Virginia walked out of the school building towards her truck. The evening air was cold and damp. The smell of fall was strong. The changing leaves scattered across the town with orange, yellow, and red beauty. The asphalt was wet and slick. The sun was setting in the distance, brightening the land in a yellow-orange tone.
Virginia took no notice of the nature around her. She was cold and started to shiver. With disgust at the dampness and chill of the climate, she pulled her hood farther over her head, although it did very little to block the coolness of the evening. With disappointment still weighing heavily on her heart and a frown spreading across her face, she walked to the parking lot's far side. Although she had been escorted to the back of the lot on her first day of school, she found it was where she liked to park. She hated to park up front, closer to everyone she did not know. Distance made her feel safe and secure.
She reached the driver's door of her truck and frantically searched in her backpack for her keys. A small draft came across the lot, making Virginia shiver. Frustrated, she hastened her search. Finally, after a long journey into the depths of her bag, she found them. A sudden relief came over her, followed by more frustration as she looked at the three keys.
Which one opens the door again?
Another draft swept down over the parking lot. Shivering again, Virginia thrust the first key into the door. It did not work.
Another draft more ruthless than the one before rushed around her.
Stammering in frustrated nonsense, she wedged another key in, and with the turn of her wrist, the door unlocked. Quickly, she opened the door and hopped inside, closing it just as fast. Grabbing the steering wheel with both hands and leaning her head back on the headrest, she let out a little chuckle of relief. With her spirit lighter to be out of the cold wind, she slid the correct key into the ignition and gave it a turn. The lights came on, but the engine did not crank. Virginia's eyes got bigger.
"Oh, no! C'mon, now!" she begged as she tried it again. The lights came on again, but the engine did not turn. "Please, don't do this to me. Not now!"
Another attempt, but no change. Another attempt. Still no change. Another attempt.
Virginia slammed her palm into the steering wheel, clenched her teeth together, and yelled. Breathing steadily, she rested her head on the steering wheel.
After a long moment of nothing but silence and the sound of her exhausted breaths, she decided to call her uncle. Reaching her hand into her backpack, she navigated her way into its depths in search of her phone. She was relieved to find it after the first try. After unlocking it and scrolling through her contacts, she found her uncle's number. She tapped on it and placed the phone against her ear as it rang. Many rings passed before she finally heard her uncle's voice answer on the other end.
"Uncle Andrew!" she exclaimed—it was the first time she was excited to hear his voice. "My truck won't start, and I don't know why… Yes, I'm still at school… Okay, how far away are you?"
Her eyes shot open even bigger. "Forty-five minutes to an hour?!"
She closed her eyes and just kept silent. After listening to her uncle's instructions—wait there, don't go anywhere, and that he is on his way—she replied, dejected, "Okay. I'll wait here, then."
After hearing one final word of assurance from her uncle, Virginia hung up and dropped the phone into her backpack. Groaning and shivering in her truck, she leaned her head back upon the headrest again.
A loud bell chime echoed throughout the parking lot. Virginia had been resting for no more than a minute when the magnitude of the ring hit her hard. She opened her eyes and stared at the school clock tower in front of her vehicle. The bell continued to ring five more times, reaching a total of six rings.
"That can't be right," she said to herself.
Peering up through her windshield, she saw the clock tower reading six o'clock.
"Great!" she complained. "It will be dark by the time he gets here!"
She pulled her head back to rest, but something caught her attention. High above in the bell chamber of the clock tower, Virginia spotted something dangling over the edge of the dome structure. She squinted her eyes to focus more on the object. It was a pair of legs. Puzzled, she grabbed her backpack, hopped out of her truck, and stood in the parking lot, not taking her eyes off the legs. She tried to walk farther back to see if she could get a complete visual of who it was, but after walking about ten feet back, she could not make out a description other than a pair of legs in blue jeans and hiking boots. The wind blew hard again, but Virginia was determined not to get back into her truck. She would either freeze in her vehicle or freeze while discovering who this person was.
A new idea came into her mind.
"There must be a way up there, right?" she insisted.
She ran her arms through the sleeves of her backpack and dashed to the base of the clock tower. Sprinting around it, she found a door on the opposite side of the square structure. Ambling towards it, she checked to see if it was unlocked. To her excitement, the doorknob turned open. Biting her lower lip, she slowly opened the door. Then, using her best ninja skills, she quietly walked into the tower.
It was very dusty and dirty inside the complex. The floor was solid concrete, and the sides of the walls were plastered with a coat of the same cement mixture. In front of Virginia was a staircase that trailed up the side of the walls, spiraling to the top. With little to no second thoughts, she slowly walked up the stairs, climbing to the very top.
About a little more than halfway up the staircase, Virginia looked down and noticed the thirty-foot rise looked a lot more intimidating from her current position than it did from the ground. She took a deep breath.
"Don't look down," she ordered herself. "Just keep going. Only about ten more feet up."
That excited her just enough to get the adventure back into her system.
"That's right!" she encouraged herself. "Just ten more feet to go!"
After coaching herself, she continued her journey to the top. With achievement soaring through her heart, she reached the final step of the staircase. It opened up to a small platform; bordering it was a handrailing built with two-by-fours. A small wooden ladder leaned against the concrete wall leading up to a trap door in the ceiling. Without checking the stability of the ladder's footing, she climbed to the trap door. She looked but could not find a handle to open the small door.
I'll just go with simply pushing it open. "Okay. This is it!"
With thrilling tension bursting through her veins, she pushed her hand fast against the trap door, thrusting it open. Virginia looked up. Directly above her was the bronze bell that was ringing loudly earlier.
"What the—?!" came a very startled voice from the belfry. "Who's there?!"
The voice sounded either frightened or angry…or both. She thought about running for a second but found herself answering the question.
"My name is Virginia; I'm a student here."