Curiosity and Cats

      The theater was full. Everyone had come out to see Tuntra dance. She gathered herself in her dressing room by reading letters from her fans. Their words of encouragement and flattery gave her the confidence needed to go on stage. Roses surrounded her dressing room, along with a large rack of clothes, filled with the finest linen.

           Tuntra stood with her head down, behind the stage curtains. As they opened, the audience became silent, ready to encounter one of the best artists of their time, Ms. Tuntra Thomas. She glided across the stage, her feet in sync with the movement of her arms, and her hands strategically moving, knowing when to rise and gracefully knowing when to fall. As she took over the stage, her mind drifted to a place she once knew.

           Tuntra worked as a theater teacher at The Franklin Middle School of Fine Arts, where she was known as Ms. Tuntra to her students. She taught dance and drama, encouraging her students to break out of their shell and use theater to unleash their characters within. Her students loved her free spirit and her willingness to go above and beyond for them.

           One student was a young girl name Aria. She was quiet and kept her distance from the rest of the class. Tuntra understanding that students do need time to adjust, let Aria be, but after a month, Ms. Tuntra was determined to get Aria to interact, and it was with this very lesson that she had planned that was going to help with that. She called Aria up, who was surprised that Ms. Tuntra called on her in the first place.

           For Ms. Tuntra, class was held outside during recess. She thought nature was a great way for individuals to get in touch with their inner being. The assignment was for her and two other students to sit in front the class and act out certain emotions using facial expressions. At first Aria wasn’t thrilled with participating, but as she watched her other classmates, she began to get comfortable and participate, which brought great joy to Ms. Tuntra.

           Watching and inspiring children was something Tuntra took pride in and would stop at no end to make sure a shy child blossomed into the beautiful butterfly he or she was meant to be. Her need to help children stemmed from her background. When her parents asked her what she wanted to do for a career, they were not expecting to hear dance as a response. “Dancing is not a career, it’s a hobby,” they would say, explaining that a lawyer, doctor, nurse, or teacher were the only careers suitable.

           Weeks passed and Aria had not shown up for school and this worried Ms. Tuntra. She snuck into the main office, searching through the file to locate Aria’s address. She was sure to be discreet because teachers were not allowed access to such information without the proper permission and authority. She found Aria’s address, held on blue card along with her emergency contact information. She tucked the blue card in her pants pocket and hurried out of the school before anyone noticed her.

           Ms. Tuntra went to the address on the card and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she waited at the park across the street until Aria and her family arrived. The time was now seven twenty-three pm when Aria and her family came walking down the street. Ms. Tuntra had been waiting since six o’ clock. Aria was walking with a younger girl, who looked to be a year younger than her and two younger boys. They were walking an elderly gentleman. They all carried large brown bags, which carried their groceries.

                       Ms. Tuntra began walking towards the family and when she got close enough, she introduced herself,

           “Hi, my name is Tuntra, and I’m one of Aria’s teachers, I noticed that she wasn’t in school today, it’s been a few days since she’s missed actually, and I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

           Aria surprised to see Ms. Tuntra translated in creole to her grandfather what Ms. Tuntra had said.

           The man looked at Ms. Tuntra upon hearing what his grandchild was saying with a sense of irritability written across his face. He began speaking to Aria in creole, all while still looking at Ms. Tuntra. Aria looked back at Ms. Tuntra, her face not as happy as when she first laid eyes on her. With a sullen tone she explained that her grandfather took her out of theater due to it mixing up her brain with a bunch of foolishness.

           The words that came out of Aria’s mouth surprised Ms. Tuntra, hurt her even, because she knew her exercises were getting through to Aria. helping her to open. Seeing the expression on Ms. Tuntra face, Aria began speaking to her grandfather, explaining why she liked theater and who Ms. Tuntra was. Aria’s heart felt plea didn’t land with her grandfather, and in his language, he told Aria to explain to Ms. Tuntra that she needs to get a life and leave her family alone.

           Aria looked at Ms. Tuntra, with a sorrowful look and explained that she had to go inside. Tuntra stood there and looked on as the family went into their home.

           “It’s okay Aria, I’ll be around.” She said before heading home.  That evening, all she could think about was helping her student.

---

           The building looked to be newly renovated. A great change from the school it was years ago.

           “Why a psychiatric institute and not just a bigger and better school?” asked Hollister to Doctor Keith. He got this job through his uncle who knew the head doctor at the institution. Happy about the job, seeing as how he needed to help his mother, whom he lived with.

           “Well, the school that was once here bears a lot of history and the department of education thought it be a good idea to tear it down.”

           “History, what type of history?”

           Doctor Keith, though reluctant to speak about the events that took place decades ago, he thought it be a good idea to let Hollister know all about the environment he’ll be working in.

           “How about I treat you to a coffee, and I’ll tell you all about it.

           Doctor Keith took Hollister to a coffee shop and told him about the school stowaway and the student.

Doctor Keith explained:

           It was late evening at a home in Brooklyn, East New York, when deputies were dispatched to a two-family home on residential block. The young child who called explained that a woman was choking her grandpa. When police arrived, they saw a woman behind an older gentleman holding a rope tight around his neck as they struggled on the floor. The living room was in complete disarray from the two of them going at it.

           Upon them entering, the woman freed the gentlemen and took off through the backroom window. One officer stayed with the grandfather, while the other officer took off in pursuit of the woman. She led the officer to a school, and he called for backup.  They spotted her jumping into a window that laid beneath the cafeteria. They ordered the woman to come out, but she refused.

           Minutes later the hostage negotiator came along with the canine unit. They stood outside speaking out of a blow horn ordering her to come out or they’ll be forced to enter. Before they were able to enter, word got back from residential home that the call came from that one of the children were missing from the home. The young girl who called the police was the younger sister of the girl who was missing.

           The younger sister explained that her older sister, Aria knew the woman and that she had stopped by days before. She noticed her older sister was missing when she heard the commotion and went to wake her up and she was nowhere to be found, that’s when she called the police. When word got back to the hostage negotiators that a young child might be inside, they were forced to retreat in fear of harming the young child and began their pleas for her to release Aria.

           After hours of no sign of the woman releasing Aria, officers were left no choice but to enter, and what they found stunned them. Aria’s wrist was tied up leaving her arms in the air dangling and her feet dragging on the ground. Her head began to move as she came to due to the officer’s flashlights in her face. “She’s alive an officer shouted as they all tried getting through the wired cage that the woman and Aria was in.

           The woman, in a daze and focused on dancing, paid no attention to the officers who watched upon her. In fact, she was happy to see them, and began dancing as if they were her audience.  When guards tried entering, the woman, as she continued to dance, pulled a small pistol from her dress, danced over to where Aria was hanging and pointed the pistol at the young girl’s head. She stopped and lifted her head and said, “Touch me, and I will shoot,” and the officers backed away slowly.

           The woman continued to dance as officers continued to plead with her. Amid the tune playing in her head, she heard Aria. “Ms. Tuntra let me down so I can dance with you” the woman stopped and gazed at the young girl, for that was all she wanted. She let Aria down, her body numb, she fell to the ground. “Like this Aria” said the woman as she continued dancing. The officers thought of a plan to get Aria out of the cave now that the woman released her from the wrist ties.

           “Did she ever get out?” asked Hollister.

           “She did, and when questioned by police, the story she gave left everyone in the room     speechless. “

Doctor Keith continued…

           The police station was quiet, everyone fixated on the young girl who had just been saved from the school’s basement cave. She was asked several questions, including her name and age. Her grandfather, Austin, bruised, but still standing, sat next to his granddaughter. When asked about Ms. Tuntra, Aria took a long pause before speaking.

           “Ms. Tuntra was the second teacher of the class. She came in whenever our teacher had to leave the classroom and during recess.”

           “Did you ever see Ms. Tuntra interact with any of the children or teachers at the school?” asked the detective.

           “No, not really, except one time when the school principal was in the courtyard. She saw Ms. Tuntra helping us. No one really paid attention to her, she was just always around you know.”   

           “Helping you’ll how?

           “She would come to the shy kids during recess, asking us to do exercises that dealt with expression.”

           “Explain one of these exercises.”

           “Well, one of them dealt with motion. She would say a word like, abandonment, shame or love and we had to act out or move in a way the word affected us. At first, we thought it was dumb, but after a while, some of us began to like it.”

           “What was her infatuation with you, out of all the students, why take you?”

           “I guess she saw something in me. She didn’t talk much to the other staff, other children ignored her, thought she was some type of freak, but I didn’t think that. I knew she just wanted to help; she came to see me because she was concerned.  She had come back the next day, this time later in the evening and asked if I wanted to hang out, I said yes. I told my younger siblings to cover for me and snuck out through the back window.”

           “Then what happened?”

           “She was telling me about her story. She explained that when she was younger, all she wanted to do was become a famous ballerina, but her parents wouldn’t allow it. They told her there was no future in it. She listened, got a job as a teacher and then she zoned out. We ended up in the school’s basement. I told her I didn’t feel comfortable and that I wanted to go, but she explained that she had something special to show me.

           When we got inside, she took me through a door and she turned on the lights, I was taken back. She had the whole place decorated nice. She had lights surrounding the room, a mattress being held up by crates and a huge metal cave entwined with Christmas lights and other decorations. When I asked her what the cage was for, she explained that it was her stage and that it’s where she goes when she wants to perform. At that point I became worried and told her I wanted to leave. She then said she would take me home after we ate, and that’s when everything became a blur. I woke up to the officers with their flashlight in my face.

           The officers released Aria, allowing her and her grandfather to head home. They knew they had to be exhausted after such a long evening. Austin, Aria’s grandfather hugged her before leaving the station, happy that he did not lose her.  

           Hollister was surprised as to what he just heard.

           “What ever happened to Ms. Tuntra?”

           “Nobody knows. Rumor has it that she took her life before officers could pull her out. Staff say they can still hear music and see her dancing in the halls. Hence why they were so adamant on tearing it down. Now we have a nice new building, that you must start working in.”

           “Ah I don’t know, got me kind of spooked out.”

           “Come on, don’t let a little ghost story scare you.”

---

           A few months go by and Hollister had forgotten about the whole Ms. Tuntra and Aria story. He was working late one evening, preparing a room for a newcomer.  The room that was located on the lower level towards the back of the building. As he was getting the room together, Hollister heard a noise that startled him. Knowing that security was upstairs, he didn’t panic too much. He continued working, making sure the sheets fully went under the edges of the bed. When he reached the corner of the bed closest to the wall, he heard the noise again and this time, it was louder.

           Hollister stopped what he was doing and looked straight ahead. He felt his heart began to race. Snippets of the story the doctor told began playing in his mind. He peaked out the room, and heard the noise coming from behind the basement door. Everything inside him told him to run, but he decided to investigate. He leaned up against the door and heard a faint sound coming from it. He took his key and opened it.

           The door led to stairs and once you reached the bottom, there’s a small hall that led to a small area. He walked down and entered it. When he noticed there was nothing there, he turned away, and then he saw it. He saw Ms. Tuntra, still dancing, but this time, it looked to be a light shining on her. Hollister then tried looking directly at the image he saw from his peripheral, but he couldn’t. She only appeared when he turned to the side.

           He turned back to the side and noticed that even after death, her spirit was still dancing in a cave. He noticed the roses and letters that surrounded her. He wondered if this was all a part of his imagination or hers. Instead of being scared, Hollister felt more pity for Ms. Tuntra, for decades after her death she was still trapped in a cage.

           “Why don’t you leave?” he said, now shaking a bit.

           The soul stopped dancing and looked at Hollister.

           “Yes, I can see you, your free, why are you still dancing in a cave?” He asked.

           “My flesh may be free, but my soul still wants to dance.”

           “So, dance, leave this place and dance.”

           “It’s not that easy.”

           “Why not?”

           “Come here and let me tell you.”

           Hollister, now in shock that he was even communicating with another entity, thought about if he should go near or just walk away, against his better judgement, he walked towards the entity.

           “Just a little closer” the entity said.

           Hollister came within ear length and the entity whispered,

           “Because I’d rather do it here on Earth.”

           Hollister tried jumping back, but it was too late. The entity, entered Hollister, disappearing into his ear. Guards came down looking for Hollister,

           “Hey, we were calling you, what are you doing down here?”

           “Oh nothing, just around.”

           “I know you’re new and all, but you should know that you shouldn’t be down here. Come, let me show you the room you’ll be fixing and show you around.”

           “Awesome” said …

           Ms. Tuntra was once a soul that roamed the halls of The Franklin Middle School of Fine Arts, finding other souls she wanted to free. Now she will roam the halls of the Franklin Psychiatric Institute, where she will try and free the souls there.