The Overlooked

Chapter 5: The Overlooked

The girls decided to go during dinner, when the halls would be empty from onlookers. The four of them silently slipped away from the other children, careful to go unnoticed, and began their journey to the mysterious room.

It had taken some convincing, but Lowri was eventually persuaded to come along, carrying a small wicker basket of borrowed food.

Cora took the lead, as she knew the way best, while the others trailed behind her, occasionally pausing at a small sound.

The lights hadn't yet been turned out, which Frin was grateful for as she could see the numerous doors they passed and the painterly faces of the looming portraits.

The soft thuds of eight bare feet filled the desolate corridors (Frin had suggested they take off their shoes to avoid making much noise), occasionally joined by a whisper.

"I bet the room will be empty and we'll have gone through all this for nothing."

"It won't be for nothing. Even if it's empty, we will have gotten in and it will have been worth it. Where's your sense of adventure, Efa?" Frin chuckled, slinging an arm over her friend's shoulder.

Efa gave a quiet huff, but reciprocated the action nonetheless, "I came here to escape adventure. I've had enough of it."

Cora scoffed from the front, "Never."

Soon, the group passed the familiar door of Mrs. Nanter's classroom. It had a metallic nameplate with 'B15' engraved, which meant they were looking for room B14. Cora took a moment to peer round a corner before gesturing for the girls to move onward.

Sure enough, a door lay on their immediate right. It was shabby looking and inconspicuous, almost blending into the browny-beige wallpaper. Frin brought a sleeve up to its rusted nameplate and wiped away the thick layer of grot to reveal a tarnished 'B14'. This was it.

With a curt nod to her compadres, she took hold of one of the boards and pulled. Her finger nails dug into the aged surface easily and it gave a groan of resistance before coming off in her hands. Pleased, she set it aside before reaching for the next one. As she did so, she noticed that it had been attached to the door several times, as some of the nails shone with youth beside the other old and decrepit ones.

She gave it a hard tug, but it did not budge. Although the damaged wood bent slightly, the newer nails held tight.

Lowri rummaged through her basket and retrieved a gleaming spatula, which was the closest thing to a crowbar the girls could get their hands on. Glad to be of assistance, she quickly handed it to Frin, who nodded in gratitude and wedged it beneath the wooden board. She pulled it towards her and with some struggle, the wood made a crack of release and fell to the floor.

After repeating this action on several more boards, Frin created a large enough space to open the door and crawl inside.

"Are you ready?" she asked, hand on the brass doorknob.

She received impatient nods in reply, and slowly pushed the surprisingly unlocked door open.

The room could hardly have been described as empty, but quite the opposite in fact. About the same size as a small classroom, it was piled high with old paraphernalia. Wooden chairs with three legs, ornate and outdated candlesticks, clocks with missing hands, all coated in a snow-like layer of dust and stringy spiderwebs. The windows that could be seen from the English classroom now glowed dimly through the drapes from the opposing light. Other then that and the light from the open door, darkness shrouded the room. The piles of agglomerated items made eerie and blurrily silhouetted figures in the black dark.

"Woah," Cora awed as she entered, ignoring the chalky sensation of her feet in the dust, "To think this has been here all this time."

Efa gaped at the room and its contents, reaching out a hand to graze a chipped vase, "Well, I'll be damned."