"Can we go home?"
Travis tried to ignore his brothers incessant whining.
"Pleeeeaaaaase?"
It was almost as if the younger boy had perfected his pitch and cadence to unlock the most heinous sound to human ears. "Weren't you just begging mom to let me bring you?"
Bobby pouted silently and the two boys continued walking. The New England foliage was at it's very peak, when the forest paths were padded with trodden leaves of all shades. Travis would have loved to bring a group of friends with him instead of his brother, unfortunately he didn't have many friends excluding the few that had already made plans for Halloween. It was better than just sitting at home and watching his favorite and also very appropriately festive shows, 'Goosebumps', or 'Are You Afraid of The Dark?'.
If Travis had calculated his time right, he and his brother could spend an hour investigating the abandoned building and still get back home before it got dark. Once the boys had reached the property, they made their way through the gap between the forest. Travis could always just barely see a sliver of the building through the gap when his mother was driving past.
"Where are we?" Bobby inquired.
"The Abandoned Kindergarten," the older brother had responded proudly, almost as if he had invented it. As he walked closer he begun to notice small details of the school. Vines wrapped the painted-chipped support beams and slithered up the brick walls. The ceiling was missing in some spots, and the windows were now almost completely shattered, allowing a fair amount of light to enter. Where there used to be paint, remained splotchy brown exterior where the time had chipped the paint away.
Hesitant to enter the building, Travis approached the entrance.
"Trav, I'm scared."
"Don't be. If we're lucky we can see the ghosts of little kids," he teased.
"I'm going home." The stubborn child begun walking home. Travis knew his mother would not be very happy with him for letting his younger brother go home alone, but he was far too engrossed in the abandoned school to care.
He then walked even closer to the front door. As he pushed it open with little effort, the door creaked loudly and swung open. Rubble lined the hallways and to an untrained eye, it would be hard to picture this place as a school. Travis pulled out his flashlight but he seldom needed it. Now even he was unsettled by both the silence and the deserted feel of the place. He carefully stepped down the hallways and made a left turn.
All the classroom doors were swung open leaving the overturned desks visible.
Travis walked into one of the classrooms after scanning the area. He brushed the dirt off one of the few desks that hadn't been knocked on their sides. He drifted over to a table at the front with papers scattered over it. Surprised by the fact that they had stayed intact while the rest of the school was in ruins, he picked up the papers and sifted through them.
One was a letter, but the writing was unreadable. The other was an old picture. It was in color, but it was yellowed at the edges. Travis turned the picture over and read the clearly printed writing on the back 'We Know You Are Here, Travis'
The boy begun to breathe heavily and swung his head to look around him. Terrified, he made a dash for the door, nearly tripping over a desk. As he sprinted out of the classroom he heard the door slam behind him.Travis' heart racing, the doors of the classrooms slammed shut one after the other in a large wave. Just before he could get to the entrance of the school...
