Manor Hills Boys School
“Just outside the light, skirting the boundaries of the dark, the penumbra holds, secrets stark.”
Deep into the forest of Kurseong, a boy walked fast down the winding road heading to the school. His legs were aching and his body was drenched in sweat. He dared not to look behind. Only if he could reach the school.
The old school was a thing from a different era. The walls of stone held memories of children playing. A hint at how the now silent campus was once alive.
The boy breathed easy as he saw the school emerge from the dark foliage of the woods surrounding it. In the late evening it looked like a hulking white presence in contrast to the dark woods surrounding it.
He stood at the door and raised his hand to knock, when something grabbed at his lake and dragged him back towards the woods. He struggled and began to scream. something cold wrapped like a noose around his throat breaking it, his scream coming out like a gurgle.
An old man hunched over a lamp lighting the corridors. The weeds growing over the walls cast eery shadows in the dim light. He thought he heard something. He stood at the door and stared at the periphery of the forest. He narrowed his eyes and finally turned to go in.
A rustling sound rose from the woods and drew closer to the old man. He turned abruptly, his lamp casting a circle of glow around him. Whatever it was, stopped. The old man trembled. He could feel something cold, something sinister lurking just outside the penumbra of his lamp. He gulped and went in quickly locking the door.
The foyer and his room were illuminated with several small bulbs. It gave him some sense of security that the lights around him could ward off the evil that lurked in the forests of Kurseong on the death road leading to the school.