Between Hello and goodbye

Yuliana, a new boarding school student, hears screams coming from a bolted well. She then meets a strange girl dressed in 1940s clothing who tells her a terrifying story...

I shiver and pull my scarf tighter around my neck. I had just started boarding school and I had decided to check out the campus, but it was freezing. I notice a bronze plaque on an old tree:

 

In memory of Viktorya Ophelia Adamczak

18-11- 1927----6-10-1940

 

Underneath is a black-and-white photo of Viktorya wearing a purple-blue cardigan and smiling, with chocolate hair tied in a high bun. Looking around, I see a well with an old iron cover bolted onto it and look around for some way to open it. Nothing. Suddenly, I hear a soft voice inside the well that clamps my heart in an icy fist, making the hairs on the back of my neck shiver. "Help! Somebody! Help me!!"  Hysterical sobs follow. I'm frozen on the spot for a few seconds before running off, my breath stuck in my chest.

 

As I'm running, I notice a girl dressed all in purple sitting on a bench a distance away from me. She's resting her head in her hand and looking at her ballet flats. She looks exactly like Viktorya. “Hello.”

 

“We need to get help! Where are the dormitories?” Fear has frozen my brain.

"That way."

"Tha-"

"Or that way. Or that way. Or that way."

 "Very funny. I’ll just stay here until you leave so I can follow you back." I sit down. "Why do you look like Viktorya?" I ask slowly.

"The girl on the plaque? I'm her grandniece, Viktorya."

"You were named after her?"

 "Yes…She went to this school, the teachers were horrid to her, and she died. Her parents sued the school, so it was closed for a while until they could find new teachers."

"Was it an accident? She fell down the well?"

"People say so… But she showed me the truth."

 "Viktorya?"

 "She liked to be called by her middle name, Ophelia. I saw the truth in a dream."

"And…..?"

She seems glad I asked. "Well..."

 

Ophelia blinked back tears as she glanced at the Dean's office door. She had been sent there after 'disrespecting' her teacher, Ms. Hendrickx. In a class discussion, Ophelia had given what she was sure was the correct answer.

"Incorrect!" Ms. Hendrickx answered, with a dirty look.

 Then another student gave the same answer as Ophelia.

“Great!” was the gushing response.

 Ophelia pointed out that she had given the same answer and Ms. Hendrickx snapped at her, telling her not to disrespect her elders. Ophelia opened her mouth to speak, but the teacher told her to go to the Dean's office.

The office door opened. "Ah, Ophelia." The Dean smirked.

"Yes, sir?"

"I knew I’d see you here again. You're always getting into trouble. Come in." His tone was calm, a sign that a worse punishment than usual would follow. She tried not to think of this.

“What did we talk about last time you were here?” The Dean sat down..

"If I got sent here again, serious consequences would follow,"  

"That's right." Quiet anger filled his voice. “I’ve tried caning you, I've tried calling your parents, but they always take your side. What am I to do with you, my dear?"

"I don't know."

"Well, here's my plan for you." The Dean told Ophelia what was going to happen.

"No! I'm sorry! Please..!"

"I'm not falling for that. Come." The Dean dragged Ophelia outside. The air was heavy with snow, and Ophelia had no coat. He dragged her to the well.

"PLEASE DON'T!!!! I'M SORRY!!!!"

The Dean smiled.. "I'll be seeing you in a few days, Ophelia." He lifted her up by the arms and shoved her into the huge bucket, cranking it so it splashed down into the dark icy water. His footsteps crunched away through the snow.

Hours later, Ophelia was hysterical. "H-h-h-elp! Let me out! PLEASE!!!!!!" She sobbed

 "Hey!"

The groundskeeper’s face looked down at her.

"You'll disturb the students! If I hear your screams again, you will regret it.. Understood?!"

"Y-y-yes, sir!"

"Good!"

The sound of his workboots echoed away from the well.   Ophelia tried to control her screams by pressing her hands over her mouth and breathing deeply through her nose.. As she had done a hundred times earlier, she felt around for something to grasp and pull herself up with. Balancing in the bucket, she felt the walls. Her hand wrapped around some vines. "N-n-no poison ivy. Please." She muttered through frozen lips. She was very allergic to poison ivy. She yanked it, and suddenly her hands and arms were covered with fire and her throat began to close. Letting out a feeble croak, she let go, feeling the icy water kill the fire, kill everything...

 

"...the next day, the Dean woke up and felt hands around his neck. Then he had a dream about Ophelia's ghost trying to shove him down the well. A week later, he had a nervous breakdown. People say her ghost is still around."

 I shudder a bit. "I think I heard her down in the well, screaming for help."     

 "I know. She does that a lot.” Something in the woods seemed to catch her gaze. "I should be going. Thank you and goodbye!"

“What are you thanking me for….?” But she was gone.

All of a sudden, I see Xara, my roommate, running toward me. “Yuliana! I saw a girl running and she looked exactly like Ophelia, you know, the girl who died? And then she sort of faded and disappeared!”

My throat freezes. “W-w-was this girl dressed in purple….did she have her hair down?”“Yes! How’d you…..?”

Then it becomes clear.

She hadn’t been hanging around to scare people, but had been looking for an opportunity to tell about that night. Since I was new, I had been the perfect audience.

“Let’s go.” I say quietly.

I follow Xara back to the dormitory through the thickly falling snow.  I catch a glimpse of purple flickering through the woods.

“Goodbye…” I whisper.  “Goodbye.”