"Hey, Alli? Tomorrow's Dana's birthday and I wanted to know if you wanted to help me decorate her locker," asked Bonnie.
Alli closed her locker and turned to look at her friend. Lunch had just begun and she was dying for food. "Um, sure. I guess. When do you wanna do it?" Alli asked her.
"Sometime tonight. I'm gonna be real busy tomorrow morning and we both know that Dana's got zero period so…"
"So, you want to break into the locker room in the middle of the night just to decorate Dana's locker?" Alli started to walk away from Bonnie. "Duh. Besides, it's more fun! Doing stuff at night is way more fun than doing it in the day," Bonnie laughed.
"Even if we wanted to that, how the hell do you think we'll be able to get in there? Unless you have a key or something, I don't see how we're getting in." Bonnie looked at her BFF and smiled. Alli's face dropped.
"Uh uh! No! Don't even THINK about bringing him along!" Alli yelled.
"Why not? He knows the school grounds better than we do. And he knows how to pick a lock."
Alli groaned. "Yeah, I do don't I?" came a voice behind Alli. She froze as an arm wrapped itself around her neck. Bonnie beamed. It was Cole, Smitherson High's infamous go-to guy.
He had gotten detentions, suspensions, expulsions, every kind of punishment their school could put out yet he had fantastic grades. Nearly a 4.0 student. "And besides, how could you two even get past the cameras the administration has set up here?" he asked the two girls.
"They have cameras there?" Bonnie asked.
"Yup," Cole replied and kept pace with Alli and Bonnie as they walked to the benches. There, they ran into Cole's partner-in-crime: Joe Bonotore. Football jock and computer nerd. "Here's your man, ladies," Cole said and made a gesture towards Joe.
"I'm what now?" Joe asked his friend.
"These two want to get into the cafeteria where their friend's locker is and decorate for her birthday," Cole explained.
"And this applies to me how?"
"There's cameras there and—"
Joe cut him off. "Hell no, bro. Remember the last time I tried to get into the school's security network? Suspended for three weeks and lost nearly half my season. I don't want a repeat."
"That was because you used the school's library computers. They were able to trace the history," Cole replied matter-of-factly.
"Look," Alli spoke up, "We didn't want to trouble you guys. Bonnie and I'll just wrap her locker up in the morning."
"Oh contraire monfraire," Cole rhymed, "We're offering." Joe shook his head. "No, Cole. Besides, dude, I have a girlfriend. No," Joe said.
"Oh, c'mon! It's, like, THE most haunted part in the school! I thought you liked that kinda shit!" Cole shot out.
Alli jumped. "H-haunted?" she asked in a shaky voice. Cole nodded. "I heard that twenty years ago, a girl named Alexandra Curtis killed herself in the locker room because she found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her. Mind you, they were going on their sixth year and she was a senior, so those two must've hooked up right as they were coming into junior high. It was almost like her boy was going to ask her to marry 'im. So, when she found out that he was cheating on her, she went into a major depression. School and social tanked! Heard, apparently, that her boyfriend tried to make it up to her by taking her out on a date and then headed over to Smitherson to get it on in the locker room. Just as they were making out, Alex pulled out this huge butcher knife. Her boyfriend freaked and thought she was gonna kill him. But instead, she produced this small bag of her blood that she had gotten drawn earlier that day and she poured it all over herself and him so it would look like they got into this huge fight and he killed her.
"She loved him to the point of obsession. As soon as that clicked in his mind, he told her that he wanted to break up with her. Not exactly the smartest thing to do when your girlfriend has a huge ass knife dangling a few inches from your body. Anyway, she started to cry and shit and he started to apologize to her. She looked up at him with this crazy 'I've officially gone psycho' grin and plunges the knife right into his chest. The last words he heard were, 'If I can't have you, then no one can have you'," Cole mimicked the dead girl's voice. "Then, she slits her throat."
"Annnd," he continued, "it is said that during the month of November, she haunts the school during the night. Some people say they can still hear her cries and his pleas for help. But it's just a story," Cole shrugged.
Alli stood frozen with terror. "Fuck NO!" she shrieked. Bonnie jumped.
"Oh, come on, Alli. You can't possibly believe him," Bonnie said to her terrified friend. Then she gave Cole a skeptical look. "Where did you get all the details about them in the locker room? You obviously weren't there," she pointed out.
"I wasn't, but was." Cole smiled a Cheshire cat's grin.
"The history teacher was there watching two kids having sex?"
"Well, no. Apparently- this is all from him when we asked him about the story- he used to be into drugs, like real hardcore, and had gone to the locker room to shoot himself up. When he heard two people enter the locker room, he panicked and nearly ran but found that the door he had kept open- y'know? So he could get out? - was closed because they had gone through it. He heard every word and had watched her kill him then herself. He still has nightmares from it." Cole shuddered.
"You're a lying piece of shit, you know?" Joe said suddenly, "And now you've got this poor girl all worked up over a story."
"It's only because she believes me," Cole retorted.
"It's not because she believes you, Cole," Bonnie brought in, "It's because she gets freaked out over this kind of stuff."
"Whatever," Cole dismissed, "So, we down or what?"
Joe pursed his lips and grumbled. "What was that?" Cole asked, bringing his hand to his ear and leaning into Joe.
Joe shoved him. "I'm only doing this to prove you wrong," he said louder. Joe nodded at Alli and Bonnie. "Yeah, we'll go," Bonnie said.
Alli shot her a look but was defeated. "Fine, I'll go. But I'm bringing my baseball bat and pepper spray," she said at last.
"I don't think that'll work on a ghost," Cole mused.
That earned a dead-arm punch from Joe. "Can it," he growled.
"It's not for the 'ghost'"- Alli air quoted- "it's for any of those hobos or crack-heads that linger around the school at night, dumbass."
"So, tonight at around eleven. We can meet by the AG farm 'cause I know a shortcut from there to the cafeteria," Cole said.
"Great. I can't wait," Alli muttered. For once in her life, she wished this school day wouldn't end.

At a half hour to midnight, the four kids met up down by the AG farm. Bonnie carried the wrapping paper, bows, and other accessories in her bag. Alli carried four small but bright flashlights.
When Cole questioned him about the cameras, Joe replied simply, "Looping old footage from the night before. Everything's good."
As promised, Alli carried a wooden baseball bat and the can of pepper spray was clicked on her belt loop. Occasionally, she twirled the bat in her hand.
"Let's just get this done so we can go home," she grumbled. The group walked quietly over to the cafeteria where Cole had stopped the back door before leaving earlier in the day so they'd be able to enter and exit quickly. Turning the flashlights on, the students stepped into the cavernous room.
The lights and shadows played across the walls, wreaking havoc on Alli. "Shit!" she muttered as she stumbled over her own feet.
"Whoop!" Cole yelled out causing the other three to jump.
"Dude, keep it down! It echoes in here!" Joe hissed as he gripped his flashlight tighter.
Cole snickered a little and bounded over to his friend. "Lighten up!" he said, "Just having a little fun."
"Well, do it on your own time," growled Joe.
"You know," Cole began again, "This reminds me of the ending to the Blair Witch Project. Where you hear the one chick calling out the guy's name when they're in that creepy-ass house. You see the bloody handprints on the walls and when she gets downstairs, you see the guy facing the corner and she starts screaming bloody murder and-"
"Shut the fuck up!" Alli yelled. Cole froze and looked over at Alli. She was glaring at him.
"Jeez, okay okay. Don't need to go bitchy on me," Cole backed off.
"Shh!" Bonnie hissed. The four froze. The silence and tension were heavy enough to walk on. After a few tense seconds, Joe asked softly, "What's wrong?"
"I could have sworn I just heard laughter," Bonnie murmured.
"Okay, that's really fucking creepy," Joe replied.
"So which one's Dana's?" Cole asked, bringing them back to the subject on hand.
"Oh, right," Bonnie snapped to it and began to hurry off to look for Dana's locker. Her flashlight bounced up and down in her hand. Cole wandered off after her, leaving Alli behind with Joe. Alli rubbed her hands together and began to walk forward. Joe fell into step with her.
He wrapped one arm around her in a brotherly manner. "Don't worry, nothing's gonna happen. Cole's just being a dick right now. He loves to scare the crap out of people," he explained.
"He does a damn good job of it," Alli muttered.
They walked for a few minutes. "Wait, shouldn't we have passed them by now?" Alli asked.
"Yeah, you're right," Joe replied and called out, "Hey, guys? Where are you?"
His voice echoed off the walls. Nobody answered. "Guys?" Joe called out again. Alli whimpered slightly.
"What?" Joe looked down at her. Her gaze was fixed on something right I front of them. Joe looked up. All the two could make out was a hazy silhouette of a person standing about fifteen feet from them. It was just standing there, watching them.
"Please tell you're seeing what I'm seeing," Alli squeaked.
"If you're seeing an outline of a person in front of us, then yeah…" Joe replied. His arm tightened around Alli. "Ha ha! Very funny Cole. You really scared the living shit outta us," Joe called out to the outline.
It didn't answer. Then, ever so slightly it tilted its head till it was straight up, 180 degrees. Alli whimpered again. The flashlights flickered.
"What the fuck is that?" Joe muttered. Then, "Cole?! Where are you, man? This isn't funny!"
"Boo!" someone yelled out. Joe shouted and Alli shrieked. Her scream echoed for awhile. Once they fell away, the two could hear laughing nearby. They looked back to where the figure stood, but it was gone.
"Oh, my god! You guys actually fell for that!" It was Cole and he was doubled over with laughter. "Hah, ha ha!"
"Dude, what the fuck is your problem?" Joe shot out. Cole immediately sobered and looked at his friend. "What? All I was looking for was a good laugh," he said.
"Well, hardy, har, har. Ya got one. While you were busy playing pranks, we were being watched by this crazy assed mofo that was standing over there." Joe pointed back where they had seen the figure. Cole followed his finger.
"I don't see anything."
"That's because it's gone, you idiot. I think you nearly gave Alli a damned heart attack. Please, don't do that again."
"Alright, alright. I won't. Oh, by the way, did Bonnie come back your way?" Cole asked.
"No," Alli replied hoarsely, "Why?"
"Well, I turned my back on her for like two seconds and she was gone. I mean the locker's done up and everything, but she's gone."
Joe walked up to Cole til his face was mere inches from his friend's. "Look, Cole, I don't know what kind of sick shit you're pulling right now but you need to knock it off. This isn't cool, man."
"I'm not doing anything. I'm being one hundred percent serious." Cole held up his right hand.
Joe eyed him warily when a high pitched scream broke the silence. It lasted for a few seconds and then trickled off. Alli clung to Joe like a terrified child. "What was that?" Cole muttered.
"I don't know, but I don't want to stay to find out," Joe replied and half dragged Alli back to the doorway.
"Wait! Where ya going?" Cole called out after them.
"We're leaving. I'm calling the cops because I don't want to deal with this shit!" Joe replied and whipped out his cell phone. He began to dial 911 when suddenly the cafeteria lights flew on. The three stood there, partially blind before their eyes adjusted. On the walls, there was blood. Blood everywhere.
Pleas for help, warning, death, curses… everything.
"What the fuck…" Cole breathed.
"911, what's your emergency?" the operator's voice brought them back. "Hello?"
"Hello? Hello!" Joe said, "Okay, look… Ma'am I-we- are at Smitherson High School in the cafeteria and there's a shitload of blood on the walls. We- we don't know how this happened but-"
The woman cut him off. "Listen, if this is a prank I'm going to have to call your parents-"
"No nononono! This is NOT prank! Feel free to call anyone you want as long as you send SOMEONE down here! Please, we don't know what's going on." Joe's voice cracked.
"Calm down," she said, "I'm sending a police officer your way as we speak. Just stay on the line with me. Calm down."
"I can't calm down! There's blood on the walls and there are these random screams that keep popping up out of nowhere."
"How many of you are there?"
"F-four originally. One went missing maybe ten minutes ago. We can't find her."
"Have you seen anyone else besides yourselves on the premises?"
"Besides the hobos, no. wait, me and a friend of mine saw an outline of a person. We couldn't tell if it was male or female. It stood maybe about 5'11 and was just staring at us until another friend of mine scared the bejeezus out of us. Please, you've gotta tell your officer friend to hurry up!"
"He's already going as fast he can, sir."
Cole had walked over to them and rubbed Alli's shoulder.
"Do you mind explaining what it is that you and your were doing at the school at this hour?" the operator asked.
"Two of the girls wanted to place wrapping paper over their friend's locker for her birthday. So we decided to come at night, you know to surprise their friend in the morning, and wrap it up. So we came in and walked around trying to find the locker. Bonnie went off in search of while my friend went with her. Me and Alli stayed where we were and that's when we saw that figure. Then, my friend popped out and scared us. Then he asked us if we had seen Bonnie. We hadn't and that's when the screams sounded." Joe was out of breath.
"O-okay," the operator sounded skeptical.
"Please, you have to believe us!" Joe pleaded. The screams sounded closer this time.
"Alright, fuck this," Cole yelped and the three bolted. The screams seemed to follow them, laughing maniacly every time they got turned.
"I don't... remember the locker... rooms being this big," Joe panted as they continued to run for their lives. Alli held onto Joe's hand as tight she could as they continued to run. After a few minutes, someone stepped out into their path. All three barrelled into the person and fell to the floor. Cole shined a flashlight on the person's face. It was Bonnie.
"What the FUCK Bonnie? Where the crap did you go?" Cole yelled at her. She looked at him; her face was devoid of color and it looked like she had been crying.
"We have to get out of here, now!" Bonnie shrieked. They got to their feet and ran. "Follow me. I know a shortcut to get out!" Bonnie yelled over her shoulder. They followed closely on her heels, flashlights bouncing up and down in their hands distorting the shadows. The maniacal laughter could still be heard behind them but it was growing fainter with each step. An exit sign up ahead glowed like a green beacon of hope. Bonnie slammed into the door and threw it open. The others followed closely behind and she slammed it shut.
They were out back behind the building where the track and baseball fields were. They didn't stop running until they made it back to the front of the facility. Once there, a patrol car pulled up and parked. The officer stepped out and shone his flashlight on the teens.
"You the ones who were making noise here? You were called in about ten minutes ago?" he asked. Had it really only been ten minutes? It felt like hours...
The teens looked at him strangely but didn't think anything of it. The officer returned their look and keyed his walkie-talkie.
"Jerren to dispatch, come in."
"This is dispatch, go ahead."
"I found those kids who were called in a few minutes ago. Want me to bring them in?"
"Yes..." From there, the teens had zoned out and focused on what happened.
"Ok, what the shit?" Cole muttered.
"Bonnie, where the hell did you go?" Joe asked.
"I-I don't know... One second I was decorating Dana's locker, the next... I don't know..."
Joe looked down at his phone and realized he hadn't hung up.
"Um, hello? Are you still there?" he tentatively asked.
"Yeah... I don't know what the hell was going on but you're most likely are going to get brought into the station," the operator said.
"O-okay... Okay, okay..."
"I'll seeyou guys back here. Glad you're safe. I'm Karen by the way." The connection went dead as the operator hung up.
Joe stared at his phone and locked it. They looked up at the officer and, sure enough, they were going down to the station.
Once there, they told the police what had happened and then Joe told them who they were talking to and the officers stared at them.
"We don't have someone named Karen here," one said.
"Wait, what?" Cole asked. Joe ran his hands over his face.
"We weren't smoking anything. You can test us," Alli said.
"You just don't believe us," Bonnie stated.
"Wait, what brought you down there to the school?" Joe announced.
"Noise. Neighbor called you guys in thinking you broke into the school to rob it or smoke weed." Joe's face fell.
"Look, we'll test you guys and there was no obvious destruction to school property so for now we'll let you go with a warning. But if we catch there after hours again, we'll have to arrest and/or fine you four."
After an hour of testing, the teens called home.