Terror Stricken Anticipation

"Mom..."

It was seven in the morning. Mrs. Sethi was sleeping in her room while Sadhika had been getting ready for school.

"Mom? I cannot find the radio."

Mrs. Sethi woke up as Sadhika entered her room.

"What is it Sadhika? Why are you shouting early in the morning? Aren't you getting late for school?"

" I know. But I cannot find my radio. Mrs. Brown said that we'll be practising for the annual day today and I have

a feeling that i might need the radio." said Sadhika.

"Its probably in the store room. Take and please hurry up" said Mrs. Sethi.

Sadhika had been right about the practise and the radio. Because of clashes in the time table their group could not practise at their alloted time and they had to practise on their own later. Sadhika's radio came in handy then.

The school's annual day was just a week away and everyone had been busy with the preparations. It was supposed to be a grand affair. The mayor had been invited to be the chief guest.

That day after the practise, Sadhika and her friends decided to stay back and help with the preparations. They helped paint the posters, arranged the dresses and also made the props. Even though most of the students had gone back home, the school still looked crowded. Everyone was in a hurry, running about here and there.

All throughout the day Sadhika had a feeling as if something was wrong. A few peons looked as if they didn't belong there, as if there was something else going on in their minds. She had gone to the auditorium to see the decorations there when see saw people carrying huge trunks inside the school from the backyard. But she ignored it thinking it to be for the annual day preparations.

Exhausted from all the work Sadhika and her friends were sitting in the common room. They had decided to take a break before moving ahead. One of Sadhika's friend turned the radio on and tuned it to a local station.

"I've heard they discuss important social and political issues this time. Its really interesting" she said.

They had been discussing about the implementation of a new policy when all of sudden everybody stopped and a different voice spoke.

"According to our sources it has been confirmed that there is a group of terrorists hiding in the city. It is believed that they are hiding in one of the local schools. They plan to kidnap the mayor in order to be successful in their mission.

This is to warn all of you. If you find anything that you feel is not right or unusual please contact us on our helpline number 22-44-66. Please stay aware of your surroundings."

Sadhika and her friends were shocked after they heard the announcement.

"What if they are in our school?" one of them said.

And all of a sudden everything made sense. All that Sadhika had been feeling since morning had now started coming together.

"Guys, I have a feeling that it is our school." Sadhika said as everybody exchanged confused glances.

She told them what all she had seen and all of them decided to go and check what was going on.

They went to the backyard first but there was no one there.

"Hey what about the classrooms in the third wing? Nobody goes there. The area is completely deserted to say" Amanda said.

They were a group of five friends. All equally tensed at the moment.

They decided that two of them will go and check those classrooms. If there would be anything wrong they'll come and tell them but even if after long they didn't return the rest of them would report it to some senior.

Sadhika and Rohit went to the third wing. Quietly and slowly they checked all the the classrooms one by one. But they found nothing there. They then decided to go back to their friends. Just as they were moving out of the wing they heard a noise, as if someone was talking. They looked at each other, fear clear in both of their eyes. But there was no going back now.

"There is a store room behind this classroom. Probably that is where all this noise is coming from." said Rohit.

Slowly again they moved towards the store room. The door had been left ajar. They peeked inside and saw five weird looking men were sitting on the floor. Each of them had a gun in hand. They were staring at a paper in front of them. All around them there were huge black trunks. Sadhika immediately recognised those trunks. But the other thing that she noticed was that two of them were sitting in peon's uniform.

In order to avoid getting caught both of them ran from there. They were shaking by the time they reached their friends.

"We had been right all along about everything. There are terrorists hiding in the building." Sadhika said breathing heavily.

"But what are we going to do now? If we don't take an action soon they are probably going to hurt us all" said Amanda, worried.

"Lets call on the number that the people from the radio station gave" suggested Rohit.

"We should probably inform some teacher about it. Then they can decide what is to be done further."

"But all the teachers have already gone home."

"Maybe Principal sir is still there in his office? Lets go and see."

They all ran towards the Principal's office and to their relief he was still there. They told him all that they had seen.

He thought they were all joking. But seeing their shocked and fear stricken faces he knew there was something wrong.

He called on the number given by the radio station and within minutes the police were there. They told the officers all they had seen and directed them towards the store room.

The terrorists who had no idea what was about to happen were caught within minutes. There was no way they could escape then.

The annual function was held as planned before. Sadhika and her friends received a special award from the mayor for their bravery.

And thus Sadhika and her friends helped stoped a huge crime from taking place in the city.