Bake Sale
Wake up. Brush teeth. Flavorless cereal. Get dressed. Wait for school bus. It was not a morning unlike any other. I was in 7th grade and it was close to the end of the year. However, I didn't know what was going to happen. I was completly unprepared for what was to come. My phone rang as I waited for the bus on a cold Thursday in Marin County. The school bus would take me to San Francisco, where I would have a completly normal school day. But as I picked up my phone, I realized the first corruption in my usual schedule. The screen of my tiny, pathetic, phone was telling me that I had an unusual amont of emails. Inbetween the words "You have" and "New messages!" was a sideways "9". As I stared, the black pixels on the strange character began to bleed across the screen, making a sort of spider web. Puzzled, I pressed "OK", and my inbox sprang up. Instead of my usual cluster of Facebook alerts, it was empty except a single email. Subject: Bake sAle. The first thing I noticed was the strange capitalization.
Once again, I clicked "OK". The message was from my school. I was unaware that they had my email. They always used my mom's. It just said: "Attention Student Body: Today is the Tri-Annual Bake sAle! Be sure to bring eNOugh money to SATISFy yourself! See liNk for more inforMATion." I saw an attached PDF file. I clicked it. A picture of five objects on a platter infront of a dark blue background appeared. A brownie, a Donut, a Rice-Crispie Treat, a strange black object that seemed to be made of some kind of liquid, and a picture of a woman with black holes for eyes and a bloody fanged mouth. The picture gave me the chills. I thought it was a prank and pocketed my phone as the schoolbus pulled up. I stepped inside. The busdriver didn't greet me. He was instead looking above me. The children on the bus were all completley still, staring at what was above me. I stepped further into the bus and looked for what they were staring at. A crappy old TV was mounted in the corner of the ceiling. This was the screen that the school used to alert the students of special occasions for that day. Normally, the TV is quiet and hard to hear, but this time it was silent. A picture of the principle was on the screen. It was paused at a frame of the principle with a slightly off center smile. Below him were the words "Bake sAle", and above him, the sideways 9 that I saw on my phone. The other kids still were'nt budging. I took a seat next to my friend, Dexter.
He too has not moved. I asked him what was happening. No responce. Sweating, I raised my voice. "DEXTER. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON." He made a sqeaking sound. I put my ear to his mouth. "watch. see." he squeaked once more. I looked at the screen, confused and scared. The principle started moving the minute I stared and the word went away. "In other news, football season has started! Go 'Niners!" Immediatley, every child on the bus laughed in unison for about two seconds before all stopping at the same time. I was about to cry. I had no idea what was going on. I looked back to the screen. The image was looping rapidly. The princible was saying: "Nineninenineninenineninenine" Then the image became distorted and the sound tinny. The principle was looking DIRECTLY AT ME. The looping sped up, turning the "Nine" into building blocks of another sound. Slowly, his chanting formed two words. "BAKE SALE" The bus stopped. All the children started chatting like normal and getting off the bus. I shakily got off and stumbled into the school. A sign on the cork board announced the bakesale was today after lunch. As I read it, another student opened the front door, sending a breeze down the hall. It lifted the bakesale sign off the board, revealing the backside. Scribbled in pencil was the phrase I was all to familiar with today. "Bake sAle" But the lines seemed odd. I looked closer and saw words written around every letter.
Most of it was nonsense, around the capital "A" it said: "They're half way here already because. I didn't wasn't. Waiting. It comes. Not. BAKE SALE." I stumbled back. What the hell was happening? The school bell began to ring, but it almost sounded backwards, if that was possible. I headed towards my classroom. As I stepped in, I noticed two things. First, the principle was sitting next to my teacher. Second, the far wall was see-through. I asked my teacher what happened to the wall. He looked puzzled. "What do you mean?" He didn't see that it was clear. I looked back at the wall. Jesus Christ. What I saw. It will stick with me until my death. The woman in the picture on my phone was standing there. Blood was pooring from her mouth. She was looking right at me. In her hand... Jesus... It was a child. A fifth grader. He was ripped open, nearly in half. Blood stained everything inside and out. He looked blankly at the ground, limp. Then, slowly, he turned his head. I could see the muscles in his neck twisting and writhing as he looked at me. He opened his crusty mouth. The words "Bake Sale" seemed to echo out, with out him moving is mouth. The woman stepped towards the wall, dragging the boy with her. She pressed herself up to the glass structure and stared. Then came the scream. The sound she made with her mouth could destroy and mutilate the vocal chords of any normal human. Once he was done, she spit up black sludge on the glass. Much like the sideways "9" on my phone, it spiderwebbed out across the glass. I was crying and shaking. I dropped to the ground and threw up. All the people in the room stared, disgusted. I sobbed uncontrollably.
TWO HOURS LATER:
I was sitting in the school nurse's office trembling. She told me it was probably a 24-hour bug that had been going around. I didn't tell her why I threw up. She wouldn't believe me. She told me to call my mom to pick me up. I picked up the phone and dialed my mom's number. I held the phone to my sweaty ear. The phone wrang for about 10 seconds before she picked up. "Mom, it's me. I need to get picked up. I threw up and-" I was cut off by the sound of someone crying. It wasn't my mom's crying. It was a stranger's cry. The cry of someone in pain, trying to make it go away. The crying was muffled and cutting in and out. Then I heard the sound of a siren getting louder. The crying became more audible and I realized it was anything BUT crying. It was laughing. Pained laughing. I slammed the phone to the ground. I didn't cry. I wanted to. I tryed, but I couldn't. I told the nurse she didn't pick up. She told me to go to the Bake Sale to cheer up. I didn't want to. The thought of the Bake Sale terrified me. The text, the screen, the poster... the boy... I couldn't. But my legs started to move for me. I grabbed at the wall, screaming. The nurse slowly turned. She had a blank expression on her face. "...to SATISFY" she shrieked. I let go of the wall, screaming and choking on my own fear. My legs marched me to the mess hall, where the Bake Sale was.
The principle sat on the stage, infront of boxes of pastries and chips. He was smiling a plastered grin to the crowd of motionless children. "If you have money, please make an orderly line to get your cookies." The lights burned out. Sweat poured down my face. I wanted to run. I wanted to leave this awful place. I wanted to forget. But my legs refused to budge. I heard a loud pop. An unnatural light beamed through every crack in the wall, illuminating the whole mess hall red. The principle was pointing at me, grinning with a toothy mouth. All of the children rapidly turned towards me. Their eyeballs had been cut, and clear juice was trickling from their eye sockets. Their mouths were wet and stitched shut. I threw up again. I attempted to crawl away, my legs limp, but then I heard a ringing. My phone. I still dont know why I looked at my message. Something told be to do it. I clicked on the message. It had a single sentence. "yOU mIsseD the Bake sAle"The tears came. I trembled in fear. My phone shook in my hands. I has in hysterics. I began to laugh. I didn't want to. I was still crying, but I couldn't stop laughing. I felt a painful sensation in the tips of my fingers. I looked at my hands. Still laughing. My finger nails had blood snaking of them into the air, like milk in a glass of water. Lights started flashing. Distorted music started playing. Everyone was laughing with me. Then it stopped. But I was still retching and sobbing and laughing. Because I missed the bakesale.
Credited to PoorIsaac
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