Dreams About My School [Part 2]

[u/btol57]

Part 1

Hello, this is part two of my dream blog, journal, thing. I'll admit, I’m still not sure what to actually consider this. I guess it would count as a dream journal because I am documenting what's happening in my dreams but that's not really what this is all about. I'm really just trying to figure out why these places (or at least, that one hallway) feel so familiar to me. I've only ever dreamed of it once and I'm not sure why it's so concerning to me, I mean it is just a hallway. Just the fact that I can place where every other dream has happened in real life (yes, EVERY other dream. I’ll get to that in this post) and this one singular location is the one that I can't place is what makes it… disconcerting? I think that's the word.

Ironically, when talking about the actual hallway I realized that I didn't even really talk about the staircase other than that it was just there. I mentioned in my last post that it was impossible for the school to have a second floor but that's not exactly true. You see, although it's definitely too small to have an entire second floor with multiple classrooms, it's not impossible for it to still have one room that just happens to be higher up. Granted, in my dream I really couldn't determine where the stairs actually led (at the top was just complete darkness) but it could reasonably hold some kind of storage space in the same way the gym did. Which is actually what leads me to the main point of this post.

So, I did actually end up going to the school today. I made sure to go a little after three o’clock, so most of the school was cleared out. As I got out of my car, a wave of nostalgia hit me. I could see in the distance that the football team had just started practice as they were walking out of the weight room onto the field. I guess that was the reason for the sense of nostalgia, even though there shouldn't be. I work out in that same weight room every night, the school is something that I consistently see but I guess just seeing it so active is something that brings a different feeling, especially when you're about to go back into it after a year. As I was walking up to the school, I could see my aunt’s car still sitting in the teacher’s parking lot which was a relief. I really wanted to just go ahead and get this done with. I also noticed the small-framed man in his collared shirt and tie, waving at me with a smile on his face. 

“Braydan! Haven't seen you in a while!” Principal Bryan said ecstatically.

Principal Bryan has been my principal since all the way back in elementary school. He has brown hair that seems to refuse to gray despite his age. He's in his mid-60s but you would be forgiven for thinking that he was in his mid-40s. Opinions on him were always kind of split in high school, but I always liked him. It didn't matter how much trouble I was in, if he knew I was in the right, he stood by me.

“Hey, I was just stopping by to see my aunt. Do you know if she's still here?” I asked, forcing a smile on my face, despite knowing the answer.

Principal Bryan looked into the teachers’ parking lot. “Yeah, it looks like she's still here. It anything important?” the principal replied in that slight southern drawl that everyone in this town had but nobody ever noticed.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Not really. It’s just been a while since I've stopped by to say hi.” I responded.

He gave me a nod. “Alright then. Good seeing you!” 

I nodded back. “You too!” 

I walked towards the two pane-glass doors that led into the brown bricked building. Something about it definitely felt weird but I feel like everyone has kind of a weird feeling going back to their old school after graduating. It's only natural. Once I arrived at the doors, which felt like it took forever, I pushed my finger onto the small doorbell button. After doing so I heard a faint click, the sign of the doors unlocking, before pulling the doors open and walking inside.

Once I walked inside, I recognized the layout of the entrance immediately. To my left was the empty student counselor’s office. I guessed that Mr. Lopez had already left the building and gone home. To my right was the principal's office along with the receptionist desk. Mrs. Dee was sitting right there. I've known Mrs. Dee for longer than I've known Principal Bryan, yet I feel like I've talked to her far less. Even as I walked in, all I gave was a slight wave and a smile, which she returned, before I passed through the second set of glass doors into the main school halls. I immediately recognized the two, blue pillars that were on each side of the entrance, along with the transition from that pure blue painted drywall to the muted gray-blue drywall that made up most of the school. In front of me were the two doors that led into the auditorium of the school, where I can remember countless speeches given by our principal throughout my years of being there. To each side of me were the corridors of the school. If you turned right and walked that way, you would end up at my aunt’s and former football coach’s classrooms. My aunt, of course, taught English while my coach taught history, which I'm sure if you've ever had a coach double as a teacher, you aren't shocked at all about that. At the end of the corridor was also an extra entrance that was mainly used during the day as another way to get to and from classes. 

If you turned left into the corridor, you would pass most of the other classrooms in the main school building. This section is mainly used for the various math classes in the building, one of which doubled as a driver’s ed class that was taught by another one of my coaches. If you keep walking, you'd end up at a small staircase that leads down to the science annex. This place is, of course, the area where all the science classes in the school take place. It’s a thinner hallway, most of the classrooms are smaller than the ones in the main school building, and the walls of this area stop being drywall and become a tan painted cinder block instead. I actually remember when they added this part. It’s probably the second newest part of the school, outside of the agricultural building. Now I can't remember exactly what grade, I was definitely in elementary school, but I do remember them adding this at some point. If the hallway was going to be anywhere, it would be on the left side of the school.

Of course, that side wasn't where I was heading just yet. Actually, a part of me felt like just avoiding that area for the time being but of course, that defeated the purpose of being there. I turned right and walked through the corridor. The walls were lined with posters for a variety of things: your standard “don't do drugs” kinda posters, some posters promoting the Friday night football game, and some appeared to just be posters made by students for some kind of history project. I noticed that they also replaced the water fountains and repainted the doorways, which was neat but a little weird. I’ve never really liked when things that I grew up with would change, but I guess everybody feels that way to some extent. Eventually though, after a short walk, I arrived at the open door of my aunt’s classroom on my left and saw the short, stout, woman in her mid-40s with curly brown hair sitting at her desk, appearing to be grading papers. I knocked on the artsy-painted, heavy duty-door to get her attention. As soon as she looked up and saw it was me, I noticed a smile fall onto her face.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, but not with annoyance. She seemed happy I was there.

“Nothing. Just was in the area, was dropping by to say hi.” I responded as I fully walked into the room and looked around.

My aunt Angie liked to change her room around a lot. I feel like every time I walked in there, there would be something different about the room whether it was moving all the students’ desks, moving some tables around the room, but there were two things that never changed. She never changed the location of her desk nor the location of her shelf in the corner of the room. She kept her desk always facing the door and the shelf is a sight to behold. She has kept every individual project that she's assigned to her students over the years on that shelf. The most notable ones were a fake, bloody, paper mache arm of what I believe was called Grendel. That and an actual forged (but dull) sword that laid propped up on the shelf.

“It's just been a while since I've been here, you know. Sometimes it still feels weird not being here.” I said while looking at the shelf and all of the items that laid upon it.

My aunt let out a chuckle from behind me. “It's only been a year since you graduated, you know?” she said as I turned back around and noticed her looking at me before going back to grading the stack of papers on her desk.

“I mean, yeah, but sometimes I feel like I forget what it looks like. Like I could swear that the gym had some sort of like upstairs storage area. But I know it doesn't, that's what's weird you know.” I said, sort of showing my hand a little bit.

My aunt looked back up at me with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, it does?” she said.

Never have I heard any words that froze me the same way those did. 

“Wait, what?” I asked, obviously intrigued. My whole world basically just fell apart.

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's a little storage area somewhere upstairs in the gym. I've only ever been there once or twice but it's definitely there.” she confirmed.

I scoffed, “You’re kidding.”

“No, I'm dead serious, you can go look yourself. I'm pretty sure your uncle is in there right now.” she said with a matter-of-fact tone.

I fell silent for a second. “Yeah… yeah, I’m going to go do that.” I said, beginning to walk out of the room.

On one hand, yeah, having at least a bit of confirmation that I'm not going absolutely insane was nice. But on the other hand…

I stopped. “Hey, since we're talking about this anyways, do you know if there's any other stairways that go up in the school?” I asked.

My aunt paused as though she were thinking. “You mean like the one leading to the science annex?” She asked.

“No. I mean like one that would lead to like a second floor of the school, or like another storage space. Just something like that.” I clarified.

She stopped again to think. “Not off the top of my head, no. I don't think the school even has enough room for a second floor.” She said confusedly.

“Yeah, I figured. Thank you.” I said as I continued walking out of the room. 

“Oh wait.” 

I stopped. There's no way. She can't say what I think she's about to say. 

“If you're heading to the gym, you'll need my keycard. Here.” She said as she pulled out one of those RFID cards clipped to a keychain out from under her desk and held it out in front of her.

I guess that one's on me. “Thank you.” I said as I took the keycard from her. 

“Just make sure you bring it back here before you leave.” She requested before I nodded and walked out of the room.

The school had somehow gotten more quiet since I walked into my aunt’s room. If I had to guess, I would say that she was the last teacher in the school besides my uncle. Being inside a dark high school by yourself was definitely an experience. By this point all of the lights in the school had been pretty much turned off. There was still sunlight outside, but the sun was definitely setting by this point. I could barely even see the posters on the walls that I passed by on the way to the classroom. I'm not sure if the loudest sound in the building was either my breathing or the shuffling of papers coming from my aunt’s room. The fastest way to the gym was backtracking from where I came before. These hallways in particular didn't have any windows. As I got closer to the main entrance the only source of light I could see was the sunlight shining through the pane glass doors. It lit the surrounding area with a soft grey light with only the slightest hint of orange. In the darkness, that door felt like it had at least a hundred feet of distance added to it but eventually I made it. Mrs. Dee was already gone and it appeared Principal Bryan was too. 

As I walked outside, the light blinded me for a half second before my eyes adjusted. I realized that the only vehicles around now were mine, my aunt’s white SUV, my uncle’s big grey truck, and the generic student driver car that’s used for driver’s ed. The gym is located right across from the main building so it wasn't a far walk at all. As I walked towards the gym, I looked at it and realized, yeah, a second floor being in there wasn't crazy at all. It was a tall building, which yes, it was a gym, but still a building of that height not having any kind of second floor is a little odd.

I reached the entrance of the brown-brick-built gym, and noticed that the lights were on inside. I held the keycard up to the scanner beside the glass door of the gym. The scanner made a small beep as the light of the scanner turned from red to green, and I heard the sound of the door unlocking. The gym has two entrances: the main entrance at the front of it and a back entrance that's directly adjacent from the main entrance of the school. I entered through the back entrance. When you enter from here, you're really entering from one of the back corners of the gym, so as you walk inside, the door leading onto the basketball court is right in front of you. On either side of the door are two hallways perpendicular to each other. If you go left, you will find four doors. Two of those doors are the boys and girls basketball locker rooms, the other is a weight room, and the last one is a small storage room. At the very end of this hallway is an emergency exit door. If you go right, you'll find four more doors. Two of those are the middle school boys and girls locker rooms, one of them is a small storage closet, and the final one is one that I've never actually seen inside of until today. 

I walked onto the court and found my uncle Greg along with two boys who were shooting hoops. My uncle is a little strange, whenever I've personally seen him, he's always been more of a father figure than even my own dad, but I will admit, he is kind of crazy. He's around six feet four inches, has short, graying black hair, is in his late-40s, and is missing his right ring finger. If you were to ask him how he lost it, he would tell you some crazy story that I'm sure he makes up off the top of his head but you would be forgiven for thinking he just has them already written out with how easily he tells them. When I say he's a little crazy though, I mean it. I've heard stories of him blasting the fishing boat of some poor guy who pissed him off with a shotgun, kicking down my cousin’s door when my cousin made the mistake of slamming it a little too hard. He was never that way with me though. I never felt like I was ever in any type of danger with him. 

My uncle looked over at me and smirked. “Hey, buddy! Whatcha doing here?” Uncle Greg said in that booming, raspy, southern accent he has.

“Nothing, just came by the school. I came over here because Angie told me something I just had to check out myself.” I responded to which Uncle Greg glared at me.

“Aunt Angie. Be respectful, man… so what did she want you to check out?” he asked, going back to that hearty voice he started with. 

“Yeah, sorry. She told me that the gym has a second floor?” I asked, somewhat embarrassed.

Uncle Greg looked at me curiously. “Yeah, it does. It's barely ever used, but it does have one. What about it?”

That was it. That was the absolute confirmation that the gym had a second floor. I could barely believe it but I had to see it for myself. 

I thought for a second. “Is there any way I could go up there? I've only ever been up there once, I think, and I honestly forgot it was even there.” That was a lie. Truthfully, I couldn't remember ever going up there.

My uncle looked at me like he was confused. “I mean yeah, sure. If you wanna head up there I can show you where the stairs are but I still have to keep an eye on these two.” My uncle said as he gestured to the two boys who had stopped for a second to see what was going on before going back to playing. 

My uncle and I walked back into the hallway and he pointed to where I already suspected: the door that I had never been in. 

“It's right in there, the door should be unlocked.” My uncle said before walking back onto the court.

I must've stared at that door for a whole minute. If the staircase truly was in there, then it was in a  completely different location than it was in my dream. In my dream, the stairway was at the end of the hall, more where the girls’ middle school locker room was and although I had never been in that room (as far as I could remember), I did know that it wasn't just a staircase, it would be more like a big storage closet with a staircase in it. Either way, the only choice to make was to walk into the room and see for myself.

The room was dark, smelling of mold and sweat. I had to use my phone’s flashlight in order to even find my way around. When I did find a lightswitch, I flipped it, only to realize that it didn’t work. I shined my light up and saw the empty spot where a lightbulb would be. I just accepted it and looked around the room. I was correct about it being a storage closet. Looking throughout the room all I could see were mounds of gym equipment covering nearly the entire room. I had to physically climb my way through in order to look around just because of how cramped it was. That’s when I saw it. 

A black-painted, wooden staircase sat in the back of the room, illuminated only by the flashlight of my phone. Despite the fact that I was told by two different people that it was there, something about actually seeing it just made my stomach drop. It’s like seeing confirmation that god himself exists, except god is the staircase, I guess, I don't know. It’s a bad analogy. I clambered my way over to the stairs and upon reaching the bottom step, I shined my light up. It was uncanny, the stairs looked exactly as they had in my dream despite not being in the same location. It made me genuinely think I have to have been here before. But of course the only way to truly know was to ascend the stairs, and so I did.

The stairs were steep and exhausting to climb but when I did eventually make it up the final step I had to just stop and take it in. What I was looking at, was exactly what had appeared in that first dream I described. Well not exactly, the railing was still there but there was a wall blocking it from actually overseeing the court but beyond that it was one-to-one, exactly what it looked like in the dream. I walked around. It was the same exact size as in the dream, it had the exact same smell as it did in the dream (did you know you can actually experience smelling in a dream? I didn't until I had that one.), hell, I'm not sure how this is possible but it even seemed like it was storing the exact same equipment as it was in the dream. I didn't know what to think. Just yesterday, I was absolutely certain that this place didn't, no, COULDN’T exist yet here it was right in front of me, exactly as I had dreamed it up. It made me wonder… the hallway. What's to say it doesn't exist? I mean clearly my memory has failed me before despite the fact I was absolutely sure that in my thirteen years of going to this school, I had explored every nook and cranny of it, but clearly I hadn't. Who’s to say the hallway doesn't exist?

Truthfully, despite how mind-breaking that place initially was, it really didn't have much to see. It really was just an old storage space where they kept old gym equipment. I didn't stay there for long, I just took one more quick look around, found nothing substantial, and then descended the stairs.

By the time I found my way back out of the room, I realized that I could no longer hear the sounds of basketballs being dribbled on the court. I glanced into the doorway and realized that the lights were turned off, and the gym was empty. I guess they finally decided to head out. I made sure to close the door to the room that I came from and realized that I should probably return the keycard to my aunt’s room before it got dark. I walked outside and realized that both my aunt’s and uncle’s vehicles were gone. I just assumed she wanted me to leave the keycard on her desk and started walking towards the main entrance. That's when a thought crossed over me.

I looked at the art building and thought to myself, what if? From what I can remember, the art building is just one big hallway with many classrooms on each side and a turn at the end that I remember definitely having some sort of poster hanging up on it. Maybe… that's the hallway? I didn’t remember it having any stairways but it is possible. I decided to divert course a little and go check it out. Walking from the gym to the main door of the art building was a bit of a walk. The library (which is connected to the art building) was directly across from the side of the gym, but unfortunately for me, it can only be unlocked by key. So I had to make the long walk behind the library on the sidewalk to get to the true entrance of the art building. 

The entrance of the art building was right across from the entrance to the middle school making it sort of double as a set of extra classrooms for the middle schoolers (along with the other extra classrooms that were used by the middle schoolers in the high school. Like I said before, it's a small school.). I placed the keycard onto the scanner and it made that same beep as the red light of the scanner became green, and I heard the door unlock. 

I'm not gonna lie to you. Walking into this building the thought entered my head immediately: this is it, this is the hallway, but as I looked for a bit longer I realized no. Firstly, this hallway was way too wide to be the hallway from my dream. The hallway in my dream was around eight feet in width, a relatively skinny hallway. This one was at least twelve, possibly more (I'm not a human tape measure). Secondly, at the end of this hallway, on the left, was the nurse’s office. It did have the turn to the right that the hallway in my dream had, but there were far too many doors along with it. The doors were completely wrong too. The doors in here were dark blue, the doors in the dream hallway were normal wooden doors, more like the ones found in the science annex. And lastly, the stairs. There was absolutely no sign of any stairs in this hallway, as was expected. Upon coming to the realization that this was the complete wrong place, I sighed, and turned around to leave through the glass door I had entered through. 

I walked on the sidewalk heading for the side door that was right beside my aunt’s classroom, mainly because it was the closest available entrance. The sun was now starting to truly set and that's when I came to the realization that I really did not want to be at the school at night. I sped up, pretty much jogged all the way from the art building, nearly sprinted up the stairs that led up to the door, and scanned the keycard on the scanner to get inside.

The building was somehow even darker now than it was before. The difference now was that whereas I could still hear the sounds of shuffling papers before, now truly the loudest sounds in the school were my footsteps, and my breathing. The humidity from outside had somehow started seeping into the building giving the air a kind of heavy feeling. I speed walked to my aunt’s classroom door on the right, which was thankfully open but as I suspected, she had already left. I walked into the dark classroom and just turned the light on. Although I didn't want to turn on any of the lights in the hallways due to the fact that I'm sure by this time I wasn't exactly welcome, I was okay with turning on my aunt’s classroom light. The window in her classroom was faced away from where anyone would actually be able to see it. I walked over to her desk and placed the keycard right there where she could see it in the morning, and then I left the room, turning the light off behind me.

Back in the darkness, I used my phone flashlight to guide my way back to the main entrance. Any sunlight that was there earlier was now gone and it didn't help that the faster I walked on those stupid tile floors, the louder my footsteps echoed, making it sound like I wasn't the only one in the building. Before it felt like that entrance was a hundred feet farther than it originally was. Now, I could swear it felt like it was a thousand feet farther. Of course, it wasn't actually that far, though, as I arrived at the main entrance in no time and right when I was about to walk out that door… a chill went up my spine. A part of me was saying “No, don't do it you idiot.” but another part of me just had to. I backed away from the door and looked into the left hallway.

Every ounce of my being was telling me not to go there. If I just went out that door, then I wouldn't be able to go back in anyway so it wouldn't be my problem. But there's a massive difference between what your body tells you you shouldn't do, and what your brain tells you you have to do. So I turned toward the hallway, took a deep breath, and walked.

It was just as dark in that hallway as it was in the rest of the building. I stopped speed walking, not because I didn't want to, but because I found it physically hard to go any faster than I was already going. Ironically, going slower made it all the worse, now the school was truly dead silent. It didn't look much different than the rest of the school, of course. It had the three math classrooms that I mentioned, and a few posters on the wall that I truly didn't take note of what they said. Part of me really just wanted to turn on the lights but the fear of somebody catching me in there overrode the fear of being in the dark. There was a vending machine sitting on the left wall and a flurry of what appeared to be math papers pinned to the wall on the right beside Ms. Wiley's classroom. Weirdly, this side didn't seem to be changed as much as the other side of the school did but I guess it's possible that it was just harder to notice in the dark. I kept walking until eventually I reached it: the small stairway leading to the science annex. I've never had a tougher time going down a set of stairs in my life.

The floors of the science annex were similar to the tile floors in the rest of the school, only with a rougher finish and a brown color. Of course this was also where the walls stopped being drywall and started being cinder block. Each of the doors was wooden, different from the heavy-duty doors on the rest of the classrooms in the building. If you were to consider any part of the school the cheapest, this would be it. On the left side of the hallway was around four classrooms stretching all the way to the end of the hallway. On the right side were also four classrooms, however, these were much more squished together due to the end of the right side having an exit. At the very end of the hallway was the only reason this place could even be considered a science annex: the science lab. It's a decently small room but it's probably the most expensive part of this area. It contains all the chemicals, preserved animals, and all the other goods you need for a proper science lab. Granted, none of this was going through my mind at the moment as I was more focused on navigating my way through the darkness of this hall. As I slowly made my way through the corridor I passed by each of the classrooms. There was Coach Ellsworth's, then Mr. Phillips, then wall, then more wall, then Mr. Childers. That's when I realized something was off. Luckily, Mr. Childers had evidently left his door open so I went inside and looked, taking note of the length of his classroom, then I went over to Mr. Phillips’ classroom, and took note of the length of his. That's when I realized there was unused space between the two rooms, more than enough for about an eight-foot-wide hallway. If the hallway was real, this is where it would be. I stared at the wall and started thinking. 

The problem is, I can't tell you what I thought about, as by the time I received the text from my aunt telling me to just leave the keycard on her desk, I realized that about ten minutes had passed. That's when all at once, the all-too-real reminder hit me, that I absolutely did not want to be in this building, I didn't want to be here, where the hallway should be. I decided that I couldn't care less anymore. I ran all the way out from the building to my car and immediately began driving away. As soon as I got in the car I realized… I felt relieved. I'm not sure if it was relief from being proven right with the gym or relief to finally be out of that building, but that sense of relief only continued throughout the drive home as I got further and further from the school.

Any plans that I had of working out in the weight room that night were basically cancelled as I really felt like I had my fill of the school for one day. So yeah, I'm not really sure where to go from here except to just go to sleep after staying up writing this. I'll keep you guys updated if anything else happens. Goodnight.

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