Part 1: Prologue

Randy stayed behind to finish the roofing job on the old school, having sent his crew home about an hour ago along with most of the faculty. Finally done, he stood and stretched, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his arm. That's when he spotted her.

His son's girlfriend was racing toward the school, her tight curly hair bouncing with each step. This was his chance to catch that pervert and get proof for his son. Randy wasn't trying to hurt his boy—just the opposite. He needed to protect him by exposing this scumbag for who he really was. With evidence, he could stop him from preying on young girls. A man like that had no business in education.

Randy stowed his tools carefully before climbing down the ladder. After grabbing his camera from his truck, he entered the school, which seemed unnaturally dark despite the bright sunshine outside. The building felt cold and unwelcoming.

The deeper he ventured, the darker and colder it grew until he couldn't take it anymore. Randy pulled out his flashlight. It worked for a few minutes before flickering and dying, plunging the hallways into complete darkness. A sudden screeching noise froze him in his tracks. Randy felt deeply unsettled. Could the rumors about the haunted school be true? People claimed apparitions walked these halls late at night—though it was still afternoon.

As the noise faded, Randy began to make out his surroundings again, aided by an eerie blue light seeping through door cracks nearby. He approached cautiously, then spun around, sensing a shadowy figure behind him—but found nothing there. Turning back, he gripped the handle and opened the door. The light vanished instantly. Thinking he'd imagined it, Randy closed the door—only for the light to reappear through the cracks.

This time, he stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind him. Darkness swallowed him whole, followed by a sharp click. When he tried the handle, it wouldn't budge. Locked. Randy felt his way through the room, searching for another exit. After painfully stubbing his toe on a student's desk, he noticed another glow from across the room. He paused, letting his eyes adjust to this new light source before moving toward it.

As Randy reached the light source, he discovered a thin crack emitting the glow. Feeling around the wall, he noticed loose paneling and pulled it back, revealing another room where the light remained steady.

He stared at the source—a floating spherical orb that drifted away when he didn't approach. It paused, returned within a foot of him, then retreated again, repeating this pattern.

"What do you want?" Randy asked, his voice unsteady. After the orb performed its retreat-and-return dance several more times, he finally followed.

The strange guide led him deeper into the school until they reached another door. Randy pulled it open to find a long staircase descending into darkness. The orb floated downward, leaving him little choice but to follow. At the bottom, the orb vanished, but Randy spotted yellow light coming from the basement's far end. His flashlight suddenly flickered back to life.

A faint cry reached his ears. Randy switched off his light and crept to the door, peering through the keyhole. All he could make out was his son's girlfriend lying motionless, her bare back exposed. Just as he was about to burst in, a head rose into view from in front of the girl, turning directly toward the door. Blood trickled from its jaws, and its eyes glowed crimson.

Randy stumbled backward, falling hard. The lights in the other room went out, the door flew open, and scratching sounds filled the basement as the lights began to flicker wildly. He scrambled to his feet and rushed to the girl, desperate to help.

One look told him it was too late—her head was crushed, her eyes vacant and lifeless. Bile rose in his throat as he fought to keep his composure in the strobing light. Without thinking, he searched for something to cover her, finding a blanket nearby. He draped it over her body, lifted her, and turned toward the exit.

The door slammed shut. Darkness fell, broken only by that eerie blue glow outlining the doorframe. A dark figure blocked their escape.

"I wasn't done with her yet," it hissed.

Randy gently laid the girl down and pulled his hammer from his tool belt. "One step closer and I'll strike," he warned, his hand trembling despite his threat.

"That is no use against me." Red eyes blazed from the darkness. "You should have never come. You needn't have died, but now that you've seen things, you must."

Before Randy could respond, the blue orb reappeared beside the figure—the man Randy had suspected all along. The orb flashed red and shot toward him, plunging into his chest. Randy dropped his hammer, clawing desperately at his shirt as something crushed his insides. He heard his bones cracking before collapsing to the floor. He stared up in horror at the man he'd only wanted to expose as a predator, now revealed as something far worse.

As life ebbed from him, Randy thought only of his children and the terrible fate that might await them at Sunnywalk's High.