Donald, the security man, had a habit of turning off the lights in the classrooms and chasing away students who were still around the school premises.

  “Go to your houses!” he would always say in his slightly cracked voice.

  Annabelle and Joanna peeked out of the classroom, looking left and right into the slightly dark hallways.

  “Ok the coast is clear,” Joanna whispered and both of them quietly walked through the hallways, constantly looking behind them.

  Moments later, they saw a beam of light, and heard footsteps coming from around a corner.

  “I hate this job,” Donald said in a hoarse voice, and snorted.

  “Quick, hide,” Anna whispered as she dragged Joanna into one of the classrooms, trying to make as little noise as possible.

  “You still haven’t told me your grand plan,” Anna whispered.

  “Oh, I almost forgot. We are going to kill the entire school’s power supply and search Mrs. Crow’s office in the darkness while Donald is distracted.”

  “Kill what?! Count me out of this,” Anna replied in a sharp whisper as she turned around to leave the classroom.

  “Wait! If we don’t do this, we may never know what’s up with Crow.”

  Anna was just about to reply when she covered Anna’s mouth with her hand and pointed outside. Donald was in the classroom opposite theirs but he didn’t hear them whispering. He entered the classroom, turned off the lights, and started walking towards them.

  “Hide,” Anna said as both girls scrambled and hid under one of the desks in the classroom.

  “He will see us here, there’s no cover,” Joanna said as she started to sweat, while her heart fluttered in her chest.

  She couldn’t help but think of the things Donald would do to her, how he was going to cook her in a pot of stew after he caught her.

  “This was all your fault,” Anna said as she closed her eyes, as if prepared to be caught by Donald. He entered the classroom and, “We are definitely dead,” Anna mouthed, as he turned off the lights without looking in their direction and walked out, humming a song.

  “Phew!” Both girls heaved a sigh of relief and laughed.

  “Let’s just get this over with,” Anna said and stood up. The sneaking continued and in a few minutes, they arrived at the distribution box that supplied the school’s electricity.

  “Ok here goes nothing,” Joanna said, opening the box with a screwdriver and a spanner after which she began to cut the random wires she saw. The wires made a slight BUZZ sound and in a matter of seconds, the school was clouded by total darkness.

  “Ahhhhh I hate this jooooob!!!” Donald screamed in frustration, his voice echoing throughout the school.

  “Ok time to go, he’s going to be here any minute,” Joanna said, quickly shoving her equipment into her backpack, and they both sneaked towards Mrs. Crow’s office using the light provided by the home screens of their smartphones. They didn’t want to use the torches for fear of being noticed by Donald.

  “Ok here we are,” Anna said, standing in front of Mrs. Crow’s office, half convinced she was doing the right thing.

  The door seemed to be calling to her, and she reached out in an attempt to open it, knowing fully well it was locked.

  On touching the doorknob, the visions came flooding though her mind, playing like a fast forwarded tape over and over again.

  She quickly let go of the doorknob and started to pant furiously, drops of sweat trickling down her face as she fell to the ground, gasping for air as if her lungs hadn’t taken in air for over two minutes.

  “Anna, are you okay?” Joanna asked, panicking

  “I’m fine. It’s just the visions, but they feel more like memories,” Anna replied as she got back on her feet, her eyes fixed on the door. There was something about that office, but what?

  “Do you want us to go? We can, if this is too much for you,” Joanna said, placing her hand on Anna’s shoulder.

  “No, I have to check her office, I have to find something, a clue, a hint, something,” Anna said with a look of conviction on her face. She grabbed the doorknob and more memories of her being killed flooded her mind. They were overwhelming, but she ignored them. Shaking off the memories and twisting the doorknob, she opened the door.

  The memories stopped when the door was opened and a gentle gust of warm air blew on her face. She heaved a sigh of relief and walked into the office with Joanna who closed the door behind her.

  The girls turned on their flashlights and looked around the office. They had never been in Mrs. Crow’s office before and they were amazed by what they saw.

  The office was neatly arranged, and there were little wood carvings of ancient natives on the table. The brightly polished wooden bookshelves were neatly stacked and at the center of the neat and polished table, rested a talisman.

  “Huh, this has to be fake,” Anna said as she picked the talisman and examined it, seeming to take forever.

  “Wait a moment,” She said, while glancing back and forth from Joanna to the door.

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  “What’s wrong?” Joanna asked, standing still like a tree.

  “The door… It wasn’t locked when we came in,” Anna whispered in a trembling voice.

  “Holy shit. I didn’t even notice that. But why?” Joanna asked, knowing fully well it could have been a trap.

  “We need to get out of here now. Put that talisman down,” she ordered as she snatched it from Anna’s hand.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” a female voice said.

  “Aaah!” Both of them screamed on hearing the voice. They spun around and fell backwards to the desk, their features tight with fear as they wondered how she got into the office without alerting them.

  “What are you looking for in my office Annabelle Peterson?” Mrs. Crow asked, with two bright torches focused on her face, but the light beams didn’t seem to affect her eyes. She didn’t even squint.

  How are these lights not affecting her? Anna thought to herself as she slowly lowered her torchlight.

  “If you need light, I can help you with that,” Mrs. Crow said and switched on an inverter in a corner of the office.

  “Now tell me, why are you here?” She asked, folding her arms in front of her, and rapidly tapping her feet in expectation of an answer.

  “Umm, if I may ask, how did you get in here without us noticing?” Joanna asked. The seconds sequential to that moment were spent in silence, and if one listened closely, one could hear the faint heartbeats of every person in the office.

  Mrs. Crow took a deep breath, brushed her thick dark hair to the side with her hand and spoke.

  “How I got in here without you noticing is none of your business.” Anna’s heart raced as Crow spoke. She stylishly slipped the talisman on the table into her back pocket while she maintained eye contact with Mrs. Crow.

  “I will ask again, what are you doing in my office by this time of night,” Mrs. Crow insisted, as she closed the distance between her and the girls.

  Anna was just about to reply when she was interrupted by the screams of Donald, the security man. He had noticed the light was turned on in Mrs. Crow’s office and was already walking towards the office.

  “Who goes there!” He screamed as he pulled out a Taser from his side pocket and tightly gripped his bat, a sneer on his face.

  “Trust me, you are very unfortunate to still be around at a time like this,” He said, grinning. His footsteps got even faster and louder and everyone in the office except Mrs. Crow began to panic.

  At least we won’t have to explain what we are doing in the office. We can just lie that we were forced here, Joanna thought to herself, fighting hard to suppress a smile.

  “Don’t say a word, I’ll handle him,” Mrs. Crow said, turned around, and walked out of the office to talk to Donald.

  “Ohh, Mrs. Crow I didn’t know you were still around,” Donald said, trying hard not to look at Mrs. Crow’s attractive body.

  “Yeah, I had work to do,” she replied, pretending to look tired even though she felt like a horse.

  “But it’s 8:00 p.m. already. You can always come back tomorrow,” Donald added. He looked concerned, and at that moment, he felt like a complete man, because he was able to talk to Mrs. Crow for the first time.

  “I noticed the power supply was cut off,” Mrs. Crow said, looking at the light bulbs.

  “Yeah, it must have been some nasty students,” Donald said, looking past her shoulder as if wishing some students to run by.

  “It will definitely be fixed tomorrow,” he added.

  “Well, I’ll leave in the next five minutes, so you don’t have to worry about me,” Crow said.

  Meanwhile, in the office, the girls had been trying hard to scream Donald’s name but it felt like their tongues had gone numb. They also tried to run out of the office but an unexplainable force held them bound.

  “Ok then, I’ll see you later, I guess,” Donald said, as he awkwardly walked away.

  Mrs. Crow entered the office and shut the door behind her. The moment the door was closed, Anna and Joanna could speak and move.

  “I know what you are and I’m not afraid of you,” Annabelle said, trembling like a leaf in the wind.

  “Yes, we know what you are,” Joanna added, but she wasn’t scared. It was more of fascination than fear.

  “What are you ladies talking about? I’m your librarian and you are lucky that I didn’t punish you for breaking into my office.” Crow replied, studying Anna with her eyes.

  “You are a witch. A magician and you are responsible for the visions I’ve been having,” Annabelle accused as she walked towards Mrs. Crow.

  “Anna, what are you doing?” Joanna said in a low tone. She wanted to follow her friend and stop her, but was having second thoughts.

  “I know you indulge in dark magic,” Anna said as she stopped right in front of Mrs. Crow. She was so close, she could feel Crow’s breaths on her face. Mrs. Crow’s breath smelt like fresh mint and her lips were perfectly curved and looked so succulent.

  “Dark magic?” Mrs. Crow said and started to laugh, causing Annabelle to look like a fool before Joanna.

  “Yes, you and Duncan,” Anna said, doubting her words.

  “I saw those same visions when I touched your doorknob,” Anna said, balling her fists at her sides.

  “And I know that if I touch you, I’d see those visions again,” she added.

  She then grabbed Mrs. Crow’s hand, expecting a vision, but nothing happened.

  “No, that can’t be right,” she mumbled, as she gave Crow’s hand a gentle squeeze.

  “You know what? I don’t even want to know what you are looking for in my office, wearing gloves and carrying torches. All I want you to do now is get out,” Mrs. Crow said with a straight face.

  “Get out before I get you expelled,” she insisted.

  Anna and Joanna shamefully walked out of the office and were about to close the door, when Mrs. Crow spoke again.

  “Return the talisman you slipped into your back pocket, Annabelle Peterson.”

  Annabelle walked back into the office and placed the talisman on the table from where she had taken it. Wondering why the visions had stopped, she headed home with her friend Joanna. They both easily walked through the front door of the school, looking back at intervals to see if Crow was following them. The gray moon shined brightly that night; so bright, it made streetlights look like a big joke.

  “This isn’t over yet,” Anna said, clenching her fists as they walked under the gleaming moonlight. Joanna just walked in silence and kept on staring at the moon.

  “Won’t your parents be mad that you got home late?” Annabelle asked, scratching her hair and yawning.

  “Nah, my parents travelled this afternoon. It’s just me alone,” Joanna replied.

  “Lucky you,” Anna said, a bit jealous. She wished she were in Joanna’s shoes at that moment. At least she wouldn’t have had to deal with her parents screaming at her.

  The girls walked quietly together for a few more minutes and Anna thought about all the horrible things her brother could have told her parents. After a while of walking, they got to the junction they were supposed to part ways.

  They bid each other goodbye and parted ways, waving as they walked further from each other.