Night School: Prologue (Patreon)

Makoto Suzuki didn’t know what she wanted to do for Halloween. Several people at the community college were throwing parties or having movie marathons or even going trick or treating at age 20+, but the shy Japanese girl was too socially awkward for any of that. She had friends, sure, and normal, every day interactions weren’t so bad. But whenever she was called upon to perform for a crowd or to have people looking at her, she simply shriveled up in fear.

She was a waif of a girl with a homely, casual sort of look that left much to be desired by those seeking an exotic woman. Makoto didn’t dress in Shibuya fashion or wear her hair in sideways ponytails, but rather dressed in plain khakis and wore a jean jacket most days. She didn’t watch anime or play video games, but instead enjoyed doing crossword puzzles out of thick workbooks full of them that she’d picked up at Barnes and Noble. She was plain and simple, and hated every second of it.

(1)

After her Friday Psych 101 course, Makoto wandered down the shady lanes of the college to the back of the library where she could usually find her best friend Maya sitting in the shadows with a book of her own. Where Makoto was timid and as exotic as a bowl of oatmeal, Maya Katz was the other side of the socially awkward coin. As the youngest daughter of a big family, the mousey Jewish girl had had a hard time finding something that was uniquely her own. By the time she was old enough to get into school clubs and extracurricular activities, sports, music, drama, and even geeky pursuits like anime and dnd clubs were already the territory of her older siblings. On separate occasions she had tried to join several of the aforementioned endeavors only to be shut out either by the large shadows cast by her elder siblings, or by the crushing pressure from her parents and even the school to live up to their popularity and success. In the end, school clubs and hobbies became so much about success and performing well that Maya dropped out of them completely, choosing to bury her nose in whatever book could catch her interest.

(2)

“Hey.” Makoto said, plopping herself down next to Maya, who didn’t bother looking up.

“Hey.” Maya said.

There was a good five minutes of silence between the two. Normally another person might have felt awkward or unnerved by how long the two could sit without speaking, but that was one of the things that both of them liked about each other. Neither felt any pressure to perform or entertain the other. If one of them had something to say, they would say it, and if the other had a response, they would respond. Otherwise it was a simple matter of parallel play and individual enjoyment in the other’s presence. 

“Hey.” Makoto said suddenly.

“Hm?” Maya answered briefly.

“Are you doing anything for Halloween?” Makoto asked.

“Nope. You?” Maya responded.

“Do you normally do anything?” Makoto continued.

“Nope. You?” Maya responded again, batting the conversation back to her friend like a tennis ball.
Makoto said nothing. Instead, she looked up at the sky and watched a cloud pass over the sun before continuing her thought process. The skinny woman laid down on the ground, feeling the cool grass under her head and felt the heat in her back seep out into the ground. 

“I feel like I’m boring.” She said.

Maya continued reading in silence for several seconds before closing her book and looking up at the clouds as well.

“Not to me. Then again, a lot of people think I’m weird, so what’s boring to normal people doesn’t have the same effect on me. What makes you think you’re boring?”

Makoto took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 

“I never do anything. I go to school, I go home, I do puzzles, I bathe, and then I sleep. Then I wake up, shower, and go to school again. On days when I don’t have classes, it’s the same except I take another shower and nap in the middle of the day.” She said, still not opening her eyes.

“That sounds like it sucks. You know that showering multiple times a day is a sign of depression, right?” Maya said, still staring at the clouds.

“Is it?” Her friend asked.

“It is. The leading theory is that the hot water takes the place of contact comfort and activates the same pleasure centers in the brain. It’s like you’re getting hugged by the water.” 

Maya paused.
“…Which is also probably drying out your skin really bad. Do you use lotion?” 

Makoto kept her eyes closed. 

“Yeah. If I don’t my skin gets really dry.”

The two girls remained quiet for about an hour, both enjoying the quiet tranquility of the campus and shade. Makoto had dozed off several times while Maya returned to her book.

“Hey.” Maya said dryly.

“Hm?” Makoto responded.

“*Did* you want to do something for Halloween? Or rather…spooky season in general?” Maya asked.

Makoto opened her eyes. There was something strange about the tone of her friend’s voice.
“Like what do you mean? Did you have something in mind?”

Maya closed her book and turned towards her friend, her brown eyes shining against the shady light.

“Have you ever heard of the haunted hall?” She asked eagerly.

Makoto was interested, sitting up slowly to better engage with the subject. 

“….The haunted hall? I haven’t heard of it.” 

Maya’s grin grew wider, her thick, bushy eyebrows furrowing in delight.

“It’s an urban legend, but it’s local. You know about Bright University, right?” 

Makoto blinked blankly. “The hot rich kid college?”

 
“Yes! There are TONS of stories about that place already. Some say that the students who go in are brainwashed into obedient slaves for rich owners while others claim that there is some kind of magic that turns girls into drooling arm candy and can even change their race! Black girls turning into white ones, fat girls turning into supermodels...It's a thing.

But even that campus is a new one, and there is an even older one where all the discarded mental energy from the changed linger in psychic spirit, begging to return to their old lives.” Maya gushed eerily, adding a spooky, campfire story-like tone to her tale for emphasis.

(3)

Makoto simply raised an eyebrow. “That’s weird. And kinda dumb. Why would thoughts be haunting a school?” She asked skeptically.

The disbelief didn’t stop her friend however, and Maya continued on.

“Who knows?! But sometimes people sneak onto the old campus to drink or do drugs or whatever, and several people have gone missing; all of them women about our age. The stories vary from person to person, but they all claim to have seen a building on the grounds that’s all lit up at night, and anyone who goes in never comes back the same…..
Wanna check it out?” Maya asked, grinning ear to ear. “That could be our spooky almost-Halloween adventure! We can go later tonight so we can avoid all the assholes who are gonna go there on the 31st just to fuck with things."

Makoto thought about it. She imagined what it would be like and what she would missing out on if she didn’t go. Several more minutes had passed without Maya ever taking her eyes off her friend.

“Fine.” She said. “Let’s do it.”