door-now!”