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-randomly revives-
I got some more, including the rest of chapter 3 and most of chapter 4. I've also edited the first post because I've also slightly updated some of the previous chapters. 8D
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As Mr. Johnson droned on about the rules, Louis rechecked his schedule. It read:
SEMESTER 1
BLOCK 1 LANGUAGE ARTS T. HENDRICKS
BLOCK 2 PHYS. ED
DRAMA J. SULLIVAN
N. JOHNSON
BLOCK 3 ALGEBRA 1 HONORS R. TARREN
BLOCK 4 PHYS. SCIENCE K. SOACHAN
Hm…Ms. Tarren for algebra. Better than Mrs. Garth, he thought. In 4th block, he had Mr. Soachan…wait, Mr. Soachan? He was the new teacher, right? Flora had mentioned that Hermione had him…Louis wondered what he would be like. One way to find out, he supposed.
“Ok, now we’re going to play a game!” Mr. Johnson’s sudden outburst caught Louis by surprise, jolting him out of his thoughts.
“Well, not really as much as a game as a little activity,” Mr. Johnson mended, a bit to the classes’ disappointment, “But I think you’ll enjoy it all the same, it’s a pretty involving activity. We’ll be doing things like this throughout the year. Here’s how it works: I’ll state a fact, and if it applies to you, raise your hand. From there, I’ll ask you to explain. Got it?”
The class nodded, but Louis was doubtful they actually understood the game.
“Excellent. Let’s being, then. Who has older siblings?” A few of the students raised their hands. Louis recognized Matt as one of them. Great, he’s in another one of my classes, Louis thought bitterly.
The game continued. Louis thought about raising his hand on a few, but decided against it. If he did, he’d have to lie about the explanation, and he’d never be able to remember all the things he said about his fake life the rest of the year.
There was, of course, always the option to tell the truth, but who would believe him? ‘Yeah, I live in a magical locker where the season is always summer! Oh, and I’ve been there for 30 years, but because of Mentor’s magic, I never age and the teachers think I’m a new student every year!’
Yeah. Not happening.
Louis glanced up at the clock hanging just behind Mr. Johnson’s desk. As much as he enjoyed drama class, the first day was never any fun, even with the teacher’s enthusiasm.
He wondered vaguely what the others might be doing. Flora had art now, he knew. Art was interesting enough, but Louis had never particularly enjoyed it. He didn’t really want to sit through another set of Mr. Wellington’s lectures and whiteboard doodles.
What about Hermione and Zephyr? Where could they be right now? In the FR?
Louis giggled at his own little joke. The FR, or “forbidden room”, as the students had dubbed it over the years, was a mysterious little abandoned classroom in the eighth grade hallway, just a few feet away from the Lockers. It was like a real-life horror story, the way the place was talked about. “Once you go in, you never come out.”
Which, unfortunately, was true, Louis thought miserably, recalling that year a decade or so ago. Two boys had gone in there on a dare during break. Them being some of the naughty boys, most people expected they were just horsing around in the bathroom or something when they didn’t show up for second block.
When third block rolled around, however, and they still weren’t back, a few of the students got suspicious. Fourth block came and went without them, and some of the teachers began to feel that way as well.
By the time a day passed in their absence, then two, then three, then a week, then a month, everyone knew that something had happened.
A young girl had seen the boys go into the FR, and she eventually informed the principal. The principal was quick to hold a meeting about it, but the small council he’d gathered were just as quick to decide that there was no was that two rebellious middle school boys could have survived alone in an abandoned classroom with no food or water for a month, and with that, they just had to let the situation be.
However, there was one teacher who was still curious, a young Algebra teacher named Mr. Salloway, called Mr. S by most of the students. Mr. Salloway was tall with close-cut, reddish hair and knowing green eyes half-hidden behind a small pair of spectacles.
Wanting to check, just to be sure, Mr. Salloway had gone into the FR after the two boys.
Well, that was the last day anyone saw Mr. Salloway. Mrs. Garth was hired in his place, and slowly but surely, over time, the school forgot about the severity of the incident, and it became no more than a silly legend to the students. Of course, still no one else had the guts to enter the FR, students and teachers alike, but that didn’t seem to matter.
And besides, the events were not forgotten to Louis, nor were they to the other three of them. Of course, they knew what had happened, but that didn’t matter. The FR became almost as much as a joke to them as it had to the rest of the school, though for different reasons.
The bell rang, suddenly jarring Louis from his thoughts. He quickly gathered up his items and tried to leave, but Mr. Johnson interrupted him.
“Louis?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Come here for a moment, please.”
“Yes, sir.” Oh, dark sunlight, Louis thought, what did I do? It’s only the first day!
“Why is it that you never raised your hand during our little game?” Mr. Johnson asked. He didn’t seem angry or disappointed, only curious. Louis shrugged.
“None of the statements applied to me, sir.” Mr. Johnson suddenly laughed lightly, surprising Louis.
“Louis, Louis, Louis! You’re being so formal! I appreciate the gesture, but please don’t call me ‘sir’.” He winked. “But anyways, weren’t you paying attention at all? I’m sure some of the statement must have applied to you in some shape, form, or fashion!” Louis shrugged.
“No, not really, s—I mean, Mr. Johnson. I didn’t hear any. Well…maybe I let my mind wander a bit during it,” he admitted.
Mr. Johnson nodded. “Very well, then. Just don’t let that happen again, ok?” Louis nodded back, giving a quick “mm!” of ok. Mr. Johnson smiled.
“Excellent. Now get on to your next class, you. Let’s see you move as fast as you did when you first walked in!”
Louis allowed himself a little laugh at Mr. Johnson’s reference to the beginning of the period. Sure enough, he was out the door quite quickly. Algebra, away!
Chapter Four
Zephyr walked shyly through the halls, clutching his books tightly against his chest. Second block had been a complete nightmare—Mrs. Garth was even meaner than usual.
Out of all the three, Zephyr seemed to get Mrs. Garth the least, a fact that he was thankful for. Alas, luck was not on his side this year, and he was landed with the old lady for his teacher. She seemed to be meanest in second block, all hyped up about kids being late and forgetting their books, despite that they had the whole of break to get to the classroom and retrieve their books, and when it wasn’t that, she was irritated that the students always brought snacks into the classroom. Snacks were for elementary school only, she would say.
Most students wished that Mrs. Garth would just get fired already, or something. None of them enjoyed her class. Even some of the biggest teacher’s pets in the school were never really excited to see her. Alas, Zephyr knew that she would not be fired anytime soon. She may not be very popular, but she did her job—teaching math—and she did it well. Zephyr quickly understood all the little details in her class that he had been struggling with for years with Ms. Tarren and other teachers.
As Zephyr neared his Locker, a startling sight stopped him. Well, startling for him. Most students would have seen Mr. Soachan glancing into the FR.
Zephyr saw it, just for a moment, as Mr. Salloway about to run in.
He paused for a moment, trying to concentrate. Mr. Salloway couldn’t be the one standing there—he had been taken by the FR an entire decade ago. Zephyr was sure of it.
Sure enough, when he squinted to read the teacher’s nametag, it read KEVIN SOACHAN, not JAMES SALLOWAY like he’d half-expected. Good!
Mr. Soachan may have looked liked Mr. Salloway, but surely they were not the same person. In fact, Mr. Soachan was a new teacher, wasn’t he? He might not even know the story behind the FR! Zephyr decided that he should probably tell him.
“You know that’s the FR, right? ‘Forbidden room.’” he said carefully, approaching Mr. Soachan. Mr. Soachan glanced at him with a deep green gaze, cocking an eyebrow slightly. He turned back to the room.
“Yes, I’ve heard the stories,” he said. Zephyr blinked.
“They’re more than just stories,” Zephyr blurted softly.
Mr. Soachan turned slowly towards Zephyr, his expression showing slight surprise at the statement. The look only lasted a minute, however, and soon the new teacher was again staring into the FR.
“So I’ve heard,” he stated. “Now, shouldn’t you be on your way? You’ll be late to third block!”
“B…but I have A lunch!” Zephyr stammered. Students with A lunch always went straight to the cafeteria after second block. Likewise, those with D lunch always went straight to fourth block after lunch. Mr. Soachan just shrugged.
“Then get on to lunch. Aren’t you hungry?” He smiled at Zephyr. It looked fake. Nonetheless, Zephyr tried smiling back.
“Yeah, I guess so. Just…be careful about that room, ‘k?”
Mr. Soachan winked at him.
“Don’t worry; I wasn’t planning on going in anytime soon.”
Zephyr laughed lightly, a little awkwardly, and then continued on to the cafeteria, walking as swiftly as he could. Maybe Mr. Soachan was right; lunch would do him good.
The hot, muggy scent of cafeteria chicken nuggets greeted Zephyr as he entered, glancing around at all the students laughing and chatting at the tables. The lunch line was quickly diminishing, though Zephyr knew from past experience that it nearly trailed out into the hallway in its length when lunch began. He really was late.
Zephyr looked around for an empty table. He wasn’t too fond of sitting next to most students, and likewise, most students preferred not to sit next to him. He was, after all, that quiet little weirdo with the “fan” in his locker.
There were no empty tables left, though a few only had one or two students. That would be his best bet.
He walked up to the closest table with only one student. The student, he guessed, was a girl, judging by the length of the jet-black hair streaming down her back. And she had no lunch. Strange…wait a minute.
Hermione!
Someone he knew! Good. Zephyr quickened his pace, moving up to sit in front of his friend. Hermione didn’t seem to have been expecting anyone’s arrival, the surprise sparkling in her pale blue gaze.
“Zephyr! Great snowflakes, I thought I was going to be alone at lunch this year for sure!” she gasped. “What took you so long to get here?”
“Sorry,” Zephyr apologized. He couldn’t blame his absence on the lunch line—for one, he had no food with him, for another, he and the others never bought lunch. They didn’t have any money. The truth was the only excuse. Which was good, of course; he needed to tell one of the others about his little experience with Mr. Soachan.
“I saw Mr. Soachan staring into the FR. It was kind of strange, the way he was just looking at it. I told him it was the forbidden room, but he said he already knew.” There was a slight pause. Hermione looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. “Well…I noticed something that was kind of scary. Have you noticed that Mr. Soachan…Mr. Soachan looks a lot like Mr. Salloway.”
Hermione’s eyes widened, thinking back to her class that morning.
“He dose, now that you mention it! Snowflakes, that would explain his eyes…”
“Huh?”
“I have Mr. Soachan first block. I saw his eyes and they seemed to be vaguely familiar. I guess it’s because they look like Mr. Salloway’s.”
Zephyr nodded, but said nothing else. The two of them sat quietly for a long period of time, occasionally tuning in to some of the other conversations going on across the cafeteria. Zephyr let his fingers slide and dance across the smooth, cool table a few times.
“…Do you think it will happen again?” he asked quietly.
“Do I think what will happen again?”
“The FR. Do you think…do you think it will take someone again?
Hermione thought on that for a minute. Mr. Soachan did look a lot like Mr. Salloway, the man who had plunged into the FR over a decade ago and never came out, and it was strange that he had been staring into the FR like that. But that didn’t mean that the FR would take someone again, right? None of the students would be stupid enough to go in there, would they?
“No,” she said aloud, “I don’t think so. Mr. Soachan may look like Mr. Salloway, but they’re not the same person. Besides, it wasn’t Mr. Salloway’s fault last time, remember? It was those two idiot boys who went it…oh, what where their names? Zach and…and…”
“Jonathan?”
“Ah, yes, that’s right. Zach and Jonathan. It was their fault to go in on a dare. You don’t think that would happen again, do you?”
Zephyr shrugged.
“I guess not,” he replied. “None of the students are stupid enough to go into the FR now, are they?”
“No, I don’t think so. But anyhow. You may as well report this to Mentor, though, just in case.”
Zephyr nodded his ascent.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
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