AR Master on 8/7/2007 at 00:38

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Let me tell you jerks about the worst shift I've ever completed. For some reason, I got my normal, electrically lit weekend shifts temporarily switched up with guarding Silent fucking Hill all through the night, I suppose to keep torch-bearing mobs or priests from trying to burn the place down.

There's this castle of an elementary school in an abandonned section of town that's slated for demolition or something. The power has long since been cut and guards are being posted to make sure nobody loots the place, or URBAN EXPLORES it (break and enters), and since the fire alarms are off, for insurance purposes, because God knows you don't want your abandonned blast site to burn down, what a waste that would be.

I arrive shortly before midnight as a fog was rolling in the valley. It's easy to tell where this place is because it doesn't reflect light. Wedged in the middle of this quiet street is a towering black monolith devoid of life or light. Even with streetlights humming orange every fifteen yards or so, the school doesn't really appear. It's just this big black void. I parked my bike at the crumbling front steps and looked up into the front doors, where a faint sphere of light showed a pair of legs in police boots.

My coworker was finishing her first shift at midnight and gave me the tour. It's a giant fucking elementary school cast in the inky black more at home at the bottom of the Atlantic than this sleepy street. She ran off a checklist of what's not working: Phones, lights, air, alarm, electricity. Curiously enough the plumbing still worked. I stooped down to a tiny fountain to get a drink of lukewarm, but very clean water.

On site was a heavy duty flashlight wand. A yellow, 20 inch tube with a five pound battery on the bottom and a super bright florescent on top that spread light in 270 degrees. On top was an extendable metal hook. A good makeshift weapon for when Satan's army and zombies and ghosts attacked I suppose. Batteries for the wand lasted about an hour and there were two replacement charges left.

My coworker left and I was left in the front hall, in the pitch black, standing in a small pool of light unable to see down the hall. She told me standing orders were to patrol all three levels including the basement. Awesome. I love dying.

I poked my head in each classroom to see what was left. Most rooms were empty but lots of desks and furniture remained. The halls were filled with garbage bags of books and papers and chairs and the like. Further down the hall was a naked mop. I heard a chk chk chk sound coming from one class and looked up to see a clock still functioning. It gave the right time despite being buried in a layer of dust. More exploration would find that most of the clocks were running.

I climbed the stairs and explored the top floor. With no air and ten inch thick walls there was a humid heat saturating this floor. I kicked something away from the floor and shone my light to see what it was.

A pair of kid's shoes.

Throughout the night I'd find many dozen pairs of shoes around. Nothing else. No coats, no hats or mittens or even socks. Just dozens and dozens of kids shoes scattered around randomly. A pair in the basement stairwell. Half a dozen in the french class. One in the gym. One in the courtyard. Just shoes.

I peered into one class and shone my light on a splatter of red on the ground. After my heart skipped a beat I saw the rest of the class. I was in the old art room, so I'm sure it must have been paint. The rest of the upstairs was clear, although the hall was packed with tables. The room at the end of the hall was locked.

I went downstairs and just sort of stared at the basement door. No windows down here, just classrooms and more garbage. A bag of abandonned books sat spilled out in the landing.

For someone with an overactive imagination, this is the worst place to be. No light, no air, just a light wand and a cellphone on its last blip of battery and no signal. There was a weepweepweepweep alarm going off, so I had to go in and see what was up.

I traced the sound to the computer lab, mostly empty except for a little box with wires snaking out of it and into the wall. It said something to the effect of "Server Backup" on it, and a light reading "low battery" was blinking. I guess it had been on all this time. Whatever, I'm not supposed to touch their equipment and I figured the battery would die eventually so I left it. When I finished shift, it was still screaming.

Leaving the lab and checking out another classroom I heard a snapping sound out and down the hall, like someone stepping on a twig in the middle of the black forest at night. My stomach took a vacation to my feet and I stepped into the hall, shining the light in the direction of the sound. I tried to see to the end when everything went black.

If anyone had been walking by within hearing distance (ten blocks) they probably would have wondered what had scared that 7 year old girl so badly.

The battery to the light had died and I was in a packed hallway in absolute black with no way of finding the stairwell. I flicked the light off and on again and the light flared for three seconds and died. I kept doing this until I found myself at the front doors. The school was, apparently, empty and secure, as I wrote in the log sheet and checked the time. Quarter to one and I have until seven. There wouldn't be enough room on the sheets to write my last will and testament but I didn't have anything worth giving away anyway. I righted an overturned chair and sat down for a while before tromping on down the main level again.

Whenever they abandonned this place, they did it in a hurry. There's food rotting away in the last staff lounge fridge. There's artwork on the walls, yet to yellow because there's no natural light in the school. Books everywhere...

And another goddamned shoe.

Dawn hit me light my ex, hard and fast. I was tired and sick of hearing voices in this building. I'm sure it was just my mind was playing tricks on me through the night. Still, as the outside got bright, inside stayed black.

Although I saw from exterior patrol that the windows were mostly uncovered, they had fogged over long ago and were oqaue. The other side of the school was hugging what was essentially a cathedral, mere feet away, casting that side of the school in perpetual shadow. Eventually my relief showed up and I booked it the hell out of there. I looked back at the school from the crossroad and saw someone looking back at from the upstairs window. I looked again and they were gone. I figured it was just the other guard but that window had to have been from the locked room at the end of the hall. Fantastic.

I get to go back tonight at midnight. Don't send a search party for my mangled or alternate dimension sent-to corpse, just know I disappeared as I lived: under mysterious circumstances

The_Raven on 8/7/2007 at 01:04

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Watch out for Pyramid Head.

As a bonus, you should bring a laptop and take breaks to play the cradle, or something, during your shift.

Shayde on 8/7/2007 at 10:38

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Try not to die - I'd miss your stories.

Schattentänzer on 8/7/2007 at 13:40

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Where are the pictures?

I want pictures!

D'Arcy on 8/7/2007 at 14:22

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You can always call for Captain Radium if you get in trouble.