The school loomed over the surrounding forest. It was set up with three separate buildings in a U-shape. The main building, where the classes took place, was in the center. To the right was the gymnasium, and to the left was the auditorium. In between the buildings sat a track field and a covered-up swimming pool. The thick feeling of miasma sat heavy in the air, thicker than the Harrington House, but not as bad as when Bloody Mary appeared. Leslie was standing next to the school's front gate when Belle arrived. As soon as he stepped out of the car Leslie came running.
"Are you ready to go?" He asks anxiously.
"Yup, you gonna come with?" Belle questions. Leslie quickly nods his head. They set off, hopping the gate and traveling down the road toward the school. As they walk, Belle asks Leslie a question.
"When you had a bad feeling about this place, what did you mean by that?"
"It felt wrong like I wasn't supposed to be here, and as I looked closer, I swear I saw a dark cloud over the school," Leslie responds. 'He must be talking about the miasma, if he can see that, there's potential he can see spirits too.'
"Okay, here's the plan, we only need to focus on a few places. The fourth classroom on the second floor, the girl's bathroom on the first floor, the storage room on the second floor, and the rooftop." Belle says.
"Why?" Leslie questions.
"Because these rooms are where most of the paranormal activity takes place. Your brother probably went to one of those places as part of the test of courage." Belle explains. They've reached the track field and are cutting across it to get to the main building.
"That makes sense, right then, let's get my brother back!" Leslie shouts, jumping into the air with his fist raised.
"Okay then." Belle chuckles. The system gives him the mission right as they enter the main building.
[Mission details: Find four pieces of evidence, defeat the evil spirit, and rescue the missing person.]
[Evidence Found:0/4]
[Evil Spirits Defeated:0/1]
[Missing People Rescued:0/1]
The miasma gets thicker as they step inside, visibly putting Leslie on edge.
"Don't worry, I can protect you." Belle offers comfort, opening the system and grabbing the axe. It now has some bandages on the handle and a faint blood splatter on the blade. Leslie seems more uncomfortable by the arrival of the axe, Belle rubs the back of his head sheepishly. He heads to the store, and buys some talismans, depleting his Ghost Points to 37.
[Talismans are a staple in the supernatural community, with some claiming they can do anything from helping you win the lottery to keeping violent ghosts at bay. To use these talismans you must directly apply them to a spirit, the talisman will paralyze the spirit for 3 minutes]
The item was quite overpowered. If Belle had looked at it before the Bloody Mary fight, he could've done something if the system was to be believed. Belle doubted it, though. They wouldn't cost so little if they were that useful. There must be a loophole somewhere. Belle hands the talismans to Leslie.
"If a ghost attacks you, stick this on them." He explains. Leslie examines the talismans, nodding to show he understands. Belle takes this chance to start the stream, catching Leslie's wide eyes as the camera floats up.
[Due to the expected influx of viewers, would you like to turn on donations only? This will allow only donations to show up in your vision and will make chat invisible.]
[Yes] [No]
Belle thinks for a second before clicking the [Yes] button. He never really read chat anyway and it was more of an annoyance to have it in his vision while fighting. With the stream officially starting, Belle did his introduction.
"Welcome everyone! Today I am at Flower Ridge High School. The school used to be a top-tier learning environment, with many of its students going to distinguished universities. But that all changed after the suicide of a student. People reported seeing strange figures and hearing whispers when they were alone. It all culminated in the suicide of another student, causing them to close the school and leave it abandoned. I have turned on donations only so I can focus on fighting, this means that if you want your message to be seen you have to donate. I also have a special guest with me today, his name is Leslie and he will be my assistant." Belle says, grabbing Leslie and holding him in front of the camera. Leslie waves and introduces himself.
"Today we're going to search the school, searching for evidence and other things. I've narrowed it down to four locations, a second-floor classroom, a storage room, a girl's bathroom, and the rooftop." Belle explains, "You ready?" He asks, turning to Leslie.
"Yeah." He responds with determination. Belle decides they should go to the girl's bathroom first, there's only one girl's bathroom in the entire school and it's on the first floor, every other bathroom is a unisex bathroom. As they walk down the hallway, a cool breeze chills their skin, causing goosebumps to rise on their arms. Leslie shivers, and they hear the distant sound of a door banging open and closed. Leslie is tense, glancing this way and that as they turn down another hallway, this one darker than the last. The bathrooms sit at the end of the hallway, but they offer little respite to the depressing atmosphere.
"You don't have to worry so much, there's nothing to be afraid of, just think of the ghosts as giant cockroaches, way less scary then, right?" Belle tries to comfort him. Leslie's face sets in a grim line as he is confronted with the mental image of giant cockroaches flying around.
"That doesn't really help me, thanks anyway though, right, time to focus!" Leslie hypes himself up, slapping his cheeks. Belle chuckles at Leslie's actions as they step into the bathroom. It's dark, with only a sliver of moonlight peeking through the window to light the room. There are four stalls in front of them and two sinks to the left. The first two stalls are wide open while the last two are closed. Belle heads to the last stall first, opening the stall and peering inside. The walls are scribbled with standard graffiti befitting a school bathroom, but there was one concerning message on the back wall, just above the toilet.
My name is Helen, I am a stupid, ugly, bitch, and I should just die, I like sleeping with other girl's boyfriends and am a no-good cheating slut.
Whoever wrote the message clearly didn't write it about themselves, but what was even more concerning was the number of graffiti surrounding the message, all agreeing with it and shaming the 'Helen' girl even more.
[Evidence Found:1/4]
"Who would do something like that?" Leslie gasps upon seeing the writing.
"I don't know, but it seems like somebody was bullying this Helen girl," Belle replies. They turn around to leave the room, but Belle stops in his tracks.
[ 20 dollar donation by Plsletmeleavethebasement: I dare you to summon Hanako-san.]
"Right, I usually wouldn't risk my life but twenty dollars is twenty dollars," Belle states, turning to the third stall. The tale of Hanako-san is a Japanese urban legend that is passed around in schools. There are many debates about the origin of the story but most agree that the spirit is a little school girl who will appear if you knock three times and say her name on the third stall of the third-floor girl's bathroom. Considering this isn't the third floor, Belle had doubts this would even work.
"What are you going to do?" Leslie asks nervously.
"I'm going to summon Hanako-san." Belle states, he approaching the closed door of the third stall.
"Hanako-san, Hanako-san, Hanako-san." He calls out, knocking on the stall door. Nothing happens as they sit there for a minute.
"Hm, looks like she's not coming," Belle says, turning around right when the temperature suddenly dips. The stall opens and a hand shoots out, grabbing onto Belle's clothes.
"C'mon mister, don't you want to play?" An eerie little girl's voice comes from the stall as Belle struggles against the hand. The miasma starts to creep into the room, little by little.
"Talisman would be helpful!" Belle calls out to Leslie.
"Right!" He shouts, grabbing one of the talismans and slapping it on the hand. The hand goes slack, releasing its grip on Belle who quickly ducks out of the way. They watch as the hand starts to twitch.
"That's not going to last long so let's get the hell out of here!" Belle cries out, as he grabs Leslie's hand and runs out of the bathroom. They start running down the hallway, toward the stairs of the second floor, they can hear the noise of bare feet slapping on the ground not far behind them. They run up the stairs and find a classroom to duck in, they hide under a table in the back.
"Where aaaaare youuuu! I don't want to do anything bad, I just want to bring you back home and gobble you up." The cutesy voice chants. They listen as the sounds of someone humming approach the door and stop in front of it. They wait, holding their breaths, until the humming moves on. They release a sigh of relief when the door opens, and they freeze. The miasma curls into the room, making it hard to breathe and causing their vision to go fuzzy. They watch as her feet wander around the room, eventually stopping before their table. The feet stay rooted to the spot for an excruciating amount of time before they move on and leave the room. They sit like that for a few more minutes until they're sure the threat is gone.
"Hahaha, that was fun!" They both cheer at the same time. They glance at each other with surprise in their eyes.
"I didn't know you liked ghosts that much." Belle expresses his surprise.
"I don't, I'm quite scared of them actually, but the feeling of having death so close that I could taste it was exhilarating." Leslie breathes out, his face twisted in a smile. Belle can't help but smile back as he climbs out from under the table, reaching out his hand for Leslie to take.
"You know, you're kind of fun," Belle says.
"I could say the same about you," Leslie states. They both stare at each other as a shared understanding flickers in their gazes and they burst out laughing.
"Alright, let's move on then, we still have to find your brother," Belle says.