Virtutis

• Henna Hasanovic, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2014

A frail girl walked through an abandoned hallway, her eyes filled with remorse as she stumbled over dropped books and forgotten belongings. She had woken up on the floor earlier, having no recollection of the past events. She couldn’t have fallen asleep—she never did at school. Even if she had, it wouldn’t have explained how she came to wake from her slumber in the deserted hall.
She stopped at a locker, labelled ‘284’. She rose her hand to the numbered padlock and twisted it until it parted. She removed the padlock and opened the locker. It was full of many textbooks. She removed them, placing them onto the ground below her. Behind them were two sheaths with daggers inside of them, which were both tucked into pockets of a leather strap. She picked it up, examining it. There was an inscription boring the words ‘Protect yourself if I’m not there’. She slumped it over her shoulder, taking a dagger out of its sheathe and placing it onto the top shelf of the locker. ‘It might help someone,’ she told herself. The girl took a step back and closed the locker, putting the padlock into her pocket. She ran the last few meters of the corridor, skidding around a corner to the front doors.

As she clasped her hands over the door, she noticed a huge black figure lumbering outside. Stopping herself from opening the glass door, she slammed against it with a crack that echoed through the silence.
The huge figure whipped around with a menacing growl. It had one huge red optic positioned on the end of its huge, reptilian-shaped head. The eye shone a glowing red light into the thin hallway, revealing the quivering girl to its sight.
The creature let out a bellowing roar, which made the girl whip around and dash further into the school. As she ran, a violent crack and splinter of glass was followed by another shrieking roar. The girl dropped the sheathed dagger she held, running to her locker. She swiveled the door open and climbed in.

She stood in the empty locker, panting. She couldn’t hear much. ‘Maybe it got stuck in the doorway?’ She dismissed the thought as a red light shone into the corridor she was hiding in; she could see it through the slits in the metal door. ‘Or maybe it’s good at being quiet.’ She watched as the light strengthened, and instinctively moved back, knocking her head on the locker shelf. The red light shone straight into the locker. Knowing she had been found, the girl fumbled around the locker, when her hand settled onto the dagger on the top shelf. The creature let out a low growl—the girl unsheathed her dagger.
The creature snapped the door in its jaws with tremendous force, revealing the girl. As the monster scrabbled at the door, removing it from its mouth. The girl steadied her dagger.
‘I will not be forgotten, but be remembered.’