“Other schools have classes up to 6 PM,” Chris said.
“So, what?”
“Don't you think we need classes up to 6 pm too? Our Board
exam is near, and more than half of the syllabus has not been
completed yet.”
“I don't think we need classes up to 6 PM….”
“Good morning class.” The teacher said as she entered the class.
“Good morning Madam.”
“Take out your English book and turn in page number 455.”
“Is it possible that there might be ghosts in this school?” Chris
continued with a whispering voice.
“Why should there be a ghost in this school?”
“I don't know. But, I have heard many creepy stories about this
school. You know the founder principal of this school right.”
“Yes, I have seen his photos. He died from a heart attack, right?”
“That is what school told us. But, I have heard people saying that
a ghost in the school killed him. They said that he used to live in a
school. And one night something happens. People heard him crying
loudly and no one was there the next day.”
“Bullshit.”
“Another story says there used to be a hostel in this building. One
night something happened and the hostelers started doing unusual
things. Later when they were taken to hospital, one part of their
brain was missing.”
“Don't tell me you believe in these stories.”
“I do.”
“Blimey. How can you believe those stories? Nothing makes
sense in these stories. So, let's assume that these stories are real
then where did the principal go? Into a portal like in Stephen King's
novel Fairytale and then into a new world, a perfect fantasy story.
Bullshit.”
“I didn't say that. I am just implying that there might be truth in
these stories. See, there is no hostel in the main building, no
classes up to 6 PM, and guards sit outside the gate. There is the
possibility of ghosts. I have another story to make you believe.”
“God, no more stories, please.”
“This will be the last.”
“Okay, But this should be the last one.”
“There was one person, a thief. He was running from cops, and as
he was running he found this school and got inside for hiding. After
getting inside he strolled around in the garden. As he was strolling, a
sharp drill noise rose from the building. He thought it was suspicious
but he didn't go inside. That sound continued for some minutes and
stopped. After some minutes that sound rose again. And then he
heard someone crying. Hearing that he got scared and then -”
“Interesting.” Their teacher said. “Do you want more time to finish
your epic?”
“No madam.”
“Okay then get out of the class.”
“Sorry miss.”
“Get out.” She shouted.
Both of them got out of the desk and ran toward the door.
“That thief must have heard her
.” “Might be.”
Both of them went to the cafeteria and bought Real Juice
. “Do know what happened to that man,” Chris said.
“I don't know and I don't want to know.”
Near the cafeteria, stood an old class. A few years back, there used
to be a science lab. Now it was a store room. There was a dustbin
there. They went there to throw their empty packets of juice. What
they saw there shocked them. In that dustbin, there was something
wrapped in white cloth smeared with red which seemed like blood.
“God, what is that?”
“Let's open it.”
He stretched his hands and pulled the cloth wrapping. Under it was
the head of a man, covered with blood, with two eyes hanging by his
nose, eye sockets were dark empty shells, most of the tooths
were gone, saliva dripping from the mouth.
“Blimey. What happens here during the night?”
“Ghosts, I said you but you didn't believe me.”
“Let's investigate it.”
“What do you mean by investigating?”
“We will stay here at night and see what happens here.”
“What will we say to our parents?”
“That we are going to sleep in each other's house.”
“I don't think it is a good decision, Charlie.”
“Are you scared?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Then go home.”
“I won't. I will stay here with you.”
Orange light filled the storeroom, a crow cawed, and the smell of dirt
dominated any other smell in the room, at the far corner, there was a
long poster of old students, besides it was two broken benches, and
tattered rags, above the ceiling a filament bulb was hanging on a wire
.
Charlie and Chris were sitting in one corner of the Charlie had
brought a book called Needful Things by Stephen King so, he was
reading but Chris had nothing for entertainment, so he was
studying the course book.
“6:00 PM,” Charlie said and reached the door. “I will go and see
the corridor.”
He roamed in the corridor and found nothing unusual. So,
He went back to the store room.
“Nothing unusual,” Charlie said. “We should sleep now and get
up at 9 PM.”
A sharp drill sound rose from somewhere. Charlie was not sure if
it was there or not.
Where is this sound coming from?
A sharp light penetrated his eyelid and Charlie slowly opened his
eyes. What lies ahead of him shocked him. There was a surgical light
above his head and around him were some people wearing
masks, hands covered with surgical gloves, and each of them had a
different surgical instruments in their hand.
A person from the group, who seemed like their head had a drill
in his hand. He jerked up, pushed that person and he dashed
through the door.
Galloping through the corridor, he observed the place.
This place was completely transformed. This wasn't his school.
The floor used to have carpets but now it was marble-covered
floors and the ceiling had a bulb that threw green lights. The light
from those bulbs was dim as if it was just there for show.
Lord, what is this place? How did I come to be here?
The corridor was dark, and lights from those bulbs were only
sufficient to see the steps. Running there felt like running in the
night with night vision glasses on. Both sides of the corridor had
various rooms within short intervals. The door of those rooms had
small glass planes to see through it and while glancing through it
every room had one surgical light, phenyle was sharp in the
atmosphere.
Galloping, he came across a reception. The reception had a long
oak table, on the table, stood two large monitors and a telephone,
beside the table, were two chairs and across the table were 4 sofa
with leather coverings facing each other, in front of the sofa was a
table with a glass top and on top of it was a rotten flower.
Trrrrring, trrrring………… telephone rang.
Should I pick it up? Who can it be? Mom, or Dad, or Chris's
parents. It could be my parents.
He crept toward it.
“Hello,” he said with a quivering voice. His whole body
was trembling. His body became cold with sweat.
“Mr. Charlie .” The person on the other end said. Charlie's eyes
widened, his throat dried, and his mind rushed with different
interpretations.
Ghosts. Ghosts. Monster. Zombies.
“You are needed here in room 106, ASAP. Doctors are waiting
for …….”
He broke into a run. As he was running his feet stumbled and he
slipped into a room. He got up, and dust off his uniform, and reached
near the well.
Well was not that deep, but it was empty. Nothing except hard
concrete at the bottom. Jumping in it can break the skull. But he did
not think about it and divided it into it.
He was inside the well reaching for the end but all of a sudden
he was inside a bus. Across him was a girl whom he knew well.
She died, didn't she? What is she doing here and how is she here?
She is dead I know it she is dead. News of her death was all over the
school.
He glanced outside from the window of the bus. Outside everything
was floating in the sky. What we call land had no existence there.
Bricks, buildings, trolleys, buses everything was floating in the empty
sky.
All of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his eyes and slowly his eyes
crept out of the sockets leaving a black, dark hole. That dark, empty
socket vibrated and slowly the world around him swirled, making an
enormous whirlpool.
The tail of that whirlpool crept over his face, crawled, and went
inside the eye socket. As the converging continued, his stomach
began swelling like a balloon. The bus, that girl, and the buildings
all contracted and went inside him riding that whirlpool. Colors went
with it too. Only his outline remained. Every other thing was inside
his balloon like a stomach that could burst at any time.
A surge of pain rose inside his head, and slowly his head opened
like a chest, making the outline of the brain visible. The brain
slinked out of the gaps of the open head like a serpent. A man
materialized from nowhere and opened his head as wide as
possible, then climbed inside the freshly cleaned head and sealed it
from the inside.
His stomach rumbled and he puked all the things that went inside
him. Bus, girl, everything came out. Along with those, his lungs,
heart, stomach, kidney, and other body parts leaped out, and from
his eye socket fountain of blood burst out.
With a thump, he crashed into the bottom of the well.
It was all hallucination then. Charlie thought and got up, dusting
off his uniform. But, it felt too real to be a hallucination.
“Wait, where is Chris?”
“Caught by them? God, don't tell me they got him .” His eyes
widened, his heartbeat rose, and a certain kind of warmness filled him
from inside, his body felt heavier, and his leg felt like a rope on which
his heavy body was resting. He loses control of his feet and stumbled
backwards, and leaned against the wall of the well.
I am the cause of it.
I killed him. He thought and raised his palm. His palms were
covered with red, blood. I killed him.
She is dead.
He is dead.
I will soon be dead.
All of this is planned. He who lives up in the sky planned it. Planned
it from the beginning, planned before I was even born. This dreadful
ending …..
Photos of his parents pop up in his mind. Photos of Chris’
s parents pop up in his head.
They don't know Chris is dead. They think that he is at my house,
having fun. What will they do if he does not arrive home tomorrow? They
will call my house.
“Hello, Mrs….. Chris has not arrived yet, is he still in your house?”
“What! What are you talking about?”
“Chris phoned me and said that he will be sleeping at
your house.”
“Charlie phoned me yesterday and said the same thing, he said
that he will be sleeping at your home” and then phones will drop from
their hand, and then both women will burst out.
The thing that fears me more than dying is people waiting for me
while I die going toward them. And now the same fear has become
real.
Mom will be searching for me, and Chis’s mom will searching for
him, hoping to find us, or we might return ourselves. And at last,
they will find out about our corpse. And then they will be shattered
from inside, as time passes they will regain themself joining those
shattered parts but, a part will not join, and they will not be as before.
Our dads will also be affected by our death but, they will hide
it from all.
So, this is how our story ends. Charlie and Chris’s tale
of friendship.”
Charlie was in kindergarten when he met Chris. It was the first day
of kindergarten. His mom came with him. Even though school was
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
only a few meters away, she came with him.
Mom's love for a child.
Holding his mother's finger, he went to school. A handkerchief was
hanging in his shirt pocket by safety a pin, bottle with a thin strap was
hanging by his neck.
At the gate of the school, there was a Kafal (Myrica esculenta)
seller.
“Mom, I want that.” He said. She bought her kafal for Rs 20.
“Now, now, study hard and don't give problems to the teacher ok
.” “Ok,” he said cheerfully and smiled. After that, she turned toward
the way she came from. Carrying a small paper cone filled with
Kafal, he entered kindergarten.
Kindergarten had four rooms, three were classes and one
was office.
At the door of the first classroom, there was a boy, weeping, seeing
toward the gate. Charlie went near him. He picked up five kafal and
gave him. That boy took it and ate his kafal one by one. After finishing
his kafal he glanced toward Charlie’s kafal.
Charlie was a bit hesitant. He gazed at the kafal then at that boy,
again at the kafal, again at the boy. And then hesitantly he stretched
his cone of Kafal toward him.
The friendship started this way and came to a dreadful end.
Chris opened his eyes and all of a sudden a sharp knife pierced his
left eye. A sharp pain rose in his left eye. His heartbeat fastened.
Blood oozed out of his left eye socket. And a deafening cry came out
from him.
“It's over now.” a woman said.
To see who it was Chris opened his right eye. Seeing from
only one eye felt weird. And difficult. But from now he has to co-op
with it.
“Who are you?” He said in a dry voice as his throat dried due to
loud crying.
“No one dear.” The woman said. Beside that woman was a round
surgical light pouring dim green lights. A bloodied knife hung on her
hands. Under those green lights, the blood on that knife was not red
or brown instead it looked black and the blade looked green.
“Where am I?”
“None of your business.” She said and turned toward the sink that
was attached to his bed. “Get up and be ready I am going to stab
other eyes of yours. See as much as you want. When I finish
washing this knife you should be ready. ”
He turned his head around, seeing the place.
In front of him, there was a table on top of that table were dressing
scissors. He pulled that scissor, small clanking noise came. That
woman turned to see what was making the sound.
In an instant, he swung his hand and sliced her neck with it, she
backed a bit and then he thrust that scissor into her chest, it
penetrated her skin and easily broke her bone at that place.
He threw the scissors and dashed out of the door.
He was running through a corridor, and his eye was making it hard
to run, on top of the green light was so dim that it was hard to navigate
the way.
As he was galloping he stumbled upon a room with a well.
He went near it and saw Charlie there.
“Charlie.”
“Chris, is that you? I thought you were dead. ”
“I’m not. But, what is this place? Wait, what are you doing
down there?”
“I’m stuck.”
“Wait I will find someone”
Chris went out of that room and crept into the corridor. Following the
corridor, he came across a veranda. Throughout the veranda, he
glaces upward at the sky.
The sky above the building was like nothing he had seen previously.
The sky above had two long strips of Auroras, intersecting each other
like intertwined ribbons, around it, the sky was filled with stars. Slowly
intertwined ribbons loosened and from the middle of it, something
like a black hole opened.
Seeing beautiful things before dying.
He peered through the veranda at the ground below. The distance
between the ground and the veranda was not that much so, he
jumped through it.
With a thump, he landed on concrete land. He got up and dusted off
his dress. He turned his head upward to see that black hole but the
black hole was gone, instead, a giant eye was peering through it. He
stopped looking at it and crept ahead.
After walking for some minutes, he came across a gate. But, that
the gate was locked, locked from the outside.
“Ok, son take your medicine.” he heard someone talking
from outside.
“Hello, Mr., Mr. hello,” Chris said
. “Who is it?” That man said.
“I'm Chris student at the school
.” “What are you doing there kid
?”
“I will explain everything to you. But for now please open the
gate please we need your help.”
“We? Are there more of you?”
“Yes, there is my friend Charlie. He is stuck in the well
.” “Where did the well come from?”
“I don't know.”
He opened the gate and entered inside. The first thing he noticed
after getting inside was the sky, the eye in the sky, and the aurora.
And then noticed the building. The building was the same but the
nights from it were different and the curtains were different, and the
aura of it was different. It was a discomforting aura.
“Kid, What the hell is this?”
“I don't know.”
“I'm having bad feelings kid. I don't want to get into this kid,” he
said and turned around but the gate was already closed, closed
from the outside.
“Kid, let's go and rescue your friend kid,”
They went through the back gate which leads to the principal
room. It was forbidden to use that gate by students. Only staff is
allowed to use it.
They came across some stairs, climbed those stairs, and reached
a small hall. On the right side of the hall was the principles office,
and on the left side, opposite the office was a stairway leading
upward. Besides, the office was a corridor that led to the veranda
from which Chris jumped. Besides, that stairway was the library.
The office was not changed it was still there.
“Kiddo, you said that your friend was stuck inside a well, don't
you?”
“Yes.”
“We need a rope then. Go inside and bring a rope.”
He hesitantly opened the lock and went inside. Inside there
was the principal’s desk. Behind it was a chair. On top of that desk
was the principal’s nameplate. But, on that nameplate name of the
old principle was written.
At the far corner was a rope he quickly went there grabbed it and
dashed out. He did not want to stay there for a moment.
“What happened kiddo? Why are you running?”
“There, there……”
“Whose there?” a voice came from the stairway. From that
stairway emerges a bald man. As he came closer his face became
clearer and clearer. It was the old principal of the school.
Seeing him stunned them, their legs froze, sweat rose from their
skin, their heartbeat rose, and their adrenaline supply rose.
Save me, god. Chris thought.
Both of them galloped.
Chris got separated from the guard as he dashed toward the
stairway. The stairway was long and full of turns. After climbing for
10 minutes he was able to reach its end.
At the end of the stairway was a door to a room, on the
nameplate of that room ICU was written.
Rrrrrr. Rrrrr. Rrrrr …… His phone vibrated.
He pulled out the phone from his pocket. An unknown number
was calling him. He picked up the call.
“Hello.” He said.
“Hello, Mr. Chris. What are you doing outside the ICU? You are
not needed there. Your need is here at …
Before she could finish he threw the phone.
How did they know that I was her?
What is there inside the ICU? Some equipment. Maybe. It can be
the best place to hide. If they came to get me I could attack them with
the equipment.
The door was not locked. He pushed it to open it and it
opened into a room. Inside was something that shocked him.
Inside were more than fifty beds, divided into columns, left and right.
On the beds were kids smaller than him, sleeping. Some beds were
empty but most of them were filled. Beside each bed were oxygen
cylinders. A pipe stretched from the cylinder up to the mask that was
on the children’s mouths.
He turned around to creep out of the room but, those kids
woke up.
Brother save us. He heard voices inside his head.
“Kiddo, wake up.”
Charlie slowly opened his eyes. He dozed out waiting for Chris.
“Are you that Chris kid friend?”
“Yes, but who are you?”
“I am George. I and your friend were coming to save you but, the old
principal came from somewhere and to be safe from him I ran. As I
was running I found this well. And I jumped in this to be safe……”
“And now you are stuck”. He completed the sentence.
“Brother, where are you taking us.” a kid said.
“Oh,” Chris said as he crept along the corridor. It was the
corridor that was beside the ICU. “Don't make noise otherwise they
will find us.”
They followed the corridor and stumbled upon a large panorama
window. Inside it, there were some people. Two people were holding
one person by his legs, making that person upside down. Another
person had a chainsaw in his hand.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….. Chainsaw roared.
The person with the chainsaw raised the chainsaw and began slicing
the person who was being held. At first, he sliced his testes, and then
down from there. Blood splattered around the room. Even the window
got some blood. People inside were covered with blood.
Found you brat. A voice came from their back.
“Kid, I have a son who is five years. His name is Aaron. He has
asthma. It is in the first phase but the treatment is too expensive. I
cannot treat him. But, I could have been near him. Supporting him. But
now I will be dead. And then he will die too.”
“You love son very much it seems,” Charlie said.
“Yes, I love him very much. When he was this small he got a fever.
In the middle of the night, I took him to the hospital. When a dog bit him
, I took him for the rabies dose by riding a bicycle for 2 Hrs.”
“Does he love you?”
“Very much. When I was feeling a little bit sick he declined to go to
his uncle’s house with his mom. He waits for my arrival to have dinner.
I don't want to die. I want to be at his side. I don't want him to die.”
“Run,” Chris shouted, and then they all ran. All of the kids were
caught by that anonymous person. But, Chris was able to run away
from him.
After running for some minutes he came across the well.
“Charlie are you there”
“Yes, I am. And George is here with me.”
“Wait then I will take you out of there.” Chris turned and tied
one end of the rope to the door. And threw another to them.
They came out but someone came through the door and caught
Charlie and Chris. George was able to run.
“Sorry, kids I have to save my life,” George said as he ran
. Running he reached the top floor of the building.
On the top floor, there was nothing only an empty veranda.
From there town looked beautiful.
He looked down from the veranda. There was a road down there
. If I am lucky I will survive
And then he jumped and landed on a truck back. Trucks back had
food items, so he was safe.
When he reached home. His wife was weeping.
“What happened? Why are you crying?” George said to his wife.
“They took him.”
Charlie opened his eyes and found himself lying in a bed
, surrounded by his family.
“Are you alright Charlie?” His Mother said.
“Your report has come Charlie.” The doctor said as
he approached Charlie.
“Is everything ok doctor
?” “How should I tell you
?” “What do you mean?”
“He does not have any body parts inside him.”
“Don't joke doctor.”
“I am telling the truth. He even does not have a single bone in his
body. Everything is gone. On top of that, there is a human inside his
head.”