Shattered

Walking through the halls of the abandoned school, a small one-use camera in hand, I looked around. The lockers were covered in rust and grime and a musty scent filled the air. As I continued to travel through, I noticed one classroom was open. Intrigued, I entered hesitantly, afraid of what I might see once inside.

As soon as I entered the room a wave of cold air washed over me. Even through my thick jacket I felt the breeze. The windows in the room were broken, and on closer inspection were broken from the inside as if someone was trying to escape. It only brought a whole new meaning to the horror story of this school.

I snapped a few pictures for the report, feeling rushed to leave the room. I knew Kennedy was waiting for me to return, though, I couldn't promise her any good news if this was all I was finding. The whole company would be disappointed if I didn't find something better than a few broken windows and rusted lockers. They wanted blood, gore, bodies; not a few rusty and broken things here and there. I decided against discarding the pictures though since they might provide a bit of insight to what state the school was left in.

According to most of the reports on the school, it was mostly a storm that had damaged it so badly. But after trying to rebuild it, quite a few other things went on inside. A teacher losing his mind after allegedly hearing voices and causing the death of multiple students. Another story of a younger girl sneaking in to be with a student and ultimately ended in her own demise. Many deaths have happened in the past at this school, though many are still unsolved.

A sudden chill ran down my spine as I entered yet another destroyed classroom. This room felt quite peculiar. Looking around didn't help whatsoever as I only saw more broken windows and even a destroyed chalkboard, a desk laying on its side toward the front of the room. As if someone had thrown the desk and broken the board... and worse than that were the blood stains across the front wall, desk, and chalkboard. Immediately I grabbed my camera from my pocket and snapped pictures of the classroom. The windows were first, seeing them broken from the outside instead making me increasingly nervous. Next was the broken chalkboard and the blood. The room smelled of the coppery smell of the blood, and I silently cursed myself for taking this case to report.

Once the pictures were taken I started to feel curious. The glare from the blood seemed odd. I approached the wall and hesitantly tapped at the blood on it. It wasn't dry or cold. Something had happened here recently. I yanked my hand back in surprise, looking at my fingers while they shook slightly. I wiped the blood onto my coat and snapped one more picture before quickly exiting the room. I knew the office would probably want me to go to the medical area as well. Though, I didn't know if I could stand the sight of more blood, let alone a body.

I decided against it. At least for today. I headed toward the entrance of the school and gathered my things, quickly exiting the building. Kennedy would be mad at me for leaving early, but I still had a few days before the report was set to be released.

I entered my car quickly, starting it up. Much to my surprise it did nothing. It was a much older vehicle, but it usually worked well...

"Come on..." I mumbled to myself. I hit the dashboard and turned the key again. After a few repeats of that, it finally started. I switched out of park and into drive, leaving the small parking lot. And as I looked into my rear view mirror I spotted a small figure. It was a young girl in a pink dress, covered in blood. Her blonde hair was dyed orange and red from the blood and looked like a small, dark fire from a distance. I slammed on the brakes of my small car and got out quickly, almost forgetting to park it. When I looked back to where I saw the small girl, though, she was nowhere to be seen. I rubbed my eyes and looked again in disbelief. After a few moments of staring into the distance I shook my head and returned to my vehicle. I didn't look back to the school and continued my drive home.