Derek opened the school up next day. I met him outside and we went into the front doors. The cleaners, who congregated at the front gate every morning came in with us. I’d decided it was best to open the school from the front entrance doors rather than from opening the gates in Manbey Street and then the rear door of the school and make your way through an empty school in the dark, turning on lights as you went.
It was a break from decades of routine but it made sense to me. I should have made the change before. It was strange to think that walking in with 14 old ladies of retirement age was any form of protection, but I saw it as a deterrent to anything that might happen. There were now too many witnesses. Less chance of a Ghostly interruption, or so I thought!
One of the cleaners, Flo, started moaning to me at the top of her voice about doors not being unlocked in time for her to get into them to dust the surfaces, which was all they really did in the mornings, unless they were cleaning up after a meeting the night before in one of the rooms on their area. It was almost impossible to understand what Flo was saying sometimes so you just smiled, nodded and agreed.
Derek was making his way around unlocking doors and being directed by the cleaners which was a fatal thing to do. They knew the routine but were taking advantage of the ‘new guy”.
Flo was shouting at him which was standard procedure as she had been born stone deaf. She could lip read, which was good sometimes but bad other times, like when John had been subjected to a deafening torrent of abuse from her before she stormed off, only to turn back and stare at him just as he whispered, “Bugger off you old cow!” under his breath resulting in her throwing a mop at him. He got his own back by sitting in an armchair watching her vacuum the staff room carpet. He flicked the plug socket off and the vacuum died. Flo spent the next ten minutes cleaning the pipe, emptying the bag, replacing the bag, shaking the hoover and then, at the moment when she took the head off the metal pipe and stared down it under the light, he got up and flicked the switch on and shot out door and up the first staircase. No one knew until that moment that Flo wore a wig. It was never the same once it was retrieved from the hoover bag.
This was a day when the pupils came in to discover who their new form teacher was going to be and to discuss what they wanted to achieve at the end of the school year. It was a new way of planning and a little confusing for them. It confused me, but it was nothing to do with us. The cleaners finished and left. Derek went home and I stayed.
I’d written my resignation letter over the weekend. Well, Wanda had. She was determined to get me working with her. I had thanked the people at the council; I’d cited a new job offer away from the council as my reason for leaving and gave the required 2 week notice. I read it sitting at a table in the Library next door to our office. I put it in an envelope. I would place it in the internal mail bag that was picked up every morning at 9am by a council worker in a van. There were no emails in those days.
As I'd read it I was aware that three books had fallen off of the shelves. There was no reason for it. I picked them up one by one. One book was called ‘D.O.S. computing.’ And the two others were Denis Wheatley’s The Devil Rides Out and Anthony D Hippisley Coxe’s Haunted Britain. ‘Who the hell picks the library books?’ I thought.
I smiled as I looked at them and put them on a shelf. I told myself that I was soon out of here.
A few things happened with the staff and kids that involved me but apart from those it was a very quiet day until 4pm when Derek arrived. Just before he put his head around the door I heard a little bit of movement outside and some strange footsteps. Quick and light footed they came nearer to the door and then..
A dark Brown and white Jack Russell sat in the doorway staring at me expectantly.
“Good afternoon”. Derek said in a rough fake dog voice from behind the doorframe.
“Hello Bruce!” I said to the dog. He walked nearer and sat between my feet, leaning into my right leg just below the knee. I reached down to stoke him and he immediately lay on his back with his legs in the air.
He was a very friendly, lively, fast dog. Full of energy and very alert.
Derek set off to check parts of the school and lock them up. Bruce was following behind, his tail wagging furiously, looking for adventure. Nearly all the kids and most of the teachers had gone. I should have too, but Wanda was picking me up at 5:30 so I waited for her. The cleaners had emptied their bins and dusted down and were leaving. Next day was a normal routine.
Suddenly I heard Bruce barking and growling. Then some doors closing and being locked. They were being locked frantically and noisily. I got up, threw my newspaper on the desk and took off running down the corridor, (again, at what I didn’t know) just as Derek and Bruce got to the corner. Bruce was staring at the locked corridor doors, barking madly, giving it his best and directing his rage at what was there on the other side. Derek bent over with his hands on his knees looking like he was having a game of leap frog, catching his breath.
Bruce was barking so hard his paws were coming off the ground.
I looked down the corridor to where the doors were and we followed him as he walked towards them. Each blue door was solid apart from each one having, at head height, an eight inch by five inch glass window in them. I looked through one of them at the point where both Giles and I had seen the shadow figure. There was nothing but an empty space of corridor with the science lab doors on either side.
I turned back to Derek.
“What happened?”
He took a moment to catch his breath. Bruce had calmed down and was sitting at his feet.
“He started barking in there and when I looked I saw someone in there near the cupboard where all the chemicals are kept. I couldn’t make out who it was. It was in the shadows, a figure, big, it was dark and it just disappeared. Bruce kept on barking and I grabbed him and we got out into the corridor but it felt like it was coming for us. I had to pull Bruce down the corridor and I locked the doors. He wanted to get it!”
“You keep saying ‘it’” I told him. “What do you mean?”
“That thing you were telling me about, what you and John saw.”
“Right?” I replied,
“I heard a voice saying, GET OUT!”
I was amazed and obviously looked it.
““Seriously Dave. It was a horrible voice! Over and over again.”
I had been standing with my back to the doors and I leaned back on them to think, now aware that our problems were getting more regular. I slowly became aware of the doors being slowly pushed from the other side, making me stand up straight, they moved about an inch. I looked back through the glass but there was nothing.
We walked back to the front entrance.
Derek had to ready the Library for the Womens Institute meeting. I knew he was glad it was next door to the office, I would have been too. Wanda beeped the hooter of her car outside having seen me in the hall.
Tomorrow Giles was calling with his findings…
Bruce lay down on the mat in the office.
Till tomorrow…
“See you tomorrow Del!” I said waving at Bruce.
A Voice from the Past...
I sat in the office waiting for Giles to arrive. The kids were back and they were all excitedly talking about their individual Christmas’s. The noise was deafening. Excited screams and squeals and sharing memories of what happened over Christmas at the top of their voices with raucous laughter and pushing and shouting. I kicked the door shut with a loud bang. I couldn’t hear myself think.
Giles had called and said he would pop in and go over the tape recordings with us. He was on his way into Essex to investigate a house in Dunmow that afternoon but he had some interesting things that he wanted to share.
Derek was with me, minus Bruce, who did not come into the school when the kids were there during schooltime.
Derek thought he would be ok as he was very tame and lovable but I explained the risk. Even if he was ok we had no idea about the kids. They all seemed like St Trinians to me and it only took one of the little drama queens to say they had been nipped by him, just to gain attention, and he would be in trouble, and so would Derek. Plus the parents would be complaining. There were only so many fat tattoed women with mens haircuts you could put up with storming the school. You can’t trust some people, especially if they get compensation pound signs in their eyes.
Derek knew I was talking sense so he only brought Bruce in during the evening.
There was a knock on the door. We looked at each other, wondering if we could get away with not opening the door but it opened and Giles leant in.
“Hi, it’s only me.”
“Come in, sit down and have a cup of tea.”
He was holding a cassette tape recorder.
“I have some startling evidence to play you,” he said excitedly as he took a sip from the tea Derek had offered him.
He placed it on the desk as I reached over and locked the office door. The noises of excited kids were getting quieter as they were herded up and being put under control.
Giles opened the tape case, popped the cassette in the machine and, with his finger poised on the play button, said “What you will hear is quite shocking. I only heard some of it at the time as it was quite faint.”
I saw Derek look at me out of the corner of my eye as Giles pressed the button. The recording was very clear.
“Tell me your name!” Giles’ voice was as clear as a bell..
Silence, nothing for a few seconds, then the sound of a chair scraping on the floor.
“I didn’t do that” Giles whispered, as Derek and I leaned in nearer.
“Who are you?” Giles asked, on the tape. “I can’t help you if I don’t know who you are and what you want.”
“Rebecca”
“Who is Rebecca?” Giles asks,
“What do (Unintelligable) care?”
The words sounded like ‘What do people here care?’
“Is Rebecca here”
“Dead! Yes! Fire.”
“Was it you we saw before, out in the corridor?”
“Yes”
“Did you chase someone on the staircase and talk to the blind man?”
“My place!”
“I can help you.” Giles said on the tape, “Tell me your name!”
Silence.
More silence.
I was about to say something but Giles waved a finger and pointed at the tape machine
“GET OUT!”
Dennis nearly fell off his chair. I knew he recognised that dark heavy gruff voice from before.
Judging from the noise of things being dropped and picked up again and the scraping noise from the microphone I knew that Giles had beat a hasty retreat. He pressed the stop button. We all sat there in silence, staring at each other in turn, we made an uneasy silence that one of us needed to break.
Just as I was about to say “Well,” the handle of the office door was pulled down a couple of times and someone bumped into the door expecting it to open.
I am ashamed to say we all shouted “Aaargh!” in unison.
I unlocked the door to see Karen, the art teacher, standing there.
“Happy New Year!” she smile and then leaned forward conspiratorially “What are you boys doing in here? Are you hiding?” she laughed.
“Having a séance!” I told her.
“Rather you than me,” she said, “Especially in this place!”
Giles looked up, opened his mouth but then thought better of it.
I thought of saying, “Would you like to hear a tape?” but thought better of it.
She needed a dustpan and brush so I handed her one, enquired about her Christmas, Which she said was just her and her brother at her parents house falling asleep watching Only Fools and Horses. She eventually walked off after promising to bring the pan and brush back.
I said "just come in if the door is shut." and pushed the door closed but didn’t lock it.
“This is just what I thought,” said Giles, a dangerous malevolent spirit. There is an opening, or gateway, in this school.”
(These were the days before ‘portals’ and ‘orbs’. We didn’t have them.)
“This is a spirit trapped here and one that can bring others through the gateway. It’s confident, aware, and dangerous.”
Silence. We considered our options. I was on a countdown to leaving but wanted to know just who or what it was.
“Let’s do it!” Derek offered. “Let’s organize a Séance!.”
“I would advise against that!! Giles said. “I was going to advise against it”
We thought about it. Giles looked at his watch.
“Oh I have to go. Keep in touch and let me know when. I would love to be there. I will be back soon.” He put his cassette machine in his bag and left, waving goodbye.
“So what do you think, a séance? Good idea?” Derek asked.
“We have a visitor tomorrow evening.” A letting I booked. “I had to cancel it during the holidays because of the Ghost Club involvement.”
“Are you doing it?” Derek asked, “I thought we would both do it,” I said, “plus the head teacher and two of her deputy teachers.”
“Really” Derek said, amazed.
“The Vicar is coming!”
The Vicar Part 2
Everyone looked at the cassette on the desk.
No one said a thing for a few seconds. The teaching staff had no idea a cassette recording existed.
It was marked “Investigation, Laboratory of school, Property of Giles Draper, Institute of Psychical research. Copy 1.”
I put the cassette into a tape machine and pressed play. Giles’ voice came out of the speaker, confirming the details on the label. Then,
“Tell me your name!” Giles’ voice was as clear as a bell..
Silence, nothing for a few seconds, then the sound of a chair scraping on the floor.
“Who are you?” Giles asked, on the tape. “I can’t help you if I don’t know who you are and what you want.”
Weird voice: “Rebecca”
Giles: “Who is Rebecca?”
Weird voice, distant: “What do (Unintelligable) care?”
The words sounded like ‘What do people here care?’
Giles: “Is Rebecca here”
Voice: “Dead! Yes! Fire.”
Giles: “Was it you we saw before, out in the corridor?”
Voice: “Yes”
Giles: “Did you chase someone on the staircase and talk to the blind man?”
Voice, nearer: “My place!”
Giles: “I can help you. Tell me your name!”
Silence.
More silence.
Everyone around the tables took a quick look at others. The Vicar was staring at the cassette player horrified.
Voice: “GET OUT!”
Everyone apart from Dennis and I recoiled mainly because we knew what was coming.
Giles: “I am going nowhere. Speak to me and tell me why you are here.”
Everyone around the table was leaning forward, including the Vicar.
Giles: “Tell me what you want here. (Giles was shouting.)
Then silence. No sound for ages, then a strange low growl.
Suddenly there was a lot of noise, Giles was obviously clearing the tape recorder and microphone into his bag and we heard the sound of him walking to the door.
As we heard the door being pushed open there was a voice.
Voice: GO!
I clicked the tape off. I expected the Vicar to claim it was a set-up, us joking around.
The staff were shocked and leaning back in their chairs. One had lit a cigarette and was puffing away madly. The Head of R,E. was drinking water like it was going out of fashion.
“Well, Stephen?” I asked.
He looked at the tape recorder, then at the Head, then at me.
“I am going to contact the Ministry and suggest that someone comes over to see if they can assist you. We have a group that can ‘deal’ with these things. They know how these things should be dealt with. Is that OK?”
“You can’t do anything now?” The Head asked.
“I am not the correct representative for this. Having heard the evidence and seen the documentation in that box this is something that…”
“What?”
“It calls for experience beyond mine, and beyond my capabilities.”
“Could you not bless the school? Not all of it, just the areas where all this is happening.”
“I think we need someone who can do more than that.”
He started to put his Bible and a folder into his bag and stood up.
“I am sorry but, there is nothing I personally can do. I will raise your issue to a higher office that can help you. I must go. Thank you for your hospitality.”
He pushed his chair under the table but it sprang back hitting him in the legs.
He stepped back and stared at the chair for a few moments with his handkerchief at his mouth. The Head and a couple of others stood up staring at the chair as it slowly slid back under the table again.
The look on his face was of a man fit to burst.
“I have to go.” The Vicar said, opening the Library door and running to the front entrance Door.
“I will be in touch tomorrow Mrs Goodwin.”
He tried opening the doors but I had locked them, he turned but I was already there reaching past him to turn the key. He looked visibly shocked from what he had heard.
Someone, I do not know who, was sitting in his car waiting for him and they drove off.
“Maybe someone from the ministry will get in touch. Soon I hope.” Said the Head as everyone came out of the Library.
“Considering he knew exactly what we were expecting, we have wasted our time tonight, the old duffer.” Said Pat, looking like she wanted to chin him.
“HE wasted it, if you ask me” Said Shiela, the Head of Religious studies.
Well, if she thought so, it must be true.
I was about to let everyone out of the front door when Derek remembered the Library. It was still open and the lights were on.
“I’ll lock it up” he said, “Leave it to…F**k?”
We all looked. All the chairs we had sat on were now on the tables, neatly arranged with a pile of books on each. Nothing else was disturbed. Derek stood looking into the Library. I walked over and reached for the light to turn it off. I felt a hand touch the back of mine as I flicked the switch throwing the room into darkness. I recoiled at the touch and almost slapped Derek in the face doing so.
I had to jump back as Derek slammed the door shut and locked it.
I told the others I had felt a hand on mine.
“Good God, save us” Shiela whispered.
“I think it’s a bit late for that now!” I told her.
I locked the Front door behind us and we all descended the steps.
A flurry of “see you tomorrows” were said, followed by a few “Yeah, can’t wait!’s.” I padlocked the gates and got into my car.
Derek was already halfway down the road, he only lived two streets away. The cars pulled away leaving me there alone. I had to call John when I got home. I resisted the urge to look at the school, started the car and roared away.
I spoke to Derek after taking a trip back to West Ham in 2023 and got his take on the Vicars meeting and what happened. I’d tracked him down on Instagram. He is happy and living in Beckton not far from the London City Airport, keeping himself occupied by Plane Spotting. Now 78 he still remembers the events clearly and was happy to be included in this account, giving me details that pieced together memories of mine that I had dropped from my mind long ago.
_____
We got the call confirming the Vicar would be attending at 5:30pm that afternoon. I didn’t find it a bit comforting to think that the vicar was going to be there but it was arranged. His attitude bothered me. He seemed to think he was going to have no problems and I hoped he wouldn’t have, but he seemed to think this was just an evening out, no matter what I did to impress upon him the gravity of the situation.
The Head, a deputy Head and the head of religious studies were going to be there as well as me and Derek. The Deputy head, Pat Marino, was a real laugh. She looked and acted 100% professional but when she came into the school during the holidays she arrived on her Harley Davison, in full leathers. It was a massive transition but we got on really well from the moment we met. There was an end of term party for staff the previous year held at Charlie Chans, a nightclub beneath Walthamstow Dog Track near the Crooked Billet roundabout on the North Circular. She took me there on the back of her Harley, got changed in the ladies and hit the dance floor non-stop for an hour. She didn’t even spill her drink, which looked like a Gin and Tonic but was actually only lemonade. What a character she was/ is! What an evening that was! Now, we were about to have an evening at the other end of the scale.
Bang on 5:30 the Vicar arrived.
“Stephen, how lovely to see you again. Welcome to XXXXX XXXXXXX School for girls! We are so proud to have you grace us with your presence at our home of education and Excellence” They shook hands for over ten seconds.
“Thank you, thank you!” The vicar was repeating.
Derek nudged my arm, “Who is this, the fuckin’ Pope?”
The Head Teacher, Mrs Goodwin (name changed), was a little over effusive with her welcome and a few of us exchanged glances. I looked at Pat, she was putting her finger in her mouth pretending to be sick.
The rest of us looked at each other uneasily while Stephen was shaking hands with all of us.
“Let’s use the library and talk about our issue.” The Head continued, leading the way like Joyce Grenfell.
We all sat around the two tables that had been put together. There was a water jug, some crisps and some penguin biscuits. Someone had pushed the boat out.
“Stephen,” the Head continued, “As you will be aware, we have concerns about some issues in the school. I wonder what your thoughts were after your conversation with David a few weeks ago.”
Stephen took his glasses off to clean them, as if that made a difference to his opinion.
“Ah David, well, well. Well, I listened to David very carefully and I came to the conclusion that what he told me he believed and that it was believed by the people who experience these situations. I have read the notes that were sent to me regarding other instances, and they are quite troublesome and extreme in nature, but, I am a man of God. And as such it is a very difficult position for me, and the church, to agree that these incidents are the work of a negative spirit. I mean, what do you expect me to do about that to help you?”
I could see that he was not on board with us. All the info, all the time, all the effort, for nothing. He was too scared. He was a busted flush. He had made his mind up not to do anything but distance himself from this before I had left his office.
“I know that you all believe that supernatural things have happened here but I have to say that we, the church, take a dim view of this sort of thing. Could this not all be Chinese whispers? One thing said and passed on to another gets things altered and added to and…well. This could all be circumstance and imagination. It is wrong for us, the church, to be seen getting involved in this kind of thing.”
I heard my voice say, “And you couldn’t have told us all that on the phone?”
“Stephen, I thought it was made clear,” the Head jumped in, ”we want you to perform some kind of cleansing ritual.”
“Oh my,” he said looking flustered, “I had no idea that was what you wanted.”
“Don’t give me all that, mate!” I told him. “You didn’t grasp what you were being told when I saw you, that’s why I made it absolutely clear to you, even overstating the issues, so you got a grip on reality. You were left in no doubt about it. Don’t come over with all the ‘I had no idea’ rubbish now. Why do you think you are here? You know EXACTLY why we have asked you here. Just say if you haven’t got the bottle!”
(A little direct but, what did I care? I was leaving anyway.)
“It is not about ‘bottle’ as you call it. I do not think it wise that I get involved in this. I can only advise, discuss and look at options.”
We sat in silence for a while and then Pat broke it by saying,
“So…what do you advise?”
“I think it would be a very good idea to have some record of events that I could….”
I put the diary on the table, with all of the notes and handwritten messages we had left for each other detailing and warning each other of incidents.
The vicar looked at the book, turning the pages as we sat in silence. My mobile rang in the office next door breaking the silence. It stopped after four rings. Then the landline rang and rang. Dennis was nearest the Library door so jumped up and answered the phone. A minute or two later he came back and handed me a packet of Rothmans cigarettes!
I stared at them confused, bewildered, then noticed his handwriting.
‘John called. Call him a sap’.
Confused further I looked at Dennis. He whispered,
‘Call john as soon as possible.’
‘Aaaah!’ I thought. I had called John a number of times to find out about his weird behaviour when he left the other day. He had finally heard my message.
“These notes could all be nothing.” The Vicar suddenly said, “Imagination, ordinary noises, this is a big building. Now if you had clear evidence to prove that…”
I placed a box of cassette tapes on the table. This were the copies from the night vigil and the other encounters and I explained that these were from Giles of the Society of psychical research. Not recorded by us but by the two men from the Ghost Club. Proof that something was going on here.
“What are these?” the Vicar asked, picking up a cassette.
“These are the recordings made by members of the Institute. The ghost club. They are live recordings of a vigil we undertook one evening. Also there is some recordings a man called Giles made. Giles sat in one of the laboratories here and made contact with something, or someone and the tape recording contains the voice.”
The Vicar dropped the cassette like he had had an electric shock.
Everyone looked at the cassette on the desk.
No one said a thing for a few seconds. The teaching staff had no idea a cassette recording existed.
It was marked “Investigation, Laboratory of school, Property of Giles Draper, Institute of Psychical research. Copy 1.”
I put the cassette into a tape machine and pressed play. Giles’ voice came out of the speaker, confirming the details on the label. Then,
“Tell me your name!” Giles’ voice was as clear as a bell..
Silence, nothing for a few seconds, then the sound of a chair scraping on the floor.
“Who are you?” Giles asked, on the tape. “I can’t help you if I don’t know who you are and what you want.”
Weird voice: “Rebecca”
Giles: “Who is Rebecca?”
Weird voice, distant: “What do (Unintelligable) care?”
The words sounded like ‘What do people here care?’
Giles: “Is Rebecca here”
Voice: “Dead! Yes! Fire.”
Giles: “Was it you we saw before, out in the corridor?”
Voice: “Yes”
Giles: “Did you chase someone on the staircase and talk to the blind man?”
Voice, nearer: “My place!”
Giles: “I can help you. Tell me your name!”
Silence.
More silence.
Everyone around the tables took a quick look at others. The Vicar was staring at the cassette player horrified.
Voice: “GET OUT!”
Everyone apart from Dennis and I recoiled mainly because we knew what was coming.
Giles: “I am going nowhere. Speak to me and tell me why you are here.”
Everyone around the table was leaning forward, including the Vicar.
Giles: “Tell me what you want here. (Giles was shouting.)
Then silence. No sound for ages, then a strange low growl.
Suddenly there was a lot of noise, Giles was obviously clearing the tape recorder and microphone into his bag and we heard the sound of him walking to the door.
As we heard the door being pushed open there was a voice.
Voice: GO!
I clicked the tape off. I expected the Vicar to claim it was a set-up, us joking around.
The staff were shocked and leaning back in their chairs. One had lit a cigarette and was puffing away madly. The Head of R,E. was drinking water like it was going out of fashion.
“Well, Stephen?” I asked.
He looked at the tape recorder, then at the Head, then at me.
“I am going to contact the Ministry and suggest that someone comes over to see if they can assist you. We have a group that can ‘deal’ with these things. They know how these things should be dealt with. Is that OK?”
“You can’t do anything now?” The Head asked.
“I am not the correct representative for this. Having heard the evidence and seen the documentation in that box this is something that…”
“What?”
“It calls for experience beyond mine, and beyond my capabilities.”
“Could you not bless the school? Not all of it, just the areas where all this is happening.”
“I think we need someone who can do more than that.”
He started to put his Bible and a folder into his bag and stood up.
“I am sorry but, there is nothing I personally can do. I will raise your issue to a higher office that can help you. I must go. Thank you for your hospitality.”
He pushed his chair under the table but it sprang back hitting him in the legs. He stepped back and stared at the chair for a few moments with his handkerchief at his mouth. The Head and a couple of others stood up staring at the chair as it slowly slid back under the table again. The look on his face was of a man fit to burst.
“I have to go.” The Vicar said, opening the Library door and running to the front entrance Door.
“I will be in touch tomorrow Mrs Goodwin.”
He tried opening the doors but I had locked them, he turned but I was already there reaching past him to turn the key. He looked visibly shocked from what he had heard.
Someone, I do not know who, was sitting in his car waiting for him and they drove off.
“Maybe someone from the ministry will get in touch. Soon I hope.” Said the Head as everyone came out of the Library.
“Considering he knew exactly what we were expecting, we have wasted our time tonight, the old duffer.” Said Pat, looking like she wanted to chin him.
“HE wasted it, if you ask me” Said Shiela, the Head of Religious studies.
Well, if she thought so, it must be true.
I was about to let everyone out of the front door when Derek remembered the Library. It was still open and the lights were on.
“I’ll lock it up” he said, “Leave it to…F**k?”
We all looked. All the chairs we had sat on were now on the tables, neatly arranged with a pile of books on each. Nothing else was disturbed. Derek stood looking into the Library. I walked over and reached for the light to turn it off. I felt a hand touch the back of mine as I flicked the switch throwing the room into darkness. I recoiled at the touch and almost slapped Derek in the face doing so.
I had to jump back as Derek slammed the door shut and locked it.
I told the others I had felt a hand on mine.
“Good God, save us” Shiela whispered.
“I think it’s a bit late for that now!” I told her.
I locked the Front door behind us and we all descended the steps.
A flurry of “see you tomorrows” were said, followed by a few “Yeah, can’t wait!’s.” I padlocked the gates and got into my car. Derek was already halfway down the road, he only lived two streets away. The cars pulled away leaving me there alone. I had to call John when I got home. I resisted the urge to look at the school, started the car and roared away.
JOHN
I drove over to Wanda and told her what had gone on at the Vicars meeting. Her response was,”I knew I should have been there.”
I explained about his reticence to get involved and how he had seemed disturbed by the amount of evidence we had, including the cassette tape.
“Play the tape let me hear it!”
This went on for ten minutes, she wouldn’t let it go.
“Some of the staff were scared when they heard the voice.” I told her.
“Play the tape let me hear it!”
“I need to call John and speak to him.”
“Play the tape let me hear it!”
I reached into my leather jacket pocket and pulled out Dereks cigarette pack.
“I’ll put it on and we can lis…”
Wanda grabbed the cigarette packet and stared at it, confused.
“What the hell is this?”
“It’s got John’s Home number on it. I never updated the address book in the office. Can I use your phone?”
“Play the tape let me hear it!”
“It’s in my case over there.”
Wanda was busy with the combination locks while I was dialling the number. It rang three times and then I heard John.
“Yeah?”
“It’s me. I missed your call earlier.”
“Dave! Thanks for calling me back. Listen,”
I heard a door shut at his end and the sound of a barking dog and a screaming kid subsided.
“I’m all ears, how’s the new school, the job and everything.”
“It’s Good thanks, listen. The other day when I left you at the school.”
“Yeah what was the matter, you looked like death warmed up!”
“I waved at you. Then I kind of looked at the school. As I looked along the row of offices towards the Staff Room there was the girl standing in the window of the small room next to the main office.”
Wanda turned and shouted “YESSSS!” waving the cassette tape. I waved my hand at her as she ran to the cassette player and loaded it.
I involuntarily pressed the phone to my ear.
“A girl”. I asked him to repeat it.
“No,” he replied “THE girl! “She looked like she was screaming. She was on fire!”
“Are you sure?”
“As sure as I am of anything. It was real. She just faded away. I am never coming back there Dave.”
“I can understand that, Mate. I am glad your new place is good. You never know until you get there.”
“Dave, I don’t know what your plans are, but get out of that school.”
“I have a week left!”
“Leave now Dave, make out you’re ill.”
“Thanks! Don’t put the mockers on me!”
I looked at Wanda, she was oblivious, sitting on the Sofa with the headphones on, enjoying every minute of the tape.
A few more moments with John and I hung up. I was a little disconcerted by what he said. We knew about the girl but it must have been John she was appearing to, as no one else saw her.
Wanda screamed and frightened the life out of me, breaking my concentration.
I knew as soon as she took the headphones off that she had reached the part where the other voice spoke to Giles.
All I kept thinking was, ‘one week, one week, one week!’
CLOSURE
I sat in the office.
I began looking through the notes and files that were in the scrapbook I’d shown the vicar.
Some of it was unbelievable stuff. I started thinking of all of the things that had happened:
Being followed down the staircase,
The vigil we’d had,
The toilet block taps,
Sightings and sounds of someone or something walking around,
The doors shaking and handles turning.
Lights dimming,
Things going missing,
Bruce with his football game,
Books falling off the shelves in the Library,
The chair stacking,
The burning girl,
Workmen running away and never coming back,
The broken ankle,
The Piano tuner,
The Tai Chi class chairs,
The basketball
The individual sightings, like the night cleaners chasing a girl in Victorian clothing.
The list was endless. Not to mention the tiny, niggly little things that made a part of and became part of a regular day.
Now there was going to be a visit from the church’s specialist group of investigators. Now they are called a ‘Deliverance Ministry' but we were just told, ‘another department from the church’ were coming to assist. I wasn’t sure if I was thankful or disappointed that they were going to come to the school after I had left but, having read the information they sent, it seemed to me to focus on prayer and listening, to calm the anxiety felt by the people affected by what they ‘believe to be happening’. ‘The Ministry will listen to try to ascertain what is going on, or rather what we ‘believe’ is going on.’
It had all the makings of a whitewash to me. I assumed they were going to make it seem that we were all imagining it.
We didn’t just believe it; we had seen it and heard it. John had left because of it. Even Bruce knew it existed and he was a dog!!
I needed: closure.
I suppose I needed an end to it all.
Derek arrived with Bruce. Bruce had twisted a paw and his front nearside paw was bandaged. He must have suffered a bad tackle. He came into the office, sat down at my feet and lifted his paw to show me. I almost expected him to say “Look at this!” I touched his paw and he licked my hand.
Derek was looking after the Women’s Institute again. I was going to leave him to it but the rain was lashing down outside.
I sat there quietly with Bruce at my feet as Derek made ready the Library for the letting. The week had been uneventful, in so much as, things rolled along quite normally. No apparitions. No noises.
Tomorrow was Friday, my last day. The Head had kept asking me all week to change my mind but the opportunity to build a business with Wanda was too great. I was asked to come back when the ministry was there and agreed that if I could, I would.
I would take all my belongings tomorrow when I would slip out the door unnoticed. That was the plan.
Derek came back from inside the Library, everything was set up. He had a newspaper and Bruce was going to sit in the office with him. No football training tonight. Was it time to go and come back tomorrow? I thought of all that had happened, I thought of how it had made me feel, I wasn’t finished…yet!
“Back in a while, Derek.”
I patted Bruce on the head as Derek put the kettle on and I walked off down the corridor in front of me. It was 630pm
I walked a normal pace down the corridor with minimal sound from my trainers on the polished floor. I stood at the bottom and looked to my right to the stone stairs where two of the staff had been talking one day and the Deputy Heads keys had disappeared only to be found on her office chair. The nightlights were on and it was semi darkness as I turned left and headed for the science labs where Giles had recorded a conversation with an entity that eventually told him to ‘Get Out’.
I pushed the swing doors open and let them close behind me before turning right into the Chemistry lab, the scene of the recording. I stood there and waited for about ten seconds and then walked out and back down the corridor, finally turning left into the linkway corridor, unlocking the first doors and leaving them unlocked to open the Toilet block where I had found all the taps jammed on full. As I entered I noticed how silent and still the room was. You would have heard a pin drop.
I stepped out back into the corridor and turned and walked to the next set of doors, unlocked them and entered the area where we had held the vigil. It was also the area that was at the foot of the flights of stairs where I was rooted to the spot listening to someone coming down the stairs two at a time after me. It was also the exact spot where the Piano tuner was talking to a Shadowfigure that he said had tried to trip him down the stairs.
This time I had my full set of keys with me and opened the Boiler room door and turned on the stair lights. I waited but there was no sound at all. I turned back to the Boiler room door to close it and climb the stairs to the top on my own.
I noticed in the half dark, at the bottom of the steps that led down to the boilers, there was a girl. Like a hazy semi-transparent photo projected in the air. She stared directly at me. I was unable to move, I was frozen as an icy blast ran all over me. I closed my eyes, blinking in the freezing air and when I opened my eyes, she was gone.
I wasn’t sure that I had seen her, but I did, definitely. If it was my imagination, it would have been something far more scary than a girl of around 12 years old. She had looked at me. I closed the door and locked it.
It was now or never. I climbed the eight flights of stairs that led up to the top floor hall. The remaining few flights led up to a mezzanine floor of store rooms. Those flights were gated off.
Slowly, taking them step by step, I reached the top floor hall. I opened the door and stepped into the dark. I put the lights on which slowly dink-dink'ed as they came to life and I looked around. Nothing.
I retraced my steps and took the stairs two at a time down to the ground just as I did on that terrible night.
Boom
Boom
Boom
Bang
Turn to the next flight,
Boom
Boom
Boom
Bang
Turn
Until I reached the ground. I waited and waited, but nothing. I opened the Boiler room door again and turned off the lights. I tried not to look at where the girl was standing ten minutes ago but I I had to. There was nothing there. I closed the door, locked it and retraced my steps back to the office locking the doors behind me.
I locked the second set of double doors at the entrance to the linkway and got a feeling that I should look up back down the corridor towards the boiler room.
There was the figure of a man standing there, staring at me.
I could see him clearly. Grubby collarless shirt, flat cap, red handkerchief tied around his neck, dark trousers and boots that came up to his knees. Face covered in black grime. His expression was neutral, he was not angry, but calm or confused.
It was a look of mild recognition, a peaceful kind of recognition. It was as if we acknowledged each other.
I took it all in for a few seconds and then spun around as I heard Bruce bark in the office.
I looked back, typically, the vision of the man was gone.
I walked back to the office and Derek said, “Cup of tea there Dave!” and pointed at my West Ham United mug on my desk. The Ladies from the Institute had arrived and they were making a fuss of Bruce. That’s why he had barked.
“You alright Mate?” Derek asked.
I thought for a moment. Should I tell him?
“Never better, cheers!”
I sat there for another ten minutes playing with Bruce. I thought about my leaving the next day and realised of course, that all my stuff, like books and notebooks, umbrella and all manner of odds and sods were in my locker. I emptied it all into my bag with the freshly washed up mug and gave Derek the locker keys and went over to Wandas.
The next day Derek opened the school up and I got there around 9.30am. Derek went home and came back at 4pm. I was still there, nothing had happened all day. I went over the Manbey Arms with 8 of the teachers, Pat, Karen and a few more, even the Head and her secretary. Of course Derek came, having escaped the cleaners demands, and John came over too, which meant a lot to me. He was like a different person, his old self. Happy, cheerful. It was good to see.
For some reason a couple of the teachers were upset that I was leaving but I said I would pop back to see how things were. We all left the pub together and walked the perimeter of the old and new schools down Water Lane and then first right, the same route I had taken after the vigil with Giles.
Inside the foyer I handed my keys to Derek. Even though I had recommended Derek to take over as Caretaker they appointed a new one and Derek would need to show him around. Derek didn’t want the job, and had told them ‘no thanks’.
I waved to some of the staff that were still talking and after a few kisses, phone numbers on slips of paper with ‘keep in touch’ written on them from Karen and a couple of others, and a few hugs I was gone, down the steps, and into my car. I started the engine and drove down Deanery Road to a new life.
AFTERWORD
I had done my time, and I have my memories.
I had been confused and scared, worried and annoyed, angry and sad. Sometimes all at the same time!
I was now free to build a business with Wanda, which is what I did, and concentrate on the future rather than what the next day’s horror was going to be.
I had made peace with what was there at the school, I now knew that we can NEVER really understand why some things like this happen. They just do. It’s not because of us, it’s because of something in the past.
I kept in touch with a few teachers and discovered that things were still happening for another ten years or so but then contact tailed off. They moved on and/or retired or quit. The deliverance ministry were a waste of time it seems, they wanted to discover if there was a natural reason and if any of the staff were anxious or overworked as it may have been hallucinations…yadda yadda yadda. They gave a blessing and promised to keep in touch but…they never did.
I carried on building up a lucrative business throughout Europe with Wanda, which we sold for more money than it was worth and after splitting the proceeds, we split up too. I have never seen or heard from her again; she dropped off the radar and is not on social media. She became uncontactable. I tried to find her, even hiring a private detective, but to no avail. I hope she is happy.
I moved away from the area into Essex and then East Sussex near to Tunbridge Wells in Kent and then to St Paul de Vence near Nice in the south of France but I come back to a property in East Sussex now and then.
Did I ever go back to the School? No! Nor did I really want or need to. I had my closure.
Since the new school was partly demolished and completely rebuilt a few years after I left…I didn’t see the point. All in all, I am done with it.
Do I think about it? Do I wonder? You bet I do.
This has been A True East London Haunting!
The Ghosts of Sarah Bonnell School, 1984/1989.
Thank you for reading.
Dave Moore PhD
By the way…if you are wondering, I'm not an author, I was just The Caretaker.