Death Never Dies

by Milton Garby

  Then, Daddy said her name, which made Sara look up. "What?" she asked.

  "Sara," Daddy said. "How would you like to get to go to school?"

  She gasped in surprise. School? To learn things?! Could she learn to make things dance better? She couldn't wait to go to school!

  Sara

  She didn't want to go to school! She didn't she didn't she didn't!

  Sara crossed her arms and pouted to Mommy, but she didn't relent and tied the sky-blue skirt around her legs tighter so there was no chance it would slip. She didn't know why she needed to wear it; she still had pants under it.

  "Sara, don't give me that look," Mommy scolded as she grabbed a comb and started running it through Sara's shoulder-length hair, making her wince each time it pulled at a tangle. "You want to look your best, don't you?"

  "Hmmph!" she said, crossing her arms harder. "Fine," she said glumly as Mommy kept brushing her.

  She didn't wanna go to school though! She'd have to be around the stupid heads aaaall day! She hated the other kids; they were stupid heads! Sara didn't wanna go and learn about stuff if she had to be around them, but Mommy and Daddy didn't let her choose. It was so unfair! Why did she have to go to some boring school building to listen to some grown up she didn't know? Couldn't her parents just teach her things? They were grown ups too, they were smart!

  Eventually Mommy finished brushing her. Since she'd had breakfast before, that meant Sara was no longer able to stall for time. Mommy gave her a wooden box, which Sara knew held a flask of water, an apple, and a peanut butter sandwich.

  "Now Sara, don't look so sad. You'll love it, I promise!" Daddy had already gone to work, so that left Mommy to hold Sara's hand and lead her out the front door.

  Outside it was cloudy, but the sun still played peak-a-boo from behind some of them, which made the ground go light to dark and back to light. Sara walked glumly through Greenvale, sulking all the while. If she was going to go to school, she was gonna let Mommy know she was not happy about it. Not one bit! Even if she did have no idea of what to expect and the idea of something unpredictable made her bouncy with excitement. She liked unpredictable things; you never knew what you'd get!

  Sara didn't pay much attention during the walk to school, instead focusing on angrily kicking pebbles ahead of her. It was only when they actually reached the schoolhouse that Sara started focusing on her surroundings again. There were a few other people around, mostly grown-ups like Mommy with kids her age around them, being herded inside the building. The schoolhouse itself was far away from the rest of the town, and had a fence around the back that led right to the edge of the forest. The school was a two-story tall wooden building painted blue, with a circular window on the top looking down at her and a boring door that was open to the inside.

  There was nothing she could do; Mommy led her in no matter how much Sara didn't want to be there. They got in line and slowly but surely ended up inside the school.

  There were a bunch of boring desks and chairs set up in a perfect orderly circle, so Sara made a face at them. Away from the circle, there was a larger wooden desk with all sorts of papers and quills and stuff on it. There were windows that revealed a cloudy day and bright green grass no doubt filled with animals she could play with. The walls were blue on the inside too, and above the windows were posters that had words she couldn't read. They also had pictures; a smiling kid her age, the lion-thing that meant 'Alliance', and a bunch of other things like a smiling sun, an ant holding up a flower, stupid things like that.

  Ants didn't even have faces like that. They had weird smooth eyes and pincers. Sara knew; she'd checked on the ones she tired out.

  There were a bunch of other grown ups like Mommy surrounding one old lady, but there was one that really got Sara's attention. He was tall, like, so tall he had to squat not to hit the ceiling. His head had these bony things on the top, he had a tail, his eyes were glowing and weird things hung down from his head. Oh, and he was blue. Really blue. There was a kid next to him; she was blue too. Sara had seen them around town a few times before, but she never saw them up close because they were stupid heads. The blue peoplereally stood out among everyone else, even the few night elves in town.

  After the grownups were done with their boring talking, Mommy came back to her and knelt to her level. "Alright honey, be good now okay? Listen to what the teacher says and be nice."

  "Okay," she said, holding her lunch box tightly in case any of the other kids decided to steal it. Even though they all also had something with them like that, so there wouldn't be any reason for them to take hers. "Bye Mommy," she said.

  Mommy leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "Goodbye sweetie, have fun!"

  "Bye, Mommy," she said. After that Mommy left, waving goodbye to her once more before vanishing out the door and leaving her alone with all the people she didn't know about.

  Before anything else could happen, Sara heard footsteps next to her and turned around. Then she looked up at the old lady who was probably the teacher. "Hello dear," she said, with a paper bag. "What's your name?"

  Sara looked down at the bag, then back up at her. "Sara."

  "Good to meet you, Sara. Hey, why don't you go pick a place to sit and open up this bag, alright? In it are things to help you introduce yourself to everyone else. There's a name tag too, for you to write your name."

  Sara looked away at the other grown ups saying goodbye to the kids. One of the kids had a red face and looked like he was about to start crying because their daddy had left. What a baby. Sara had never cried, not once! Nuh uh!

  Someone else, some random boy she didn't care about, was already sitting, so she resolved to sit as far away from him as she could. She went to a desk near one of the square room's corners and sat down, placing both her lunchbox and the bag on top. Opening the bag, Sara pulled out the things inside. There was a pencil, which Sara use to scribble a bit on the desk. Next she found what she guessed was the name tag. Sara knew her name of course, but she didn't know how to write stuff, so she just drew squiggly lines all over it. The last thing in the bag was some sort of round green candy, which Sara put in her lunchbox for later.

  The old lady was talking with one of the crying babies while the others, with lunch boxes and bags in hand, each chose a desk to sit at. Unlike Sara, a lot of them were kicking their feet excitedly. Sara ignored the girl and boy who sat next to her, choosing instead to doodle storm clouds and volcanoes on the back of her name tag to the tune of chatter and sniffles around her.

  Soon the old lady, probably the teacher, came into the center of the circle and clapped her hands. "Good morning, class! Is everyone ready for their first day of school!"

  "Yeah!" came most of the class.

  A moment later there was a quieter, "Yeah," from everyone else.

  "Alright, now, has everyone written their names on their name tags, so everyone else will know who you are?"

  "No," Sara said, but she didn't think the lady heard her because almost everyone else said 'yeah'. One girl raised her name tag up in the air happily. Stupid head.

  "Excellent! Now, lets play a game. We'll pick on someone here, then that person will introduce themselves, their favorite color, and something they like. Sound fun?" More 'yeah's, and the teacher moved to in between two desks. "Great! I'll start, and we'll go in a circle. My name is Mrs. Laudenbor, my favorite color is yellow like the sun, and I like teaching." The old lady looked to her left, at a boy with blonde hair.

  The boy smiled. "My name's Alerd, my favorite color is blue! And I like to play with blocks." Boring.

  The blue girl was next. "My name's Leira, my favorite color is white, and I like to play outside." Boring.

  "My name's Samantha, my favorite color is green, and I like playing with my dolls." Boring.

  "My name is..." Boring.

  "... my favorite color..." Boring.

  "... and I like..." BORING!

  And then it was her turn. She looked around, and considered just not doing
it... but Mommy had told her to behave. "My name is Sara, my favorite color is... purple and green, and I like watching animals dance."

  Then the girl next to her spoke, and the sharing kept going until all thirty-something people had gone. Then, the old lady clapped her hands. "Excellent! Now that you've all introduced yourself, why don't you all come here into the middle and sit in a ring, and we can read a story about what you can expect here. Does that sound fun?"

  "Yeah!" everyone else said. They got out of their seats and moved into the circle. Mrs. Laudenbor went to the large, wooden desk that was probably hers and came back with a book. Once she was back, they all moved forward and sat in a ring in front of her. The carpet was soft and blue like the lake. At least it was soft.

  The teacher opened the book, which had a picture of a little brick house on its cover, and started to read. "Jarion's First Day of School," she read. "Would anyone like to guess what we're going to learn in this book? Yes, Briara?"

  "I think it's about, um, what we're going to learn in school, and what you, um, can and can't do in school!" she said.

  "That's correct Briara, very good." The old lady opened the book and began to read from it. "Jarion's first day of school." She turned the book to show them a picture of some boy standing in front of a schoolhouse. She turned the book back. "Today is Jarion's first day of school. He's going to school to learn about all sorts of things, like reading, math, magic, and science."

  Sara, who'd placed an arm on her knees and was resting her head in it, sat up straight. Magic? Reading?

  Oh, she thought. I forgot we'll actually be learning stuff. Not just being around everyone else. Oopsie.

  She flipped the page. "Today is Jarion's first day of school. His mommy brought him to school, and told him that she had to leave him with the teacher until school was over, and then she'd be right back to pick him up. Jarion was very sad." She again showed them the book, and Jasion had blue tears running down his face.

  "I wasn't sad!" one of the boys said. "Daddy said he'll be back when school ends!"

  The teacher looked at him and smiled. "That's very nice to hear, Tonduin. But everyone, remember this. Whenever you want to say something, or ask a question, raise your hands and wait for me to pick on you, and then say what you want to say. Okay?"

  He nodded. "Okay, Mrs. Laudenbor."

  "Great!" Someone else raised a hand. "Yes, Elizabeth?"

  "Like this?" she asked, grinning wide.

  "Yes, exactly like that. Now." She turned back to the book. "Jarion and the rest of his class sat down and listened to the teacher as she taught them the alphabet. At one point, the teacher asked a question, and Jarion knew the answer. He raised his hand - " The teacher raised her hand and put it back down. " - and the teacher called on him. He answered correctly, and knew he was so smart."

  Sara started to get bored again. She didn't care about Jarion, she cared about herself! She started to let her eyes wander over the inside of the school building, or just look outside and wish she was out there instead of in there, not learning the things she wanted. Sometimes, though, she heard little bits of what the teacher was reading.

  "... found he had fun playing with others in recess... "

  "... he didn't understand how it worked, but that was okay, because someone else raised their hand and asked... "

  "... and at the end of the day, his mommy had come back... "

  "... that was how Jarion's first day of school went. Alright class." Sara jerked her head to look at Mrs. Laudenbor. Was it over? "Now, let's go over the Good Job Board. Everyone up, up up up!" she said as she stood, waving her fingers at them to stand. She led them over to a large paper square with wood around its edges. There was stuff written on it, too, but Sara hadn't learned to read by hearing Jarion's First Day of School.

  "This is the Good Job Board. Every day, I'll write down who did a really good job in school, whether they helped someone, or they asked a very good question in class, and they'll get a sticker on this board. If you get your board completely filled up, you'll get a prize!"

  A prize? Where was the prize? Could she take it? Sara decided to ask the old lady in the future. She was a stupid head, so she'd probably just tell her.

  "But, if you do something naughty like fighting, or cheating, then you'll lose a sticker and I'll have to tell your parents all about what you did." Some of the kids gasped quietly at that. "But we shouldn't have to worry about that, because I'm certain you are all wonderful, wonderful students."

  Hmmph!

  "Now, how about we all get started on our lessons? Today is going to be a game called 'Name That Thing'!" The old lady went to her desk and got out a few cards the size of her head. Sara leaned forward, still standing by the Good Job Board. "Everyone go sit by your desks and we can start!" They all filed to their desks. At one point Sara bumped into one of the other girls, so she pushed her back a bit before getting back to her seat.

  The teacher held the first card to her chest. "Here's how the game goes. I'll hold up a card, and if you think you know what's on it, raise your hand and wait for me to call on you. Whoever gets the most right gets a sticker. Here's the first one." She moved out of the circle so everyone could see her at once, then flipped the card to show Sara a picture of the yellow sun. Immediately, she - and everyone else - raised an arm.

  "I saw Michael's hand up first," she said, pointing to the boy. Liar! My hand was up first!

  "It's the sun!" he said.

  "Correct! That's one for Michael. Now for the next card." She set the sun aside and showed the next card. Like before, everyone's hands shot up. "Yes, Leira?"

  "Grass!" the blue girl said. Not fair!

  The next picture came up. Sara didn't raise her hand this time, because she didn't know what it was. It was green. It had fangs too. She'd never seen anything like it, and apparently neither had half the class. However...

  "Yes, Alerd?"

  "It's an orc! Like in the Horde!" A what in the what?

  "Correct! Now, who can tell me what... this is?" the old lady asked, showing a new card. Sara's hand shot up, but instead the teacher looked at the boy two to her left. "Yes, Alex?"

  "It's a mountain!" She's ignoring me on purpose! I don't wanna play anymore!

  Sara crossed her arms and sulked while Mrs. Laudenbor pulled out a new picture. This one was of a woman with one arm extended, and what looked like a giant icicle flying from it. "Correct! Who can tell me what this is? Yes, Michael was the first one again."

  "It's magic!" he said excitedly. Magic? Is that what my abilities are called? No, magic is about ice. "Mrs. Laudenbor, I'm gonna grow up to do magic too!"

  "That's great to hear, Michael! Okay, Michael has two! Now, who can guess this one?" she asked, showing a new picture. This one showed a picture of a square, with a triangle on top, and smaller squares in it. Sara didn't raise her hand, though; it wasn't like she was gonna get called on anyway even if she did know it was a house. Or that the next one was a rain cloud. She... didn't know the one after that was a tornado, but she also knew the one after that was a volcano.

  Eventually Name That Thing ended, and Michael got a sticker. Which totally wasn't fair, because she knew a lot of the things, and if she'd been called on she'd have gotten just as many as Michael! She should've had that sticker and been closer to the prize, not him!

  She liked the teacher even less after that.

  Sara sat through the rest of the teacher's games. There was one where everyone had to draw what they'd thought they'd look like as an adult, then 'seven up' which Sara tried to cheat by peering through her eyes. Once or twice it worked. Especially with the blue girl, since nobody else had hooves. Then came the time for lunch. They all sat at their tables and the teacher said they were allowed to talk with each other, and to get up from their seats and move to other people to 'make friends'.

  She stayed in one place and opened up her lunch box. There was the small flask of water, and the apple, the candy she got at the start of school
, and the peanut butter sandwich. The old lady sat behind her desk, looking over them with a smile.

  She went for the candy first, popping the little green ball into her mouth. Sara screwed up her face immediately. Sour! Sour sour sour! She swished the candy to the left of her mouth, then right, then repeated the process again and again, until the little not-nice thing in her mouth turned smaller and smaller, then turned sweet and tingly, and then was so small she bit down on it aaaand... then it was gone.

  Aw. She wanted more candies like that.

  Oh well. Sara went for her flask of water to wash down the taste, and then noticed that someone was coming to sit next to her. She looked over to the blue girl as she sat next to her in the recently-vacated desk.

  "Hi! Can I sit here?"

  Sara put down the water and looked at 'Leira'. "I guess," she said, turning back to her lunch. The other girl sat at the desk next to her, with her own lunch already out.

  She lifted the sandwich to her mouth... "So, what're you eating?"

  Ugh. She looked over at the blue girl, and at her weird freaky glowing blue eyes. "Peanut butter sandwich. Why're you asking?" she asked.

  "Just cause," she said. "I got a blueberry muffin!" Leira said, showing off her lunch.

  "So?" Sara asked, narrowing her eyes at the stupid head. What if she used her ability to make her dance? Not a lot, just a little. Just enough to make her uncomfortable being around Sara. Not enough for Mommy and Daddy to know...

  "Wanna try it? I'll give you a piece of mine if you give me a piece of yours."

  Sara considered that. On one hand, she'd have less of her sandwich. On the other hand, she'd get to try a blueberry muffin, which she'd never had before, so she had no idea what it would taste like. "Okay." She tore off a bit of her sandwich and gave it to the blue girl, who gave her a piece of her muffin, with a little berry inside.