VII
The building had a large front courtyard, surrounded by a metal fence. Several signs hung on the wire, warning people to stay out as well as warned about hazards on the property. The few tears in the fence proved that the warnings were occasionally ignored. These rips in the wire were wielded back together or covered with wooden planks. Thompson pulled the car up the fence, parking but keeping the car on to allow the headlights to shine onto the towering building.
"This is it…" he whispered.
The brick building stood at a tall three-stories. Every window was boarded up, blocking the view inside. There was center doorway was higher up, with staircase on either side, and a small balcony overlooking the courtyard. A large sprawl of graffiti decorated the wall of the balcony. I couldn't quite make heads or tails of what the sprawling letters meant. Vines appears over the roof, running along the walls and making every attempt to break into the building.
"Now what…?" I whispered.
Thompson slowly turned the key and the car sputtered a moment before shutting off. The lights dimmed slowly, shadowing the building. He looked at me a moment. It felt like he was expecting something of me or hoping that I would do something. I suppose he might have been unnerved by this building too, but I couldn't really read him correctly. He turned away quickly, giving out a deep sigh before opening his door. I followed, exiting the car. The doors closing echoed across the otherwise empty street.
"What are we doing?" I mumbled.
"We're just…checking," he shrugged, stepping toward the gate. "I've got the check lists."
Thompson opened the gate up quickly, shutting it just as quick after we'd both passed through. He handed me a small list taped to a clipboard. It was a list but not of names, rather descriptions of people. They were short, just little phrases like "white hat" or "long blond hair." It was weird, seeing descriptions and no names. These were people, weren't they?
"We just check off those on the list," Thompson nodded, leading me to the door, "and add anyone new."
"Who are these people?"
"Does it matter?"
I glared at him. He smiled at me. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or mocking me as usual. We entered to the smell of mothballs and dust. A dark rush of air flew passed us, brushing the old leaves on the ground in the courtyard. Again, once we entered, Thompson shut the door, locking it. Hearing the click of the locks securing, I felt chills run down my spine. I couldn't help but gulp.
"We can split up," Thompson offered.
"What about the spatial anomaly stuff?"
"Finished the report…turns out that was proved false. Meet back up in an hour?"
I sighed, nodding. Thompson went one way and I turned the other. Walking around, the echo of my footsteps surrounded me. As far as it echoed, it sounded as if someone was following me. I will admit, it made me look over my shoulder more than once. I peered into every room, expecting to find some hideous monster or creature but instead I typically found nothing but overturn desks and more graffiti.
I didn't feel a rush so I walked slowly, even with the feeling of being followed. I entered a room, and to my surprise, I see a person slumped over one of the desks. My natural instinct was to run over and check on them. Standing beside them though, I stopped. I stared down at this person, suddenly unsure what to do. It was a teenage girl, dark hair, fair skinned, dressed in an old-school uniform. Her eyelids fluttered as she was deep in dreams. My hand hovered over her shoulder. I wanted to try to help her but…
I took a step back, lifting the clip board to eye level. Skimming the list, I wanted to cry as I found her description near the middle. I raised a shaking hand and checked her off. I lowered the board, moving toward the door. I stopped, looking up at the clock above the chalkboard. It was frozen, mid-tick, near three o'clock. Lowering my eyes, I saw scrawled on the board in large, white, chalk letters: THE CHILDREN USED TO SING. At that moment, I thought I saw something dash by the doorway. As I turned toward the door, I heard the echoing of a school bell in my ears.
I spun around, trying to identify the source of the sound but it abruptly stops. Turning back to the board, I saw the list of names that had been written on my list. Looking back to my list, I found the page blank. I hate this place. Giving one last look at the slumbering teen, I left the room and continued down the hall. It seemed to go on forever. I couldn't stand the idea of searching every room alone, but I wasn't about to ask Thompson to chaperone me. He would laugh in my face.
Continuing down the hall, peering into the other classrooms, I found nothing out of the ordinary. Each room was a mess of debris, shattered desks, and less than coherent lessons written on the board. No more people sleeping. Nothing strange. Just an abandoned school. There's bunches of them across the country. I'd seen pictures, heard stories, all that good American education! I found myself walking faster. Was I really scared here?
A voice called out to me. I couldn't tell if it said my name – my real name – or if it was just some noise that drew my attention. I looked down at the end of the hall, listening to the wind blowing outside. I thought I could heard children playing in the courtyard, but I knew they was impossible. Abandoned. Remember that. I took a deep breath and began moving to the entrance again.
Thompson was waiting for me, tapping his foot and checking his watch with a cartoonish frown. I stepped up to him silently, grinning as I poked his arm. I could see the color drain from his face as he spun around to face me, dropping his clipboard. He opened his mouth to scream or something but it ultimately just hung open as he stared at me. Eventually, it shut tightly into a pout as he raised a finger at me.
"Don't. Do. That." He hissed words through gritted teeth as he bent own to get his board.
"How many did you find?" I commented.
"Three. You?"
I showed him my blank page.
"Oh…" he mumbled, sounding more annoyed than surprised. "Do you remember?"
"Yeah, one girl."
"She was on the list?"
"Yeah."
"Good, nothing new then," he shrugged, moving to unlock the door. "Let's get out of here before we get sucked in to this Twilight Zone episode."
"Huh?"
He stopped midblock, eyes lit up at he looked at me. I was unsure if I offended him or intrigued him. He moved away from the lock, pointing a finger at me.
"You know the Twilight Zone, yes?"
"What?"
"Twilight Zone…the show…from, you know, the 60s? You know it, right? It's important to me that you know what that is."
I grinned. He pursed his lips before giving me gritted teeth again. He gave a slight scoff before returning to the lock. It unlocked with ease, and we exited quickly. The cold outside world was quick to consume us and remind me how freezing we were prior to our arrival. How did the inside seem so much warmer than out here? Thompson cursed on his breath and darted for the car.
He paused, fumbling to unlock the car door, and looked up at me again.
"I swear if you're messing with me about the Twilight Zone, I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"That's kinda rude," I calmly replied, smiling brightly.
He opened to speak again but the car began beeping at his lack of full attention, forcing him to retire the conversation for the moment. I stopped at the gate, looking through the wire at the towering building. The wind flew through the vines and boarded windows and escaping into the void. If I ever come back here, it'll be too soon.