Another day of work...

  Bill thinks as he enters the empty, but messy classroom.

  He is this school's janitor and has been working here for quite some time.

  Even though the job can be gross and boring at times, he is happy with it.

  It is satisfying to see the before and after of each room he cleans, he also does most of it alone. Meaning he can listen to whatever he wants and as loud as he wants, without the nagging of co-workers.

  Bill is also very good at his job and it is easy.

  But even so, he isn't really looking forward to it today and especially not this room.

  The classroom is as messy as always, but that isn't the problem.

  Not even the gum under the tables, fingerprints on the windows or the dirty footprints on the floor are the problem.

  The teacher who used to teach here has recently gone missing, as well as some of the students.

  People all over town have been going missing, so it isn't just here.

  But Bill has this gut feeling that this room is especially important to the case.

  Quietly he enters, this time he does not turn on his music. He wants to hear every sound, every creek.

  He isn't here just for cleaning, he has decided to investigate. The police have not been here yet, thinking it's probably not related.

  But Bill feels like it is important and he fears for his loved ones.

  He places his cleaning tools gently against one of the walls near the door. The investigation goes first.

  The first place he will look is the teacher's desk.

  Opening the first drawer he finds a small box, around the size of a piece of A4 paper and almost a thump thick. It has an opening like that of a letterbox.

  On the box it says: 'Box of worries', writing with a red marker.

  Bill feels like he is getting close rather fast, unfortunately it is locked. Probably so that other students can't read what's in it.

  Quickly Bill looks in the other drawers, but he can't find the key.

  Maybe one of the students got it in their drawer?

  He checks each and every desk, apologizing quietly for the breaking of the students privacy.

  But he doesn't find the key.

  Then in one desk he finds a crumpled up piece of paper that piques his interest.

  He uncrumples the piece and reads:

  Dear miss Rose,

  I have something that I am rather worried about.

  It has to do with Marianne, I am not bullying her, I swear!

  She is a bit different, but I respect her.

  She honestly kind of scares me.

  The other day she suddenly just started staring at me.

  It freaked me out.

  Can you please help me?

  Dave

  The letter ends.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  This probably had to go into the box the janitor was holding.

  I wonder why that boy was so scared of this girl. The janitor thinks to himself.

  After having been looking into every drawer in the room for a second time, the janitor decides to open the box another way.

  By placing it gently on the floor and them stamping on it with his heavy working boots.

  Ah, it opened.

  He laughs, although a bit embarrassed.

  He opens the box to find it filled with letters.

  Hi miss Rose,

  I am having trouble with history, can you help me?

  Greetings Julia

  No this is just a normal letter.

  Hello ma'am,

  Marianne has been behaving odd lately.

  Normally she just sits on her chair, unmoving and staring blankly towards you.

  Being unsocial like always, I don't think I have ever heard her say anything.

  So the thing is, I have seen her tap her fingers. It's scary, I wish she would quit it.

  Jessica

  Jessica doesn't sound like the nicest kid, but why would it be weird for someone to tap their fingers?

  Marianne doesn't seem to be very liked by this class.

  The janitor picks up the next letter which has been folded neatly.

  As he unfolds it the paper makes a small scratching like noise.

  Good evening miss Rose,

  It will probably be evening when you read this so...

  Anyway, this is about Marianne.

  I am too scared to tell you this in person, so I decided to write this for the worrybox.

  It's about Marianne.

  I am Max, her seatmate by the way.

  I know we should accept each other as we are, but lately she has been smelling a bit off.

  I share my books with her a lot, because she never puts hers on the table.

  You know obviously that nobody has ever seen her move.

  I am kind of worried about her, but I am a bit scared to tell her that she smells.

  This is not the only thing that has been going on, so maybe you have already heard.

  I hope this can be solved swiftly.

  Thank you.

  Kind regards,

  Max Goodwill

  Another cryptic letter about Marianne, Poor girl. She must have or have had a difficult life, making her unable to move freely. Bill thinks to himself as he picks up another letter.

  Hi Judy,

  Some of these kids, really, do they have no respect for their teacher? The janitor thinks and continues to read.

  Soooo, it's about Marianne.

  She is a bit strange, but everyone has been tolerating her so far.

  Yesterday she did something really freaky.

  I was alone with her in the classroom and the lights acted up.

  Going on and off type of shit.

  When it went back on, she was gone all of a sudden.

  Then it happened again and she sat with her head turned my way.

  I am going to leave this stupid school if that creep does it again!

  Bye

  Kevin

  This Marianne, seems to be getting stranger and stranger the more letters the janitor reads about the girl.

  Good day Miss Rose,

  I was wondering if there was something we could do with Marianne, I think she should get professional help.

  She has been putting everyone on edge for a while now, she doesn't really feel like a classmate and more like the school just put a lost corpse in our classroom.

  I know that this might sound mean, but I don't think class is going to help her get anywhere in life.

  If she really is still alive, she should get a psychologist and probably more.

  Thank you for reading,

  I hope you might be able to contact her parents.

  Casey

  The next letter just has a time and location on it.

  Tuesday 12 September 14:48 Library

  That's a rather specific time.

  Bill opens the next letter:

  MA'AM!

  YESTERDAY MARIANNE SUDDENLY HAD BLOOD ON HER HANDS WHEN I HAD JUST LOOKED AWAY FOR A FUCKING SECOND!!!

  SHE ISN'T GONNA KILL ME RIGHT???

  No name at the end. The kid must be too scared of her.

  Bill flips through the letters, almost all of them about the girl named Marianne.

  All of this gives him an overwhelming feeling of uneasiness.

  There aren't many about exams or bullies like Bill expected.

  These were more like some kind of badly written ghost story.

  The janitor decides to look in the teacher's drawers before giving up on the search.

  Marianne couldn't possibly be the kidnapper anyway. He also didn't want to get caught up in some teenagers drama.

  After removing some things from the third drawer left, Bill finds an unfinished letter written by the teacher herself.

  It is written to the principle.

  After quietly apologizing again, he opens the envelope and reads the letter:

  Subject: Marianne

  Dear principal Mellow,

  It has come to my attention that your daughter, Marianne, has been behaving rather strangely lately.

  Many of my students have told me that she has been scaring them and as her teacher I only wish the best for her.

  As I know of her condition, I would recommend getting her a good psychologist if she does not already.

  If she keeps going like this I am worried that her grades might drop and that she will not have as many chances in the future as the others.

  My question is if we could have a parent and child conversation sometime soon, to see what I can do to help.

  Please contact me as soon as possible.

  Thank you in advance for your response.

  Yours Faithfully,

  Judy Rose

  So she has been paying attention to her students...

  Bill looks at his watch.

  An hour has already passed?! Startled by this revelation he quickly takes pictures of the things that might help and shoves everything back into the drawers.

  As he closes the last drawer with a soft THUMP, the lights turn off.

  When it turns back on, a girl sits in the middle of the classroom.

  Staring blankly the man's way.

  Sitting lifelessly with one of her arms hanging dead besides her and her other on her table like she has been trying to write something.

  Carefully Bill gets closer.

  There is blood on her finger that is resting on the table.

  Written in blood on the small table is:

  'I KNOW'