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A glittering object fell froht it His face lit up as he looked into his hand It was a key chain in the shape of Notre Da Irish leprechaun

Sam’s head rose slowly, and it appeared that the psycho was feeling sory

"I kneas you, Dad!" Sa the key chain with both hands

Will slowly shook his head No It couldn’t be true The man in the motorcycle helmet couldn’t be Sam’s father Life couldn’t be that unfair How did the tyrant of the school, the kid who beat up people having seizures, get to have his father back, while Will would never see David again?

Will grabbed a desk and hurled it across the rooh the air and crashed into other desks,noise Will refused to accept that this was how things would turn out He’d s didn’t work out for Sam in the end There had to be a way

"Give us that honey," a voice said

Will looked to the door to see three huff-heads fro into the rooed by burnouts and it never happened Will had couy, a little guy, and a girl The three of them seemed both exhausted and wired at the sauy wore a dead teacher’s suit, with a brown bloodstain that covered the front of the dress shirt The suit fabric was thoroughly soiled, and ripping at the seauy wore a heavy chain of combination locks as a necklace No shirt, no pants, just loose boxers, black leather gloves, and tennis shoes The girl wore two largewould, and the other as pants Her ankles came out of the sweatshirt’s wrist holes and she’d made suspenders out of backpack straps to keep her sweatshirt-pants fro over her face

Fro one pulled a short section of brooh the center of it, like a basic corkscrew for wine bottles He closed his fist over the brooold screw stuck out froe how scared you should be of someone in McKinley by what kind of weapon they brandished Knives and baseball bats were nor to do with a dude who carried a punching spike

They caht after his heels hit the ground, his knees hit his chin His teeth clapped together, he fell on his side He got to his feet and ran, stu teeth, still entirely disoriented frootten aith it The honey was his, and he could already feel his stoh what he’d eaten

A loud thu up and dusting his suit off He saw the girl land on the ground, while the little guy in his boxers jumped from the second-floor

"Kill me now," Will said to himself

He bolted into the nearest hallway and ran all the way to the front foyer, honey in hand Will could hear their footsteps closing in on hih the front foyer’s steel graduation doors, to hide in the white rooly bright, as before, and it was es piled up by the walls He turned to face the doors and walked backward through the white roo that no one ca one in the dead teacher’s suit was coughing, with veins puffing out frolared at Will The little one had lost one of his leather gloves and the skin of his hand was badly burned He was laughing like a panting dog The girl with the gray dreads in her face held a permanent marker in her hand, and she had the uncapped marker stuck up her nose Her nostrils were stained with blue She held her other nostril closed with her finger and took long, slow inhales of the reen, but it was so dilated that it wasone said "Honey Now"

His teeth were brown He brandished his punching spike in his fist, and the gold-plated screw gleaan to dance with herself, as if no one else was there The little one took off his co at his hip, in his gloved hand

Will looked at his honey He hesitated The big one walked toward him and cocked his spiked fist back

SSHTUHH

Will felt a door slide open behind hi and collided with a barrel-chested Saint as trying to exit Will saw a red button on the wall by the door and he smashed his palm onto it

"No, wait," the Saint said fro toward Will, but the metal door slid out of the wall and slammed shut between the the door and a h Will’s body He turned to the Saint, to thank hi his life The Saint vomited all down the front of Will’s shirt

14

"WHY’D YOU CLOSE THE DOOR?"

"Why’d you throw up on me?!" Will said He held his puke-soaked T-shirt away froers

"Oh, shit, look at you"