I’m going to tell you the story of the old, abandoned school, ridden with the burden of disease. They say there used to be an elementary school just around here not too long ago. It was just like any other school, kids would go to learn and teachers would educate them the best they could. One day, however, disease took hold of the staff and students, spreading like rapid fire around the whole school until everyone was overcome with sickness. The school was quickly closed and no one heard from the people at that school ever again. The building still stands, and they say it reeks with the fatal disease; those who go near it become ill and go missing.
One chilly night in October of 2003, just before Halloween, a group of teenagers decided to visit the foretold school. They had only heard of the rumors. “There’s no way any of that nonsense is true,” they told themselves. “And even if it was, a little cold isn’t that scary.” So the five of them jumped the old barbed fence that surrounded the musty school. They slashed down the caution tape and pushed through the dusty doors.
The inside was dark and filthy. Fungus was growing here and there. The lockers were rusty and dented. There was a dark red slime that seemed to coat the floor.
One by one, the kids slowly trickled into the grimy building. Their noses flinched at the smell of rotting flesh. The children tried to act tough, like they weren’t scared, but fear started itching at them. They could tell something was off. Down the deep dark hallway the kids wandered. Although this place was abandoned, they couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes watching them go. Their steps echoed through the empty building. It didn’t take long before they had to make a decision, should they go right, or should they go left?
The children argued with each other on which way was correct. One child in particular, Leah, insisted that they go left, while the others were convinced the right hallway was best. Eventually, they decided to part ways, four of them went right, leaving Leah to roam the left hallway.
“Man , what is her deal?” one of them asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s fine. We’ll find her later.”
And so, they continued down the hall they chose. It seemed like the deeper they went into the school, the darker and dirtier it became. The feeling of eyes watching them still hung on the back of their necks. Every now and then they sensed something moving behind them, only for them to glance back and see nothing different, just the same musky hallway. They could hear the laughter of children echo through the hallway every now and then. They peered into a couple of the shadowy classrooms. They all had the same grimy atmosphere as the hallway, some more than others. One classroom was different.
Looking closer through the window, they could just make out the shape of a figure. It was surrounded by piles of flesh, but it seemed to move. Slowly, the figure started to turn, its reflective eyes locked onto one of the children, Kyle. The hairs on the back of Kyle’s neck shot up, as his face turned white. Down the hallway the four of them darted. They didn’t stop until they reached another fork in the road.
Slouched over, one of them asks, “What was that?”
“I don’t know,” Kyle responded through gasps of breath, “But it didn’t look good.”
“Maybe we should go-” One of them started, but he froze.
“What?” The others asked.
Slowly, he pointed down one of the hallways. There stood a short figure in the shadows. They could only see her back, but they knew who it was, “Leah?”
She chuckled slightly, “Oh, hey guys,” she sounded chipper. “Turns out what closed this place wasn’t a disease.” She turned around, and creeped into view. She was much paler than before. “What really closed this school down.. was an infectious parasite.” Leah was lifted into the air by a large fleshy snake-like form. It looked almost like an odd form of muscles and tissue molded together into an unsettling sludge. Leah’s body dangled lifelessly from the end of the parasite. Her eyes were sunken in and her mouth hung open. The skin on her face was pale and it had already started decaying. Spidery arms slowly emerged from behind her, and lunged forward.
The children didn’t know what to do. They were frozen in place. It wasn’t until the parasite had grabbed hold of another kid, that they turned and darted right back the way they had come. It seemed like the children weren’t the only ones screaming, noises came from all around. Growls and groans and shrieks erupted from the surrounding classrooms. Decaying corpses started to emerge like zombies from the classroom doors as Leah, or what was left of her, chased them down the hallway. The sludge of the parasite was everywhere, it crawled on the walls and across the floor, it was connected to the backs of the people, controlling them like puppets.
The children hurtled down the hallway as fast as they could. A kid tripped on one of the fleshy tentacles and was consumed by the parasite. The surrounding corpses grabbed hold of another, dragging her into the depths of an empty classroom. Her scream echoed through the hall. Now there was only one child left, Kyle. He ran for his life, with Leah right on his heels.
He could finally see the end hall, his escape, the door that led to the outside. He could feel Leah advancing on him, but the door was so close, 15 feet, 10 feet, 5 feet. It was right there. Leah reached for his arm, but he had already grabbed hold of the handle.
The cool air of the night had never felt so safe before.
The night of October 30, 2003, five children went into an abandoned school, and only one came out alive. The next day, Halloween of 2003, the same school building was brought to ashes by a child named Kyle.