Hatchet School House

Second Sighting

I walked at the same time the next three mornings and everything was as it normally was. I stopped each day at the far side of the drive and listened for the children or the bell, but I heard nothing. So, at least for the moment life fell back to its routine. I did not walk on the forth morning, but I went out the next day. As I rounded the turn and the trees came into view I could see the thick fog hanging over the area and knew that this morning would be different. I went to the straight far side of the drive and descended the bank that went down to the meadow floor. This was open space with thick weeds. I walked straight toward the place were I had seen the school. I could see the top of the bell tower in the trees faintly through the fog. And I heard the children talking and playing. Carefully, I entered the trees and moved quietly toward the sounds.
There were the children!  There were five boys and four girls. The boys were grouped together with their backs to me poking at the ground with some sticks. The four girls were in front of the school talking and facing away as well. Their clothing was not from our time, but looked like the pictures I had seen online. The school bell rang out! Several of the children grabbed bundles from the ground and ran to the school. They entered through the right front door. The last one through, a girl who appeared to be the oldest, stopped and turned around and looked directly at me. She might have been fourteen or fifteen. Our eyes meet for a few seconds, and a chill ran up my spine. There were black sockets were eyes should have been and her face was pale and taunt. She smiled and quickly turned and entered the school and the door closed. The bell stopped ringing as soon as the door closed. I moved toward the school intending to look through one of the windows along the side.  But, they were boarded over. I could see through some of the loose boards, but there was nothing to see but a large empty room. I moved around to the front of the school and went to the right door. When I pulled on the handle the door would not move. I could then see that the door was nailed shut. Scratching my head I backed down the two steps and away from the school. As I moved back the school dissolved before my eyes. Again there was no sign that the structure had been there. I remembered seeing the boys standing together a short distance away. I went to where the group of boys had been standing.  They had just thrown the sticks aside when the school bell rang. There in a bare spot in the soil was scratched "Help Us". This was real! This was at least some proof that they had been here.

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