Free The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman by Tim Wellman

to wait for his court
date."
    "It wasn't an accident, but I'll be damned if I
know what could have happened," Steve said. "I think he could have set himself on fire... maybe as a way to burn
down the entire school and kill as many kids as he could."
    "And that could have happened if you hadn't put
the fire out quickly," Evelyn said. She walked away and back to her
girls. "Let's go back to class, girls. It's all safe, now."
    They walked back through the entrance and down
the hall. There was no smell of smoke or burnt flesh, no sign at
all that a senseless tragedy had just occurred. Just as they all
shuffled through their classroom doorway, the Principal came on the
intercom. "Is this thing on? Oh, er... this is Principal Stevens.
Because we want to be very sure of everyone's safety, we are
suspending school for the rest of the day. Please gather up your
belongings and leave. Now! Oh. I mean, you're free to go as soon as
you can; all of your parents have been sent text messages. Thank
you. Er... this is Principal Stevens signing off. Ten-four."
    "The man is an idiot," Evelyn said. She
chuckled. "You girls didn't hear me say that."
    "Miss Crone," Susan said. "Are they sending us
home because of what Mister Allen did?"
    "What?" she said, and then assumed she was
referring to what happened several days ago. "Oh, no, it's not
that."
    "Because he's dead?" Betsy said.
    "What?"
    "We all know," Tiffany said.
    Evelyn was shocked. How could they know? For a
brief moment a twinge of fear surged up her spine and settled in
her throat. "How?" She settled down. "Oh, I guess you could hear us
talking about it. I'm sorry, girls, you shouldn't have heard that.
It's a horrible thing that's happened."
    Mister Cross wants you to believe one of us did
it," Susan said. "No more store discounts for him."
    "He... I don't know what he thinks, girls,"
Evelyn said. "He's very hard to figure out."
    "Do you think we did it?" a girl in the back
said.
    Evelyn had finally memorized their names. "No,
Sienna, I don't believe that at all."
    "But what if one of us did do it?" Becky
said. "What if one of us stabbed him?"
    "Becky, sweetie, do you know something about
this?" Evelyn said. "If you know anything about it you need to tell
me."
    "She doesn't know anything," Susan said. "She's
just being her usual weirdo self." She pointed at Becky. "Be good,
weirdo!"
    "Sorry," Becky said.
    The mood seemed to be unusually light-hearted in
the classroom and Evelyn was a bit confused. Were they taking the
news the only way their young minds could process it, or were the
actually happy that a man who hated them so much was dead? She
didn't know. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow morning. Be careful.
Wait close to the building if your parents are picking you up;
otherwise be careful walking home."
     
    ****
     
    "He's down here," Steve said, leading a small
group of firemen and law enforcement down the second floor hallway.
Several were carrying flashlights since the electricity had been
shut off on the second floor several years ago over safety
concerns. Evelyn was invited; she wasn't sure why, but she accepted
Steve's invitation and came along mostly out of curiosity. But a
part of her wanted to find clues to confirm exactly what had
happened.
    "God! Stinks!" Bernie said.
    "Burnt flesh," one of the firemen said. "Take a
good whiff, you can smell lighter fluid or some other
petroleum-based accelerate, too."
    Everyone sniffed the air, looked at each other,
and shrugged.
    Steve bounced the beam of his light around over
the floor and walls, then stopped on the blackened figure slumped
against the wall. Around him were twigs and other dry brush, and
several cans of charcoal lighter fluid.
    "Looks like he was tryin' ta take the whole
damned school with him," Bernie said. "Stupid bastard." He shook
his head. "It looks pretty cut-and-dry. Suicide."
    He got closer and his flashlight better
illuminated the scene. That's when they all gasped. Above and
around him, all over the wall he was