And They Came for the Children

The big grey car came to the school.  No one could say for certain why.  It was a Tuesday morning.  The sky was dark and the air was cold.  The three-story brick school house looked ominous set against that dreary morning of a back-drop sky.

The car pulls up to the curb in a no non-sense manner.  Two men and one woman who were dressed as the day, all drab, get out stern face and walked up the sidewalk.  Their skin was a grayish tinge and papery.  Each had a face with tight flesh that showed no emotions.  Without exchanging any words or an alteration in their expressions, they pulled the front door open of the elementary school, and walked in.  There was no reason to stop at the front office, they knew exactly which classroom they were heading to.

The school secretary, Mrs. Butterfield, half attempted to stop them.  Something in their dark march told her it was futile.  Swiftly with purpose and without fear they glided up the stairs.  With rapid precision, they came to classroom 214B.  Minus a knock, the three quickly went in.  Each adult scans the classroom and spots their intended targets.  Moving with cunning skill they retrieve what they came for.  The children. 

Before the other students or teacher could stop them, they had one boy and a set of twin sisters grabbed under their elbows and whisked them away from their desk.

As abruptly they had appeared, they left.  Mr. Bowman, the fourth-grade teacher, rushed out from behind his desk to give chase.  He only made it twenty feet down the hall when one of the two men passed his captured child on to the other shadowy man.  He then turned, grabbing the teacher whom he clearly towered over and pulled him in close.  He forced a whisper into Mr. Bowman’s ear.  Mr. Bowman froze, then paled.  The dark tall man continued down the hall towards the stairwell. 

Tersely, they place the children into the backseat of that Big Grey Buick.  The woman sits in the back with them, and the two men get into the front.  The car pulls away from the curb without incidence.

The day is dense with grey and black clouds.  Ambiguous as the morning developed, so was the Buick.  The tiny faces of the children were seen pressed into the rear-view window as the car was taking the children away.