Part 1

Ellis East Elementary Walkthrough, May 18. 

Classroom 2-C.

[Non-Academic Voice]

Whoa…

Okay, so the thing is, this room is like all of the other classrooms… walls painted white, hardwood floors, black slate chalkboards. I’ve documented quite extensively what the classrooms in this school look like. But this– there are tables with what looks like high tea set out in this one. 

Like, to be clear, there is no food. The building has been empty for a few years.  But the tables are decked out with everything else for a tea party. On the table closest to me, there is a tea set with a hydrangea pattern,  lace tablecloths, silverware, tiered trays, and the works. 

Part 2

A-G: Lucy! Where are you! 

[Beat] 

A-G: [groggily] Billy 

Billy: Good morning

A-G: What happened?

Billy: I’m not sure, but you were gone for about 18 hours… Just missing.

A-G: So it was real. The third floor. Lucy…

Billy: I’m sorry, what?

A-G: I can fill you in later, I need to get up into the archives.

Billy: You’re on bedrest until for at least the next few days, doctor’s orders.

A-G: Please, Billy, it’s urgent

Billy: If you promise to take resting seriously, I can bring the files to you one box at a time. But you’ll have to take a break between boxes, and go to bed early.

A-G: Deal. 

Billy: Where should we start…

A-G: Let’s look into any records from the years 1994-1998… I think whatever happened, happened while I was here.  I’ve also got the last few field notes from my grandmother’s diary to read.

Part 3

Audio Diary of Anna-Georgina Plume, Recorded from bedrest. Still not sure about the date and time, but I’m too exhausted to get up. But the memories keep coming back from my early days here. 

There was, of course, George–my disappearing friend in first grade. 

But now that I think about it, he wasn’t the only one. 

Though I would not necessarily consider him to be a friend.

In second grade, one of the third grade boys seemed to always be hanging around the edges of the playground. I didn’t recognize him from the previous years at the school, and we had so few new students. I spent a lot of time in those years reading books and observing my classmates, so I realized that I never saw anyone talking to him. 

“Why are you always alone?” he asked me one day, startling me out of my chapter book. The way he asked seemed unnecessarily mean. “Don’t you have any friends?”

I was shy, so I didn’t really have many friends, but that felt like none of his business.

“You’re always alone too.” I retorted.

“Yes but I want to be.” He literally sneered these words 

“Maybe I want to be, too.”

“No, you just can’t find anyone to play with you.”

“I want to read my book.” I was too nice to tell him to leave me alone, so I hoped the idea was conveyed in this statement.

“You just say that because no one will be your friend.” 

Fortunately, the conversation did not continue, as the whistle signaled the end of second grade recess. 

After that, I tried to stay away from the boy. It was also then that I noticed how different he was from all the other children. I may have held back around my peers, but there were still interactions. When he was antagonizing me, he didn’t talk to anyone else, and no one else talked to him. In fact, they frequently walked right past him with no acknowledgement. Actually no, it was not even a lack of acknowledgement, it was a lack of awareness–as if they did not see him.

I also noticed that at a distance, his face seemed to fade and any color left–he faded to gray. Unlike George, I never saw him in the school.

I don’t know why this memory came back to me just now, but I wanted to get it recorded before I forgot. However, I think that is enough exertion for now. I am going to take a nap and gather my thoughts later.

Part 4

[Sounds of boxes being moved around]

Billy: Here is the last of it. I’m glad you were able to put everything into boxes before your trip upstairs. [Beat] Anyway, remember, we agreed upon 1 box.

A-G: Yes, Mom. 

Billy: How does this new direction from Lucy align with your plan to map the school and get answers from your family?

A-G: You forget that going through the records was the first part of the plan… But how do you feel about taking on the mapping until I’m back on my feet? I’ve got the records, and my Dad is coming over tomorrow… That should help with the family piece.

Billy: I will gladly take on the mapping if it keeps you resting.

A-G: Okay, in that case I have one more installment of Nana Plume’s field notes. 

Billy: I’ll give you space to record. You want the door open or closed?

A-G: It doesn’t matter, the building seems to decide these days.

Billy: You’ve got two hours and then you’re having an herbal tea and a nap

A-G: Yes, Mom.

[footsteps of Billy leaving. After the footsteps are no longer heard, the door closes gently] 

Okay,  So now I am going to finish up Nana Plume’s field notes from the summer she was here working on her PhD research.

The last entry cut off rather suddenly, which brings us here:

June 10th, 1954

Sophia did not give me any answers about what was happening with the man who was upstairs yesterday, but I am fairly certain she is shaken by the whole encounter, because she has not left my side today. She has been sitting across the table where I review my documents, reading a pulp novel while I work. I have asked several times, but she keeps saying that is not the right time yet. 

I am trying to not be distracted from my research, but this is just odd.

July 11, 1954

The man appeared again today, but he disappeared when he saw Sophia with me.  She told me to meet her tonight in the front vestibule, because something must be done.

July 12, 1954

Last night, I met Sophia in the front vestibule, as she had urged me earlier. I had not expected, but she was not alone. In fact, all of the women of my family were joining us–Great Grandma Lucy and Great Grandma Helena, Grandma, and Mother were all waiting with Sophia when I arrived. 

Sophia asked me to offer something of value as a sacrifice for the ceremony. Sensing the gravity of the situation, I offer my engagement ring, but Sophia shook her head, stating that it need not be that valuable. The only other item of value I could offer was a charm bracelet that my childhood friend had given me, with a menagerie of carousel animals.

This offering was deemed appropriate. What followed, I am discouraged from writing lest the record be used to undo what has been done, but the bracelet was buried at the base of the oak tree with the hole in the roots…

A-G Plume commentary: I am starting to get frustrated with these ceremonies that cannot be documented. I understand their reasoning, but as a researcher, I cannot agree with this decision. 

Final entry

July 13, 1954

I had a long conversation with Great Grandma Lucy and Mother last night. I have decided that upon finishing my coursework, Arthur and I will return to Ellis Field full time where I will write my dissertation. I need to stay here and watch the school, lest these events happen again. 

A-G Plume commentary: It seems the entire family keeps converging on this town, this building. 

[Absently, as if talking to the building directly]

What secrets do you hold?

Part 5

Audio Diary of Anna-Georgina Plume, 

I have remembered more of the story from before. The bully only I could see. 

In addition to only interacting with me, I noticed more odd patterns of behavior. He seemed to stick to the shadows. Maybe he came to me because I was the only one who regularly sat in the shade of the building, but he definitely did not seem to go in direct sunlight. He would wander a little further when a cloud covered the sun, but never seemed to dare to go too far, perhaps because when the clouds moved, there was nowhere else he could go. 

He also never touched me. He did ask to see my book once, and I, naively trusting, held it out, but he only grabbed at the corner, taking it from my hands before throwing it across the playground. I did not give him anything again. 

I noticed it escalating. I saw him more, and he seemed to get meaner each time. He never touched me. In fact when he threw the book, I don’t quite recall him actually touching the book. I know I reached out to show him, but I don’t remember seeing how he took the book. Anyway, I still don’t know how it happened. 

I found myself dreading going to school, dreading the part of the day that I would see him. I was always at ease when I returned into the building, but even the recesses we didn’t share with third grade, I found myself seeing him in the shadows before he would disappear. 

Then one day, I saw him in the school for the first time. I was exploring the hallways, which I did sometime when I got bored in class.

I never thought about it before, but it is somewhat weird that I got away with that. I was walking down the back hallway on the first floor, when I heard him whispering at me. He was in the shadows on the small staircase that leads down into the basement. 

Yes. I realize how bad that sounds, and I didn’t even fully remember this until just now…

He told me to come down there with him. 

I knew, in my heart of hearts, that if I went down there, it would not end well for me, but something compelled me to follow him down the ragged wood stairs of the basement. 

As I followed him, I noticed he had been holding some sort of light, but with each step, it faded. 

While he appeared to be very light on his feet, the stairs seemed to rock with his footsteps, and I found myself losing balance with every step.

I tried to turn around when the door slammed shut. His light went out, and the shaking intensified until I fell down the stairs…

Wait. How did I not remember this? How could I forget?

My ankle rolled and twisted, and I heard the wood snap underneath me, and I landed at the base of the stairs in the splinters. I cried out in pain and he laughed… But his laugh was wrong. I know you might expect that it sounded evil or from demonic or unhinged, but it was not that. It sounded rehearsed. Like he had never laughed before, and was trying to approximate it from what he had heard. 

I noticed a shadow that looked like his shape standing over me, and I screamed for my life…

At which point I was scooped up by… well a man in Victorian era clothing. He was kind, and he said some things I didn’t understand, in a firm voice. The darkness around us seemed to lighten up. Not like a light turned on, but as if  it got less scary suddenly. He told me that he would get me upstairs… To Helena.

I always just assumed he meant Nana Plume, but now I think I met James Reeve. It gets kind of fuzzy from there, but I came to in the emergency room, surrounded by my concerned family. 

I don’t know what happened to the boy, I was relieved to never see him again. 

Part 6

I am feeling better for the first time in days. I am cleared to take a walk around the school yard. 

It is a beautiful evening. I love taking walks during the golden and blue hours. 

I am coming up on the tree by the janitor’s shed, the one with the hole in the roots…

Last time I was here, I found a charm in the tree roots. I wonder what’s there…

Hmm… It appears to be an old style jewelry box. 

Oh my goodness…

It is an emerald art deco style necklace that resembles a carousel. 

It has a number of animal charms, with four empty spots. I think I have the other charms in my office… 

Part 7

Ellis East Elementary Walkthrough, May 18.

There are about ten round tables and each is decorated in different themes. There are a range of florals, some galaxy themed, and one that looks like Alice in Wonderland. I am walking around the tables and it seems like the table in the center has a vase of freshly picked flowers. The more that I look at it, this all looks newly set. 

Why is this here? Everything left in other rooms, apart from the carousel, appears to be what has been left behind, but this appears to be purposefully set up here. Has someone been inside here? Why would this be here? I have to ask Maryann if she knows what is happening here. 

It’s really a beautiful set up, it’s just a little unsettling to think that someone just came in here and put together a whole tea party. There are place cards at the table: Miss Hobbes, Mrs Reeve, Mrs. Messinger… Hmmm… Those names seem to be familiar…

Though maybe they rented out the building to someone for an event? I am going to choose to believe that this is what has happened. And with that, I am going to go next door to the small Title I classroom, and then continue onto Classroom 3-A.

Lavender Evening Fog is a fiction podcast. This episode was written by Victoria Dickman-Burnett, direction and script supervision by Ben Baird, produced, mixed, and edited  by Nick Federinko with additional editing by Victoria Dickman-Burnett. Executive Producers are Ben Baird and Victoria Dickman-Burnett. The voice of Anna-Georgina Plume is Victoria Dickman-Burnett. The voice of Billy is Nick Federinko. The Lavender Evening Fog logo was designed by Alicyn Dickman and Ms. Bitey, our carousel opossum was designed by Matt Lowe.  

This episode is brought to you by the animals having better sense than people.

This episode pairs well with a creamy milk oolong from the Jin Xuan cultivar.