<div class="floatright">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/archive/4/4a/20130511162352!DxKLyceeni.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: comic sans ms;">Val</span></span><br/>St. Cosmas High, English Class<br/><hr/><br/>Val was starting to get worried. She had tried, unsuccessfully, to wake Ms. Noble for what seemed like an hour, but was really only a few minutes. The pretty young teacher wasn't dead or comatose, she would rouse drearily from her slumber if Val shook her enough, but she would slip right back to sleep if Val stopped for even a moment. The other students were the same. It was... it was like they were cursed, like in one of her grandmother's silly stories. Or, you know, something else less foolish.<br/><br/>But what? And, more importantly, what was she supposed to do? What if... what if it was some kind of... terrorist... thing? Val felt a crippling sense of panic rising in her gut...<br/><br/>(EMO check passed)<br/><br/>Val steeled herself; she wasn't going to loose it, not now. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep, calming breaths, just like her Coach Liz had taught her to do before competitions. When she opened her eyes, she felt better. Val systematically checked every student in the room, making sure none of them were faking it (or whatever). They were all as out of it as Ms Noble. There was, however, one empty seat in the class, which meant someone else might have escaped?<br/><br/>Going back to her desk, Val retrieved her purse, fished out her cell. When she saw it had no charge she felt the panic rising in her mind, but quickly stifled it before it could take hold of her. There were other phones at the school. She'd been in the principal's office enough to know there was a land line in there. It seemed like as good a place as any to look for help.<br/><br/>Every class Val passed looked exactly the same as her own. Like everyone had simply fallen asleep in the middle of whatever they had been doing. The principal's office was no different. Shirley, the principal's secretary, was snoring softly on her desk; Val didn't think she'd mind if someone borrowed the phone... Val took the receiver off the hook and pushed the big red 'Emergency' button.<br/><br/>Val danced around impatiently as the line on the other side rang. And rang. And continued to ring. Val's thoughts raced, going nowhere fast. By the twelfth ring, Val decided no one was going to answer. Whatever was happening in the school was happening elsewhere too. Which meant there was no help coming.