A Haunted School, Hidden Deep in the Woods

     “What? Balthor, you knew I was coming, why do you all seem so thrown off?” Jorlan laughed. “You are all acting like you have seen some sort of ghost.”

     “Mylith wanted us all to make these little charms and we got so distracted, we didn’t hear you coming at first. Not as if we can hear anything in this rain anyways,” Balthor tilted his head,as he thought he still heard some muddy steps coming through the rain. “Was anyone else with you?”

     “Not that I know of…” As Jorlan was cut off upon hearing someone scream out in the woods. All the pets jumped up and looked between themselves, until Jorlan realized he recognized that scream. “That’s Mayleen!” He shouted, before dashing back out into the storm and calling her name. Worried that something may have happened to her. The rest of the friends followed and started calling out to her as well.

     The group dashing back the way they had all come, rain soaking them through as they tried to find one lost little Poogle in the woods. Avoiding trees and branches as best they could, Jorlan finally came across her, lying down on the ground and crying. He noticed her leg was red and went to go pick her up, putting her on his shoulders. Balthor finally caught up and helped Jorlan support her. Between the two of them they caught back up to the others and made their way to the gazebo. Mayleen sniffling all the way there, her tears mixed in with the rain as it all trickled down her frosted face.

     “I’m sorry Jorlan,” She managed to get out between sniffles, “I just wanted to come and play too. But I didn’t watch where I was going and tripped and fell.”

     “Oh Mayleen, you could have joined me, you didn’t need to try and sneak around. Let’s get you back to the gazebo and we can all dry off and figure it out from there. How is your leg, is everything ok?”

     “I think I’m fine, but it still hurts a bit. Thanks for carrying me” Mayleen responded, leaning in and giving Jorlan a hug as best as she could.

      Finally the small group made it back to the gazebo and began to dry off. Halton was back to grumbling about being so water logged, but was at least glad that Mayleen was all right. There was no helping it though, they all were going to be a bit soggy after the ordeal. After doing their best to get most of the water off, the pets all sat around one another to discuss what to do next. Jorlan kept an eye on Mayleen and saw her wincing whenever she put her paw down, it seemed she could still stand up, but she probably shouldn’t be out and about too much with the injury.

     “So, now that it seems everyone is here, do we want to try making these charms? We just had a harrowing rescue mission so I think this does help our cause.” Mylith spoke to the group.

     “Explain these charms, Mayleen and I hadn’t been here when you all had started,” Jorlan asked.

     “So, I found an old book in a section of the school library. It seemed sort of out of place, almost like it was calling to me. So of course I needed to pick it up and read it! Well it seems to talk about random places and events in the Haunted Woods. I can’t quite tell if this was just someone’s journal or what, but it has been neat to see,” Mylith pointed out different pages with crude drawings and sketches. Things such as old maps of the woods and different labels and landmarks than any of them were familiar with. One seemed to stick out as it was circled in red. A large building removed from anything else, with a label below it, calling the place Hauntedly Host Elementary School. The group looked around at each other, no one seemed to recognize that at all. Even their families had never mentioned that school to them before. It seemed a bit strange that an unknown building would be in the middle of the woods so far removed from everything else.

     As Mylith kept flipping through the book she eventually got to the page that showed the charm. It was a pretty simple paper doll that all of them could make, and the book mentioned something along the lines of never losing your friends with it. Although that part was more smudged out than others in the book. Everyone got to work with their supplies, even if the paper was a little bit wet from the rain. Bylorn passed around the paper and scissors, and Halton had some crayons to use to colour them in. Soon everyone was quietly working on cutting and drawing in themselves onto the paper. A few stars here, some chocolate stripes there, and the sound of the rain coming down on top of the gazebo. Jorlan helped Mayleen with hers and tried to get her sprinkles just right. The two laughed and joked as they drew on each other’s paper doll. Not even the rain or a hurt leg could keep the siblings from enjoying their time together.

     Finally, Mylith stood up and showed off her paper doll, adorned with a starry pattern similar to herself. The group went around in turn, each showing off their handy work. While maybe a simple and easy activity, the friends still all had a great time with it. At least it was still something to do while trying to wait out the rain.

     “Now, the next part here says that we need to all hold each other’s shoulders, as we put the paper dolls together in the middle of the circle. And then we need to speak the specific phrase, one after another, for each pet here.” Mylith read from the book. Balthor sort of rolled his eyes. Of course an old book like this would try to say something as small as this was a ‘magic ritual’. But he kept his feelings to himself. As long as everyone enjoyed it and was having fun, it would be a good day. After all, there were worse ways to spend a rainy day.

     Everyone got into position, Mayleen grimacing for a moment as she stood up, but tried to keep up a brave face. Mylith, cleaning her throat, began reading “We wish to always stay friends.”

     “We wish to always stay friends.” Continued Bylorn.

     “We wish to always stay friends.” spoke Halton.

     “We wish to always stay friends.” Balthor said while rolling his eyes.

     “We wish to always stay friends.” Jorlan uttered while looking at Mayleen.

     “We wish to always,” Mayleen suddenly coughed and then resumed, “be friends.”

     Suddenly the group felt the wind shift. The rain seemed to come down even harder now. As the last bit of light from the day seemed to disappear. They all looked on confused, grasping each other closer as they didn’t know what was happening. It was almost as if the whole gazebo started to spin and they all were knocked onto their backs. Jorlan reaching out and calling for Mayleen as he saw her paw reach towards him.

     And then there was silence. Jorlan tried to look around himself, but it was as if all the light had vanished. It was pitch black. He also noticed that he couldn’t hear the sound of the rain anymore, but try as he might, he still couldn’t stand up. But a moment later it felt like the world suddenly jumped back into place. He felt wood against his back and began to sit up. Looking around he saw many desks and a chalk board in the room. The entire floor was covered in dust, and it looked like there were holes pocketing the floor where parts must have collapsed. It seemed like no one had stepped foot in here in a very long time. But as he looked around the room his greatest fear suddenly came to light, he was here alone, without his sister!

     To be continued…