School is a Nightmare
With the Tri-city art competition only one week away, Lani was putting in overtime after school to get her entry into award winning shape. As the top student in the Jefferson High Art Club, she practically had this one in the bag.
As soon as the bell had signaled the end of yet another boring day of classes, Lani had raced to the art room on the second floor of the high school. That had been around 3:30. The art teacher had stepped out, presumably to get some supplies ready for the next day, but Lani knew she was really going to go gossip in the teacher’s lounge. It was just as well. Lani preferred silence as she worked. The thing was, it was too quiet.
Lani glanced over at the clock. 6:30. How had the time gotten away from her? Lani found it a bit odd that the art teacher had not returned before this, but it didn’t really matter. Lani took her brushes over to the sink and cleaned them and then carefully placed her art on the drying rack. Gathering up her book bag, Lani headed out to find the art teacher and tell her she was finished for the day.
It was late October, so darkness had come early. A slight breeze blew outside, which caused a whistling sound through the skylights of the old high school. The halls were dark. The janitor probably hadn’t realized that anyone was still on the second floor. Sighing with slight annoyance, Lani grabbed the flashlight that she always carried in her bag. Flicking on the switch, she shined the beam down the halls. Lani reached the stairs safely with the aid of her light. As she descended the stairs, something moved quickly across the path of the flashlight’s beam and then disappeared. Lani stopped, unsure of what she had just seen. It had been down at the bottom of the stairs, so she hadn’t gotten a clear view.
That distinct feeling a person gets when they know something is not right began to creep over Lani. She wasn’t usually the type to get worked up, and she never did scare easily, but she could not shake the feeling that something was amiss. Shaking her head and internally rolling her eyes at herself for being so jumpy, she continued down the stairs. She encountered nothing on the way. Just to satisfy her own sanity, she passed the light over everything once she reached the bottom of the stairs. Nothing was out of place. She continued on.
Now that Lani was on the main floor of the high school, she went straight to the office. She opened the door, only to be greeted by darkness. No one was at the secretary’s desk, nor did it appear that any of the other staff were in their offices. Simply out of curiosity, Lani went down the administrative hallway at the back of the office, checking each room as she went. The principal, councilor, head coach, and Special Education department head were all gone. Apparently they left earlier.
Finding no one of use, Lani exited the office area and headed to the Social Studies and Language Arts hallway. She knew the art teacher had a thing for the British Literature teacher, so that was a good place to start. As Lani walked down the hallways, her flashlight guiding the way, something else moved in the darkness. It moved in sync with Lani’s steps, a living shadow stalking the unwary. That unsettled feeling was returning to Lani, and this time she really could not shake it off.
Lani tried to make her footsteps quieter as she made her way down the hall. The British Literature classroom was at the far end of the hall on the right side. There was also a glass door at the end of the hall that many students would come in on their way to the commons in the morning. Lani inched her way down the hall, going first to the glass door. It was locked, which wasn’t unusual. The outer doors to the school were usually locked from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm for security, and were relocked once the students had left for the day around 4:30. Still, the locked door was unsettling to her.
Lani turned away from the door and approached the British Literature classroom. All classroom doors had little mini blinds on the small windows in the doors. The blinds were shut on this door. Lani tried the door handle. It turned, and she opened the door. Nothing but an empty classroom stood before her. Since an empty classroom wasn’t of any use, Lani closed the door. She was about to head back down the hall, when she caught an odd reflection in the glass of the door. A pale face with soulless eyes stared out at her. She turned quickly to look across the hall. Nothing but empty space stood between her and the door across the hall. She looked back at the British Literature classroom door and it was just a boring old window in a door again. Things were getting too weird.
By now Lani was going into full panic mode. It was obvious that none of the staff or students were in the building. She was alone, or so she hoped. Then a thought dawned on her. If everyone was gone, were any of the doors unlocked? She dashed down the hall, not caring if she made noise now. She ran down each of the halls on the first floor, checking every outer door at the ends of the halls. They were all locked tight. Panic was rising in her chest. The one thing that scared Lani was being alone in an unfamiliar place. Even though she knew the school well, it was so different in the darkness. Every hall looked the same, and all of the shadows seemed that much darker and menacing.
Lani made her way back to the front of the school. Since there were no outer doors on the second floor, the only doors left to check were the main doors to the school. She slowly approached the tall double glass doors. The wind had picked up a bit outside, which made the whistling sound across the skylights even louder. The wind blew through the trees out front, causing the branches to sway. The shadows from the moving branches looked like gnarled arms stretching out to grasp at the night. Lani shuddered slightly as she reached out her hand to pull on the door handle. The door didn’t budge. She tried the other door with the same result. She was locked in the school, alone.
Suddenly a crackling sound washed over the building. It was the sound of the PA system coming to life. It was really old and always crackled with static. The crackling sound ceased, only to be replaced with a new sound. A slow, drawn out cross between a moan and a growl echoed through the empty halls. Lani finally lost all composure and screamed. She was terrified.
Somewhere in all her shrieks of terror, the noise form the PA cut off. When she realized this, she stopped screaming. Lani held her breath and turned around to face the commons area. There was a wall at the far end of the commons made entirely of glass. It looked out over the central courtyard where students would hang out at lunch and their off hour. Lani looked out those windows from her spot in front of the school entry doors. A pale face with soulless eyes stared back. Lani screamed and ran down the main left wing hallway.
As she ran she looked back. A pale, translucent figure made partly of shadow stood at the end of the hallway behind her. Lani screamed in sheer terror again and took a right turn. This was a dumb idea. The hallway she had turned down was a dead end, except for the entrance to the basement, where the athletics locker rooms, equipment, and pool were located.
Lani skidded to a stop and the end of the hall. She was trapped unless she went down to the basement. Hear heart thudded heavily in her chest, not out of exhaustion, but out of fear. She dreaded to turn around, but she had to. Slowly, deliberately, Lani turned to face the long hallway before her. Part of her had hoped that she was imagining the shadowy figure, but to no avail. At the end of the hall stood the pale figure made of living shadow. The figure very slowly opened its skewed mouth, the moan growl from earlier echoing down the halls again, only much louder and closer.
Lani screamed and turned the handle on the basement door behind her. For some reason it was not locked, but she didn’t care. Lani bolted through the door and slammed it shut. She leaned against the door, breathing heavily and trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary. She could not hear the dreaded moan growl. Either that apparition had left, or the door blocked out the sound. Lani didn’t care which. She was just glad to not hear it anymore.
Now she had to face a new problem. Lani was alone in the darkness of the school basement. Lani fumbled in the dark and found the switch on her flashlight. She turned it on, once again shining the beam before her. The hall before her was empty and dark. She remembered that there was a cellar entrance to the basement that had never been sealed once the new additions were made to the building. She headed down the steps into the basement, hoping that she could find the key to the lock on the cellar.
Lani walked down the dark hall. I was cold down in the basement because of the pool. Dampness clung to the air, setting goose bumps up and down Lani’s arms. At the end of the hall on the left side was the main office area for the athletic director. Lani decided to look in the office for the cellar lock key. Carefully opening the door to the office, she crept in. There were a few file cabinets, lots of trophy cases, and a line of pictures on the walls. The old black and white photographs were of the first faculty at Jefferson High School. The last picture in the row was of a very crabby looking old man. He looked like the sort of person who would punish you just for sneezing. Something about his face looked familiar. The name plaque on the antique wooden frame read Caleb Anson Jefferson, founder and Principal. The dates below that showed the years he had been principal: 1910-1923, 13 years.
Lani returned to her search for the keys. She opened a desk drawer, and then another, finding nothing. She finally found the key in a lower desk drawer in a tray that had labeled slots for keys. She also noticed something below the tray. Curious, she carefully took the tray out of the drawer, placing it on the desk. A very old file folder lay under the tray. Lani removed the folder form the drawer and opened it. There were several old newspaper articles, heavily browned around the edges. She skimmed the headlines, the first talking about the opening of the school, several more talking about lawsuits that had been filed against Principal Caleb Anson Jefferson for undue punishment.
These were not really interesting, but the last article caught Lani’s attention. In a nutshell, it said that Founder and Principal Caleb Jefferson had been found dead in the school’s basement pool on the thirteenth anniversary of the founding of the school. He could not swim, so had drowned. It was suspected that several students who had been a part of the unfair punishment trials had lured him down to the basement and pushed him in.
A cold chill came over Lani as she looked at the photograph that came with the article. It showed the pale and skewed face of Caleb Jefferson after he had been plucked from his watery deathbed. If one were to blur the picture and add in some shadows, it would look exactly like the pale face that had first appeared to Lani in the classroom door window. Absolute horror struck Lani upon the realization that it was the ghost of Caleb Jefferson that had chased her down to the school basement. She was in his domain. His spirit had never left the school, but stayed behind, stocking and preying on students out of revenge.
The moan growl started again. He was in the basement. Lani dropped the file folder on the desk and ran out into the hall. She looked back toward the basement entrance. The pale and skewed face of Caleb Jefferson was slowly passing through the door, the body following. Lani bolted. She ran down the hall, grabbing the wall as she flew around the corner. The sound of the ghost was getting nearer. Lani willed her feet to move faster. There was just one more turn and she would be at the hallway that lead straight to the cellar door.
The ghost was gaining on her. She could hear its moan getting louder as it closed the distance between them. Lani rounded the final corner and bolted toward the cellar door. She was so close when an icy chill blasted down the hall. She stopped dead in her tracks, fearfully turning around. Her heart was pounding even more now than it had earlier. Caleb Jefferson was halfway down the hall. His shadowy body made him flicker eerily in the light of Lani’s flashlight. The ghost’s skewed mouth opened again, and a horrible, gurgling voice spoke.
“You will not leave here, Lani. You must pay.”
Lani was too scared to speak for a moment. Pay? For what? Then she realized what he was saying.
“I didn’t do this to you. You were killed long ago. Leave this place.”
The ghost’s face twisted in anger.
“It doesn’t matter who did it. Someone must pay!”
The cellar door was just three feet behind her. All she had to do was climb the steps and go out those doors. She would be safe. The ghost of Caleb Anson Jefferson stared back at her, challenging her with its soulless stare.
“You will not leave here.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Lani said defiantly and turned. She covered the short distance to the steps and raced up them, jamming the key into the lock. It clicked open and she threw the cellar doors open. Lani launched herself out the doors and slammed them shut, just as the ghost reached the top step. The doors slammed in its pale, twisted face. Lani got up and ran, but she could still hear the ghost calling after her.
“Lani…Lani…”
“Lani, Wake up!”
Lani jerked her eyes open and stood up, brandishing a paintbrush like a sword. She was in the art room. Her best friend Torienne stood in front of her looking at Lani like she was crazy.
“Huh? How did I get here? Where did you come from? Did the ghost get you too?” Lani asked, confused.
Torienne gave Lani a skeptical look and spoke.
“Look, I don’t know what ghost you’re talking about. I came back here after soccer practice and found you asleep. You’ve been working way too hard on this art project. Come on, let’s go. I’ve got a ton of homework to do.”
Lani shook her head like a dog to try to sort out her thoughts. It had all been a dream. Now she felt dumb. Still, everything had felt so real. She couldn’t get the ghost’s pale face out of her mind. Still, Torienne was right. It was time to go home and try to relax.
Still shaken from her waking nightmare, Lani put away her art supplies and left the art room with Torienne. They walked down the bright second floor hall, listening to the sound of students staying after for clubs and study groups. It was all so normal and not like Lani’s dream. Torienne prattled on about how he was annoyed at who the coaches had chosen for soccer team captain. The mindless chatter was soothing to Lani after her nightmare.
The two friends went down the stairs to the first floor and walked out the front doors together. The sun was still up. There was not even the slightest hint of a breeze. Reality never looked so appealing. Feeling more confident, Lani turned back to look at the school doors. A pale, shadowlike face stared back at her from the doors. Lani grabbed Torienne’s arm and jerked him around.
“Do you see that? That’s the ghost. It’s real,” Lani stammered, fear creeping on her again.
Torienne looked where she pointed.
“Lani, I don’t see anything. You really need to stop watching Ripley’s. Come on.”
Lani looked from Torienne to the door. There was nothing there. Maybe he was right. Lani turned back to the sidewalk and fell into step with Torienne again. As Lani and Torienne walked away from the school, a pale face stared after them, a malicious grin on its face.
With the Tri-city art competition only one week away, Lani was putting in overtime after school to get her entry into award winning shape. As the top student in the Jefferson High Art Club, she practically had this one in the bag.
As soon as the bell had signaled the end of yet another boring day of classes, Lani had raced to the art room on the second floor of the high school. That had been around 3:30. The art teacher had stepped out, presumably to get some supplies ready for the next day, but Lani knew she was really going to go gossip in the teacher’s lounge. It was just as well. Lani preferred silence as she worked. The thing was, it was too quiet.
Lani glanced over at the clock. 6:30. How had the time gotten away from her? Lani found it a bit odd that the art teacher had not returned before this, but it didn’t really matter. Lani took her brushes over to the sink and cleaned them and then carefully placed her art on the drying rack. Gathering up her book bag, Lani headed out to find the art teacher and tell her she was finished for the day.
It was late October, so darkness had come early. A slight breeze blew outside, which caused a whistling sound through the skylights of the old high school. The halls were dark. The janitor probably hadn’t realized that anyone was still on the second floor. Sighing with slight annoyance, Lani grabbed the flashlight that she always carried in her bag. Flicking on the switch, she shined the beam down the halls. Lani reached the stairs safely with the aid of her light. As she descended the stairs, something moved quickly across the path of the flashlight’s beam and then disappeared. Lani stopped, unsure of what she had just seen. It had been down at the bottom of the stairs, so she hadn’t gotten a clear view.
That distinct feeling a person gets when they know something is not right began to creep over Lani. She wasn’t usually the type to get worked up, and she never did scare easily, but she could not shake the feeling that something was amiss. Shaking her head and internally rolling her eyes at herself for being so jumpy, she continued down the stairs. She encountered nothing on the way. Just to satisfy her own sanity, she passed the light over everything once she reached the bottom of the stairs. Nothing was out of place. She continued on.
Now that Lani was on the main floor of the high school, she went straight to the office. She opened the door, only to be greeted by darkness. No one was at the secretary’s desk, nor did it appear that any of the other staff were in their offices. Simply out of curiosity, Lani went down the administrative hallway at the back of the office, checking each room as she went. The principal, councilor, head coach, and Special Education department head were all gone. Apparently they left earlier.
Finding no one of use, Lani exited the office area and headed to the Social Studies and Language Arts hallway. She knew the art teacher had a thing for the British Literature teacher, so that was a good place to start. As Lani walked down the hallways, her flashlight guiding the way, something else moved in the darkness. It moved in sync with Lani’s steps, a living shadow stalking the unwary. That unsettled feeling was returning to Lani, and this time she really could not shake it off.
Lani tried to make her footsteps quieter as she made her way down the hall. The British Literature classroom was at the far end of the hall on the right side. There was also a glass door at the end of the hall that many students would come in on their way to the commons in the morning. Lani inched her way down the hall, going first to the glass door. It was locked, which wasn’t unusual. The outer doors to the school were usually locked from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm for security, and were relocked once the students had left for the day around 4:30. Still, the locked door was unsettling to her.
Lani turned away from the door and approached the British Literature classroom. All classroom doors had little mini blinds on the small windows in the doors. The blinds were shut on this door. Lani tried the door handle. It turned, and she opened the door. Nothing but an empty classroom stood before her. Since an empty classroom wasn’t of any use, Lani closed the door. She was about to head back down the hall, when she caught an odd reflection in the glass of the door. A pale face with soulless eyes stared out at her. She turned quickly to look across the hall. Nothing but empty space stood between her and the door across the hall. She looked back at the British Literature classroom door and it was just a boring old window in a door again. Things were getting too weird.
By now Lani was going into full panic mode. It was obvious that none of the staff or students were in the building. She was alone, or so she hoped. Then a thought dawned on her. If everyone was gone, were any of the doors unlocked? She dashed down the hall, not caring if she made noise now. She ran down each of the halls on the first floor, checking every outer door at the ends of the halls. They were all locked tight. Panic was rising in her chest. The one thing that scared Lani was being alone in an unfamiliar place. Even though she knew the school well, it was so different in the darkness. Every hall looked the same, and all of the shadows seemed that much darker and menacing.
Lani made her way back to the front of the school. Since there were no outer doors on the second floor, the only doors left to check were the main doors to the school. She slowly approached the tall double glass doors. The wind had picked up a bit outside, which made the whistling sound across the skylights even louder. The wind blew through the trees out front, causing the branches to sway. The shadows from the moving branches looked like gnarled arms stretching out to grasp at the night. Lani shuddered slightly as she reached out her hand to pull on the door handle. The door didn’t budge. She tried the other door with the same result. She was locked in the school, alone.
Suddenly a crackling sound washed over the building. It was the sound of the PA system coming to life. It was really old and always crackled with static. The crackling sound ceased, only to be replaced with a new sound. A slow, drawn out cross between a moan and a growl echoed through the empty halls. Lani finally lost all composure and screamed. She was terrified.
Somewhere in all her shrieks of terror, the noise form the PA cut off. When she realized this, she stopped screaming. Lani held her breath and turned around to face the commons area. There was a wall at the far end of the commons made entirely of glass. It looked out over the central courtyard where students would hang out at lunch and their off hour. Lani looked out those windows from her spot in front of the school entry doors. A pale face with soulless eyes stared back. Lani screamed and ran down the main left wing hallway.
As she ran she looked back. A pale, translucent figure made partly of shadow stood at the end of the hallway behind her. Lani screamed in sheer terror again and took a right turn. This was a dumb idea. The hallway she had turned down was a dead end, except for the entrance to the basement, where the athletics locker rooms, equipment, and pool were located.
Lani skidded to a stop and the end of the hall. She was trapped unless she went down to the basement. Hear heart thudded heavily in her chest, not out of exhaustion, but out of fear. She dreaded to turn around, but she had to. Slowly, deliberately, Lani turned to face the long hallway before her. Part of her had hoped that she was imagining the shadowy figure, but to no avail. At the end of the hall stood the pale figure made of living shadow. The figure very slowly opened its skewed mouth, the moan growl from earlier echoing down the halls again, only much louder and closer.
Lani screamed and turned the handle on the basement door behind her. For some reason it was not locked, but she didn’t care. Lani bolted through the door and slammed it shut. She leaned against the door, breathing heavily and trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary. She could not hear the dreaded moan growl. Either that apparition had left, or the door blocked out the sound. Lani didn’t care which. She was just glad to not hear it anymore.
Now she had to face a new problem. Lani was alone in the darkness of the school basement. Lani fumbled in the dark and found the switch on her flashlight. She turned it on, once again shining the beam before her. The hall before her was empty and dark. She remembered that there was a cellar entrance to the basement that had never been sealed once the new additions were made to the building. She headed down the steps into the basement, hoping that she could find the key to the lock on the cellar.
Lani walked down the dark hall. I was cold down in the basement because of the pool. Dampness clung to the air, setting goose bumps up and down Lani’s arms. At the end of the hall on the left side was the main office area for the athletic director. Lani decided to look in the office for the cellar lock key. Carefully opening the door to the office, she crept in. There were a few file cabinets, lots of trophy cases, and a line of pictures on the walls. The old black and white photographs were of the first faculty at Jefferson High School. The last picture in the row was of a very crabby looking old man. He looked like the sort of person who would punish you just for sneezing. Something about his face looked familiar. The name plaque on the antique wooden frame read Caleb Anson Jefferson, founder and Principal. The dates below that showed the years he had been principal: 1910-1923, 13 years.
Lani returned to her search for the keys. She opened a desk drawer, and then another, finding nothing. She finally found the key in a lower desk drawer in a tray that had labeled slots for keys. She also noticed something below the tray. Curious, she carefully took the tray out of the drawer, placing it on the desk. A very old file folder lay under the tray. Lani removed the folder form the drawer and opened it. There were several old newspaper articles, heavily browned around the edges. She skimmed the headlines, the first talking about the opening of the school, several more talking about lawsuits that had been filed against Principal Caleb Anson Jefferson for undue punishment.
These were not really interesting, but the last article caught Lani’s attention. In a nutshell, it said that Founder and Principal Caleb Jefferson had been found dead in the school’s basement pool on the thirteenth anniversary of the founding of the school. He could not swim, so had drowned. It was suspected that several students who had been a part of the unfair punishment trials had lured him down to the basement and pushed him in.
A cold chill came over Lani as she looked at the photograph that came with the article. It showed the pale and skewed face of Caleb Jefferson after he had been plucked from his watery deathbed. If one were to blur the picture and add in some shadows, it would look exactly like the pale face that had first appeared to Lani in the classroom door window. Absolute horror struck Lani upon the realization that it was the ghost of Caleb Jefferson that had chased her down to the school basement. She was in his domain. His spirit had never left the school, but stayed behind, stocking and preying on students out of revenge.
The moan growl started again. He was in the basement. Lani dropped the file folder on the desk and ran out into the hall. She looked back toward the basement entrance. The pale and skewed face of Caleb Jefferson was slowly passing through the door, the body following. Lani bolted. She ran down the hall, grabbing the wall as she flew around the corner. The sound of the ghost was getting nearer. Lani willed her feet to move faster. There was just one more turn and she would be at the hallway that lead straight to the cellar door.
The ghost was gaining on her. She could hear its moan getting louder as it closed the distance between them. Lani rounded the final corner and bolted toward the cellar door. She was so close when an icy chill blasted down the hall. She stopped dead in her tracks, fearfully turning around. Her heart was pounding even more now than it had earlier. Caleb Jefferson was halfway down the hall. His shadowy body made him flicker eerily in the light of Lani’s flashlight. The ghost’s skewed mouth opened again, and a horrible, gurgling voice spoke.
“You will not leave here, Lani. You must pay.”
Lani was too scared to speak for a moment. Pay? For what? Then she realized what he was saying.
“I didn’t do this to you. You were killed long ago. Leave this place.”
The ghost’s face twisted in anger.
“It doesn’t matter who did it. Someone must pay!”
The cellar door was just three feet behind her. All she had to do was climb the steps and go out those doors. She would be safe. The ghost of Caleb Anson Jefferson stared back at her, challenging her with its soulless stare.
“You will not leave here.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Lani said defiantly and turned. She covered the short distance to the steps and raced up them, jamming the key into the lock. It clicked open and she threw the cellar doors open. Lani launched herself out the doors and slammed them shut, just as the ghost reached the top step. The doors slammed in its pale, twisted face. Lani got up and ran, but she could still hear the ghost calling after her.
“Lani…Lani…”
“Lani, Wake up!”
Lani jerked her eyes open and stood up, brandishing a paintbrush like a sword. She was in the art room. Her best friend Torienne stood in front of her looking at Lani like she was crazy.
“Huh? How did I get here? Where did you come from? Did the ghost get you too?” Lani asked, confused.
Torienne gave Lani a skeptical look and spoke.
“Look, I don’t know what ghost you’re talking about. I came back here after soccer practice and found you asleep. You’ve been working way too hard on this art project. Come on, let’s go. I’ve got a ton of homework to do.”
Lani shook her head like a dog to try to sort out her thoughts. It had all been a dream. Now she felt dumb. Still, everything had felt so real. She couldn’t get the ghost’s pale face out of her mind. Still, Torienne was right. It was time to go home and try to relax.
Still shaken from her waking nightmare, Lani put away her art supplies and left the art room with Torienne. They walked down the bright second floor hall, listening to the sound of students staying after for clubs and study groups. It was all so normal and not like Lani’s dream. Torienne prattled on about how he was annoyed at who the coaches had chosen for soccer team captain. The mindless chatter was soothing to Lani after her nightmare.
The two friends went down the stairs to the first floor and walked out the front doors together. The sun was still up. There was not even the slightest hint of a breeze. Reality never looked so appealing. Feeling more confident, Lani turned back to look at the school doors. A pale, shadowlike face stared back at her from the doors. Lani grabbed Torienne’s arm and jerked him around.
“Do you see that? That’s the ghost. It’s real,” Lani stammered, fear creeping on her again.
Torienne looked where she pointed.
“Lani, I don’t see anything. You really need to stop watching Ripley’s. Come on.”
Lani looked from Torienne to the door. There was nothing there. Maybe he was right. Lani turned back to the sidewalk and fell into step with Torienne again. As Lani and Torienne walked away from the school, a pale face stared after them, a malicious grin on its face.
