The Phantom School - 93 Mass Grave

I slided down into a pitch black hole. My ankles were hurting because of the fall. During the short fall, I had spent a lot of effort in order not to accidentally hit myself with the pickaxe. It was truly amazing that I was still alive, while it was so easy and simple to die…

I had no idea where I was. The only source of light was the hole above me which had sent me down here. I could only see one or two meters ahead at best. I had a wall near me, but there was nothing else to see. I raised the pickaxe and hit the sides of the hole to enlarge it; this way, I could see more easily. As I hit the pickaxe, small rocks and pieces of cement started falling from above. I immediately regretted my desicion. A small rock hit my right shoulder and bounced off.

“I swear, this building defies the laws of physics.” I said. My voice echoed a few times. I wasn’t expecting that.

“Hello!” I said, and listened to the echoes again. It was clear that there was a large emptiness in front of me.

“Is there anyone down here?” I said. My voice echoed and faded out again. It was the only thing I could hear. I gathered my courage and stepped forward into the darkness. Listening to my own steps, I walked a few meters ahead and suddenly hit my head.

“Ouch.”

There was something in front of me. I hesitantly inspected it with my hand, and I realised it was a door after I found the doorknob. I turned the knob and the door silently opened. However, just afterwards, it got stuck. I couldn’t push it further, and the gap wasn’t enough for me to get through. I thought the pickaxe could be useful.

“The pickaxe!” I said loudly. It wasn’t in my hand. “I must have forgotten it back where I fell.” I thought. I wasn’t going to try to go back.

I got away and pushed the door with my foot. After a short struggle, I could manage to push the door further. I got past the door, navigating in the dark with the help of my hands.

It suddenly got cold. This was usually a sign of the presence of The Community.

“Not you again!” I said and stopped where I was. I waited for a minute or two, but nothing happened.

“Perhaps it really is just cold in here…” I said and kept walking slowly. As I progressed further, it began smelling really bad. Trying to breathe through my mouth, I continued.

Suddenly, I heard a faint voice in the hallway and froze in terror.

“Stop torturing us!”

Scared, I began looking around in panic even though I couldn’t see anything in the dark. My breathing got a lot heavier.

“Set us free!”

Interestingly, those words ringed a bell. I may have heard these exact words somewhere before, but my memories weren’t clear enough.

“W-w-wh-who is there?” I said. No response.

Slowly, I began seeing things in the dark. A dim blue light appeared ahead. I was in some sort of hallway. It was dusty, and the walls were rough.

“Do I know this place?” I said under my breath. At that moment, I felt something touch my neck. I panicked and turned around, but there was no one there.

“What is going on here?” I was trembling. This was not the sort of place anyone could feel safe. While I was still panicking, I felt something else on my hair. I got a few steps back from where I was and I touched my head, trying to understand what it was. My hand got wet.

I looked up. There was water dripping down a crack on the ceiling. I had a relief, there was nothing dangerous that I could see.

“I hope that water doesn’t come from the sewage.” I said. This could very well be the reason of the bad smell. I started walking again, this time, with the guidance of the blue light that had appeared in the hallway.

As I got further forward, I began noticing things on the walls. There were objects of various sizes and shapes buried into the walls. Just then, the realisation hit me hard.

“I know this place, don’t I?” I said. With my bare hands, I tried to dig into the walls. These ‘objects’… They were bones.

“Oh, screw me, I know this place!” I yelled. I have come here once before… This was the labyrinth-like path that lead me into the underground facility for the first time!

“This was it!” I yelled. “This is the mass grave you were searching for! Only if I knew earlier, only if I could remember…”

I carefully looked around. Buried deep down here, there lied the bodies of many poor souls… The spirits of the members of this Community. I had no idea why the location of this grave was so important for them, but it was the time to complete the deal we had. If I had any chance to rescue Idil and bring eternal peace to this school, or prison; this could be it.

I really wanted to hear Cansu’s reaction about this discovery, but unfortunately, she had no means to talk to me down here. I was sure she was just as excited as I was.

I began running further into the hallway to find my way back into the underground facility and contact The Community.

Just then, another realisation hit me. The Community had stopped following me for a while now. The reason for that… Could it be… Could they know I was somehow going to end up here!? It sure sounded crazy, but I couldn’t help thinking about it.

“Wait for me, hold in there…” I repeated as I kept running and running. After a while, I got to an intersection. There was one path to the right, and one to the left. They were identical, and both of them were illuminated by the same blue light.

I stopped right in the middle of the intersection.

“Which way was it?”