The more me
and my friend climbed towards the old boarding school, the more fear filled
inside me. The only thing really keeping me going was the adrenaline, as for my
friend Nate though, I knew he wasn't really up for it, but what choice does he
have? I turned to him “Are you sure Kacey is even still in there?” I yelled
over the sound of the gushing wind trying to push me back down the mountain
like hill.
“Matt, Do you not remember how my
sister is? She’s either lost and can’t find her way out, or she’s just running
around that place like a maniac looking for a new antique to bring home!” By
the sound of his voice, I could tell he was hoping that those were true, and at
the same time, hoping that all the stories about this damned place isn't.
Before I get too far ahead of
myself, I probably should tell you about this building. Well the place was
called Madame Jamie’s Boarding School, and even before the place got shut down
it was a hell hole. There were always students getting punished in bazaar ways,
like kids getting hung upside down by their feet for running in the halls, or
having to keep their mouths taped shut for a whole day because they were
talking in the middle of class. The place got shut down sometime in the 1930’s
or 40’s due to some B.S. story that was clearly a cover up of something even
worse. Some said one of the little girls there went on a psychotic rampage and
murdered a bunch of her fellow students, others say that a girl hung herself on
a cat walk in the auditorium during a school play. No one truly knows what
happened, in fact there isn't even anyone around to explain it, all the
students that went to the school have either gone missing, or they just
straight up fled the country because only-god-knows-why. The only thing I truly
know about the school is what I've seen. I was about the age Kacey is now, about 9 or 10, when I also wandered into Madame Jamie’s looking for some crazy
adventure after getting pumped up from watching movies like Indiana Jones and
Star Wars. But that is a whole other story.
Nate and I both lived next door to each other, we were the
only houses next to each other for about 2-3 miles. We lived in a small town on
the coast of Massachusetts, our houses are about a little more than half a mile
apart, with our giant back yards basically connected. Behind our houses is a
forested area, which is where the path to the school was. The old path is
blocked by a gate, which is covered in moss and other decayed plants. Once you
get past the gate, the road is very hard to keep track of since it’s been
eroded over 60-70 years. When you find your way to the end of the path, you end
up on the bottom of a rocky hill that is a pain in the ass to climb up. Overall
it’s about a one to two hour trip from my house to the school, but once the old
decayed building is in your view, the trip seems like it takes forever.
“So Nate,” I struggled to say while trying to collect my
breath, “on a scale of 1 to ‘holy shit’ how worried are?”
“You tell me, you’re the one that’s been here before, clearly
something kept you from going back.”
He had a point. I was terrified, if it wasn't Kacey that was
lost in the school, I probably wouldn't have gone in to help anyone else. “If I
remember right, we should be able to use one of the side windows to get
inside,” I tried to change the subject, “if not, I brought a hatchet from home
just in case we need to break the boards away from the front door.”
“Seriously Matt, is there something about this place that
you’re not telling me?”
My lip started shivering, and my legs started shaking as
well. I knew he wouldn't be persuaded out of this topic. “I can’t really
explain it man, there’s just something about the atmosphere there that just
makes my skin crawl.” I was hoping that this was a reason enough for him, it
clearly wasn't though.
“Yeah right! When we were younger you were the one who would
always wander around the woods at night. You could go down in our basements
without fear of monsters or something else being down there. I find it hard to
believe that ‘Matt the Fearless’ is afraid of ‘the atmosphere’.” At this point
I was getting a little annoyed.
I looked at him, clearly getting pissed and annoyed “You know
what Nate? We’ll be there soon, so you can see for yourself!” That got him to
shut up. Actually I believe the thing that got him to shut up was the look of
the haunting look of Madame Jamie’s towering over us as we stood at the base of
the old rickety building. I looked at the front door which was all boarded up.
“Alright, let’s split up and find a way in.”
“KACEY!?” We both shouted a couple times over and over, in
hopes that she’ll hear us and come out so we don’t have to go in. As I walked
my half of the perimeter I ended up near the back of the school. The back has a
balcony on the bottom floor that used to rest on the ground that used to be
under it. On the balcony is a large telescope, one that you could picture an
ancient Greek astrologist would use. The telescope was decaying away from how
weathered it was. The wall that the balcony was attached to had an archway on
it, and the middle of it was filled with glass with two doors also made of
glass leading to the back stage of the auditorium inside.
Of all the rooms I went in as a kid, the Auditorium was the
one I remember most. The seats were all torn, some of them were only attached
to the back of the seat on one side, and some were missing the part of the seat
that kept the bottom from going all the way down, so the just sat there all
limp looking. The rest of the room had a look to it as if it was flooded, with
all the weather in this area, it probably was at one point.
“MATT!” I heard Nate cry out.
“Did he find his sister?” I thought. I hoped. I was wrong
though. I ran to where Nate was, and without a word he looked at the front
door. Now I understand what he was freaking out about, the boards that were
once on the door were completely gone without a trace. In fact, they don’t even
look like they were even there in the first place. There was no damage to the
side of the doors, so they clearly weren't ripped off, there also wasn't any
holes from any nails either. Even scarier, the doors were unlocked.
There’s no way anyone had a key to this place, the people
that ran it died years ago. “Matt?” Nate whispered, “are we gonna go in?”
“Well unless you still want to break through a window
instead, I don’t see why not.” I grinned and pat his chest to signal him to
stay behind me, and to keep myself from breaking down. Who knows how much
longer I can keep that act up? And with that me and Nate walked in, not knowing
that we weren't going to walk back out with the same amount of confidence.
