I had entered his office and cleaned it up like usual. I am honestly surprised on how such a small space could get so dirty in such a short amount of time. He normally watches me the entire time I clean, but I knew I had a window of opportunity. Another guard would show up to talk and he usually spends a good couple of minutes engrossed in conversation. I start rummaging through more trash on the floor when I hear them begin to talk.

“Hey man, got the inmate cleaning the office again.”

“You know it.”

They give a hearty chuckle, and I knew it was my time to act, I start flipping through the papers on the desk. There are loads of words printed on these papers, some labeling specific events in the school and some talking about new policies. I find a pamphlet that introduces everyone to the school. It has a layout of the entire building on the back. I end up glancing at one of the pages on the desk. Its covered in warning labels, they all say something along the lines of urgent and high level task.

“How long till the shuttle comes to pick up the hold overs?”

“From what I heard, sounds like they’re gonna try and swoop by tomorrow to pick them up.”

My ears tune in briefly to the conversation. Looks like I will be getting out of here soon. I look down at the paper and briefly think about what I am doing. I should just serve my time and not make Vanarch any angrier, and then I remember I am doing a favor for Mary. I begin to wonder if this is all worth it for a friend… Are we friends? Maybe if I help her, she’d consider it. I nod my head in agreement with the thought and I continue with my goal with this newfound motivation. I find a pamphlet of the school, inside is a layout of the entire building. As I pocket it, a piece of paper catches my eye with all of its fancy warning marks and labels.

The paper reads, “CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES FOR HIGHLY DANGEROUS CONTAINED PERSONEL LEVEL 5 SECURITY ID:917835 Codenamed: ‘Boogey Man’, ensure that the creature is locked within his cell before nightfall. If and at any means possible prevent the creature from being removed from his cell and prevent all contact with any non-staff personnel. The creature is to be regarded and treated with the care of that of a weapon of mass destruction. Knowledge of the creature and the way it behaves is not fully understood and it is required that you uphold all the safety standards dictated on the High Security Policy letters. Most importantly do not-“

Before I can finish reading the document, I see a figure enter the room I immediately grab a bundle of papers in my hand to cover the labelled document. I look up and my eyes meet with the soul crushing gaze of my assigned guard.

“You mind telling what it is you’re doing”

He cracks ten of his knuckles individually without either of his hands touching each other. I swallow a gallon of spit and I hear it audibly travel down my throat. I feel my pores open and a flood of sweat begins to surround my body at such an alarming rate that you would’ve sworn I had just got out of a bath.

“Before I run your head into every flat surface in this office.”

“…”

I am screaming trying to come up with an excuse but no words escape my mouth. Frantically trying to gesture with my hands I shake the papers and point to the trashcan, trying to suggest I was just clearing off his desk. He lets out an ‘ahh’ as if he understands, he takes the papers out of my hand and he starts running through them.

“Yeah don’t worry about these, I will take care of them. Oh look at the time, out inmate we’re going to the next duty.”

We exit the office and he locks the door behind us. My entire suit feels like a sauna, with all the nervous sweat filling it. A close one for sure, I thought I was gonna be executed for sure this time. The rest of the day goes by like normal and I am brought back to my room. I look around the corner to see if Mary is there waiting for me. I turn and go back into my room and take my suit half off like usual. I look at the mirror and go to call for her again, but the thought of calling for her is redundant. Couldn’t she just hear me through the wall, it’s not really a summoning ritual, is it?

I start knocking on the wall that divides our room.

“Hey Mary come over I did the things you asked!”

No answer. I run my hands through my hair.

“Honestly, this girl.”

“BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY”

No answer yet again. You must be joking. I walk to the mirror and repeat.

“BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY!”

The lights flicker and immediately turn around but am met with the sight of an empty room. I feel a cool breeze blow past my ears, and I shoot up and away from the source. I am met with familiar sight of a girl with unkempt outfit and frizzy hair sat atop my sink.

“Yeah, very funny, you must think you’re cute.”

She winks at me and sticks a tongue out at me.

“So, what’s the deal anyway, do I really need to yell into a mirror like that.”

“Of course, it’s the ritual the summons me.”

I let out a sigh.

“I don’t quite get it but whatever. I opened the laundry window and here.”

I show her the map of the school on a pamphlet. She looks at it with concern and slight disgust.

“I guess it’s better than nothing, what about the guard schedule?”

I slap my forehead.

“Crap I had completely forgot about that!”

“C’mon guy you had like 4 things to remember, you didn’t even bring snacks, did you?”

I lower my head defeat and shake it to gesture no. She lets out a sigh.

“Here.”

She tosses me a candy bar and pouched drink.

“How did you…”

“I figured you probably couldn’t find a way to get snacks so I just took some from the cafeteria, be thankful, it takes a lot of energy to carry those around all day.”

“Thank you.”

She looks away briefly and mumbles ‘you’re welcome’ under her breath.

“I’ve always wondered what they have you doing. I mean I have been doing all this menial labor in this weird suit and you are running around the cafeteria still in the school uniform.”

“They have me in the school grounds still because I am a spirit and nobody can see me besides the guards, they have me basically being a hall monitor and I am supposed to alert the guards of anyone misbehaving in the halls.”

“I see.”

“Speaking of your suit by the way, how does it work? You ever just take it off to get a breath of fresh air or-“

“Oh no no no no! …no. I was warned that if I ever take the hat off outside of this room the scarf would pop my head off.”

“wooooah~ So how come you can take it off in here.”

“Not sure how it works exactly, all I know is that the scarf loosens up a little as I enter the room and I can remove it.”

“That’s pretty metal that they would do something like that.”

“Metal?”

She nods, “Metal!”

I start snacking on the candy bar as we sit there in a moment of silence. My mind begins to wander thinking back to today’s events and then I remembered. I pull a sheet of paper out of my back pocket. It catches Mary’s eye, and she asks.

“What is that?”

“It’s a document that talks about a creature that is being held captive here, apparently its super dangerous and it needs to be contained. It’s called the boogey man.”

“Why would something like that be held here?”

“I don’t know but this is what I was reading before I got interrupted.”

I lift the paper to my face and begin reading it over again, I skim parts of it and read a portion talking about not looking at the creature in the eyes. Before I could read more into it though I hear Mary exclaim.

“Wait look!”

She points to the back of the sheet of paper. I flip it over and see a list of names, dates and times. The header reads out security shifts.

“This is it! This is what I was looking for, this lists out all the shifts for every guard in the school for this month!”

“Nice looks like today wasn’t a complete bust, I guess now is a great a time as ever to ask. What am I helping you with exactly?”

She looks at me hesitantly and then she says.

“P-planning!”

“Planning what?”

Her eyes start to dart around the room.

“Y-you see I err umm… I need to get something from the laundry room! Yes yes I uhh needed to get an old pair of panties of mine.”

“You’re a spirit you don’t need clothes.”

“Yes EXACTLY, these clothes have sentimental value to them mhm yes. They remind me of times of when I was alive, oh woe is me.”

She begins to wail and mimic what most would consider typical ghost sounds.

“You have a sentimental attachment to a pair of panties…”

“yes!”

She looks at me with blank eyes and a close-lipped smile. This girl truly is a nut.

“Couldn’t you have just told me to grab them?”

“No no no! I could not possibly ask someone else let alone a guy to touch my panties. You pervert. I need to pick them up myself.”

Guess that makes sense, it would be creepy for a guy like me snooping through women’s clothing trying to find the right set of panties. She looks off to the side and her face turns serious.

“We have to do it tonight too, they are coming for us tomorrow. We won’t have any other opportunity to make it out of here… t-to get my panties of course.”

She stammers near the end of that statement. She is a weird girl, but she seems really kind and I like hanging out with her, maybe we can be friends at the place they are gonna take us.

“Alright I will help what is it that you wanna do?”

“Buckle up, this might take a minute!”

I could not help but feel like this was the start of what was to be a long night.