I'm Thinking of Ending Things(41)

“Jake? Hello? Is anyone here? Hello?”

Nothing.

I walk through and turn left. More lockers. Except for the pattern on the floor, which is a different design and color, this hallway is identical to the other. Down the next hallway, I see an open door. It’s a wooden door, no window. But it’s wide-open. I walk down the hall and take a small step inside. I knock on the open door.

“Hello?”

The first thing I see is a silver bucket with grayish water in it. There’s something familiar about this room. I knew how it would look before I got here. The bucket’s the kind on four wheels. And there’s no mop. I think about calling for Jake again but don’t.

The room—it feels more like a large closet—is mostly empty, dingy. I take a couple of steps in and see there’s a calendar taped on the far wall. There’s a drain in the middle of the concrete floor. It looks wet.

At the back and left of the room, against the wall, is a wooden table. I don’t see a chair. Beside it is a closet. It’s not elaborate, just a tall closet. It looks like a coffin standing on its end.

I walk carefully, stepping over the drain, to the back. There are pictures on the wall, too. Photos. A dirty coffee cup on the table. One set of silverware. A plate. A white microwave on a desk. I lean in to look at the pictures. In one of the photos taped to the wall is a man and woman. A couple. Or maybe brother and sister; they look alike. The man is old. He’s tall, much taller than the woman. She has straight, gray hair. They both have long faces. Neither is smiling. Neither looks happy or sad. They’re stiff, expressionless. It’s an odd photo to display on a wall. Someone’s parents?

A few of the other photos are of a man. He doesn’t seem aware that his picture is being taken, or if he does, he’s reluctant. The top of his head isn’t in the photo; it’s cut out of the frame. In one, he’s sitting at a desk and it could be this desk. He’s leaning away and covering his face with his left hand. The quality isn’t very good. All the pictures are blotchy. Faded. This must be him, the man Jake saw, the one I saw in the hall.

I look closer, examining his face in the photos. His eyes are sad. They’re familiar. Something about his eyes.

My heartbeat has become noticeable, speeding up again. I can feel it. What was he doing before we arrived? There’s no way he could have known we, or anyone, would be here. I don’t know him.

In the middle of the desk, besides a few papers, is a piece of cloth, a rag, rumpled into a ball. I hadn’t noticed it at first. I pick it up. It’s clean and very soft, like it’s been washed hundreds, thousands of times.

But no. It’s not a rag at all. Once I unravel it, I see it’s a little shirt, for a child. It’s light blue with white polka dots. One of the sleeves is ripped. I turn it over. There’s a tiny paint stain in the middle of the spine. I drop it. I know this shirt. The polka dots, the paint stain. I recognize it. I had the same one.

This was my shirt. It couldn’t be my shirt. But it is. When I was a kid. I’m sure of it. How did it end up in here? On the other side of the desk is a small video camera. It’s attached to the back of a TV with two cables.

“Hello?” I say.

I pick up the camera. It’s old but still fairly light. I look at the TV and push the power button. It’s static. I want to leave. I don’t like this. I want to go home.

“Hey!” I yell. “Jake!”

I carefully put the camera back down on the desk. I try the play button. The screen flickers. It’s not just static anymore. I lean in toward the TV. The shot is of a room. A wall. I can hear something in the shot. I find the volume button on the TV and turn it up, loud. It’s like a humming or something. And breathing. Is it breathing? It’s this room. It’s the room I’m standing in. I recognize the wall, the photos, and the desk. The shot moves down now, lower, to the floor.

The image starts moving, leaves out the door, travels along the hall. I can hear slow steps of the person filming, steps like rubber boots on the tile floor. The pace is methodical, deliberate.

The camera enters a large room, what appears to be the school’s library. It moves purposefully, straight ahead, through rows of communal desks, stacks and shelves of books. There are windows at the back. It goes all the way to the windows. They are long, with floor-to-ceiling horizontal blinds. The camera stops, stays very still, and continues recording.

A hand or something, just out of the frame, moves one of the blinds slightly to the left. They jingle. The camera moves up and looks through a window. Outside is a truck. That’s the old pickup out back.

The shot zooms in on the truck. It draws in closer, shakier. The quality, zoomed in like this, isn’t great. There’s someone in the truck. Sitting in the driver’s seat. It almost looks like Jake. Is that Jake? No, it can’t be. But it really looks like . . .

The shot ends abruptly. Back to loud, fitful static. It startles me and I jump.

I have to get out of here. Now.

I walk back, fast, to the door I entered. I don’t know who the man in here is or what’s going on or where Jake is, but I need to get help. I can’t be here. I’ll run back toward the town; I don’t care if it takes me all night. I don’t care if I half freeze to death. I need to talk to someone. Maybe I can wave someone down when I get back to the main road. There have to be some cars out there, somewhere.