School by Nathaniel Hardman (top reads .TXT) 📕

“Back to the…? Are you serious? Why are you so set on going back there?”

“We should be with everyone else!” Suzy shouted.

Jeff shook his head. “It’s that way.” He pointed, then grimaced uneasily. “That general direction. I’m pretty sure. But I still think it’s a bad idea. Look!” He held up a hand, stifling her objection. “We have a wand. We’re not in danger-”

“You THINK we’re not in danger. Who knows what lives in the forest ON AN ALIEN PLANET?”

Jeff shrugged. “It can’t be THAT bad; we’re right next to their school yard. Anyway, what if we go back, and the first thing they do is take away the wand? Then we’re stuck, and we’re back to waiting on people from home to save us.”

“People back home WILL save us!” Suzy wanted to shake him. “But we can go back and be with everyone else and help them calm down and, and… be organized.” She floundered. “We can help there.”

Jeff narrowed his eyes. “Help there? Organize? Do they need President Suzy right now? Are you seriously thinking about your stupid election right now?”

“No! No. No, I just think we should be with the rest of the school. We’re not going to save everyone with that wand. You don’t even know how to use it.”

Jeff was still glaring at her, and she felt uncomfortable.

“Fine,” she said. “How about this? We walk along the edge of the forest, in the direction of the school. You try to figure out the wand while we go, and I’ll see what I can see of the city. And if you can’t figure out the wand, and it looks like they’re not hurting the kids in the school, we’re turning ourselves in. Deal?”

Jeff nodded grudgingly. They walked back to the fringe of denser brush at the edge of the forest, and they began moving in its cover, Suzy alternately watching what she could of the city through the trees and watching the forest itself.

The trees looked a lot like pines, except that the branches and the trunks were a light, solid green. Suzy was just thinking it wasn’t so different from the forests of Alpharetta when Jeff said, “It’s like walking in a forest of broccoli.” Suzy considered the pale green of the tree trunks and branches and shrugged.

Most of the branches were high, forming a dense canopy above, but when a low-ish one brushed her head, Suzy paused, surprised. She pulled the branch down, then let it rebound slowly, sliding it up through her hand, feeling the softness of the needles, like the tail feathers of a giant green ostrich.

They walked on quietly for a long stretch. Then Jeff said, “Maybe we should look for a place to sleep.”

Suzy started. Squinting through the trees, she realized the suns were indeed setting, turning the sky a deeper orange. And it was getting colder. Their run through the city had helped dry their clothes, but the air was humid, and she was still damp.

They walked for several more minutes. Beside her, Jeff was waving the wand and muttering things like, “Fire!” and “Lumos!” and “Abracadabra!”

One sun was now below the horizon, and the temperature was falling fast. Suzy kept looking through the trees at the alien town, but it was mostly tall, closed garden walls and empty streets.

“How far do you think we are from the school?” she finally asked.

Jeff grimaced. “I think… kind of far? I’m starting to think it might be in the center of the town. So following the edge might not help…” They walked on in silence for a bit, then he added. “Sorry, Suz. I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to camp tonight, and then tomorrow we can figure out what to do next.”

Suzy had never gotten into swearing. Her mom had washed her mouth out with soap once a few years back, and that had been enough. But she felt like dropping a choice word or two now. She shook her head, reigned herself in, and nodded.

“Okay. Hey, have you felt these trees?” Suzy pulled down a branch for Jeff to feel. “Maybe we could climb up one of these trees and somehow…?” She trailed off, trying to think of how you could wrap a branch around yourself while up a tree.

“Hmmm,” said Jeff, considering. “Going up might be good for predators, but it will be cold.” He looked around, then brightened. “Over there!” He pointed and set off at a quick walk.

What Jeff had seen turned out to be a clearing surrounding a large, fallen tree. The tree must have fallen some time ago – the trunk was half broken down to dirt and covered in mushrooms, and the branches had almost completely decomposed.

While Jeff started poking around under the trunk to find a place they could burrow down, Suzy walked to the side of the clearing where a much younger tree, maybe twelve feet tall, was growing.

She felt its limbs and waved Jeff over. “Here! Help me break this down.”

With a little work, they managed to break the sapling down. By the time they were done, the sky was dark, and the temperature had fallen alarmingly. Suzy was shivering wildly as they finally pulled the broken sapling over to the fallen tree.

Suzy dropped to the ground and nestled gratefully against the trunk, Jeff squeezed in next to her, and they pulled the little tree over them for cover.

After a minute, Suzy was still shaking with the cold. She pushed Jeff out, and they snapped some of the branches off and rearranged them for better cover. Finally she had to call it good-enough, and she burrowed down, grateful Jeff had let her be on the inside. She closed her eyes and tried to calm the shivers that ran over her.

Her stomach rumbled.

“Hey Suzy,” Jeff said, through chattering teeth.

“What?” Suzy