They say you got the deal with the cards you are dealt with, and sometimes, the dealer is an ass who has given you nothing but shitty cards causing you to lose everything, even your clothes. When Jonathan reached that point in life, he knew he had nothing ahead of him. He is alone in this endeavor, with no partner to take care of him, no sons and daughters to make him proud. All he has right now is debts upon debts. If he hasn't paid a single dime by the end of the month, the local loan sharks will give him a one-way sleepover with the fishes in the Hudson River.
All these cards he was dealt with made the invitation from his distant uncle all the more enticing.
"Dear Jon,
I've heard from your mother about what happened to you, and I hope that you are doing well when this letter reaches you. Forgive the bluntness but I believe that this will help you in the long run - living the life of a sleazebag is a huge burden, not only to you but for everyone who cares for you. You could do better than that. Lucky for you, I have a proposition.
I am old and alone, and my wife tells me that I need to retire. I am a groundskeeper in an abandoned property owned by the local municipality. Once I leave this job, the position will be open, and I hope you can take the mantle. The pay is meager but the job is an honest one. Attached are bus tickets bringing you over here, and some cash to help you along the way. I hope you consider the offer and choose what is right.
Sincerely yours,
Uncle Jim"
There is no question about the choice Jon made. Sleep soundly underwater or take the bus ride across the opposite seaboard and live an honest life. Jon took whatever was left of his accessories and fled in the silence of the night, right before his apartment was busted in by the local goons and the landlord of his apartment.
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The trip was long and tiring, but the money attached to the letter helped keep Jon's stomach full with highway seared steaks and local gumbos and delicacies. He even bought some to bring as gifts. On the third day of his journey, Jon finally reached the small town of Terra Falls - a town known for its eponymous waterfalls and its thickets of pine trees. It is a small town, but noticeably a lively one judging by the current festivities.
Jon met his uncle straight at his supposed workplace, an abandoned school named after the town - Terra Falls Academy. The academy used to be the town's main source of education, from primary to secondary. But somewhere in the mid to late 90s, the academy closed its doors, leaving Terra Falls’ youth seeking their education out of town. No one could put their finger on what caused the school to close. Some say it's because of a string of people related to the school turning missing every other day. From staff to students, they disappear like the wind. Witnesses say they enter alone in a room then pop! To the list of missing people they go.
Or it could be the voices coming from the walls of the academy. The voices are concentrated in a door leading to a descending unit staircase placed in the middle of the school. Records say the staircase was already there before the school was built. No one could say what the purpose of the staircase was or where it leads to because it's barred shut by a heavy lock only the groundskeeper possesses.
Some of the craziest ones in town said the academy was closed because the government conducted several psychotic experiments in the late 80s. Students are used as the subjects, and some of those subjects never saw the light of the sun again. They say they are still in the academy, still subjected to various experiments by the men in black suits seen entering and leaving the school premises.
Uncle Jim was quick to dismiss the theory because in the 30 years he worked as the academy's groundskeeper, all he ever saw were the damn children scaring themselves shitless by going on dares in the academy premises. The damn brats would go in there and injure themselves with the collapsed debris and broken glasses. Although, several property break-ins ended with the trespasser going missing. They just go to school and disappear. Of course, the first suspect was Uncle Jim. Decades of investigation and litigation cleared his name, which is further supported by the CCTVs added a decade ago.
Whether it be people going missing, endless staircases, or men in black suits, one thing remains true. Jim's watch has ended and Jon's watch begins. The job is all year round with breaks coinciding with the structural rehabilitation projects spearheaded by the public works branch of the local government. Jon will stay at a cabin where the academy football stadium once stood. The municipality built it and it is outfitted with electricity, water, and heating. All of the fees are deducted from his salary.
And so, weeks pass by without Jon noticing the hasty passage of time. The job is easy which makes it easy for the seamless change of lifestyle. In Manhattan, all he could think about is whether he will survive another day. Every day is a danger, whether from street hoodlums or loan sharks asking for payment for his loans. Here in Terra Falls, his mind is filled with thoughts of lunch and dinner. Other than that, the job is mostly uneventful and his uncle Jim warned him of that. In the mornings, he'll scout the academy for some new damages. He could venture inside but it's way too dangerous because the beams are old and could collapse anytime. So, outside assessments are fine. In the afternoon to midnight, he guards the dilapidated road leading to the academy. His trusty radio is his sole companion, if not for the birds pecking at the guard house's windows.
Then suddenly, all that normalcy was flipped upside down when…