Day 0 - I feel like I have two directions for the previous days story starter to continue. Below you will find both options. I would love some feedback as to which you prefer or if there is another direction to take the story.
Option 1 (251 words)- Over 90 minutes had passed when they realized Jake Houser, one of the high school freshman who commonly mentored at the middle school was missing as well. He was assigned to work with Jose on his math on Thursday afternoons. Mr. Ashby’s class was always in a bit of a state of chaos, but the snow had driven the kids almost to a frenzy. By the time it dawned on Mr. Ashby that Jake had also gone to the bathroom and not returned, the entire school was on lock down and both the local police and state highway patrol were on scene. Each teacher had taken roll time and time again, but Jake’s name was not on the class roll and Mr. Ashby forgot in his haste to follow the school threat situation plan.
When he called down to the office, the secretary Ms. Shelly was confused as to whether Jake had simply returned to the high school. It took three phone calls and a visit from a deputy for the high school to confirm what was already being assumed at the middle school. That not only were four middle school girls missing, so was a high school boy. Ms. Lamb and Mr. Gerig were radioed the news and shared it with Chief Conway, the New London chief of police, who was standing with them at the door that had been left open. The parents of the girls were soon to arrive and it was time to decide how to proceed.
Option 2 (412 Words) - Lainey began to get light headed as they crossed into the woods. Each step brought on a shift in the colors of the few remaining leaves and the trunks of trees. Her head felt like it did when she tried to read in the car on her family’s trips upstate to visit her grandparents. She looked down at the blood slowly dripping from her hand and her stomach did a small flip. Lainey had never done well with the sight of blood, even worse when it was her own. She started to look to her left and talk to Rose, but the motion of her head made the nausea worse. She looked back down and kept putting one foot in front of each other, and wondering how there was still so much blood.
Silvey was worried at how slowly they were moving. With each step the school got smaller and the trees got thicker, but it wasn’t happening quickly enough. Her heart was filled with fear and she tossed furtive glances over her shoulder at the receding wall of the school. She knew they had no choice to go, but now that they were on their way it felt impossible. Her voice sounded strange to her as she barked at the other three, “We have to go faster. If not, it may be too late!” She hated the way she sounded like a scared kid, but if no one else was worried, she had to be.
Why had she said yes? Why did she always have to follow Silvey? Why couldn’t she have just said no? Rachel hated that she didn’t think for herself. She was always sure she was wrong and waited for someone else to tell her what to do. This time it was bad and she was sure she should have said no. She was sure the blood was all her fault. Rachel knew that the end was coming for one of them and it was all her fault.
With each step, Rose knew they had made the right decision. It had to be done. She was sorry that Lainey bore the physical scars of what had happened, but they all would deal with the mental forever. The choice had been made and the four did what had to be done. The only thing Rose and the three had to decide now was how far they had to run and if they would ever be able to stop running.
