After School II

Ch 5: Animosity

    Anoop shone the flashlight on the body. "Ugh! Look, his eyes have been completely gouged out.. What sort of horrible creature did that?!" He shouted. 

    "I have no idea whats going on anymore..." said Ajay, feeling nauseated. "Who is he? Is he someone we know?"

    "No... Check his ID card... It says.. XII A, 1981-82..." Anoop noticed. 

    "What the hell is that supposed to mean?! That a body has been rotting in a classroom for 35 freaking years and no one bothered?!" Chris screamed. 

    "Oh man... What happened to Sai and the rest?" Ajay asked, really afraid now. "I really hope nothing's happened to them.."

    "Holy shit..." Chris exclaimed as a morbid realization dawned upon him. "Wh-What if who-or whatever did this is still prowling around?!"

    "Oh come on! You just had to say that, didn't you?!" Ajay said, panicked. 

    A <THUMP> brought them back to attention. The sound had come from the locked door, and the boys stared at it with bated breath, waiting. 

    Another <THUMP>

    "Sai? Karthik? Is that you?" Ajay asked hopefully.

    A low guttural groan came as an answer. 

    Ajay breathed in short, heavy gasps, feeling terrified. Anoop and Chris weren't feeling very comfortable either. The three of them slowly moved backwards, away from the door, but making sure of not going in the direction of the corpse. 

    A much heavier <THUMP> emerged from the door along with the sound of cracking wood. Chris fell back in alarm.  

    Without warning, the now flimsy door gave way to a hulking creature resembling a man with oversized limbs and a bald head covered in scabs. He wore what resembled a business coat torn to shreds. His emanciated face and hands had sagging grey skin, and bleeding from almost every pore of his body. Every part that wasn't bleeding was caked with dried blood. He raised both his hands, not unlike Zombies from old cheesy movies, and groaned again, lurching inside the room.

    The boys screamed. 

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    "Is there anything I can do?" Prabhu asked. Priya looked up from her book and said, "Look, we need to find something about the incident 35 years ago. Shirley says there should be a couple of old books or journals in here that mention something about it. Just pull out random books from this section and check if you find something."

    "But that could take forever! Also, you said that the school authorities erased all evidence of the students!" Prabhu complained. 

    Shirley piped up, "The school authorities removed the evidence of the incidents which happened after  the first one. They couldn't cover that one up, because it had already made headlines and news channels. So, there should definitely be something here."

    Prabhu's shoulders slumped. "Okay...I'll check too, then." He said, and picked a giant book off the top shelf. "Hmm. 'Greatest Achievement 1998'... Nah." He replaced the book and picked another. 

    This went on, till Priya called out: "Hey, check this out! 'Major Events-1981-82'!" 

    "Great, that could be it, look inside.", Shirley said, and continued browsing through her book. 

    "...You really think the school would record a murder incident in their 'Greatest Achievements'?" Prabhu asked, flabbergasted. 

    "We don't know! Our only hope rides on finding out what happened!" Shirley responded.

    Prabhu began to think. 'Where did I hear something like this before...? Today's classes went on as usual... Vedavalli ma'am scolded me a bit harsher than usual, but that was my fault, as always...Evening coaching, the storm, the dorms, Sai, Ajay and I playing cards... Karthik and Vivek daring Rohit to spend the night in the 3rd floor, Me drifting off to sleep, Wait, Wait! I vaguely remember Sai tearing some paper from the cupboard and saying Karthik would love to read it... Something about the School!'

   "Priya, I'll be back in a minute!" he said, and got up. "Where are you going? Please don't go to the 3rd floor.. It's not safe at all!" Priya replied. 

    "I won't. Hold on tight!" Prabhu said, and dashed out of the library, and ran all the way to the dorms. Fumbling for the keys in his pockets, He opened the door and was just about to go in when:

    "HEY!! What are you doing out of bed?! At this ungodly hour?" 

    'Oh shit... ' Prabhu thought. It was the watchman...

    "Uh, nothing, I uh..went to the restroom!" Prabhu said. 

    "Oh sure! Cause that's where I came from! I saw you run from the opposite direction, boy. Tell me!", The watchman scolded. 

    Noticing the door ajar, he peeked inside. Only emptiness and a huge mess met him. "What?! Where are the rest of your friends?! You're in big trouble, young man!"

    'Dang.' 

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