OLD SCHOOL

As soon as construction had finished on the newer brighter building, Edison Composite High School quickly closed its doors and boarded up its mostly barred windows. A nondescript rectangle near the edge of Edison itself, you may have confused the place for some kind of looney bin at first glance. The more observant eye, however, may have noticed its pitiful playground and come to a different conclusion. The old spook house, however unlikely, was once a school. At the sight of such a place, it would only be logical to assume all of its former students had been juvenile delinquents in training. Hulking invalids with animal urges and animal politics, who must be kept behind barred windows and locked doors. If you were to pose the idea to Evan, a previous student himself, he would probably agree with you. 

For as long as he had been forced to attend the school, Evan was both appalled and afraid of the constant fighting between students. The biggest threat Evan had faced was the oilfield brutes and brainless farmhand muscle lurking in the student body, young boys so far removed from their empathy they often carried knives alongside their crooked smiles. Moving between classes often felt like rushing down a dark and dangerous alleyway. The secret to Evans's survival was his averageness. Standing at an average height with equally average features to match, there was nothing for any wannabe bully to latch on to. Thanks to his natural ability to blend into the background, Evan had been the perfect silent observer of all the school's cruelty. As a fly on the wall, Evan had seen and heard far more than any boy his age should ever have to hear. Girls knocked cruelly onto the hardwood floors of the gym, Irritable young boys being pushed to their breaking points, teachers defending the attacker and blaming the victim, more than anything Edison Composite High School had taught Evan one thing. life is unfair and painful. 

Given the opportunity, Evan would watch the place burn with a smile. That being said, ever since the odd old school closed its doors, Evan had felt the pressuring voice of childish curiosity whispering through the wind of his innermost thoughts. Inside, Inside, I wonder if I could get inside, the voice purred behind Evan's thoughts. He couldn't shake the nagging feeling that there was more to the old school than meets the eye. 

The newly constructed building next door cast a stark contrast against the abandoned school, now adorned with "No Trespassing" signs and boarded-up windows. One gloomy afternoon a few weeks later, as raindrops tapped rhythmically on the pavement, Evan found himself standing in front of the dilapidated entrance. 

Far from the vine-covered gothic horror of any real haunted house, the school was as unsettling and uninteresting as a motel painting. Almost fully stripped of any colour whatsoever, the building looked even more like the psych ward Evan had always imagined.Putting down the kickstand of his bike and gathering his courage, Evan ducked through a hole in the fence and started checking for a way into the building. Working his way around the perimeter of the building, the first two windows he came to were locked as locked can be. Pushing as hard as he could in every possible direction, the pitiless panes wouldn't budge. With no clear view inside the dark building, Evan moved on quickly. 

Motherfucker, the same curious voice in his mind lamented.  Did you really think it was going to be easy? It teased pointlessly. Ignoring the constant nervous rambling inside himself, Evan moved to window number three. Expecting more of the same, Evan was surprised to see the dirty shoe prints stamped neatly on the hard metal windowsill.

Following the muddy stains with his eyes, Evan grinned at the obvious pattern. Crawling up from the window like vines, Evan could just barely make out small dirty smears on the ladder-like rungs of the building's corrugated metal siding. Smears that stopped suddenly right at the window just a floor above him. This was some bad-good news, as it meant he too would have to make the same climb to scratch his unending itch. Crawling onto the small first-floor window sill, took place in slow awkward stages. First, Evan was on his ass, then on his knees, until finally he was standing a few feet off the ground and catching his breath. The easy part was over, all that was left to do was carefully climb towards the second-floor window in waiting. 

Very quickly, Evan decided it would be best not to overthink this. If he did, he would probably end up hopping back down and heading home too nervous to think straight. Before he could lose his nerve, Evan reached for the first almost rung on the building's almost ladder. With a boost of adrenaline helping him along, Evan made his climb quickly and easily. Only when he had both hands on the open second-floor window, did he allow himself to stop for a quick look inside the building. Seeing no obstacles or enemies, Evan cautiously climbed inside. Feeling solid ground under his feet, Evan let out a long ghostly sigh of relief. Once his eyes had adjusted to the cave-like darkness, Evan turned on his flashlight and took a good look around. If his memory could be trusted, this classroom once housed his favorite social studies teacher Mrs. Fran. Now, the room was home only to the mildew-scented carpet and dust bunnies. As much as he had hated this school, Evan couldn't help but feel depressed seeing such a colorful room stripped and forgotten. It reminded him of his mother. The door into the hall sat ajar in the far corner of the room, scaring and exciting Evan in equal measure. 

He stood frozen at first, unable to decide if that uneasy feeling would disappear once was out into the hallway. What finally got him moving deeper into the school, was a quiet muffled thudding from downstairs. It could have been something as simple as a pigeon, Evan attempted to convince himself. But maybe, A small part of him whispered it could be something much worse. In the darkest part of his subconscious, this thread of concern had already spun itself into what felt like a darkly plausible ghost story. 

On the last day of school, some poor unfortunate bookworm found himself shoved inside a locker with no way out. Kicking and screaming for hours in total darkness, the boy would die with a throat raw from screaming. And the rats, can't forget about the rats. Thick black barbarians oozing from the walls to gouge greedy bites from the kid's maggot-filled flesh. Stepping into the hallways, it would be impossible for Evan to overlook the locker full of rotten meat and ghostly groans. Going out into the hallway, Evan would come face to face with…

Stepping out into the hallway, Evan was greeted by the same emptiness as the classroom. No lockers, no student bulletin boards, no pissed-off ghosts, just the same stinking carpet and a depressing duvet of dust. Believing he was alone, Evan felt his fear turn back into excitement. He could do whatever he wanted, but what exactly did he want? The principal's office, his subconscious purred. Waltz right into that principal's office, and take a big shit right on the floor. Evan liked the idea at once. Although ridiculous, it played off of the whole reason he had come here in the first place. To take some of the power he had given this place back, to look it in the eyes and dance on its grave. To shit on its grave, however, that was a stretch. Even now, the school had a smoky black nostalgia to it he couldn't fully hate. As he wandered down the hall, peering into each classroom as he passed, Evan could see the disappearing ghost of the classroom that had been. The only exception to the school's emptiness was a room at the end of the hall, where someone had spray painted in bright red bubble letters EDISON EATS SHIT in place of the whiteboard. EDISON EATS SHIT, Evan echoed delighted as he passed. It seemed strange to him that people would only admit such an obvious truth anonymously. Already down the stairs and moving towards the principal's office, Evan stopped suddenly paralyzed with fear. From some unknown room ahead of him, the sound of a woman laughing in maniac delight bounced violently through the school's darkness. At the same time, the smell of burning plastic slowly rose to meet her wails, forming a dark perfume of death. Evan wanted to run. He couldn't. The laughing lady, or more accurately laughing little girl, sounded almost younger than he was. 

Could there really be a little girl laughing away in the empty old school by herself? It was impossible to accept or to ignore easily. Scared and concerned, Evan moved carefully closer to the sound on instinct. The sound of her broken braying laugh was horrible, every fresh cry twisting Evan's stomach into tighter and tighter knots as he grew closer to her agony. Based on the weird warbled echo, she had to be in the gym. As he approached the gymnasium's double doors doubtfully, Evan had a horrible thought. Perhaps In the eyes of that scared little girl, he was the ghost that haunted this place. Perhaps in her eyes, death was coming to grant her an early retirement. If she was thinking something similar, he must make for one laughably pathetic phantom. Pushing the doors aside and stepping into the gym, Evan was instantly horrified.

Unlike all the other rooms in this building so far, the gymnasium was far from empty. Lit by a single yellow work light, the room looked like the nest of the world's largest rats. In its center army barracks, a green and blue tent sat half open and waiting. From the darkness within, Evan could see a pale arm lolling towards him like a tongue. 

Scattered around the tent like fallen leaves, an onslaught of food wrappers, empty bottles and cigarette butts formed weird uninhabitable islands. Stronger than ever, the burnt plastic smell seemed to cling to the room like bad wallpaper. Despite the dimly lit darkness between them, the two strangers stared into each other's eyes. The expression carved into their features, served as a perfect explanation of how they had gotten here.

On Evan's face, the girl saw innocence and terror. On her face, Evan could see loss, heartbreak, regret, and hopelessness battling for control behind a painted-on smile. She didn't need to say anything, what had happened here seemed obvious. They had lived here for a while, the girl and the arm. carelessly tossing trash around between injections and sugary school snacks. Just how old was this mystery medicine man? Evan wondered to himself. How long had he been dating a little girl? A final question, too brutal to acknowledge, squirmed inside Evan’s mind like a virus. How long had he been lying in that tent, dead and rotting? Evan, a normally quiet kid, wanted to puke on his shoes. 

“What do you want?” The dust bunny damsel managed to choke between her slowly drying tears. “I,” Evan started without finishing. He was battling his own tears. “Are you ok?” Evan mumbled at last. The girl looked confused at first, then suddenly started to laugh again. A familiar and hopeless sound that gave Evan goosebumps. When the echoes of her had died, Evan asked cautiously for her name. “Candy,” She whimpered in a giggle, mourning who she once was.”My sweet little Candy treat. That's what he called me. Sweet little Candy. But my mom called me Candice” As she made her confession, Evan could see tears struggling to wet her drying eyes.

“But I'm ok! Really I am!” Candice exclaimed suddenly and enthusiastically. As she spoke, she dug through the surrounding trash in slow careful circles. What she may have been searching for, Evan had no clue. “It's safe here, nobody else will come, nobody else…” Candy mumbled, getting quieter and quieter until Evan could barely hear her. Slowly, Evan took his first few steps into the gym and towards the tent. As he moved closer, the stench of shit and decay grew stronger. Seemingly unaware of his approach, Candice searched harder and faster. “The window gotta board up the window…” the ghostly girl chanted quietly. A few feet away from the tent, Evan was stopped dead in his tracks by a sudden yell.

“STOP! Just… WAIT! JUST WAIT!” Candice cried looking terrified. Evan’s hands shot upward instantly. “Just, give me a minute ok? Please?”  She pleaded, gaining back some youth in her desperation. In that split second, Evan could see the Candice that was with heartbreaking clarity. “Ok,” Evan said simply, swallowing a lump of rising vomit in his throat. Without saying a word, Candy slunk into the tent and continued her search. Behind the sound of ruffling wrappers, Evan could hear the girl gagging in disgust. 

RUN a distant paranoid thought warned, she's crazy. Ignoring the advice, Evan simply stood still and waited for her.

On her first try, Candy aimed too high, sending her bullet into nothing but the concrete wall a few feet above Evan’s head. Terrified, Evan ran for the stairs as fast as he could. As he went, Candy let out a long cheery shriek that chased him down the halls like a hangover. “ITS OK! IT REALLY IS!” She screamed in the old gym that was, the sound of her threatening to drive him insane if he couldn't escape. her final shot no more than 30 seconds later, silenced Candy forever. There was no time to stop. After finding the right room, Evan scurried towards the window and out onto its small dirt-smeared ledge. The fact he hadnt fallen on his way down, was all but miraculous. By the time Evan made it back to the ground, his vision was blurry with tears. Waiting patiently outside for him, sat two fat crows eyeing him with newfound interest. As Evan pedalled away from the school and away from its dead, he felt his tears morphing into a lunatic laugh. It's ok! The Candice that was echoed inside himself. It really is! She demanded with devilish enthusiasm. She was a part of him now, a memory he would never be able to forget like a shard of broken glass under his skin. Perhaps the crows had sensed a difference, somehow able to feel the strange new shadow over his heart. As he pedaled toward home, Evan thought only of his mother. 

The crows, once interested in the boy, returned to their games.