A Phantom Whisper

Prologue

1981

Heath View Boarding School for Girls.

The hulk of a building stood at the top of a hill not far from the town of Glennington like some sort of gothic monument. Surrounded by a high wall and guarded by two large iron gates, it looked more like a prison than a school. Some of the local townspeople even joked that the gates were not there to keep unwanted guests out, but more to keep the little horrors in. Only two years before the old, grey brick edifice had housed over three hundred girls but in recent times that number had dwindled to just seventy-five.

A lot can happen in two years and for Heath View School a lot had, all of it for the worse. First, the richest and most influential parents removed their children from the school, no longer confident of the safety it provided to protect their daughters. With the damning loss of reputation, a good number of the handpicked teaching staff soon deserted Heath View too for fear the stigma would create a dark cloud over their careers.

Loss of funding, growing maintenance costs and spiralling debts all took their toll on the building and it was not long before parts of it were shut off just to keep the costs down. With each passing term more of the girls managed to persuade their parents to enrol them in other, more amenable school until soon, only the very poorest of families who had little other option sent their young charges there.

The bumps, creeks and various other night noises which had always been noticeable in the school once the movement, talking and laughter of the pupils had died down, seemed much more sinister now that there were fewer girls snores to cover them. Most of the girls took to keeping a bedpan under their beds just so they did not have to leave their dormitories during the night.

Yes, a lot of bad things had happened at Heath View School for Girls in the two years since Deena Amberley had disappeared.

Author's Note

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