Before the job was turned over to Jon, his uncle noted some rules and reminders about his job as the new groundskeeper. They were the usual whatnots and such, like always keeping the grounds clean. Clean the place thoroughly and twice when someone from the government is coming. But one of the rules stuck out to Jon. And that regards the door that leads to a unit staircase in the middle of the school. Unless necessary, keep the door closed at all times. There are loose ventilation pipes inside the room and they make noise all the time. Those noises can sound like voices. Heed them no mind. But in the rare cases that one must go inside, Jon needs to wear a necklace of twine looped around a dull and white stone. Uncle Jim never said anything about what it is but he mentioned that out of all the rules, wearing the necklace is the most important.
Weeks passed and Jon settled quite nicely on the job. It is easy and quiet, except for some local wildlife that would get lost inside the academy. Jon expected to see teenagers or adults seeking a paranormal thrill barging inside the academy, but none has come so far. The only entertainment he has in this drab job is his trusty radio that broadcasted local town news and the weather. But what he liked the most is the Paranormal Podcast where Sam Lettucine, the host, narrates various supernatural tales and mysteries from around the world. Jon knows those tales are just stories to scare someone shitless, but he is entertained all the same.
During his second month working at the site, he received a text message from his uncle that a local carpenter would come to the school for an expert assessment of its current state. Jon did what he was asked and cleaned the premises twice and thoroughly. He finished cleaning just as a pickup truck stopped by the gravel and a well-built man in his early 30s came out of the driver's seat. With a smile on his face, he introduced himself as Daniel. And just like Jon, they shared the same story of replacing someone working in town. In his case, it was his father's carpenter that was in charge of maintaining several public buildings around town.
The two went inside the school and Daniel was surprised to see that it was not as dusty as he would expect. Jon did a good job at cleaning the place. He scoured every abandoned locker twice and wiped off every nook and cranny clean. Daniel looked around the hallways and took note of his findings in the paper attached to his clipboard. He pointed at cracks Jon failed to notice and guessed where they might appear next.
"This school is quite old and I am surprised to see that it is still holding up, considering the materials they used are considered substandard," Daniel said.
In terms of funding, the town of Terra Falls is poorer than its other town neighbors and not much has changed up until the present. As such, Terra Falls Academy is one of the many public buildings in town that are built with substandard materials and sloppy construction. And out of all of them, this school has only one standing. After it was abandoned, there were plans to turn the academy into public space but the high probability of the building collapsing prevented those plans. So far, the local government has carpenters like Daniel go rounds around the premises to repair small damages until they could gather enough funds to do a huge renovation of the academy.
Just as they reached the middle of the academy which is right beside the cafeteria, Daniel's ears perked up, and mentioned that he heard a voice calling his name. Jon immediately noticed that they were near the staircase room with the loose pipes, and Daniel mistook their hissing as someone calling his name. When Jon told him that, Daniel's face irked and demanded that they check the place at once. Luckily, Jon is wearing the necklace his uncle gave to him. It's the first gift he had in years and it carries a sentimental value from the thought.
Keys clinked at the ring as Jon looked for the right key to open the staircase door. He found the right one in a brass key that looked the oldest among the rest. The base of the key is that of a skull, a menacing one with white empty eye sockets. The key turned and a loud click of metal barred the door open. Right at that moment, the hissings of the pipes stopped, as if their presence disturbed their hissy chorus.
The staircase is not what Jon expected. The academy only has one basement and it is quite far from here. And he thinks that that basement is not connected in any way with where this staircase leads. The staircase has 13 steps, then reaches a small platform that turns 180 degrees before reaching another series of steps. Daniel beamed his flashlight downwards and they saw several more platforms reaching into the darkness.
"Wow, this staircase is quite long. Do you have any idea where this leads?" Daniel asked.
"I'm just as clueless as you," Jon replied.
Daniel stepped inside and the hissing of the pipes started once more, but it is husher this time. No, the sounds are coming several levels down. But that can't be right. Jon used to hear the pipes even when he was outside the school premises. Something about this is giving him the creeps. He feels like a mouse walking into a trap. But he can't just leave Daniel alone. He is adamant that they see the pipes because it would pose more danger if left alone. That pipe could be leaking liquid which could deteriorate the base of the school. Jon ushered every ounce of his courage and assisted his companion in their flight deep into the school.
One thing Jon immediately noticed is that despite the antiquity of the platform they are stepping on, it barely made a sound. A thud of their leather boots but never a creak. They descended about five platforms when the light from above disappeared. They did not hear the door closing so they thought that they were too far down for the light to reach. Nevertheless, they continued their journey deeper, with only the sounds of their shallow breaths filling the gap of the void.
Then suddenly, Daniel, who was walking in front, jerked forward when he stepped on a hole in the platform. His flashlight popped out of his hands and disappeared into the void below.
"Fuck!" Daniel cursed. "Do you have a light on you? I need to take note of this hole."
Jon grabbed a lighter from his vest pocket and started a small fire. Just as he did, something in his vision pulled his gaze towards the hole. And in that gaping darkness, in the middle of it is the face of a child, and its unnatural grin reached from ear to ear.
Daniel was the first to scream, and then Jon. One look at that unnatural sight and they sped upstairs, still screaming and huffing. They grabbed the railing and pushed themselves forward, with only one singular thought in their mind - get out of this place as soon as possible. Daniel grabbed a railing, but he knew something is wrong - very wrong. Instead of the coldness of metal, what he reached was the coldness of flesh. He swore that it was the coldest thing he's ever touched. An arm grabbed Daniel tight and pulled him deeper into the dark. He fell on the metallic platform and got a closer look at the place he was in. Despite running a couple of flights upstairs, he was still in the platform where the hole was. And the child was still there, grinning and its cold dead eyes staring right at Daniel's soul. The arms pulling Daniel reeled him in. He was about to reach for Jon's legs but he was an inch too far. An inch-length gap leads to his demise.
Jon was an atheist but in the face of death, he prayed to all the gods that would dare save his life. He expected the arms to pull him in and suffer the same death of his companion. What happened is that the platform he was standing on vanished in an instant. Jon floated in the darkness with his warm lantern as his only source of light. Then from the darkness, they came. A group of faces floating in the void, some old and mostly young. There are women and there are men. And among the faces, Jon recognizes Daniel in the centerpiece. In their difference, the thing that unites them is their cold unblinking eyes.
"Pl- please… Don't kill me." Jon begged.
The faces stared at him. A full minute has passed which felt like an eternity for Jon. The faces half-opened their mouths and then a voice came out, a gargle of croaks in a horrid imitation of a human voice.
"Be not afraid," the faces said in a hush. "For I cannot harm you since you wear the bone of my captors. Without that, no harm would still befall you. In this nexus of bodies and souls, I am but an inch away from death until I acquired sustenance."
And by sustenance, Jon knew that it was Daniel.
"Who are you? And what do you want from me?"
"I am a nameless spirit bound to this place where water strikes the earth. Unlike my kin, hunger and desire drive me. I am a glutton for souls, and for a time, this place used to have plenty. You, the groundskeeper, will be my bait. A lure that will prepare me for a banquet of souls."
"Wha- what's in it for me?" He should have not said that. He should not have said that. Jon knew and yet he said it.
The dead faces shuffled, and the face Daniel floated closer to Jon's face.
"From this face, I know you have your duties to this academy. I am the one holding this land together. Without me, this place should have collapsed decades ago. From your face, I know that duty means everything to you. What is in it for you, you ask? I give you your life and not only that. I come bearing gifts that will aid you in your job as bait. The faces you see here are all yours. Use their façade. Use their identity. Use who they are to lure people to this place where I will feast on their souls. Think of the face you want to be, and they shall be yours to assume."
In a blink of an eye, Jon found himself out of the staircase and back into the academy. Beside him is Daniel, who looked shaken up with the entire ordeal. Was it a dream? A hallucination? Or was it real? Jon found the answer in Daniel's words and his eyes.
"The pipes are fixed…" Daniel said in a drone-like voice.
While Daniel is saying those words, Jon noticed the lack of enthusiasm in them. The smile on his face disappeared. The spark in his eyes, the passion for his job in carpentry, all vanished except for the void in its place. It was as if his soul was devoured by some beast.
Just as Jon was closing the door of the staircase, an eye that stared deep into his soul, hunger evident in the glint of light in its dull iris. It whispered, "Remember the deal and your gift. We are always waiting and watching in the dark,"
---
Jon slept with all of the light open that night. The fear is still pumping in his veins, and it feels like the shadows are watching him. Even with the dreading fear filling up his mind, a part of him is wondering about the gift the spirit mentioned. It called it the power to assume another person's form, likely the form of his victims.