Vice Principal Simmons opened the library door, scratching his saggy neck as he found the student tables rearranged into one long vertical table, with seats filled by school staff.
"Hmph, why do we have to have most of our meetings take place in Mrs. Abernathy's lousy library? Is our total school budget really that low? The student council treasurer kid should pay more attention to which area of the school should be added, like a comfortable meeting room," he grumbled to himself.
The vice principal found an empty seat upon entering and claimed it, crossing his arms and straightening his back to maintain his healthy posture.
The individual who held the meeting, the principal of the whole school, stood out in front with the video projector on, painting a white digital screen on the flat, empty wall.
"Good afternoon, staff. I hope you are all not too bothered by the sudden meeting. There are some important matters that we need to discuss. Such as the attendance rate dropping among several classes, one student of our school involved in severe criminal activities..."
"It's Jed Sampson, by the way, a potential serial kidnapper..." Mortin Kowpinn, sole security guard, whispered to his nearby neighbors.
"... and for the rumors regarding 'shadow-like' creatures showing up around the school!"
Principal Grant Bridgecrest announced loudly to the whole staff of Standart High. One teacher present, Miss Jessica, audibly clapped for her coworkers, just like how she did for each person who entered the library room from the first floor.
"Hooray, everyone!" she heartily cheered. "I'm excited for the whole meeting too, but before we go ahead, let's give a round of applause to Mrs. Abernathy for lending us the whole library room for the whole thing. Ready to clap your hands on three—one, two, THREE—!"
Miss Jessica rapidly clapped with glee, and she looked around for anyone else who would follow her actions to cheer everyone up, her eyes sparkling with booming enthusiasm.
"..."
"..."
"..."
No one actually responded to her soft words and clapped their hands.
It was quite sad, really.
Upon seeing this, Reading and Composition Teacher Miss Jessica lowered her head in defeat, now knowing the glum atmosphere as it overlaid her veil of cheery aura.
One person, a biology teacher named Dr. Styne, slammed both of his fists onto the table, shaking the materials on top.
"Bah! When will this pointless charade of a meeting be over? I have dozens of biological experiments for my animal subjects to experience. If I have to stay any longer, they will potentially escape, and I would have to collect them one by one!"
"Wow, you took soooo much care of your pets," a geography teacher named Mrs. Bulb sarcastically replied. "An animal lover, I assume?"
"DON'T WORRY, DOCTOR! I would happily volunteer to help you find the rodents at all costs, even to save a life, cuz the students might be bitten and get rabies!" shouted Mortin.
"What about me?" gym teacher Mrs. Ferge demanded; both her feet plopped up on the table. "My people were in the middle of doing sprints!"
The food and nutrition teacher, Mrs. Sheely, had her eyes closed and her hands held together as she bowed her head low.
"Everyone, everyone... just breathe..." she calmly suggested. "This room's aura is tensing up a bit; let's all chillax so that we won't disturb the spirits outside..."
Another fellow math teacher, the same as Mr. Mouch, stood up from his seat in response to everyone talking over each other. Advanced math teacher, Mr. Yathek, cleared his throat.
"Moving on from the bickering, I believe that the many students here who are skipping their classes are believed to be taking part in some sort of dare among themselves as a way to alleviate their own internal panic from taking the news about the sudden green clouds..."
"That would explain a lot if that was the case..." Miss Jessica admitted. "I'm ashamed to admit that I was a little shaken up when I first heard about it on the news channel on my television."
"Bah! With the power of biology, I conclude that it was some industrial gases reflecting the moon's light, not to mention the city's light at night shining on the gas to make it stand out more. It's simple if you ask me," Dr. Styne argued.
"Or maybe," Mrs. Sheely began, "it's the northern lights, since its aurora-like wavy patterns do overwhelm a person, unlike me, who has been one with the night sky ever since childhood..."
"But the most concerning part is how people around the school are mentioning something about some sort of shadow monsters—I find it hard to believe something so dangerous could be prowling around school grounds."
"It must be the dogs kept by the security guard that the students have been mistaking for monsters," Dr. Styne suggested. "I don't want any of those mangy mutts near my labs. A high chance they'll break in and destroy valuable equipment in there—they must be put down!"
"NO!" The security guard went to his knees. "Not my puppies—anything but that!"
Mrs. Bulb sighed from exhaustion from sitting too much. "It sounds a bit too much; I doubt something supernatural like that would stick in people's minds. Something would have to be serious and simple for it to be taken seriously by anyone. To be honest, these shadow monsters that got everyone talking would probably be forgotten by next week, maybe even earlier."
The Principal cleared his throat and showed slides of money signs as he pressed each button, showing more money flipping on the screen, making Mr. Simmons react to the piles of money with a smile as he twirled his thin beard.
"Henry Simmons here had told me about how our finances have been moderately low, and that we could use the money to deal with the problems we are currently having. All of you make great points and thoughts regarding the contents of the meeting, and this is why we must use whatever we can, primarily from our available funds, and help foster our students to succeed and give everyone a chance. We would have to exhaust every resource we currently have right now to support, and if that particular resource would need some money to improve itself, we could have the student council help with events like food and book sales—develop ways to form fundraisers; anything like that would be immensely helpful."
"Grant is right, everyone!" Mr. Simmons stood up from his seat. "I personally had him chosen as my successor for the role of the principal, because he can develop ways for this infestation-riddled school to earn money for me—I mean—for the well-being of the students, of course!"
"I see..." Mr. Yathek pondered to himself as he looked over to Mr. Mouch. "Hey, you Mouch, you think this is a good idea for our students to have these paid resources to study better so they could fight in our math armies? Growing strong enough academically so the class battle and rivalry will be legendary, just to see who is the better teacher?"
Mr. Mouch stood up from his seat too, with a determined look plastered on his face. "I believe that with the principal's support, we can have our students become more academically successful if we provide more resources—"
The front of the front entrance of the library flew off its hinges and landed next to the librarian's desk, completely shattering the wooden beams supporting it. Mrs. Abernathy, who was reading her romance novels, yelped at the destruction happening in her beloved reading space and ducked down like a soldier protecting themselves from artillery strikes from above.
Mr. Bridgecrest stood up front and placed himself between the other staff and whoever launched the door away. The rest of the staff got up from their seats and quickly went over to the other side in case of a barrage of projectiles or bullets sprayed all over them.
"Oh, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, I'm totally not prepared for something like this!" Mrs. Bulb loudly exclaimed. "I don't want to die in some high school—I have dreams!"
"Hahahaha..." A croaky cackle escaped from the intruder's parched throat. "It's been a while since I last saw the library. And look at all of it inside; it's been modernized and changed so much that it gives me some soft feelings just by looking at it."
A homeless-looking man in multicolored cloth came up in front of the ruined entrance. His shaggy hair noticeably held dust in each clump of strands.
Mortin Kowpinn jumped on the table and immediately pulled out his learned kung-fu, security guard style. "Wh-wh-who are you to blast the door away? This is a private meeting for school staff only, and I may have to be physical if you don't comply!"
However, before Mortin could do any kick-ass damage to the assailant, Vice Principal Simmons came from behind with a wide-eyed expression.
"No way, it can't be you, the student from many years ago, just when I was a teacher at the beginning of the school year. I thought you were gone—even dead, but no... It's you, Peter Turner!"
Pallnem fell back into silence for a second, before rage completely decimated his voice and he shouted to the vice principal. "I'M PALLNEM NOW THANKS TO YOU! I'm not the loser I was before, and you're definitely on my most wanted list, Simmons."
Bridgecrest turned to Henry, confused by what he was talking about. "Henry, what is he talking about? He is a former student?"
Simmons did not answer, only his pale face forming, seeing the past catching up to him as a person.
"You..."
"Me..." Pallnem growled. "I'm here to take my revenge for the teacher who ruined my life the most, Mr. Simmons. And to get rid of the whole school once and for all. A stupid and bitter memory that deserved to be burned to the ground."
"This is so tense..." Mrs. Bulb mumbled to herself.
Pallnem stared into the ground, his coughs and wheezes escaping from every orifice in his body, like the air inside desperately wanted to go somewhere pure and not be trapped inside the painful biological prison.
"This school deserves to be destroyed... The school hated me... The school betrayed me... The school abandoned me... The school killed my family... during Standart City's Green Catastrophe from years ago!"