THE VANISHING CLASSROOM

THE VANISHING CLASSROOM

Part #1 — THE BASEMENT

Writer: Aqsa Meraj

Characters: Hana, Joon, Mina, Mr. Lee

It was an ordinary day at their high school, or at least that was what Hana, Mina, and Joon thought.

The three friends had been studying together in the same high school and in the same class for years. They were very different from one another, but somehow, they always stayed together.

Hana was curious and observant. She noticed even the smallest details around her. Joon was calm and thoughtful, and he was usually the one who tried to figure things out whenever they faced a problem. Mina, on the other hand, was more playful and easily frightened. She often complained whenever Hana and Joon dragged her into something strange.

Their teacher, Mr. Lee, was different from all the other teachers in their school.

He was quiet and mysterious. He rarely talked about himself, and whenever students asked him personal questions, he would simply change the topic.

But there was one strange thing he always did.

Whenever Mr. Lee came into the classroom, he would take a piece of chalk and draw strange symbols on the board.

Sometimes they looked like circles with lines crossing through them. Sometimes they looked like stars, triangles, or strange shapes that none of the students recognized.

And strangely enough, Mr. Lee never erased them.

The other students never seemed to care.

They were more interested in talking with their friends, completing their homework, or waiting for the class to end.

But Hana noticed.

Every day, she would stare at those symbols from her seat.

She couldn’t understand why Mr. Lee kept drawing them.

One day, she finally decided to ask him.

But when she entered the classroom, something felt different.

Mr. Lee wasn’t there.

At first, Hana thought he was simply late.

She waited.

Five minutes passed.

Then ten.

Then twenty.

Still, Mr. Lee didn’t come.

The students started talking among themselves.

“Maybe he’s sick.”

“Maybe he took a day off.”

“Maybe another teacher will come.”

But no replacement teacher arrived.

Later that day, Hana found out that Mr. Lee wasn’t coming anymore.

There was no proper explanation.

It felt as if he had simply vanished from the Earth.

Hana couldn’t stop thinking about it.

More importantly, she couldn’t stop thinking about the symbols.

Something about his disappearance felt connected to them.

After school, Hana found Mina and Joon.

HANA: Guys, I think something is wrong.

MINA: What happened now?

HANA: Mr. Lee is gone.

Joon looked at her with confusion.

JOON: Gone? What do you mean?

HANA: I mean he isn’t coming back. No one knows where he went.

Mina looked at Hana for a moment before shrugging.

MINA: Maybe he just left. Why are you making it sound like a mystery?

Hana shook her head.

HANA: Because it is a mystery. And I think the symbols have something to do with it.

Joon became more serious.

JOON: The symbols on the board?

Hana nodded.

HANA: Yes. I’ve been watching them for days. There has to be a reason why he kept drawing them.

The three friends looked at each other.

Finally, Hana said that they should find out what had happened to Mr. Lee.

They decided to start with the symbols.

They returned to the classroom and looked carefully at the drawings left on the board.

Joon stared at one particular symbol for a long time.

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

JOON: Hey, I think I have seen this symbol before too.

HANA: Where?

JOON: I don’t remember exactly. I think it was at the back of the school wall.

Mina immediately looked worried.

MINA: What? That dirty place where there are weeds and weird grass?

JOON: Yeah, I think so.

Hana grabbed her bag.

HANA: It’s not the time to check what’s weird or dirty. We have to find that symbol. Joon, let’s go there.

MINA: Wait! We’re actually going?

HANA: Yes.

MINA: Why do I feel like this is going to be a terrible idea?

Neither Hana nor Joon answered her.

The three of them walked toward the back of the school.

The place was rarely visited by students. The walls were old and covered with dirt. Weeds had grown between the cracks in the ground, and some areas were hidden behind bushes.

Mina stayed close to Hana as they walked.

MINA: I still think we should go back.

HANA: Mina, you agreed to come.

MINA: I agreed because I thought we’d just look around! I didn’t know we’d actually find something!

Joon suddenly stopped.

JOON: Guys.

Hana and Mina stopped too.

Joon pointed toward the wall.

There it was.

The same symbol.

The exact same symbol that Mr. Lee had drawn on the classroom board.

Hana slowly walked toward it.

HANA: Oh… it’s really here.

She touched the wall without touching the symbol.

HANA: But what does it mean?

Joon stepped closer.

He looked at the symbol carefully.

Then, without thinking much, he touched it.

Suddenly—

CREAK.

The wall moved.

All three of them jumped backward.

A hidden section of the wall slowly opened, revealing a dark passage behind it.

For a few seconds, none of them spoke.

They had never seen anything like this before.

It felt like magic.

Mina’s face went pale.

MINA: Did… did the wall just open?

JOON: Yes.

MINA: Walls aren’t supposed to do that!

Hana stared into the dark passage.

There was a narrow staircase leading downward.

HANA: This must be connected to Mr. Lee.

Mina immediately shook her head.

MINA: Or this is exactly where we should NOT go.

Hana looked at her.

HANA: We came here to find answers.

Joon nodded.

JOON: We have come this far, and we can’t go back now until we solve all of this.

Reluctantly, Mina followed them.

The three of them entered the passage.

As soon as they stepped inside, the wall behind them slowly closed.

MINA: Guys…

They turned around.

The entrance was gone.

There was only a solid wall behind them.

MINA: What’s all of this?

HANA: I don’t know either.

The basement was cold and quiet.

Their footsteps echoed through the narrow passage as they continued walking.

After a few minutes, they reached a large wooden door.

Hana tried to open it.

It didn’t move.

HANA: What should we do now? It’s locked. We can’t even break the door.

Mina suddenly remembered something.

MINA: Uh… hey.

She reached into her pocket.

MINA: I found this key at Mr. Lee’s desk. Maybe it should help.

She took out a small old key and showed it to them.

Joon quickly took it.

JOON: Give it here. Let’s try.

He placed the key into the lock and turned it.

Click.

The door opened.

They all stared at each other.

Slowly, they entered.

Inside was a room filled with shelves.

There was an old desk, a wooden chair, and shelves full of mysterious books.

At the center of the room, a light golden lamp was glowing softly, lighting up the dark room.

The room felt strangely peaceful compared to the dark passage outside.

But there was something unsettling about it too.

Hana walked toward the shelves.

There were dozens of books.

Some were extremely old.

Others had strange symbols on their covers.

Some didn’t even have titles.

MINA: What kind of place is this?

HANA: I don’t know.

Hana began checking the books.

She picked several of them and placed them on the desk.

HANA: Guys, we must find out what Mr. Lee is hiding. I’ve gathered these books. We have to look through them, and if you find anything, just mark it, okay? And let me know too.

Mina picked up one of the books and looked at its enormous number of pages.

MINA: How am I supposed to read this whole book, huh?

She dramatically dropped it onto the desk.

HANA: Minaaaa! Don’t act, okay? It’s important.

MINA: I’m just saying!

Joon quietly opened another book.

For the next few minutes, the room became silent.

The only sound was the turning of pages.

Hana searched carefully.

Joon examined every strange symbol he could find.

Mina complained occasionally but continued looking.

Then Joon suddenly stopped.

JOON: Guys.

Hana looked up.

HANA: What?

Joon turned the book toward them.

JOON: Look. In this book, it is written, “Clues are not easy to find. That’s why they are called clues.”

Mina frowned.

MINA: What does it even mean, huh?

She closed the book.

MINA: Yahhh, I’m frustrated. I want to go back.

Hana looked at her seriously.

HANA: I told you not to act childish, at least not now. You stepped in here, and there is no turning back until we solve this.

Mina looked toward the door.

MINA: But we don’t even know what we’re solving!

Hana looked back at the book.

HANA: This clue clearly means that it wants us to solve something.

Joon thought for a moment.

JOON: I sometimes saw Mr. Lee talking about the rooms and clues. I think he wanted us to solve all of this.

Hana looked at him.

HANA: You remember him talking about that?

JOON: Yes. I never understood what he meant at the time.

Before anyone could say anything else, Mina suddenly gasped.

MINA: G… Guys.

Hana and Joon looked at her.

Mina was standing near the desk.

She was holding a small folded piece of paper.

MINA: Look here. I found a note.

Hana immediately stood up.

Joon followed her.

They moved toward Mina.

HANA: Give it to me.

Mina handed her the note.

Hana carefully unfolded it.

The paper looked old and slightly damaged.

She began reading it aloud.

It said:

“If you are reading this, help me to find that. — Mr. Lee”

Silence filled the room.

Hana stared at the note.

Joon looked confused.

Mina looked frightened.

Now they all understood that Mr. Lee had left the note for whoever found the hidden room.

He had expected someone to come here.

But the biggest question remained—

What did he want them to find?

And where was he?

Hana slowly placed the note on the desk.

HANA: He knew someone would find this place.

MINA: You mean… Mr. Lee knew this was going to happen?

Hana nodded slowly.

HANA: Maybe.

Joon picked up the note and looked at it again.

JOON: But what does “help me to find that” mean?

Nobody had an answer.

The room suddenly felt much colder.

The golden lamp flickered.

Hana looked toward the shelves.

There were still hundreds of books they hadn’t checked.

Maybe one of them contained the answer.

Maybe one of them explained the symbols.

Maybe one of them could tell them where Mr. Lee had gone.

Or maybe…

Mr. Lee was still somewhere inside the school.

Joon suddenly raised his voice.

JOON: I can’t fully understand what Mr. Lee wants us to find or what he wants us to help with!

His voice echoed through the room.

For a moment, everything became completely silent.

Then—

From somewhere deep inside the basement…

Knock.

The three friends froze.

Another knock followed.

Knock.

Mina slowly looked at Hana.

MINA: Please tell me you heard that too.

Hana didn’t answer.

Joon stood up.

All three of them stared toward the dark passage outside the room.

Something—or someone—was there.

And for the first time, they realized that finding Mr. Lee might not be the only mystery they had to solve.

Maybe…

Mr. Lee wasn’t the only thing that had vanished.