The glow of the television disappeared, and the pain in his head dulled and was gone.
“What are we going to do?” a voice asked. “They said they were coming back. They said they were going to make us behave.”
“Who? Who said this?”
“Mrs. Steele. And Mr. Cuff.”
Steele. The secretary.
“But who’s Mr. Cuff?”
“The janitor.”
Gertrude rubbed his jaw.
“I wish Oliver was here,” one of the children said.
“Oliver? Oliver Williams?”
“He was the smartest kid ever. He told us something bad was going to happen. He told us not to come back to school. But we didn’t listen.”
“That’s because you teased him all the time!”
“Did not!”
“Did, too.”
“Well, it wasn’t just me. You all did it, too.”
“Children, children,” Gertrude said. “Now is not the time to fight.” The shouts subsided, replaced by more
