The Blue Child
by Andrew Uys
It was a cold and dreary evening as I walked onto the plateau halfway down the hill and my body… No wait, this needs more of an introduction. Like all events, this is only part of a larger story, but we will exclude from our focus all but one hour. It is suffice to say that I walked out of my home that particular evening full of the vigor of spring. Although winter’s trace could still be felt where I lived, I had just returned from a trip to the south, and was rejuvenated by warmer weather. After the drive home, I was restless; needing to walk I had headed out to a nearby park that was bordered by a ‘mini-highway’, railroad tracks, and a school. I enjoyed this park not only because it was nearby, but the unique layout of the land, a grassed over parking lot cut into the side of the hill, offered a gorgeous view of the sky compared to my apartment. The school was further uphill and screened by a large stand of trees. The park ended where the railway lay – fences with barded wire forced one to always turn back. In a city with many great parks, this was hardly a gem, but in zero degree weather how long of a walk are you really planning on taking?
It was a cold and dreary evening; clouds hung low and the coldness of the air reminded me that I had returned home. Normally I listen to music when I walk, but due to an unfortunate camera-loss incident, I was talking into a portable recorder – remembering events from my just returned travels. As I came down the hill slope onto the plateau I paused; just being quiet and trying to see if there was anyone else in the park. While I could not detect anything, the park seemed creepier than it had ever before. I chalked this up to the horrible weather and journeyed into the park proper.
As partially exposed old concrete gave way to earth I sighted my favorite spot in the park. Located at the far end of the park, it allowed both a view of the trains as they passed by, and if one turned 180 degrees, the sky sprawling out. I picked my way towards this area, but found myself pausing ever more frequently. A growing urge to turn back mounted, and I kept checking the area for anyone else about. It was if I could barely hear a metallic noise, but then it would stop. I have traveled a little, and this is not a scary place. This was not the most rowdy neighborhood I have ever lived in. Basically – as a young male individual dressed in dark clothes and appearing to be talking to himself I could feel comfortable that anyone that I ran into would steer way clear of me. Yet, even knowing all this, right then, I was beginning to think that my couch was a good place to watch TV from. Still, this was ‘my’ park, and I wasn’t going to turn around because of a bad feeling.
With slowed steps I drew closer to the railway line. Standing near the trees I turned and watched the clouds, still recording. I must have been there nearly four minutes when a sudden screeching of metal made me jump. When I turned around there was a train just there on the tracks. Shrouded in near total darkness, I had to peer to see even its outline. Perfectly still it sat, until with another metallic shudder it shifted forward slightly. Each time the train slipped forward I was able to detect a faint movement in front of each carriage. I peered closer – to this day I don’t know why I didn’t trigger to the fact that all the lights along the track were out; probably what had caused my initial uneasiness about the park. While I managed to suppress my reflex to jump every time I heard the awful grinding noise as it shifted, when I saw what linked each train carriage I stumbled back in shock.
Nearly unperceivable slips of darkness, vaguely human shaped were dragging the train cars. For a moment I could see six or so figures, chains similar to themselves lead off, linking them to the train carriage. As my feet backed away from the rail line – my feet have a good survival instinct, I kept staring through the trees at the train. Once more it moved and I could now see that each train car had figures like the first group. I turned and bolted towards the nearest exit – a path of stairs through the small woods. The stairs emerged near the school building, and while I normally tried to avoid it, my thoughts were, “Let’s get the hell out of here.” Not particularly original and the pun were completely Freudian, but as I climbed the stairs I felt better. Not much better, for I have a faint memory of thinking, “Is there something in the woods… …won’t matter cause I’m going to be through them in thirty seconds.”
I reached the top of the stairs/hill, the train hidden by the woods behind me, and as much as I would like to say that I headed home immediately, the combo of my smoking habit and the run up the hill forced me to pause briefly and catch my breath. When I started to walk again I noticed that my tape recorder was still on, but I wanted to leave before I finished. The school blocked my path to the street and while I would have normally moved along the top of the hill, that direction cut through the park. Not where I was going. So I walked as quietly as I could around the side of the school building and took the shortest route back to the nearest street. I could see the street by now, and while nothing blocked my path, an odd blue light came from one of the two classrooms I still had to pass. I paused. I moved closer to the wall of the building and then continued towards the road. Just before crossing into the window’s view I crouched and slowly circled the window. Now, I was pretty sure what the light was not. Not a parent-teacher-teacher-association-support-group thing. Not enough real light. I was sure it wasn’t a guard, since the blue light spilling out of the classroom was too stable. Not a TV – again there was no flicker or movement to the light. My best guess was that it was some computer or overhead left on, but my curiosity had been piqued, and instead of running for the road, I wanted to know what the source of the blue light was. Staying out of view as best as possible, I simultaneously started moving backward and stood up to get a better view of the room. There was no one in the room, and I was about to take a step closer, for the origin of the light had yet to be revealed, when I paused once more.
The blue light was densest near the room’s floor and as I watched several children became distinct. The blue light was just that – light, so, ‘see-through’, and blue, not entirely transparent. There was an entire classroom of kids now, and I looked quickly down at the ground before staring up again, hoping to find this scene gone. Instead, when I looked up, one of the children had turned and seemed to be looking at me. I say seemed for the whole transparent-blue light substance of the children made it a little hard for me to discern details. The child stood and walked towards the window traveling through it without any difficulty. I must have looked away again, as I remember seeing the red light of my recorder blink and go out. Somehow, that made me think, “This is getting weird.”
As I looked at the blue figure which was approaching me, I could now tell he was a young boy – a greater discovery still awaited me though. Staring at the boy’s head I could now see some aspect of him that had substance. Underneath an almost expressionless face lay a moving black quality that bore the semblance of a mask. My gaze was locked in place by this shadow form that lay on the inside of the boy’s face, till that is, he walked into me. I don’t really know what happened but I can say with certainty that I did not move. Suddenly the blue light was around my body, and after what felt like a moment I could see the boy, backed turned to me, walking away. The boy moved into the classroom again, and I just stared dumbfounded – it was stupidity, not shock that kept me there, for nothing but the shadow skull had caused me to feel afraid. This can be accounted for by either a) I had just been fleeing from a train being dragged by specters or b) I was telling myself with all the conviction that I could muster that this just had to be a hallucination or a mental breakdown. The classroom of students turned towards me for a moment after the boy had rejoined the circle, and that’s when my feet remembered what they had been doing before, and stared moving again. Every single one of those children had the same blackness in their heads. Gone was the wonder and excitement about the blue light and what I was witnessing. Now all I felt was an immense terror brought on by seeing these children’s faces. I was almost gone when I caught a glimpse of a larger blue figure standing up inside, but I snapped my head forward and walked to the street without looking back.
I always meant to check into the school’s history but I prefer to usually discount the entire episode – only sharing the story when the matter of the ‘truly-bizarre’ is brought up at a party. Still, it really happened, and every word of this story is true. What’s worse, while this was the first time that I think I have seen a ghost, it would not be the last. But like I said when I started, no story really has a beginning or an end, and there are always tangents that make better stories in their own right. Another tale for a different day.