On Our Way Home

"Level 2 lockdown."

I gripped Ku's hand tighter.

"Adrian, come with us."  I said sternly.  

He continued washing his hands.

"ADRIAN.  NOW."  I commanded.  

Level 2.  Possible threat INSIDE the building.   Get inside a classroom and lock the door and don't leave.  Continue teaching.  

We sprinted down the hallway while Ms. Porter swung the door open, ushering us in.  

I've had the creeps a lot lately.  There is a wild feel in the air, a feral, bad feel of violence.  You see it when you drive.  People flipping out, yelling at each other, swerving around, disproportionate reactions.  Threatening to shoot.  

I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes and think of the woman who was murdered with her dog in Piedmont Park.  We live next to a large park.  We have a dog.  I am a woman.  I try to quiet my mind but it doesn't always work.  When I leave in the morning, I walk through my backyard in the pre-dawn hours to our car that we park behind the house.  I've been more aware of my surroundings, noticing when I hear a crinkle of leaves or people outside of the fence.  It is early.  No one should really be out there.  If they are, I like to know that they are there before they know that I am there.  

"The suspect shot two police deputies while they attempted to serve a warrant for murder.  There is a manhunt.  Police have closed down a section of Covington Highway and are walking through the street with rifles."

I looked at the message that Alec texted with the local news article. 

"I think this is why you are on lockdown."

Our school was listed with the other schools in the Covington Highway area that were also locked down.  

"We have been cleared to continue with dismissal.  Wagner, you will take your walkers up the hill and to the neighborhood as you usually do.  One of the police will flank you."

We assembled the walkers' line inside of the building, instead of outside of the building as we normally do.  My group is huge; at least thirty children stood in front of me.  Ku stood next to me, gripping my hand, even though he doesn't walk with me.

"Sit here, baby,"  I instructed, putting him across the hallway next to the door.  

"Don't move.  I'll be back."

"Let's go." I told the rest.  

We trudged up the hill through the woods.  

I had gotten in trouble for going outside earlier in the day to get my lunch from the trailer.  Now, I was walking with thirty kids through the neighborhood.  It turns out the suspect was killed by police as we lined the children up.  

I crept through the backyard this morning, in the dark.  I opened the gate and saw the back window of the car, open.

Open?

I saw the glass glimmering on the driveway in front of the broken window.  

I turned, rushed back inside and locked the door.  

*Title, Lennon-McCartney