"Kids started having, like, seizures or something," he continued. "Then they'd say that they saw the devil."
"They said they saw the devil?"
"Yeah. Then they'd look at someone and say that person's name. Then that person would have a seizure and say the same thing. It was creepy as hell. Everyone ran before it happened to them too."
"Where are your friends?"
Raising his voice because of an approaching police siren, Conner said, "Uh. Adam's with me. We don't know about Trevor or Levi."
"Did you call your parents?"
"Yeah."
"Are they coming to get you?"
"Yeah. But I don't know how they're going to get through the crowd of people and police and everything. We want to walk down the block so my mom can find us, but we don't want to leave until we know what happened to everyone."
"Dave and I are on our way. Where should we look for you?"
"We're still in the parking lot near the main entrance."
Lou said, "See you soon." Then he hung up.
Conner handed the phone back to Adam. "It's effing freezing out here, man. I wish I would have grabbed my coat."
"Me too," Adam replied, nestled up against Conner's arm. "I'm glad I had my phone in my pocket, though."
A policewoman approached, gesturing to the school. "All students need to get to the gymnasium so everyone can be accounted for. Then you'll be free to go home."
"But my mom's going to look for us here," Conner replied.
The cop shook her head. "Sorry. Those are the orders."
"Do you know when we can get our stuff?"
"No idea. The main building is being evacuated. You won't be able to go inside until it's been inspected."
"For what?" Adam asked.
"The source of the disruption."
"What's that mean?"
"Look, kid. I don't have all the answers. I'm directing students to the gym. That's where you need to be headed right now."
As she stalked away, Conner nudged Adam. "C'mon, let's go. It'll be warmer in there."
A police car emitted a sudden woot, woot as it moved slowly through the parking lot.
Passing by the main entrance, Conner scanned the hall for Hailey. Too many faculty members and policemen crowded the area. He couldn't tell if the paramedic he saw was helping Hailey or another kid. He and Adam hadn't even seen Jasmine exit the building. They'd called Trevor, Levi, and Miguel more than once, but none of them answered. Now he and Adam were freezing their asses off, wandering around without a clue of what to do.
* * *
Within a few blocks of the school, Lou was forced to come to an abrupt stop, a long stretch of cars clogging the street ahead of him. If Lou continued to follow the traffic, who knew how much longer it would take to arrive at the campus. Lou directed the car to the first available spot along the curb. He and Dave walked briskly on the sidewalk, dodging people headed to and from the school.
In the distance, the flashing lights of emergency vehicles beckoned them to their destination. He noticed the logo of the local news on the side of a black van they passed. The presence of the local news, police cars, several ambulances, and frantic parents with distressed children presented an alarming scene. It would have been easy for any observer to assume that perhaps a school shooting had occurred.
Edging closer to the high school, Lou reflected on the mass hysteria cases he'd read about. Welsh, Louisiana in 1962. Mount Pleasant, Mississippi in the 1970s. Then he thought of the more supernatural-type of hysteria outbreaks: the Salem witch trials, Spring-heeled Jack in England during 1837, and the mass hysteria events attributed to witchcraft or demonic possession at schools in Africa, even in modern times; one of the recent cases had occurred in 2009 in South Africa.
He was convinced the incident at Newman High was related to the Jared Smith case. But he suspected that the community would place the blame on every possible rational but mundane explanation. Toxic fumes. Food poisoning. Drugs. Disease spread by rodents. Bugs. Maybe an environmental cause like a methane gas leak underneath the school.
The kids had said they'd seen the devil. To Lou, this meant one of two things had occurred. Either the kids had been influenced by the reports of Jared's possession, resulting in a true mass hysteria event fueled by nervous energy and fear. Or the entity responsible for Jared's horrific ordeal and death hadn't left Newman when Jared died.
Finally in the parking lot, Lou and David maneuvered their way through an active maze of teenagers, parents, teachers, and emergency personnel. As they approached the entrance, Lou scanned the faces of boys but didn't see Conner or Adam. He approached a woman who appeared to be an anxious parent. "Excuse me. Are there kids still inside the school?"
She regarded him with a teary, pained glance. "No. The gym. If you're looking for your kid, they're probably there."
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
Next, he questioned a teenaged girl several feet away. "Excuse me. Which way is the gym?"
She pointed. He and Dave quickened their steps toward the far end of the main building. They rounded the corner and headed to the gymnasium. Nearly there, he spotted Conner and Adam walking outside with an attractive dark-blonde woman, evidently Conner's mother. Dammit. There goes my chance to talk to them.
Panting a bit, he shouted, "Hey! Excuse me. Conner. Adam."
The three stopped talking and paused on the sidewalk that led to the street west of the gym.
The woman looked at him suspiciously.
"The guy we interviewed with," Conner said.
"Oh," she replied. Turning her attention to Lou, she said, "This isn't a good time. The boys have been through a traumatizing experience. I'm taking them home where they can be safe from what's going on here."
"I understand," Lou said. "We wanted to see how
