Picture on the Wall

[This is an OC and any characters or events portrayed in this story are pure coincidence]

In a small town in Ohio, a tradition was started years ago in a high school where everyday after school, pictures of girls from school were put up on the mirror of the second floor boy's bathroom. If you were brave enough, you would take the picture of the girl you liked and put your name at the bottom (These were polaroids) which indicated you had a crush on her. The next day, you would stick the photo to the girl's locker, letting you know how you felt. It was simple enough, but usually it was only the popular kids who did it.

One day, a Sophomore by the name of Anthony Roberts decided to let his crush know how he felt about her. When class ended he rushed to the bathroom, only to be stopped by the dean. He had to do at least ten minutes of service to make up for "lack of effort" in P.E. He ran over to the gymnasium to get the ten minutes done and left to go to the bathroom. He saw the mirror covered in photos. One by one, he searched for the girl. Reachind the end, he gave up thinking the picture was taken.

The next day, he walked by the girl's locker. Expecting to find a photo there, he saw nothing. He was confused. Maybe he was at the wrong locker, but he knew for sure her locker number was 1408, like the book by Stephen King. He went to the bathroom hoping to see her picture, but just like yesterday, it wasn't there. He went throughout the day continuing his normal routine.

First Period.

"What if someone kept the photo?"

Second Period.

"What if we don't have a polaroid of her?"

Third Period.

"What if her photo got lost?"

Fourth Period.

"What if she left the school?"

Lunch.

"What if she left town?"

After many what ifs, he just tried to stop thinking about it. He walked out of the cafeteria and into the hallway feeling as if he were the only person in there. When he reached his locker, he noticed something strange peeking through the little holes in his locker. He took off the lock and didn't even have to open the locker. It swung open, tons of polaroid pictures pouring out. He jumped and nearly fell to the floor. When the pictures stopped pouring, he took the time to examine the pictures. Everybody was staring at him and there were many photos laying on the floor. To his surprise, the pictures looked very familiar and they were all the same.

They were pictures of the girl he liked with the words "NOT HERE!" written on the bottom in red.

The dean came walking down the hall and yelled at Anthony to pick up the pictures. He picked them up and put them in his P.E. bag. When he went home he unloaded the pictures from the bag and examined each and every one of them. They were all the same. They were all pictures of her with the words "NOT HERE!" written on the bottom.

"Who the hell did this?" He whispered to himself, going over all of the photos spread across the floor.

The phone rang and his mother picked it up. "Anthony! It's for you!"

"Who is it?" He asked reaching for the phone.

"I don't know. They didn't say."

He grabbed the phone. "Hello?" No response. No response for a few seconds, but then, there was static. Static? Through a phone? Then there was giggling. Faint giggling. Then, in some other language, the words, "No se ha encontrado!" were uttered. Then it was, "Nicht gefunden!" and "Non trovato!" and even "Nie znaleziono!" He was able to play the voice back on a machine and listened to it. His mom was close enough to hear it and said, "Oh two of those are Spanish and German."

"What does it mean?" He asked.

"Um, not found. Why? Who is that?"

He dropped the phone and ran to his room. He got all the photos and threw them into the garbage outside his house. He went straight to bed after that.

3:33 A.M.

He woke up from what sounded like a door slamming shut. He tried to go back to sleep, but the noise came back. He got up and looked out his door. As always, the front door was closed. He was about to head back to bed when he noticed the chain lock was swinging. He walked over to place it back and heard someone walking behind him. He turned around and saw his door closed. He went to open it, but it was locked.

He knocked. "Hello?" He heard something. No, someone. Giggling! It was the giggling he heard on the phone earlier! He panicked and rushed to his parents' bedroom, but the door was locked too. He knocked and knocked and knocked until his knuckles hurt. No one opened the door. He went to the kitchen and grabed the flashlight. He walked outside and went around the house to his bedroom windor. The curtains were shut and he tried to open the window. It wouldn't budge, so he tried breaking the glass. The moment he hit the window, he felt like something was pushing back. He kept trying and trying, but there wasn't even a scratch on the window. He gave up and walked back to the front hoping to sleep one the couch. He reached for the door knob, but saw the door was wide open.

Someone got inside. Someone was standing at the end of the hall. Someone with long brown hair and tanned skin and—the girl! It was the girl!

"Hello? Is it really you?"

No response. He walked into the house.

"What are you doing here?"

No response. He closed the door and walked closer.

"Can you hear me? Is something wrong?"

No response. He was right behind her.

"Please say something! I'm getting scared."

Her head lifted up and in a rough voice, she said, "Not found!"

He reached out for her shoulder and found her body falling into many pieces. Blood was everywhere. Her stomach was there. Her brain was there. Her bones were all together. He screamed to the top of his lungs and ran to the phone, dialed 911 and awaited for the police.

A good minute passed until the local police came and searched the house.

"What are you doing? She's right there?"

He points to the floor where he could clearly see her remains.

"What are you talking about?" The police officer said, puzzled at the empty floor. "There's nothing here."

"Sir," Another police officer called out, "There's no one here."

The police officer gave Anthony a look and said, "Is this a joke?"

"No."

Another police officer comes in, "Do you think this is funny?"

"No!" He's screaming now.

The second police officer comes up to him and grabs him, "There's nothing here kid! No one else has lived here since 1955!"

"What?" Then their faces changed—literally! They had no mouths. They walked out and left the house.

The next day, a mysterious fire started in the house. The parents got out, but Anthony was nowhere to be found.

Turns out, the girl apparently never existed. The dean snagged a picture when Anthony's locker opened that day. She wasn't recognized by the staff, teachers, and students.

On the spot where the house used to be, laid a picture. Just one picture.

It was a little burnt up, but you could make out the picture.

A boy from the same high school got the picture and said, "Hey, she looks familiar, and really cute."

The End.