3rd Grade Ghost
I haven't experienced much trouble with ghosts, but when the ghost that haunted the halls in 3rd grade graduated to 4th with me, and followed me home in 5th grade, I began to realize that this wasn't about the elementary school. This was about me.
When I was in preschool, I went to a small Christian primary school that was held at St. Peter's Lutheran church. I continued going to that school until 3rd grade, when I had to start attending a public school.
The first year that I went to the elementary school was the first year that they offered classes in grades Pre-K through 5th grade, so the classrooms were moved (ex. the old 3rd grade hall was now used for 2nd and 3rd grade classes). I had two teachers, one that taught English and history, and the other that taught math and science.
In my math class, strange things would happen. My teacher would always leave an open puzzle in the back of the classroom for students to work on when they finished their test, but sometimes pieces would go missing, and the next day, once she gave up with looking for them, they would reappear, in the correct place on the puzzle. A lot of times, we would hear a loud knock on the door, and my teacher went to go answer it, thinking it was the principal, but no one was there! So anytime we heard strange sounds or realized that something else was missing, we would just say, "oh, it's just the class ghost," and continue with our day.
One day, during recess, a group of girls stood around my teacher and they looked scared. The teacher herself was shaken. I asked what had happened and she told us all about the night before.
She was working late, grading papers, organizing the assignment for the next day, etc. It was late and the only people that were still at the school were herself, one of the other 3rd grade teachers, and a custodian. The custodian was cleaning the 4th grade hall where the other teacher was: on the other side of the campus. My teacher was in her classroom, grading papers, when she heard a noise out in the hallway. The room went cold, the lights dimmed, and the crisp sound of "someone rolling papers" echoed across the halls. She knew no one was in the building, so she stood up and walked across the room to look in the hall. She peered through the small window in the door, but she saw no one. She returned to her desk thinking she was imagining it and she figured she would finish up and head home in about an hour or so.
After about 20 minutes, the same thing happened again. The room got cold, and dark, and again the sound of rolling paper echoed through the hall. She slowly cracked open the door, and stepped into the hall. After seeing no one the 3rd time, she was terrified and grabbed her things and left.
This is where I'm involved. I told my parents about the "3rd Grade Ghost" but they didn't believe me. Eventually I forgot about it, until the 1st day of school, the next year.
My sister is two years older than me, so for one year in elementary school, one year in middle school, and two years in high school, we attended the same school. 4th grade was the first year we went to different schools, and my 4th grade class was in the same hall as her old 5th grade class. the only thing that separated the two halls was the bathroom.
The morning of my 1st day of school in 4th grade, I went across the hall from my new classroom, to the girls' bathroom. I walked in and looked around. The ugly, old pink stalls with writing covered up in the same ugly shade with fresh paint; the dirty, broken sinks; the small, thin, translucent windows; and the distinctive smell of toilet cleaner and floor wax.
I looked in the old, tarnished mirrors, already spotted with splashes of water and smears of gooey, stinky soap, and heard a soft clicking sound. I thought someone was coming in so I stepped back and looked at the door, waiting to see who it was. It didn't move. I moved my attention back to my reflection, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move.
The windows had one of those annoying designs so you can’t see through them, so even if someone was right outside the window, I wouldn't be able to see him. Only occasionally, if you focus hard enough, you could make out the shapes of the buildings.
There was no way it was just a kid outside, because I wouldn't have been able to see him. Someone was in the bathroom. I slowly turned around and looked under every stall. No one was there. All year long, every time I was in that bathroom alone, I would hear or see something, like the "3rd Grade Ghost" wanted to make sure I knew it was there. After I while I started to think, 'what if this spirit isn't here to haunt me; what if it's an angel sent to help me?'
From then on, the 3rd grade ghost became my friend, and I would go into the bathroom sometimes just to talk to it. But after a while of these meetings, I began to wonder, 'who is this spirit, and why did it choose me to guard?'
One night I had a dream that suggested who my ghost pal might be. My mom said that her grandmother died when I was two months old. She always told me that my Nana loved me so much and that there was never a time that she would hold me and I wouldn't smile. I've always wished that I could have truly met her, when I was old enough to remember her, as such a wonderful person as everyone describes her. I woke up that night at the thought: my Nana is the 3rd grade ghost. She came back to watch over me, because I had never really known her before.
I cried that night, and when I got to school the next day I talked to her, not as the ghost that haunted my teacher, but as the great-grandmother that I loved. Once 4th grade was over, and 5th grade began, I would go into the girls' bathroom but she wasn't there. I heard from her occasionally at home, but by the time I started middle school, she was gone. Looking back, it seems that every year, I could have used her around more and more, but now that I think about it, as her presence faded as the years progressed, she grew closer and closer, and now she's with me all the time. She just wanted to make that clear so she could teach me in elementary school. Because now, whenever I need her, she doesn't have to spook me to say "hey, I'm still here, do you want to talk?" I already know it.
