One Sick Kid

"One sick kid. That's all it takes." Vicky would start, usually with a sigh or an eye roll. "One sick kid, and we're all infected. Everyone's coughing, sneezing, puking, whatever it may be, and it spreads." If the woman wasn't so annoyingly intimidating, one would argue with something along the lines of 'well, you signed up for that when you decided to work in a public elementary school', but nobody ever did, because Vicky was always right.

Kaitlyn was 21, three months, and five days when she got called in for her first 'gig' as a substitute. She hit it off immediately with the kindergarten class; always the laid-back and artsy type, she kept the class entertained with a Bill Nye and a few construction paper projects from the back of a magazine. The normal teacher, Mrs. Trechet, was always calling out sick. "Poor thing," the other teachers would whisper as they congregated during lunch break. "71 and still working here? No wonder she's always sick." But Kaitlyn never cared; she just loved little kids.

"Okay people, we need to talk." Vicky looked nervous, tapping her long fingernails on the desk in front of her as the other teachers sat in a circle of chairs. It was Thursday; after-school meeting day. "There's been a..rather nasty bug reported." She said, obviously choosing her words carefully. "I believe it would be very health-conscious, both for us and the children, to maybe shut down school for just a few days." The teachers groaned, all knowing that the more days they missed in the winter, the more would be added on to be made up before summer. "I know, I know. But.." She trailed off. She looked concerned, Kaitlyn noticed. Ms. Lee, the art teacher, was the first to speak against Vicky. "Come on now, Vick. Its just a bug. We'll send the kids home the second they hit a degree higher than 98.8." All the other teachers, with the exception of Kaitlyn, nodded in agreement, with mutters of "sounds fair enough" and "it'll be fine". Vicky stood, clipboard in hand, and gave an exasperated sigh. "You know what? Fine. FINE. But don't you all blame me when you're diseased!" And with that, she stomped out of the room, which had fallen silent.

"Abigail?" Kaitlyn read the names from the clipboard, sipping her coffee occasionally. "Toby?" "Here." "Anna?" "Here." "Maddie?" There was no response. "Maddie?" She called out again, looking over the sea of children for the small blonde girl. "I think she's tardy!" Piped up one child. "Yeah, or absent." Called out another. "Could be sick!" Squeaked another. "Okay, okay, settle. If she isn't here by lunch, I'll call her parents." Kaitlyn finished the coffee, really hoping Maddie would be in soon. She didn't want Vicky to be right.

"Ms. Kate." She had gotten absorbed into a book a bit after naptime started, and hadn't even noticed Maddie enter the room. "Oh, Maddie, good. I was just about to call your paren-" She was cut off by her own gasp as she set down the book and took a good look at the girl. Her skin was a sickly pale grey colour, deep purple lines running like rivers under her skin from a deep, scabbed gash on her shoulder. Her pale blonde hair looked stringy, and her eyes were yellow with sickness. "Oh. Oh my. Maddie." She really had no clue what to say. "I'm sick." Said the young girl quietly, tugging at the corner of her dark green dress. "My mommy and daddy said I had to come to school." Kaitlyn was confused, but the state of the girl weakened her heart. She forced a comforting smile, patting the girl on the head. "Why don't you go lay down on a mat? I'll get the nurse in a little bit." She knew very well that the nurse was at the high school, dealing with a sophomore who had fallen off the auditorium stage, but she wanted to calm the girl. Maddie nodded and went to lay down, leaving Kaitlyn feeling chilled.

An hour passed. Maddie spent most of that time sleeping-Kaitlyn couldn't bring herself to wake her-and finally Kaitlyn decided to go get the nurse. She left the oldest child, a boy named Kent who had stayed back, in charge. As she made her way down the halls to the office, she felt uneasy. Something was wrong with Maddie. Something worse than a mere bug. The nurse promised to be back in a few minutes, and Kaitlyn walked back to the Kindergarten room feeling relieved. Until she entered the room.

It was chaos. Blood slicked the floor in randomly-strewn puddles, as the majority of the young children attacked each other mercilessly. They all seemed to take on the symptoms Maddie had shown; sickly skin, yellow eyes, and those ghastly purple lines spreading out from oozing gashes. It took Kaitlyn little time to realize what the gashes were; deep bite wounds. She screamed as a child jumped on her. Two, three. She felt stinging, and pain, and a warm sensation, and her body, weighed down by the kids, hitting the floor, as her skull made a sickening 'THUD'. She saw someone, clad in all white. An angel? No, just Vicky. Holding a shiny object. Pointing that shiny object at Kaitlyn as her last human thoughts slipped away from her.

"One sick kid. That's all it takes."