Chapter 1: About: Harry returns to Village Parks
Chapter 1:
About: Harry returns to Village Parks Elementary School, the school he once worked at years before it’s shutdown, he returns to find his younger brother who went missing years ago, no one ever knew what happened to him, but Harry had worked there because he had a feeling the school was responsible for his disappearance in the first place. He returns years after it’s closure, and begins his search. In the school basement, he finds Axey (an object and companion), he needs to traverse the school hallways while being stalked by Skippy. Can he survive?
Chapter 1: Echoes in the Halls
The air hung heavy with the scent of dust and decay as Harry pushed open the rusted iron gates of Village Parks Elementary School. The once vibrant playground was a desolate wasteland, swings swaying listlessly in the breeze, a rusted slide a testament to forgotten laughter. Harry’s heart ached with a familiar pang of grief. It had been ten years since his younger brother, Liam, disappeared from this very school, leaving behind a gaping hole in their family.
The school’s closure hadn’t brought closure for Harry. He always felt there was more to the story, a truth hidden beneath the official narrative of a missing child. He had worked here as a janitor, haunted by a suspicion he couldn’t shake: the school itself was responsible for Liam’s disappearance. He’d returned now, driven by a desperate hope and an unsettling premonition.
The building itself seemed to sigh as Harry stepped through the creaking entrance. Cobwebs hung like macabre decorations from the peeling paint, and the silence was punctuated by the mournful creaks of settling wood. The air was thick with the ghostly echoes of childhood laughter and the whispers of forgotten lessons.
He navigated the labyrinthine hallways, each room a forgotten memory, filled with decaying desks and tattered textbooks. The air grew colder as he descended the stairs, a palpable sense of dread clinging to him. He reached the basement door, the rusted padlock hanging askew. He pushed it open, the door groaning in protest, and stepped into a world of swirling dust motes illuminated by a single flickering bulb.
A strange object caught Harry’s eye. It lay nestled in a pile of debris, a shimmering, crystalline sphere pulsing with an inner light. He picked it up, its weight surprisingly heavy for its size. As his fingers brushed its surface, the sphere hummed, a voice resonating within his mind, “Axey. I am your guide.”
Harry shivered. The voice was both comforting and unsettling, a whisper from beyond the veil. He knew then that he wasn’t alone.
A sudden thud echoed from the hallway, and a high-pitched, chilling laughter filled the air. It was Skippy, a monstrous creature, a shadowy figure with glowing, red eyes, that haunted the school’s darkest corners. It had been years since Harry had encountered Skippy, and the creature’s presence sent a wave of primal fear through him.
“Don’t worry,” Axey’s voice calmed him. “I will protect you. But we must move quickly.”
The sphere pulsed with a warm light, guiding Harry back towards the stairs. Skippy’s laughter grew louder, closer. Harry knew he had to get out of the basement, but where could he go? Where could he find Liam? He looked back at the sphere, its light growing brighter, pulsating in rhythm with Skippy’s relentless laughter.
“We must leave this place,” Axey urged. “Follow the light.”
As Harry climbed the stairs, the air grew colder. The echoes of Skippy’s laughter echoed through the empty hallways, a constant reminder of the danger that lurked in the shadows. He knew this was only the beginning. He was on a path of perilous adventure, driven by hope and desperation, the fate of his brother hanging in the balance. And his only companion, his only guide, was the mysterious, pulsating sphere named Axey.
