School Day 3 - Now Complete

[Slushie Man]

You can read the first two School Days in the Animorphs Fanfic section. For some reason, those ones were not moved with all the other non-Animorphs fics, lol.

Anyway, here is a teaser to advertise the upcoming School Day 3:

Darkness. In the darkness, we hear someone laughing, "Maybe it was the blair witch!"
 
Lightning flashes. In the couple of seconds that the screen is lit up, we see a muddy trail and in the background are some green-painted cabins.

We return to the darkness, and in it, another voice jokingly says, "Maybe it was Jason or Freddy!"

Another lightning flash. The muddy trail seems closer.

Back to darkness, in which we hear a serious voice say, "Worse. It was Dillon."
 
When lightning flashes this time, the following scenes stay lit:
Ryan, now an adult, and a short adult are running down the muddy trail.
Jeff, also now an adult, is walking through some thick white mist.
A group of kids run through a forest, screaming.
A girl cautiously walks around the inside of her dimly-lit cabin.

Back to darkness, and we hear a scream in the dark.

Lightning flashes once more and we see the outline of Grim Reaper with his scythe.
 
Darkness. In the darkness, blood-red lettering slowly starts to appear: SCHOOL DAY 3.

Lightning flashes one last time and in that split second we can see a large group of people running from one end of a giant mess hall to the other, panting and screaming.

Back to darkness on final time, in which the words: Coming Soon slowly appear in red lettering.

[Gaz]

Can't wait to read this when its ready. 

[Slushie Man]

If you never finished reading School Day 2, I finally posted the final part of that yesterday, lol. It's in the Animorphs Fanfic section though, cause for some reason it wasn't moved with the rest.

[Slushie Man]

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Hello once more faithful reader! I just want to take this time to inform you of some changes and explain to you a brief history of this story. You may discover that this story is written FAR better then stories that have come after. Well that’s because the original version was written in 2000, but just recently, at the end of 2008, I updated the writing in it. I didn’t add or remove a single scene, or changed much at all. Unlike my previous School Day updates however, I did change some of the names. I figured School Day used names of Alberta friends, School Day used names of Newfoundland friends, so for my update, I decided to use friends from British Columbia for the source of names for School Day 3. I also fixed up the dialogue and made the writing better. I still want it to be the exact same story, complete with its crappyness, however I wanted to still be able to read it without tearing my hair out at the bad writing. I plan on doing that for all my old original stories, so depending on when you read this, the others may or may not have been updated yet.

Now, here’s a bit of background info on the story. I’ll be doing this with all my re-writes on my older stories, explaining a brief history behind them.

Unlike the first School Day, when I wrote the second I wrote it knowing I wanted to do another entry in the series, to end it as a trilogy, hence the way I ended School Day 2. The characters think Dillon is dead and their lives are safe, but the reader knew better. For the third time around though, I knew I had to change things up – getting trapped in a school just wouldn't do for a third time. I didn't want the reader to get bored with the story, but I still wanted it related to school in some way. That's when I came up with the idea for a Summer School camp, based off of the layout of a camp I used to go to for Music Camp every summer. I then included Jeff and Ryan as teachers teaching at this Summer School Camp as a way to include two of the surviving characters. While I had wanted to also include Allison, I felt that it was more realistic that she went on to go into a separate profession then Jeff and Ryan as she had different classes in University then them, and thus drifted apart from them over the years. I was worried that my readers would miss her character, but to my surprise, most didn't even notice until they were finished reading it, that Allison hadn't even been in it, so I guess I did something right.

Like with most horror trilogies, there are even more characters then in the previous two outings, which means the highest body count so far, and much more carnage. While I don't have any kills that can top the Toilet Seat of Doom from School Day 2, I don't disappoint either. Also like with most horror trilogies, I set the tone very early on that all bets are off this time around, and that anyone can be a victim.

So without any further waiting, I'd like to introduce you to:

SCHOOL DAY 3

By: Jeff Long

   
Deep thunder boomed through the midnight sky as torrential rains pounded the forest trees below. High winds whipped the thick rain right into the face of a mid-thirties Ryan Miller, who ran down a dirt trail through the thick forest, his shirt and pants completely soaked to his skin.

When Ryan reached a fork in the trail – one end going deeper into the thick forest, the other heading out toward the beach, he stopped to decide which way to go and he wiped some of the rushing water from out of his eyes. Two other people around his age – the muscular Aaron Wittcopf and the short Robert Pierce caught up to him, both running low on breath and just as soaked as Ryan.

Lightning lit up the sky, followed by the loudest boom of thunder yet.

"Which way?" Robert yelled above the deafening muffle of the high winds.

"I'm heading back to the camp," Aaron also yelled to be heard. "We've been out here long enough! We're going to catch our deaths if we stay out in this any longer!" The drenched Aaron turned around and ran back down the narrow trail, getting whipped in the face by all the close branches. Within seconds he was out of view.

"What do we do?" Robert asked.

Ryan glanced at the two trails ahead, then back the way they had come. After they finished University, he and Jeff had gone on to become teachers at different schools though they both applied for summer jobs at this one Summer School Camp and had gotten accepted. It was only a few weeks in however, when two students went missing and never returned – hence why the three teachers were out in such crappy weather.

"You go down that path," Ryan pointed to the path leading down to the beach. "I'll go this way. They might be hurt or lost, and if they're stuck out here in this weather, I don't want to leave them stranded."

Robert nodded, lightning lighting up his head movement, and the two teachers rushed down the separate trails.

As Robert got further down his trail and the trees started to thin, he began calling the two teens by name, but realized it was useless as he could hardly hear himself about the wind and thunder, he doubted very much anyone else could.

Robert screeched to a stop when he felt his sock on one foot get instantly soaked. He looked down, and with a moan, noticed he had stepped into a pretty deep mud puddle. Swearing, he took his foot out of the puddle and did his best to shake all the excess water off. 

Just when Robert was about to move again, in the amount of time it took for a flash of lightning to briefly light up the sky, a thick scythe blade swung out from the dark forest and slashed open Robert's side, spilling blood into the deep puddle below him.

Robert's scream was droned out by the boom of thunder, and the scythe blade retracted back into the forest. Robert crumpled to his knees as his hands instantly shot for his side. He looked up at the sky and shut in eyes in pain, letting out another long, loud scream. When he opened his eyes, he saw someone wearing a dark grey Grim Reaper suit, which was still partly burned in spots due to the bomb thrown at it in the previous story, walk out from the shadows of the forest and onto the rain-drenched narrow trail.

"Who the **** are you?" Robert spat blood out of his mouth as tears mixed with the rain water. "What do you want?"

Grim Reaper answered by raising the scythe high in the air and swinging it down during the next lightning blast, slicing open the teacher's chest.

***

Ryan wiped gathering rain water from his eyes and pushed some overhanging branches out of his way as a loud boom of thunder came. This part of the path was so narrow and so overhung with branches from the trees, he made a mental note to suggest the camp caretaker do some work on it.

As more lightning lit up the sky, Ryan instantly forgot about his mental note as a loud scream carried through the air and reached his ears.

"Robert?" he called out as loud as he could, but was made inaudible due to the thunder. He waited for the loud rumble to pass, and shouted out his co-worker's name once more, only to wait in silence for an answer that never came.

When he called out for him one more time and still received no answer, Ryan turned back down the trail and ran as quickly as he could, getting swatted all over his body and face with wet branches. It wasn't long before he reached the fork in the road and he turned on to Robert's trail and quickly made his way down it.

Ryan suddenly stopped in his tracks when a flash of lightning lit up the area in front of him, showing him Robert's dead body with Grim Reaper standing over it.

"No!" Ryan gasped. "Not again!"

Grim Reaper suddenly swung his hooded head up and looked directly at Ryan, but it was too dark to see under the hood. Ryan immediately turned and ran away back down the trail, away from a past he thought was far behind him.

Ryan instantly stopped in his tracks however, when thunder boomed and lightning lit up a second Grim Reaper, this one in the exact same dark gray costume but without the scorch marks on it. Confused, Ryan glanced back behind and saw the first Grim Reaper walking quickly up the trail toward him. He looked back ahead and the second Grim Reaper made a move toward him. He took out a bar hardly taller then his hand. But when he pushed a button, the bottom extended out and the top also extended, releasing a thick scythe blade from inside of it as it swung out from on a hinge. The small bar was now a tall scythe.

In an attempt to dodge around the attacking Grim Reaper, Ryan slipped on a loose wet stone and went flying to the ground, quickly rolling onto his back just in time to get the scythe blade dug deep into his stomach. Ryan's eyes shot open and he gargled up blood, as blood seeped out of his stomach around the embedded blade and rolled down Ryan’s side.

The first Grim Reaper joined the second, and together they raised their scythes and swung them down into Ryan's body over and over.

***

The following morning was the calm after the storm – despite the damp grass, the sun was shining brightly and the birds were singing loudly in the soft breeze.

A group of four teenagers tossed a football back and forth across a large grassy field located next to the long and narrow Dinning Hall building and a couple bench-swing sets. One of the teens, a short, chubby kid with glasses named Karsen Gauthier, caught the football and tossed it high and far toward his taller blond-haired friend Dane Lucas.

"Over to me!" The overweight girl, Melissa Reed, shouted across the field. "Pass it over to me!"

Dane, wanting to be a jerk, acted like he was going to toss it to Melissa, but at the last second changed directions and threw it toward the beautiful Ashley Briltz instead.

"Hey, not fair!" Melissa shouted. Dane smiled as he shrugged and Melissa stuck her tongue out at him. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with complaining to Dane, she would have seen that Ashley instantly threw the football to her, but as it was, she didn't and the ball smacked her right in the head.

Laughing and rubbing her head at the same time, Melissa chased after the football and grabbed it, tossing it back to Karsen. Aaron Wittcopf walked out onto one end of the field and started walking across it to get to one of the many Class Cabins.   

"Good morning," he called out to the students playing catch. "Make sure you're not late for class."

"We won't be, Mr. Wittcopf," Karsen assured him. "Are we ever?"

Aaron glanced at him with a squinted eye look and all of them broke out laughing, including Aaron. The kids resumed their game of catch as Aaron made his way to his Class Cabin.

***

The consisted buzzing of an alarm clock forced a pair of eyes to open and a mouth to let out a tired moan, begging for more sleep. A 30-year old Jeffrey Long yawned and tiredly turned his head to see the time.

As if zapped with an electrical shock, he immediately jumped out of bed upon seeing the time and proceeded to shower, trim his goatee, and get dressed in record time. After brushing his teeth and combing his hair, he grabbed his black leather briefcase and ran out of his small one-bedroom cabin and into the bright sunny morning.

Once outside his green-painted cabin and on one of the rocky trails, he slowed his pace to a quick walk. He made his way down various trails and paths, passing other small cabins and bunkhouses, and various other students along the way, returning the gesture to those that greeted him.

Once he reached the top of one of the hills, he emerged out into the main part of the camp grounds where many of the Class Cabins were located, as well as the Dinning Hall, swings, and giant grassy field where Karsen, Melissa, Dane, and Ashley were playing catch.

As Jeff passed by them quickly, they also greeted him, and he returned the greeting, warning them much like Aaron already had, that they better be on time for class. They gave him the same assurances, despite the fact that they hadn't quite decided yet if they were actually going to go to class at all or not on such a nice day.

Jeff made his way to one of the Class Cabins and up the wooden stairs, unlocking the door and stepping inside, flipping the lights on. He made his way to his giant desk and laid his briefcase on the floor as he took his seat and straightened his tie.

He let out a long sigh as he stared at the pile of unmarked papers on his desk that he had meant to do the night before, but decided to call it an early night when the storm started.

Well, I better get started, he thought to himself as he took out a pen and began marking the top sheet on the tall pile. Within only a few minutes, he got his first interruption of the morning as his door opened and Aaron walked in.

"Good morning, Jeff," Aaron greeted.

"Mornin'," Jeff greeted back. "Do you know where what cabin Ryan's in this morning for his first class? I have a question about the curriculum to ask him, and I know he does this course all year round."

"Sorry," Aaron asked. "I haven't seen him since last night. I was actually just coming in here to ask if you've seen Robert at all this morning. I can't find him anywhere and I have something to talk to him about."

"I just woke up actually and rushed straight here to get this marking done before class starts and the students start a riot over not having their assignments marked yet," Jeff and Aaron chuckled. "But if I see him, I'll let him know you're looking for him."

"Thanks," Aaron replied. "I'll do likewise with Ryan."

The two teachers said their good-byes, and Aaron left Jeff to his marking.

***

About an hour later, after the Catch students decided that they would go to their classes after all, Ashley and Dane sat in one of the Class Cabins with a room full of other students, all impatient that their teacher, Mr. Pierce, couldn't even be on time yet was always so strict about the students never being late.

"What's taking him so long?" one of the students in the class asked out loud.

"Yeah," another agreed. "With all the **** he gives us if we're late, and here he is taking longer then anyone else has ever taken."

Ashley turned in her seat and leaned in to face Dane, who sat next to her. "First Charlene and Darrell go missing, now Mr. Pierce. Doesn't that seem strange to you? Maybe the same thing that happened to Charlene and Darrell happened to Mr. Pierce."

"Please," Dane shrugged. "Charlene and Darrell just ran away from this Hellhole."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ashley agreed, although silently wasn't sure if she bought that.

"Besides," Dane added on. "If Mr. Pierce is much later, it'll mean we can't have class and we'll get to go back outside."

That news put a smile on Ashley's face, but that smile quickly disappeared as the door opened and an old dark-skinned teacher with a gray beard that the students had seen around from time to time, walked in.

"Hello class," he said in a thick Jamaican accent. "I am Mr. Jordeen, and I will be teaching your class today."

The class let out a unified moan, their hopes of getting out early destroyed.

***

Jeff marked some grammar problems on the blackboard, and asked his small English class if anyone could point out the errors in the sentences. A few kids raised their hands, and Jeff pointed at one of them.

"Seth," he called out the student's name and the student got to his feet. While he did his best to point out all the errors, the door quietly opened and a tall balding skinny man with a face that earned him the nickname of 'Birdman' by the students, walked into the cabin and stood by the door, watching Jeff and his class.

When the student finished, Jeff told him he could sit down and then corrected his mistakes, during which he noticed the man standing by the door. The man pointed to the door and Jeff nodded.

"Ok class," Jeff finished. "Turn to page 152 of your text books and read that entire chapter while I take care of some business with Mr. Tilly here."

As his class started opening their text books, Jeff and Eugene Tilly, the Principal of the Summer School Camp, walked outside onto the patio of the cabin and Jeff closed the door behind them.

"What's going on, Eugene?" Jeff asked his boss, squinting his eyes in the bright sunlight.

"Both Ryan and Robert are missing now as well," Eugene said with a sigh. "They never returned from their search last night."

"What?" Jeff asked, shocked. "Where could they have gone? They couldn't have gotten lost – Ryan comes here every summer."

"We don't know," Eugene said regretfully. "We just don't know what happened to them, but that's now two students and two teachers who have gone missing without a trace."

As Eugene said that, Jeff's eyes narrowed as gears turned in his head. He didn't like the sound of this one bit, and it brought horrible past memories to the forefront of his mind.

"If people continue to go missing, we're going to have no choice but to send everyone home and shut the camp down," Eugene informed Jeff with sadness in his voice.

"What would happen to the students' Grades?" Jeff asked, feeling concerned for his class. "This is their only saving grace between going on to the next Grade or staying back another year."

Eugene sighed again and said, "They'll have to end up staying behind a Grade after all."

Jeff nodded his head solemnly and patted Eugene on the shoulder. As Eugene walked down the stairs to make his way to the next teacher, Jeff turned around and headed back to his class, now with much more on his mind then he had when he first went outside. Despite the beautiful day, Jeff had nothing now except very grim thoughts – both for his students and for his own well-being.

[Gaz]

Nice start! Look forward to seeing more. 

[Slushie Man]

After the first story, this one has always been my personal favorite. It was just the one that was most unique and different from the others.

[morfowt]

I haven't even realized you already started school day 3. that's what I get for not visiting this board...

like the first chapter...

[Slushie Man]

A tall, but nerdy kid with a face full of pimples and thin glasses that always slid off his face, Ian Turner, sat next to a window back in Mr. Jordeen's class. While the Jamaican teacher droned on in a barely-understandable accent, Ian turned and looked out the window, placing his head on his desk.

Ian suddenly lifted his head quizzically as he watched someone in a grim reaper costume step out from the edge of the forest and start walking through the foliage near the side of the cabin. When Grim Reaper noticed he was being watched, he stopped and turned to look directly at Ian through the window, and pointed his scythe at him.

"Mr. Turner!" Mr. Jordeen called out, causing Ian to quickly look away from the window and up to the front of the class. "Can you answer the Math equation I was produced to the class?"

Ian looked at the blackboard, but saw no equation written down. Ian realized that his substitute teacher must have given the equation verbally, and he sighed. "I'm...I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't paying attention," Ian admitted quietly.

Everyone in the class, including Ashley and Dane, giggled as Mr. Jordeen said, "From now on, I expect you to be paying close attention, and you can count on me coming back to you to answer another question shortly."

As the teacher asked another student, Ian looked out the window once again, but found the mysterious costumed person gone.

***

The Dinning Hall was a sea of bodies as everyone attended Lunch. At one of the many large circular tables, Ashley, Karsen, Melissa, and Dane sat together.

"What do you think happened to them?" Karsen asked between bites of his macaroni and cheese, referring to the four missing people. News had spread like wildfire during the morning, about Ryan and Robert's disappearance as well, and rumours instantly began circulating. It seemed to be all that was being talked about in the Dinning Hall.

"I say it's the ghost that haunts this place," Dane jokingly said with a sneer. "What? You guys haven't heard the tales of the Ghostly Axe Murderer?"

"Be reasonable," Melissa scoffed, secretly not wanting to hear anything about evil spirits if she wanted to get any sleep that night.

"I know what happened." The four teens turned their heads to see Ian standing nearby with a tray of food. The group chuckled, ready for a good laugh.

"Let's hear your bull**** theory," Dane said as he tried not to laugh at the geek. He was sure it would involve space aliens from the Delta Quadrant of Sector Nine, located in the Pegasus Galaxy – Much like Ian's old theory that their Grade 6 teacher had been a robot clone from an area around there.

"The Grim Reaper got them." Ian said with a deadpan expression, and the entire table erupted into fits of hard laughter. Wasn't quite the wild theory Dane had been expecting, but it was damn near close enough for him.

"Maybe Jason helped," Karsen managed to squeeze out in-between laughs. "After all, we are at a summer camp."

"No, no," Dane also managed to stop laughing long enough to speak. "Jason only attacks at Camp Crystal Lake. We're not even in the right country for that."

"Guys, I'm serious," Ian continued. "I saw him spying on me during class this morning."

Nobody at the table had thought it was possible for them to laugh any harder, but they were proven wrong. Ian sighed with frustration and stormed away from their table, their laughing and mocking following him across the room. At the table behind them, the group pretended to kill each other while laughing.

Jeff glanced at the scene from across the room, wondering what the kids found so funny. He turned back to the conversation at the one of many Staff tables in the room, that he currently sat at. Aaron and Eugene sat on either side of him, while Jonathon Jordeen, a younger but tall teacher in her twenties – Ms. Nicole Kupchanko – and an older and shorter teacher – Mrs. Edith Arlett – took up the rest of the table.

"...so I just don't know how I'm going to keep him under control during class," Nicole continued her venting about a student in one of her classes. "We could just kick him out, but I feel students like that need help, but another back to turn on him."

"Is he in any of your classes today, Nikki?" Jeff asked her as he took a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

"Yeah, in my second Block after Lunch," Nikki replied. "After yesterday, I don't even know if he's going to show up though."

"I had a student like that once," Jonathon said in his thick Jamaican accent as he wiped some spaghetti sauce out of his white beard.

Nikki opened her mouth to ask him how he solved the problem, but noticed a student standing nearby, looking directly at them. "Yes?" she asked as she turned to face him.

"I know what happened to the missing people," Ian stated matter-of-factly.

"What?" Eugene Tilly asked, quickly getting to his feet and placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Tell us what you know."

"The Grim Reaper got to them..." Upon Ian's answer, Jeff's blood instantly turned cold and a shiver travelled down his spine. He knew it was impossible – after all, he had seen Dillon die and his body go to the morgue all those many years ago.

Eugene sat back down with a sigh. "I'll have you know young man," he stated, "that this is no joking matter. I don't know who put you up to this prank, but it is far from appreciated."

"I'm serious!" Ian shouted, not caring how many heads turned to look at him from nearby tables. "When I was in Mr. Jordeen's class earlier, I glanced out the window and saw someone dressed in a grim reaper costume looking in at me."

It was Jeff's turn to jump to his feet. "Are you positive of what you saw?" he asked with a complete serious attitude about him.

Ian nodded. "I am."

"Show me where," Jeff ordered, wiping his mouth with a napkin and placing it on his plate of unfinished food.

"Jeff, Mr. Turner here is famous for creating tall tales with his wild imagination," Aaron warned. "It's why he's here – he spent more time during the school year inside his imagination then doing his school work."

Ian frowned and looked at the floor sadly upon Aaron's revelation to Jeff.

"Just the same, I want him to bring me to the spot," Jeff stayed firm in his stance. "I don't believe in ruling out any tip. Not when my friend is one of the ones missing." He turned back to Ian, who looked up from the floor with new-found joy in someone willing to give him a chance. "After you."

Ian proudly led Jeff out of the Dinning Hall.

***

Many minutes later, Ian and Jeff reached the edge of the forest right outside the cabin Ian had been in when he had seen Grim Reaper earlier.

"This is where I saw him," Ian explained, pointing to the nearby foliage.

Jeff began searching the immediate area, checking out not only the ground, but the trees as well, and rustling through the low foliage.

"I was in class, bored, when I looked out that window there," Ian pointed and Jeff looked up from the ground to see the window that Ian was pointing at. "I saw him walking by here..." Jeff watched intently as Ian acted out where he saw Grim reaper and in which direction he was moving. "He was around this spot here, when he noticed I was watching him." Jeff made his way to the spot Ian pointed at and bent down to examine the ground. "When I looked back, he was gone," Ian finished.

Jeff squinted as he spotted what may have been the edge of a shoeprint, but was hard to tell due to the grass and horrible impression in the ground – it could have also just been a trick of the light mixed with the formation of some pebbles.

"Was the suit burned at all?" Jeff questioned as he glanced back up at Ian from his spot near the ground.

"I...I'm not sure," Ian answered, confused. "I never noticed."

"This doesn't make any sense," Jeff mumbled to himself so low that Ian didn't even notice. Unlike the last two times, I never made a third story for him to go off of. If this is indeed happening all over again, I have no way of knowing what's going to happen next.

"Mr. Long?" Jeff snapped out of his thoughts and turned back to Ian. "You believe me, don't you?"

Jeff smiled and got to his feet. "Come on, kid. Let's go back to the Dinning Hall." Ian followed Jeff back with a sad look on his face, thinking that this teacher also didn't believe him. Once back however, Jeff made sure Ian got inside the building with all the other people, but instead of going in himself, he turned around and headed back to the area they had just left.

[V2113]

Ooooo! This is good! But I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't write another story. ANd what's w/ the other reapers? We all know what happened to Dillion but I doubt His Sickness would have gotten co-murderers, unless they're the Sickos, his loyal followers. *Gasp* or the principal dude!!!!

[Slushie Man]

lol, no worries, all is explained by the end.

And I had it so he didn't write another story, so that all bets could be off. In the previous two, he knew some of what was going to happen before it did, becuase of that. This time around, not even Jeff can foresee what's about to hit.

[Slushie Man]

During the afternoon classes, Ashley, Dane, and Ian sat in their Math class. Ian furiously scribbled notes down that their teacher – Nikki Kupchanko – was writing on the board.

Ashley sat directly behind Ian, and while he took notes, she leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Have you seen Jason anymore?"

Ian turned around to face Ashley, letting out a huff. "It was the Grim Reaper, not Jason."

"Oh sorry, my mistake," Ashley snickered. "It's hard to tell one fictional killer from another."

"He's not fictional!" Ian exclaimed angrily, a bit louder then he meant to. "He's real! I saw him!"

"Please," Ashley smiled. "You have to let me know who here is dealing the drugs to you, cause I've been hurting for some ever since I arrived."

"Ashley Briltz!" Nikki shouted from the front of the class. "Please be quiet and pay attention."

"Sorry, Ms. Kupchanko," Ashley mumbled as she leaned back in her seat and Ian turned to face the front again. Once Nikki turned back to continue writing on the board, Ashley stuck her tongue out at her.

***

After all classes ended for the day and everyone had some free time to themselves for awhile, everyone piled into the Dinning Hall for supper.

Dane, Ashley, Karsen, and Melissa gathered some food from the Lunch Line and started making their way across the busy room to find an empty table, laughing and joking about something along the way.

On the way to an empty table, they passed by a table with one lone occupant – Ian Turner. They stopped and surrounded him upon Karsen's head nudge in his direction.

"So Ian," Karsen said, chuckling. "It's going to be dark soon. Night time is when the Reaper comes out to claim his next victim..."

"Yeah, be sure to lock the doors tonight," Ashley said in a high-pitched voice as she made her hands form into claw-shapes.

The group laughed while Ian tried his best to ignore them and read a Star Trek novel while eating his supper. When they never left and instead opted to stick around longer, continuing to make remarks and tease Ian, another girl with raven-black hair spotted the sight from a nearby table and excused herself from her friends.

"Can't you guys just knock it off and leave him alone?" The girl – Danielle Giblak – asked, feeling frustrated at how immature these people were being. "All day long, you've been teasing poor Ian. It's getting old now."

"It's not our fault that he makes up stories to get attention," Melissa stated.

"And it's also not our fault that he watches way too many movies and reads way too many books, then allows them to blur his perception of reality," Ashley added on.

"That's enough!" Ian shouted, getting to his feet angrily. "I'm not making anything up, and I didn't imagine it, alright!?" The sudden burst of anger caused the entire room to quiet down and eavesdrop on the confrontation.

"What if he really is telling the truth?" Danielle asked, which caused the others to scoff. "What if he really did see something?" she went on, despite the reactions she was getting. "I don't know if he really did or not, but four people have disappeared without a trace and unless you have a  better theory, then you shouldn't be so quick to shrug off Ian's."

"They just ran away," Dane informed Danielle with a shrug of his hand.

"And the missing teachers?" Danielle spat at him. "I suppose they just 'ran away' as well, right?"

"Maybe it was the Blair Witch," Karsen snickered quietly, which only caused everyone to moan and roll their eyes.

"And we call Ian far-fetched," Ashley moaned.

"I know what I saw!" Ian shouted, tired of all this teasing. "Forget it. I'm out of here." And with that, Ian picked up his Star Trek book and stormed out of the Dinning Hall, slamming open the door and rushing down the steps, quickly disappearing from view.

As the room returned to its normal noisy atmosphere, Danielle whipped around to face the others again. "Nice going, you jerks," she said, fed-up with them, and rushed after Ian to make sure he was ok.

Dane, Ashley, Karsen, and Melissa just all shrugged and ended up sitting down at that empty table instead of continuing to the one they had spotted before all the commotion.

***

Over at the Teachers' table, they also returned to their food, now that the situation ended itself without any of them having to get involved.

"Someone really should talk to that kid and keep him from shooting his mouth off," Edith Arlett scoffed. "I have a student, Katie Smith, that's now too scared to leave her cabin once classes are over, because she's convinced there's someone in a grim reaper costume going around, killing people."

Aaron chuckled as he took a bite out of his sandwich. "The whole Grim Reaper thing is hogwash started by Ian Turner. I agree that he needs to have a stern talking-to. Edith, just try assuring the girl that the disappearances were a confined incident and nothing bad will happen to her."

"I already tried that," Edith went on. "It didn't work."

"That girl has every right to be scared." All the heads at the table turned and looked at Jeff, confused.

"What do you mean?" Eugene asked.

"Dillon is here," Jeff growled.

"We have many students named Dillon," Aaron informed Jeff.

"This Dillon isn't a student anymore," Jeff continued to talk cryptically.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Eugene asked, feeling his temper rising at being so confused.

"It all started in 1999 in Alberta, when I was 14 years old. Me and some others got stuck in our school during a snowstorm and a kid named Dillon dressed in a Grim Reaper costume and murdered most of us. Only two of us survived, but Dillon go away."

"I remember that," Nikki stated. "The Wainwright High School Murders. I was living in Edmonton, just two hours from there at the time. I remember every school in the area implemented brand new emergency procedures in case something like that happened again. Everyone was freaked because the killer was never caught."

Jeff nodded his head and continued, "Then when we were in University in Newfoundland, Dillon came back for us. He trapped us in the school and took our friends out one by one until we were the last ones left. We killed him finally – with the help of a kid named Ryan Miller..." Jeff noticed everyone's looks. "Yes, the same Ryan Miller that grew up to be a teacher and that is one of the people that disappeared last night."

"But you just said it: The killer is dead," Eugene said.

"I thought he was," Jeff exclaimed. "But I was obviously wrong. Ian's sighting has to be more then just some wild coincidence. He sees someone dressed as a Grim Reaper right when people, one of which is Ryan Miller, start disappearing, at a place where I work. There's just too much going on for it to be a coincidence."

"Where's Allison now?" Nikki asked.

"I haven't talked to her much after we graduated from University," Jeff informed her. "But last I heard she was working in Toronto at a News station."

"If you and Ian are really onto something," Edith said for the sake of argument, "then maybe Dillon isn't back. Did you think it could be Allison?"

"No, that wouldn't make any sense at all," Jeff stated matter-of-factly.

"You said it yourself, Jeff. You haven't talked to her much in the last six years or so. Who knows what kind of lasting mental problems those events could have had on her."

Jeff leaned forward in his seat to hotly argue against that theory, when Aaron pushed his chair back and stood up. "Well, thank-you for the upcoming nightmares I'm going to have," he chuckled, "But I must go mark some test papers before I head to bed." The others said good night to him and Aaron walked out of the Dinning Hall and into the dark blue evening sky.

"Aaron has a point," Jeff said, also getting to his feet and leaving the table before the inevitable witch hunt and finger pointing went from Allison to himself. "I should probably get my marking done as well."

Leaving his tray of unfinished food behind, Jeff left the table. He turned back only to say, "I suggest we all lock our doors tonight." Then he headed for the door and also left.

***

While most of the students and teachers stayed inside the Dinning Hall late into the evening – as it also doubled as a gym with the tables removed and many students found various activities to keep them busy and out of the mosquito-infested night air, Katie Smith opted to stay hiding in her cabin.

She laid on top of the sheets on her bunk and flipped the page in her novel. Her silence was disturbed however, by a low, lingering, creaking noise as if someone was very slowly opening the front door.

"Hello?" Katie called out as she looked up from her book. When nobody answered, Katie put her book down and got to her feet. "Hello?" She called out again, louder this time, and again she received no answer.

She listened intently, but heard no further sounds. Still, she was convinced she had heard someone and now she was starting to 'sense' the presence of someone else in the cabin, so she made her way into the dark main room and called out one last time as she walked slowly around the room, so as not to bump into any furniture, and felt around the walls for the light switch like a blind person.

Half-way through the room, still fumbling for the light switch, she heard a very distinct shuffling noise from some place behind her and she whipped around with a short gasp, eyes wide. She did her best to scan the darkness, but couldn't see more then a foot in front of her. Fighting back raging fear, she turned back around to continue her search for the light switch, knowing it was around that area some place.

A couple seconds later however, all her thoughts on the light switch automatically left her mind and was replaced by pure terror as a hand strongly grabbed her shoulder from behind and whipped her around.

Katie let out a blood-curdling scream as the lights in the room instantly turned on and Ashley stood directly in front of Katie, laughing so hard her side felt like it would explode.

Katie, near tears at being frightened so bad, explodes, "That wasn't funny!" she screeched. "I was scared to death!"

Ashley could hardly contain her laughter. "You should have just seen your face! Oh man, that was classic!"

"You can be such a ****," Katie yelled at her and then pushed her out of the way as she stormed past her and back into her room. Ashley, still laughing slightly, followed Katie into the room and as Katie laid back down on her bunk and picked her book back up, Ashley started rummaging through the drawers.

Catching Katie glaring at her coldly, Ashley explained, "Relax, I'm not going to scare you anymore. I just came back for my contact lenses." She found her small plastic case that held her contact lenses and stationed herself in front of the small mirror on the dresser so she could put them in. "A bunch of us are going to play Spotlight if you want to come out and join us."

"That's alright," Katie declined as she found her spot in her book again.

Ashley turned to look at Katie to try to convince her to come, but instead asked, "What book are you reading?"

Katie held the book up, showing Ashley the front cover, showing her that it was a hardcover edition of 'School Day' by Jeff Long. "It's a horror novel based off of actual events," Katie explained. "Mr. Long, the English teacher, wrote it a few years ago."

"Based off a true story?" Ashley chuckled.

"Yeah," Katie went on. "About some kids that got stuck in their school with a killer dressed as the grim reaper."

Ashley froze upon hearing that, and remembering what Ian Turner had been ranting about earlier. "Grim Reaper?"

"Yeah," Katie confirmed.

Surly it had to be a coincidence, Ashley had to tell herself. Or maybe Ian had read the same book. Still, Ashe couldn't deny that a cold shiver ran down her spine at that moment.

"I have to keep myself occupied in the evenings when everyone else is gone," Katie chuckled.

"Is reading a true horror story really the best thing for that?" Ashley asked, and Katie just shrugged in reply.

Ashley shook her head with a slight smile and turned to leave. "Oh," Katie spoke up one last time, stopping Ashley just as she was walking through the doorway into the main room. "Would you be able to clean your muddy shoeprints you left behind, before you leave? I noticed you left them all over the floor of the main room when you turned the light on."

"Hey, don't look at me," Ashley raised her hands in a defensive motion.

"They weren't there an hour ago and you're the only one to come in during that time."

"I always take my shoes off on the mat. Muddy shoeprints is a pet peeve of mine," Ashley explained with a genuine voice.

"Sure, sure," Katie rolled her eyes. "You're not going to scare me again. Nice try though."

Ashley sighed, giving up. "Whatever." She left the room an a couple minutes later, Katie heard the door open and close loudly as Ashley left to go play spotlight with some of the others.

Finally back to silence, Katie returned to reading her book and after a few solid minutes of reading, she was distracted by hearing a loud creaking out in the main room once again. "Ashley?" she called out, and like before, there was no answer. "Come on Ashley, you really don't think you're going to scare me again, do you?"

With a sigh, Katie closed her book and got off her bunk once more and made her way into the dark main room, Ashley having turned the lights off when she left. "Knock it off Ashley," Katie called out. "You can't fool me twice."

Katie smiled to herself, finding it funny that Ashley seriously thought she could trick her a second time. Remembering where the light switch was from the last time, Katie made her way to it without trouble, however the second she flipped it, the light bulb blew, only lighting the room for a split second before plunging it into darkness again.

"Great," Katie mumbled out loud. She turned to head back to her room, which still had its light on and shining brightly, but she stopped on the spot and gasped, as the second she turned around, she caught a glimpse of someone rushing out of the darkness of the main room and around the corner into her bunk room. She didn't know who it was, but whoever it was, was definitely taller then Ashley was.

"Hello?" Katie called out, wondering if Ashley had gotten anybody else in on her little prank and it was them that was now in here with her. "Who's there?" she called out as she started taking slow steps toward her room.

Katie called out another two times before she neared her doorway, trying to decide in her mind if she really wanted to go in or if she should just rush out of the cabin. Before she could make up her mind however, the entire cabin is plunged into darkness as the power flickered and then went down. She glanced out a nearby window and saw that the next cabin over still had lights on, so it was only her cabin without power.

Just great, she thought to herself. "This isn't funny!" she shouted out, refusing to move from her spot.

"I know," a chilling whisper said near her ear.

Katie started screaming as she turned frantically from side to side, trying to see through the darkness to who was near her, but by the time her eyes adjusted to the dark, a firm hand grabbed her by the shoulder and whipped her around to face Grim Reaper.

She screamed again, but her scream was cut short when Grim Reaper shoved her to the floor, hard, and within a split second had his scythe pole out, extending it and having the scythe blade swing up from it to form the full scythe. A split second was all it took for him to go from being defenceless to having a sharp weapon swinging down to end Katie's life.

***

Eugene Tilly stood in the main room of one of the cabins a few hours later, clapping his hands. "Ok everyone," he addressed all the male teens in the room. "Light's Out time."

There were moans of disappointed, but nobody argued as they all started heading to their bunk rooms. Fifteen minutes later, when all was ready for bed, Eugene went around and flipped off all the lights before leaving and moving on to the next cabin.
   
Inside one of those bunk rooms, Ian laid on a bottom bunk, while Karsen laid on the top bunk of the same bed.
   
"So Ian," Karsen said slyly with a smirk. "What did you and Danielle do earlier when you two went off on your own like little lovebirds?"

"Mind your own business, Karsen," Ian snapped. Although his tone was snappish, in the dark Ian couldn't help but smile at the sweet memory he'd cherish for the rest of his life. Suddenly his body jerked a little bit though, making his mind leave behind all thoughts of earlier that day and being with Danielle.

"Oh come on, you can tell me, we're buddies, right?" After being ignored by Ian for several minutes and not getting a response, Karsen said in a snappish tone, "Well fine, good night to you too."

As Karsen rolled over and almost instantly fell asleep, on the bunk below, blood trickled from the side of Ian's lifeless face. Laying flat on the floor below the mattress, Grim Reaper removed his scythe blade from the mattress.

[Slushie Man]

Early the following morning, which was thick with damp fog, Jeff made his way quickly up one of the dirt walking trails to a large commotion outside of one of the Girls’ Cabins. All of its occupants, as well as most teachers, stood around in the cold foggy air outside of the building.

"What's going on?" Jeff asked, shivering in the damp early morning cold air.

"Katie Smith was found murdered this morning," Aaron turned and brought his co-worker up to speed. "It happened at some point during the night. She was found this morning under her covers with deep gashes."

"What about the other students? Is everyone ok?"

Aaron nodded. "Eugene is on the phone now, making arrangements for some buses to come pick them up as soon as possible, and he said that the teachers that have their own vehicles are free to go after the students are gone, but to know that police will be in touch with us for questioning."

Suddenly a large group of boys broke through the foliage, out of breath from running so quickly, faces filled with terror. "Help..." one of them managed to breath out in between breaths of air. That caught everyone's attention and students and teachers alike whipped around.

"What's wrong?" Edith Arlett asked as she quickly approached them.

"Ian Turner's been murdered!" another one managed to shout out, causing everyone else to start raising their voices in a panic.

"No..." Jeff whispered as he started backing away from the scene, sweating profusely. "Not again – not after all these years..." Suddenly Jeff felt he had backed up into someone and turned around, seeing Eugene politely moving Jeff out of his way as he made his way to the centre of the large, scared, group.

"Ok everyone, listen up," Eugene said loudly. "Buses are en-route to take everyone home, so please gather your things quickly and meet in the Dining Hall for the buses. It'll take a few hours for them to get here, but the quicker everyone moves, the safer everyone will be. Each cabin will have a teacher escort with them, until everyone is safe inside the Dining Hall."

As the students began breaking apart, albeit in large groups of their own, to go pack up their things, Edith approached Eugene and informed him of Ian.

"Just what the hell is going on here?" Eugene said back to Edith.

"He's back." The two teachers turned to see Jeff still standing a few feet away, an expression of shock still on his face. "Dillon's still alive and he's back..."

***

Three hours later, which was about two and a half hours of sitting in a sweltering hot Dining Hall, everyone was bored out of their minds and wiping sweat from their foreheads. At first, some of the more antsy students tried to organize various games, but even those died down before long, overshadowed by the dread hanging in the air and the urgency everyone felt to just be away from that place.

Suddenly the front doors opened, breaking the monotony of the last couple hours, and teachers and students alike turned their heads to see the Jamaican teacher, Jonathon Jordeen, walk into the building.

Low murmurs arose as he approached one of the faculty tables and whispered in Eugene's ear. A half minute later, the Principal stood up and clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention.

"The buses have arrived," he announced to the room. As the murmurs start turning into louder talking, and the students start picking up their dufflebags and bookbags, Eugene continued, "I want everyone to line up outside the buses and then safely and in an orderly fashion, when the teachers give the say-so, board the buses one-at-a-time in a single-file line. Just as like when you arrived, there will be three teachers per bus."

Everyone stands up and start quickly making their way out of the heatbox of a building and into the damp, dreary air of outside, grey clouds above ready to burst with rain at any minute.

The faculty tables unloaded and the teachers exited the Dining Hall once all the students were out, and followed them across the field and down a dirt trail out in the opened, that led to the parking lot where several large yellow school buses waited for everyone.

 As most of the teachers helped organize the antsy students into single-file line-ups, Edith Arlett made her way to the front of one of the lines to stand with the other three teachers departing on that bus. Eugene tapped her shoulder and she turned around.
   
"Watch over them, Edith. Keep them safe."

Edith nodded her head in reply and turned to face the students, raising her hands in the air to get their attention. "We'll start loading now!" she shouted for everyone in her line to hear.

Twenty minutes later, Eugene, Jeff, Aaron, Nicole, and Jon stood, watching the platoon of school buses pull out of the parking lot and head back toward the highway, bringing the students and many of the teachers back to safety.

"Well, after we do our final inspection of the grounds and the cabins," Eugene said to his remaining teachers, "I guess we can follow suit and leave as..."

He was suddenly cut off by the sounds of teenagers yelling and all the teachers whipped around, shocked, as Karsen, Dane, Ashley, Melissa, and Danielle ran toward them, carrying their dufflebags and bookbags.

"Wait!" Karsen shouted.

"Stop the buses!" Ashley yelled.

Eugene and Jeff whipped around to chase after the busses and wave them back, but they were already disappeared around the corner.

"Why on Earth did you miss the buses?" Eugene shouted at them angrily.

"It was my fault, sir," Danielle said timidly as she sniffled.

"We were in her cabin," Dane explained. "She was a wreck over Ian's murder and we were trying to keep her company and keep her calm, and she didn't want to be around other people, so instead of going into the Dining Hall, we all just stayed in her cabin with her."

"I came out to see if the buses were here yet," Karsen took over. "And when I saw they were, I went back and got the others, but by the time we got back, they were gone."

"Well that was pretty stupid," Eugene scolded. "There was a reason I had everyone converge in the Dining Hall, and this is that exact reason."

"Eugene," Nikki said softly. "It's no big deal. We can give them a ride back to the city when we go."

Eugene sighed. "Stay close," he ordered the kids. "Don't wander off. We'll be leaving soon."

"Mr. Tilly, wait," Ashley called out as Eugene started to walk away. The Principal turned back around, annoyed. "Katie was reading this book last night, before she was murdered."

Ashley handed the hardcover edition of  'School Day' over to Mr. Tilly and he glanced at the cover and then flipped it over to read the back. Eugene glances at Jeff, then back at the student. "Thank you, Miss Briltz. This may help the police."

Jeff picked up on Eugene's look and quickly snatched it from him, looking at it. "This is my book..." Jeff said softly, surprised.

"You can't honestly think Jeff's a suspect!" Nikki gasped.

"Of course I don't," Eugene defended himself. "But he has been in this kind of situation twice before, and now its happening all over again, and one of the murdered people was reading his book. It could all be related."

"This won't be of any help," Jeff said, motioning at the book. "It's almost nothing like what actually happened, beyond the basic premise. I twisted the story and characters around to make it more fictional, such as making Grim Reaper be an evil ghost instead of a real person like in reality, and during the novel I get killed off."

"Can we please just leave?" Danielle asked impatiently, wiping tears of fright and stress away.

"She's right. All this time standing around, chatting, we could be preparing to leave," Aaron reminded them.

"Alright, let's do our inspections and get the hell out of here," Eugene said.

The kids stayed close as the teachers spent the next hour and a half searching the grounds and going through each and every cabin and building, making sure nothing was left behind, no other people were still there, and all their stuff was packed.

After a good hour of that, with the kids having stuck close to them like glue the entire time, they all converged back in the parking lot one final time.

"My car's already packed," Nikki stated, after the other teachers were trying to figure out how long it would take to pack their vehicles. "I have room for two extra people."

Jeff glanced at Danielle, who was trying very hard to keep herself together, but was shaking franticly. Jeff met Nikki's eyes and then looked back at Danielle.

"Danielle, did you want to come with me?" Nikki asked as if talking to a small child. Danielle nodded her head, her arms crossed and hugging her body tightly, and shakily walked over to stand with Ms. Kupchanko.

"We'll let you guys decide," Eugene said to the remaining students.

"Rock, paper, Scissors?" Dane suggested to his friends. "It's the most fair way." After they agreed, Dane suggested they formed their choice behind their back, so nobody could change at the last second upon seeing someone else's choice.

Karsen and Ashley drew scissors, Melissa drew paper, and Dane drew rock. According to their area in their little circle though, Dane's rock destroyed Karsen and Ashley's scissors, but Melissa's paper covered Dane's rock, allowing her to be the winner.

"Yes!" Melissa cheered. "I'm out of this hellhole!"

As Nikki was hugged by the teachers and warned to be careful, Melissa was hugged by her friends. Danielle was already over by Nikki's car, waiting to get in.

"Come on, Melissa, let's get out of here," Nikki said as she and Melissa turned and made their way to her car. Unlocking her doors, the three of them climbed in. The other students and teachers remained together, watching the others until they were out of sight.

Of course, that would require Nikki to actually get her car started first, which she was having problems doing.

"Cut the engine!" Aaron shouted as he and Jeff approached the car. Nikki did and the two men popped the hood to take a look at the engine. From inside the car, Nikki could see Jeff backing away in horror.

"Stay here," she ordered the kids and got out of the car to see what was happening.

"I knew it!" Jeff shouted. "I ****ing knew it! I told you all he was back!"

Jane joined Aaron at the front of her car and gasped at what she saw – the engine was completely destroyed – sliced cleanly in several key spots, with a very sharp object. "What the hell...?" she asked, shocked.

"Seems Jeff was right," Aaron mumbled.  "Someone is here, and they don't want us to leave."

"What's going on?" Melissa asked, leaning her head out the backseat window.

"Um, kids..." Nikki Kupchanko stumbled over her words. "I don't think we're going anywhere." From inside the car, Danielle broke down and started crying.

Aaron, Eugene, and Jon rush to check their cars. "It's pointless," Jeff stated in a monotone voice, staying in his spot and leaving his car alone. "They've all been destroyed. We're not going anywhere."

Within a few seconds, all the teachers realized Jeff was right, as every single engine had been destroyed. Panic started to arise in not just the students now, but also the other teachers.

"What the hell is going on?"

"What do we do now?"

"How can we stop this?"

"We need to leave."

And lastly, Jeff finished off with, "I knew Dillon was back. I knew it..." All the while, Danielle still sat in the car, bawling her eyes out.

"We should get inside," Eugene stated, still scared himself. "It won't do us any good to stay out in the open."

"No where is safe..." Jeff mumbled.

[Slushie Man]

Anybody still even reading this?

[V2113]

I am.

[Slushie Man]

Sweet. I should have the next part done by the end of the week. Probably on Thursday cause that's my next day off work.