Then a whining giggle escaped between Paul’s fingers. Patience lifted her cane. She slammed it into the floor. The single ringing thud made Leanne jolt. Then one of her white-knuckled hands left the wood. It rose and pointed towards Paul, then the fingers turned and beckoned.

Paul was no longer laughing. He kept his hands clamped over his mouth, below two wide, frightened eyes. He turned to look at the rest of them in a silent question, a request for help. They didn’t move, not even to raise their heads. Paul finally dropped his hands away from his mouth. His lips had turned white. He stood and slowly, unsteadily walked towards Patience.

His desk-mate reached towards him then thought better of it, putting his head back down. Patience turned and wordlessly began walking along the hallway. Paul sent them one final plaintive look, then followed.

“Oh.” Leanne pressed her hand to her throat. She remembered now. She recalled listening to Patience’s cane as she left the study hallway and took Paul deeper into Bellamy, beyond where Leanne could hear them. Paul had not returned. The next day, a new girl took his seat.

The boy who had sat beside him—the one who had drawn the image that had made Paul laugh—had become withdrawn after that. He’d no longer made jokes or spoken during their meals. He hadn’t done much except sit in the grass during their hours outside. Five days later, his desk was empty, as well.

Leanne backed towards the door. She’d forgotten all of that. And it hadn’t just been them. There had been others. Her eyes darted across the desks, lips moving to form the names. Stevie, Laura, Mary… She’d met them all during her first day at Bellamy, but a month later, they were gone. Richie had left his bed to go to the bathroom late one night and not returned. Harriett had been sent to fetch more soap while they were washing the windows one afternoon, but they had finished the job without it. Neil was playing a game of tag outside and did not return for the bell. There were so many missing children. Too many. All gone without a whisper.

“How could I forget?”

She knew how—because she had tried to forget. After leaving Bellamy, she had done everything in her power to excise it from her mind. She thought if she could forget, the dreams would stop, as well.

Seeing the building brought it back. The acidic taste of fear that permeated the hallways. The urge to keep her back to a wall. The sense of dread that had come with the sound of that cane.

Leanne was shaking. She wiped her hand across her forehead, feeling the cold sweat there. This visit had been planned to give her closure, to end the nightmares. But all it had done was re-open old wounds.