DARK FALLS ELEMENTARY I stood there in the dark shadowy forest that surrounded the old run down school. Dark Falls Elementary. It was a tall, red brick building with windows boarded up on every side of the building. Vines were creeping up it like a withered hand, forever growing. It was a rectangular building with two, quite large oak doors on the end. There was a big wooden sign with blue letters that said the name of the school and when it was built. 1908. It was only open a few years. It closed down in 1913. Nobody really knows why it was there for only a short time. There was only one man alive that went to that school, but he has not talked since. He is in the hospital, suffering from cancer. I have always wanted to see him, but there's really no point if he can't talk. It was almost midnight so it was really hard to see anything, but we always sneak out of the house at night and go up here. We have done it so much, so we know our way around. The forest is right behind my house, and if you just walk straight for about thirty minutes you get to the clearing, and that's where the school was. My friends houses were all across the street from mine, so every night the three of us would go up there and just hang out. We are all thirteen years old and had been doing this ever since summer started, about a month and a half ago. There, of course, had been rumors that the school was haunted, so, while we hung out, we hoped to see a ghost. I am not sure if any of us really believed in ghosts, I guess all we wanted was to know for sure. Since we had been going up here a while, and weren't seeing anything, we were getting a little bored. Sure it was cool when we first started, but after awhile it, well, just got boring. We were desperate now. All of us wanted to see a ghost really bad, so I knew that this night was going to be different. "Boo!" "Ahhhhh!" I jumped about a mile. I spun around, and saw my best friend, Alex, just coming out of the forest, howling with laughter. "You idiot!" I screamed and shoved him as hard as I could. He stumbled and fell backwards. "Where's Angie?" I asked, just as he had gotten up and was brushing the dirt off of his pants. "Chickened out." He snorted. "She didn't want to?" I looked suprised, "by the way, how are we going to get in." I nodded over to the school. Alex pulled something metal out of his pocket. "A crowbar!" I exclaimed. "Exactly." He walked over to one of the boarded up windows. "This is so exciting!" My eyes were twinkling. Alex put his crowbar under the first board and pried it off with, to my surprise, no difficulty at all. He wiped sweat of his face. It had to be at least ninety degrees right now. He pulled off the last board and pushed at the glass window he uncovered. It opened with an eerie, creak. "Let me go in first," he said, " just so I can make sure it is safe." He turned on his stomach and pushed himself in the window. Right as he did the window slammed shut. I ran over to it and pushed it. It wouldn't open. I couldn't even see him in there. It was completely dark. I took out my flashlight and shined it up to the window, but that wasn't any good. I threw my whole weight against the window, but nothing would make it open. Alex had taken the crowbar inside with him, so I could try breaking the window. Besides, the glass was way to thick. I heard a scream from inside, then a cry. It was Alex! I started screaming and crying. Then I turned and ran. Through the forest, and all the way to my house. I stood outside, in my front lawn, breathing deep, and clutching my side. Should I go in my house and tell my parents what happened? I knew that there was something in that school. I'm not sure if it was a ghost. I wanted to go in that school and help Alex more than anything. I wasn't sure how to confront that thing, whatever it was, in there. I needed a plan. I wanted to, at least try, before I told anybody. But what if it had killed Alex. It would kill me too. The man, at the hospital. He would know what to do. He used to go to that school. But he is over ninety, and he couldn't even talk. I looked at my watch. 12:13. The hospital wasn't that far away. On my bike it would only take me twenty minutes. And well, it was the only plan I had. I crept silently across the yard and into the garage. I pulled out my bike, and twenty minutes later I was in the hospital. I went up to the front desk and the lady there looked at me suspiciously. "Your out late." She said, with a tone I didn't like. "Please," I panted, "I.. Need.. To.. See.. George Baley." "Why?" she asked with that same tone I hated, "Are you a relative?" "I'm his niece!" I lied. "Oh really. And why do you need to see him this late at night?" "Please. It is a family emergency. I really need to seem him. NOW!" "Oh well," She seemed to have given up, "third floor, room two twenty." "Thank you." I ran to the elevator and jabbed at the button. I thought, even if George couldn't talk, he would still be able to write. Wouldn't he? The elevator finally opened, and a three men came out. I pushed the button that said three and waited. When it opened I jumped out and ran into a nurse. "Sorry," I looked over my shoulder as I ran, "Emergency." I bustled down the hall, searching for room two twenty. I had to constently dodge nurses, and doctors until I finally found. At first I just stood there. Unsure of what to do, then I remembered that it really was an emergency so I knocked. A nurse, with pretty blonde hair opened the door. "I need to talk to Mr. Baley." I said. "Well, if the lady downstairs let you up here I guess it's alright. I will be back in ten minutes. But only ten!" She gave me a severe look then walked off into some other room. "Ummm... Mr. Baley?" I tipptoed, very slowly, into the room. There was a man laying on a bed in the corner of the room. He was attached to a bunch of wires, which were connected to a computer to the right of the bed. He turned his head slowly toward me, his eyes gently gazed into mine. He was the oldest person I had ever seen. His face was covered with wrinkles, and so were his hands which were resting on top of his sheets. "Mr. Baley?" I walked closer to him. His eyes were still deeply resting in mine. "My name is Bindi. I know you don't know me or anything, but I need your help. I know about how you used to go to that one school. You know, Dark Falls Elementary, and how stuff happened there. Well, my friend is in trouble. We broke into the school and now he's trapped in it, and I don't know what to do, and I thought that maybe you could help me!" Mr. Baley looked at me for a second, then he lifted one of his boney hands and pointed to a black bag that sat in a corner of the room. "You want me to bring it to you?" I asked. He nodded so I grabbed the bag and brought it to him. He reached inside and pulled out a big, red axe. "For me?" I asked sort of shocked. An hour later I was back outside the school. I ran over to the window we had taken the boards out of. I lifted the axe and easily broke the glass. I was in! I slipped down into a pitch dark room. As I walked forward I could feel cobwebs brushing my face. Then I remembered I still had my flashlight. I shined it around. I was in some sort of hallway. I shined it on the ground. There was something lying on the floor. I picked it up. It was Alex's crowbar. I noticed a door on the side of the hallway. I turned the dusty knob and heaved it open. It was a janitors closet. There were brooms and mops all over. I shined the flashlight on the ground... And screamed. On the floor, lay Alex's body, drenched in blood. He had one empty eye socket, and his arm was missing. I heard a loud bang from behind me. I span around just as a dark figure was emerging out of the shadows. But when I saw the face, I screamed, and dropped my flashlight. It turns out that the school was built over a graveyard. The spirits of the people burried there were angry, and said they would haunt the school until it was torn down. It was the next year. George Baley passed away the day the school was torn down. Creepy, the way some things happen. Submitted From: USA