Wednesday is my favorite day of the week because we serve the mini pizzas. They are easy to prepare. We just put tomato sauce and cheese on top of English muffin halves and bake them at a high heat in the oven.
The kids grab them up like crazy. There are usually only a few left after the lunch period. So they are easy to clean up and not a big deal to take care of.
Thursday is a different story because of the hamburger sliders. They are just as popular. But after lunch hour, I have to spend a long time scraping the grill and cleaning it and making sure it’s spotless.
The grease goes everywhere. I have to totally clean the tile backsplash, too, as well as the grill hood.
Eleanor Hadley, my boss, is a perfectionist, and I’m not. I admit it. So I’ve been reprimanded more than once for my incomplete cleanup job.
I need this job. Jim has been out of work for longer than I care to think about. So I have to deal with his depression, along with bringing some money into the house. His unemployment is going to run out soon. Then my job will be our only income.
I finished wiping down the grill hood and took a step back to make sure I hadn’t missed a grease spot anywhere. That’s when I heard footsteps. Someone entering the kitchen.
I jumped, startled, because I thought I was alone. It was nearly five o’clock and I knew the school should be empty by now.
I turned and saw that girl with the red hair and the pretty face. No, beautiful. She had a beautiful face, partly because of those amazing green eyes.
I instantly remembered the screaming fight we’d had at the food counter. Her immediate anger as she lashed out at me, screaming so loud all conversation in the huge room stopped, and everyone turned to stare at us.
Watching her walk past the metal freezers, the refrigerator, the preparation tables, my first thought was that she had come to apologize. I put a smile on my face and turned to greet her. I wished I knew her name. I think she was a new student. I know I’d remember that face of hers.
“You’re in school very late,” I said.
She stopped a few feet from me. “Too late for you,” she said.
I didn’t understand what she said. She had her hands down stiffly at her sides and stood very erect, as if she was tense.
“Sorry about our disagreement at lunch the other day,” I said. I thought I’d make the first attempt to apologize, perhaps I had gone too far by telling her what she should and shouldn’t eat.
Her enormous green eyes gazed at me like headlights. I had this strange feeling of being captured in them.
I waited for her to apologize as I had. But she didn’t say a word, just stood there stiffly, giving me the evil eye.
“You really shouldn’t be here this late,” I said finally, keeping my voice low and calm. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yes. You’ll help me a lot,” she said.
I didn’t understand that, either. It was like she was talking riddles.
“I’m very hungry,” she said.
I blinked. “Well, you’ll have to go to a store or a restaurant or something. There’s nothing here. We don’t prepare food till morning.”
She took a step toward me. I felt a chill of fear at the back of my neck. Did she come here to fight?
“You have a lot of food,” she said.
“Now, wait—” I cried, suddenly angry. “You can’t come in here this late and ask for food. That’s crazy. I’m ready to go home.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You shouldn’t have yelled at me,” she said coldly, no emotion at all. “You shouldn’t have made a fool of me in front of all the others.”
“I didn’t mean to,” I said, backing away from her, from those cold, angry eyes. “I’m sorry. I already said I’m sorry. But—”
“Now I need to feed,” she said.
She leaped forward. She was on me before I could take another step back.
“Hey—let go! Get off!” I screamed. My cry rang off the walls of the empty room. I knew no one was around to hear me.
And then I screamed in pain as I felt a sharp stab at my throat. An animal howl escaped my mouth. I knew at once that she had bitten into my neck.
I went down on the floor. She pushed me onto my back. And now her teeth were tearing at my throat, slashing my skin. I felt the warm blood flowing down my neck.
I squirmed and twisted, struggling to get out from under her. But she was so strong . . . so inhumanly strong.
She made gurgling noises as she hungrily dug her teeth deeper and drank, drank my flowing blood. She pressed me to the floor and slurped and drank until she was choking on blood. And then . . .
Then . . .
I don’t know what happened then.
I saw the bright ceiling lights high above me. Then they seemed to go out. And the blackness covered me. And I was gone.
