Erde Nona weather was quite nice, all things considered. At the moment, it felt neither too hot nor too cold, and a light breeze felt nice as it blew against Paige’s back. The sky was blue, but the world was cast in a slight amber hue, lending itself to a sunset aesthetic. She looked at the school itself. It exuded a sense of fantastic wonder, that whatever lay inside was beyond your wildest dreams. Its many towers poked into the sky like spikes, and the use of golden brass, marble, and stained glass decor gave it an otherworldly appearance. How majestic. How wondrous.
How ostentatious…
It was an ordinary Thursday afternoon, and she found herself waiting at the school gate. It was the most obvious exit from the school, one which most, if not all, students took out of the building. Considering how her last attempt to talk to Michael got sorely interrupted, it seemed more fitting for her to wait outside for his eventual return home. It looked to be a better strategy. After all, she wanted to investigate the closet as soon as possible; it would be best to do it on a weekend, but if she could not garner any assistance before Friday afternoon, she would have to wait another week.
As she lay there in waiting, she caught the glimpse of a ball cap, white and red, with purple letters on the front. The man who donned it exuded a depressingly meek aura as he walked past with his head hunched over. Despite the rigid shoulders on his blue and yellow suit, his posture lacked any level of aggression or assertion. Wow, he does a damn nice job making a masculine suit look anything but. Paige got up from the stone bench she sat upon. “Hey.”
Michael’s shoulders shot up for a second. Turning his head around, he looked like he had been scared half to death. He loosened up a bit, though not by much, and replied. “Erm… hi again.”
“You mind staying for a bit? I’d like to talk to you.”
“I… suppose. What do you want to tell me?” He turned to face Paige, his ball cap hanging low. It was hard to look him in the eyes as a result.
“I asked you for your name Monday, but you never told me what it was. Would you mind telling me now?” A redundant question, but it wouldn’t help if he knew that his name was stored in her memory. His type is frustrating to convince to a cause once one loses their trust.
“Well, if I do that, you’ll run away screaming, probably, right?”
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose.”
“Did you, like… prep that reference?”
“Nah, I just like reading.” She looked at the school again. This building made me think of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I guess. “But really, though, I’m not going to hate you for your name or what others think of you, so you don’t need to worry about that.”
His eyes narrowed, clearly not fully convinced that her words were honest. In the end, though, he conceded with a deep breath. “... I’m Michael. Michael Afton.”
“Paige Turner. A pleasure to meet you, Michael.”
“First time anyone’s said that nowadays… er, second time.”
Paige put hand on chin for a second. That isn’t too unbelievable, considering his reputation. “Sorry about pressuring you the other day, by the way.”
“Don’t worry. That wasn’t pressure-”
As he was talking, his gaze shifted over to the school entrance. The string bean physique that walked through the door could only be one person: that kid she had met Tuesday morning. Beside him was Touko, her hunched stature not doing much to settle the height discrepancy between the two. Well this is an interesting duo. Wait, what was his name again?
Bean pole stepped forward first, twirling a bit of hair which fell between his eyes. His demeanor was calm, reserved, yet assertive enough to hold water in a discussion. “Are you two talking?”
Was it Akins? No, that’s a last name.
Touko gives a confused gaze to her companion. “...Why is she just staring at the ground?”
It was… uh… Akida? Akida Kurumatsu, right? Right? Right.
He tried asking again. “Excuse me-”
“Yes. Sorry, I was thinking. We are in the middle of a conversation right now.”
“Is it fine if we talk to Afton? It’s important.”
“What I’m talking to him about is important as well, and it isn’t polite to butt in on a chat you’re not involved with.”
Touko, as predicted, replied in a rude retort. “First you make us wait for you to think, then you tell us to just… buzz off? How arrogant do you have to be?”
Come on, I couldn’t have been thinking for that long. “Say whatever you want, but I’m still going to talk with him. You guys can come back at a later time.”
Akida looked as if he was about to reply, but one glance at the rain cloud sinking into the bench and he had changed his mind. “Come on, let’s go.”
Surprised, Touko responded in disbelief. “Wait, we’re just going to leave?”
“We’ll come back later. We’ve got time.”
She thought for a moment, then grumbled a bit. “Whatever… she’s too stubborn to listen to us anyway…”
It wasn’t much longer before they left, to Paige’s relief. If they had continued to bother her after her chance yesterday haf ripped away from her, sparks would have started flying. Thankfully that outcome was avoided. She turned again to her acquaintance with a sigh. “Well that was irritating. Do you know them too?”
Michael sat back up, still a bit thrown off by the sudden argument. “Er, yeah, actually. I know Akira. Well, sorta. We’ve talked a bit. We’re in the same class and, uh… partners of the same project.”
“I met him once myself, but haven’t spoken to him again until now. Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked. I wanted to talk to you about the basement.”
“What about it?”
“So I did some investigating, and I think I’ve got a lead about what may be behind it. I was wondering if you would like to help with it.”
“No.” Mike shot up off the bench and walked at a brisk pace toward the street, shaking his head like a soda can ready to blow. Paige was liable to jump out of her seat as well.
“No? What do you mean no?!”
“There is nothing for me but danger. I don’t want to go down there… especially since I’ll probably get expelled if I do.”
That sounded unnatural. It made sense, though; his reputation is atrocious. Most kids seem to hate him, except the bullies, and even they aren’t treating him well. It made sense that he would be a prime suspect for teachers and the like. However, his lack of enthusiasm caught her off guard. “What? But you were the one who was interested in it to start with.”
Michael returned her question with a furrowed brow, as if she said something completely inane. “No I wasn’t?”
“You weren’t? But you were looking at the door when I first talked to you, without my prompting or anything.”
“Must have been talking about something else.”
Jeez, I’m losing him… Got to change my tactics. Paige clenched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “Well, there’s something sketchy going on, and I want to get to the bottom of it. Will you at least hear me out before you turn me down?”
“I dunno what you’d want a person like me to do. Especially me.” Despite his words, he turned back and sat down on the bench once more.
He seems to be willing to listen, at the very least. “Just hear me out. So I talked with someone the other day- I thought it was you, but I guess not- and heard that there was something weird about the door. During lunch on Wednesday, I decided to ask around for clues, and I found out some interesting details.”
“What… details?” he replied, lifting his head a tad. His blue eyes became visible, though shadowed by the brim of his cap. They were wide, brightening his face with the look of intrigue, a look not to dissimilar to the feeling of figuring out the last piece in a complex puzzle.
“So to start, the basement was open at one point, from what I hear. If you got in trouble, you would have to help the janitors, and that’s where they stored their tools and materials. However, apparently it closed about a month ago or so, for some reason.”
“Something was leaking out from underneath the door.” His voice was surprisingly forward. At least, forward for him.
“Oh, what was it? Do you know?”
“I…” He rested his fingers on his temples, his jaw clenched in pain. “I don’t know. I just… what the…”
“You… alright, man?”
“I’m fine, I just… got a headache for a second there.” Michael looked back toward the school, probably not thinking about Shakespearean plays. “Could be just… faulty piping or something. You know how it is.” Despite his words, he did not seem satisfied with that answer.
“Maybe, but I feel like there’s something more. When I heard kids used to help the janitor, I decided to ask around about them in case it led anywhere. It turns out one of the custodians- Mr. Jeffers- has been acting strange lately. The way it’s phrased, it seems like this is a recent development.”
“Probably not getting paid enough money. Money’s a stressor like that.”
It killed Paige to hear him push this off so nonchalantly. Mostly because it implied that she was wasting her time. It was unreal how much he was pushing her away right now; yes, she had been rude to him when they first talked, but to outright lie about his interest in the basement? Nothing to do about it, though, except to keep up the pressure. I’ll be screwed if I don’t get this guy to help, considering he’s the reason I’m doing any of this.
“Well, no, because he used to be a social guy, giving paper out to students and stuff. And of all three of the custodians, he is the only one whose change was noticeable enough to be pointed out.”
“And this was around the same time that the basement closed?”
“I’m not completely sure. However, it is suspicious given that it did hold janitorial supplies in the past.”
“Okay, well… something must have taken their place, then…. Is what you think is going on, right?”
“No, I find it weird because it means there is a direct link to the janitors and the basement, since that is where they put their stuff. And if Mr. Jeffers started acting weird around the same time the door closed up, then that means there is a connection that could be drawn.”
Michael propped his head with his right palm. “I… maybe, but if that’s true, why don’t the other janitors feel more nervous? It’s not like he’s the only one with access to the place.”
“Of course, that’s a fair point, but that’s not all I have.” Why are you so unconcerned about this? You’re the one who was interested in the first place, it’s ridiculous how you can play this dumb.
“I found out there was a janitor’s closet beside the basement, and as soon as I jostled the doorknob a bit, Jeffers found me. He was acting really nervous, like he had something to hide. Had a stutter and everything, real bad too. But when I asked him for paper, he spoke like an excited child, and his stutter straight up didn’t exist.”
His face became stern, in an intrigued way. “... Okay, yeah, that’s kinda weird.”
“But wait, I’m not finished. After he was done with me, he walked inside the closet. But that closet looked really shallow- like, hardly enough space for a single person. What’s more, I used the paper he gave me to keep the door from properly closing. When I opened the door, he wasn’t inside.” Michael sat up as soon as she said that, right hand resting on his head.
“Wha- that doesn’t even sound physically possible! You’re saying he just disappeared, vanished like a ghost?”
“Definitely. Definitely ghost. 100 percent, definitely ghost sweeper.” Paige was shaking her head like a cartoon character trying to emphasize how much they mean what they say.
“Okay, okay, I get it, not a ghost.”
Paige put her thinking pose back on. “But still, I wonder why he wasn't there. He couldn’t have just disappeared, after all. He had to go somewhere. I have an idea, but I want to test it in person.” Her signature smirk drew upon her face. “So. I have a proposal for you.”
“I am not going to be tossed into the closet grinder for your experiment.”
“Nonono, you’re not going in the closet. I want to know if you’ll help me get into the closet by keeping watch for the janitor and keeping him distracted.”
“Seriously? If they see me even just a hundred feet away from it, I…” His shoulders slumped, vision pointed to the ground. “Who knows what’ll happen. It won’t be good, that’s for certain.”
“But you’ve been interested in the basement since I first met you. Don’t you want to know more about it?” Wait, I forgot, that trail led nowhere-
“I’ve been interested in this basement like people are interested in math. It’s there, we sometimes talk about it, but I’m not really all that into it. Except for programming, anyways. That’s different.” He sighed with the weight of twelve pounds of air. “I’ve never been interested in it, is what I’m trying to say.”
Bullshit. “The first thing I ever said to you was something along the lines of ‘You gonna do something with that door, or just look at it all day,’ because you were just looking at it with a gaze that could melt the moon. What are you even talking about, not being interested in it?”
“What are you talking about? That never even happened!”
“Okay then, do you remember how our first conversation went?”
“I remember you snapping your fingers in front of my eyes, like you were testing my reflexes or something. And you were trying to get my name… sorry for not giving it to you earlier, by the way. I should have just told you.”
“Okay, and what else?”
“You transferred here a week ago.”
“And? How did the conversation start?”
Silence. He glances about, squinting, mind straining to recall something, but clearly not succeeding in its efforts.
“If the start is out of reach, can you think about how it ended instead?”
“You… walked away. People were whispering about you. Got a taste of things.”
“Do you remember what I said when I walked away?”
“You said something when you walked away?”
Suddenly, an absurd yet conclusive idea formed within Paige’s mind. It seemed impossible, but if it truly is the case…
“...Wait… did you… somehow forget everything that had to do with the basement in our conversation that morning?”
“It’s a little hard to forget something that never happened, right?”
“No, man… I’m thinking about the conversation, and I remember walking up to you because you were looking at the door. I was talking about you looking at the door, trying to freak you out by making you look like you were going to break in- though at that point, I didn’t see anybody around, so it was basically a prank- and you said it was for staff only. Then I gave you my name around that point. How can I remember all of that, but you can’t?”
“I… I don’t know?” He said, staring at her like she was the one that the students should be talking about behind her back, not him.
“What are you looking at me like that for? If anything, I should be giving you that glance, because I feel like I’m being rolled right now.” She turned away from Michael, clasping her forehead as she pondered about this. There’s no way he got amnesia… right? But then, how else could he have possibly lost interest so quickly?
“I’m not rolling you right now. I’m not in the mood to get punched.”
It’s not even that, really, it’s as if he never had interest in it to begin with. No matter how you spin it, that’s just not normal.
“Paige?”
What the hell kind of batshit crazy shenanigans could be going on in this school that a kid suddenly loses all memory and enthusiasm from something they were excited about? God- that pisses me off!
Mike just stared at her, opening and closing his mouth, constantly on the verge on trying to get her attention but always hanging back to avoid pressuring her over himself.
How the hell am I supposed to get anywhere if I- oh, damn, I’m monologuing in front of someone. Paige shook her head, as if knocking off her will to isolate from socialization, and turned to her partner in banter. “My bad, did you say something?”
“I mean, I did, but to be honest… I’m more concerned about you right now. You looked like you were panicking for a second there.”
Paige considered confiding in him, but decided against it. I don’t trust him enough, and it would likely cause more of a hassle than it’s worth. It seemed like a better time to just cut the conversation short anyway. Some time to think would be nice, after all. “Look, I’m not going to force you to do anything. But the offer is still on the table. I’ll be out here after school tomorrow. If you’re interested, hit me up. If not, just give me the word. I’m going on my own anyway this Sunday, so it’s your choice whether you want to help me succeed.”
He stared at her, eyes widened. He doesn’t say anything.
Hands on knees, Paige lifted herself up from the bench. “And hey- even if you say no, feel free to come chat with me if you want. I won’t tell you to shove off or anything. Hell, I’m basically in a similar boat from just talking to you, so might as well go all in, right?”
“I… yeah. That can… that’s fine. That can work.”
Before she went to leave, however, Michael got up from the bench. “Erm… do you have a number? You know, just in case, right?”
She gave a shocked expression. The last thing she expected was him asking her for a phone number; she expected to have to go the other way around. Her face faded into a gentle grin, and she pulled her phone out from her backpack. “Yeah, man. Here, let me give you my digits.”