Chapter 2: School

Monday morning came sooner than Alex would have liked. He felt the first day at the new high school in his bones - a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Pale morning light streamed in through the bedroom window, illuminating the curtains and painting geometric patterns on the walls. Alex lay still for a while, letting the warmth of the quilt soothe his nerves. Finally, however, he gathered his courage and got up. He opened the window, letting the crisp September air into the room, which brought with it the smell of damp leaves and buns baking somewhere on the outskirts of town.

He went downstairs, where the kitchen was bustling with the quiet rhythm of the morning. Steaming toast, scrambled eggs and a mug of tea were still waiting on the table. His mother watched him with concern, though she tried to keep her tone light.

- Remember, Alex, the first day always seems harder than it really is," she said, handing him a fork. The father only muttered from above the newspaper, adding: - If you can handle us, so can the rest of the world.

He knew he had to be punctual. Wasting no time, having finished his breakfast, he put on his backpack and headed for the door.

- Good luck! - threw behind him his mother. - We'll be waiting with dinner for you to tell us how it was.

The streets of Arcane in the morning were quiet and almost sleepily still, as if the town had not yet had time to fully awaken. The cool air lifted a gentle mist over the cobblestone sidewalks, and the sun shyly peeked through the branches of the old oak trees growing along the main road. Alex walked, feeling each step echo off the empty facades of the townhouses. The passing storefronts were still covered, and the only traffic on the streets was an elderly woman hanging out laundry on her balcony.

When he arrived at the site, he noticed that the building that housed the school looked really impressive. The red brick building looked like more than an ordinary high school - more like a relic from an era when buildings were meant to tell stories. The tall, arched windows were decorated with elaborate cornices, and the iron hardware on the doors gleamed as if they had just been polished. Above the entrance was a stone plaque with the inscription: Arcane High School - Est. 1880.Beneath the plaque, two carved images of eagles peeked out, seeming to watch the newcomers.

The interior of the building retained its original charm. It smelled of a mixture of old wood, dust and the distant odor of floor polish. The ceilings, high as in churches, were decorated with fine stucco, and the walls were adorned with black-and-white photographs of students from decades ago. Heavy wooden benches still stuck in every room, and handwritten notice boards could be seen in the corridors, as if time had stopped here for a moment. However, the corridors were bustling with life - the sound of footsteps, laughter and conversations echoed off the walls as if in a concert hall.

As Alex crossed the threshold, he felt the stares on him. They were those stealthy, investigative glances that only high school students cast - a mixture of curiosity and appraisal. He tried not to pay attention to them, staring at the floor, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice.

- Alex!

He raised his head and spotted Emma. Her bright hair glistened in the morning sunlight streaming through the window, and her blue eyes seemed to attract the light, as if they emanated it themselves. Accompanying her was a boy who seemed as magnetic as she was.

- This is Max, my friend. Max, meet Alex. He's new to our town.

Max held out his hand, and Alex felt her firm but not too firm grip. The boy had something about him that immediately aroused sympathy - perhaps by the way he smiled with one corner of his mouth.

- Hi. Welcome to Arcane High," he said in a tone that sounded like an invitation to an exclusive club.

Max was tall and slender, with raven-black, slightly wavy hair that almost fell over his forehead. He had intense blue eyes that seemed almost electrifying, as if he carried the energy of the entire town. On his left hand he wore a silver ring with an engraved symbol that seemed strangely familiar to Alex, though he couldn't say why.

- Well, the first days are always a bit chaotic," chuckled Max, slipping his hands into his pockets. - But with Emma as your guide, you won't get lost. She's something of our self-appointed ambassador.

Emma rolled her eyes, but the smile did not disappear from her face.

- Come on, Alex. We'll show you the school," she said, moving forward.

Moving through the corridors of the high school, Alex absorbed every word from Max, who, with an expert expression on his face, talked about the school staff as if he were commenting on the composition of the basketball team at the finals.

- Room 203? Mrs. Watkins is in charge there," began Max, lowering his voice as if he was revealing the school's biggest secret. - She looks like a nice old lady who bakes cookies on Sunday, but beware: if you're late, then she'll eat your arm or your left leg. Either way, it's better to be punctual.

Alex involuntarily glanced at his watch, as if he could already feel Watkins' breath on the back of his neck.

- What about room 115? - He asked, trying to look like he was remembering everything.

- Mr. Harding, our master of history. An encyclopedia man, but he has one problem," added Emma, looking at Max with a smile. - If you don't know the answer, you will get such a lesson that you will feel like the main character in the defeat at Hastings.

- Don't worry," interjected Max, patting Alex on the shoulder. - He's just shouting. But for how! I think he could work as a fire alarm.

With each step, Max and Emma eagerly introduced the school world, which resembled more a gallery of eccentrics than a typical set of teachers.

- Room 305, Ms. Anderson. Strict, but fair. She has something of the judge in "Millionaires" - Emma said. - You know the answer, you get points. Don't know? Well, you drop out for credit.

- And room 220," chuckled Max, making a dramatic pause, "is the realm of Mr. Richardson. Mathematics in his lessons is something between an escape room and an IQ test. But he's a cool guy, although sometimes he asks questions that make your skull smoke.

Passing by room 128, Emma raised an eyebrow.

- Ms. Brooks and her love of insects. Sometimes she brings spiders or other nasties to class to "bring us closer to nature." As for me, let her bring it closer, but from a distance," she said, gasping theatrically.

- And then there's our gem, Ms. Martin, room 312: master-level English," continued Emma. - A literary feast, as I said, but be warned: if you don't read the reading, be prepared for a look that literally burns a hole in your soul.

Max looked at Alex, feigning seriousness.

- Now, bro, meet Mr. Anderson, the coach of our Arcane Falcons. The guy looks like the captain of a rugby team that just won the world championship. Is he demanding? Let's just say that after his training you feel every bone in your body. Even the ones you never suspected existed.

Emma snorted with laughter.

- Then there's our psychologist, Mrs. Smith. She is so beautiful that everyone goes to her "for advice." - She made quotation marks in the air. - Max especially.

Max tensed theatrically, placing his hand over his heart.

- It's heart and soul therapy for me," he threw in a dramatic note with a brooding look. - Crème de la crème, our sexy psychologist. We don't say it out loud, but we all know that phenomenal women work at the school to understand us better. Alex, if you ever have problems, I guarantee you'll leave her office a new man.

Emma rolled her eyes.

- Max, don't drool or you'll choke," she added with a wince.

Alex burst out laughing, sensing that he was in for quite an adventure at this crazy high school. This mix of quirkiness, humor and unwritten rules seemed strangely appealing. He listened intently, trying to remember all the names and faces of the teachers. He felt that this place could be a real friendly environment for him.

During one of the breaks, he slowly began to blend in with the school's hustle and bustle. He recognized more names and faces, struggling to build something like confidence in this brand-new environment. Max and Emma, like a pair of informal ambassadors of school life, took on the role of his guides, opening up to him the secrets of Arcane High - from useful shortcuts between halls to unwritten rules for surviving in line at the vending machine with unhealthy junk food.

The town and its residents seemed an oasis of kindness. Students welcomed him with an openness he had not experienced before in the New York reality. There, the school crowd resembled more of a rat race than a community. Here, by contrast, everyone, from the grinning-toothed captain of the basketball team to the girl with her head bent over a sketchbook, seemed to take the time to say "hello" to a new colleague.

Over lunch, Emma threw out an idea with a gleam in her eye: a weekend trip to a nearby forest, a place she claimed was "full of secrets." Alex, moved by her enthusiasm, agreed without hesitation, although the voice of reason told him that "secrets" was a euphemism for something that would end up with mud up to his knees and dignity, which he would probably leave somewhere along the way.

The next day began like a cliché from a charming school newsreel. The morning light, somewhat cool, streamed in through the high windows of the high school, and the smell of freshly brewed coffee from the buffet wafted through the air. The corridors pulsed with energy - from the rustling of conversations to the quiet sighs of students peering at clocks, counting the seconds until recess. The hallway was filled with book fair booths, the proceeds of which went to charity.

Alex, as if magnetized, browsed through one title after another. Horror novels, anthologies of poetry and dusty encyclopedias about plants flitted through his hands. Everything seemed to be at his fingertips, and yet something was missing - as if he was waiting for a book to find him, rather than the other way around.

Then he noticed her.

Character.

Not of the crowd. Not of this world. She was there and somewhere else at the same time - like a delicate pencil sketch against a colorful painting. Her silhouette seemed to blur between black and white, interspersed with pastel spots in places, as if the light couldn't decide whether to illuminate or engulf her. She walked slowly, not looking at anyone. Her step was so quiet that it seemed as if she was floating on an invisible wave.

Before Alex had time to react, she was gone.

- Did you see? - He asked, feeling his heart speed up as if on cue.

Max and Emma looked at him with a mixture of surprise and concern.

- We saw... what? - Max scratched his head, wrinkling his eyebrows.

- This girl," replied Alex, looking around nervously. - She was ... strange. As if out of this world.

Max looked at Emma, who shrugged her shoulders.

- Probably some new one. Maybe she likes to stand out. With us it's normal," she chuckled with a slight smile.

- She looked like a ghost," muttered Alex.

Max patted him on the shoulder, smiling broadly, as if Alex had just declared that he had seen fairies in a vegetable shop.

- Alex, brother, seriously? A ghost? Honestly, I'm betting it's more like your brain decided to take a break from reality. Maybe instead of that liter of coffee a day, try drinking.... I don't know... chamomile tea? Or better yet - water. Because somehow you've been walking around stimulated lately.

- Or read less of your dark books," Emma added, laughing under her breath.

But Alex knew it wasn't imagination. This girl - whatever she was - had appeared in his path for a reason. She was part of a mystery he needed to solve.

In the days that followed, the school walls were brimming with gossip and an atmosphere that could boil a kettle without electricity. On Wednesday, in history class, the teacher, with the manner of a noir detective, recounted the mysterious disappearance of a schoolgirl in the 1980s. The story was full of holes and understatements, like a bad detective story, but Alex - as befits a fan of dramas - swallowed the hook.

- Imagine," the teacher began, dramatically raising his hand, "one day a student, just... disappeared. Like camphor. No traces, no witnesses. - He began, making a dramatic pause that lasted long enough for all to imagine at least five dark scenarios.

Some burst into silent laughter, others looked at each other curiously, but Alex, sitting in the third row, stared at the teacher as if mesmerized.

- Sarah Finch," continued Mr. Harding, pulling from a drawer a yellowed photograph showing a girl with fair hair smiling toward the camera. - She was one of the best students at the school. Exemplary, ambitious, always helpful. But one day, she just.... she was lost. As if she had vanished into thin air.

He made another dramatic gesture, putting the photograph down on the desk.

- She disappeared exactly on September 6, 1980. It was an ordinary Monday. Sarah came to school as she always did. She was seen in morning classes, chatting with her classmates, laughing. Then, during the break, she went to the library. And no one ever saw her again.

There was silence in the classroom. Even the loudest students, who usually commented on every story, now sat as if paralyzed.

- But... what happened to her? - asked one of the girls, and her voice sounded as if she was asking the question too quietly so as not to invoke evil spirits.

Mr. Harding raised an eyebrow and sighed heavily, as if to say, "If I knew that, I wouldn't just be a history teacher."

- This is precisely the biggest mystery. The police conducted an investigation. Every corner was searched - from attics to basements, not only in the school, but also in the whole town. No traces were found. No witnesses, no clues. Her parents claimed that before her disappearance, Sarah spoke of strange sounds she had heard. She claimed that someone was watching her.

Alex felt his neck cover with chills. "Strange sounds" and "someone's gaze" - wasn't that what he thought of himself when he saw this mysterious figure?

The teacher walked closer to the blackboard, as if to convey the most important element of the story.

- The strangest thing, however, is something else," he said. - A librarian who worked at the school at the time testified that she saw Sarah enter one of the rows of books but never came out of it.

In the hall, someone could be heard silently swallowing saliva.

- And then, after she had already disappeared, strange things began to happen. Other students spoke of shadows that moved through the corridors, of books falling off shelves for no apparent reason, of whispers that carried in the air.

- And what happened to the librarian? - Alex asked, unable to contain himself.

Mr. Harding looked at him with a slight smile that was more concerned than reassuring.

- She resigned from her post a few months later. She claimed that something.... something in this school is wrong.

- But it's normal now, isn't it? - chuckled Max, trying to ease the tension, although a note of uncertainty sounded in his voice.

The teacher shrugged his shoulders.

- Who knows? After all, it's just a story. Or. maybe something more.

The bell rang, as if specifically waiting for the most dramatic moment. The teacher gathered his things and left, leaving the class in a state of reverie, and Alex with the feeling that he had just hit upon something that would not let him sleep peacefully.

After class, Alex, Max and Emma, like a budget version of Scooby-Doo, gathered in the school library. The place resembled a museum of old papers and forgotten thoughts, except that it smelled of dust rather than exhibits.

- Maybe we can find something in the annals of the school," chuckled Alex, browsing the shelves as if looking for a bestseller on sale.

Max, wallowing in a pile of yellowed papers, muttered.

- Check it out! Articles about Sarah. It seems that this was the number one topic at the time. Well, the town probably didn't have better attractions.

Emma, sitting with the grace of a scientist discovering a new element, read it aloud.

- Sarah's parents recalled that their daughter had complained of strange sounds before she disappeared. And that she felt she was being followed. But you know how parents are. They downplayed it.

- And what were they supposed to say? "It's definitely a ghost!"? - chuckled Max looking at Alex with an ironic raise of his eyebrows. - Strange noise in the school is a daily occurrence. The place sounds like it has a life of its own.

While looking through the materials, they came across an excerpt from the diary of one of the teachers at the time, full of references to "strange phenomena." The entry sounded like a note from someone who had seen too many horror movies.

- It looks like Sarah just vanished into thin air," Alex whined, as if talking about an interrupted Wi-Fi connection.

- Or she was sucked in by a book monster," added Max, who was clearly having fun with his own joke. - You know, like in those old fairy tales.

Emma, staring at the documents, raised her eyes and said.

- It's strange. Sarah and the teacher mentioned the library. Maybe it's not a coincidence?

Alex looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

- Or coincidence. Or a conspiracy. In any case, we have something to work with.

Max straightened up, holding some dusty volume.

- Great, team. So, who will be the first to start looking for hidden passages?

- What happened here forty years ago? - Emma asked, in a tone full of seriousness.

- I don't know, but if it means more housework, I already don't like it," replied Max, as if he was going to protest against the laws of physics.

Alex looked at them as if he was trying to direct his own dramatic scene.

- We need to figure it out. But maybe let's start with whether there's more to this library than dust and disappointment.

And so began their mission, which could only end in two ways: a spectacular discovery Or a scandal over the destroyed chronicles.

The next day, during a free lesson, the three friends headed to the library again, this time with a mission that required more determination than ever. Emma, playing the role of detective from the detective stories she had read, searched the bookshelves with a fierceness worthy of an archaeologist on the trail of an artifact.

- Maybe we can find some old diary or letter that will explain what actually happened here forty years ago," she muttered, lowering her voice, as if she was afraid that the library would hear.

Meanwhile, Alex came across an old, worn-out book whose cover looked as if it had survived a siege. The pattern of worn gilding barely revealed a name:

"Sarah.

- I have something," he chuckled, and his voice sounded like an echo of the discovery of America.

- What is this old thing? - Max asked, leaning over the book.

 - It looks like a journal... Or at least something like it," Alex replied, turning the first pages. On one of them there was an entry:

"A strange thing happened in the library today. I heard whispers and saw shadows. I thought it was just my imagination.... Until I saw footprints on the floor that disappeared into thin air."

 - Well, if that doesn't sound like the prologue of a horror movie, I don't know what does," Max stated, although a slight tension could be felt in his voice.

- This is exactly what Harding was talking about," Emma pointed out, turning more pages.

With each entry, the diary became more and more disturbing. Sarah described how the sounds were getting louder and louder, and the air in the library was getting colder. Her last entry read:

"The sounds don't stop. I have the feeling that something is watching me. I think I know where it's leading. I need to see what's behind the cold..."

Emma looked at the boys with an expression on her face that said "this is no longer fun."

- Well, who else thinks Sarah was too curious for her own good?

Max swallowed saliva, but tried to look nonchalant.

- I'll say this - if it leads to some "Narnia"-style refrigerator, I give up right away.

However, the tension continued to rise as Alex turned more pages. On one of them was a bloody fragment. In the corner of the page was a barely visible inscription:

"THE FOREST IS THE BEGINNING."

- Forest? Seriously? Why does it always have to be a forest? - chuckled Alex, looking at the others.

 - Which forest specifically? We have more of them here than fast food," Emma added, shaking her head.

Max, as energetic as ever, clapped his hands.

- Well, here's the plan! A trip to the forest on Saturday. What can go wrong?

Emma looked at him with a half-smile.

- Mhm... everything. Nothing beats your logic: "The girl is missing, so let's follow in the footsteps of her last entry and get lost ourselves. Sounds wonderful."

- Come on, Emma, after all, you don't want to miss such fun," chuckled Max, rubbing his hands together.

And although everyone pretended to be relaxed, somewhere in the background you could feel the tension. Was this a mere legend, or was there actually something hiding in the woods? Alex looked at them both and sighed.

 - Great, what would we do without your ideas, Max....

Thus the decision was made. Saturday was to bring answers - or even more questions.