The empty school classroom

Empty school classrooms

School had ended suddenly. Now walking the corridors, I can hear the sounds and see the memories of the past.  Posters on the environment created by year 7, and portraits drawn by year 10. The trophies abandoned in the display cabinet and the notice board with the club announcements.  Things were never going to be the same, parents had been in uproar refusing to send their children to school. No one wanted to lose a child, so what had happened?

It was June 2023 when the children started to disappear. It was a cold wet Friday when Mrs Jones Maths class had vanished.  There were no signs as to where they had gone. The classroom was empty. The police had investigated, and no one had been found. After Mr Fullers science class had vanished in July the school was closed.  Poor attendance and fear meant that very few people dared to go to school.

The police had since passed the case to my team.  I am a Paranormal investigator and sweeping the room with my life signs machine it was showing that the children and their teacher had not left the school.  On searching all the classrooms, we found more life signs.  There was life not just in places where the children disappeared.

Secrets

The school was hiding secrets, now being unearthed by the Paranormal detective agency.  Researching the building and land before the building existed, we found a chilling story. The school should not have been built here.  It had stood for fifteen years, and we found that twenty years ago a team of farm workers had vanished on this site.  They were never found and five years later the council had constructed the school.  Looking at the facts, it was 12^th June and then 12^th July 2023 that the classes had disappeared.  The farm workers disappeared on the 12^th November 2003, surely they were not still here and if they are, not alive.

The farm workers had left their machinery on the site and  had never been found. A twenty year old cold case.  Reading through older records on 12^th December 1983 and then 12^th February 1984 there were more disappearances. I felt sure that there was more that had never been recorded or just dismissed.

Turning up the life signs machine and scanning every classroom it appeared that there was life that we could not see everywhere.   What had happened?  It is now February 2024 and Im wondering if we are all about to vanish too.  Im thinking that we should be filming this and either passing it to the BBC or putting it on You Tube. As it is we are sworn to secrecy as families right now do not need to know their children are still here.  We would have parents descending and interfering in our rescue mission.

A rescue

So, how do you rescue people that you cant see?  I wonder if food has been going missing from the school canteen or if local shops have had issues with stock going missing.  Though how would you get something not invisible out of a shop without causing suspicion? How can these people be alive.

As I watch the large television screens being wheeled into the school.  Now was the time to see what was here. Plugging in the life screen sensor and shutting out all daylight, I felt the familiar butterflies in my stomach.  I should be used to this by now but every time there is a sense of overwhelming excitement, that is hard to control.

As the life sensor starts to whir and rotate, I can see purple people all around me. They are all standing or sitting watching us. Some with open mouths as if they are trying to talk to us.  Stuck in a bubble that they are unable to get out of.  I think about how I would feel if one day I was teaching a class and then I was stuck in the school and no one could see me.  A terrifying experience that I wouldn’t want to live through.

The void

We were going to have to bring them back. Back from the void that they had been pulled through. I couldn’t see any dead, there must be some, but there were certainly what appeared to be hundreds alive. Sending my assistant for the time jump equipment this would be the first time that we had used it on this scale.  We were only looking at one class room, there must be others throughout the school.

Using it is delicate and we didn’t want to make any mistakes.  Using it wrong could pull us into the void as well. Turning it on while we were in the building could prove a fatal error.  Picking up the remote I motioned for us to get out. Time to vacate and stand a short distance away outside.  The remote works like a telephone and communicates with the life machine so we could actually be stood miles away.

As we gather at the bottom of the school field, I watch Harry as he dials into the school.  Focusing my binoculars,  I can see a cloud of blue smoke in the school windows.  If it has worked we should soon see people.

Vanished now back

Hundred years ago, Fred Smith had been investigating the site on Hughes Green.  Numerous disappearances that month had made him venture into the library archives, he wanted answers he had not bargained on this.

Living forever is impossible but in the school void it actually was possible.  He was now one hundred and sixty three,  if he had added the years correct.  Looking around him he could see the shocked but happy faces all desperate to get out.

As Fred walked out into the chilly afternoon he realised that very few of them had homes to go to and some, like him, didn’t have relatives, or friends before he walked into the void, alive.

A long day

Watching the people pouring out, plus animals, including dogs, cats and horses, I phoned the police.  How had the school accommodated them all? We need village halls, blankets, clothes and the football stadium.  There is various attire being worn indicating just how old some of these people are. As they keep coming,  I realise that this needs some thought.  Where are these people going to go? And how are they still alive?  This could be produced as an unbelievable sci – fi film, but this is real. How old is the oldest here? And what about the number 12 was pulling people into a void every twenty years?

After today the void should be closed forever, but surely those who were stuck in the void can tell me why it happened.  How are they alive? Did they not have to eat and drink? How did they survive?

Walking towards the happy crowds, I can see some dressed in what looks like bathrobes.  What year are they from? This was like a history book but all the characters are here with us.  We had a lot to learn and these people could teach us.  As I watch news crews arrive, I can see that this is no longer contained. Time to round everyone together, and create an inventory of who is here.  We have a long day ahead of us.

Written for Writers Unite! write the story photo prompt

For more see A train journey in time