Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Soldier

Story: 3rd of march of 2002. 4 years have passed since the war started. I remember when my mom told me we wouldn't separate at the start of the war. I haven't seen her since that day and I doubt that she’s still alive. I don’t even remember how drinkable water tastes like. I can't even count how many people i've killed. But luckily I’m still here, I’m still alive. 3 years ago I had a decent life; I went to school, ate and drank regular water. Every afternoon I would help my father to get water and my mother to purchase food. I didn’t have any friends in the village, but at least I had my 15 year old brother Minguito. Everything was normal, and we barely suffered until they came. It was a sunny day, and I was about to finish my classes and start returning with my brother to my village, which was 7 km away. When we were arriving we started hearing people screaming and running out of the town: the insurgents had arrived. We backed up and started running back our way to school but, unfortunately, one guy saw us. I thought I was dead. I stopped running but Minguito didn’t, the guy didn’t think about it twice and shot him. When he was coming towards me he threw my backpack to the floor and burnt it. Afterwards he pushed me into an enormous truck. I hit my head against something and immediately passed out. 2 The next time I opened my eyes I was completely covered in mud, starving and thirsty as a bone. I waited there for hours until someone came in. He didn't say a word, he just grabbed me by the arm and took me into a bigger room where other kids were waiting. One by one they started taking us out of the room, nobody knew for what. It was my turn, I was scared. When I came out I saw a guy lighting a spoon that had white powder, they took the burnt liquid that came out and inserted it into the syringe. Right after they started injecting the brownish liquid into my body and sent me into another room where a man was waiting for me. At first, when he started talking to me I responded normally, but as the time passed I started feeling a weird sensation. My brain was working slower, my hands were shaking and I was feeling like I was going to die right there. In addition, the insurgent that was talking to me (which seemed to be in an important position in that sect) started touching me and telling me really scary things. During those moments, the only words I heard when I was half conscious were:“death”, “kill”, “war”, “destroy”, “suffering”, etc. Since that day, everything changed. 3 We were trained every day. They gave us guns to shoot maniquies, we were taught how to make people suffer and how to torture, we were taught to lose our fears and we were drugged so that they could manipulate us easily. If one of us broke the rules, he would be killed in front of us. But we wouldn't break them, we loved drugs it was our fuel for the day, we couldn't live a day without them. And every week the dose would increase, making us more dependant and destroying ourselves in a faster way. Our days were all the same, eat, kill, drug, sleep, repeat. Repeat and repeat until one day, the supreme commander arrived to our place. The supreme commander was a huge man, with diverse wounds all over his body and who was never happy. He came once a month to make sure we were being instructed and drugged correctly. However, that day he was different. He wanted something special for us to do. After a few minutes talking with our boss they finally told us they were going to take us to Halem, the closest town that was still in the hands of the government; the closest town that was still secure. When we were told that, I was really confused. The drug treatment and every single word they repeated related with death made me surprisingly glad of my first mission. We were going to kill real people, finally. Nevertheless, there was something inside me that told me I wasn’t doing the correct thing and that I should kill the ones who captured me and assassinated my brother instead. But that voice was really weak. So weak that diminished in a few minutes. 4 And there we were, in the same truck in which I was captured, about to devastate a poor and innocent village. But whatever, I liked killing. We arrived to the town, people were already running, we got out and started shooting everyone,I can't remember how many people I killed, but the more people I killed, the more satisfaction and more torture. I was sexually excited. But suddenly, in the middle of the helix conflict, something happened. I was about to kill a little guy when two enormous men I had never seen before punched me, took off my gun and captured me. In that precise moment, I knew my life was going to have a complete change again. I knew I was on the other side. On the good side again. And here I am now, 4 years have passed since Pedro and Poncho saved me from that horrible sect. I have been treated every single day so that my brain could recover correctly and my mind stopped thinking constantly about those bloody and atrocious things. If I hadn’t been drugged during those war days, I would have committed suicide without any doubt. I wouldn’t be able to live knowing I killed decens of innocent people. Moreover, I’ve been able to reflect about our country’s situation and about all the suffering a war can involve. I’ve been able to realise the unfair torture each of us have suffered during these years, specially us. We are kids and we don’t deserve this. We live in poor conditions, we barely learn things at school and we can’t eat as healthy as we would like to. But apart from this, we go through wars, we get drugged, we lose our parents, we are tortured and we’re converted into soldiers. Into kid soldiers. And since then, my society’s points of view became much more realistic: everything’s about money. 30 years later. One would think that an enormous war like this would never repeat, but I’m writing this for a reason. 30 years have passed since I was rescued and before we start talking about this new conflict, I would like everyone to know what many kids go through unfairly. Yes, history repeats itself, a new conflict, war is starting again. Soldier kids have returned.

E Méndez, E Miranda, J de la Torre, I McCarthy

Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Chloe

CHAPTER 1: Innocence

My name is Chloe, and this is my story.

I was born in downtown Detroit. I had a loving family from the very beginning, I went to kindergarten, I had a lot of friends, everything was going alright. As soon as I turned twelve I started realising what was going on in my family, we were having huge economic issues. Dad worked as postman and mom was unemployed by that time, so we couldn't pay the house rent. Dad had to work double-turn, and quite often I could hear my mom and my dad arguing because sometimes dad came home with lots of money and he did not want to tell mom where he got it from. That was just the beginning. Every single week they argued about the same thing. However, mom was not sure what to do because thanks to whatever dad was doing, the bills where all paid in time. But everything was bound to explode.

We hanged there, in that situation for around two years. Then, mom found out. She found a huge fridge hidden in the basement, behind the stairs. Inside the fridge were several trays of a frozen blue-sky coloured liquid. Dad was not home, it was only mom and me. After looking in the internet what that could be and thinking what dad was doing with it we came to a conclusion. And we were right. Dad was a drug dealer. More specifically, a methamphetamine dealer. And not just that, he was also an addict. We found two little bags of crushed crystal under his bed. Mom thought of leaving him, but she was not sure what to do. One day, drove by anger and fear, she told dad. I was upstairs and I could hear the whole conversation. -You do not get to stick your nose in my f***ing business. If I go down, you all go down with me -dad said. I could hear mom crying loudly and dad was just screaming at her. All of a sudden, I heard the door shut, and everything was silence then. I came down, and there was my mother, sitting and crying, dad had left. I just sat there with her for hours, saying absolutely nothing. I was a kid, I didn't really understand the magnitude of the situation, so I did not know what to say. The following weeks were horrible, and things got way more serious. Dad always came home high and sometimes while arguing I could hear him hit mom. I just couldn’t be at home anymore, so everytime I could, I went out with my friends. However, I didn’t realise they were also part of the problem. They offered me weed every now and then and I just wanted to forget what was happening at home for a moment so I always accepted. After some time, it wasn’t just an every-now-and-then thing, it was an everyday thing. Dad wasn’t the only addict at home. I wasn’t aware of what that would bring to our family. I moved from weed to crack. It was stronger, it made me feel better. I didn’t cry anymore when I heard the arguments, I was just thinking of what else could I smoke to get high.

CHAPTER 2: Experience

I turned 16, and everything was just more of the same. Until one day, the day. The day dad was arrested. It was late at night. I was smoking, as always, when I heard a loud bang at the door. -DEA! - I heard a man say. I quickly hid the drugs, I thought they were looking for me for a moment, but they weren’t. There was no shooting, thank God. I jumped off the bed and I ran to the door. There was dad, handcuffed, on the floor. And I saw two DEA agents charging the fridge into a huge van. I didn't cry, neither did mom. I don’t know if that was because I was high or just because I was actually happy they caught him. I think it was both.

Now, all of that remains just as a vague memory in my mind. I’m an adult now, and I have a daughter. We live in the same neighbourhood that I lived in when I was a child. I went to rehab for more than 8 years, and I’ve been clean ever since. Dad is still in prison by now and mom very now and then comes visit me and Lizzie, just to check if everything is going OK. Mom and I both want Lizzie to do good, and not follow the same path my dad and I took.

I can’t keep an eye on Lizzie every single moment of each day, and there is a lot of drug dealing here in Detroit. In addition, I’ve never liked Lizzie’s friends, because they are just like my friends were.

One day, I came home from work earlier than expected, I found out that Lizzie wasn’t home. I thought that she would be at school studying or just hanging out with her friends. I started cleaning the house. I went to her room and noticed that her bed was not made. Just when I picked up the sheets and started making the bed, I found a few little bags of what it certainly was crystal. I picked up everything and placed it in the house entrance.

Around and hour later, Lizzie came. She was surprised that I was already home but she didn’t have time to even ask because she saw all of the drugs I placed right there. She looked at me terrified and started crying. I was, however, very calmed.

I told her to stop crying and listen. Lizzie didn’t know why his grandpa was in prison, I never told her, until now. I explained her everything that happened. The drugs, the fridge, dad, the fights… and in the end I showed her my rehab chip.

She didn’t even try to excuse herself. She is a smart girl and she understood the gravity of the situation.

Since then I am certain that she is clean, she is safe now. And all thanks to what happened to me, I’m glad I could take something good out of that horrible nightmare.

S López, A Castaño, M Zulueta

Songs of Innocence and of Experience: A memoir of hate

A MEMOIR OF HATE

I am 5 years old. I walk down the street with my mother, happy, as kids are supposed to be. The hot summer sun melts the ice cream I’m eating and I unsuccessfully try to stop the drops from sliding down my hand. As I’m trying to wipe my dirty, sticky hands on my brand new shorts, I feel someone strongly pulling my arm, leading me towards the other side of the street. At first I feel confused and disoriented, but then I look up and realise that it is just my mother. I’m just about ready to forget about the whole situation and go back to eating my delicious ice cream before it melts when I start to wonder something. What on earth made my mother change sidewalks so suddenly? Was there some sort of danger awaiting us on the other side? To clear up my doubts, I look back to my initial position. However, what I see only confuses me further. There is only a happy-looking family of dark skinned people. Before I can find an answer to my questions, my attention is caught by a passing butterfly, and the issue is almost instantly erased from my mind.

I am 10 years old. I’m having a lovely dinner meal with my family, telling them all about my first day of fifth grade. When we’re finished, my mother tries to get up and go to the bathroom, but my father doesn’t let her. Just as she’s leaving he grabs her by the arm and starts shouting at her, telling her that she can’t go before she’s finished doing all the dishes. My mother weakly argues that she will come back in a moment, but my father isn’t having any of it. Taking us by surprise, he slaps my mother across the face, leaving her cheek burning red. He goes to his room and slams the door. My mother looks at me, fighting the tears that are threatening to fall from her watery eyes, and smiles. But I know something’s not entirely right as I see her walk into the kitchen and hear her start crying a few seconds later. Soon after that, she starts doing the dishes as my dad requested, and he comes back, sits down in front of the TV and puts on a football game. Is this supposed to happen everyday?

I am 15 years old. It’s the middle of the school year, grade 10. A new kid’s arriving today. This usually never happens, no one is allowed to start coming to class so late but, just this once, they made an exception. When the bell rings, signaling the beginning of the first period, we all walk into class and sit in our usual places. A few minutes later, the teacher arrives. She announces that there’s a new student, and asks him to get up and introduce himself. We all turn around to look for him, and when we finally find him, a few gasps are heard across the classroom. It takes me a second to get it, but I’m growing up, and I finally start to understand. The new boy is wearing a turban. As the boy is telling us about himself, I can notice a slight Arabic accent, and I assume my classmates do too since they start giggling. Some of them even say some out of place comments. But I don’t. I don’t laugh, I wonder. I wonder why this happens. I assume they’re going to keep bullying him all day, but I’m so wrong. What happens is so much worse. They completely ignore him and refuse to include him in their groups. At lunch, he sits by himself. And I think about going there and talking to him, I swear I do. Everything in me is telling me to do so, but something stops me. I look at all my friends. I’m safer here. He probably doesn’t even need me, he’ll get by. I stay put.

I am 20 years old. Today we have a Campus Pool Party. All me and my friends can think about is tonight’s event. Summer is finally here and I am definitely ready for it. We arrive and everyone is playing volleyball in the pool, dancing and drinking. After a couple of drinks, I see a girl arriving at the party. I’ve seen her before, she’s in one of my classes, but I don’t know her name. I notice that even though it’s a pool party she’s fully clothed and trying to cover herself, the group of girls approaching her must have noticed too. From where I’m standing, I can’t really hear what they’re saying, but what’s going on is crystal clear. I feel bad for her. The poor girl doesn’t want to take off her clothes and go into the pool because she doesn’t feel comfortable in a swimsuit, but the others have different plans. While they’re laughing, they push her around, rip her clothes off her against her will and mercilessly throw her into the pool and laugh at her as if she was some sort of circus attraction.
When they’re done, they simply walk away without a trace of remorse showing on their faces. Before I’m able to react, the girl swims out of the pool and runs inside the house. Without a second thought, I go after her. After looking through every room, I finally find her. She’s in a bathroom. I walk in to find her cuddled against the wall, crying uncontrollably. I sit by her side and try to calm her down. I hold her in my arms and squeeze her. I tell her that everything’s going to be ok, but I’m not even sure I believe that myself. As her weeping stops, I feel a silent tear of anger slowly rolling down my cheek.

I am 70 years old. I’ve had a good life. As I’m sitting on my favorite couch in my beautiful house I hear the phone ring. I pick up. It’s my daughter, telling me that I’m going to have a grandson. As she tells me I feel a rush of happiness run through my body. I am overjoyed. After I finish talking to her I sit back on my couch and wonder, once again. Have I been good in my life? I close my eyes and try to remember it all. I see my mom pulling my arm, the black family and the butterfly. I see my dad and my mom, and hear her crying. I can feel the confusion all over again but this time I seem to understand all these things I have seen all my life but never realized entirely they were wrong. I see the boy with the turban sitting across the school cafeteria. He definitely needed me. Finally, I see the girl at the party, hopeless and broken. A nauseating feeling sets in my gut as I realise that after all, I still don’t know her name. I should have done so much more.

V Frassa, S Kennedy, A Herrero, C Pérez

Songs of Innocence and of Experience

In this creative writing project, students had to write about an issue that affects children from a innocent, naive point of view, and from a cynical, experienced point of view.

This is one of the stories they wrote:

INNOCENCE


Once upon a time there were two children, Me and Jeff. We were brothers that helped each other with different tasks. Once in a while they could hear they parents fight, arguing about their financial situation and their marriage. Their marriage wasn't in the best moment, as you could presume by now, because of serious problems they were having.

I remember being 9 years old, people would always tell me that I was a great guy, that I always helped people with things they needed. I wasn't in the best shape, which meant that I was a bullying target at school. At school people would make fun of me, because of my weight, but that didn’t really bother me.

My brother, Jeff, always had big dreams, he always aimed high but as our parents were not as rich as the other parents Jeff could not be what he wanted to be in school. Many boys in his school played football but as he was not as good as the other boys he could not play with them and he lost his interest in football.

Steve and Alex, our parents, were great parents, until Steve stopped going to work. They had reached a point in their marriage where they couldn’t stand each other, because of issues they were having, so they would always fight, scream each other and never reach an agreement. This would not only affect their lives, but also their children's lives.

One day, me and Jeff were on our way to school and I was thinking that, I liked going to school as I felt that there everyone liked me as I would help my friends, making them laugh in the process. Jeff wasn’t so happy doing so, since he couldn't do or be what he wanted to.
That day my friends decided to play a game called “Run for help’, this game consisted of running the fasted as you could to help others, but in this case, no one needed to be helped, my “friends” were only making me run around and since I was fat, they thought it was funny as I thought that it was funny as well.

At one point during the game one of my friends asked me if I liked playing the game, I answered that I liked it as I felt as a great part of a big group of friends
that gave me attention, more than anyone else then.

Jeff, on the other hand, had a completely normal and boring day; he couldn't do want he would like to, which was play and practice football with his friends, he felt excluded from his group of friends, because he wasn't able to be like then, which made him upset, this scared him as he knew from personal experience what hate could do.

Inside the classroom we didn't have a problem, we were great students and were fine with people around us. My teacher thought I was a great, intelligent boy. Jeff’s teacher thought he was a great student but a little quiet. Both were able to socialise and even make friends, at least that was what I thought I was doing... meanwhile Jeff was having fun with their actual friends. They we were both great students after all, we had good grades, helped others, were always up to date with their studies and most important their we were happy, well at least I was. But everything changed at home.

My parents stayed at home. Alex, our mother, because she wasn’t allowed to have a job, and Steve, that was looking for a job. They would never stop arguing, and sometimes Steve would even threaten Alex. But that wasn’t the worst, this hate between the parents caused us children to fight each other, because while I supported my mom, Jeff was in a way induced to support his dad, once Steve was very persuasive and was able to manipulate Jeff’s opinion, but dad couldn't do it with me, I was too innocent to understand, so instead I decided to support my mother, because I thought it was the right thing to do.

Back to that day, that night was different, we were all peacefully eating dinner, laughing together with mom, but that night dad; dad was quiet, always looking down, that was when I suspected that bad things were going to happen. We continued eating, and all the sudden, dad stood up, and just started walking to the dishwasher, putting his dishes in and went upstairs to his room. Even though nothing happened my mom looked scared, at the time I wasn’t able to understand what scared my mother, we washed our dishes and went to bed, at one point during that night I woke up, could hear my father crying on the master bedroom, I went there and mom was dead on the ground with a knife stuck on her chest, I went to dad and asked him what happened to mom he just answered, I spared your mom from doing the paperwork.

P Barrada, P Yavarfar, G Russo

Halloween story: The Spot

T H E   S P O T

We were waiting at  a cold small and dark room, I started looking at the walls and realized that the pictures that were hanging were photos of people in our school, but before I could even think about what was going on the door opened and a small old little man came in, everything was so weird, I suddenly remembered why we came and how the day started just like any other one.

It was a Friday like any other, as always we were hanging out during recess at our spot, the left corner of the playground. Just like every other day, the boys were playing football and suddenly one of them, Anibal, kicked the ball so hard that it ended up in the neighbor's garden. 

They asked us to look and check if we could see it, but to our amazement, when we looked through the little holes in the wall we saw an eye staring at us. I could not believe what was happening, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I told all my fiends but they just laughed at me and no one believed me. I felt terrified and alone, but my curiosity was too overwhelming to think straight. That afternoon, when school finished, Anibal asked me to go with him to get the ball back and I felt like I couldn’t say no.

When we got there, we found out that there wasn't a bell at the door so we just knocked on it. An old lady let us in and after we explained why we were there, she told us to wait at a strange little room for her husband to arrive. I could tell that she was looking at us with a weird look in her eyes, she made me feel a bit suspicious but my thoughts vanished when that creepy little man asked us what we were doing there, and here we are now sitting in this old grubby sofa.

We told him why we were there, but he seemed not to have heard and instead he invited us to have some drinks with him. We were very confused about the whole situation but we agreed, since we really needed to get our ball back.

He led us to the kitchen. Everything in this house was out of ordinary-the little sofa room, the pictures hanging on the walls… when we arrived to the kitchen, we found a massive walk-in fridge, we went in to take something to eat but suddenly the door closed. We tried to open it but it was locked.

Already 2 hours had gone by, I was stressing out so badly. It seemed like we were in the worst of our bad dreams. The room that was supposedly a big fridge was dark and quiet, we were freezing, and I felt like we weren’t alone.

Anibal started crying like crazy, I tried to tell him that everything was going to be okay, that it all had a logical explanation, but it really didn’t, I really thought we were being victims of some kind of crazy psychopath and that we weren’t likely to survive.

Suddenly, a smell started filling the room and before I could react I passed out, someone was trying to knock us out, to hurt us, to kill us.

I woke up to Anibal shouting my name. I opened my eyes and I saw him staring at me with the most terrified look. I realized there was light in the room, someone had turned the lights on. I got up and looked around me, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at, it was the most horrific, disgusting and creepy scene: there were around 20 dead bodies laid all across the floor. None of them had eyes, they had dry dripping blood all over them.

I just didn’t know how to react, I really didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know how much time had gone by, I didn’t have my phone on me and Anibal was having an anxiety attack so I couldn’t express my worries to him because he would get worse. 

I don’t know how much time had already gone but the door suddenly opened and the old man came in. He stared at us for seconds that felt like hours. When we could react, we both ran out of the house as fast as we could until we got to my house. 

It was already ten o’clock at night. When we opened the door, we found my parents talking to the police. My mom had  watery eyes and my dad seemed out of this world, he had a lost look.

When they saw me they busted into tears and hugged us. I couldn't even talk, I was paralyzed. My parents and the police kept asking questions. They didn’t know where we had been all this time and felt so frustrated that I couldn’t answer that I kept crying. Anibal’s parents came to pick him up. I still couldn’t talk.

I couldn’t talk for the next few weeks, I would spend the whole day in bed just thinking and thinking about what had happened  until one day I woke up crying and calling my mom. She came to my room as fast as possible and hugged me until I stopped crying. I then started to tell her the whole story. She then called the police, and they asked me a ton of questions about what happened.

We received no information for them for months until one day they called and told my mom to go the the police station. When she came home she was pale as a paper, she came into my room and said something I will never forget: “We are going to have to take you to the doctor’s, sweetheart. Something isn’t right.”

A. Herrero and A. Oller

Halloween story: The Figure

The Figure

So there I was, it was almost dark outside, and there I was, alone at school. At first, I was sure that there would be someone else there, like the guard or someone in reception, but I was wrong. How did I end up alone at school?

The first thing I tried to do was (of course) going to the kitchen to get some food for the night. The only thing I found was bread and some cheese. I could work something out with that. Next thing I did was to go and check in secretary and see if there was anyone there. And there was no one there, I was completely alone.

Around an hour later, I realised it was completely dark outside so what I tried to do next was to find a place to sleep. I was kind of scared, which was normal, and I chose the kitchen. There, I could use the heat of the hob to keep me warm during the night and, just in case, to use the knives if I needed them.

It was almost midnight and I couldn't sleep, obviously, so I started walking around to try to relax. Hours before I had tried to talk to my parents, but none of them answered my texts and phone calls. They must have been so worried by that time…

At least, I was perfectly fine, I managed to stay warm, I ate, and found myself a place to lie down. After around half an hour of walking around the kitchen, I finally felt tired enough to sleep. I made a blanket out of the aprons that were lying there and I used piled trash bags as a pillow. When I was just about to fall asleep, I heard a noise. At first I had no idea of what it was, but after 10 seconds I recognised it clearly. A telephone. I thought about the place where I could find a telephone in school, so I went to reception again.

There it was, the ringing phone, and I picked it up. “Hello?” I said. But no one replied, the only thing I heard was a buzzing noise in the background. “Listen, I’m here by myself and I don’t know what to do,” I explained. But again, no one replied, just the buzz. So, kind of scared, I hung up. I stared at the phone, hoping that it didn’t ring again. And in fact, it didn’t. But there was something else, I spotted a small piece of paper just underneath the phone, I unfolded it and it said; “Look outside”. Terrified, I went to the door and looked to the car park. I couldn't believe what I saw. There was a car with its lights on and in front of it was a figure, it was a human-like figure, but it wasn’t human. It was like 3 meters tall but very very thin, and I could tell that it was smiling at me. Then, he raised his arms and all of the car lights turned on, the school lights too and all the cars started beeping.

Then, I woke up. Thank God, it was only a nightmare. I was still at school though, that was real. I looked at the time and it was 4:13 am. I realised that was the same exact time when the telephone rang in my nightmare. But I managed to calm down, and went to sleep again.

I couldn't sleep, that nightmare had freaked me out. I went to reception again, just to check everything was OK. No phone ringing and no 3-meter-tall figures. But I spotted a tiny note again. I was scared by that time but I had to open it. I unfolded it and it said: “Here we go again”. Then, the telephone rang.

S. LÓPEZ and M. ZULUETA

Halloween story: Friday 13th

It was a mysterious Friday 13, in December, when our first character was in school specifically in Algebra 1.

“God, I hate Maths,” Allende said. She looked at her right and she realized that Cris wasn’t there. She hadn’t shown up in two weeks and she was missing. The  bell rang.

When Allende got home, she started to do her French homework. In the last exercise, she found some strange sentences that she had to conjugate, like: ‘She will never come back from home’ or ‘She was scared’, but the last one really creeped her out- ‘You will never see her again’. It was at this moment when she started to look into Cris’s disappearance.

She spent her whole weekend reading police reports from her father, who was an important policeman in town, and also talking with Cris’s parents, but she only found that she had disappeared. Allende was getting frustrated because nobody knew what had happened to Cris. The following Monday, Allende was searching through the whole school and she got told that Sirhu the handyman was also missing, so she went to the cabin to meet the new handyman. When she got there, she knocked three times and no one responded so she decided to enter and check it out. When she got in she found a lot of PS4’s, an enormous TV and a box saying “Sirhu’s personal belongings”.

When she opened the box she found a old note with a strange message in Spanish “seis - tres - cinco - nueve - dos”. 20 minutes later she had to go back to French class. As she was leaving, she noticed a weird presence.

In French class they had to to an oral presentation but the teacher didn’t show up so as the law says, if the teacher doesn´t show up in the first ten minutes, you can leave.

5 minutes later, she went to the cabin again with an enormous desire of knowing what happened to her best friend. She was looking for any kind of safe with the code “6 - 3 - 5 - 9 - 2”, but nothing was there and suddenly the door closed really hard, and a voice said, “ if you continue, you will get killed by…” and it disappeared with a big BOOM and a safe box appeared with a 5-digit-code.                     

When she opened it with the code, she found a note and Cris´s phone, which shocked her. The note was a page from Sirhu’s diary saying the following- “29th of november. Today, I found a girl's phone which was unlocked and my curiosity made me look in the photo gallery and then I saw it, the most evil thing I’ve ever seen and after a few seconds I recognized her face wit…” and the note was unfinished with a big bloodstain. Suddenly a teacher passed by and said “What are you doing here, Allende? You are not supposed to be here! come with me, I’ll take you to your classroom”.

When they arrived nobody except Roxanne was there. The next 30 minutes were extremely awkward and creepy. She started asking all these weird questions, like if she was ok after Cris’s death, and also her relationship with Cris. Allende knew that something was up so she decided to leave the classroom, but when she was turning the doorknob she noticed it was locked so instantly she looked at Roxanne and she told her sharply, “Don’t get into things that don’t concern you,” and the door opened as if by magic.

When Allende got home, she grabbed her earphones and played the video on her phone. It was basically Cris running from something, and just before it ended she heard a strange and creepy but familiar voice. Even though she had heard it before, she didn’t know whose voice it could be. Later that night, she had a nightmare about the exact same voice, and at the end of the dream she could see that it was Dina’s voice, the English teacher. Just then she woke up, and she had no idea of what could do.

In the morning, she grabbed a stake which she was going to use to kill Dina. She waited for hours until she had Dina where she wanted to. She was really nervous because she hadn’t hit or killed anything before, but she remembered what she had done to Cris and as soon she started walking along the corridor, she put the stake through her heart.

Right after this, she felt something in her back, and whatever it was said “ You got the wrong person!!!” and the real vampire, Roxanne, ended eating Allende until there was no more to eat than her soul.

During the following 100 years, the death of these poor guys, which has always been a mystery, was forgotten, but on the 27th of November someone else died at the same school.

A. Castaño and N. Alzugaray

Halloween story: The night before Halloween

It’s the night before Halloween and the 6th grade students are planning some scary activities to prank the rest of the school. Allende,Elisa, Santi and Emilio had a really good prank, they were going tell them a gruesome legend:

“Legend has it that a couple would sneak out every night to see each other at their secret place in this exact school, ”said Elisa.“One very special night, the night before Halloween, the couple met in the school kitchen”. “Ooooooooooouuuiiiiii,” said Aitana sarcastically. Aitana is a senior girl that doesn't believe in this kind of supernatural stories but was forced to listen to them as punishment.

“Night came and there they were, only the two of them, at least that is what they thought. A couple of hours passed, and suddenly, they started to hear some noises. Some loud and solid steps made them shiver. They quickly realised that it had to be the guard. They ran into the kitchen and hid under the sink. The spine-chilling steps became louder and louder, as if the guard was coming closer to them. “We should leave now,” said Paz. “Why?” asked Ian. ”He probably knows we have been hiding in here for the last two months. If we leave now, he will get us.” “It’s not that,” claimed Paz, “I don't think it's the guard. If he was looking for us he would have said something like, ‘Is somebody in here? You two, I know you are here, come out!’ Haven't  you noticed he has been in absolute silence? I think it's a robber.”

“Their hearts started pounding, the girl’s fingers started trembling so her boyfriend tried to comfort her by holding her hand in his, but he started shaking too, making them even more petrified. Suddenly the steps stopped, but they could still feel the stranger’s presence. A complete silence shrouded the kitchen. It was a cloudy night and you could hear how the wind streamed through the branches of the trees. She could see the moon through the little window next to the table.It was the only light in the kitchen. For a second, she felt better, however, she realized that Ian had been extremely quiet the past minutes. She started looking for him as best as she could, but she couldn't find him. A horrible thought overcame her. She panicked and looked for a way to escape. She looked at the moon, wishing for an exit, but immediately a male silhouette covered the only light shining. Paz couldn't believe what she was seeing, she couldn't believe what he was holding, and even worse,she couldn't believe what he actually was. A cry for help seized the school, but outside no one could hear her, even though she had screamed as loud as anyone could have ever screamed.

“The couple disappeared and was never found, and from that day on it is said that every year, the night before Halloween, a spirit walks through the hallways of this school, looking for students to take with him.”

When Santi finished telling the story everyone was shocked and their mouths were gaping. Even Aitana was trembling! “What happened to Ian?” asked a little girl. “What was he holding?” yelled a group of boys. “It was David, wasn't he?” suggested Aitana. In less than thirty seconds a huge shriek was created by kids demanding answers. They were all so interested in the story.

“It's an open ending, it's all up to you!” said Allende. “Wait,” “What!?” “ That is not fair!” The shriek appeared again. The bell rang, meaning that everything was over and they had to go back to their respective classes. “HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!” yelled the group. They all went running to their class laughing.

“That was fun,” said Allende.

“Yeah, I think a little girl even gave me a devil look” claimed Emilio.

“They are all little devils,” said Elisa.

“I know, right?” agreed Santi, “I bet they all have nightmares tonight.”

“So, what are you doing tonight?” asked Elisa.

“I'm going climbing with my father and my sister at this super cool place. It even has a special Halloween wall!” explained Allende.

“I have a basketball match and then guitar lessons” said Santi. “And you, Emilio?” 

“Oh, I think I'll just help my father buying Halloween sweets and all that stuff, you know” added Emilio,”I just can't find my phone!”

“ALLEZ, ALLEZ!!” shouted Roxanne, “It’s already 4:58 pm, you should leave!”

“But I can't find my phone!” said Emilio.

“Do you want me to stay?” asked Allende.

“No, it's okay, have fun climbing!”

“Bye!” Allende left the room.

“Okay Emilio, I have to take the bus. You have to lock the door, okay?” ordered Roxanne.

“But I don't have any k-ke…” stammered Emilio.

It didn't matter, she wasn't there. Five minutes later he found his phone, but it didn't have battery. He went to the door but it was locked.

“What? You have to be kidding me!” he said, furious. He tried to open it many different ways, but he had missed the bus. It was already 5:10 pm. He spent some time there and wondered why no one had come to look for him. After some minutes struggling to open the door he gave up. Suddenly he started to hear some noises. Some loud and solid steps made him shiver. The spine-chilling steps became louder and louder, as if someone was coming closer to him. He didn't need to turn back, he knew exactly who it was.

C. Pérez and S. Kennedy

Halloween Story: Showtime

“Charlie, remember to take the house keys. Your father and I are not coming back home this afternoon, we have a business congres. You’ll be the man of the house tonight. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Ok mom, already got them.”

“Oh, and one more thing. Remember you must leave school as quick as possible, as the bus leaves really quickly.”

“Oh mom, don't worry, I will not forget about that.”

“You promise me?”

“Yeah, whatever mom. Bye bye, dad.”

“Bye, Charlie!”

Charles got on  the bus. He lived in an isolated area far from the school, so he didn't get to know many other people from the area, as the bus he went on only had a few stops and only people from other school years used it. It was winter and as crazy as it may seem was snowing in Madrid. Once he got to school, he realised that not a lot of people had come, as lots of cars weren't ready for the weather and the streets had a lot of snow.

Because of this, the school management allowed the students to work on their extracurricular activities. In Charles’s case, it was drama.

While he was walking to his classroom, Charles started noticing some odd things going on. Despite the fact that hardly anyone was there, he heard noises and gusts of wind that seemed to come from nowhere. He ignored that and kept walking to his classroom.

Charles got to the room in which the drama teacher was.

“Ok class, because of the huge amount of people that are not at school today, the principal has decided to allow extra practice on their extracurricular activities. And since we are currently doing so well, I've decided to go one step forward and start practising in the school’s auditorium.”

When Charles and the rest of the class reached the auditorium, Charles started thinking about how it was a great mystery for him as during the construction of the theatre the room seemed bigger from the outside.

Hours passed and when it was going to be lunch time, Charles looked in the mirror to help him get rid of a paint mark caused by a drop he had got while making some decorations, but he could not see himself. He I immediately thought something was wrong with that place, but he ignored that thought after his teacher called him to go get lunch.

The hours passed, and after a long day of theatre practice Charles asked his teacher if he could stay at the theatre for a bit in order to rest a couple of minutes. The teacher agreed and asked Charles to close the theatre once he had left.

Charles woke up. Everything was closed, the lights were off, the curtains were shut. Trying to find the lights, Charles heard a noise coming from the corridor. Sounds of steps and wind were getting louder and louder. The doors started making a strange noise, as if something wanted to come inside. He started to get worried, so he checked the back door. As he was walking there, the room got cold and the curtains started moving. The sound of the wind became quieter. He walked to the door and looked out to the corridor and couldn't see a thing. The lights were off and the only thing he heard was a strange wind-like sound, which he thought was odd, considering every window was closed.

Charles decided to go back to the theatre. The door behind him closed without him noticing. He decided to stop for a second and tried to find an explanation for what had been happening, but as he was unable to do this he just accepted that what was going on couldn’t be true and decided to check this by drawing the curtains- this was the only area of the theatre he hadn't checked because of what had happened.Once he had drawn the curtains, he found another curtain. He tried to go through this, but once he did it he found himself in front of the seats. He tried to go back into the curtain again, but he was between the 2 curtains, he looked for the stage and after he found it, he tried to go through it but it's closed. Then, he peeked through the window, and what he saw was more confusing- there was only another stage, exactly the same as the one he was in. He decided to check if every stage he saw through the curtains were exactly alike. He started going through the different stages- the first time he didn't notice any difference, but the second time he noticed that part of the seats had disappeared, and the third time more seats disappeared... the fourth time, only a chair remained, the fifth time that chair is illuminated by an unknown source. He walked to the chair and some sort of impulse convinces him to sit down for a moment. He felt calm, when suddenly a distorted woman’s voice said “enjoying the show?” And suddenly, a curtain fell on his head and wrapped around it, suffocating him.

He woke up, looked at his watch. It was 02:59 am. After a couple of seconds, the room got cold, the doors and curtains started making a noise, and a voice said, “Enjoyed the show?”

P. Barrada and G. Russo

Halloween story: Because I can

It was a normal day at Colegio Base, except it wasn't. Lauren was a student at the school. She had jet black hair, mesmerizing emerald orbs and fair complexion. Her friends often teased her about looking like a vampire.

It was the beginning of the school year, and a new teacher, Mr. Oswald, arrived at the school. He seemed quite nice, but there was something eerie about him- his skin was surprisingly pale. He would be replacing the last English teacher who had had a mysterious car accident during the summer.

He started off the class with a brief presentation of who he was. By the end of the lesson, everyone loved him. He was such a great teacher, he was laid-back and funny, too. But not for Lauren, he just seemed so suspicious to her. There was something off about him, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

The next few weeks were uneventful. School was still boring for Lauren and her friends Gerard and Brendon, but they were coping. In the end, they still had each other. One day, they noticed that one of their classmates, Clara, had gone missing. No one seemed to notice, they probably thought she was sick or something like that, but Lauren and her friends were worried something else might be happening. Clara never returned to school. The same thing happened to another student. After a few weeks, no students went missing, and Lauren was getting desperate. She just couldn't figure out what was happening. But that was until, one day, Brendon pointed something out to her. Mr. Oswald was looking extremely tired, and even paler than usual. He had bags under his eyes, he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, and his voice was weak, almost inaudible.

So Lauren made a decision. That same afternoon, Gerard, Brendon and her would be following Mr. Oswald home to find out more about him and, hopefully, solve the mystery. But what the three friends hadn't been expecting was that their teacher didn’t go home at all. After last period they saw him get into his car, but he never started it. He stayed there in the parking lot until everyone else, except for the three young detectives, had left the school. When he thought he was alone, he got out of his car and started walking towards a small shed that was in the school and he entered it. Lauren and her friends waited for a few minutes and then, ever so quietly, opened the door. They were surprised to find that their teacher wasn't there. Where could he have gone?After investigating the shed for a while, Gerard spotted a well-hidden trapdoor and all three went through it.

The trapdoor led to a dark and creepy staircase with more than a few steps missing. They could hear scary sounds coming from downstairs, like a knife repeatedly hitting something, probably bones, which made cracking noises. When they reached the end, Lauren slowly poked her head around a corner to see what was going on. In the dimly lit room, she could see Mr. Oswald, although he was facing the other way. He had a huge knife in one hand… and a human arm in the other one. Lauren had to fight the urge to scream out of sheer terror. She carefully pulled her phone out of her pocket, made sure it was silenced and started recording the murderer. They had to get proof to take to the police. The teacher was dismembering and eating the students who had mysteriously disappeared. With every bite, he got stronger.

Unfortunately, Brendon tripped and bumped into Lauren, who fell to the floor. She made a loud thud when she hit the ground, and Mr. Oswald noticed her. Lauren started running around the room with her teacher chasing her. She was fast, but she started getting tired after a few minutes and she couldn’t keep up the pace. Mr. Oswald, however, never seemed to run out of energy. The poor pale man was out of breath and she thought she was going to die, when Gerard, who had gone unnoticed by the teacher, grabbed a huge metal pipe he found on the floor and hit the teacher on the back of the head. He hit him so hard he left him unconscious. Terrified that he might wake up any moment, the three friends ran up the stairs and out of the school as fast as they could. They hopped on their bikes and pedaled at full speed.

As soon as they got to Brendon’s house they called the police and told them everything they had seen. The police went to Brendon’s house and when they saw the video they immediately went looking for Mr. Oswald. But they never found him.

A few years later, when everyone had put that experience at the back of their minds and tried to forget about him, Mr. Oswald, hungry for revenge and human flesh, found Lauren’s house and went there to kill her and eat her. When she saw him, a single tear rolled down her cheek, but she didn’t attempt to run. She knew she couldn’t escape him again. He looked different from the last time she’d seen him. He looked full of energy and really strong. He had been feeding a lot lately, he needn’t eat more food. He just wanted to kill her because she was a threat. Before she let him kill her, however, she asked him a single question. Why? Why did he want to kill her? He laughed devilishly and looked at her with evil eyes.

‘Because I can’.

THE END

E. López and V. Frassa

Halloween story: The Lab

Monday. 9:30 in the morning. We had Physics class and today we had to go to the laboratory. I had never really liked Physics, but I was a bit enthusiastic about this laboratory task. Before going there, we went to the bathroom as usual. While we were going up the stairs and everyone was talking about yesterday’s football game, someone suddenly stopped. We all stopped. There was blood everywhere, big spots of blood everywhere. We moved forward to the laboratory in a slow and frightened way. When we got to the laboratory we saw Isabel soaked with her own blood in the floor. But there was something weird: her head was missing.

Three days ago, no one would have imagined that horrible situation. Well, no one except me.

It was Friday and it was a sunny day. 4 pm; English class was about to finish. We were working on a Halloween story and I hadn't even started to write about it. Neither me or my friends believed that those stories would make anyone get scared, but we had to work hard in order to get a good mark.

Ten minutes later, the class had finished and we had to go to the laboratory, as we had a biology task. We took 5 minutes to get to the laboratory and we knew that Isabel was going to say we had arrived late, as it usually happened. However, when we entered and said Hello, she didn't answer back or even looked at us. It was as if she was sad, spiritless; depressed. We knew something was wrong with her as she always was quite active and friendly, but the class continued.

My biology group was about to finish the experiment when Isabel, who hadn’t changed her attitude during the whole period, went to the bathroom with an odd face.

Five minutes later the bell rang. Tomorrow was Saturday and everyone was obviously happy to leave school for a few days. Despite that, I was curious and a bit worried about Isabel, who hadn’t returned from the bathroom yet. I was the last one leaving the classroom as I had left my jacket on the other side of the class, but when I was about to leave the laboratory, something happened. Someone entered with blood stains all over her face and her T-shirt: it was Isabel.

“Isabel…? Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes… go with your friends before the bus leaves… “

“Ooookey… See you on Monday!

“Bye, hope to see you tool…”

During the next half an hour I couldn’t stop thinking about Isabel. What were those blood marks in her face? And what did she mean with the last words she had said? Was it a weird expression she used? Everything was too mysterious and terrifying, but it was Friday. Today I had a party and tomorrow my friend Ana was going to return from the USA, so I was really excited to see her. However, that wouldn’t be enough to forget what had happened today at school.

When the weekend was over I was really exhausted, but surprisingly I couldn’t sleep. I was still thinking about something no one else knew, something that scared and made me curious at the same time; Isabel’s situation. Next morning I couldn’t even open my eyes. I had only slept for 4 hours! Despite that, I had breakfast and went to school as usual.

And there we were, Monday morning, the whole biology group looking with pale faces at Isabel’s body; Isabel’s decapitated body. Suddenly, someone saw Isabel’s head at the other side of the class and yelled it out. Instinctively, we all entered the laboratory and as we did, the door closed with a slam that almost broke my eardrums. And then it happened. I saw a blood soaked knife hanging on the wall and everyone stopped breathing. For some, we all knew we were going to die. Here. Today. Suddenly, we heard slow steps outside that were getting close to us. The murderer was a few meters from us and was getting closer and closer. It was the end.

The door opened. A huge man entered and everyone started shouting. But there was something strange about him: he was a policeman. Had the murderer disguised as a police officer so as not to raise suspicion? But next to him, there was a woman. She looked familiar to me. She looked familiar to all of us. It was María José!

“What are you doing here guys? Why are you in the crime scene!? Shouldn’t this be  cordoned off?”

“Yes we were going to do it right now… we thought now one would come in these 10 minutes….”  said the policeman.

“Wait, wait, wait, can someone explain to me what’s happening here?” I said.

“It is a bit difficult to explain but what  basically happened is that Isabel drank some poison accidentally last Thursday... and she committed suicide,” María José said.

“But why? Why didn’t she go to the hospital and saved herself?” I asked.

“Because she couldn't. The poison is so strong that there’s no antidote yet. So instead of suffering, she decided to take her own life.”

“And… how can you explain the blood marks in her face? And her decapitation?” I cried.

“Well, the poison affects the lungs directly so she probably swallowed a big quantity of blood before she died. And, for your second question, well, it’s just a weird way of committing suicide, a really odd way actually….” the policeman said.

After what happened that week, most of the teachers resigned and Base school’s atmosphere was never what it used to be.

J. de la Torre and I. McCarthy

Halloween story: The window boy

THE WINDOW BOY

Colegio Base is famous for its legend about Jack, the window boy. It’s about a 4th of ESO student that was found dead near a window 40 years ago. It is said that a teacher called Mrs. Rollins had been arguing with Jack minutes before the accident happened. He had been messing with her since he started school, he had done plenty of bad things, like putting foam all over the inside and outside of her car or pasting all the pages of her books with glue. But, this time he had gone too far with Mrs. Rollins, he had broken her relationship with her husband. They went up to the counselor’s office to talk it through, because it wasn’t normal for a kid to go to that extreme. But Diana, the counselor, wasn’t there so they started fighting against each other and in a second Jack had already fallen through the window and to the ground three floors below.

No one knows for sure that this really happened, because the only two people who knew what had happened were Jack and Mrs. Rollins. And it wasn’t until last week that it was proven to be real.

One day on a normal school day something really strange happened during Mrs. Rollins's class. It was Tuesday, Tuesday afternoon, the lesson was going really well and suddenly everyone received an anonymous email with a really weird video attached to it. It was a short clip that showed a kid falling from a window. The students were left speechless after watching it, they didn't understand a thing. The window was big, and it looked strangely like the school windows.

Next thing, the projector started going crazy, and it started showing different shades of black all over the digital board. The teacher left the class to go look for Pedro, the IT manager. As soon as she left, another video was shown on the digital board-it seemed to be the spirit of a boy next to the same window where the accident had happened. He asked the students if they had seen the video that was sent to them a couple of minutes before and after they all said they had, he added one more thing before vanishing again and leaving the digital board totally fixed. He promised he would come back to tell the full story and get justice for what was done to him.

The next day, something very mysterious happened once more during Mrs Rollins’s class. Right after the teacher had written the homework on the whiteboard, Jack’s spirit appeared in class again and started  writing something on the board. They all looked at him with their eyes wide open, when the teacher realized she turned around to see what they were so shocked about. The whiteboard said: “I warned you, now you’ll pay the price” and it was signed with a drawing of an open window. At that moment she didn’t know how to react so she started to yell at her students, wanting to know who had written that and why. Immediately after, all the students started receiving another snippet of the video that was sent to them a couple of days before. This time the video showed the same boy they had seen falling of the window but now he was alive and arguing with a teacher, it was Mr. Fitz. They all went home scared because of what they had seen, so they decided they would do something if this happened again. No one knew who was behind this, it could just be a prank, but what if it was something else?

And just as they wished for, the next few days were pretty normal, nothing out of the ordinary happened. But the peace and quiet didn’t last long. A week later, when Mrs. Rollins was preparing everything for her next class, she opened the activity book and found out that there was something written all over the first two pages. It said “You ruined my life so, now it’s my turn to ruin yours” and it was yet again signed with a drawing of an open window. She started freaking out, and she didn’t know what to do. Then it hit her it had been Jack’s spirit, he had come back. Still in shock Mrs. Rollins managed to close the book and start her class but as soon as she started, the final extract of the video was played for the whole class instead of being sent by email. It showed that after Jack had been fighting with Mr. Fitz, he had started a really loud argument with Mrs. Rollins. The last few seconds left them all speechless- it was Mrs. Rollins who had killed Jack.

The teacher started to run as fast as she could out of there, because she knew there wasn’t an explanation for what she had done. How could she still be teaching in a school and trying to lead a normal life after what she had done? Since that day neither Mrs. Rollins nor Jack’s spirit were ever seen again laying foot on Colegio Base.

A. Snaider and P. Salazar

Halloween story: The well

The well

8 of may, 1999.

The bell rang. Amanda, just like every other student ran towards the school’s exit, very eager for the weekend. She walked to the bus stop, when she realized that she had forgotten her jacket in the playground. She ran as fast as she could back to the school and she managed to get in just before they closed the gate.

Everything was unusually quiet. The curtains moved with the wind as she walked across the playground. She spotted the green jacked in the corner where she left it and intended to go and get it when suddenly she heard someone mumbling something she didn’t understand. She shook her head both ways but no one was there. As she got closer to her jacket she could hear the voices getting louder and louder. Suddenly the area where kids usually played happily turned into a dark somber place.

When she was heading towards the stairs that led to the parking lot she heard a childish voice saying ‘do you want to play?’. She turned around once again and saw the silhouette of a young girl. She freaked out as no one was supposed to be at school at that time so she started running as fast as she could to get out of there still terrified about what she had seen.

Amanda later realized that if she told someone about what happened that evening they would think she was out of her mind, so she decided to keep it to herself.

However, what she never knew is that behind that terrifying encounter there was a story that went back at least 50 years.

31st of October (1949)

Emily had always wanted a little sister. Staring at her dollhouse, she imagined how different her life would be with someone to play with. She felt lonely. The truth was that since her mother’s death her father would never tell her fairy tells, watch snail races with her in the backyard or draw beautiful princesses and ugly monsters with her in her green notebook, as her mom usually did.

Whenever she felt that she didn’t have anything else to do, she would explore the house. She knew every corner of it except one place.

There was a well in the backyard covered by wood planks and she was certain that down there there was a magician that could grant her wish of having a friend to play with. Without any doubt she decided to open it to she what was down there. Emily knew where her father stored his tools, so one evening when her father was away at the grocery store, she decided to put an end to her loneliness. She worked really hard to lift the heavy planks, but finally, after a loud creak, she was able to stare at the complete darkness from inside the well. The little girl bent over in order to see what was in that dusky and endless pit. She still wasn't able to see anything so she ran all the way back to the house and reached for a flashlight. Emily pointed directly to the hole and with difficulty she managed to see some blurry shadows. Anxious to discover what was in there see she stretched out her arm and dropped the flashlight, in an attempt to catch it she fell down the hole. She died while she was going down at the same time as his father was parking his car. Emily's dad ran as fast as she could, desperate to save his daughter, but he wasn't able as she had already fallen down. He called the police and the ambulance. They arrived a few minutes later and immediately they started to look for the little girl hopping they could save her. After hours of searching they couldn’t find anything and accused Peter, Emily's dad, of being crazy.

10 years after Emily's death, in the same place where the old house stood, a school was built. The legend says that the right corner of the playground next to the dining room is where the little girl died, that's why the shape of the steps isn’t perfect. During the day everything is normal but when the ring bells everyone has to leave the school. If you don’t do so, you could find Emily running around looking for someone to play with, as it happened to Amanda. No one knows if this is true but it has been said that the formless paintings that are hanging around the school are the ones that Peter painted after her daughter died and they took him to the asylum where they thought he would be better.

A. Revilla and P. Martínez

Halloween Story: Cold

This is becoming a bit of a tradition at school now. Students write horror stories set at school. This year, our 4º ESO students have written the following stories. Enjoy! 

Cold

“It was cold. Normally, winters were really chilly, but this was different. It was colder than normal, everyone in the playground was freezing and looking for the only rays of sun that were not blocked by the clouds. Mr July whistled, thank God, for the first time it was better to be in class than outside. We had just finished watching the film with Theodora. It was really freaking weird, I don’t know where she got these films from. It was about a teen our age that committed suicide after his friends beat him up in a game at school. As I already said, really weird. 

It was cold, normally winters were really chilly, but this was different. It was colder than normal, everyone in the playground was freezing and looking for the only rays of sun that were not blocked by the clouds. The first class was Maths, with Mary Joseph. Logarithms were really hard. Then we heard the bell, it was recess time, finally, I know it was cold but Maths was excessively boring. Even the cold was better than Maths class. Everyone went outside, me and my friends played soccer, as usual. 

It was cold, normally winters were really chilly, but this was different. It was colder than normal, everyone in the playground was freezing and looking for the only rays of sun that were not blocked by the clouds. We had P.E., but we couldn’t play outside because they were painting half of the soccer field, so we went to the gym. It was boring, I hated P.E. when we needed to go to the gym. 

It was cold, normally winters were really chilly, but this was different. It was colder than normal, everyone in the playground was freezing and looking for the only rays of sun that were not blocked by the clouds. Recess time, but they were painting the other half of the field, so we couldn't play a match. One of us suggested to play a new game, it was called the “marcha”, it was a soccer game played in only one soccer net, whoever scored first won, and the last one to score would have to be hit “lightly” by every player. This time he didn’t score so you already know what happened.

It was cold, normally winters were really chilly, but this was different. It was colder than normal, everyone in the playground was freezing and looking for the only rays of sun that were not blocked by the clouds. Same as yesterday, normal classes, English exam, logarithms, literature stories and half of the court being still painted today. So we played the same game as yesterday, and he lost again. He didn't like the game, and do you know this feeling when you know that something is not ok? Well I had that feeling that day, around this boy that lost yesterday I would say that he was not ok.

It was cold, normally winters were really chilly, but this was different. It was colder than normal, everyone in the playground was freezing and looking for the only rays of sun that were not blocked by the clouds. I had a project but I didn’t do it. I had done this project together with him but he wasn’t here, that day he hadn’t come to class.

Today is not cold, the sun is shining and there are no clouds at all. I am happy, today there are no exams and everyone is happy. Today my mom had to go to work early, so she brought me earlier than normal to school, I was the first one to arrive. Today this kid came, but he could not do the project, because he was dead. I arrived and when I got to the playground, I found him hanged from a basket.

E. Méndez and E. Miranda

Halloween stories: Disappearances

This is becoming a bit of a tradition at school now. Students write horror stories set at school. This year, our 4º ESO students have written the following stories. Enjoy!

Disappearances 

It all started on Friday October 27th, when an ordinary student called Sarah asked if she could go to the bathroom in the middle of math class.

Her friends said that she had probably skipped school to meet her boyfriend, so everyone believed it without a doubt.

On Tuesday (I didn’t go to school on Monday), I found out that three more girls had skipped school on Monday. That was weird. Some of the most common questions students asked themselves where “Are they hanging out together outside school?” “Why is suddenly everyone skipping school?”

Those questions changed drastically the next day, when three more girls had disappeared, all from different grades, and when the girls that had “skipped” school on Monday didn’t show to school the following day.

“Why were only girls skipping school?” Some people even wondered whether they were “skipping” school or it was something else. But what else could it be?

Sarah and the girls that disappeared on Monday didn’t show to school the following days and no one had heard from them. Their parents were very worried and no one understood what was going on.

There were three things these girls had in common: they were all girls, they were all Secondary students, and they had all disappeared after they  had asked to go to the bathroom in class. Was someone kidnapping them on their way to the bathroom? Or was something happening in the bathroom?

There was something else happening those days: the girls’ bathroom was smelling really really badly, but that was a normal thing, so nobody gave it much thought.

That afternoon, we all heard a loud scream and everyone rushed into the girls’ bathroom situated in the corridor. We found a girl from year 8 shouting at the top of her lungs. She was pointing at the cleaners’ cupboard door, which was slightly open. A teacher opened the door and we all had a moment of shock, the kind of shock caused by horror. The bodies of the four girls that had disappeared were piled and dismembered in that closet. Who on Earth was capable of doing that?

The following hours were really messy, I don’t remember much. The police was came, the teachers were trying to keep everyone away from the bathroom. As I walked away from the bathroom, I made eye contact with a cleaning lady. I didn’t know her, but the instant our eyes met I felt there was something weird about her, I don’t know how to explain it but she was just not right. I pointed at her and told my friend Tyler to look, but it was too late because she had already started walking away. Tyler and I went to take a walk around the school so we could clear our minds. As we walked, I told him my suspicions. This dialogue is very present in my mind. 

“So what did you mean about that cleaning lady?” he asked.
“I don’t know Ty, there was something weird going on with her. Maybe it was the look on her face, or her eyes. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Well, maybe it’s a product of your imagination, caused by the shock of seeing those dead girls.”
“Maybe it is, I don’t know.”
“Oh my God! What is that?” he said pointing at something lying on the ground behind a tree. It was a dead body.
“Tyler, that’s the dead body of the cleaning lady,” I said pale as a ghost as I came near and saw the face of the body.

Then, I saw the “thing” that had the face of the dead cleaning lady. It was walking towards us.

I  suddenly felt the need to run, every cell on my body was terrified, but I couldn’t move. She kept coming closer and I couldn’t move, I was shouting inside “Move you idiot! Why aren’t you moving?!” But my body didn’t respond.

She went for Tyler first, it wasn’t human at all. It opened its mouth and I could see from where I was a thousand of fangs of all types and sizes.

It had been a very bad idea to go on our own when there was a killer in school. I realized that too late. Its fangs were already around my neck.


By E. Ugalde and E. Landaluce