The Janitor

The school bell rang; the day had come an end. All three friends, Rasmus, Oscar and Simon were about to leave school when Rasmus dropped his folder on the ground. As he reached to pick up the folder he saw the janitor fumbling with something but he stopped as he slowly raised his head towards Rasmus. A cold feeling ran up his spine and Rasmus felt his eyes staring into his soul as he quickly turned around and caught up with his friends.

They started to discuss things about the janitor, like all the pranks they had played on him. They also started to discuss if they should do any pranks later that day.  After a lot of ideas and laughs Simon came up with a great idea that they all liked fire crackers. They agreed on meeting outside school at 6 o’clock.

After a lot of waiting at home, Rasmus realized that he had to go. He had never done a prank like this and he was really nervous about it, he was thinking about them getting caught, what his parents would say but he would do it. He put on his hoodie as he left and locked the door.

Everyone was there. Oscar had all the fireworks. He opened his bag and took out a fire cracker; he showed them how to do it. They walked towards the janitor’s house. All of them laughed and talked about girls but he was interrupted by that cold feeling that Rasmus got earlier that day. He started to worry, turned around and he saw a black shadow but it disappeared. Everyone got that scary feeling.

Simon could see the house and whispered to the rest of them where it was. Nobody seemed to be home, all the lights were turned off and there were no cars. They spotted the mailbox but it was next to the door. Rasmus and Oscar walked towards the mailbox. The closer they got, the scarier it got, they were about to turn around when they saw that the door wasn’t locked. Rasmus said that there was nobody there. Oscar’s curiosity took over but Rasmus hesitated. He slowly opened the door and cried out to see if someone was there, no one answered. They shouted with a whispering voice to Simon to come in. The darkness covered the whole room but fortunately they had flashlights, each one of them. As fast as they walked in they got that cold feeling again. Rasmus felt drips of sweat running down his forehead. The light from the flashlights searched through the hallway. There was just an empty shoe shelf. It seemed like nobody had been there since, ever. The smell, unpainted walls, half broken floor and spider web were all over the corners. There was only a dusty set of furniture in the living room. Simon whispered that they should go upstairs, the other hesitated but they agreed at last.

When they went upstairs the door shut downstairs, they had to hide, fast! Rasmus hid near the stairs, he could hear footsteps getting louder and louder. The man yelled, “Hello.” Can it be the… His words got interrupted by a heavy hand resting on his shoulder and a deep voice asking them what they were doing there. He turned around, it was the janitor.

Rasmus screamed and the janitor tried to calm him down, and kept telling him that he wouldn’t hurt him. He calmed down and but Rasmus started to scream again, when the others heard it they ran towards the janitor. When they saw that it was the janitor, they just stopped. He asked again what they’re doing there, they told him all about the pranks, that they thought he was scary, about the cold feelings and everything else. He understood them and told them that it was okay but only if they wouldn’t do it again. They swore that it was over, no more pranks. He told them he could follow them home because it was dark and could be dangerous. They accepted the offer. They didn’t want to be disrespectful.

“Sorry, but I need to ask, how did your parents die?”  The janitor told them all about the murder and sorrow, it happened in 1856. Rasmus felt sympathy for him but, he realized something. How can he live 150 years after his parents died?