1849 - Haliford springs up around a vein of gold during the California gold rush.
1852 - A horrific accident occurs in one of the mines. A cave-in occurs, trapping 52 miners inside to die. Unable to dig them out, the miners perish. One miner (Gregory Brown, 30) is found outside the mine four days later, near-catatonic and dehydrated. He survives but does not speak a single word until he dies. Has two children.
1870 - Haliford's next source of income becomes the railroad and Chinese labor trade.
1924 - The ever-expanding Haliford builds a high school on top of the sealed mine.
1951 - Post WWII, Haliford doubles in size. Attendance at the school rises exponentially.
1952 - An urban myth among the students begins to circulate - the ghosts of miners can be heard in the basement, pickaxes banging on cement.
1957 - The first student goes missing; Freshman Milo Jameson (15). Was last seen at JV football practice. Reportedly last to leave showers. An investigation is launched, and it is determined Milo ran away and is presumed missing.
1961 - An electrician called to repair a basement fuse finds a blood-covered wallet belonging to Milo Jameson behind a radiator. He reports it to the police who launch a search of the basement, but find nothing.
1965 - The school nurse, Gabrielle Morgan (35), goes missing. After finding a half-finished letter of resignation on her desk, police assume she quit and left the state. No media coverage.
1971 - Two students go missing; Junior Amanda Brown (16) and Senior Grace Hernandez (18). Last seen returning drama club costumes to a storage closet near the basement. Four days later, a note with the words 'I'm sorry' is found in the drama closet. With no evidence to the contrary and testimony that the girls faced harsh scrutiny for their relationship, police assume they are runaways.
1983 - Cold case unearthed by forensic students at University of San Francisco. Blood on Milo's wallet confirmed to belong to speices of deep-ground bat.
1994 - Shrunken organic matter discovered by a cleaning service hired to remove abestos in school basement. Matter determined to be the eyeball of Grace Hernandez, long dehydrated and dusted in decades-old vomit. Vomit origin unknown - testing proves it does not belong to Hernandez. School closed for extended sweep of basement. Police find no further evidence.
2002 - The words "Give it back" are written in pig's blood across the northen wall of the basement. Sophmore Allen Wilson charged with defacing school property. Despite solid evidence to the contrary (pig blood-covered shirt, pig blood under nails) defendant claims he recalls nothing of the incident.
2009 - School undergoes massive reconstruction over the summer. Building integrity reinforced and new south wing added. Basement expanded to accomodate south wing. Construction crew unearth sealed mine shaft during expansion. Upon unanimous decision concerning student safety, seal is reinforced and access to the shaft itself is cemented off.
2011 - Over the course of two weeks, three students break into the basement and deface the northern wall with red spray paint. One writes; "Don't". The second writes "Stop". The third writes "Me". Perpetrators are caught. They vehementently deny any involvement or interaction with the other students despite footage to the contrary captured on CCTV.
November 2013 - Freshman Hailey Fargis (15) kills self in the basement by drinking bleach. Student testimony reveals she was severely bullied and 'a bit of an oddball'.
February 2014 - Sophmore Brandon Resse (15) kills self in the basement by drinking bleach. Police discover he had been dating Hailey and surmise he emulated her death out of despair. Strict grief counseling for all students enforced.
June 2014 - Four students from neighboring Blackhill High School break into the basement and kill themselves by drinking bleach. Police and parents design community-wide suicide watch. Basement locked and kept under 24-hour surveillance.
Summer 2014 - Serial defacer spray paints the roman numeral six in various areas of the school. Despite CCTV installation, perpetrator goes unidentified. Serial defacings continue until CCTV reveals the culprit as Anthony Brown (37), one of many night guards stationed in shifts outside the basement. When questioned, Brown pleads not guilty, and says he has no recollection of defacing anything. Brown is subsequently fired.
September 2014 - Kevin Dogwood (46), resigns from his post as night guard.
October 2014 - Kevin Dogwood is admitted to St. Mary's General for attempted suicide by drinking bleach.
January 2017 - Freshman Mary Cairn (16) writes a note and affixes it to the basement door. It reads 'I want to be pure'.
May 2017 - Writing notes and affixing them to the basement door is considered a good luck charm among student populace of Haliford High. Many students (a great majority female) affix anonymous notes to the door asking for love, better grades, etc. Faculty discourage the practice and janitor cleans the door once every week. Janitor notes in logbook there is always one 'I want to be pure' message among the others, each time in different handwriting.
August 2017 - Haliford and its surrounding areas experience a 6.7 magnitude earthquake. Damage is minimal.
October 2017 - Janitor notes in logbook that although the students still attach wishes to the basement door, the 'I want to be pure' weekly message has changed to 'It's open now'.
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-1-
I'm following Ren because I'm bored.
Theo, glasses perched on his nose and his scowl dark, is following Ren because that's what he does - follow Ren and make sure the idiot doesn't get in the wrong fight or drink the wrong shot or do the wrong girl. Friends since third grade, god knows why - Ren is irresponsible and wild and stupid, and Theo is considerate and kind and smart. It's one of the great mysteries of the graduating class of 2020, along with the exact number of STDs Maya Robinson has and where Greg Pescalos puts the boogers he picks during class.
I look over at Faith. She applies another coat of lip balm. She's following Ren because Ren and her used to be a thing. Flaming hot, possibly-Brazilian Faith - the dream of every blue-balled male within fifty miles - and flaming scum Ren, whose ripped jeans and mohawk and stupid, greasy smile get him more female attention than is logically possible. Together they flamed, and then flamed out.
AJ whimpers and clutches my arm. He's following Ren because I'm following Ren.
"It'll be awesome," Ren crows. "Lane told me he'd show us the door where the mine shaft is, too."
"Isn't the basement supposed to be haunted?" Faith quirks a brow. "There were all those suicides back when we were in middle school."
"Suicides?" Theo blinks. AJ glups and his fingers bite into my arm.
"A girl killed herself in there. Then her boyfriend killed himself," Faith tilts her head, like a bird seeing something shiny. "And then four Blackhill students killed themselves."
The school hall seems to get darker, colder. Outside, the sun is just setting over the line of trees on the football field. Ren shivers excitedly.
"It's gonna be awesome. I've been saving my Gramps' ghost stories for a place like this."
"If you think I'm sticking around long enough to hear you blab, think again," I snarl. Ren clicks his tongue.
"Olivia, Olivia. You always gotta be hostile with me. Don't you like me? Why don't you try liking me for once? Everyone else does it fine."
"That's exactly why I'll never like you."
"Aren't you a hipster," He scoffs, but his face lights up. "Lane! Over here!"
He jogs over to a redheaded guy in a sweatshirt, standing in front of the metal door of the basement. Mr. Williams is the youngest teacher at Haliford, babyface always bright and Chemistry lessons always cheery. He listens well, and makes friends with all his students in some way with his eagerness to help. He's particular friends with Ren - Ren's just one of many people who call him Lane instead of Mr. Williams.
"Keep your voice down," Mr. Williams laughs and gives Ren a high-five. "Unless you want to end your Halloween getting caught?"
"You could get fired for this, Mr. Williams," Theo presses.
"The basement isn't totally off limits, Theo." He smiles. "Besides, I come down here all the time to restock basic chemicals for labs. It's perfectly safe, I promise."
"Another hour and the school will close," Theo says. "All the after-school clubs will go home, and -"
"Then we'll just have to be out of here in an hour, huh?" Mr. Williams slaps Theo on the back. He fishes with some keys and opens the basement door. It's clean of messages, but usually the door is packed with scraps of paper with wishes on them. Utility lights line the ceiling over a long stairway down. Ren dashes in first, Faith tossing her hair and following him. Mr. Williams motions for us to come with, and disappears down the stairs.
"It's like a freakin' bunker in here!" Ren's voice echoes. Theo shoots me a hesitant look, and I try to smile.
"C'mon, student council president. Be brave."
Theo rolls his eyes. "You know me, I'm not -"
"Shit!" Ren's voice.
"Don't touch that, Ren!" Mr. William's voice.
"God, what did he do now?" Theo growls, and follows without a second's consideration. AJ turns me by the shoulder.
"Is it true? The suicides that happened down there?"
I shrug. "I don't know. I kind of remember hearing something about it on the news. Look, you'll be fine. I'll be there. We'll just look around and leave, okay? We don't have to stay for Ren's bullshit stories."
"But you want to stay, don't you?" AJ says. "For Theo."
I open my mouth. Close it. Open it again. AJ shakes his head.
"You should stay. M-Mom needs me to help with Ginger and her friends tonight, anyway."
"And let you be bullied by a bunch of Disney-channel-obsessed eight-year-olds trick or treating? No way. We're going to my house and binging on cupcakes and xbox, and that's final."
AJ looks relieved. We inch down the stairs together. It's not particularily scary - the basement clean and well-kept, machines purring quietly in their respective rooms. The boiler whirrs. The lights are clinically white and bright, throwing pitch shadows into corners. Mr. Williams leans against a wall, snickering as Ren gestures wildly along to his story. Theo sits against the wall near Mr. Williams. I settle near him.
"And no one knew where the bastard went. It was just an empty door, hanging open, with nothing outside of it, and then -" Ren slinks over to Faith, sitting cross-legged on the floor and tapping on her phone. He shakes her shoulders and yells; "The body fell! BOO!"
AJ yelps at the sound. Faith just rolls her eyes and sighs.
"Let go of me."
"You're so cold," Ren laments, then winces. "Ah, shit. My hand."
"What's wrong?" Theo asks.
"He hit it on a pipe," Mr. Williams sighs.
"That pipe was out for my blood, man," Ren says, and promptly launches into another story. I tune him out. AJ looks entranced. With his expressive voice and animated face, Ren has that effect, I'll give him that much.
"So it's true?" I say to Theo. "You're really transferring tomorrow?"
Theo adjusts his glasses, flicks dark hair from his eyes. "Yeah."
"Y-You can't go, though." I start, my voice breaking. I clear it. "I mean, who'll keep Ren from killing himself?"
"I'm leaving that up to you, vice president." He smiles.
"Ugh, thanks a lot," I groan. Theo chuckles. I watch his face - so different from last year. More mature. He's grown taller. The summer does that to boys.
"You can't go," I repeat softly. Theo's eyes widen.
"Olivia -"
"The guy didn't even see it coming, just rammed right into him!" Ren raises his voice, like he's trying to drown our conversation out. "So he gets out of his car, and goes around the front to see what he hit, right? But there's nothing there. He turns back to drive away. Gets in the front seat. Takes the brake off, adjusts his rearview mirror, and there it is, looking at him from the backseat - the girl with her jaw missing!"
Mr. Williams feigns a gasp. AJ stands abruptly, and strides off. I sigh and stand.
"AJ, come back! If you've gotta puke, do it in a bucket or something."
He doesn't slow, or stop, or even turn to acknowledge me. His shoulders are straight and high, completely different from the way he pulls them in and shrinks them on a daily basis.
"AJ!" I start after him. "AJ, wait up!"
"Let the pussy go," Faith sighs.
"AJ, are you alright?" Mr. Williams walks with me. AJ turns a corner and disappears behind a machine.
"AJ!" I speed up. This isn't right. He doesn't ignore me. Is he really that freaked? I turn the corner with Mr. Williams. AJ's walking with purpose, direction. He seems to know exactly where he's going.
"He's headed to the nothern wall," Mr. Williams pants. "We can cut him off. This way."
Mr. Williams gets in front of AJ first, face creasing with concern. "AJ, are you alright? Look, Ren didn't mean -"
AJ's curly blonde head ducks under Mr. Williams' arm. He reaches for a door and turns the knob.
"That's locked, AJ. Has been for years, now. C'mon, if you want to get out of here, come back and use the stairs -"
Mr Williams' cuts off. AJ has the door open.
"AJ, close it. Let's get out of here, okay? Back to my house." I try a smile and touch his arm. AJ turns his curly blonde head to me, blue eyes dull and freckles dark against his suddenly pale face. His voice is a rasp.
"It's open now."
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Guys I have no idea what I'm doing I just need to focus but I'm having the hardest fucking time focusing WHY
help
this is an earnest plea for help what do I focus onnnnnnnnnn how do I does focus
EDIT: NEVERMIND I'M WRITING SAILORMOON ON CRACK
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