The Skeleton

By: Mei Manzo

 

A new plaster skeleton hung on a metal hookinside a science classroom. It was moved between the science rooms, and sometimes ended upin the art room. It had a name, though no one remembers it.On the last day of school, it went missing. No student, no teacher could accountfor its sudden disappearance.  No one searched far or wide for those lost bones. Then, after the cycle of summer,one week in fall, the leaves began to turn redand cool breezes blew about.Somebody found the old skeleton on one of the roofs, out of sight and out of reachuntil the gutters needed to be cleaned.It was badly scratched on its fingers and toesas though it had been climbing.Back went the old bonesinto the science classroom.None looked into the incident,pranking was presumed the cause.Only when students returning to class after lunchand noticed the skeleton on the other side of the roomperched on a table or propped up against a cabinetdid they begin to wonder and worry.The skeleton began to appear outside the classroomand some would even say they had seen the swingof a tibia or ulna vanishing behind a building.Enough was enough, and it was decided that the old skeleton would be locked in the classroomto keep jokesters and troublemakersfrom moving it around. One student,jokingly charged by one of the teachers with the taskof watching the thing, stayed inside and ate lunch.She sat at one of the lab benches and read a library book.The story was about the origins of Halloweenand how the spirit world crossed into the human worldin the orange month of October.The story was engrossing and the girl could practically hear the howls of the dead, the movements of phantoms, and the click of walking bonesas if the spirits were in the room with her.Indeed, when she closed the book and reached for her thermos,she saw the Apparition of Halloweengrinning before her.