The Phantom School

We stopped and walked back into the cla.s.sroom. Mr. Kenan started talking, still using the dead adult body laying on the floor. But no matter how long it lasted, I still couldn"t get used to the weirdness of this communication method. Perhaps it was convenient for "ghostly" beings to contact us this way, but talking to someone through the body of a dead person... I couldn"t get used to such stuff, even after witnessing the death of many people and tens of paranormal activities in just a few hours.

"This is very unsettling..." Mr. Kenan said.

"A lot of things are, but which one in particular are we talking about?" Idil asked.

"The bodies in the cla.s.sroom." Mr. Kenan replied.

"Yes." I started talking. "I don"t know these people. What were they doing in this building, after school hours?"

"The further unsettling thing is that I DO know these people... I think." Mr. Kenan said.

"You do? Who are they?" Idil asked.

"I have seen them in some of the old photos of the school." he said. "When someone told me about the death of two teachers in this building."

"Are they... those same two teachers, you say?" I asked.

"Yes. I can"t clearly remember the fellow on the ground, but I do remember the one still hanging from the ceiling." Mr. Kenan replied.

"But... that was decades ago. These people can"t be those two teachers!" I said.

"Yes, they shouldn"t be here. And this is why I found it too unsettling." Mr. Kenan said.

"What is happening? What are we going to do?" Idil asked.

"I bet the metamorhosis screwed up s.p.a.cetime entirely." Mr. Kenan said. "In order to alter the structure between the new "school design" and the old "prison design", one has to make use of extra dimensions. But our clashes with "the community" might have caused some anomalies. This part of the school"s history wasn"t supposed to be exposed. Perhaps the cla.s.sroom was caught in the middle of forces pulling the history back to the prison and forwards to the modern school building."

"Is it possible that this can happen anywhere else in the building?" I asked.

"Yes, but it shouldn"t." Mr. Kenan replied. "In the worst case scenario, an immature transformation could cause the structure to weaken, and the building to collapse."

"But this particular anomaly could help us learn more about the events of the past." I said.

"The weird thing is, although it is possible for the structure to change that way, there is no way we can get to see people from either the past nor the future. I have no idea how this happened, but I can only say that they are... animations, rather than live beings. Bodies with no souls. But... maybe I can exploit the anomaly to make use of that. In order to do that, I will ask you to get out of the cla.s.sroom. If something goes wrong as I exploit the anomaly, I don"t want to lose you in the process. I don"t know how much I can do, but I will try my best." Mr. Kenan said.

We got out of the cla.s.sroom and closed the door. The structure around us, and the inside of the cla.s.sroom have started transforming into an older version. After a while, I could hear some sounds coming from the cla.s.sroom. It was the same voice the dead body had, but it was much cleaner. He was sobbing.

"I"m sorry... I had to do it, for everyone"s sake... I will not... I can not harm all the innocent people... who spend their lives in this building. I won"t submit to the cruel manipulation! I can only hope that they will understand the necessity... of what I have done."

After he said that, I heard some footsteps. Then, a few moments of silence...

I already knew the rest. A loud crash sound, followed by him choking and gagging, violently. Idil made a move to burst into the cla.s.sroom and interrupt. I held her back.

"Don"t interfere. This is not happening now, this event was decades ago. He is already dead."

She unwillingly stepped back from the door. After a while, it was silence again. After waiting for a few seconds, I opened the door.

It was a familiar, yet frightening sight; two dead bodies hanging from the floor, with blood dripping from their necks.

"Turns out the teachers did not commit suicide at the same time." I said.

"Perhaps... But from my own a.n.a.lysis of the monologue, it is possible that the second teacher here was manipulated to kill the other teacher, and then he noticed what he just did." Mr. Kenan told us from the intercom. "The same thing that happened to both of you."

"So... He DID suicide to save others from himself?" I asked.

"Most probably... Yes, that"s what I think." Mr. Kenan said.

"No clues about the note he left, though." Idil said.

"Unfortunately, I can"t further exploit this s.p.a.cetime anomaly since it would risk your well-being." Mr. Kenan said. "But maybe you can go and take another look around the room before we leave. Just make it quick. The community is still around here."

Idil and I started exploring the cla.s.sroom for any clues about the note, but we could find nothing. Just as we were about to leave, I had an idea.

"Wait." I said. "There is somewhere we didn"t check."

"And where exactly is it?" Idil asked.

I walked towards the dead bodies, covered in blood. Although I was disgusted by both the view and the smell, I approached the bodies to check if the teachers were carrying something in their pockets.

Idil was more disgusted than I was, so she stood back.

One of the teachers had his cellphone with him, but it was probably out of battery. I took the phone and put it into my pocket. When I checked the shirt pocket of one of the teachers, I have found something else: a pen, and a little notebook! "This must be it", I thought. I tried to pull the notebook out of the pocket, but it didn"t come out. I thought it was stuck because of the b.u.t.ton on his shirt. I pulled harder, and the notebook came out; but not without ripping many pages apart. I wasn"t sure if it was my stupdity or just bad luck.

"No!" I shouted.

"What have you done?" Idil asked.

"I can"t believe you!" Mr. Kenan shouted.

"Incompetent idiot!" said my inner voice.

"Wait!" I replied.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the notebook was the same as the notebook I had found in the princ.i.p.al"s office. I opened the notebook to take a look at the pages.

I was sure. That was the same notebook. It was full of phone numbers.

I wondered as I checked all the pages left intact... How did that notebook end up in the princ.i.p.al"s room, and why was he carrying all the phone numbers with him?