Hypnotic Echoes

      “Ready for ninth grade?” Anna Goldman asked her daughter as she wiped the counters. What kind of question was that? Nobody could be ready for their first year of high school, even if they didn’t feel the jitters yet. Isabella looked up at her mother, considering how to answer that question. The thought of navigating the vast hallways and interacting with people she didn’t know terrified her. She mustered a faint smile for her hopeful mother, praying her emotions didn’t show.

      “I’m as ready as anybody can be,” Isabella responded. “Besides, it’s not like I have a choice.” Her voice couldn’t hide how scared she felt. Uncertainty was apparent in her eyes. She wasn’t ready for high school. She wasn’t ready for what was coming.

      “You’ll be fine, Izzy!” Anna tried to assure her. “High school is an amazing experience. One that you will remember forever. You know, I went to the same school you’re going to.” Anna remembered her high school adventure. She couldn’t forget it, even if she wanted to. Unlike what she had said, high school was torture for her. And the nerves weren’t the reason why. But Anna hoped her daughter’s time at Rainer High would be different. Besides, they had taken care of the problem long ago. 32 years to be exact. 

      “Mom!” Isabella yelled at her zoned-out mother. “You there?”

      “Oh, right! Yeah, I’m back. Sorry.” Her thoughts were leading her into a downward spiral. Her memories sent chills down her spine. The sharp knives, hidden faces, high-pitched screams, and hideous intentions. The images were becoming too vivid, too real. 

      A yellow school bus stopped in front of the Goldman’s house. It was time for Isabella to leave. High school will be fine! Isabella lied to herself. She said goodbye to her mother as she headed out the front door. As she got onto the bus, she saw a sea of unfamiliar faces. She went down the aisle, looking for an empty seat in the loud vehicle.

      “Izzy!” Lily called out. “Here! Sit with me!” How could Isabella forget about Lily? Lily had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. Lily was the first person who had befriended Isabella since she had moved. She went to sit with her eager acquaintance. Lily was excited about all aspects of high school. She rambled on about what she hoped high school would be like. Isabella listened quietly, her mood getting better and better the more Lily talked. Lily had a way of making people feel better. For the first time, Isabella was actually excited about the day ahead. Meeting the teachers, participating in the clubs, joining the swim team, and the extravagant new cafeteria. Everything sounded like the perfect dream, different from what she had feared. 

      The bus had finally reached the school. The building was ginormous. Bigger than the rest of the schools in the district combined. The front of the building was re-painted gold and red over the summer. “Rainer High” was displayed in bold, metallic letters. Two heavily adorned doors were open for the new and returning students. The two girls entered the school after staring at it in awe for an eternity.

      The inside of the school was nothing like the embellished façade. It looked like nobody had been there since the 1800s. Cobwebs were on every corner, and everything was stuck in black and white. How could Anna send her daughter here? In this nightmare? This was worse than what Isabella had thought. The hallways weren’t jam-packed like they were supposed to be. Instead, all of the kids were in organized lines. It looked like someone was controlling them.

      “Lily, what is happening?” Isabella called out. “Lily?” She turned around to find Lily gone. As she looked around, Isabella spotted Lily in a line. She pulled her out. “Lily? What are you doing?” She said nothing back. Her head creepily turned to look into Isabella’s eyes as if she could see into her soul. The pupils of Lily’s eyes had disappeared. There was nothing but white in her eye sockets. Isabella let go of Lily’s arm. Fear paralyzed her as she watched her best friend return to the lines. She couldn’t move. What was happening? 

      “Good morning, Rainer High students,” the loudspeaker blasted at top volume. “Please report to your homeroom for attendance.” Isabella knew that something was very wrong. With the school, with the student, with everything. She quickly got into a line and followed them to Mr. Boswell’s classroom, her homeroom teacher. The classroom looked as creepy as the rest of the school did. The room had no sign of life except for a single painting of a moon and a tree without leaves. Snow was falling, and the tree was covered in white. She had seen that picture somewhere, but she couldn’t pinpoint where. Isabella looked around. Nobody was blinking. Mr. Boswell wasn’t in the room yet, but Isabella could hear his footsteps. As soon as he entered the room, all color and life returned. The students started breathing, blinking, and acting like humans once again. It seemed like Isabella was the only one confused by what had just happened, the only one whose soul wasn’t captured. 

      “Good morning, students!” Mr. Boswell said. He was a short, chubby man. He had a gray beard but no hair. A red scar near his eye caught Isabella’s eye. Mr. Boswell was an old but enthusiastic man with round glasses. He should have retired by now, but for some reason, he didn’t. “I hope your first day of ninth grade is off to a great start!” The class replied unexpectedly loudly. Students aren’t usually this excited about school. Why was it different this time? “Alright! Let me introduce you to our syllabus for English. After that, we will say our names and one fun fact about ourselves.” Isabella hated introductions. All eyes were on her, and the pressure would get her every time. But this time, her mind was preoccupied with the weird morning. When it was her turn, she quickly told the class who she was and how she could draw anything from memory.

      The rest of the day was pretty “normal.” The school was beautiful when you could see its colors. But the painting in Mr. Boswell’s room haunted Isabella the entire day. She was sure that she had seen it somewhere else. The school didn’t seem hypnotized, and she was reunited with Lily for lunchtime. It happened again as soon as Isabella was about to let go of the unusual occurrences. Everybody in the school was frozen, lifeless, and all color was gone. All the teachers, janitors, lunch ladies, and students, except for Isabella, didn’t blink or breathe. She quickly realized that there was something sinister about Rainer High and stopped moving to blend in. Suddenly, Mr. Boswell walked into the room. How was he moving? Why wasn’t he in this trance that almost everybody else was in?

      “Ahh,” he muttered to himself. “Nice to see that it’s working again.” He put his hand on the small earpiece he was wearing. Isabella watched him closely and heard what he said. “Good job with the experiment. Prepare to initiate in all other locations.” Mr. Boswell quickly walked out, and the trance was broken. Isabella felt sick to her stomach. She didn’t want to stay here anymore.

      “Lily,” Isabella called out. “I don’t feel too well. I’m going to go home.”

      “Oh no!” Lily replied back. “What’s wrong? Do you have a fever?” She touched Isabella’s forehead to check.

      “It’s okay! I don’t have a fever. My stomach just hurts a little bit.”

      “Okay. Well, I hope you get better soon. I’ll see you soon?”

      “Yeah, I’ll hopefully be back soon. Bye, Lily.” Isabella quickly hurried down the hallways, trying to figure out where the nurses’ office was. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far from the cafeteria. Ms. Connelly, the nurse, called her mother, who was there to pick her up in five minutes.

      “What’s wrong, Izzy?” Anna worriedly asked. “Was the school lunch giving you some trouble?” Isabella didn’t laugh. Anna saw her daughter’s face through the mirror. She knew what was wrong. Anna knew what Isabella was feeling. She had felt that same indescribable feeling 32 years ago. But it’s not possible! No, it must be something else. Anna tried to ignore the possibilities, but when the two got home, she couldn’t. “Honey, please tell me what’s wrong?”

      “The whole school is, Mom!” Izzy yelled. “How could you send me to that place?”

      “You have to tell me exactly what happened.”

      “Fine. Randomly during the day, all life goes away. The teachers, the students, everybody stops moving. They don’t blink, and they don’t breathe! It’s like their souls are taken away.”

      “Everybody?”

      “EVERYBODY! Except me! I don’t know why! Mom, what’s going on?”

      “Honey, please answer my question. Are you sure you’re the only person that didn’t stop moving in the building?”

      “Yes! Wait. No, actually. There was this one teacher. Mr. Boswell, I think. He was talking to somebody on a small earpiece.”

      “No, no, no! This isn’t possible. How is this happening?”

      “Mom! What?”

      “Honey, this happened to me, too. The entire school would go lifeless except for one teacher. Mr. Boswell. But it couldn’t be him. I had killed him.”

      “You had what? Killed somebody?” 

      “Honey, you have to understand. This man was evil. How old was he?”

      “Around 50, I think.”

      “Okay, it might be him then. But how? Honey, think hard. Did it look like his real face?”

      “What kind of question is that? Of course, it – wasn’t. He had a large scar near his eye that looked like it separated two faces.”

      “That’s where I had stabbed him. It’s a miracle that man survived.”

      “Mom, what is he trying to do?”

      “Honey, I don’t know!”

      “What do you mean you don’t know? Mom?”

      “I don’t know! I never figured that out. But now it’s up to you.”

      “There’s no way you’re sending me back there.” But Isabella knew she was going back. She didn’t know what was happening but didn’t want to find out. What if next time she’s under the trance too? Why wasn’t she today?

      Isabella rushed to her room to try and figure out what was going on. What did she know so far? Everybody gets put in a trance by a mysterious man called Mr. Boswell, except for her. Mr. Boswell isn’t who he says he is. The same thing happened to her mother. Mr. Boswell was talking to someone about initiating at other locations. What does that mean? Spreading the trance? But where? There was also a mysterious painting that Isabella had recognized in his classroom. Where did she see it before?

      After fifteen minutes of thinking about the whole thing, Isabella came to one conclusion. She didn’t know much about what was happening, but had to find out before it worsened. If there was one place where she could find out what was happening, it was the Goldman Library. Isabella ran to the library section. She knew the Dewey Decimal System extremely well since her mom was a librarian. When she was younger, her mother used to teach her everything she needed to know about libraries. It had to be in the early 600s. She scanned the rows as quickly as she could. Hypnotism: How to Put People in a Trance 

      This had to work. She quickly skimmed the table of contacts. What she needed to know was how to break the trance. Chapter 17: How to Dehypnotize Large Crowds 

      The chapter was short but complicated. She knew what she had to do. As she got up to talk to her mom about what she had discovered, she noticed the painting. It was the exact same one that Mr. Boswell had. This is where she had seen it. An extravagant signature was printed on it. Luisa Boswell. What? Boswell? Who was this woman? She lifted the work of art from the wall to get a closer look at it. An envelope fell out from the back. It read 09/07/92 Plans. She opened it up.

      My Darling Luisa,

      Why did you leave me? Oh, is it so wrong to control a bunch of pathetic little children? You know, children are our future. We can shape them to be whatever we want and make a truly amazing future. You might think that you could escape me, but you can’t. I found out where you live now, and I’ll keep doing it. I won’t leave you. You can’t control me. And let me show you. On September 7th, I’m going to spread the trance all across the Rainer High district. The only way to avoid getting captured in it is to have my blood in your veins. And I’m the only one who does. In case you were wondering, it’s already in place at the high school. You can’t stop me. Just come and join me, and together we can slowly take over the nation. Leave me, and you will be caught up.

           Your husband,

           Michael

This was the year that Anna had gone to Rainer High. Why was that letter in her library? Who was Luisa? These were the questions Isabella had to ask her mom.

           “Mom,” Isabella said.

           “Yes, sweetheart?” Anna replied back. “Did you find something?”

           “I’m looking. I have a question. Who is Luisa?”

           “That was,” Anna hesitated, “your grandmother. My mother.”

           “Is she the one who told you to kill Mr. Boswell?”

           “How do you know about this?”

           “I think I know what he’s planning. Did you ever meet your father?”

           “Sadly, no. My mom told me that he was a scientist who died in an experiment.” Again, Anna faltered before she responded.

           “Grandma only told you half of the truth.”

           “What do you mean?”

           “Did Grandma use her husband’s last name or her maiden last name?”

           “Her maiden one. Now answer my question. What do you mean?”

           “I think I know who your father is. It’s the person you tried to kill.”

           “Mr. Boswell? What? Why would she make me do that?”

           “Because he was a mad scientist that wanted to take over the nation by controlling students. He found a way to hypnotize entire schools around the time you went to ninth grade. He was about to spread it to the entire district, but I assume you had disrupted his plans.”

           “But why was I immune to it?”

           “Whoever had his blood in their veins weren’t affected. You have his blood and so do I.”

           “Wow,” Anna said in shock. “How did you figure this all out?”

           “The painting in the library. I’m surprised you didn’t notice it.”

           “Yeah, must have overlooked it. Well, I suppose you know what you have to do?”

           “Yes. We have to destroy the source.”

           “The source?”

           “The school. Along with Mr. Boswell.”

           “What? No way! That’s too dangerous! Do you know how many lives you are risking?”

           “We can’t do it during the school day of course. We have to do it during the night. And what better time to do it than now?”

           “Okay, fine, let’s go,” Anna reluctantly agreed. She knew that this was what had to be done to save countless lives in the future. She got into her car, and Isabella jumped right in. They quickly stopped at a nearby gas station and picked up the things they needed to burn the school.

           “Izzy, I don’t think this is the right thing to do,” Anna told her stubborn daughter. Isabella knew she was right. Destroying a high school and murdering a teacher were not things a 14-year-old and her mother should be involved in. But it had to be done. They got to the school with only one car in the parking lot. It had to be Michael Boswell. Without wasting any time, the task was done. Michael was dead, and the school was burnt.

           On the news the following day was the burnt school and the dead body of Mr. Boswell. News reporters were baffled at why anybody would do such a horrendous thing. The two people responsible were the only people who knew what had happened to the majestic but menacing building. “That was such a horrible thing to do, Mom,” Isabella said. “Mom?” Isabella turned around to her mother approaching her with a butcher’s knife. She quickly got off the couch, confused and frightened by what was happening. “Mom, what are you doing?”

           “Murdering you, “she said, “You know too much.” Her nurturing face turned into a demonic one. “I knew “Mr. Boswell” all along. I tried to kill Michael because he had what I wanted. A way to turn people into puppets that would listen to your every word. But now, you’re a threat to my plans.”

           Isabella finally realized. Anna was Luisa. Michael was her father. Luisa wasn’t a student at Rainer High 32 years ago. She was a teacher. Luisa was the one with a knife. Michael was the one screaming. Both of them were lunatics with intentions of destruction. Her parents should have been in a mental hospital. Isabella had found out too late. All she could do now was try and escape her mother’s hands and the clutches of death.