Halden Academy

This story is by Caryn Kowalczyk and was part of our 2024 Spring Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.

Kate had suspected something wasn’t right at Halden Academy and now there was no question. Her best friend Ava had disappeared and no one was telling the truth. 

When Kate first arrived at Halden, she’d waited for the headmaster at the crossroads in front of the main building. As she surveyed the campus grounds, the pale face of a frightened child appeared in the basement window of the Education building. It was an eerie image that continued to haunt her.

Kate found that Ava had shared her suspicions about the school. The two girls had become best friends almost right away. They had shared a bunk bed at Halden for nearly six months. Each night they’d wait for the snore of the hall monitor and then Kate would climb the ladder to Ava’s bed. They talked about missing children whose disappearance the adults tried to pass off as returning home. To Kate and Ava, it wasn’t normal for this many kids to leave boarding school in the middle of the year. The girls became more observant. They kept track of the number of kids in each grade and noted all disappearances.

One afternoon, Ava and Kate went for a walk to explore Building 5, a mysterious structure that was off limits to students. They didn’t get close but walked around it to see if they could learn anything about it. They wondered if it had anything to do with the disappearances but it looked like no one had been near it for years.

They came across a boy their age pushing a wheelbarrow full of branches. Ava whispered that he was the groundskeeper’s son.

“Hello,” Kate called to him and waved. “We’re Kate and Ava.”

He seemed shy but gave them a little wave.

He didn’t introduce himself so Kate asked, “What’s your name?”

He stopped the wheelbarrow and said, “Finn.”

“It’s nice to meet you.”

He nodded and walked away.

Afterwards, whenever they’d see Finn, he would wave. Sometimes he would stop and talk for a few minutes. One Friday Kate pointed to Building 5 and asked Finn what it was used for. He shrugged. Ava and Kate exchanged a look.

“You work here and you don’t know?” Kate asked.

“They don’t tell us everything,” Finn said.

Kate wondered why he didn’t attend the school but decided not to ask.

 

One night when the girls lined up as usual for their vitamins, the dorm guard gave Ava a hexagonal one instead of the usual round one. Kate asked, “Why did she get a different one today?”

The guard replied, “She’s been here six months. You’ll receive one when you’ve been here that long.”

They climbed into their beds and Kate asked if she should come up to talk. Ava sounded  drowsy when she said, “not tonight.”

“Okay, good night,” Kate said. Ava didn’t respond.  

Kate thought it strange since Ava was more of a night owl, but she soon fell asleep herself.

The next morning, Kate called up to Ava to see if she was awake. Ava didn’t answer. Kate checked the time and saw they needed to be up for breakfast, so Kate got up and looked in Ava’s bed. She wasn’t there. That was unusual but Kate figured she was in the restroom.

After checking the restroom and not finding Ava, Kate headed to the cafeteria. Ava missed breakfast. Kate entered each of her classes with an expectant look, hoping she’d see Ava but she did not appear. The teachers said Ava was absent but didn’t elaborate.

Kate visited the clinic and asked Nurse Baker. Nurse Baker wasn’t friendly as she usually was. She fidgeted with a pen and didn’t make eye contact when she told Kate, “Ava went home.”

“She didn’t!”

“I’m sorry, dear.”

“She wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.”

“She had to leave suddenly.”

 

Kate was nervous and frustrated. She returned to her dorm and lay on her bed. Why would Ava have gone home and not told her? Then Kate gasped. The different pill! What if they had given Ava a sedative? She shuddered, then got up from her bed and headed outside.

She found Finn at the tool shed and told him about Ava.

“They told you she left?” He asked.

“Yes, but I don’t believe them. I think Ava is in danger. I have to break into the Education building basement.”

“It’ll be locked up and there are guards everywhere.”

“I don’t care. I have to see if Ava is there.”

“They usually open a few basement windows when it’s hot which is certainly is today.” 

“Okay. Do you have any tools I could borrow?”

“I’ll leave a crowbar and flashlight by the red oak.”

 

When 11 pm arrived, the hallway guard was snoring so Kate slipped past her.

Kate ran to the oak, grabbed the tools and headed to the Education building. She spotted an open basement window. She knelt down and tugged off the screen. Then she used the crowbar to pry the window open. She squeezed inside and jumped to the floor.

The basement was dark and muggy. Distant voices traveled from another part of the building. The flashlight illuminated stacks of chairs and desks and a rack of test tubes on a table.

She walked toward the sound of the voices and after a few minutes she realized she was walking on dirt. She’d entered a tunnel. The voices got louder and it was lighter the further she continued through the tunnel. She climbed up a few steps and arrived at the end of a hallway with a large 5 painted on the wall. She was in Building 5.

Now that the voices were closer, she tiptoed so as not to be heard. She came to an open door. Kate held her breath and peeked inside. She dropped to her knees and crawled into the room. There was new lab equipment with indicator lights and machines were humming. Kate saw a faint light coming from under a door into a connecting room.

She peered through a window in the door and gasped. There were three gurneys, and each one held what looked like a body covered with a white sheet. Kate was afraid to look but she had to. She walked to the closest gurney and lifted the sheet. She saw the lifeless face of a student they’d been told had returned home. On the next gurney was the body of a child Kate had never seen. When she got to the third gurney, her hands were shaking. She grasped the corner of the sheet, pulled it back and her knees gave way. She grabbed hold of the gurney to steady herself. There was Ava, her lifeless body staring up at Kate from empty eyes. Kate wanted to scream but she willed herself to be quiet. Kate reached out her trembling hand to close Ava’s eyes. Kate spotted the friendship bracelet Kate had just given her yesterday. It was on Ava’s wrist.

Kate needed time to process all this but she didn’t have any. She could hear footsteps thundering through the tunnel. She crouched under a table and formulated a plan. She wouldn’t survive if she was caught. She had to get away.

She peered around the table leg. Up ahead she saw a familiar face. Finn! He would help her. She almost called out his name but upon observing him, she remained quiet. He was sitting at a table speaking into a small recorder. His voice sounded different, he’d changed clothes and was wearing glasses. This sure was a different side of Finn.

She remained hidden in case there were evil people coming. In a loud whisper, she called out, “Finn! I’m so glad you’re here! I thought I was dead.”

“Finn is dead,” he said.

What was happening? She didn’t know who this person was, but she knew she wasn’t safe. She prepared to run. He was still speaking, so she slowly backed away. She would keep him talking.

“What do you mean? Aren’t you Finn?”

“Finn donated his DNA and now I can continue to conduct my experiments as a younger man.” He chuckled. “The Finn you know is also a clone.”

“The groundskeeper’s son?”

“Yes, the clones have been very helpful.” As he began to drone on about the clones, she turned and ran, knocking over shelves as she escaped, hoping that would slow him down. She ran as fast as she could back down the tunnel. Footsteps pounded on the ground behind her.

She came to the open window from before. She pushed a desk beneath it, climbed up and squeezed herself through. She scrambled to her feet, ran to the woods without stopping, hid in a ditch and covered herself with branches. She heard voices and saw flashlights as they searched for her.

She lay there until dawn. She had held on this long. She had no idea what she would do next but she knew she would survive.