I\u2019ve never told this story before. I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever even talked about it. After everything happened, I think Joey and Tristan and I just felt like it was something that shouldn\u2019t be talked about. That maybe by just avoiding the subject we could pretend it never happened. That maybe we could forget. It didn\u2019t work. At least not for me. I don\u2019t know. Maybe Tristan and Joey have forgotten\u2014like I said, we haven\u2019t talked about it. But something is happening, and I feel my story should be recorded, just in case.<\/p>\n
The whole thing happened while they were building the new high school. This would have been sometime in the summer of 2000 or 2001, I think\u2014near my 6th<\/sup> grade year. Joey and Tristan and I had been hanging out at my house (I think we were hanging out by then and no longer playing\u2014one gets to an age where one feels sensitive about the terminology of such things). At any rate, we were at my house, no doubt climbing trees, fighting with sticks, and doing whatever else that boys of that age are wont to do. We had dinner at my house\u2014probably pizza from Luigi\u2019s\u2014and Tristan and Joey were spending the night. (Thinking back on it, this seems a little odd\u2014I rarely was one for sleepovers. In fact this may be the only time one happened in that era of my life.)<\/p>\n Sleepovers, of course, are rarely about sleep, and Tristan, Joey, and I talked until late into the night. I don\u2019t remember the thread of the conversation. What I do remember is that it had been dark for quite some time, with everyone in the house asleep save the three of us, when Joey said, \u201cHey, let\u2019s go check out the new high school.\u201d<\/p>\n I was puzzled. \u201cWhat are you talking about? The high school isn\u2019t even finished yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Joey looked at me like I was an idiot. \u201cYeah. That\u2019s why we should go look. Haven\u2019t you ever wanted to explore around an abandoned building before? When the school\u2019s finished, there\u2019ll be all sorts of places we can\u2019t go. But right now, we can go anywhere!\u201d<\/p>\n I have always been sort of afraid of authority. I never liked breaking rules or getting in trouble or in some way not living up to the version of me I felt like I was expected to be. But at the same time, I spent my youth desperate to have people like me, and I was constantly worried that I wasn\u2019t cool enough for Joey, one of the few friends I had. So it was with great relief that I heard, \u201cUh, I don\u2019t know about this.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Tristan. Sensible, reliable Tristan. My relief was tangible. Tristan would be the voice of reason, Joey would back down, we would go to bed, and no one would get in trouble. I wouldn\u2019t even have to be the uncool one for stopping it from happening. Tristan\u2019s intervention was a gift from God.<\/p>\n Joey shrugged. \u201cOkay.\u201d I relaxed. \u201cI guess I can just go to the high school myself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?! Wait!\u201d But by that time, Joey was out of the room. \u201cTristan, we gotta go with him!\u201d My mind was running through scenarios: Joey falling from some scaffolding, hitting his head on the floor, and dying; Joey stepping on a nail, getting tetanus, and having to get his leg amputated; Joey stealing something, getting arrested, and winding up in jail for the rest of his life. In all these scenarios, I could hear my parents asking \u201cWhy weren\u2019t you there with him to keep him from doing stupid stuff?\u201d I was in full-blown panic mode.<\/p>\n I think Tristan was probably more clear-headed. Nevertheless, he agreed with my assessment that we should probably not leave Joey to his own devices. So we both followed Joey outside.<\/p>\n If you go to the River Falls High School, you may notice that unless you come either at the beginning or end of the school day, the road it\u2019s on isn\u2019t particularly busy. Not that any place in River Falls could be properly called busy, but Cemetery Road, the location of both my family\u2019s house and the high school, is a little out of the way. Before the high school was built, though, the road was even emptier. I don\u2019t remember if, at the time of this story, there was still a copse of trees across the street, but I\u2019m pretty sure the hockey rink hadn\u2019t been built yet and there was still farmland. And, of course, the cemetery.<\/p>\n The cemetery wasn\u2019t particularly old, with polished new headstones laid out in a neat, orderly manner, and a convenient path to drive one\u2019s car through, should one feel so inclined. The only thing to lend it an air of mystery or melancholy were the pines, reaching to the height of telephone poles and letting through only slivers of light.<\/p>\n There had been talk, when they first considered building a new high school, of changing the name of the street from Cemetery Road to some cheerier appellation. Adults, clearly too far from high school themselves, talked with grave (hah!) concern about the effect the name of the street might have on the psyche of the poor students who would have to study there. But presumably more sensible minds prevailed, because the name never wound up being changed. No one I talked to ever seemed to care. Certainly I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n And yet, whether this is a true memory or the coloring of my recollection by the events that happened subsequently, I have a distinct impression that as we walked down that thoroughly ordinary, almost empty street, I felt a chill entirely distinct both from the night\u2019s breeze and from the fear of the forbidden. And I was struck, as we walked in silence those few blocks to the high school, that there were eyes that watched and ears that listened and breaths that held themselves in some place just beyond this mortal realm.<\/p>\n The high school was dark and looked empty. It appeared to be nearly finished, to my untrained eye, at least. There were doors, windows, everything. Tristan and I approached to find Joey standing at the front doors. We all stood, just looking at the building in silence for a minute. Then I spoke up. \u201cOkay. Well, we\u2019ve seen it now. Let\u2019s head back.\u201d<\/p>\n Joey looked at me as if to say \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n I sighed. \u201cSo do you have any plan for getting in? Because I\u2019m definitely leaving if your plan is to break a window.\u201d I had broken two windows in my life at that point and had no interest in adding a third one to the list.<\/p>\n Joey shrugged. \u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s some way in. Maybe someone left a door unlocked.\u201d Joey walked over to the nearest door.<\/p>\n Tristan shook his head. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to leave a door unlocked. Look, we should just\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGot it!\u201d Joey held the door open.<\/p>\n \u201cI stand corrected,\u201d Tristan laughed in disbelief. \u201cAll right, then.\u201d And he walked through the open door. I followed him in, and Joey took up the rear.<\/p>\n I realized when we entered that there was a lot of work left to do. The bones of the building\u2014all the structure\u2014had been built, but there was a fair ways to go before the building would be ready to have students in it.<\/p>\n We had come in through the front entrance, next to where the principal\u2019s office is today. Walking through, we were inevitably drawn to the commons area\u2014a wide open space with high ceilings. Light filtered in through the windows, and the columns supporting the ceiling cast deep shadows across the floor. We looked around a bit. I remember Joey having some fun jumping off the staircases that led to the second floor from the commons area. Then, just as I was thinking that this all wasn\u2019t so bad, and that maybe this wouldn\u2019t end in disaster, we heard a loud crash.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat was that?!\u201d I asked my companions, heart pounding.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it came from over there.\u201d Tristan gestured to the far end of the commons room where some stairs led down to a lower floor which we had yet to explore.<\/p>\n \u201cDang it! Do you think someone knows we\u2019re here?\u201d I asked, worriedly. \u201cMaybe we should leave.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo way!\u201d Joey said, full of bravado. \u201cWe have to go check this out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m with Nathan on this one,\u201d Tristan said. \u201cWe could get into serious trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCome on, you guys! It\u2019ll be fine! Just\u2014\u201d At this point, there was another crash, and I saw a flash of purple light downstairs. Joey noticed it, too. \u201cNow that<\/em> is something you have to see! Don\u2019t you want to know what that is?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell\u2014\u201d My resolve was slipping.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t go look, we\u2019ll never know what it was.\u201d Joey looked back and forth between Tristan and me. Tristan turned to look at me and shrugged.<\/p>\n I sighed. \u201cOkay. We\u2019ll go look really quick, but then we\u2019ve gotta get out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n Joey grinned and nodded. \u201cLet\u2019s go, then.\u201d<\/p>\n We walked down the stairs. \u201cOver there.\u201d Tristan pointed down the hall to a faint, glow, flickering in deep reds and purples. We made our way towards what we discovered to be an open door to what would become the gym, and crouched, looking in through the doorway.<\/p>\n There was a man. I couldn\u2019t make out his features in the dark, but I could tell that his stance was one of confident defiance\u2014the stance of a man who is facing a formidable task, but is secure in his victory. And yet the thing he stood in defiance of\u2014<\/p>\n I find it difficult to describe exactly what the creature was like. I can say that it was tall, though I couldn\u2019t tell you how tall\u2014it seemed to be larger or smaller from moment to moment. Likewise, I can say that it was roughly humanoid, though the number of limbs and their configurations seemed to be in constant flux as well. Indeed, this being\u2014this writhing, shifting mass of shadows cloaked in burgundy flame\u2014seemed to have no fixed features at all. And then it turned its gaze towards me.<\/p>\n It was then that I knew I had been wrong. For the creature did have one fixed aspect: its eyes. I will never forget those eyes as long as I live. They were a hunter\u2019s eyes: hungry, but patient, glowing with a seemingly-inextinguishable golden flame. They held me paralyzed with fear. I tried to draw my own eyes away but found myself incapable of doing so.<\/p>\n The terrifying being slipped around the man, coolly as a cat, and began making its way towards us. And as it approached, its eyes ever held mine. As it drew nearer, its eyes widened, and I saw death.<\/p>\n The death I saw was my own, reflected a thousand times over, in different circumstances and in different personages. As one sometimes in a dream finds that one is playing a character not oneself, I found myself in this being\u2019s eyes playing a myriad of different roles, dying in each. As I found myself trapped in the creature\u2019s monstrous gaze, I knew that role I was currently playing\u2014the 12-year-old with his two friends in the basement of a building they shouldn\u2019t be in\u2014was about to come to an end. With what energy I could muster, I started a silent prayer. And then I saw a bright light, and I passed out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was still night when I awoke. I was lying on some grass near the high school, and Joey and Tristan were sitting nearby, on opposite sides of me.<\/p>\n \u201cHey,\u201d said Tristan. Joey nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cHey,\u201d I said back.<\/p>\n A man walked over to us from a black car parked nearby. Though I hadn\u2019t seen a clear glimpse of him, I knew he was the same man that we had seen in the gym, and I knew that however it had happened, he had saved my life. He crouched in front of us.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve seen something crazy today. Something no one your age should see. Maybe something no one should see.\u201d He glanced over to the high school and back to us. \u201cYou should head home. Try to forget this ever happened. And don\u2019t worry. The seal should hold.\u201d He stood, nodded to us, and walked over to his car. As he drove away, we slowly got to our feet and started walking home.<\/p>\n We walked in silence, each of us wrapped in our own thoughts. I looked over to the troubled faces on my friends and wondered what they had seen, if they had looked death in the face as I had.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I said, we never talked about that day, and maybe that\u2019s as well. Still, Joey and I drifted apart sometime around then, and occasionally I wonder if maybe the events of that day played a part in that. On the other hand, people go their separate ways all the time for no reason so dramatic as an encounter with a man-eating demon, so I don\u2019t worry too much about it.<\/p>\n Each of us did, of course, wind up going to the local high school when the time came. I never was particularly fond of the gym, but that probably had less to do with my unfortunate encounter and more to do with the fact that it was a gym, location of pep rallies and physical education classes. All in all, my high school experience was entirely normal. In time, I thought about the events of that summer less and less, and life went on largely as normal, as it tends to do after big, dramatic events.<\/p>\n Which makes this a fine place to end my story. Or rather, it would, if it weren\u2019t for recent events. For just this June, on the penultimate day of school, I returned to the high school to say hi to various teachers. The building was largely the same. There were, of course a few minor changes, and some teachers I had known had retired and been replaced, but all in all, it was a very familiar experience. When I went to see Mrs. Loney, the choir teacher, she told me the school was being shut down for the summer. Some pipes hadn\u2019t been installed correctly, so now they needed to be replaced.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t surprised. All sorts of things were screwed up when the school was first built. That the pipes would be messed up as well came as no surprise. And yet, as I walked around, visiting various teachers, there was a certain strange tension in the air that I found all too familiar. Wherever I walked, I felt a silent, watching presence and some ancient instinct warning me of danger.<\/p>\n When I was done, I exited the high school and stepped out into the bright summer sunlight. As I did so, I felt a weight I didn\u2019t know I carried lift from off my shoulders. And though I could feel the shadows of the school reach out to me, I knew I was safe for the moment. I walked home down the old bike path to my house and saw a black car drive past in the other direction. I didn\u2019t much feel like following.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve never told this story before. I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever even talked about it. After everything happened, I think Joey and Tristan and I just felt like it was something that shouldn\u2019t be talked about. That maybe by just avoiding the subject we could pretend it never happened. That maybe we could forget. It … Continue reading “The High School”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87,"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.quingcomics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}