“Haunted. What a joke.”

Cale walked up the steps to the front door of Montgomery High School. He worried about what kind of experience he would pull out of his new school day ever since his younger sister, Taffy, still in seventh grade told him of the school’s horrifying history.

“It’s haunted! I read all about it on the schools website.” Taffy said

“Shut up! There’s no such thing as haunted schools!” Cale was annoyed, “…and they wouldn’t even put up silly stories like that on a school website anyway.”.

“Well it’s true. I read that, a few years ago, seven students were murdered at school and in their homes over the course of three days. The slaughters were known as the Montgomery Murders. There was no real evidence of who, or… what did it. I read that their bodies were torn limb from limb, with all their entrails spilling out like a bowl of noodles!”

Taffy made hand gestures depicting noodles spilling out of a bowl. Cale made a disgusted face.

He started to walk off to find his locker, when he felt a small tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a girl about his age.

“You must be the new student….” Her voice was hushed and sweet. “My name is Kat Himmol, I’m the Junior Class Vice President” She put out her hand to shake his.

“I’m Cale.” He said. “I need help finding my first class…..”

“Who’s your teacher? Are you a sophomore?”

“No, I’m a junior….” Cale looked at a list of his classes. “I have someone named Ms. Gootray.”

Kat smiled revealing her luminous white teeth. “She is in the next building over, I’ll take you.”
“Thanks…” Cale wasn’t sure what to say.
Cale hung out with Kat for the remainder of the day. Kat introduced Cale to her best friend Jess, and trio became inseparable. Cale was surprised to find just how much he had in common with them both. They shared lunch and snack together, told each other stories, shared interests, and even shared some classes. After awhile, Cale forgot all about the frightening stories he had heard about the school, and was happy to have moved here.
Long after the last bell rang, and Jess had gone home, Cale was doing homework. Kat was off setting up posters around the school. He finished the last of his work and headed back to his locker to drop his books off and say bye to Kat. The janitor was busy cleaning in another hall, leaving Cale alone. He came to his locker and began turning the dial.
“32…… 4……….” Suddenly there was a large clanging sound- as if something had knocked over several pots and pans. Cale jumped from the suddenness of it.
“Must have been an accident in the kitchen,” Cale said to himself, “maybe… the cafeteria…” Cale remembered the cafeteria was just down the fall. He turned back to opening his lock.
“32…….4………28…..” The lock came undone. Cale put his books into his locker and slammed the door shut. He went out the front door and began walking home. He could not shake the eerie feeling that something was following him.
The next day Cale arrived at school, to see Jess frantically running to meet him.
“She’s dead.” Jess bawled.
“What?” Cale was very confused.
“She’s dead! Kat died last night!”

*
*
*

Cale and Jess were sitting on a bench in the park. The school had been closed for the day.
“How? Why?” Cale couldn’t believe it.
“I don’t know. She died at the school last night. There are rumors going around that she was murdered- the same way as those kids that were murdered eleven years ago.” Jess said
“Eleven years ago?”
Jess turned to Cale with a perplexed look on her face. “You’ve never heard of the Montgomery Murders?” Cale shook his head.
“It was a long time ago. Seven students at this school were viciously massacred...”
Jess began to recount the story for Cale, “There’s a rumor that the school is built on an ancient cult burial ground. Some people think that somewhere in the school is the very gate to hell – a portal through which demons travel..”
“That’s totally crazy,” Cale replied, disbelieving.
“Well anyway, there was this girl named Kate Berr. She was assigned to Locker 495 or “locker of Hell” as it came to be known after the Montgomery Murders. She had no idea what it was that had just been assigned to her; neither did anyone working at Montgomery at the time. Supposedly, that locker is possessed. Anyone who opens it, is doomed to die a horrible death.”
“Quit messing with me,” Cale was serious now.
“No, really. Just listen to the rest of the story. So this girl, Kate, was late getting home one night, and she was in such a rush that she did not shut her locker. Supposedly something came out of the locker and killed five of the students. It even tracked Kate down and killed her in her home!”
“The school closed down for a week, and police investigated the crime scene. A detective on the scene noticed that one locker on the second floor was open. When he went to go look at it, he saw filthy water flowing out of it. He looked inside the locker to see where it was coming from. It was baffling; it wasn’t coming from any visible source- it was just there, flowing out of the locker. He was sure that the open locker had something to do with the murders. He made sure that the locker was open that night to test his hypothesis.
“The next day, it was reported that another student attending the school had been murdered. The detective knew that this was the time to report what he had found… The locker was sealed, and no one was assigned to use it for many years – until two years ago.”
“What happened then?” Cale asked, completely involved in Jess’ story.
“Well, there was a new student who was without a locker her freshman year. She was assigned locker 495. That student was Kat!”
“You think something came out of her locker and killed her?” Cale said, snapping back to reality.
“What I’m saying is, everyone believes that at night, hellish creatures come out of one of the school lockers and murder unlucky students. I think that those creatures are what killed Kat.”
“What!?” Cale bawled.
“I’m going to the school tonight. I’m going to find what killed Kat, and kill it. I’ll take my dad’s gun too.” Jess stood up and started walking to her house.
“Jess, this is stupid! You don’t know that things like that exist! And you could get in trouble!” Cale ran after her.
“Cale, Jess was my friend. I’m not just going to sit around and wait for her killer to come back and kill someone else.” Jess turned and held out her hand to Cale. “are you going to come with me?”
Cale didn’t want to go, but he could not abandon his friend.
“This is crazy.” He took her hand.

*
*
*


Cale stood tapping his foot outside of Montgomery High School.

“It’s 9:30….. Where is she?”

“I’m here, Cale. Behind the bushes.” Jess whispered.

Cale turned around and looked trough the bushes. “Jess, why were you hiding here? And why are you whispering?” Cale asked.

“SHHHHH. The police are everywhere, and the front door is locked. We’re going in through the air ducts.” Jess said.

“Why don’t we wait until the police leave?” Cale remarked.

“Because they won’t. Stop whining and just come on.”

Cale followed Jess through the air ducts out onto the second floor of the school. It was dark and damp there, since the police had been washing down the hall were Kat’s body was found. There was yellow caution tape everywhere.

“I think its number 495. It should be here somewhere.” Jess was looking at the lockers.

“Maybe we should go back.” Cale said, recognizing the locker number, “Its creepy here, I don’t like it.”

“SHHHHHH!” Jess hushed him. She and Cale sat there quiet for a few minutes. “Do you hear that?” Jess asked.

“Hear what?” whispered Cale.

“Shhhhhh…. That…. The sound of water dripping.”

“How could I hear something like that?” Cale stated irritated.

“Come on, I want to see where it’s coming from.” Jess dragged Cale down the hall. The further they progressed, the more water they noticed was all over the floor. It was dirty, and muddy, like water from the street gutter, that has dirt and leaves and street filth mixed into it.

“Where did all this come from?” Cale asked himself. Jess did not stop to find out. She kept walking. Then she saw it; the locker.

“It’s that one- the open one over there” Jess rushed to it. Cale followed after her.

“The water is coming out of the locker….” Jess said , “It’s like there’s a hole in the wall or something.”

She felt her way around the back of the watery locker.

“This has got to be where the monsters are coming from.”

Jess continued to feel around. She couldn’t find the back of the locker, all she felt was warm air, rising from the inside.

“Jess, look at this…. Footprints” Cale pointed them out to Jess.

“Lets follow them.” Jess started walking when suddenly-

“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU KIDS DOING HERE?!” It was one of the policemen. He had seen them crawling into the wall and then followed them here.

“RUN!” screamed Jess. Cale and Jess took off down the hall with the policeman chasing them. In the rush, Jess dropped her dad’s gun on the floor.

“Run faster!” Jess replied. Nearly out of sight from the policeman, the two found a gap in the wall, near the drinking fountains, to hide. The policeman ran further down the hall, passing right by them.

“He didn’t see us,” Cale said. Then he noticed something. “Jess… this is where the footprints lead…..”

Down the hall came a nerve shattering cry.

Cale and Jess were terrified by the blood-curdling shriek.

“OH MY- NO, NO, NOOOO-ACK-HULL……” the policeman’s voice trailed off. Cale and Jess pulled their heads back into the wall.

“oh no…” Jess was whispering to herself.

“SHHHHH. It’s coming!” Cale said. They could hear something coming. The thumps of it walking down the hall grew louder and louder, until the creature came into their view. It was huge, at least ten feet tall. It had hard, thick metallic skin that shone in the dim, almost dark light that filtered through the halls. It had no eyes resting upon its head, but instead in their place were large, flaring nostrils. The creature had two muscular arms in front, tiny shriveled arms in the middle, and large, powerfully built legs on the back of its body. Its grotesque tail swooshed from side to side, propelling it forward. Its mouth let out a small gurgle sound as it walked on; a wide, gaping mouth full of glittery, bloodstained teeth. From his mouth dragged the police officer’s mangled remains; the body with its throat ripped open, face torn off, arms split, legs broken and twisted, smearing blood onto the floor.

Jess said nothing, she only stared.

“Jess? Jess are you okay?” Cale shook her. “Jess?” Jess coughed and vomited.

“Its okay- we’ll be fine,” Cale encouraged, “We have to go back and close the locker up, and then leave.” Cale pulled Jess off the ground. He walked down the hall, supporting Jess on his shoulder. But the further he walked, the more and more it seemed that something was wrong.

“The hallway. It’s different than before….” Cale said. The hallway had changed. The lockers were gone, and all the posters too. The hallway was wider, and warmer.

“Finding that locker is going to be harder than I thought…..” Cale sighed.

*
*
*


“Cale…. How long has it been? Since we came in here?” Jess was very tired and sick. Cale looked at his watch.

“Seven hours…” Cale said, trying not to sound too hopeless.

They had given up finding the locker. The whole school had been transformed into a maze- with that creature stalking them through the halls, like prey. It knew they were there; it was looking for them.

“I’m sorry that I dragged you into this mess with me,” Jess said sadly, “I should have known what I was getting us into. Now we could die here.”

Cale could hear in her voice how upset and scared she was.

“No, it’s fine. Besides, I think we’re almost out of here.”

Cale continued carrying Jess down the hallway. They had only gone a few feet when they heard a loud shriek from behind them. Cale feared the worst, and swung around to glimpse the source of the sound. It was what he feared. It was that creature, with friends.

“Not now……” Cale pleaded to no one in particular.

“Jess, we have to run….. NOW.” Cale grabbed Jess’ hand and dragged her down the hall.

“Cale look! Lockers!” Cale looked and saw them. Rows and rows of them.

“Quick! Find 495!” They both ran up and down the rows looking for 495. They looked all over, with the sound of the creature’s groans and roars getting louder with every passing second.

“There! It’s the only open one!” Jess cried. Cale ran over to the locker and tried to close it.

“It won’t close! The hinge is stuck!” Cale cried, frantic.

Jess ran over and tried to push the door closed. The creatures were already upon them. The large eyeless one attacked Cale, pushing him back from the locker. Jess ran away from the other monsters coming after her. The eyeless monster bit into Cale’s arm while Cale was screaming. Warm blood poured onto the floor.

“Cale!” Jess cried. She crawled forward to help him, and she pressed her hand into something hard lying on the floor. Jess looked down to see that it was her gun.

“Hang on Cale!” She picked the gun up and aimed for the creature’s head. She shot five rounds into its skull, but the wounds only seemed to make it angrier. It turned and roared at Jess.

“AIEEE IT DOSEN”T DIE!!!” Jess shrieked.

“You only pissed it off! Close the locker before it kills you!!” Cale yelled. The creature lunged for Jess. Jess screamed and crouched down onto the floor. It sailed over her and landed head first into the open locker door. The door shut and the seal was back in place. All the monsters outside the open locker faded into dust and were blown away with the changing hallway. The hall returned to normal again, and lit up with the rising sun.

Exhausted, Cale and Jess found the front door and limped out of the school.