The date was April 22, 2016. The hallway in the lower bowels of Liberty was silent. Not a sound was to be heard, not a movement to be seen.
Suddenly, this serene landscape was tarnished by the sound of running water. The sound grew and grew until, eventually, the intense roar of the raging tides was too much. The water came barreling down the hallway with immense speed and power, tearing down the poor, helpless walls in its way, leaving nothing but the stripped walls and the egregious smell of fish left to ferment in a bucket of feces.
The first to come across the ravaged battlefield that was the flooded hallway was French teacher Polly Leatherage-Darsen.
“I came down the stairs that fateful morning to first be hit by the awful smell,” said Leatherage-Darsen. “Then, as I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw the first part of the ravaged hallway, and I knew that the rest of the hallway could not be much better.”
There was more to the situation than a mere glimpse could tell you, for within the walls, there was a deluge of hot, gross waters flowing. It made its way down the walls, and even through the ceiling above, worming through our beloved hallway like a ravenous snake.
“What I saw was horrifying,” L-D said, as her students call her. “There was water cascading from the ceiling, and the entire floor was completely covered in a thin layer of mucky water. It was absolutely awful, it was like stepping into a swamp, there were random weeds sprouting from the ground, there was a full grown tree just right in the middle of the hallway; I event think I heard Shrek yell at someone to get out of his swamp.”
As soon as she saw the decimated hallway, she ran as fast as she could to the main office, but she knew that the damage was done. The sequel to Noah’s flood had come to pass, and there wasn’t an ark full of optimistic barnyard creatures to comfort them now.
The student body showed up the next day to the same rancid odors—nothing had been fixed before school started, despite the efforts of the staff at hand. The students who had classes in that hallway were herded into portables or other empty classrooms, not unlike sheep heedlessly following their shepherd.
Even though the water was cleared, the memories will stay with staff and students forever, scarring the minds of all involved. The walls now show the damage that has been done, and remind us of the time before, when things were peaceful and normal. The tragedy, now being called The Great Flood, has had a large impact on those involved. History teacher and Blues Clues enthusiast Steph Carnell has even considered putting this event in his already intriguing daily BIZKNO lectures. Needless to say, this tragedy will go down in Liberty history forever.