Crack!

He jumped in his seat, his head spinning.

“What is it?  Is class over?” He asked.

“No, Jacob, we’ve still got 45 minutes,” said Ashley as she continued typing, barely glancing away from her monitor.

“Who woke me up?” he said with a yawn.

“Who do you think?”  She rolled her eyes.

Jacob looked across the table to see a short, messy-haired boy grinning at him with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

“You bounced up out of that seat like a schizophrenic cat!” he said with a laugh.

“That wasn’t funny, Ryan,” said Isabel, the prim blond girl who sat next to him.  Ryan shrugged noncommittally and swiveled his rolling chair around to start up a conversation with the group of sophomores who sat at the table behind him.

“It’s best to just ignore him,” said Ashley.

“Doesn’t make him go away,” Jacob grunted.

“Class!” said the teacher, Ms. Kelly.  “No talking, please.  Remember, your assignments are due by the end of – “

Click, beep!

Ms. Kelly paused at the sound of the intercom, and the whole class turned towards it to listen.

After a slight delay, a low, gravelly voice said, “Greetings, students.  I am calling to inform you that the entire school is now in lockdown.  Do not open your classroom’s doors for any reason.  This lockdown has been instituted because the police believe that a wanted murderer is now inside the school.  We are certain that this person is in fact one of the students.  Good-day.”

The click of the intercom turning off echoed in the now-silent classroom.

“Are we going to die?” said Kara, the only freshman in the class.  She sat trembling in the back corner of the room.  The grim fog that had descended over the students darkened as they began muttering to each other, questioning if what they’d just hear could actually be true.  Ms. Kelly quickly locked the door, then shoved the keys into her desk drawer, which clicked shut.

“A murderer?  Really?” said Jacob.  He glanced at Ashley nervously, hoping for a comforting response.

“It’s possible,” Ashley said.  “But odds are that even if there is a murderer, he or she isn’t in our classroom.”

“You can’t know that!” Isabel snapped.  Her eyes were wide with fear.  “For all you know, the message could’ve only been sent to us!”

“Why are you freaking out so much?” said Ryan.  He leaned back in his chair with a grin.  “It’s gotta be a joke.  I mean, how could a student be a murderer?”

“Not everything’s a joke,” Jacob said solemnly, cutting off Isabel’s sharp retort.

“Then the question is, who would you suspect of being a murderer?”  Ryan’s smile widened mockingly.

“That’s not funny, Ryan,” said Ashley with a glare.

“I’m not joking.”  For the first time, the smile fell from his face.  “It could be any one of us.”

The other three looked around nervously, but stayed silent.  No one wished to answer.  Kara, the girl in the corner, had begun to cry, and her friends huddled around her, attempting to quiet her sobs.  One of the girls walked over to Jacob and asked, “Does anyone have any tissues?”

“I think there’s a box on Ms. Kelly’s desk,” he said.

“Thanks,” she replied with a small smile.  She grabbed the box off of the teacher’s desk and then frowned.  Her eyes roamed across the room, searching.

“Where’s Ms. Kelly?”

Only a fraction of the class responded to this troublesome observation, while the rest were glued to their phones, attempting to text their friends and parents with the spotty Wi-Fi.

“She wouldn’t have just left,” said Ashley.  Jacob got up and walked to the window, which overlooked the teacher’s parking lot.

“Her car’s gone.”

“What?!” shrieked Isabel.  “That’s it!  The murderer must be in this room!  Why else would she leave?”

“Calm down.”  Jacob attempted to soothe her, but she slapped his hand away and stood up to glare out the window at the empty space where Ms. Kelly’s car should’ve been.

“Do you think we could play a movie on the projector?” said Ralph.

“That probably isn’t a good idea,” said Jacob, but Ralph wasn’t listening.  He walked up to Ms. Kelly’s desk and rattled the drawer.

“It’s locked,” he said in surprise.

Jacob’s eyes lit up.  “The keys to the classroom could be in it.”

“Don’t be silly,” Ashley said.  “She would’ve had to take them with her to leave.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Ryan with a shrug.  “The murderer could be in another classroom.” He grinned.

“It’s you,” said Isabel, still staring out the window.

“What?”  Ryan’s smile dropped.

“You keep acting like it isn’t real.”  She turned to stare at him.  “Which must be because you don’t want them to find out that you’re actually the murderer.”  She began walking towards him.

“That’s crazy!  It’s just a joke, I swear!”  He stumbled backwards, knocking over a cup full of pens and scissors from Ms. Kelly’s desk.  Isabel knelt and picked up a pair of scissors, looming over Ryan, who cowered on the floor.

“Isabel, don’t!” Ashley cried.  Jacob leaped up and grabbed Isabel’s arm.  She struggled; kicking, punching, and attempting to stab at Ryan past Jacob.

Click, beep!

The intercom turned on, and once again, everyone paused.  This time, a clear adult voice blared through the classroom.  “The lockdown has been lifted.  There is no murderer in the school.  You may all leave your classrooms.  The buses will take you home.”

Jacob slowly let go of Isabel’s arm, and the scissors fell to the floor with a clatter.  Ryan stood up shakily and reached for the door handle.

“The door’s locked,” said Ashley.

The handle turned, and the door swung open.

“I guess Ms. Kelly forgot,” said Jacob.

The sounds of students stampeding down the halls echoed hollowly in their ears.  A tall boy with floppy brown hair ran past, then stopped and grabbed the doorframe.

“Dude,” he said, looking at Ryan, “that was the best joke ever!”

“It wasn’t a joke.”