Our Classmate Disappeared. The Teachers Know More Than They’re Saying - Part One | It Reads At Night

It Reads At Night presents... "Our Classmate Disappeared. The Teachers Know More Than They're Saying." PART ONE OF TWO.

Written by u/strangeaccounts aka Travis Weaver

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The day is done and the house settles down. There's only one thing left to do. You want to know to do two quiet. It reads at night.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Hello everybody, welcome back to It Reads at Night! This is a podcast where we read book no, we don't read books. I read a book once. I didn't like it. I don't like those. No, I I prefer to read my stories on a screen, a digital screen. And I like them to be about fictitious monsters and creatures and things to go bump in the night. And that's why we are here tonight. I am Austin, and I'm joined. Oh Malic. Some guy that stumbled out of the woods. I went bumping at night. Yep. One time.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

What is his voice you're doing? What'd you say? No, that no, this is me.

SPEAKER_05 1:13

No, this is me. This is how I talk. This is my commentary boy.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

This is just how I say things from time. Anyway, my name's Austin. He's Alex, and we just walked out of the woods and we're scared already. We've heard footsteps to the to the right of us already. Um uh the floodlight that's in the field has been triggered by something unknown. Uh-huh. There's spookiness in the air. But you know what isn't in the air tonight? Terrible, awful cold wind. It's a little cold, but uh it could be a lot worse. Most definitely. Like last week. Which, if you haven't listened to last week, last week's episode yet, it was a pretty darn good one, if I do say so myself. We're talking about people getting tortured. Yeah. Specifically a girl. Yeah, guys. Yeah, right. And a boy. There was a girl and there was a boy. There was a girl and there was a boy. Still do still doing the voice, I see.

SPEAKER_05 2:11

That's just me.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

Right. Anyway. Um I'm scared. I'm having a stroke right now. I don't know. What are we doing? What have we been doing?

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Let's just give I say we just give the author detail. I'll just say we give the author details. Stop, bro.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

I'm gonna do it. Um, so it's my anti-Alex juice.

SPEAKER_05 2:42

That was just um shocking.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

We appreciate you stopping in here tonight. Um, folks, listen here. Last week's episode was pretty good. I I recommend you go check that out. Run it up! Um, but today we've got you a new story here. Sorry, there was a cold wind that just hurt me. Yeah. Um This is a pretty acclaimed author from for what I've heard and from what I've seen around the uh the internet horror genres. Uh this guy has wrote uh I feel like he's he's like a current active writer, and he's writing just bangers one after the other. He dabbles a lot in historical uh accounts and journal entry kind of vibes like that. But uh I don't think we're reading anything like that today, but we are reading a story by him, and uh the story is called Our Classmate Disappeared, the Teachers Know More Than They're Saying. It's a two-parter. We'll see if we can fit them all in, uh, all two parts tonight, or if we need to split it up into two different episodes. But what's his name? His name is Strange Accounts, otherwise known as, I believe his real name is Travis Weaver. Travis Weaver, everybody, give it up for Travis Weaver over here. Yeah. Um so he he seems to be doing really well for himself. He's been writing for a while. We've looked at some stories of his, and then coincidentally, we're like, oh, this is that the same guy. And they're from like nine years ago. So he's been at this game for a while.

SPEAKER_03 4:22

This story contains scenes of explicit and disturbing imagery. You've been warned. So if you can't handle that, get out of the game. Get out get out the pets.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

I see here that he has self-published a book. Um it is titled Strange Accounts. No, no, that's not it. Strange Accounts from the American Frontier. Uh looks to be I'm reading through his synopsis right now. Looks to be like some of his more historical journal account type stories. I think this guy also wrote the Bible. You're right. Oh my god. Oh my god, he wrote the Bible! That is fucking awesome. Alright. Uh I'm also I scrolled on I scrolled down the second okay, first post on his Reddit account, I'm not trying to bust his his chops or whatever. Um, but I noticed his first post is his book. Second post is a picture of him, and might I say he's a handsome devil. He's sitting atop a mountain, he's got a cowboy hat on, and uh he's got a a winning smile.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Well, he's just a historical figure.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

He d he he could be. Looks like a real Roosevelt of his time. Uh maybe it's AI. You ever think about that? Maybe can we stop with this fucking voice? I'm gonna get angry.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

I'm mad.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

I'm getting angry.

SPEAKER_04 6:08

We've got a long story ahead of us, and you're over there talking like fucking I don't even know what. Nobody. Because nobody sounds like that. You sound like a fool. Don't huff and puff in my in my direction. So, um, I mean, we really don't have much else to say other than um thanks for tuning in. Uh we're out here in the in the night. This isn't a s this isn't a sound stage, ladies and gentlemen. No. We're in the woods. We don't live in Orange County or wherever the fuck those those people in California live. Those people. Those people. We are in the the ass crack of a flyover state in the woods. Yeah. So um we out here, we got the fire burning hot, a nice chill in the air. We're ready to read some of strange accounts. Excellent story here. Our classmate disappeared. The teachers know more than they're saying. Before we get into it, just just just give us a break, man. Please. Just watch this, and then uh if you like it, keep watching it and uh maybe like it, maybe subscribe it, maybe share it. Uh if you if you don't like watching us um on video form. Come back.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

I don't understand.

SPEAKER_04 7:29

If you don't like seeing it, maybe you could try just hearing it. Maybe that'd make it more bearable for you. We're on all the audio platforms as well. Uh yeah. Run it all up. Uh we love it. I don't know why I'm saying that's nice. Run that back. Run that back. Um and we've we've we've no idea what's going on in this story. I liked the title a lot and I like the author, but I don't know what's going on in this story whatsoever. Not even our very own entity, the editor. He's not read this story. Um, it's sorry, it's not read this story. So, we're going in blind. I don't give a fuck. I don't give a shit. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be great. And uh stick around, folks.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

And with that, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Yeah, because this is just sad. A little bit. It's just two guys. It's just it's just two guys. Now I know what goofy feels like. All the time. He's dancing around in that show.

SPEAKER_03 9:06

Oh, is this a mukbang? Mukbang? It's a mukbang! I'm channeling Theodore Roosevelt. We're not honest. Oh, it's not good.

SPEAKER_04 9:17

Alright, well, I'm gonna dig in.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

He's gonna know.

SPEAKER_04 9:23

I don't get the brain tingles everyone's talking about. I don't think anybody's telling the truth. Yeah, like what do you mean your brain's tingling? You know what you need to do? You need to listen to music. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Put a little bit of blanking on every architect. Put a little like uh Animal's Pink Floyd. Animal's Pink Floyd. Alright, no. That's a can of worms right there. You just sit down and you put a little you wanna listen to wind for seven minutes? You wanna have the ride of your fucking life? You never heard wind so intentional before. Alright, we're off the beaten path. We're way off right now. Deep in the void. Editor, get us back on this shit. Editor, help us! What i I don't know. If we can edit- I think if you make that work, there's something in there. If you get us from without further ado, a little bit of stuff from that, and yeah, knock us right back in here. I think we have something good.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

I think if you cut between all of that in a really erratic and violent way. Yeah. And then put like a big over the front of it just saying the further ado. And it's just like cutting.

SPEAKER_05 10:40

Yeah, that's a great idea. Editor!

SPEAKER_04 10:43

God damn. And they're all I think that's a great idea. Just fucking make a thrasher edit. I think that's really good. The last like six minutes and then spit us out right back here.

SPEAKER_05 10:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

Alright. Alright, let's read a story now, I guess. We're never gonna do this. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

This is incredible. Yeah, but I'm excited. This is awesome. I don't have the same thing you have. Mine's mine starts it contains scenes of explicit and disturbing imagery, and then it says when I think back to high school. That's where mine starts.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

That's weird as hell.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

How about you just go to the Reddit and are we able to do that? Uh yes. Are we good? No, we Safari cannot open this part. No! This might be a part zero, bro.

SPEAKER_04 11:58

Part and part and nothing. Dude, I might kill it here. 17 pages, just part and minus.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Um we're good. I don't know if we're gonna make it, man. But fucking what's the issue? Is it not working now? No, I just g I gotta go up instead of down, I think. I can make this work. We'll just do it with it. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

What was that? 20 minutes? Alright. Okay, start. Okay. Alright, we're back. Jesus. Okay. I'm gonna do the whole thing again. Yeah, we gotta restart. Alright. Our classmate disappeared. The teachers know more than they're saying. Part one. When I cast my mind back to those days at John Henry High, the first shape to emerge from the murk of memory is the well that stood behind the building. Each year, the faculty herded us to that spot for the opening day photograph. The tradition persisted until the hallway walls grew crowded with a procession of faces and years leading up to some distant end. That first time my class gathered there, summer still clung to the back lot. Sunscreen drifted through the air from a few dozen faces, and the early sun stayed on the gravel. A few kids wiped sweat from their brows. Others fanned themselves with pocket creased class schedules. A teacher hollered out above the chatter.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

Come on, move it, line up, shoulder to shoulder. Bodied.

SPEAKER_04 13:50

We shuffled forward with the dull irritation of livestock. Shoes scraped gravel and elbows brushed as the circle drew in closer. Someone near the front grumbled. Feels like we're lining up to get shot. That earned a snort from someone else. The well rose ahead of us. Moss worked its way through cracks between stones, and the grate over the opening bore a strip of faded ribbon tied through the iron. It hung there in a gesture some student had once made to dress the place up. Then forgotten as the seasons took their share.

SPEAKER_05 14:29

Keep moving.

SPEAKER_04 14:31

Principal Dwyer strode around the well with a clipboard held against his chest.

SPEAKER_05 14:36

Closer.

SPEAKER_04 14:37

He said.

SPEAKER_05 14:41

Come on, don't be scared.

unknown 14:46

Fuck.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

Fuck. I was like, you're not done. I just stopped.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Come on, don't be scared of bumpin' shoulders. We're all friends here. There you go. A boy mumbled behind me. This sucks.

SPEAKER_04 15:00

A girl answered, Relax. It's one picture, you'll live. Dwyer clapped to gather everyone's attention.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

Alright, remember, smiles. Let's look proud and show the world we want to be here.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

A girl named Lena stood ahead of me near the inner arc of the group. Her sleeves covered her wrists and she folded her arms near her stomach. While others nudged each other or called out jokes, her attention stayed on the well's grate, on whatever lay beneath it. The camera flash lit her features again and again, yet her focus stayed on the stone. Back then, I believed in that portrait the staff wanted to create. I thought each student did I read that right? Back then, I believed in that portrait the staff wanted to create. I thought each student fit into a shared story we all could talk about later with fondness. Those thoughts died when Lena disappeared. Lena or Lena? No Lena. Lena. It happened two years later. Junior year. She stayed late Tuesdays and Thursdays for something on her schedule, but no one agreed on what it was. Some said choir. Some said piano. Others drummed up some type of club. You get shot in the neck. Next shot. Some said choir. Some said piano. Others drummed up some type of club. The staff were never advertised. I didn't have a better guess. I never belonged to her world any more than the others did. I wanted to know her, sure. Yet wanting has no strength of its own. The most that I knew was that there were days when she carried herself as if she hoped someone might speak to her, though she kept a careful distance from the noise of groups. One afternoon outside the science wing, a folder slipped from her palms and a scatter of sheet music stretched across the floor. She knelt to gather the sheets, and I lowered myself beside her to help. We reached for the same page. My arm passed close to hers, and the movement stirred the air between us. She paused for a beat, then turned her attention my way before shifting her back to the fallen papers. When she finished, she rose and gave the smallest acknowledgement to me before she turned toward the music hall and hurried off. I stood there longer than I should have, holding the lone stray page she never came back for. I made the resolution to try and find her at the end of the day and return it. Whoa. I got lost, hang on. Alright. Take your time, don't worry about it. At the end of the day and return it. Okay. I widened my page and that fucked everything up. Okay. By that time, the halls were almost empty. A lone cart rolled across the floor near the cafeteria, and a custodian called out to someone in a supply room. Their words faded as I walked into the music hall. The classroom door I was looking for stood ajar, just cracked enough to let a strip of warm light spill across the tile outside. The piano notes kept a steady pattern, soft and careful. I shouldn't have eavesdropped, but I did. I leaned in and peered inside. Lena's back was pinned straight, her arms poised above the keys. Mr. Klein stood behind her, one arm hovering near the song book, and the other drifting close to her upper arm.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

That's it. He said. Relax your wrist. You don't have to fight the notes. Just let it happen. She played through the phrase again and he bent closer. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

Just like that. Great job. She did not smile. She gave no sign of hearing him at all. She just pressed the keys again. I knocked on the door. His head snapped toward me. His expression stayed neutral, but something behind it cracked.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

Tyler! He said. It's good to see you. Shouldn't you be heading home? I'm sure your mother's waiting for you out front. Miss Lena and myself are just finishing up a lesson here. Sorry, Mr. Klein. Lena dropped this earlier and I just wanted to make sure she got it back.

SPEAKER_04 19:37

The floor seemed to pull at my shoes as I walked toward him. He took the pages from me.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Thank you, Tyler.

SPEAKER_04 19:44

As I stepped back into the hall, he said something to Lena I couldn't make out. But low, close to her ear, a secret sentence spoken just between them. Lena kept her attention on the keys. The following day at our lunch table, Mason made a sp a sport of prodding me about her.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Dude, dude, come on. You're fixated on her. Your mouth's hanging open. I pushed my tray forward and tried to sink into my seat. Shut up. It's not like that. Not like what exactly? He snorted. Just tell us. What did you see in her? Is it her brains or something else? You can be honest with me.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Jodie scraped her spoon across her pudding cup and smacked his arm with the backside. Chocolate splattered. You're disgusting, Mason. He gave a half-cocked laugh and wiped the mess away with a napkin.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

What? Come on. Someone had to ask him. Besides, he should just go talk to her instead of gawking twenty feet away like a creep. I don't gawk.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

You do, Emma said, cutting me off with an apple slice in her hand.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

It's adorable and sad at the same time. See? Even Emma sees it, Mason added. So enlighten us, Ty. There's so many different people getting tested tonight. So enlighten us, Ty. If it's not what we're thinking, why do you stare at her so much? Give us something. We're all dying to know.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

I crumpled the napkin from my tray and sent it across the table. It struck Mason's chin and fell into this lap. It doesn't matter. It's not like it's going anywhere.

SPEAKER_05 21:35

Coward.

SPEAKER_04 21:36

I never argued. He was right. I was a coward. I never talked to Lena, not once. Then one Tuesday that would be it. She would never show up to class again. At first, no one thought twice about it. Students missed days for every excuse under the sun. Some vanished for appointments, other dis others disappeared for. For chores or family errands. The changing of the seasons always pulled a few away from the flu, so the first absence folded into the day. By the following morning, it was clear this was going to be different. Before the announcement began, I heard the faint shuffle of papers through the intercom speakers. I pictured Principal Dwyer standing near the office window, reading the lines to himself and wondering how much he wanted to say.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Attention, students. Parents and staff are working with local authorities to locate 11th grade student Lena Myers, who has not been seen since school after hours yesterday. If you have any information, please come forward to the office. Counseling services are available.

SPEAKER_04 22:46

The speaker clicked off with a dull snap. Nothing else followed. No reassurance from the staff, no reminder that the school held together in times of trouble, only the hiss of the machine as it faded back into the ceiling, leaving the room to its own weight. Mason tapped my seat. Ta, you alright? I didn't answer him. I eyed Lena's seat. The wood along the legs had worn away in patches, and someone had carved the letters T plus E into the side sometime within the last few weeks.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

Ta!

SPEAKER_04 23:21

I heard you. So you good? Yeah, I'm fine. Snatches of talk began drifting around like insects circling a carcass. She took off on her own.

SPEAKER_03 23:33

I heard she got in a fight with her mom. A girl said. No way. Her friend shook her head.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

My cousin swears someone found her biking near a creek bed. Behind them, a guy in a letterman jacket added in.

SPEAKER_05 23:46

I bet a truck driver grabbed her. Bet she's halfway up the interstate by now.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

Gross, man. What? Happens all the time. No, I heard she was drug uh I heard she was a drugie, someone else offered. Probably OD'd somewhere, and nobody's gonna find Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! You're doing great. Got all these different voices in your life. 25 kids in this class, and I'm all of them. Help! Probably OD'd somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Nobody's found her body yet. People love tragedy as long as it belongs to someone else. Meanwhile, the teachers started acting strange. Mrs. Hart unveiled the first of their new creations during homeroom. She stood on a small stool near her doorway while the class felt filed in. A bundle of sticks hung from one thread in her grip, and she raised it high enough for everyone to see. Twigs jammed together in uneven knots. A wrap of blonde and black thread circled the center. Dry husks of corn leaves jutted from the sides, so the whole shape resembled broken teeth gathered in a clump. By the end of the first bell, there were three more dangling from her windows. Kinda witchy, right? Jodie nodded toward the strange dangling things. The ornament swung in a crooked circle as the air vent rattled next to it. Mrs. Hart kept her attention to the stick of quizzes spread across her desk. The stack of quizzes spread across her desk. Her pen carved neat lines across one page and then another.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

Therefore, Thanksgiving, Jody, decorations help ease the season in. They might even lift the spirits around here. Instead of feeding all the gloom you kids stir up.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Jody blew a faint puff toward one of the charms and let it sway. Yeah, a bundle of sticks. Real cheerful. Mrs. Hart raised her face then.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

Books. She said. Use your energy on those. You can save the jokes for someone who wants to hear them. If I was you, Jody, I'd I'd be worried about your grades. Not the fall decor.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

So we've hit a little break right here. What's going on? Wicker man. Wickerman.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

Nicolas Cage.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Yes. Yeah. Alright. We're getting witch vibes. We're getting lost classmate vibes, right? Yeah. This is sounding a lot like weapons.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

I haven't seen weapons yet.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

Kinda the same thing so far.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

It's gonna take a long time. I don't care if you say anything about it.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Yeah. Well, not to spoil everything, but it's kind of about a bunch of a class. Well, I know the the whole kids go missing and then Naruto run everywhere. There is witchy stuff at play and down to the Well did she say something about like hair? Yeah. Like the um what was what was the wording for that?

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Um go back up. Kind of witchy right. Here we go. A bundle of sticks hung from one bundle of sticks hung from one thread in her grip, and she raised it high enough for everyone to see. Twigs jammed together in uneven knots or wrap a blonde and black thread. Yeah. Circled in the center.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

So that's kind of even like similar imagery almost to like the stuff that I've seen in that I saw on weapons, but I'm hearing it out. I mean it's it's really well written so far. I'm loving it.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

This is uh the prequel to the Blair Witch Project.

SPEAKER_04 27:19

Yes. I mean, I guess the witchy thing, it's not it doesn't belong to weapons. But the the missing classmate thing kinda does. Yeah. Considering this came out a few months ago as well. Um But yeah, I'm liking it though. I think the writing is really good.

SPEAKER_03 27:37

Like Wicker Man, right? Nick Cage is a detective in a noir. Yes. A girl goes missing who's a young lady, and he's going after her, and then all of a sudden there's all this like weird pagan fucking this type of shit. You've seen The Wicker Man with Nick Cage? If I said no, that would be bad. That would look pretty bad, wouldn't I? I haven't seen that. I've never seen it. It's I like it a lot. It's really cool. It's this. But different. Yeah. Alright, we're back. Do you have GERDs? Yes. Interesting. Cheese GERD. Yo, yo, imagine ordering G's. What? Imagine ordering.

SPEAKER_07 28:28

Jeez.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Not what I was gonna say, but it came out real good. Uh you uh imagine ordering G's Gerds. Gird Girds. Yes. I get it. Yo, can we can we clip that and repeat that? Like what over in a laugh? Clip it! Anytime. Like the next time something funny, really funny happens.

SPEAKER_04 28:57

Alright, so Lena has gone missing. As well as other people very well. It's really rude when you sneeze while I'm talking. Yeah, do your little dance. I'm like a snake trying to get out of his skin because it hurts. Trying to molt. So Lena this guy Ty here seemed to have a little bit of a it's cold. Yeah. But now she's gone. And now there's a the teacher with a bundle of sticks and hair.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

Well, Ty is a bloated carcass. He's just a bully. He's a class bully. And the the teacher was whispering sweet nothings in her ear. And the fucking title of this story is like The Teachers Know More Than They're Letting On.

SPEAKER_04 29:51

Yeah, there's something weird about the teachers.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

So obviously, the teachers know more than they're letting on. Which makes me think about this trinket even more in a way than I already did. But I would have picked up and I think both of us would have picked up on that anyway. But I will say, Ty needs to chill the fuck out.

SPEAKER_04 30:12

Type it easy, man. Alright? Okay? Alright. Within the day, the trinkets lined air nearly every hall in classroom. A few held small white beads sorry, there's a spider over there. Yeah, I don't know. Within the day, the trinkets lined nearly every hall in classroom. A few held small white beads threaded through the center, each with a dull finish that reminded me of chalk dust. Chicken, Mason said. He jabbed his pencil toward it. It's got to be.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

Look. The slow sigh of failure. It's got to be. It looks like those bulk wing bags that my dad buys. Chicken bones, dude. Weird.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

Someone had to be making them without stopping. Twisting, tying, threading on their prep hours, after school, during lunch, working at them day in, day out. Meanwhile, the front office door found something different to a door in its frame altogether. A few teachers had hammered a notice up. The paper said there would be no assembly about Lena's disappearance due to the ongoing investigation and to prevent a necessary alarm. So instead of talking about her as a whole, we talked about her in pieces. Fragments of her were traded at locker doors, half sentences in bathroom stalls, conspiracies thrown around at the back of the bus. If any room kept her presence intact, it waited at the end of the music wing where her last sighting rested. Room one fourteen. Music theory with Mr. Klein. After she went missing, the entrance changed. Or after she went missing, that entrance changed. Dry bramble crowded the frame until it resembled the throat of something long dead, packed full of brush and the color of a late harvest. Clusters pooled above his desk and smothered the windows with crawling knots. A few swung low enough that students ducked as they entered. I had stopped to stare when Jody slipped up beside me. Okay, that's a little overkill, right? She tucked her stack of textbooks under her arm and cocked her head toward the doorway.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

I mean, seriously, why does Mr. Klein get the crazy shrine and we all just get sad twigs shoved over a pencil sharpener?

SPEAKER_04 32:53

I don't know. I leaned back against the locket row, eyes still fixed on the strands of bone and thread dangling above the door.

SPEAKER_06 33:03

I think it's a little mess I think it's a little messed up, honestly. It's like he's making some sort of statement.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Ah that was him. No, was it her? F me. Anyway, you guys will figure it out. Or he's just weird.

SPEAKER_04 33:22

Wait, what did you say?

SPEAKER_03 33:23

Ori's just weird.

SPEAKER_04 33:25

Jody shrugged. Emma appeared between us, stealing my view of the doorway. Her cheeks held the flush of the wind that had swept outside lot.

SPEAKER_06 33:35

Maybe he gotta Maybe he cared about her, she said.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

It doesn't mean Oh, it's about to go down. Ooh, I'm fucking this up. Oh, it's downhill from here. Oh I'm about to get are you mad? Maybe he cared about her. She said, it doesn't have to mean anything. Maybe this is just how he shows his grief. People do strange things when they're hurt. Strange is one word for it, Jody muttered.

SPEAKER_04 34:04

Football pads scraped tile before Mason rounded the corner. The sound carried down the hall as he limped toward us. One hand pressed against the wall for balance. Hey, he said. What are we talking about?

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Emma thinks Mr. Klein's birdness has something to do with the grief or whatever. Jodi spun her hand near her temple. She's lost it.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Mason turned toward her, face covered in sweat.

SPEAKER_05 34:30

Really?

SPEAKER_04 34:31

You just got to admit that it's a strange way to show you missing one of them. Emma pivoted toward the stairwell and moved away from our circle. I'm just saying you don't know, Mason. She said. And you don't and you don't either.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

I'm just saying I'm just saying I don't know, Mason. And I you don't either. Okay, but like Mason started. It's fine. Emma pivoted toward the stairwell. Forget I even said anything. Wait, Em. She laughed. Well damn, my bad. Did I say something stupid again?

SPEAKER_04 35:12

Nah. Jody said, watching the spot where Emma had disappeared.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

She shared a desk with Lena in one of uh their classes. I think she's just been sensitive about it. She paused, frowning. I never thought she liked her all that much. Maybe that's why it's FAK! Fawk! Damn, bro. Maybe that's why it's hard. I said.

SPEAKER_04 35:40

Jody gave me a look. Deep. Anyway. She turned to Mason.

SPEAKER_05 35:45

That was the ankle. Screwed up, basically.

SPEAKER_03 35:48

Nurse just cleared me, but I'm benched for a while.

SPEAKER_04 35:50

He shifted his weight, wincing slightly.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

Actually, any chance you guys are interested in heading up to the practice field with me? Coach wants me to do some stretches there. Says grass is better for my feet. I'm out. I said. Sorry, man. Uh no problem, dude. Jody? Sure, why not? She pushed off from the locker. Lead the way, cripple.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Harsh. You love it. I stayed across from room 114 until the last few students students bled out. When the hallway cleared, I stepped through. Mr. Klein? He looked up from his desk. Tyler?

SPEAKER_03 36:29

Oh wait, that's not his what was his voice? Mr. Klein? What is there? Fucking twenty-five people? I don't fucking know what's going on! I can't talk this much. What was he? How'd he sound?

SPEAKER_04 36:41

Tyler? Tyler. Probably Deber, I don't know. He looked up from his desk. What brings you by? My throat worked against the dryness in it.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

I wanted to ask you something. He waited. Do you know where Lena went after she finished up here that night? The night she disappeared? His back straightened a notch. That isn't something I can discuss, Tyler. You know that. The investigation's still going on. I'm not asking for details. I I just want to know if she practiced piano after school. Late, I mean I saw you two talking that night.

SPEAKER_04 37:15

He started packing his bag, shuffling papers together so they wouldn't shake against each other.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

You kids need to keep your minds on your work. He said. Should we skip those? I I'll just like Yeah, I mean if you want to I was thinking about that in the car earlier.

SPEAKER_04 37:34

You were thinking about that in the car earlier?

SPEAKER_03 37:36

Yeah, I was like, we can skip the he said, she said. Fucking bullshit.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

What else do you think limp biscuit what else are you thinking about in the car? If you're thinking about something as menial as that. Mr. Klein. Fuck.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

Alright. Continue. You kids need to keep your mind on your work. Let people in charge handle everything. Go home, eat dinner, do your homework. Well, because I'm waking up tomorrow. Mr. Klein. Tyler, I mean it.

SPEAKER_04 38:12

Go home. Mr. Klein lifted his bag and set the strap across his back, then reached toward one of the ornaments hanging above him. He rotated it so it matched the direction of the others.

SPEAKER_03 38:24

Oh. Tell your mother hello for me. I haven't seen her since the vault formal. Have her stop by next time she's on a break.

SPEAKER_04 38:32

I'd love to catch up. By the following Wednesday, the pressure finally split open at our table. It's been a week, Mason said. He tore the crust from his pizza and tossed the pieces back onto his tray.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

Everybody's still on edge? No assembly? No cops? No dogs? Nothing. When are we gonna hear something? My little sister is already making herself scared sick about coming here next year. She's eleven, man. She shouldn't be scared of going she shouldn't be scared of her own school. Emma tapped the side of her milk carton. I'm sure they found something. They probably just can't share it yet because of the investigation. Yeah. We got we gotta say the the first the first time it's it's somebody says something because we don't know who's my my voice is so limit it's the range is small. Alright, fine, do it again. Yeah. Jody said. Sure, they're finding a whole lot of things lately. Like finding more twigs for their little dolls.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

Honestly, fuck 'em what are they doing with the Alright, can we can we fucking pause here?

SPEAKER_03 39:46

So the teach the teachers are putting up pagan imagery everywhere. And there's like so many of them it's absurd. I don't like that. Somebody must have been doing it day in, day out.

SPEAKER_04 40:04

It's kind of creepy. Yeah, it's super fucked up. I was I've been a little confused, and then I think when you said that it helped me visualize everything better. No, like uh Blur Witch Project. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:26

It's like the shit hanging in the woods. It's it's like they look they look like people.

SPEAKER_04 40:30

I was just making sure that was right in my head. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:34

No, they're like everywhere. It it is And all the teachers are doing it. Yeah, and then Mr. Klein's got like a really big one. And I was thinking, I was like, wouldn't it just subvert our expectations if Mr. Klein was like actually a good guy? Wouldn't that just leave that there to hang in the air.

SPEAKER_04 40:53

What if he's actually pretty cool? What if he's then he made the biggest one to throw the suspicion off of him? I have horrible allergies, guys. This is hard.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Boom, hell the honeysucles are blooming behind you, Mr. Klein said. Whatever.

SPEAKER_04 41:11

I kept my focus on my own tray. The mashed potatoes had a thick clot of lukewarm skin clinging to the top. That's the most horrible thing in this whole thing. That's the worst thing in this whole story so far. I'm glad we both agreed immediately.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

I didn't want to break in, but I was like, I almost I like have to say something.

SPEAKER_04 41:29

The thick clot of lukewarm skin clinging to the top. I know exactly what that feels like. There you go. It's very unpleasant. Read the next one. That's for you. I broke it with my fork and watched it split pale in geladinous.

SPEAKER_06 41:42

Ugh.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

I had something I needed to say. The words had been sitting in my chest for days.

SPEAKER_03 41:51

The group turned. Emma spoke first. What do you mean, Ty? Oh, not like that. I set my fork down. I mean in my head. When I'm sleeping. It feels real. I see her walk to Klein's room and with her stack of sheep music and her stupid oversized hoodie and everything looks normal. And she just never walked out.

SPEAKER_04 42:13

Nobody said anything for a few seconds. The cafeteria roar pushed against us from the neighboring tables. Every night? Emma asked. Every night. Mason sighed. Okay, hear me out. Jody huffed and jabbed at her green beans.

SPEAKER_06 42:31

This is going to be something stupid.

SPEAKER_04 42:34

Probably, Emma agreed.

SPEAKER_03 42:36

Give me a second. Mason's expression had gone darker than usual. Come on. We're all thinking the same thing. Teachers are off, right? They act like everything's fine. String up their little chicken bones, tell us to shut up and study, and pretend like we shouldn't care about the missing girl in our class. So if we stop asking them about it and just ask her.

SPEAKER_04 43:00

Emma's eyes flicked over to him. Ask her. How?

SPEAKER_03 43:06

You know how. Don't don't say it. Oh no. Jody? Er Jody, you remember that Ouija board your cousin brought to the bonfire last summer? That cheap Walmart thing?

SPEAKER_04 43:20

Jody snorted.

SPEAKER_03 43:22

Mason no. Wait. Hear me out. What if we sneak into school on Friday night? Through the back gym window. Kids have been doing that for years. No big deal. We go to her room, we set up the board on Klein's floor, and we ask her what happened. If nothing's answered, cool. We scared ourselves. We go home, we know we tried.

SPEAKER_04 43:49

If something does answer, he lifted both arms in a wide arc and let them fall against his side.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Going on. Emma's eyes settled on his. You want to break into the school at night so you can play with ghosts by a missing girl? Do you have something better to suggest?

SPEAKER_04 44:12

Jody raked her nails against the table and a curve pulled at her lips. Oh. I'm so down. That startled all of us.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

Damn, alright. So let's do this. Seriously?

SPEAKER_04 44:27

Emma turned toward me, pushing one knee against mine beneath the table.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

The phone just freaked. It's trying to make me type. I don't want to type. I don't know how to make it stop. Are you scared? How do I make this go away? Mine I just do this.

SPEAKER_04 44:48

I don't know. Um I can't. Oh no. What's wrong with it? Have you lost your place?

SPEAKER_03 44:57

No, it's this is it. It's just brutal.

SPEAKER_04 45:00

Probably just roll with it, sadly.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

F me.

SPEAKER_06 45:05

Turn towards me, push one knee against mine beneath the table.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

What about you, Tyler? What do you think? I think it's a stupid idea. I said. No duh. So is doing nothing. Mason shot back. Oh. You hit that thing for her, man. It's the least we can do.

SPEAKER_04 45:23

Fuck off. The words came out louder than I meant. A few students turned in our direction before drifting back into their own talk. Mason lifted both arms like he was trying to placate a straight dog.

SPEAKER_03 45:36

Whoa, relax. Now I'm just saying, if we went if he if I went missing, you'd go looking for me.

SPEAKER_05 45:42

You know you know you would.

SPEAKER_03 45:45

This should be no different.

SPEAKER_04 45:48

He was right. Don't say it. Emma had that stubborn game day look I had seen when she was at her soccer games. A lot of fury. Fine. Friday after dark, I'll be there. Mason slapped the table. Jody laughed. Emma's hand found my knee under the table and squeezed.

SPEAKER_06 46:10

Ty.

SPEAKER_03 46:13

Yeah, I knew it. I was gonna say it a second ago, but I didn't say anything. Emma's got a crush on Ty Dollassine.

SPEAKER_04 46:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 46:24

Ty!

SPEAKER_04 46:25

Good good for them. So let's do a quick rundown of that. I guess these are kind of like almost broken up into chapters. Yeah, it looks like it's little dashes. Um that's why we've stopped. That's the only thing keeping us from stopping because we're so locked in.

SPEAKER_03 46:42

Man, this story is really good. Man, this story is really good. Man, this story's really good.

SPEAKER_04 46:47

It's pretty It's really good. It is good.

SPEAKER_03 46:50

It's fucking awesome.

SPEAKER_04 46:51

Yeah. I'm enjoying it so far. Um I like the relationships. It feels very believable. Uh their little banter back and forth. Um these are high schoolers, correct?

SPEAKER_03 47:02

Yeah. Uh 11th grade. So I don't even know what fucking 16 to 17?

SPEAKER_04 47:09

11th? Or 11th grade? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, 16-17, I would say. You might get a few eighteeners in there. You might even get a few fifteeners in there. Fucking a few 20-year-olds. Yeah, you got a few 28-year-olds.

SPEAKER_03 47:22

Um I've been helped back for 10 fucking years.

SPEAKER_04 47:25

Your Mason voice, he sounds like one of the 20 year olds. I don't know. You know, I think I went to school. Um, I don't even know. Um got held back. I feel like I I had a class with a dude who was literally like everyone went well, it was a rumor. Everyone was like, yeah, dude's like 20 years old.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

Yeah, well, if you got held back twice, you could be like you could turn 19, I feel like, somewhere in junior year. And then when you're a senior, you're like, you're 20, and then you're about to turn 21. That's fine when you graduate from.

SPEAKER_04 47:58

Could you imagine being in high school where you're 20 years old?

SPEAKER_03 48:02

Oh, it'd be fucking horrible.

SPEAKER_04 48:04

Yeah, I'd just kill myself, probably for being real.

SPEAKER_03 48:07

Anyone listening? You're in that position, you know what to do. I'm just kidding, you know that it was a joke. This is Minecraft. This yeah, that was for Minecraft.

SPEAKER_04 48:17

So Lena disappeared. All the teachers are being subtle being really not even subtle with it. They're putting up pagan imagery all around the school.

SPEAKER_03 48:31

I feel like it in real life, if there was some of it, it wouldn't be that bad because it's like winter harvest or fall. Yeah, I don't know. Anyway, harvest time. Yeah. You know, you but there's so much, it's like Yeah. It's excessive. It's excessive, it's drawing attention to it, it's making it like it feels like I mean they're basically saying feels like Wicker Man.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

I mean it's it's enough to where these kids notice. Yeah, high school kids are like let's get a Ouija board and just see if she's dead.

SPEAKER_03 49:07

Yeah. Which that's beyond nuts. But also we know that it's not beyond the realm of possibility. Children like empathy. Yes. And also, this it must be set in the nineties or early two thousands, because good luck breaking into a fucking school. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_04 49:23

Yeah, like that's not gonna happen. Yeah. They've got all sorts of corridors of safety now, and well, I'm sure a SWAT team will be there in three minutes flat. Um Yeah, it's it's fun so far. It's got that kind of like nineties adventurous kind of feel to it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:43

No, it does.

SPEAKER_04 49:44

It's awesome. Like yeah, early two thousands.

SPEAKER_03 49:47

Early two thousands, you know, it's not even seventies to early two thousands. But no, well, yeah, but like uh twenty teens, like this could be like twenty fucking six eighteen or something. You know, I feel like this is but I had to go at some point I had to go get my transcript from our high school.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:14

I had to go through two fucking okay, first of all, it was impossible to get inside. I didn't know how to there was no fucking buzzer, there was no one to let me in. I didn't fucking understand. I had to get the transcript for going back to college and all that. And so somehow this kid I think they have like key cards or something. I'm trying to remember, this was still a while ago, but they like key in and then like they like this kid like holds the door open for me. Yeah, uh, thank you. I'm supposed to be there. I mean I was, you know, but I was like, what the fuck? So I get inside, okay. That's like airlock one. I went through like two airlocks just to talk to somebody. And then they like had already buzzed through and gone into the next room. And then I had to I there was like a a PTO mom there. Like it was like a desk and there's like one person working. Nice. That's what I'm saying. It would have been nice if they weren't a fucking opiates. Put her there. Put her there, boy. No, I mean she just peeled the fuck out. Actually. Not even like not even subtly. Not joking around, like just peeled out. And I told her, I said, hey, uh I mean, I don't know, to these like respectfully older women. I might look like a high schooler. I don't know. You know what I mean? To them, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:37

So look at you, you yo, you youthful little boy.

SPEAKER_03 51:40

I just like walked up and uh, can I help you with something? I don't know. It just seemed like she looked at me like I was supposed to be there. As if I like anyway, so I was like, I'm trying to get my transcript. It took her fucking I was in that airlock, first airlock, for 20 minutes, trying to explain to her. I was like, I need to talk to I think I don't know who I should talk to. Yeah. And finally I like got it out of her that it was like probably a counselor or something that I should talk to. Yeah. Like, okay, I'll buzz you into the next area. I get buzzed in the next area, and it's the same fucking thing. So, you know It's impossible to get into these theaters. All that to say, you can't get it.

SPEAKER_04 52:22

No, you can't just Oh the the theater room is unlocked.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

I know because Yeah, no Mr.

SPEAKER_03 52:29

Shepard, he's crazy. But that that that was a thing. I remember the like a few it was like the the the year after we went I graduated high school, we went back. Yeah. Same high school, right? Mm-hmm. And we went through the front office, which was one, I guess we called airlock, you know. And it wasn't the other door wasn't locked. We could just walk through if nobody's in there. Uh we were like, hey, you know, we're trying to see this one teacher. We'd like to come back and just and just say what's up. And uh they were like, nah, there's no way. You have to have like uh you have to like email them and get a note and all that. I was like, I get it, security and all that. So we just walked outside, we went around the side of the school and just fucking opened the door and went in. Yeah. That's what I was about to say. We walked across the entire school. Yeah. From opposite ends. Yeah. And then we were like, hey man, we just came to say what's up. And he was like. And then we told him about all that, and he was like, basically, them silly hoes.

SPEAKER_04 53:28

Yeah, no, yeah. Like I've I've got stories of on my end where it was just like, yeah, you you go after school and there's just a door unlocked. There were doors unlocked everywhere. It was crazy. You just walk right into a classroom that was active. Yeah. And um she'd be like, What's up? Um people did all the time. People that hadn't gone to the the high school for like three years. Just walk in. It's just like a fully grown man at that point. Well, dude, I remember a beard and everything, and like when I was in high school. Just walked into the class and be like, Hey, what's up?

SPEAKER_03 54:01

We were uh I think you were there, but we didn't know each other at the time. Which is funny for the viewer.

SPEAKER_04 54:07

Funny, funny, haha.

SPEAKER_03 54:09

We sometimes ate lunch in the same giant Amalgamation of a group. Yeah. But we had like we did not speak. No. Never. And then like seven years later we came friends. Which I think is funny how long it took. That is funny. Uh where'd my fucking blue thing go? Uh I think it fell behind you. Something. Oh shit. Oh, it's on the ground. Here, continue, sorry. Uh no, okay, this is this is crazy to me. Okay. We would eat lunch, and then like adults would join us.

SPEAKER_04 54:50

Yeah, I was about to mention that.

SPEAKER_03 54:51

Like, uh with like full tattoo sleeves would just come and sit in the hallway.

SPEAKER_04 54:56

Well, are you talking about like friends you had that were out no longer in high school, or are you talking about like fucking friends?

SPEAKER_03 55:03

Well, I don't know what you're about to say, but no, these were like just men who were and like granted I did know them enough because they were sitting in this I mean the group was big, but not that big. They weren't you know doing anything weird. But just the fact that they were able to do that was very weird. Yeah, just and the fact that they would want to do that. Yeah. Well, looking back, I'm like, those people are just very stunted. You know what I mean? Like their friends were in high school and they were like, I don't even know how old, like I think they were like twenty-one, twenty-two. That's that's way too old. Yeah, for sure. Way too old, bro. You gotta move on. Yeah, but I remember Well they didn't go to our high school, that's what I'm saying. I'm like, yeah, you have no other connection.

SPEAKER_04 55:47

Yeah, but people would would come, especially at lunchtime. That was the big hot spot. Just people that don't even fucking go anymore. They just walk right in. Yeah. Or walk we ate lunch outside sometimes. Yeah. We'll just park and pull up. And that is something I'm guessing doesn't happen anymore. I don't even fucking know. Fucking people honestly, every time I meet someone who's in high school, it's like a different world. They're like so different.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

It's like, yeah, I go to class one, two days a week. And then we do we do Zoom Thursdays. We do we have Zoom Thursdays.

SPEAKER_04 56:23

And they they have a day job. Yeah. And they're like, ah, just I didn't go to what do you mean? I didn't do any I have a very traditional uh like schooling. Went Monday through Friday. Regular SH like 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. So um it confuses me that some people have like just I see like a 17-year-old and they just like are living like they're an adult. Oh, it's so the fuck is going on.

SPEAKER_03 56:52

Also, I'll say when I pulled up to get my transcript, I didn't know where to go, so I like pulled up to like one of the just a parking lot up front, you know? Yeah. I was like, okay, what makes sense? Spots up here, I'll pull over here. It was like near the building, so I like I'm driving, and I'm getting mean mugged by a security guard and like a football coach or something, like a big guy. Yeah. I slow down and before before I even like I have crank windows, before I even like roll my window down, I have to like lean across. So I gotta be parked to do it. Before I even like get parked to like lean over to roll my window down, the teacher is already like fucking the the cop is just staring at me and like the the teacher's like rolling up on me. Guns are drawn. Basically, it really felt like that. I like roll my window down, and I was he's like, What are you doing? I was like, first of all, at that point, I'm still a young man, I'm not like you know, it's not like outlandish. Yeah. I'm somebody's older brother, you know, whatever. You know what I mean? Uh I was like, man, I'm trying to get my transcript. I don't know where to go, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to park. And he was like, he was like, he looked pissed. He was like, okay, well, park over there, and uh you go in the front office or whatever. Yeah. That's when I had that whole like it took like three hours.

SPEAKER_04 58:15

Time all that to say, times they are changing.

SPEAKER_03 58:21

Truly, truly, truly. And are is it empowering to the young man and young lady? I don't know. That's not for us to know.

SPEAKER_04 58:31

It's for those little birds. Well, our fire is dwindling. But hey, we moved on to a new chapter in this little story here. Um uh where we left off. Emma. This is a really good story. Yeah, I know. And there seems to be some heated romance, almost a heated rivalry. What is it? Yeah, I know. Emma's that gay stuff, huh? Emma's hand found my knee under the table and squeezed.

unknown 59:00

Die.

SPEAKER_03 59:01

So there seems to be some Dude, he would have popped a hard one right there, boy. You're in high school. Got a stiffy. My god. Dude, it does not matter.

SPEAKER_04 59:11

So they're about to get in some Ouija board shit here. Yeah. Alright. Well, I'm gonna continue here. Alright. Okay. Friday array Ugh Great. Lost my steam. Friday arrived faster than I wanted it to. By the last bell, the world beyond the windows had turned the color of a bruise. That violet shade the sky wears just before the first flake falls. Good riding. Just want to say that. Good riding. The lamps across the lot stayed dead, and the only light came from an orange street lamp by the road that threw a thin smear of glow along the edge of the football field. Mason waited near the dumpsters, pacing in a crooked half circle. Each step kicked up light curls of frost from the asphalt. He wrapped his arms across his chest and drove them hard against his ribs, willing warmth into his flesh by force. Jody arrived soon after in her father's army fleece, the fabric hanging on long enough to swallow up her hands. Emma trailed behind her, her hood drawn forward in the air from her mouth turning to milk in the air.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:38

Hold on, I'm trying to figure out who's talking. Okay, Emma and okay. Took long enough. He said. I've been standing here like an idiot for twenty minutes. I was beginning to think you I'd have to What? I was beginning to think I'd be having a dumpster date with an opossum. You'd blend right in.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:59

Jody said, wiping frost from her face with the edge of her sleeve. Trash tracks trash. Ouch. Mason clutched his chest. Right in the heart. He smirked and jerked his chin her toward her fleece. You bring it? Jody slipped a cardboard box out from underneath her coat. The edges were scuffed and the lid was held shut by a strip of peeling tape. Is that it? Emma asked. She trailed behind Jody with her hood drawn forward, the air from her mouth turning to milk between them.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:34

It looks old. It is old, Jodi said. My cousin found it in her grandma's attic. She said it belonged to her great aunt or something. Perfect. A haunted hammock down. Exactly what I wanted to hear. You wanted this. Jody reminded him. Fair. You know, we can still go home. Emma added. We just started crying. We can say we tried we can say we tried the window and couldn't get in. Come on, Emma, it's right there. We might as well go inside and take a peek. Then you lead the way. Emma said.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:19

She pulled her hood strings across her face and shivered. We followed the wall with Mason at the front. Frost clung to the brick, and each step and each step sent loud cracks through the ice spread across the pavement. The window sat near a stack of electrical boxes. A student had loosened it years ago, and had never sat right since. Mason lowered himself to one knee and pressed the edge of his palm beneath the warped frame. The plastic groaned as he worked it upward until it eased up with a soft squeal.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:54

There you go. Would you look at that? He said. Exclusive entry. No line, no ticket total VIP treatment.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:04

He motioned us forward with a sweep of his hand.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:07

Go on, Brave Explorers.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:09

Jody cast him a sour smile. Brave Explorers? Shakespeare would weep. She pushed the cardboard box through the gap, then slipped in after it with the ease of someone used to climb She p she pushed the cardboard box through the gap, then slipped in after it with the ease of someone used to climbing out of windows. What's the next what's the start of the next paragraph? I followed? I followed. Okay. My screen's kind of fucked up. So I want to make sure. I followed. The frame scraped the back of my jacket as I pulled myself through. The air inside greeted me with the stale blend of dust, sweat, and floor polish. Emma eased in behind me while Mason dragged up the rear, dropping from the ledge with a grunt and lowering the window pane until it met the sill again. The gym swallowed our shapes. Bleachers were shoved back. The scoreboard hung dead, its red digits gone. Phones lit up one by one and cast pale circles over the court. The glow slid across the empty room and made the walls feel farther away than they should have been. This is creepy as shit, Jody said. She swept her screen in a broad arc, sending the beam crawling over the folded benches. Emma tugged her hood back from her cheek. Remind me why you encouraged us, Jody. I was bored. We crossed the court in a tight row, shoes squeaking against the wood. Mason pressed his palm against the metal bar of the far the far door and pushed it open. The shadows of the hallway gathered around us as we stepped inside. Lockers stood on both sides. A long corridor of metal mouths and loose teeth. Fuck, loose teeth. Room 114. Yes! Teeths! I knew that. Lockers stood on both sides. A long corridor of metal mouths and loose teeth. Room 114 waited at the end. Our lights shuddered over the walls as we s as we went. The doorway carried clusters of charms that hung so crowded they formed a little a brittle curtain. Twined strands and pressed husks crossed each other in a web that blocked half the entrance. Okay?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:38

Jody said. Nope. Absolutely not. I changed my mind. I hate this. Just stick it out. Nope. It's just sticks. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:49

I'm gonna go back. Our lights shuddered over the walls as we went. The doorway carried clusters of charms that hung so we're gonna Yeah, I don't I don't like this Ugh, I don't like it at all. Twice. Like they've added even more or something.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:02

Yeah, yeah. Are you getting the vibe? Or it's like a spider web. Yeah, or like that. You don't no no, you know what I mean? Like uh supernatural. Like it's like a it's like a fuck, what's it called? Chrysalis? Like a uh a fucking caterpillar got inside of it to turn into a butterfly or a moth or something? Crystallist.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:26

Yeah, some some kind of word like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:30

A cocoon? Yeah, a cocoon. Oh yeah, like a cocoon. It's it's just like something is happening. It's closed off for a reason with like what does it say? Twine strands pressed husks. Twine strands and pressed husks.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:46

This is they're talking about the entrance to room 114, right? Yeah. Which is done up by Mr. Klein. And that's the room that Lena disappeared in, right? Yeah. That's what is the music room.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:57

Yeah, it's the last place that was seen.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:59

So I'm picturing like the room in school of rock. Yeah. Like the music room, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:05

I'm picturing the old, big old band room from our high school.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:09

Yeah, I'm picturing that too. And like, but you go in there, it's after dark, and they've set up since then there's like even more impassable, almost like just so much shit. There's so much pagan imagery. It's really fucked up. I'm not enjoying it. I'm picturing like you're using the the shitty light of your flashlight, your phone flashlight. And I'm picturing it when I was in high school, when phone flashlights were not nearly as powerful. Yeah, they were like super dim and shitty. And they would some of them like would turn off after a certain amount of time, I think. And there's just like pagan imagery all over this shit.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:57

Ugh. We used to we used to not have phone flashlights like built in. Yes. And there used to be apps you could get to press the button. Right?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:07

That's what I'm thinking of is the app. But like think when your phone closed, it would like turn off. Yeah, the flashlight would go away.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:13

So that's what I'm thinking, but in a different way. I used to not have the app or whatever, but I would use um I would take a flash video.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:22

And uh I would take a flash video, and if you I'm like walking around or whatever, and you you fuck up, like you turn your phone off or whatever. Uh sleep mode or whatever it's called, and uh you're just in the dark. You have to like do a whole flash video again. So you're not just getting your flashlight back if you need it real quick.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:42

It's nasty stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:44

So Mason said just sticks. Nothing to worry about. Mason is awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:53

Mason's pretty fucking cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:55

With the whole I I I I'm I'm for Mason since he opened the shit up and was being funny and was like, come on, you IP access, everybody coming now. He's like Jock. Fun like the fun jock.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:10

It's just sticks. Nothing to worry about. I would not think that, but good for him. He's very brave.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:16

I wouldn't think that either. I'd be like, we need to go.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:19

We're leaving, dude.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:22

There's a basilisk in here.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:25

Let's let's go. Alright. He pressed his forearm against the charms and pushed his way through. The pieces rattled against the frame as he moved inside. I ducked beneath the lowest cluster. Several charms brushed my cheek and forehead, their edges dry and pointed, like the scrape of a dozen tiny claws grazing my skin. Inside, paper squashes lined the black the back wall, their edges crimping under the weight of thumbtacks. A pair of cornucopias drooped beside them, stuffed with faded leaf cutouts. Real corn stalks leaned beside the windows, their leaves curled inward, shrinking from the air. Moonlight broke through the charms strung across the panes, splitting into thin bands that stretched across the desks in uneven stripes. Klein's name still sat on the board from that afternoon. Under it he had written the date and the words Unit Test Tuesday in hard, ruler straight letters. Jody sank to the floor near the front row and placed the cardboard box between the desks. She opened it with the corner of her sleeve, then set the board on the tile. Mason dropped himself beside her and lifted the planchette from the box with two fingers hooked beneath its curve. He gave it one small roll across the board, then let it come to rest.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:04

So this is where we're going to do so this is where we're gonna do it? Where else? Jody gave a curt, jerky dip of her chin.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:13

Right here. Middle everything. Emma's arms clamped across her chest as she scanned the room's corners. The shadowed space beneath the teacher's desk, the dark mouth of the supply closet. What if someone catches us?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:27

They won't. But what if Emma? Jody twistered toward her. We're already here. We'll finish it before anyone spots us. Exactly, just relax. Mason patted the floor next to him. We'll ask a few questions. A ghost will tell us Lena ran off with some secret boyfriend, and Tyler can go home and cry about it. You're a prick. Bad coping mechanisms. He shrugged. Happens when I'm freaked out.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:00

Emma eased down at last. We all settled cross-legged, knees pressed around the board. My jeans soaked up the chill pulling off the floor. Phone's off, Mason said. We killed our lights. The room sank into a grainy shade, where shapes clung to their outlines, but lost their edges. Hands on the pointer, he said. Keep your touch light. Don't move it. We set the tips of our fingers along the edge of the plastic toy. Mason cleared his throat and raised his tone like a kid, auditioning for a seance scene in a play. Spirits! If you hear us Emma cut in.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:45

No. Just talk normal, Mason, please. Mason started again. Fine. Lena, if you can hear us, we're here. We're your friends? Want you to know. We want to know what happened to you. We waited a minute.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:02

Two more. Nothing moved. The charms near the sill hung without a tremble. Jody slumped forward.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:11

This is dumb. Give it a minute. We've given it a minute. Nothing's happening because nothing's going to happen. Because ghosts aren't real, and Lee is probably just Then the planchette twitched.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:23

It was tiny. A motion so small. It could have been the board settling under our fingers. It jittered in a short, pointless circle, and stopped. Whoa. Emma tensed. Cut it out, you're pushing it. I swear I'm not. The plastic moved again, stuttering over letters without in without landing on any. It bumped the edge of one, scraped, and dragged back. Dim moonlight caught Jody's eyes. So U P I shot a tired sigh in Mason's direction. Seriously, Mason? It's not me. It kept moving. Slow, just a slide, drifting in a slow sweep, as if tugged by a faint current beneath the board. It slipped toward the lower corner, paused to hitch, then drew itself onward. Emma tucked one knee beneath her.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:37

Okay. Okay, it's saying something.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:39

The pointer settled on W. It pushed to H, paused, then shifted to Y. Why? Jody read. The planchette turned lurched toward M, then E. Why me? I murmured. The little plastic shell sat still for a beat. The skin along my palm tingled. My wrist hurt from not trying from trying to not add any pressure. Who are you? Jody whispered. Who's with us? The planchette dragged. It moved with more weight now, like someone had put a palm on it.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:18

It spelled L E N N E A. Man, this new Dav Punk single is incredible. Everything inside me locked up. Someone has to be messing with it. Tyler, are you doing that? Mason asked. I'm not. Jody?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:44

No. Emma held a breath with a second before speaking.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:49

Alright, if this is Lena, tell us something only we would know.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:53

The planchette crawled across the board.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:57

T T A N Dunde That could be anything. It's just gibberish.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:11

Wait. Emma's face flushed pink. She looked uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:16

If this is Lena, what did you keep in your desk?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:20

With me? The planchette drifted from letter to letter, as if it needed time to remember. D R A W I N G S Drowlings? I asked. Emma fixed her eyes on the board. No one should know that. You knew, Mason said.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:49

And you might have told someone. Emma turned toward him with irritation burning through her. I didn't. It looks like really private pictures. They looked like really private pictures. I didn't want to embarrass her. Everybody just take your hands off, Jody said.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:06

We lifted away one by one. Emma held on a sing a second longer before pulling back. The planchette kept sliding without us. It drifted in uneven loops, tracing circles across the alphabet ring.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:23

Jody whispered. Okay, now we know no one's fucking with it. Everybody put your hands back on. We did.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:32

A pool met our touch immediately. It felt like being anchored to a dog's leash with something big on the other end. Lena? I said. Are you okay? The planchette snapped across the board and landed on a single answer. No. What happened to you? It started to move, then stopped halfway to the first letter. It sat there, vibrating under our hands. Mason pressed down harder on the plastic.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:13

Ask something else. Ask where she is. Fine. Where are you, Lena?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:21

The pointer paused in a small shiver, something underneath the cardboard trying to rise through it. Then it drifted across the letters in a patient arc.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:35

Double you.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:42

I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Jody reached Jody read each letter aloud. With the pointer slid again, dragging itself across the surface in a misshapen path. T H E M. Emma brought her hand up to her mouth.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:09

With them?

SPEAKER_06 1:19:11

Who are they?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:12

Oh wait, who are they? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Mason rocked back a beer real quick.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:19

Oh shit. Mason asked, rocking back on his heels. The pointer slid to the corner of the board. It hovered over the word goodbye, then veered off. Hard. It shot away from our palms and smacked the outer ring of the board. The plastic clattered and spun once before, settling on a blank space in the corner of the alphabet ring.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:44

No, no way. That isn't her. This can't be Lena. Mason mumbled. Whatever it is, it's freaking us out.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:51

Emma snapped. Tell it to stop. Our group broke all at once. We started talking over each other. Words collided in the air.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:00

This is insane. You're the one pushing it, Mason. Why me? Why couldn't I wh why would I do that? I don't know, because you think this is funny. You think I want to joke about this? About her?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:13

We yanked our bodies away from the board, angry, scared, desperate for it to be someone's fault. The planchette sat motionless in the corner of the board, innocent, as if it hadn't just thrown itself across the letters. Maybe we should just Emma started, but a noise cut her short. The planchette snapped across the alphabet and landed hard on a letter. LA second jolt. Oh. Another. Ooh. Then K. Jody flinched. Look. Spelled look. Mason squinted.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:55

Look at what?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:56

The air your voice frame is getting deeper and deeper. He's getting bigger, his muscles are getting bigger and bigger.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:03

He's a bigger and bigger boy every second.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:06

The air changed. You hear people say that all the time. The air changed. But it never meant anything to me before that moment. It felt like someone rolled open a freezer door. The cold hit the back of my neck, then slid down my back. I think I think it's pointing at the door. All four of us turned. The window in the classroom door showed a slice of hallway. The glass had that wired pattern through it, cross-hatched, meant to keep it from shattering. Beyond that was nothing but the red emergency exit sign. There's nothing there. I think we're scaring ourselves. But Emma was wrong. A shape drifted toward the window, rising from the shadows like someone lifting their head from deep water. The crosshatch in the glass warped the features as they gathered behind it. Then a face pressed near enough for me to see it clearly. Her eyes looked bigger than I remembered, ringed in shadow. Her lips were torn at one corner, pulled back far enough to show molars she shouldn't have been able to expose. Her hair clung in damp matted ropes to her forehead and cheeks. It was Lena. She stayed there, studying us through the glass, and the sight hit me with two truths all at once. She looked exactly like the girl I remembered, and nothing like her at all. There was a sadness in her expression that hurt to see. Under it was something else. A smear of brownish red trailed down her neck, disappearing below the frame of the window. My hand went out for Emma's before I even knew what I was doing. Jody covered her mouth and gagged on her words. Mason muttered what she meant to say. Lena's head tilted just a little as if she heard him. Then she drew back. One step, two, and her face slipped out of view. We sat there, frozen, staring at the empty glass. A scrape sounded behind us. Long, slow, heavy. We turned. The planchette inched across the board. O L L O Double. And that's the end of part one.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:57

Well, when you look at that view. Welcome to Derby's. I want to tell me if we got look at that. Welcome to Jarbies. Okay. Wow. I want to tell you where the Darby's. For now. Welcome to Jarvis.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:39

That was as good as Revenge of the Sith was. Good. Yes. That was good. That was so I'm upset that we're not.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:48

Our classmate disappeared. The teachers know more than they're saying. Part one of two. That was the end of part one. That was really good. That's engaging, yeah. That's a really fun. Just a good old goosebumpy kind of ghost story there, or whatever it's going to be. I mean, it definitely seems, I mean, obviously it's supernatural. Um no longer is giving weapons vibes to me. At the beginning it kind of was. Um, but it has moved on to its own uh vibe and and its own sort of uh I think it's the best thing. Some sort of imagery. We've read. You think it's the best thing we've read? Yeah, I think technically in terms of like the um the amount of characters, the personalities that have to be like expanded on and like uh the writing. Yeah, I feel like it's it's very like mature. Yeah. Very develop like this author's very just kind of like locked in authority. Yeah, an author. Like actually. Like you've got he's got experience, as you can tell. Um yeah, and it's very it's very cool. I mean it's it's a fun it's a fun story so far. I'm liking the um the kind of coming of age high school.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:05

I think it's so much fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:07

We're gonna break into the school after dark kind of vibe and do a weech board. Like it's just fun. It's always fun. And but still it's kind of it's it's got some very original imagery in it. Like at first I was like, this is kind of like weapons-y, but then I don't know, something about them sneaking into the school after dark and them seeing just like pagan imagery all over the school, and it seems to have gotten even more intense to the point where it's like blocking uh entryways and all that. It's just that's a really haunting visual to me. I also think And the just what's going on with all the teachers, like I've got questions. Well, this is that I was g it's cliffhanger. We've never lived on a cliffhanger before, but it's our first ever multi-part thing. This is gonna have to be a whole nother episode where we do part two.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:03

But it's really exciting because I really do enjoy this one a lot. And I want to see what the fuck happens. I don't like stopping things in the middle.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:11

Yeah. But yeah, it's I think we're hooked. Y'all. And um the Ouija board was fun. I mean, most of the time I'm not a huge fan of Ouija boards, but no, they could be fun for stories, but this is pretty good. Yeah, I'm I'm digging it so far. Um so once again, this is our classmate disappeared, the teachers know more than they're saying. And that was part one of two. Next episode, uh, we will be reading through part two, and once again, this was written by Strange Accounts on Reddit. Also goes by well, I guess he goes by Strange Accounts, but his real name, or at least his author name, is Travis. Weaver. I guess we'll go ahead and just keep plugging him. He's got a seems to be a self-published book out right now. If you liked that, this seems totally different, but it should be just as cool. From the American Frontier, yeah. We've read a few of his more historical account sort of uh stories, and those are really good. Very nice. Very cool. Very nice. Yes. We love ourselves some good old Western tales, especially when there's creepy elements in there. Um yeah, this this guy is just writing bangers after bangers here. We're super excited for part two, and that will be coming uh in two weeks, sadly. But uh stick around, listen to this one over and over and over again if you have to. Uh check out our other episodes if you must. I think they're all pretty damn good. We've got some great stories from some um other amazing authors. Yeah. We try to keep them as high quality and as creepy as we can. Yeah. Um we like finding diamonds in the rough. We like finding new authors. If you have any stories you'd like to recommend to us if you're a writer yourself and you want to recommend a story of yours, send them our way. Hey, bro, reach out.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:14

Reach out, bro. Had one guy reach out and we read a story. And that story was pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:20

Yeah. That's all it takes. We love you. Um we love you. It's starting to get cold. We're starting to get cranky. It's t it's 2 01 in the morning.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:30

Oh, we love you.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:31

And we love you. And that's Alex's cue. He wants to leave now. We love you. We love you. Love you. I love you. I love you. Okay. I love you and only you. I love you. Don't ever forget that, baby girl. I love you. Shout out to all my baby girls. Yeah, you know them. You know who I'm talking about, baby girls. I love you.