Big Sis

The campus itself was quite a relic out of time. It was an old farmer’s college that had been built upon to better serve the government’s demand for accessible, higher education for young adults. Courses that had to focus on the arts and other extracurricular activities outside of animal husbandry had been funded by the local government. Had it been up to locals they would have continued training their young farmers in how to wrangle hogs or inseminate cows, and would see to it that the tradition continued. After all it was only the surrounding farms that sent their kids to study at the college. It was important for them to know how to rotate crops and handle medicating livestock, so there was a growing need for farm veterinarians. They didn’t need their youth to learn how to paint a picture or calculate trigonometry. It was not until the town grew that these liberal art classes found use in training young leaders for business management and regarding the important process for handling and conserving estuaries and repairing levees during heavy rain seasons, as well as other environmental conversations that were important for farm life. It was a cheap university to attend and they gave all the basic classes necessary for a bachelor’s so it was ideal for those that had limited funds. So where the mountains were occupied by the farmers: with wide fields that typically provided for Middletown and a few other distant towns: the town itself had become occupied by many of the miners who valued a stable location to sell their goods. In fact the town was well known for its caves that were once filled with gold, rubies, and coal. As the mines dried up the businessmen learned to outsource and build their reputation on glassmaking, jewelry making and other professions that, in the town, still required an apprenticeship.

Jon was lucky and when he moved in, he did so at a young age, so he started his apprenticeship at the tailor’s at around ten years of age. He was in upper management now, still just barely eighteen. The shop handled many of the antique and heirloom clothing kept at the town’s museum, which showed off the township’s history. They created uniforms for the local workforce and were known to supply traditional period clothing for reenactments and other historic preservation groups. It was how Jon first met Pa-kun. The young man had always been interested in historical reenactment so it had been a mainstay visit from his early teens, just before he found out he wasn’t quite who he thought he was. Pa-kun and Jon became fast friends and traded notes. Though Jon was never huge on history himself: the shop had flyers for various events of these sorts in the city or other towns that they sponsored, so Jon always gave Pa-kun a heads up.

As Jon made his way through the winding campus halls, crowded with clutter as the new sports department was being constructed on the empty lot down the hill: much of the old gear was being aired out and deciding on what was going to be moved or tossed. The space being emptied out was going to be the space for a new cafeteria as the old gymnasium was a suitable size for the amount of students they currently had. The old cafeteria was built out of an old barn and just didn’t have the amenities and space expected of them by the required standards of the times. As he hobbled over obstacles he came to a stop and looked off into the old gym. One can almost smell the asbestos in the room as the ceiling seemed to be peeling away from the humid summers and bitter cold winters. Many of the bleachers were already worn from the seasons of use, the metal even bent in on some spots from excessive use. But what had caught his eyes was a figure standing at the end of the room, near the doors that led to the track fields. As he focused he could see what appeared to be a younger woman, probably a student by his assumption. She had black hair and wore a long, green dress that was quite simple. But he could not see her feet clearly: barefoot or sandals maybe? Which seemed odd in this weather.

“What are you looking at?” A whisper tickled the back of his neck, causing Jon to whip around in surprise!

“Aahh!” He shrieked, reaching up to rub his ear and neck. “L-leslie?!” He balked as the tall, dark-haired woman towered over him.

Leslie was the local wrestling fanatic. Tall, goofy and all around good natured, but she had a real knack to for quietly sneaking up on people. Always wearing a trenchcoat and fedora many mistook her for a cretin, or poser, but she was neither of those things.

“What are ya looking at? Staring off into space.” She prodded, resting a hand on his shoulder and placing a hand on her forehead in order to gaze into the horizon. “Real creepy now that it’s empty huh?”

“Yea...“ He looked back only to see the empty gymnasium. Had he imagined it, or did she leave before Leslie could see--? “Hey Leslie did you see the girl over there or are you messing with me?”

“What? No messing with you. I saw her. It was Mystic Molly. You’re lucky. She usually doesn’t show up until winter.” The woman praised, patting his shoulder.

“Mystic Molly?” He questioned, turning back to look towards the doors.

“Mmhmm. Gym’s haunted by some native ghost. Said she died during some slave rebellion way back when. She appears to people who are about to die.” She felt Jon stiffen under her grip. She laughed and shook him a bit. “Don’t worry, that one is a myth. No one’s ever died seeing her. Some have died incidentally though.”

“Incidentally?” He looked up to the woman, the wire frame glasses sliding a bit off her nose as she looked down. A sly grin drew itself on her features.

“Sure, sure,” She started. “Sometimes they’d have a scare, fall from up high or sneak in here at night, accidents not relating to her, but involving her, you know?” She gave his shoulder a rough pat. “Don’t worry about it though. She’s real nice, my club talked to her you know.”

He looked over to Leslie as she started to walk away. “Uuh the --pagan club?” He tried to recall.

“Occult,” She called back. “See ya, math class is starting!” She waved and headed off down the hall, leaving Jon to his thoughts. He looked back to the empty gym.

“Nope.” He chirped, and turned to leave. He had other things to worry about anyway, like English Lecture.