There was a rumor flying through West High School. The type of rumor that seems to forget the bounds of reality itself. Everyone was sure that it couldn’t be true but, there was the occasional unexplainable incident that could only be associated with the rumor of a ghost attending West High School. The rumor details an unknown student who is actually a ghost, but no one, not even them, knows. Due to the lack of evidence and unbelievable quality to the rumor no one suspected it was true. However, it was still the inspiration of a joke or two.
One of the strangest incidents was when several teachers did a headcount of the students attending school and compared it to the official number of students and repeatedly ended up with one extra student. This led to always having a shortage of chairs at school-wide meetings. At one meeting a particularly mysterious student was left without a chair. This caused a flurry of activity. Students recognized him to be Crow Evans. No one knew exactly who he was. His dark chestnut hair and sunken brown eyes scared people off. No one had even been believed to talk to him. When the principal took the stage and Crow was finally given a seat, the gossip subsided.
Crow Evans was seen as an enigma. He was an exceptionally quiet student, but seemed to be smart. Others were wary of him because of his ominous appearance. One thing that absolutely no one knew about Crow was the uncanny attachment the dead seemed to have to him. He was constantly being prodded and picked at by unseen specters. His school-life tremendously suffered for it though, he didn’t really care enough about it to do anything anyway. That is, he didn’t until circumstances forced him on that crucial day.
Crow was getting ready to eat lunch and headed towards the door to eat in the
cafeteria when he was stopped at the door by a girl in his class. She had long raven-black hair, decorated with a pure white headband. Her piercing black eyes seemed to peer through Crow.
“Hold it right there, Crow! I need you for a minute!” she demanded. She grabbed Crow’s hand and led him out of the classroom with a firm tug. Crow didn’t have time to react and let himself be driven out into the hallway.
The ebony haired girl continued to lead Crow down the hallway and managed to start a conversation in the crowded halls, “Sorry I have to do this...that is, drag you around the hall like this. I want to get this over with. Oh, by the way my name’s Alice.” Crow didn’t like the way Alice’s face looked remorseful. It seemed like she was planning something.
Crow soon let it go when he realized he was about to trip. “Hey, can you slow down a bit? Where are you even taking me?”
Alice seemed to stop in an instant. “ Sorry, sorry, I should probably explain.” Alice tapped her fingers together nervously, ”My friend Mary, you see. She wants to...meet you...and uh she wanted me to bring you to her, yeah!” Alice stopped at a door and began to slowly open it. Crow was starting to get apprehensive because of her forceful attitude. He suddenly got a very bad feeling. Alice pushed him in with a final nudge and an ever so slight smile that seemed to ooze murderous intent. “See you…”
Crow cautiously stepped forward into the abandoned classroom. A dull click from the door behind him made him jump. Crow hurriedly turned around and tried to open the door. It had been locked. Crow turned back around and tried to scan the dimly lit room for this so called “Mary” character. All of a sudden, a figure appeared in the near-darkness. The petite figure didn’t move.
Crow called out, “Are you Mary?” silence followed. Crow became incredibly nervous. All of this didn’t add up. No one ever talked to him so why would a girl suddenly want to meet with him? The figure began approaching Crow and stopped when a sliver of light dawned upon them. Platinum blonde hair shined brightly from the figure. It was so blonde it nearly looked white. Large gray eyes peered at Crow. Crow felt a coarse shiver run up his spine. With just one look he could tell that the girl who stood in front of him was a specter.  She stared at him with no expression.
Finally, after a minute of silence she slowly started to move her mouth, “Yes, I am Mary.” Mary’s voice was slow and monotonous. It dripped with somberness. Crow could sense the pensiveness in her voice and began to look for any means to escape. Crow could tell how dangerous Mary was. She was looking for something to prey on. Crow looked towards the window, and back at the door behind him. He suddenly remembered that the person who put him on the other side of the door was Alice. She was the one responsible for this. She planned this.
He rasped at the door desperately, “Alice! Alice! Where are you? Let me out!” Crow screamed. Mary had started walking towards him. He turned to face her. Mary looked at him with her stone cold eyes and lunged at him. Crow narrowly avoided being touched by Mary and ran to the other side of the room, towards the window. Mary quickly turned around and daintily but, quickly ran towards him. He grabbed one of the boxes scattered around and threw it towards Mary. In one short moment, the box was on the floor, burning. As it continued to burn and spread to other flammable materials, Mary continued to run towards Crow. He moved away and slid between two towers made of damaged desks. He watched Mary slow down and knead through obstacles to get to him. By now, the fire was huge. It was quickly going to take over the classroom. Crow ran towards it, hoping it would scare the ghost away from him. She continued to follow him, knocking over papers as she did.
Finally, she was only a couple feet away from him. Mary lunged at him. Crow quickly got out of the way but, at the last minute she grabbed his foot and began to drag him into the inferno ravaging the classroom. Crow struggled and almost escaped. They fought for five minutes, screaming, kicking, and begging. In the end, Crow was too tired. Mary dragged him into the fire. The last thing Crow saw was Mary’s large, unfeeling, gray eyes and Alice’s figure looming in the distance.
Crow woke up in his classroom seat. The teacher was at the front of the room, talking. Crow looked to his left and Alice was there, staring. She held his gaze and finally said, “Now you are a dead student. Just like the rest of us.”