The Shadow Children

Here's another short story for you to enjoy...

The Shadow Children
Our school was taking a trip to the old schoolhouse, something all the grades did every year. It was supposed to teach us about what life used to be like many years ago, though I don’t think anyone ever learned anything from it. We were all far too preoccupied with goofing off and telling creepy ghost stories about the place to actually care about anything the guide was talking about. That was, until this year’s guide mentioned the ghost stories.
“Settle down everyone,” she said, “I have something I need to tell you, and I think you will find it very interesting. It has to do with the ghost legends surrounding this place.”
That, of course, got everyone’s attention. A pretty lady with long, straight, black hair, she was the youngest guide we had ever had. Usually our guide was an elderly person filled with wrinkles and lacking humor and personality. Someone who was just plain dull and made everything else seem just as dull. But this guide was quite a change for the better.
Once everyone was seated, the woman began to speak. “There are many stories of ghosts and spirits that surround this place. Over one hundred years old, it seems pretty easy to believe that something not quite human might inhabit this place. I am here to tell you though, that none of these stories are true, except for one. That one is the story of the shadow children, and it is very much true.
It was a bright, sunshiny May day, and little Johnny Whitaker was bored to tears. He stared out the dirty windows and gazed at the lovely day outside. Oh, how he wished that school would just hurry up and be over so he could go enjoy this perfect day.
Light filtered into the room, giving it a warm, lazy glow. Someone sneezed, raising up a large cloud of dust. He struggled to concentrate on what Ms. Caroline was saying, but it was no use. His mind would just not stay put. He found himself thinking about the last time he and his dad had gone fishing, on a day just like this one.
They had gone down to the old creek down the road. It was a nice creek, the same creek his father had been to with his father. It was tucked away in the woods shaded by gorgeous oak trees, the light filtered I through them, casting a glow. It was there that he caught his first fish, and on that day, his first 2 footer. That day was one of the best he ever had.
He snapped back to reality as my teacher called on him. “Huh?” he asked, stupidly.
“Johnny, were you paying attention?”Ms. Caroline scolded. Johnny stared down at his hands, his cheeks aflame. Ms. Caroline let him be and resumed teaching.
Suddenly, seemingly coming out of nowhere, there was a loud, harsh rapping at the door. “Come in”, Ms. Caroline called. Two burly men entered the room, armed with loaded shot guns. “Oh my!” she screamed, backing away frightfully.
“Nobody moves,” One of the men grunted. All the children did as they were told, several shaking and crying softly. The two were dirty and smelled of blood and stale alcohol. Ms. Caroline screamed again. One of the men aimed their gun at her. She backed up against the wall whimpering. The man turned and aimed the gun at a little girl, Sarah.
“What’s your name?” the other man asked in a sickeningly sweet voice.
“Sarah Loverly,” she whispered nervously.
“Ah, Sarah, how do you feel about dying?” he asked.
“W-w-w-what?” she stammered uncontrollably.
With that, the man pulled the trigger. Two bangs, then silence. Ms. Caroline began screaming and wailing and soon they had all joined in. Several more bangs followed, silencing three more children. Then another bang and Ms. Caroline was silent. In the few minutes that followed, everyone in the classroom was shot and killed.
100 years passed before the sightings began. First it was a glimpse of a strange looking shadow. Then, it was classroom items mysteriously floated into the air and were moved around overnight. These small occurrences were all that happened at first. Then people would hear someone screaming, or shot guns being fired. It is said that these restless spirits haunt the place to this day. Believe me if you want, or you can find out for yourself. Your choice.” The woman concluded.
I don’t know about you, but I decided to take her word for it. Too bad some of my other classmates didn’t…


I hope you enjoyed it :-)