First Day of School
a Washington Ghost Story
retold by S.E. Schlosser
She was brand-new history teacher to the school and had been preparing her first lesson in her mind for weeks. This was her very first teaching job, and she wanted it to go well. The night before classes began, she couldn't eat and tossed and turned restlessly all night. Up early, she was in her new classroom, sweeping the floor, tidying the desks, and putting up welcome signs just after dawn.
Finally -- FINALLY -- the first bell rang and her very first class came rushing in through the door. They were eager and lively and full of high spirits. She felt her heart lift at the sight of their fresh faces, and soon a lively dialogue between teacher and new students was established. They liked her, she could tell. And they were smart too. She tossed review questions lightly at them to see how much information they'd retained from the previous grade, and they were prompt to answer. And most of the answers were correct.
One particular lad, sitting in one of the front desks, was particularly knowledgable about history. She was impressed by his answers, and more impressed by the fact that he did not push himself forward as the class "know it all". He answered quickly and quietly, and let others take their turns. He had bright blue eyes and curly dark hair, and his smile was impish. He smiled alot, soaking in information like a sponge. The teacher smiled at him and tossed out another history question, seemingly at random, which he answered promptly after a pause indicated no one else knew how to respond.
At that moment, the bell rang. The teacher smiled as she heard it. Her very first class of her very first day as a teacher had been a success. Then, to her surprise, the curly-haired boy in the front row got up promptly from his seat and hurried toward the door of the class room without waiting for her to dismiss the class. That seemed strange, after his polite behavior during the class. She opened her mouth to reprimand him and then gasped as he walked straight through the wall beside the door and vanished.
The teacher felt her eyes widen and her mouth go dry in shock. Around her, the living students exclaimed in shock and fear. "Did you see?" shrieked one of the girls. "Did you see? He went right through the wall!"
"A ghost! He was a ghost," the boy sitting next to the ghost shouted, banging the desk in his agitation.
There was pandamonium in the room for about five minutes while the students from the first class exclaimed in excitement and fear while the students filing in for the next class tried to figure out what was going on. The teacher sat on the edge of her desk feeling faint and dizzy. It wasn't until a student brought her a drink of water that she recovered herself enough to dismiss the first class and welcome in the second.
The new teacher found out over lunch with her colleagues that the school building had the reputation for being haunted by the ghosts of students who had died too young. Footsteps were heard after hours. Janitors reported the sounds of children talking and laughing inside darkened classrooms, and sometimes felt invisible presences rushing down the empty hallways. But she was the first teacher to see a ghost student in her classroom.
The new teacher exited the school after her first day in a thoughtful mood. So, this was teaching. Eager students, belligerant students, funny students, and one ghost. "I wonder what day two will bring?" she asked aloud, and then shrugged and went home to dinner.
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Comments
brilliant
Posted by: nisreen lukmanjee | November 9, 2009 08:40 AM
Wow. I love Scary stories. But dont listen to music while reading this story you CANNOT consantrate!
Posted by: Miss.Scary Stories! !! love dem! | December 18, 2009 12:09 PM
love this storie
Posted by: Anonymous | December 30, 2009 02:36 PM
SORRY NOT GOOD
Posted by: BUFRBJ ERUJ | January 26, 2010 09:56 AM
it was such a great story i want to read it like a trillion times!
lol!!!!
Posted by: guppy | February 7, 2010 06:11 PM
i didn't think it was that good lol
Posted by: ee | February 15, 2010 02:54 PM
diz storie iz wack
Posted by: michele | February 25, 2010 12:20 PM
is best story
Posted by: Anonymous | March 2, 2010 02:26 AM
this one wasnt scary but it was good
Posted by: iwonttellol | March 20, 2010 02:59 PM
hmmm...u should write more very short story well it felt like incompleted well i think i can say it was good:-)
Posted by: cuty K | March 27, 2010 04:28 PM
not very scary, HATED the ending, too casual, such a big lead up to..... NOTHING!!!!
Posted by: anonymos | March 31, 2010 01:02 AM
Very well said, I liked the building of the story...AWSOME!!!
Posted by: OMG! | April 28, 2010 04:29 PM
I agree with the anonymos person,Great lead but then there was not to much reaction. WRITE MORE THOUGH.
Posted by: Mayy | May 6, 2010 04:07 PM
wow..... i love scary stories
Posted by: sexiness | May 21, 2010 03:36 PM
I thought it coul be a LITTLE bit longer. Like the ghost turns more kids into ghosts or something like that
Posted by: Emma | June 12, 2010 01:22 PM
that was good but not scary
Posted by: anonymos | August 5, 2010 04:16 PM
hey Taylor Swift again i want to also say that it was kinda funny at the end and was not that scary
Posted by: Taylor swift | August 6, 2010 01:52 AM
911 SUPER SCARY STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Hannah | September 19, 2010 12:46 PM
it was alright... seemingly very true
Posted by: mad | September 24, 2010 03:51 PM
this story is ok i really liked it but are the stories on ameican folklore real i mean some of them sound fake and some dont
Posted by: Anonymous | September 25, 2010 12:54 PM
Omg make it longer I wannywx to know wat happed
Posted by: HahA stacy storir lvrr | October 4, 2010 12:20 AM
clever
Posted by: Anonymous | October 13, 2010 11:33 PM
it was more of a funny story to me but not scary but its was ok!
Posted by: lilly | November 1, 2010 05:09 PM
nce story..realy very nce i liked it.......
Posted by: nishma | November 3, 2010 09:34 AM
best story ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: you don't need to know | November 4, 2010 05:24 PM
day two will bring all the students in the class getting fs becuz they were so freaked out they couldnt concentrate ^.^
Posted by: Holly | November 5, 2010 06:04 PM
cool!
Posted by: henna | December 3, 2010 04:36 AM
scary mary !
Posted by: Billy | December 17, 2010 07:01 AM
WoW im a teacher and i have heard stories about haunted schools before and i hav a college who swears there uesd to be a ghost kid at her old school and only her and another teacher could see her weird!
Posted by: willow | January 9, 2011 08:22 PM
Kind of cheesy.. but still good
Posted by: Camerin | January 17, 2011 12:53 PM
sorry its not so scary for me
Posted by: Anonymous | February 25, 2011 09:48 PM
Scary and Awesome!
Posted by: Lacey | March 4, 2011 12:46 PM
WoW im a teacher and i have heard stories about haunted schools before and i hav a college who swears there uesd to be a ghost kid at her old school and only her and another teacher could see her weird!
Posted by: EmLo | March 23, 2011 08:14 PM
That was SOOOO AWESOME
Posted by: ellie | April 3, 2011 07:37 PM
it was okay . not scary but interestin.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 3, 2011 01:37 PM
pretty good
Posted by: charlee | July 18, 2011 04:10 PM
I'de say it was a pretty nice story but It could've been scarier.
Posted by: MO | July 25, 2011 02:27 PM
somebody call holy cow tha-a-at was awe-some!!!!! woah! :)
Posted by: dest | August 6, 2011 07:20 PM
that's kinda sweet ^_^
Posted by: Anonymous | August 15, 2011 07:07 PM
make it longer!!
Posted by: Maryy | October 31, 2011 08:02 AM