| “Piper, can I see you outside?” Mr. Almond asked. Piper nodded and walked outside with Mr. Almond. She was afraid but knew she was going to be okay. Nothing was going to happen to her, she repeated to herself inside her head. Mr. Almond looked both ways down the hallway and didn’t see anyone. He shut the classroom door and turned to Piper. “What do you know?” He asked. “I know everything about you.” She responded. “I know who you are, I know why you do it, I know who your father was.” “You think you know everything but no one knows everything.” “I know without blood you’re a monster. Did you think that with two FBI Agents so close to the case that they wouldn't find out what you do.” “It’s not my fault. I kill because I have to, because I need it to survive.” “Why your students? Why not strangers?” Piper wondered. She was beginning to unravel the entire story and she didn’t like what she was hearing. “I had access to the students. I saw them all the time so I could kill them whenever I pleased.” “I know you have to kill three males and a female. The boys are done. You took their lives from them, and now you’re going to take mine.” “You’re a smart teenager, Piper.” “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She joked. “What do you think is going to happen why I turn up dead? They know your secret already and they’ll hunt you down.” “Maybe you don’t understand.” He stepped towards Piper and began to pucker his lips. He sucked in a breath and Piper fell. She saw read liquid seeping through the air. She could feel the blood leaving her body as she crumpled to the floor. She thought of her family, her friends, and of Mulder and Scully. “Hold it right there!” Scully commanded holding her gun outward. Mr. Almond didn’t stop. He kept stealing the blood from Piper’s body. Scully could see the blood spewing from Piper’s body into Mr. Almond’s mouth. It was a long, thin line of red that seemed to be painted into the air. “Stop, or I’ll shoot.” Mulder said from behind him. “We know who you are and we’ll stop you whether it’s the last thing I do.” Piper had fallen to the ground completely. Her eyes were closed and her body was limp. Scully was about to pull the trigger when something strange happened. The blood continued to stream into Mr. Almond’s mouth but this time there was something in it. There was mucus of some sort. Mr. Almond must have noticed it too, because he began stopping immediately. As he parted his lips, the blood stopped streaming. Piper’s limp body lay on the ground. Scully was to distracted to react. She watched as Mr. Almond’s body became decomposed. He began getting purplish bumps over his entire body. His hands turned bright yellow and his face was blue. He screamed, as if in agony. Even with all her medical training, Scully wasn’t sure she could save him. “No, you…” he said. His breaths were short and his words came out in syllables. Scully knew he was dying. “Sick…you’re sick. Nooooo!” Mulder stared as Mr. Almond melted down into the ground. He screamed at the top of his lungs. Scully could hear students from inside the classroom, getting up but she locked both doors. As other teachers poked their heads out of their rooms to see what was going on, Scully motioned for them to stay inside and keep the kids with them. Mulder watched as Mr. Almond disappeared into a pile of clothes. As soon as he was gone, Scully’s mind snapped back to Katie. She raced to her side and checked her pulse. “She’s still breathing, but she needs a doctor.” Scully said. She got down on her knees and cradled Piper’s head in her hands. Mulder ran down the hallway into the main office. He raced behind the main desk, ignoring the secretaries pleas of what he was doing. He quickly dialed 911 and paused as someone on the other end answered the phone. As soon as the woman asked for a description of the injured person, Mulder didn’t know what to say. He knew Piper’s symptoms would include loss of blood, but he wasn’t sure what else it might include. An ambulance arrived a few minutes later and they took Piper away. By that time, the doors to the classroom were unlocked and the students piled into the hallway. Kyla searched frantically around, looking for Piper. Scully saw her puzzled look and walked over to her. “Where’s Piper?” Kyla asked. “She was injured, so the ambulance took her to the hospital. As long as they have a good enough blood supply, she should be fine.” Scully said. “Who did this to her?” Melanie asked stepping up. Scully didn’t know what to say. Should she release the information that a teacher was a murderer or should she tell the girls that it was just some freak accident? “That information cannot be released.” Scully turned and began walking down the hallway. She was afraid that if she stayed, she would have to answer more questions that simply couldn’t be answered. “You can’t hold the truth from us!” Kyla shouted. “The public has a right to know!” No one responded to her comment. No one cared to. They all had other worries. Other questions that no one seemed to be answering. The clothes of Mr. Almond had been taken away by the local officials. There was nothing left to be done except contact Piper’s parents. Mulder stood by Piper’s mom’s room. A substitute was sitting at her desk. Mulder wasn’t sure what he would say to Katie’s parents or to the principal of the school. How could he explain that a genetic mutant had been attacking the students and that he was a teacher who worked with the kids everyday. “Let’s go home, Mulder.” Scully said walking up behind him. Mulder nodded and followed her outside the building. Erin and Hannah stood together staring out the windows. They had heard of Piper’s attack and they wanted to know what was going on. They wanted to know what happened to Mr. Almond and what drove him to kill. Could Mulder and Scully just leave without visiting Piper or saying good bye? Erin thought to herself. She knew FBI Agents we’re supposed to get personal, so were they just going to leave without giving answers. The rest of the school resumed their regular classes but Erin and Hannah stayed at the window the entire day. They were searching for any sign that would show Mulder and Scully’s return. Would they come back or would they just right up a field report and drop it off at Piper’s doorstep? The thoughts raced through Hannah’s mind. How many different rumors would be started by the next day to suggest Piper killed herself? How many people would tell their friends that she was murdered by a monster. Hannah wanted the answers that she knew she would never get. * * * * Later that week, Piper lay on her hospital bed. She was feeling much better than before and most of the color had returned to her cheeks. She had lost a lot of her blood and they had almost lost her when they brought her up to surgery, but she proved to be a good sport and a fighter. “Hey Piper.” Hannah said. She walked into Piper’s room with a present in her hand. Erin was right behind her with a bouquet of flowers. “They’re from everyone.” Erin explained. She took the liberty of putting the flowers in a small, crystal vase that was already full of roses. “Everyone’s asking about you.” “Tell them I was eaten by Godzilla.” Piper joked. Erin and Hannah smiled. “RJ thinks you were abducted by aliens.” Hannah explained. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Piper questioned. “How many different rumors are going around school, besides the alien thing?” “Well, not many. We’ve tried to put an end to those that have started but as far as I know, no one is blaming you.” Erin said. “Where are your parents?” Hannah asked, changing the subject. “They went to get something to eat. I’ve never been in a hospital for such a long time, so they feel they have to be here twenty-four hours a day. They feel bad that they went to Maine without me in the first place.” “Here, we all pitched in and bought you these.” Hannah said. She handed Piper the present she had under her arm. Piper took it, gratefully. Hannah noticed the IV’s that were hooked up to her hand. She cringed at the thought of those being inside her. “What is it?” Piper asked, shaking the object. “Open it and find out.” Erin teased. She took a seat on the edge of Piper’s bed and eagerly awaited her opening of the present. Piper ripped the flowered wrapping paper away from the present. She looked at it and laughed. There was a book and two notebooks inside the package. The book read “Piper’s collection of untold stories.” Piper flipped through the pages and realized what was inside. “You didn’t have to do that.” She said. “We wanted to.” Hannah explained. |