Chapter 1 - The Hidden Lens
The late afternoon sun cast long, menacing shadows across the cold, empty classroom floor.
Mrs. Hart glared at the small, trembling boy cornered against the whiteboard.
She paced back and forth with a terrifying, predatory grace that belonged nowhere near an elementary school.
Logan hugged his tiny arms around his chest, trying desperately to make himself invisible.
Mrs. Hart told Logan: “Stand still!”
“You can’t even follow one simple instruction?”
The cruel venom in her voice caused the seven-year-old boy to visibly flinch.
Tears began to well up in his terrified eyes, spilling silently down his pale cheeks.
Then came the line that made the moment even colder: “Crying isn’t going to save you.”
But Mrs. Hart didn’t know the covered classroom camera was about to be uncovered.
A sudden, fierce draft from the open hallway door blew the thick sticky note right off the security lens.
The small, highly sensitive camera instantly blinked with a solid red recording light.
And she certainly didn’t expect Logan’s mother to suddenly speak through it.
“Step away from my son immediately,” Sarah’s fierce, protective voice echoed loudly through the two-way intercom system.
Mrs. Hart froze completely in her tracks, her cruel expression instantly draining of all its color.
She slowly turned her head and stared directly into the blinking red lens mounted on the ceiling.
Instead of apologizing or looking guilty, a twisted, terrifying smile slowly spread across the teacher’s face.
May you like
She casually walked over to the wall panel, ripped the intercom wires entirely out of the drywall, and whispered her final words.
"I was really hoping you were watching, Sarah."
