That one student

Leo noticed him during period one Algebra. The boy sat in the back row, wearing an oversized, faded yellow raincoat despite the bright morning sun outside. His name was Jonah, or at least that was what the teacher had called out during attendance.

During period two History, Leo sat down at his desk and looked around. Jonah was sitting in the back left corner, staring straight ahead with blank, unblinking eyes.

"That's strange," Leo whispered to Maya as they opened their textbooks. "Wasn't he just in Mr. Davis's math class with us?"

Maya shrugged, tapping her pencil against her notebook. "Maybe he has an identical twin? Or maybe you're just sleepy, Leo."

By period three Science, a chilly feeling crept up Leo's spine. There Jonah sat again, quiet as a statue behind the microscope station. By period four English, period five Art, and period six French, Jonah was always there in the back corner. He never took notes. He never turned a page. He just sat silently, breathing in slow, heavy rasps.

Leo rubbed his forehead and let out a long breath. It was physically impossible for one student to be enrolled in every single class at the exact same time.

As the final bell echoed through the hollow corridors of Oakridge High, the sunny sky outside vanished behind a thick blanket of rolling fog. Deep shadows swallowed the school hallway, making the locker doors look dark and ominous.

Leo stood by his locker, scrolling frantically through the online student directory on his phone. Jonah wasn't listed anywhere.

"He doesn't have a schedule, Maya," Leo said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "He doesn't even exist in the school system."

"Come on, Leo, school is over. Let's just go home," Maya said, zipping up her denim jacket. She turned toward the exit, but stopped dead in her tracks.

At the far end of the dimly lit corridor stood Jonah. The flickering fluorescent light above him cast long shadows across his pale face.

"Hey, Jonah!" Leo called out, trying to sound brave despite the knot in his stomach. "Which class are you actually supposed to be in?"

Jonah slowly turned his head. His mouth stretched into a smile that was impossibly wide for a human face, extending almost from ear to ear. He didn't say a single word. "Something is very wrong with him," Maya groaned, backing away in terror.

Suddenly, the overhead lights buzzed loudly and shut off completely. In the pitch darkness of the hallway, the sound of heavy, wet footsteps began marching toward them.

"Run!" Leo shouted, pulling Maya toward the back exit. They burst through the heavy double doors into the freezing courtyard air.

The mist was thick, making it almost impossible to see the metal gates at the edge of the school grounds. Behind them, a sickening *crack-snap* echoed off the brick walls of the gymnasium.

Leo looked back over his shoulder. The sight made his blood run cold.

Jonah was coming out of the shadows, but he was no longer normal. His yellow raincoat flapped in the wind as his legs began to stretch violently. With loud, crunching pops, his limbs elongated, growing eight, ten, twelve feet tall like long, terrifying spider legs. His upper body swayed high in the air, taking impossibly large strides across the autumn grass.

"He's chasing us!" Maya sobbed, tears cold against her face as she sprinted beside Leo.

The creature covered half the courtyard in a single step. Its elongated, unnatural joints clicked against the concrete path with a rhythmic *clack-clack-clack* that sounded right behind them.

The perimeter gate was only twenty yards away. Behind them, the shadow of the tall, spindly monster towered over the bleachers, blocking out the light from the moon.

"Faster!" Leo screamed, pushing his legs to their absolute limit.

The terrifying clicking sound grew deafeningly loud right above their heads. A long, thin shadow reached down from twelve feet up in the fog, its sharp fingers extending toward Maya's shoulder.

"Jump!" Maya cried out.

Together, they leaped through the open frame of the front gates, crashing heavily onto the public sidewalk outside the school property line.

The moment their feet landed on the pavement, the clicking stopped instantly.

Leo scrambled up and turned to look back through the iron bars. Jonah was standing just inches inside the school boundary. His giant, spider-like legs suddenly snapped and folded inward, shrinking rapidly back into a normal pair of short legs within seconds.

Jonah calmly adjusted his yellow raincoat, stared at them with his blank, empty eyes, and sat down quietly on the school's front steps, disappearing into the fog.

Leo collapsed against the streetlamp, gasping for air as his heart pounded in his chest.

"We made it past the gate," Maya whispered, letting out a breathless, trembling laugh. "He couldn't leave the school."

They walked away quickly into the safety of the neighborhood, knowing the terrifying truth: tomorrow morning, when the bell rang for period one Algebra, Jonah would be sitting in the back row once again.