The secrets of Gettyson preschool

Chapter 7

"MARELY!!!" JJ screamed as he ran for the door. "ARE YOU OKAY?!?!"

"Uh, I guess," Marely said as though nothing happened. "I was just about to explore another room when the door just slammed. It caught me off guard."

"Look, just stay there," JJ said after trying to open the door but then finding out it was locked. "We'll find a way to get out."

"Uh, you might want to hurry," Marely said nervously yet calmly. "I think I hear footsteps coming from another room."

JJ looked around the room, but didn't see another door. He looked at the ceiling, hoping to see ceiling tiles, but there were none; it was just light fixtures that didn't work.

"Hey JJ," Micahleah said. "Can't you do fire spells?"

"But Maralyssa made me promise never to use them unless it was an emergency life or death situation," JJ replied sadly.

"Well, what exactly would you call this?" Micahleah responded, pointing at the door.

"Ok, but don't tell Maralyssa," JJ whispered. "Marely, Get away from the door!"

Light footsteps.

He muttered softly in Latin and burned the door down. He and Micahleah exited the room.

"Still convinced that this is a prank?" Marely said sharply.

"Hey, it could still be," JJ retorted.

"The fact that there's light coming in here in an underground—" Micahleah started.

"—was more likely Maralyssa," JJ interrupted. "As I've said before, she can do magic as well. She probably used it to not only make it seem like we're above ground, but probably also to slam the door. And the footsteps you probably heard, Marely, was probably one or more of them exploring the room while Maralyssa was trying to scare us out."

"Ok, you keep believing that," Micahleah muttered. "Marely, where did you hear those footsteps?"

"I heard them through here," Marely answered. "And I still hear them."

They came up to the door, JJ quietly grabbing the door handle while whispering, "I've gotcha now!"

He opened the door and yelled, "BUSTED...!" before backing away.

"JJ, what is it?" Micahleah asked.

"There's no one in there," JJ said, not taking his eyes off the room. There was a phone wire hanging from a window that was in there, and it had a small red spot on it. There was also some police tape on the concrete floor, and there were only a couple of drawings (which JJ couldn't make out) on the faded blue wall. But what really caught his eye was a small skeleton hanging from the wall like the ones you usually see in your traditional classroom except...they weren't that small.

"JJ?" Marely said, sounding very concerned. "What's wrong?"

JJ said nothing. The girls turned around and entered the room, not believing their eyes. JJ eventually got the gumption to get up and follow them inside.

It was very cold for a room that had a creepy atmosphere. He noticed a chalkboard, and on it was the same drawing that he saw in that one classroom, but in chalk. He was wondering what room they were in when his phone vibrated. He answered it with, "What now?"

Silence at first, then he heard raspy breathing.

"Uh, hello?" JJ said.

"Help...me," he heard the caller breathe out. While this person didn't have much of a tone, they still had just enough of one to know that this was the same person who kept calling him. He then heard dragging. The phone hung up.

JJ didn't want to do this because he still felt that this was still part of a prank and he wanted to bust them later, but he called the number back and was going to bust them in the act right there.

He heard the trill ringtone coming from somewhere kinda far. They all left the room and followed the sound. They checked room after room, but nothing.

As they were looking, Marely said she heard it coming from upstairs. When JJ and Micahleah caught up with her, they found Marely already going up a small flight of stairs.

The ringing stopped, so JJ redialed the number, and it was ringing again, but it didn't seem to be coming from upstairs. It seemed to be coming from—

"Marely, come on!" JJ called. "It's not coming from upstairs!"

No response.

"Should we go up there and look for her?" Micahleah asked.

"She'll be fine," JJ replied quickly before darting off towards the ringing. He knew he had to hurry before it stopped. He eventually found himself in front of a door, but by the time he had opened the door the ringing stopped.

The room was windowless, so there wasn't much light. He looked around but didn't find a phone. He dialed the number again, but this time the ringing came from above. He looked up, actually expecting to somehow find it on the ceiling, but saw nothing. He ran out of the room and up the stairs.

The phone was still ringing when JJ heard screaming. He ran to the source and found Marely and Micahleah gathered in a corner. He ran towards them and saw why they had screamed: it was a tall, Asian girl, and her body was twisted in such unnatural angles. JJ instantly recognized her as one of the Pfeiffer triplets, and the dislocated nose told him that it was Harriet Pfeiffer. JJ was so disgusted, surprised, sad, and scared by her body and horrified face that he completely forgot to keep looking for the ringing phone, which stopped ringing.