Maren Novel Chapter 1

Maren’s shoes clicked down the wooden stairs as she hurried out the door and down the empty street towards the school. The warm wind blowing leaves and dust across her path and the graying blue of the storm clouds didn’t help her anxiety this morning. That obnoxious, always accurate, feeling that something terrible was going to happen had been nagging her since 4 a.m. Thoughts of what might be happening whizzed through her head as she walked faster trying to block her fears. No, she wasn’t physic or anything, but it was like she was ultra sensitive to terrible things just before they happened.

September 11th , she had turned on CNN and watched live as the second tower was hit, the feeling had been extra strong that day, turning on the news was automatic as the feeling was shouting at her something terrible was happening. Sometimes it wasn’t CNN worthy like when her favorite cousin, Charles was hit by a semi, or when her mother was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. This was her second week of teaching and needed to be at her class early to prepare for the twenty-five students in the class, but this feeling was stronger and more intense then anything she had ever felt so far, like this was going to be more personal then anything she had experienced. One more block to go, Maren looked around the streets expecting something horrible to be around every corner. Everything but the wind and her moving feet were still this morning. "Well, you know that how restless animals get just before a storm, that’s all" Maren thought as she looked up at the brewing sky, but she knew inside that wasn’t all. The yellow house on the corner next to the school that she passed today looked particularly empty, where the Kyro kids lived. These two students of her’s lived there with their six other siblings. These kids weren’t even twins just born 9 months apart and timed so they were in the same grade as well, crazy.

Maren blushed then, of course that might be her having those kids in a year or two, with her new husband. Boy did she love Greg and she just knew they would have the cutest kids, she’d want as many darling children with his beautiful eyes that she could get. She had to take her thoughts off him or she’d never make it to school. As she cuddled in his arms this morning he just pulled her closer as it got time for her to go and it was so hard to wiggle her way out of his arms and quietly get dressed, she never felt so comforted like nothing bad could happen as when she had her head on his chest.

As she got to Suffix Elementary, the glass doors, black and empty, opened hesitantly with her key. As she clicked her way to room 220, turned on the light and looked around her brightly decorated classroom, she felt better. But, that feeling just wouldn’t go away.... what was going to happen? Looking at the clock 6:45 she knew she’d slowly start hearing sounds outside to bring her back to reality and out of this anxious emptiness she had experienced so far today.
Surry was a quiet little town, a nestled in a circle of mountains in Wyoming, only containing one pass out of the valley. It was big enough though, even had a small community college, 2 elementary schools, 1 small highschool a few bigger businesses, a hospital but it was almost like you could forget about the rest of the world here. There were some bigger cities on either side of the ridges, you’d see helicopters and jets occasionally zoom across the sky above, but Surry prided itself in its solitude and peaceful environment. It was a quiet, secret haven tucked away in the mountains. There were even rumors the city counsel had bribed a few magazines to take them off of the ideal cities to live in lists so they wouldn’t be flooded by new comers, or people just passing through.

Maren had meet Gregory at University of Southern California two years ago in a general Biology course. They had connected immediately and spent almost every day together since. It only made sense when they got married after they both graduated last June. Gregory had come back to this little valley to work with the family business, some sort of electronics company and Maren had been trilled, she hated the big cities where she had lived in all her life, mostly different areas of Southern California and loved the neighborly feel here in Surry. Of course, Greg’s mother was on the school board here and helped her get her teaching job right out of college.

Teaching could never be easier. During her student teaching in California there were parents on drugs, kids who had been neglected or the opposite completely spoiled. First graders and even second graders were still learning the basics of school behavior and the idea of homework and fifth and sixth graders were turning into teenagers too early, yes third grade was ideal. She had a small class, only fifteen students and Maren had fallen in love with their questions, funny comments, enthusiasm and curiosity. She had been a little hyperactive as a child and loved the spotlight then, so she could relate to the more active children, she just wanted to hug and smoother the quiet little shy children and help them bring out their qualities too. None seemed real defiant or acted out too much, maybe her standards weren’t as high as some stricter teachers (since she could remember what she was like as a child), but she loved teaching them, and yes there were always challenges. Each child had their own special needs, her class was small enough she was even able to spend a few minuets one on one with each child and it is amazing what that attention can do to having a good relationship with the children.

Maren paused, what if that feeling today had to do with one of her students. Maren felt sick, so sick. It was near 8:00 now and she could hear the early students making their way to the lunchroom for school breakfast, they never had that option when she was growing up, it would have been nice since her mom was always rushing off to work and it was usually toast and a glass of juice when she was growing up. Maren couldn’t help it, she walked over to look around the lunchroom just to make sure the kids seemed o.k., a scream outside and made her heart stop a moment, then laughter, ‘oh, they were just having fun’ she sighed with relief.
‘I can not live this way, I almost wish whatever is going to happen, would happen now if I can’t do anything’, Maren thought as she chalked in the homework assignment in the right hand corner of the board. Jaren and Ephraim came galloping into the room, her earliest students, followed by Jayden, Savanna, Terry, Rudolf, and Lee. Jessica and Becka had just scurried in when she heard a humming growing steadily louder. Maren knew in her heart this was the source of the dreadful feeling she had had all morning. Springing into action she herded the students already there to the back door of the classroom which lead to a bomb shelter which had been built under this building, back during the cold war. Ignoring their questions and comments and putting a finger to her lips, she grabbed a flashlight from her desk and lead the students down the cement stairs to the furthest hall and to the furthest corner of the cement room underneath. She pulled on the dim lights and silently pointed out the rustic bathroom, that she prayed still worked, and continued on to the large cement room where she handed the flashlight to Jaren, the oldest and largest kid there.

She turned around and announced, "We are trying a little experiment on following directions, it will be part of your grade and I expect everyone to participate. I will try to get the rest of the class I need you to stay quiet as possible only talk or play in whispers and do not go upstairs no matter what you hear above you and I will come back when I can." As a second thought she told Jaren to hold onto the flashlight in case they needed it and showed him the military food packs in the opposite corner, but only if they were still waiting and it was lunch time. She had to force a reassuring simile and returned up the stairs to get the other five children given to her care, they had to be her first priority, then she would just pray her husband Greg could take care of himself.

As Maren hurried up the basement stairs she heard more voices in the classroom:
"Christine look, just over the top of Glacier mountain, are those black helicopters?"

" Yea, I think so, it looks like tons of helicopters, what are they doing here?" Christine asked to Sandra as Maren heard Pablo run into the room.

" I heard them as I was running to class, am I late? Where is everyone?"
Maren emerged from the unused classroom door and all three kids spun around surprised. "Hey, what’s going on Mrs. M? " Queintin Kyro asked as he moseyed into class, he was one of her harder ones, insisting on doing things always his own way and his own time, he was often one of the last ones to class. Quickly calculating all the kids, Maren realized she was missing Mary Kyro, Quintin’s sister a bit of an absent-minded girl who was probably in the hall. Maren instructed the children to meet the rest of the kids in the bomb shelter through the door, for now the lights were on and they would find their way, she had to go after Mary. The sinking dread almost paralyzed her as the fear went to her heart, the rumble of the helicopters were becoming deafening, they were very close and she knew that something awful was going to happen when they got here.