by Paul Harm
Unfortunately, Principal Victoria had no idea where John was and according to her, he had not shown up for the second class of the day. “I’m sorry to bring it to you kids, but after I called John’s parents and asked if they knew if he got home early or if they knew something else about his whereabouts, and they didn’t, I called the police.” The now pretty pale looking kids trembled and sat down where they could find spaces to sit. Mike just leaned against the wall where he stood. “Principal Victoria.” Mike stuttered after a long silence. Their new-found friend was probably face down in some gutter, the kids thought. Maybe they’d even chained him somewhere in the woods or in a basement. The scenarios the kids imagined John to be in were as colorful as they were frightening. “Yes, Mike?” Principal Victoria seemed pretty calm for the schools headmaster that had just lost a kid. This probably happened more often than the kids anticipated. “I think I know where he might be.” One of Principal Victoria’s eyebrows rose until it vanished under her black curly hair. “Excuse me?” “The Rick Berners kid, you know him?” Mike stuttered his way through as fast as he could. “Yes, I know him.” “He had harassed John the other day, before they were here in your office because of their ‘breathing problems’. You remember?” Principal Victoria now rose from her desk, and while she was a lovely schoolmaster sitting in front of them, the stand-up version of her was somewhat intimidating all of the sudden. As the eyebrow returned from its journey to the top of Principal Victoria’s forehead, her voice began thundering through the room. “Are you telling me that Rick Berners has anything to do with the disappearance of a student?” She sounded more than angry and while her tone was warm with understanding and good will at the beginning, her words now cut the air like a blizzard and left little scratches where they were picked up by listeners. “No, no.” A chorus reassured her. “Good.” She sat back down. “That will be all, thank you children.” “But…” Lucia managed to muster up, before it was immediately wrecked. “No but, go back to your classroom and if I need something from you, I’ll let you know.” The kids now stood in front of her desk, a puzzled and unsatisfied expression on their faces. Lucia opened her mouth again but closed it instantly as a crushing look from the Principal shook her last resort away. They left Principal Victoria’s office.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned at all.” Lucia was as disappointed as the rest of them, but in addition she was furious. “What can we do now anyway?” Joseph felt like pointing out the obvious. As they moved back towards their classroom they tried to come up with an explanation, a plan, a hint, anything really, but failed. Slowly their school day passed by. Within the next break Mike ran up to them and he looked frightened. “The police, the police arrived.” He informed them while catching his breath. “That can’t be good.” Joseph was worried too, they all were. Well, Mathilda did not seem to be that worried and Lucia seemed more angry than worried, to be perfectly honest. “Principal Victoria’s office?” Joseph suggested. “Principal Victoria’s Office!” The chorus demanded.
When they got to the Principal’s office, Rick Berners had just come out of it, he looked exhausted. He glanced at them, a hint of hate flickering in his eyes, but mostly exhaustion. “What the fuck did you do to him?” Lucia’s rage was real, and she sprang at him the second she was close enough, so he could not dodge her. Astonished to be attacked in front of the closing but still-open door with three heavily armed police officers, he could not help but was willing to just take the punch to his face. “Lucia!” Principal Victoria’s voice made her freeze in mid swung. “Into my office, now!” Lucia swallowed the lump in her throat and lowered her fists. As she passed Rick she slowed down, gently put a hand on his shoulder and leaned towards him gracefully “If I find proof you have anything to do with this, I’ll make your life hell, Berners.” A soft voice whispered in his ear, so soft it hid every sharp edge and violent intent it carried. Rick snorted, unimpressed, and vanished out into the hallway, the police and the recent incident in the hallway - the one which caused the breathing problems - probably did not help his case the last hour he spent in the Principal’s office. “You four into my office, now.”
“Hello Lucia, Mathilda, Mike and John. This is detective Harrison.” “Hello kids” Harrison introduced himself with a low voice, his hands still crossed in front of him, but he managed a little smile. “He’s going to ask you a couple of questions, and you’ll answer him as best as you can, understood?” “Yes, Principal Victoria!” They answered simultaneously. “Carry on, detective.” “Well, kids, as it might have come to your attention, a schoolmate of yours has gone missing.” “It was Rick Berners.” Lucia pointed at the door behind her. “He picked on John the other day, humiliated him in front of the whole school and now he… he…” Tears started to build up in her eyes as she babbled, after her pure rage was gone, it left her all alone with the realization that there was a good chance John might be hurt. “It’s all right Lucia; there’s no reason to be worried, yet.” Principal Victoria’s voice was as softer and more comforting than they had ever heard it before. While she tried to calm Lucia, Detective Harrison took a handkerchief out of his pocket and gave it to the sobbing girl. “I’m sorry” She sniffed. “But it was him, I know it, he hit him and then he hit Mike.” Mike nodded silently. “And if I hadn’t have punched him away from Joseph he’d have hurt him too, that kid is dangerous!” “Lucia!” Principal Victoria’s voice carried a warning. “I’m sorry Principal Victoria.” Harrison could not hide his smile fast enough for Joseph to not catch it, although it vanished the second it occurred. Mike hugged his sister and tried to comfort her, she might be tough, but she carried the burden of a big heart.
“Today you came into school at about...?” Detective Harrison started his thing. Now was as good a time as any, he thought, and those kids might be the biggest hint he was going to get. “About 7:30, because we didn’t want to be picked up by Berners and his gang.” Harrison’s head swung towards Principal Victoria carrying a strange look, something between - I do not want to swap roles with you, it seems to be hard to ensure peace upon the schoolyard - and half - are these kids telling me they come in so late because they are afraid of the violence that is going on at the school? Principal Victoria’s look expressed something between - I did not know - and - You try to keep the peace among the adolescents, it’s not a fucking kindergarten. Harrison’s look seemed to reply, fair enough. He carried on. “Since when have you been coming into school so late because of this fear?” “Just today.” Joseph replied. Even though Principal Victoria wasn’t intimidated by the accusation of being a lousy peacekeeper, she sure seemed to relax a bit after hearing that. “Why is that?” “Because yesterday Berners beat John up.” Mathilda answered calmly. “And me. A little.” Mike added. Harrison’s eyebrow rose, he took a mental note, that kid might be just running away - highly unlikely that there is much more going on here. Anyway, he had to follow protocol, hell if there was something else going on he could not just jump to conclusions. He had to keep looking until he found him, if he showed up a day or two from now, alright, but the stakes were too high for anything less than his best effort here. “Who was involved in this skirmish?” “Rick Berners, Leo Williams and Thomas Anderson.” Harrison took notes. His colleague did not do as much as blink an eye every now and then. “Do you have any idea about the whereabouts of John Silverman?” After a long pause, the kids looked at him and simply shook their heads. “Well, if you remember something or something pops into your mind, you let me know immediately!” “Yes, Sir!” They reassured him. “When was the last time you saw him?” The kids exchanged a questioning look among each other. “At about 8 PM, yesterday evening in the park.” “Thank you kids, that will be all for now.” “Mr. Harrison, Sir?” Mike stuttered. “Do you have any idea what could’ve happened?” “It’s too soon to say anything kid, but I will let you know as soon as we find him, promise.” With that, Harrison made a gesture with his hand that signaled the kids to leave and so they did.
Hea
ds down and worries on their minds they slowly made their way back towards their classrooms. After lunch there was still no word from Harrison, or John, or anyone. A gloomy cloud hung around the kids’ mood like the fog hung around the city that day. Lucia decided to break the silence “What the fuck happened?!” Her words were both accusation and question all in one. To be perfectly honest she was just pointing out what everyone was thinking, more or less. “I don’t know.” Mike did not lie, the rest remained silent. “What can we do? I just can’t take it, maybe something happened to him. Maybe they took him somewhere or something like that.” Lucia sounded seriously worried now all her rage was blown away by grief and guilt. “Maybe they did, they could’ve still grabbed him before he managed to get to school in the morning.” Joseph remarked, thinking about his words, trying to figure out what could have happened as he spoke. “Maybe they didn’t get him far away. Maybe he’s still close by somewhere.” As Lucia spiked a dumpling from her plate, a tumult ran through the cafeteria. Almost all the kids were heading for the hallway towards the lockers. The four of them immediately took off, following the flock. What they discovered at the end was more than they could take. A huge part of the crowd was still in front of them, but they could already see through and in front of them was Rick Berners’ locker. A red liquid dripped from the locker towards the floor and had already made a considerable puddle. Mike’s vision became blurred. His face changed color before he dropped to the floor and fell to one side.
Mike? Hello, Mike?” When he woke up school nurse Josephine was leaning gently over him and gave him a relieved smile. “You got me worried there for a moment, young man.” “Where am I?” “You’re at the school’s nursing station. Here are your friends, who were waiting for you to wake up”. Her voice was soft, sweet and caring accompanied by a warm and welcoming smile. “God damn it Mike, you’re such a sissy!” Lucia’s voice was a mixture of relief and annoyance. “What happened?” “What happened is, that you, big baby, just fainted!” “No!” “Yes!” “Damn it, please don’t tell to anyone, sis.” “Won’t need to, you did it in front of pretty much the whole school.” Mike’s face changed color again, but the nurse came back and gave him a strong herbal tea which kind of fixed him, it seemed. “My reputation is ruined.” Mike hissed when he had a big gulp. “Nothing to lose there, little brother. Now come on we don’t have time to lose or can’t you remember why you fainted?” “Oh my god, you’re right, sis.” “Since you weren’t conscious when they opened the locker, I tell you what was inside.” Mike looked at her both fascinated and horrified. “The police found a wrench and it seems to have blood on it. What’s more, the police didn’t say where they were heading but I’m pretty sure they’ll be going for Berners’ house.” “Yeah, right.” Mike jumped up and before Josephine came back with the blood pressure monitor, they were already gone. “Kids these days.” She stated to herself and got back to business. Although they tried to get out of school they could not, since there was police everywhere and teachers had been watching their fosterlings closely. As soon as the school bell rang at 2PM they were on their way towards Rick Berners’ house.
The Berners’ house was way outside the city towards the hills and at the end of the estate a huge forest started leading into endlessly stretching tree-covered hills. When they arrived after half an hour on their bikes they stayed away from the road, hid their bikes at the roadside in the shrubbery so they could not be seen. The flashing blue lights of the police cars illuminated the scene in a mysterious way. Thick fog hung in the valley, it was impossible to see more than a meter through it. The Berners’ house was built on a little hill. The street which led up towards the house was leading through a large plain, but just a couple of meters behind the house the hills started. What lay behind was a primeval forest. Usually the forest emanated calmness and a sense of peace, but today it seemed threatening, and uneasy. It looked like something was wrong with the house and in the gloomy daylight it had something haunted about it.
The police cars’ sirens went silent but the blue lights flashed through the thick fog illuminating the scene, which helped the kids sneak up towards the house unseen. Not only because you could not see through the fog, but every time the flashlight illuminated the scene you could see the police officers’ profiles. The four of them snuck up behind a pile of firewood at the left side of the house. “It seems they’re in already.” “Yeah, but I don’t think they found anything. I wonder if they’re here because of what we said about their fight the other day.” Joseph thought it was an overreaction. “No, I don’t think so. I am pretty sure it’s about that blood-soaked wrench.” Lucia just shook her head in disbelief. Mathilda checked out the surrounding area as far as she could see. The fog making it pretty much impossible though. Behind them in the unseen something made a cracking noise like someone stepping on a... “Down!” Lucia’s voice was both almost unhearable and sharp the kids dove behind a pile of wood. While they were laying there an irregular cracking noise approached slowly but steadily. “What is it?” Mike’s voice was so thin and soundless it was amazing anyone could hear it. “I don’t know, maybe the police or a wild animal.” Lucia could not calm Mike down though, he started shaking imagining being eaten by a bear or something similar.
After what seemed like an eternity they could see the cone of a flashlight shining through the fog. Mike released what seemed to be his first breath in minutes. “It seems to be the police.” Joseph sounded calm, but it did not matter who found them, if they would be picked up by a grown up of any kind, that would be the end of their endeavor. “The barn.” Mike muttered more to himself than to anyone else. “What?” The three of them hissed at him. Mike looked for something to hold on to but neither his company nor the fog gave him anything to focus on, so his eyes just kept twitching for a couple of seconds. “If he’s not in the house, where the police obviously hasn’t found him, he might be in the barn.” The kids looked at him like: How can you know? And where’s this barn? “What?!?” “I don’t think you’re going to like this.”
After Mike explained where the barn was Lucia summed it up. “So just to be clear here, this barn you’re talking about it’s behind a graveyard?” “Yes.” Mikes voice sounded unusually comfortable for just replying to the word graveyard. “And there’s a river we have to cross after the graveyard.” “Yes.” “And after that we’re at the barn?” “Yes.” Mike nodded. “I don’t like it.” Lucia crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I told you you won’t like it.” “Don’t be so smug, Mike.” “You think the police knows about the barn?” Joseph sounded worried and hopeful at once. Lucia took look at him. “I don’t know, Joseph, maybe we just walk down there and ask them? We could be like: Oh hello officer, we’re looking for our friend John who didn’t show up for school today as it turns out and...” Lucia mocked him. “Ok ok sorry, God Lucia you can be quite smug as well.”
VIII. Cabin in the Woods
When the officer’s flashlight vanished into the impenetrable fog, a long hike began. It was not a very hard way up the hills, but a long one. Fortunately a track, although unkempt, curled its way up the hill directly towards the graveyard. ‘Fortunately’ might not have been the right word for it, considering it was a track towards an old graveyard but still, without it they would not have had a chance finding a way up there within this thick fog. The sun gave the scene an additional mystical shimmer, since it made all the world around them, the little they could see in the twilight, luminescent. A constant glowing was around them illuminating everything in a yellow light. As they reached further up the hills the forest started to change its appearance. The forest transitioned into a winter landscape, the ground underneath their feet started to crunch, ice crystals hung from the trees and bushes and gave the forest something irresistibly beautiful. Slowly they climbed up the track towards the barn which was supposed to be a mile behind the graveyard.
“How far is it actually?” Joseph was carefully watching his surroundings in a 360° arc. “I think we
should be able to make it in about thirty or so minutes. At least we should reach the river by then.” Mike led the way and they closed in towards the graveyard fast. As they reached higher ground the fog slowly but steadily vanished, as they walked they saw further and further into the still luminescent fog. Sounds of cracking branches from the thicket accompanied their way, but it did not bother them as much as the bone-chilling sound of the eastern screech owl. They left the thicket and slowly the ancient pillars appeared in front of them through the thick fog. They marked the entry of the graveyard.
Thick ice crystals hung from the mighty pillars, demonic-looking gargoyles sat on top of them and like gatekeepers they seemed to be protecting the dead. A crow sat on the shoulder of the left gargoyle. When the group slowly approached the pillars, the crow continued to stare at them until it suddenly rose its head and made a demoralizing creek, and so did the cluster of his comrades behind the walls. With the sound of a hundred crows lifting off towards the sky, the flock fled into the surrounding treetops. While the scene played out in all its fascinating colors of emotional darkness and uncertainty, the sun set and darkness took hold of them and the graveyard. “Holy shit, guys.” Lucia did not give them the reassuring words they were all desperate to hear. “Just don’t let it bother you, we have to keep going it’s not going to get any better.” To be honest, it was quite a beautiful sight. Under different circumstances they might have even enjoyed the old graveyard. The recent snowfall left little heaps of snow all over the surrounding grey brick walls, and even the gargoyles had a little pile of snow on their heads, making them look a little less intimidating.
