Eugene
“Remind me again, why are we doing this?” Ryan asked.
“Because no one else will.” Clare replied.
The teens stood looking at their old elementary school. It looked exactly as it had when they attended. The same red bricks, the same name plate with a cracked B and missing A. Most importantly, it had the same windows. As long as one of them was unlocked, they had a way inside.
“So, tell me.” Ryan said, sitting on a swing, dragging his shoes in the sand. “Why do you want to go into the school so badly?”
“No one has seen Jeff for two days,” Clare began. “The police have no leads. No one in the family has heard from him. It’s like he and Morgan just vanished. No one's heard from her either."
“But why the school? If they were inside someone would have seen them by now. The custodians are here every day.” Ryan knew there was something she wasn’t telling him.
“Except that they aren't. It’s summer and they finished the cleaning so they won’t be back until the week before the new school year starts. It’s a small school after all.” Clare sat down next to him and matched his swing. “I talked to Morgan’s little sister. She said Morgan planned a date here. She found this game online and thought it would be fun to try and scare each other. Breaking into the school was to add a little more danger.”
“What kind of game?” Ryan didn’t like where this was going.
“It's a hide and seek game, with a twist.” Clare smiled, and Ryan tilted his head. “You play it with a possessed doll.”
Ryan laughed and bounced up out of the swing. “You’re joking! You think a possessed doll got them? You can’t really believe that.”
Clare’s head dropped. She pulled a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her hoodie. Ryan took it and looked it over. It was a printed page from a website with the title; ‘You Can’t Play Hide and Seek Alone’.
“It’s only the first page of two. It lists all the stuff you need for the game. I got it from Morgan’s sister. She said Morgan left with a basket of stuff that night. She told me Morgan was meeting Jeff here the night they disappeared, but she didn’t say what they were doing.” Clare was starting to fight back tears. “I know you don’t believe in this stuff, and I don’t either, but what if?”
“What if what?” Ryan snapped, harsher than he meant to. “What if they brought a doll to life?”
“I don’t know!” Clare shouted. She looked around as if someone may have heard her. “I’m tired of feeling like no one is doing anything. People don’t just disappear. My brother wouldn’t hurt mom and dad like that.”
Rick walked back to her, still sitting on the swing and dropped to his knees. “I’m sorry. I’m on your side. I just don’t know that wandering a school in the middle of the night is going to help.”
“Will you come with me?” Clare looked into his eyes and he smiled.
“Of course I will.”
It took a couple tries before they found a window that was unlocked. Ryan was able to open it far enough he could squeeze through and took Clare's hands, helping her inside.
They clicked on their flashlights and looked around. Desks were stacked along the wall, one on the floor with another upside down on the top. The chairs were stacked at the end of the row in sets of five high.
The floors were swept and mopped. The whiteboards and bulletin boards were clean and ready for new lessons and artwork. By the size of the room and from what Ryan remembered this was Mrs. Miller's grade five classroom.
“We should start looking in the kindergarten rooms.” Clare said in a loud whisper. “We need a room with a sink.”
“Looking for what?” Ryan asked, “And why are you whispering? It’s not like anyone will hear us here.”
“You’re right.” Clare admitted. “It just feels weird. I’ve never been in a school that was so quiet. If Morgan really did want to try this doll thing, they would need a room with a sink. The kindergarten rooms are closer so we’ll look there first. If we don’t find anything, then we can try the art room.”
Ryan agreed and the two left the room and started moving through the wide empty hall. The coat hooks and bins above them were empty and neatly spaced. The floors were polished and shined as the flashlight beam passed over them.
Ryan stopped for a moment next to one of the class room doors. “Clare, aren't the doors locked when the rooms are empty?”
Clare stopped and turned to him. “I hadn’t thought of that. I think most are just closed.” She watched holding her breath as Ryan’s fingers wrapped around the knob but it refused to turn. The door was locked.
“Let’s keep going.” Ryan took her shoulders. He could see the defeated look in her eyes, even in the dim light. “Maybe they found an unlocked door.”
He smiled when he saw her smile return. He took her hand and the two kept walking. When they turned the corner, they both immediately stopped.
The two made it to the kindergarten hall. Each classroom had its own washroom and two sinks. One height for the teachers and one lower for the young students. All the rooms had open doors.
They each took one side of the hall and started checking the rooms for any sign that Jeff and Morgan had been there.
“What did you find?” Ryan asked, crossing the hall to her side.
In her hand Clare held a piece of paper. In the other her flashlight was shaking. “It’s the second page to the one Morgan’s sister gave me.” She explained. “This one has a set of instructions and rules.”
“Rules for what?” Ryan asked, looking over her shoulder.
“Playing the game.” Clare looked back at him. “Do you still have the other page? Can you read off the list of items they needed please?”
Ryan read the list and watched as Clare picked up each item from the table. A spool of red thread, a small jar of salt and a second jar with a few grains of rice.
“Look at the floor,” Clare shone the light around the table legs. “More rice and this is stuffing from a toy. Probably a doll.”
“Okay, where’s the doll?” Ryan was starting to feel frustrated. He found himself starting to wonder if maybe it was possible. “This is all about a doll, right?”
Clare looked back at the instructions. She slowly moved her flashlight beam around the walls of the room. Her heart was racing as she moved toward the sink. It was half full of water, with a few grains of rice and stuffing in the bottom.
Ryan stepped next to her, placing his hand on her back. Clare jumped, dropping her flashlight.
“That’s enough,” Ryan said. “You’re getting worked up over something that can’t possibly be real. We need to leave. We can tell someone about what we found and let them handle it. Hopefully we won’t get in trouble for breaking in here.”
“We didn’t break anything.” Clare side definitely.
“Not the point.” Ryan turned to the classroom door.
Clare was reading through the page again when she noticed Ryan reaching for the light switch. “Don’t turn the lights on!” she shouted. “The instructions…I mean someone outside might see.”
Ryan groaned, but pulled away from the switch. He had to agree, if someone saw the light they would be caught. “Assume for a moment I believe this has the slightest chance of being real, then what? How does any of this help us find Morgan or Jeff?”
“I don’t know.” Clare sighed. She handed Ryan the instruction sheet and sat in a tiny chair. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am grasping at any stupid thing.”
“It’s not stupid to have hope.” Ryan took the page and sat next to her, but the chair was even lower than he expected. He landed hard, dropping the paper and made Clare laugh.
“There’s something on the back.” Clare said as she picked it up. “I think it’s a name E.U.G.E.N.E.”
“Eugene.” Ryan confirmed. “It’s the name of an uncle Jeff doesn't like.”
Both sat quietly for a moment. It was clear now that, believe it or not, Morgan and Jeff had been here.
There was a static sound coming from the TV at the far end of the room. It reminded them of a radio that wasn’t on the right station.
“Since when do classrooms have TVs?” Ryan asked.
“Listen to this.” Clare said. She had her finder tracking down the instructions. “Here it is, if the TV starts flickering or making odd noises, then your opponent is close.”
“Clare, you can’t think there is a doll…” Ryan stopped mid sentence.
The back wall of the classroom was dominated by two large windows with a bench running from one side to the other. On the left were a couple potted plants. On the right was a barn play set with a bin of animals and accessories.
Standing in the center of the bench was a doll dressed in denim overalls and a red flannel shirt. He looked worn but in good condition save the stitched hole down the center of his front.
“Hi. My name is Eugene. Have you seen my hat?” a high-pitched voice asked. It clearly wasn’t the voice of a child, and it seemed to be coming from the TV on the wall to their right. “I think I lost it while I was playing and now, I can’t find it.”
“I haven’t seen a hat.” Clare shuddered. “What does it look like?”
“It’s made of golden yellow felt. It has a red band around it,” Eugene said, “I have to find it soon. The game continues in a few minutes.”
“What game?” Ryan asked. He was starting to wonder if this was a bad dream.
“Hide and seek,” Eugene replied. “The game starts again in a few minutes. You’ll have to find a good hiding place or I’ll find you.”
“Who are you playing with?” Clare asked. She was standing so close to Ryan she could feel his breathing.
“My friends of course and you.” Eugene was sounding excited.
“Eugene, we're not playing hide and seek. We’ve come to find our friends, Morgan and Jeff.” Ryan explained.
Eugene jumped from the bench to a table. “They’re my friends too! They’ll be so happy you’ve come to play with us.”
“No, Eugene, we’re not here to play.” Clare corrected. “We need to find our friends and take them home. Their families miss them.”
“NO!” Eugene shouted and stepped towards them. Gone was the high pitch friendly voice. In its place was a deep, menacing growl. “It’s my turn and I will have my turn. I almost got them once.”
Clare turned to the door and looked at the clock above it. It was five minutes to three in the morning. “Ryan, we need to go,” She tugged on his sleeve. “Now!”
“Good bye, Eugene.” Clare called, and pulled Ryan out the door behind her. “We have five minutes to get out of here.”
“What are you talking about?” Ryan was jogging down the hall behind her, back toward the room with the open window.
“The instructions say to start the game at three in the morning. Eugene said the game continues soon.” Clare was starting to sound scared. “We have five minutes to get out of this building or hide.”
They got to Mrs. Miller's room and headed straight to the window, but it was closed and locked. Both took a turn at opening it but the locks wouldn’t budge.
“You read the instructions, what do we do?” Ryan had come around completely and was wishing he had at least glanced at the paper when he had the chance.
“Right now, we need to hide.” Clare said.
The two ran as far from the kindergarten rooms as they could. They climbed up onto the stage and made their way through complete darkness down the stairs to a little used storage area. Little used because it was so hard to get things into or out of.
“Are you really sure about this?” Ryan was tall, so getting into a crawl space this small had him feeling folded in half.
“It’s the best I could think of.” Clare whispered back. “We have to be completely quiet.”
“Clare, is that you?” asked a voice from the deep darkness.
“Jeff?” Clare asked, wondering if this was some kind of trick.
“Keep talking. We'll make our way to you.” Jeff crawled over with Morgan holding his heel so she knew which way he was going.
“What are you doing here?” Jeff asked, hugging his sister. “How did you get in?"
“Through an open window," Ryan said.
“Can we get out?” Jeff asked.
“No. We tried but it was closed and locked.” Ryan explained. “I can’t get it to budge.”
“You don’t seem surprised to hear that.” Clare said.
“The same thing happened to us.” Jeff said. “Accorded to the rules the only way once you’re in the game is to win.”
“Did you see it? Eugene?” It was the first thing Morgan said.
“We saw him," Clare said. “Did you really create that thing?”
“I didn’t think it would work.” Morgan started crying. “I thought it would be a bit of fun, that’s all. We could fool around for a bit and go home.”
“We played our turn.” Jeff began. “Followed the instructions, and wrapped it up in the thread. We left him in the sink and went to hide. We counted to ten and went back to the sink. We were laughing and Morgan said ‘found you Eugene’. I had my knife so I cut the thread.”
“I was holding the doll.” Morgan was still crying and sounding more frightened. “I started dancing around and saying ‘you’re the next it, Eugene.’ It’s all my fault.”
Clare had moved around beside her and had her arm around Morgan. “Then what happened?”
“She tossed the doll in the sink and we started cleaning up.” Jeff continued. “The TV started making this snow sound and there was a high pitch voice counting down from ten coming from the announcement speaker. Then ‘ready or not here I come’. I looked at Morgan and I saw Eugene standing on the counter over her shoulder.”
Jeff stopped for a moment. There was a crackling sound from the announcement speaker in the gym and they heard, “Ready or not here I come!”
Morgan had calmed but started breathing hard again. She scrambled over to Jeff and cuddled close to him. “He’s coming.” She whispered.
“What happens if he finds us?” Ryan asked.
“We ran back to the window we had opened, but like for you, it was closed and locked.” Jeff was whispering this time. There was an open laptop on the teacher’s desk and we heard the same crackle, like the TV, so we hid in the closet at the back of the room. I peeked out between the door and the frame. We heard ‘found you’ from the speaker and my knife sliced my arm.”
For a moment the group was silent. There was no sound from the gym or from the speaker.
“How do we win?” Clare asked. “When we were little and dad played with us, we had to make it back to the start point without getting caught.”
“That won’t work.” Morgan’s voice could barely be heard in the silence. “We have to make a glass of salt water and pour it over the doll.”
“We have tried, but it's hard to sneak up on the little guy. He is fast and small. The last time I almost caught him but he ran under a table and disappeared.” Jeff was starting to sound defeated. “He keeps coming back. You don’t have much time to get away and hide again.”
“What about during the day?” Clare asked. “You’ve been missing for two days.”
“We can never find him. We’ve looked everywhere. The game is only played from three to sunrise.” Jeff explained.
“What about the windows? Trying to get someone's attention?” Morgan added. “We tried that too. No matter how hard we hit the glass, we can’t get anyone's attention and it won’t break.”
“So, we have to win the game by the rules.” Ryan said. “We need to get back to the kindergarten room and get the salt.”
“We can’t. Eugene watches that hallway.” Jeff said. “I barely got away last time I tried to go back.”
“What about getting salt from somewhere else?” Clare suggested. “The staff room would have salt shakers.”
“That could work, but we have to be extremely quiet.” Jeff said. “Clare, I want you to stay here with Morgan. Fewer people will make less noise.”
“Please Clare,” Morgan begged. “I don’t want to be left alone.”
Clare didn’t like it but she agreed. “Be careful. Both of you.” She hugged them both before they inched their way back to the small door.
Closing it softly behind them, both froze. The scoreboard lights changed their pattern.
“He’s coming.” Jeff sounded panicked. “We have to draw him away from here.”
Jeff ran across the gym and out the door towards the main hall, with Ryan close behind. He pointed to an open classroom and as Ryan passed him, Jeff darted across the hall to another room.
He squeaked his shoes on the floor and ran back across the hall. He opened one of the closet doors and indicated for Ryan to go first. When the door was closed, he whispered as loud as he dared. “Do not peek.”
Ryan poked his friend's hand to let him know he understood. The two stood behind the pillars between the doors as far back against the wall as they could. They could hear the static sound from the room across the hall. Then a high-pitched voice said, “I’m going to find you,” in a sing-song tone.
Ryan fought to keep his breathing slow and even, fearing he might be heard. A loud bang from somewhere on the far side of the school made them both jump. Then the sound of small running feet.
“Let’s go.” Jeff opened the door and they ran down the hall to the staff room. “We have to find something we can carry the water in without spilling it.” he whispered.
They grabbed the salt shakers from the tables and took them to the counter.
“These old water bottles will work.” Ryan held one up like he was going to squeeze it and spray water at Jeff.
They each took one, removed the top and filled them with water. Jeff found a long wooden spoon to stir in the salt, but when he turned around Ryan staring at his arm.
“This isn’t a game we can afford to lose.” Jeff nodded.
“Why name him after your uncle?” Ryan asked as they reached the door.
“I don’t know. Dolls a farmer, Uncle Eugene’s a farmer.” Jeff said and shrugged. “Guess it was just fitting somehow.”
Each of them took a water bottle and headed back to the gym. The scoreboard had resumed its normal pattern of flashing lights, so they made their way to the stage. When they got to the crawl space door, it was open and the girls were gone.
“Where would they go?” Jeff asked, knowing Ryan couldn’t answer.
“Maybe they went after the salt in the kindergarten room?” Ryan suggested. “They knew we would draw Eugene’s attention away from them.”
“The noise we heard.” Jeff started running for the gym door.
“We have to be careful.” Ryan caught up to him and stopped him before he could reach the hallway. “We don’t know where he is. We might run right into him.”
They continued cautiously down the hall. As they rounded the last corner they could hear the static sound again. This time coming from the room where it had all started.
Eugene was standing on top of the bookshelf, knife raised above his head. “I found you.” His high-pitched voice was gleeful and Morgan let out a scream.
“I found you!” Jeff shouted and both boys ran at the doll squeezing the water bottles as hard as they could.
Clare jumped to her feet and threw the water pitcher toward the doll dousing it in salt water.
“I win, I win, I win!” Morgan shouted. She had jumped up from beside the bookshelf sending books and Eugene to the floor.
Eugene screamed and fought but Ryan and Jeff landed next to him and held him tight. Clare ran for the spool of red thread and tossed it in the dim light across the room to Morgan.
Morgan elbowed her way between the boys and wrapped the rest of the spool around Eugene. It was more than enough but she wasn’t taking any chances. The three stood up leaving the soaked doll on the floor.
“Now what?” Clare asked. She had joined them pulling Ryan’s arm around her. He squeezed her shoulder and pulled her close.
“Now we leave it tied up and wait until it dries.” Morgan was shivering, and Jeff went to hug her. “When it’s dry, we burn it.”
After a moment to calm down the four looked around the room. They had made quite a mess. The four fanned out around the room, picking up books and chairs. They collected all the items Morgan and Jeff had brought with them and put Eugene in a plastic bag with a knot in the top.
They walked back to Mrs. Miller's room in silence. No one wanted to say it out loud, but they were all wondering if the window was open.
Jeff went out first and helped the girls to the ground. Ryan dropped to the ground and pulled the window closed. As soon as Morgan was outside, she began to cry. Clare took Eugene in his bag from her and walked into Ryan's arms.
“What do we do now?” Clare asked.
“My parents are gone for the weekend.” Ryan said, taking the bag. “I say we go to my house and burn this guy.”
“He’s not dry.” Morgan’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“He’ll dry in the flames.” Jeff said, nodding to Ryan.
Later that night they gathered around the fire pit in Ryan's back yard. As they sat watching the flames, Jeff couldn’t help but ask, “How did you get back to the class kindergarten room?”
“I forgot that part of winning the game was to yell ‘I win’ three times and tie him up.” Morgan said. “We had to get the red thread. I picked up the spool and saw a baby doll. I thought it was Eugene and turned to run but tripped on the art easel and knocked it over.”
“That was the noise we heard that drew Eugene away from us.” Ryan said and Jeff agreed.
“We hid in the book nook.” Clare added. “That’s when you saved us.” She smiled at Ryan and cuddled up next to him on the bench.
Jeff put his arm around Morgan and pulled her close to him, on the bench across from them. “I can’t help wondering how you found us in the first place but I’m sure glad you did.” He asked.
“I was talking to Morgan's little sister.” Clare said. “She let me in her room and showed me the paper with the list of items you checked off. She said you told her you were meeting Jeff here. Seemed like a good place to start.”
Something in the fire snapped and made all four of them jump and they shared a laugh. As the two girls drifted off to sleep, Ryan and Jeff guarded the fire. The last instruction said the fire had to burn itself out and they had no intention of taking any chances.
“Because no one else will.” Clare replied.
The teens stood looking at their old elementary school. It looked exactly as it had when they attended. The same red bricks, the same name plate with a cracked B and missing A. Most importantly, it had the same windows. As long as one of them was unlocked, they had a way inside.
“So, tell me.” Ryan said, sitting on a swing, dragging his shoes in the sand. “Why do you want to go into the school so badly?”
“No one has seen Jeff for two days,” Clare began. “The police have no leads. No one in the family has heard from him. It’s like he and Morgan just vanished. No one's heard from her either."
“But why the school? If they were inside someone would have seen them by now. The custodians are here every day.” Ryan knew there was something she wasn’t telling him.
“Except that they aren't. It’s summer and they finished the cleaning so they won’t be back until the week before the new school year starts. It’s a small school after all.” Clare sat down next to him and matched his swing. “I talked to Morgan’s little sister. She said Morgan planned a date here. She found this game online and thought it would be fun to try and scare each other. Breaking into the school was to add a little more danger.”
“What kind of game?” Ryan didn’t like where this was going.
“It's a hide and seek game, with a twist.” Clare smiled, and Ryan tilted his head. “You play it with a possessed doll.”
Ryan laughed and bounced up out of the swing. “You’re joking! You think a possessed doll got them? You can’t really believe that.”
Clare’s head dropped. She pulled a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her hoodie. Ryan took it and looked it over. It was a printed page from a website with the title; ‘You Can’t Play Hide and Seek Alone’.
“It’s only the first page of two. It lists all the stuff you need for the game. I got it from Morgan’s sister. She said Morgan left with a basket of stuff that night. She told me Morgan was meeting Jeff here the night they disappeared, but she didn’t say what they were doing.” Clare was starting to fight back tears. “I know you don’t believe in this stuff, and I don’t either, but what if?”
“What if what?” Ryan snapped, harsher than he meant to. “What if they brought a doll to life?”
“I don’t know!” Clare shouted. She looked around as if someone may have heard her. “I’m tired of feeling like no one is doing anything. People don’t just disappear. My brother wouldn’t hurt mom and dad like that.”
Rick walked back to her, still sitting on the swing and dropped to his knees. “I’m sorry. I’m on your side. I just don’t know that wandering a school in the middle of the night is going to help.”
“Will you come with me?” Clare looked into his eyes and he smiled.
“Of course I will.”
It took a couple tries before they found a window that was unlocked. Ryan was able to open it far enough he could squeeze through and took Clare's hands, helping her inside.
They clicked on their flashlights and looked around. Desks were stacked along the wall, one on the floor with another upside down on the top. The chairs were stacked at the end of the row in sets of five high.
The floors were swept and mopped. The whiteboards and bulletin boards were clean and ready for new lessons and artwork. By the size of the room and from what Ryan remembered this was Mrs. Miller's grade five classroom.
“We should start looking in the kindergarten rooms.” Clare said in a loud whisper. “We need a room with a sink.”
“Looking for what?” Ryan asked, “And why are you whispering? It’s not like anyone will hear us here.”
“You’re right.” Clare admitted. “It just feels weird. I’ve never been in a school that was so quiet. If Morgan really did want to try this doll thing, they would need a room with a sink. The kindergarten rooms are closer so we’ll look there first. If we don’t find anything, then we can try the art room.”
Ryan agreed and the two left the room and started moving through the wide empty hall. The coat hooks and bins above them were empty and neatly spaced. The floors were polished and shined as the flashlight beam passed over them.
Ryan stopped for a moment next to one of the class room doors. “Clare, aren't the doors locked when the rooms are empty?”
Clare stopped and turned to him. “I hadn’t thought of that. I think most are just closed.” She watched holding her breath as Ryan’s fingers wrapped around the knob but it refused to turn. The door was locked.
“Let’s keep going.” Ryan took her shoulders. He could see the defeated look in her eyes, even in the dim light. “Maybe they found an unlocked door.”
He smiled when he saw her smile return. He took her hand and the two kept walking. When they turned the corner, they both immediately stopped.
The two made it to the kindergarten hall. Each classroom had its own washroom and two sinks. One height for the teachers and one lower for the young students. All the rooms had open doors.
They each took one side of the hall and started checking the rooms for any sign that Jeff and Morgan had been there.
“What did you find?” Ryan asked, crossing the hall to her side.
In her hand Clare held a piece of paper. In the other her flashlight was shaking. “It’s the second page to the one Morgan’s sister gave me.” She explained. “This one has a set of instructions and rules.”
“Rules for what?” Ryan asked, looking over her shoulder.
“Playing the game.” Clare looked back at him. “Do you still have the other page? Can you read off the list of items they needed please?”
Ryan read the list and watched as Clare picked up each item from the table. A spool of red thread, a small jar of salt and a second jar with a few grains of rice.
“Look at the floor,” Clare shone the light around the table legs. “More rice and this is stuffing from a toy. Probably a doll.”
“Okay, where’s the doll?” Ryan was starting to feel frustrated. He found himself starting to wonder if maybe it was possible. “This is all about a doll, right?”
Clare looked back at the instructions. She slowly moved her flashlight beam around the walls of the room. Her heart was racing as she moved toward the sink. It was half full of water, with a few grains of rice and stuffing in the bottom.
Ryan stepped next to her, placing his hand on her back. Clare jumped, dropping her flashlight.
“That’s enough,” Ryan said. “You’re getting worked up over something that can’t possibly be real. We need to leave. We can tell someone about what we found and let them handle it. Hopefully we won’t get in trouble for breaking in here.”
“We didn’t break anything.” Clare side definitely.
“Not the point.” Ryan turned to the classroom door.
Clare was reading through the page again when she noticed Ryan reaching for the light switch. “Don’t turn the lights on!” she shouted. “The instructions…I mean someone outside might see.”
Ryan groaned, but pulled away from the switch. He had to agree, if someone saw the light they would be caught. “Assume for a moment I believe this has the slightest chance of being real, then what? How does any of this help us find Morgan or Jeff?”
“I don’t know.” Clare sighed. She handed Ryan the instruction sheet and sat in a tiny chair. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am grasping at any stupid thing.”
“It’s not stupid to have hope.” Ryan took the page and sat next to her, but the chair was even lower than he expected. He landed hard, dropping the paper and made Clare laugh.
“There’s something on the back.” Clare said as she picked it up. “I think it’s a name E.U.G.E.N.E.”
“Eugene.” Ryan confirmed. “It’s the name of an uncle Jeff doesn't like.”
Both sat quietly for a moment. It was clear now that, believe it or not, Morgan and Jeff had been here.
There was a static sound coming from the TV at the far end of the room. It reminded them of a radio that wasn’t on the right station.
“Since when do classrooms have TVs?” Ryan asked.
“Listen to this.” Clare said. She had her finder tracking down the instructions. “Here it is, if the TV starts flickering or making odd noises, then your opponent is close.”
“Clare, you can’t think there is a doll…” Ryan stopped mid sentence.
The back wall of the classroom was dominated by two large windows with a bench running from one side to the other. On the left were a couple potted plants. On the right was a barn play set with a bin of animals and accessories.
Standing in the center of the bench was a doll dressed in denim overalls and a red flannel shirt. He looked worn but in good condition save the stitched hole down the center of his front.
“Hi. My name is Eugene. Have you seen my hat?” a high-pitched voice asked. It clearly wasn’t the voice of a child, and it seemed to be coming from the TV on the wall to their right. “I think I lost it while I was playing and now, I can’t find it.”
“I haven’t seen a hat.” Clare shuddered. “What does it look like?”
“It’s made of golden yellow felt. It has a red band around it,” Eugene said, “I have to find it soon. The game continues in a few minutes.”
“What game?” Ryan asked. He was starting to wonder if this was a bad dream.
“Hide and seek,” Eugene replied. “The game starts again in a few minutes. You’ll have to find a good hiding place or I’ll find you.”
“Who are you playing with?” Clare asked. She was standing so close to Ryan she could feel his breathing.
“My friends of course and you.” Eugene was sounding excited.
“Eugene, we're not playing hide and seek. We’ve come to find our friends, Morgan and Jeff.” Ryan explained.
Eugene jumped from the bench to a table. “They’re my friends too! They’ll be so happy you’ve come to play with us.”
“No, Eugene, we’re not here to play.” Clare corrected. “We need to find our friends and take them home. Their families miss them.”
“NO!” Eugene shouted and stepped towards them. Gone was the high pitch friendly voice. In its place was a deep, menacing growl. “It’s my turn and I will have my turn. I almost got them once.”
Clare turned to the door and looked at the clock above it. It was five minutes to three in the morning. “Ryan, we need to go,” She tugged on his sleeve. “Now!”
“Good bye, Eugene.” Clare called, and pulled Ryan out the door behind her. “We have five minutes to get out of here.”
“What are you talking about?” Ryan was jogging down the hall behind her, back toward the room with the open window.
“The instructions say to start the game at three in the morning. Eugene said the game continues soon.” Clare was starting to sound scared. “We have five minutes to get out of this building or hide.”
They got to Mrs. Miller's room and headed straight to the window, but it was closed and locked. Both took a turn at opening it but the locks wouldn’t budge.
“You read the instructions, what do we do?” Ryan had come around completely and was wishing he had at least glanced at the paper when he had the chance.
“Right now, we need to hide.” Clare said.
The two ran as far from the kindergarten rooms as they could. They climbed up onto the stage and made their way through complete darkness down the stairs to a little used storage area. Little used because it was so hard to get things into or out of.
“Are you really sure about this?” Ryan was tall, so getting into a crawl space this small had him feeling folded in half.
“It’s the best I could think of.” Clare whispered back. “We have to be completely quiet.”
“Clare, is that you?” asked a voice from the deep darkness.
“Jeff?” Clare asked, wondering if this was some kind of trick.
“Keep talking. We'll make our way to you.” Jeff crawled over with Morgan holding his heel so she knew which way he was going.
“What are you doing here?” Jeff asked, hugging his sister. “How did you get in?"
“Through an open window," Ryan said.
“Can we get out?” Jeff asked.
“No. We tried but it was closed and locked.” Ryan explained. “I can’t get it to budge.”
“You don’t seem surprised to hear that.” Clare said.
“The same thing happened to us.” Jeff said. “Accorded to the rules the only way once you’re in the game is to win.”
“Did you see it? Eugene?” It was the first thing Morgan said.
“We saw him," Clare said. “Did you really create that thing?”
“I didn’t think it would work.” Morgan started crying. “I thought it would be a bit of fun, that’s all. We could fool around for a bit and go home.”
“We played our turn.” Jeff began. “Followed the instructions, and wrapped it up in the thread. We left him in the sink and went to hide. We counted to ten and went back to the sink. We were laughing and Morgan said ‘found you Eugene’. I had my knife so I cut the thread.”
“I was holding the doll.” Morgan was still crying and sounding more frightened. “I started dancing around and saying ‘you’re the next it, Eugene.’ It’s all my fault.”
Clare had moved around beside her and had her arm around Morgan. “Then what happened?”
“She tossed the doll in the sink and we started cleaning up.” Jeff continued. “The TV started making this snow sound and there was a high pitch voice counting down from ten coming from the announcement speaker. Then ‘ready or not here I come’. I looked at Morgan and I saw Eugene standing on the counter over her shoulder.”
Jeff stopped for a moment. There was a crackling sound from the announcement speaker in the gym and they heard, “Ready or not here I come!”
Morgan had calmed but started breathing hard again. She scrambled over to Jeff and cuddled close to him. “He’s coming.” She whispered.
“What happens if he finds us?” Ryan asked.
“We ran back to the window we had opened, but like for you, it was closed and locked.” Jeff was whispering this time. There was an open laptop on the teacher’s desk and we heard the same crackle, like the TV, so we hid in the closet at the back of the room. I peeked out between the door and the frame. We heard ‘found you’ from the speaker and my knife sliced my arm.”
For a moment the group was silent. There was no sound from the gym or from the speaker.
“How do we win?” Clare asked. “When we were little and dad played with us, we had to make it back to the start point without getting caught.”
“That won’t work.” Morgan’s voice could barely be heard in the silence. “We have to make a glass of salt water and pour it over the doll.”
“We have tried, but it's hard to sneak up on the little guy. He is fast and small. The last time I almost caught him but he ran under a table and disappeared.” Jeff was starting to sound defeated. “He keeps coming back. You don’t have much time to get away and hide again.”
“What about during the day?” Clare asked. “You’ve been missing for two days.”
“We can never find him. We’ve looked everywhere. The game is only played from three to sunrise.” Jeff explained.
“What about the windows? Trying to get someone's attention?” Morgan added. “We tried that too. No matter how hard we hit the glass, we can’t get anyone's attention and it won’t break.”
“So, we have to win the game by the rules.” Ryan said. “We need to get back to the kindergarten room and get the salt.”
“We can’t. Eugene watches that hallway.” Jeff said. “I barely got away last time I tried to go back.”
“What about getting salt from somewhere else?” Clare suggested. “The staff room would have salt shakers.”
“That could work, but we have to be extremely quiet.” Jeff said. “Clare, I want you to stay here with Morgan. Fewer people will make less noise.”
“Please Clare,” Morgan begged. “I don’t want to be left alone.”
Clare didn’t like it but she agreed. “Be careful. Both of you.” She hugged them both before they inched their way back to the small door.
Closing it softly behind them, both froze. The scoreboard lights changed their pattern.
“He’s coming.” Jeff sounded panicked. “We have to draw him away from here.”
Jeff ran across the gym and out the door towards the main hall, with Ryan close behind. He pointed to an open classroom and as Ryan passed him, Jeff darted across the hall to another room.
He squeaked his shoes on the floor and ran back across the hall. He opened one of the closet doors and indicated for Ryan to go first. When the door was closed, he whispered as loud as he dared. “Do not peek.”
Ryan poked his friend's hand to let him know he understood. The two stood behind the pillars between the doors as far back against the wall as they could. They could hear the static sound from the room across the hall. Then a high-pitched voice said, “I’m going to find you,” in a sing-song tone.
Ryan fought to keep his breathing slow and even, fearing he might be heard. A loud bang from somewhere on the far side of the school made them both jump. Then the sound of small running feet.
“Let’s go.” Jeff opened the door and they ran down the hall to the staff room. “We have to find something we can carry the water in without spilling it.” he whispered.
They grabbed the salt shakers from the tables and took them to the counter.
“These old water bottles will work.” Ryan held one up like he was going to squeeze it and spray water at Jeff.
They each took one, removed the top and filled them with water. Jeff found a long wooden spoon to stir in the salt, but when he turned around Ryan staring at his arm.
“This isn’t a game we can afford to lose.” Jeff nodded.
“Why name him after your uncle?” Ryan asked as they reached the door.
“I don’t know. Dolls a farmer, Uncle Eugene’s a farmer.” Jeff said and shrugged. “Guess it was just fitting somehow.”
Each of them took a water bottle and headed back to the gym. The scoreboard had resumed its normal pattern of flashing lights, so they made their way to the stage. When they got to the crawl space door, it was open and the girls were gone.
“Where would they go?” Jeff asked, knowing Ryan couldn’t answer.
“Maybe they went after the salt in the kindergarten room?” Ryan suggested. “They knew we would draw Eugene’s attention away from them.”
“The noise we heard.” Jeff started running for the gym door.
“We have to be careful.” Ryan caught up to him and stopped him before he could reach the hallway. “We don’t know where he is. We might run right into him.”
They continued cautiously down the hall. As they rounded the last corner they could hear the static sound again. This time coming from the room where it had all started.
Eugene was standing on top of the bookshelf, knife raised above his head. “I found you.” His high-pitched voice was gleeful and Morgan let out a scream.
“I found you!” Jeff shouted and both boys ran at the doll squeezing the water bottles as hard as they could.
Clare jumped to her feet and threw the water pitcher toward the doll dousing it in salt water.
“I win, I win, I win!” Morgan shouted. She had jumped up from beside the bookshelf sending books and Eugene to the floor.
Eugene screamed and fought but Ryan and Jeff landed next to him and held him tight. Clare ran for the spool of red thread and tossed it in the dim light across the room to Morgan.
Morgan elbowed her way between the boys and wrapped the rest of the spool around Eugene. It was more than enough but she wasn’t taking any chances. The three stood up leaving the soaked doll on the floor.
“Now what?” Clare asked. She had joined them pulling Ryan’s arm around her. He squeezed her shoulder and pulled her close.
“Now we leave it tied up and wait until it dries.” Morgan was shivering, and Jeff went to hug her. “When it’s dry, we burn it.”
After a moment to calm down the four looked around the room. They had made quite a mess. The four fanned out around the room, picking up books and chairs. They collected all the items Morgan and Jeff had brought with them and put Eugene in a plastic bag with a knot in the top.
They walked back to Mrs. Miller's room in silence. No one wanted to say it out loud, but they were all wondering if the window was open.
Jeff went out first and helped the girls to the ground. Ryan dropped to the ground and pulled the window closed. As soon as Morgan was outside, she began to cry. Clare took Eugene in his bag from her and walked into Ryan's arms.
“What do we do now?” Clare asked.
“My parents are gone for the weekend.” Ryan said, taking the bag. “I say we go to my house and burn this guy.”
“He’s not dry.” Morgan’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“He’ll dry in the flames.” Jeff said, nodding to Ryan.
Later that night they gathered around the fire pit in Ryan's back yard. As they sat watching the flames, Jeff couldn’t help but ask, “How did you get back to the class kindergarten room?”
“I forgot that part of winning the game was to yell ‘I win’ three times and tie him up.” Morgan said. “We had to get the red thread. I picked up the spool and saw a baby doll. I thought it was Eugene and turned to run but tripped on the art easel and knocked it over.”
“That was the noise we heard that drew Eugene away from us.” Ryan said and Jeff agreed.
“We hid in the book nook.” Clare added. “That’s when you saved us.” She smiled at Ryan and cuddled up next to him on the bench.
Jeff put his arm around Morgan and pulled her close to him, on the bench across from them. “I can’t help wondering how you found us in the first place but I’m sure glad you did.” He asked.
“I was talking to Morgan's little sister.” Clare said. “She let me in her room and showed me the paper with the list of items you checked off. She said you told her you were meeting Jeff here. Seemed like a good place to start.”
Something in the fire snapped and made all four of them jump and they shared a laugh. As the two girls drifted off to sleep, Ryan and Jeff guarded the fire. The last instruction said the fire had to burn itself out and they had no intention of taking any chances.