Hana glanced at the clock on her wall. It was a little after one by now. The students would be back in class after their lunch and the staff that had been assigned to monitor the cafeteria during the student lunch would be taking their own lunch in the employee break room.
Hana used her newfound knowledge to pull up a spreadsheet showing who had lunch duty each day. In an amazing coincidence it turned out that Janice, John, Tanya, and Robert were the staff on duty today, so they would all be in the break room right now.
How efficient, she thought. The part of her that had been Hailey was apprehensive as it all seemed too convenient, but the part of her that was Hana was far too smart for superstition.
She hurried to the break room and sure enough, there were the four. Janice was sitting in a corner languidly picking at a microwaved diet dish, her face in a permanent scowl. John was lecturing a bored Tonya about his wonderful idea for getting students more engaged. Tonya didn’t look like she really cared, but was offering a polite “uh-huh” or “oh yeah” periodically. Robert sat near the entrance, huddled over a large meal that could have been several people’s dinner.
“Hello, wonderful staff!” exclaimed Hana as she entered. They looked up at her. Hana notes that Janice, Robert, and Tonya made eye contact, while John was staring at her chest.
“I’d like you all to pose for a photo for the yearbook,” Hana instructed. Janice rolled her eyes and Robert started to protest, but Hana had a commanding presence. The four looked at her and forced smiles. Hana framed them neatly and snapped a photo.
She pulled the photograph from the camera and waited for it to develop. As it did, her heart skipped a beat. This wasn’t good. The photo showed an ornate stone statue of a naked woman. From each of the statues hands hung a golden bird cage. One held two parakeets while the other held a macaw.
She looked up. Sure enough, reality had confirmed to the photograph. The Macaw shrieked “Janice wants a cracker! Pretty bird. Pretty bird. Janice wants a cracker!”
Hana pondered the situation. This thing might be too random for her needs. She thought hard on her next action.