“What is your next letter gonna say, ‘duck’?”

TO: ebaker_hamiltons@evers.com
FROM: s_parson@snailmail.com
SUBJECT: Sorry it took so long to reply…
DATE: 03/ 07/ 01

Hey,

Sorry it’s taken so long. But I’ve got the information you wanted. I couldn’t really find it in Glasgow, but I have a friend attending a boarding school outside of London and I got her to go to the National Army Museum and look this up.

So, here we go. Captain Guy Robertson, borne 4th April, 1729 AD, died 12th June, 1757 AD, in the Battle of Plassey (which took place in India somewhere). He was fighting with the future Clive of India of all people. That makes him 26 years old when he met you, and then 28 years old when he died. So I guess he died two years after meeting you. Kind of freaky, ay?

I couldn’t get anything else on him, except that he won his commission and Knighthood for bravery in battle, which I guess you already told me that. I hope this helps. I’m sorry it’s bad news though. But I guess it’s not totally unexpected, I mean, they were crappy times back then.

How is the summer program going? How is everyone? How is Peter?


====================================================

05/ 07/ 01

Diary,

I skipped dinner last night as well. I was holed up in my room, with my door locked, trying to compose a letter to Guy. When Zack knocked on my door I opened it a little bit, but just to tell him I was working on something and needed my privacy. I can tell the poor guy was a little hurt about all of the secrecy, but he respected it enough to leave me alone.

Around 11 PM there was another knock on my door. This time it was Nelson. I told her the same thing as I told Zack, only this time she either didn’t care, or didn’t buy it, and she pushed past me and sat on my bed. But not before snatching the letter off the desk I was trying to write.

“Hey!” I tried to snatch it back but she was too quick for me.

“’Dear Guy. Your life is in danger…’” she read out loud. Then she glanced at my door still being open and said next, “are you going to close that or what?”

I closed my door for the privacy (and Pat with his door open, gave us a funny look from sitting in front of his computer as usual) and I sat down defeated, next to Nelson, as she continued the letter.

“’You cannot fight in the Battle of Plassey or you will die’. Well, you don’t mince words, do you?”

“What else am I supposed to say?” I sighed. “I’ve been working on this for three hours now and I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Well how the f**k would he know what the Battle of Plassey is? Maybe he’ll be in the middle of it, and suddenly remember your letter, and then it will be too late.” Nelson pointed out.

“Then what else am I supposed to do?” I whined. “I’m trying not to put too many details in there that might disrupt the time line. I can’t tell him the details, like, ‘you will be in battle alongside Clive of India against an evil Raj called Suraja whatever-his-name-is.’ And I can’t tell him who’ll win. All I can tell him is not to go into battle.”

“Then how will he know which battle not to go into? And even if he doesn’t die in this battle, what if he dies in another? Are you going to send another letter then? What is your next letter gonna say, ‘duck’?” Nelson practically laughed at me.

“Don’t laugh! This is no laughing matter! A man is going to die!”

“He already is dead! You met him over two hundred years ago!”

“You think I don’t know that?! Look, we met, we danced, we conversed. He was handsome. I wouldn’t say charming… we even fought. But he was interested in me…”

“And you’re interested in him?” Nelson arched an eyebrow at me.

“…yes…” I squirmed. “That’s not cheating on Zack, is it? I mean, we didn’t do anything but dance…”

“A couple of dances and you try to save his life? This guy must be some dancer.” Nelson smirked.

“So will you help me write the bloody letter or what?” I glared at her.

“Sure.” She shrugged.

“And what about sending it. I’ll need your help to send it.” I told her.

“Me? How? You’re the one who can phase.” Nelson gave me a funny look.

“I need to know where to send it. Can you see a safe location, or where he will be? Can you Calculate the destination for me?” I asked her.

“Hey, all we can do is see backwards and forwards in time from the location we’re in, not in different countries on the other side of the planet! The machine at this so-called Circulate Headquarters is the only thing that can help us do that!”

“Bugger.” I fell backwards onto the bed and laid down and stared at the ceiling. “Then how do I do this?”

“If we could get the letter to India…” Nelson thought out loud.

“We know Maya… she’s Indian!” I sat up excitedly.

“But she’s here right now. Hey, what about Sally in Scotland? Your boy’s English, maybe she could leave the letter somewhere in England that he could find somehow.” Nelson continued.

“Nup. Sally’s a Calculator, not a Circulator. She wouldn’t be able to send the letter back through time.” I moaned again, falling back onto the bed.

“How do you know this?” Nelson asked me.

“Dr. Knight told me.”

Then Nelson went quiet for a moment. “Maybe we should just ask Dr. Knight to do this for us.”

I sat up right again in surprise. “But she wouldn’t. She’s a teacher. She’d try and stop us.”

“Well then, I’m out of ideas.” Nelson shrugged.

“I had been thinking of even asking one of the Seniors…”

“But the teachers monitor their adventures with time too.” Nelson stated.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “It’s almost like I have no options left. It’s almost down to the point that I’d have to fly to England or India and then phase through time, and take the letter to him myself.”

Nelson was quiet for another moment, before she said, “but that would be a really stupid thing for you to do. You’d be risking expulsion from the school, and you’d be putting yourself in danger by going back in time with out a guide.”

Then she got up from the bed and headed towards the door.

“What would you do if it was someone you thought you were in love with?” I asked her one last time.

I thought she wouldn’t reply when she opened the door and exited, but before closing the door behind herself again, she did say, “I wouldn’t let myself be so stupid in the first place.”


======================================================

“You’ve experienced the taste of the fruit being offered to you, eh, Elisha? And now you want more.”

25/ 06/ 01

Diary,

Today after summer classes Dr. Kell called our Circulators’ class together for a meeting so we could all discuss our first excursions.

I found out I wasn’t the only one who went to a formal occasion. Both Jordon and Numu when they visited Egypt and Babylon also attended formal banquets, as well as got to wander through the magnificent cities of old. Peter boasted of his good time at Woodstock, and Zack (this time with a little modesty) told of his achievements, playing in a zero-G football training match in the future.

Everyone listened intently as I told them about the Ball at Holland House. I spoke about the sumptuous dinner, the gilt room, the dresses, the snobbery, and meeting two officers, one in the Army and the other in the Navy. I also told the about the social protocols of how a Lady had to behave and how it affected who I could meet and how. Of course, I left out the actual flirtation with Sir Guy Robertson. But bringing this up, it made me want to ask Dr. Kell another question.

“When do we start planning our next excursion?” I asked him.

Everyone wanted to know the answer to this one.

“Well, the schedule for Circulators going on a second excursion in time isn’t due until next October.” Dr. Kell announced.

“Can’t we do it any sooner?” I asked, dismayed. I think I’ve still been kind of hoping I’d still make it somehow to the Marlborough Ball.

“You’ve experienced the taste of the fruit being offered to you, eh, Elisha? And now you want more.” Dr. Kell sighed. But by the way he looked at me for a moment then, I wondered if he knew something.

“Well…” I tried to choose my next words carefully. “There was another Ball I was hoping to go to.”

“On a Circulators second excursion we would usually transport you to a different location and time.” Dr. Kell told me.

“Why?” I asked, dismayed again.

“If we continually sent a Circulator in training to the same location and time, how would the trainee learn new things?” he arched his eyebrows.

“But can’t we start Circulating for fun now? Can’t we go on monitored excursions for our own… enjoyment?” I pressed.

“You mean like a trip into town for the day? No. You may have the ability to phase by yourself Elisha, but there are other students who haven’t reached that stage yet. We should all progress together, and stay on the learning schedule.” Kell stated.

“You phased by yourself?” Zack asked me in surprise. “You never told me that.”

“I didn’t really know I did it. Dr. Knight told me afterwards.” I told him, then I turned back to Dr. Kell. “But we’ve already started these classes ahead of schedule. If I knew what I was doing, and I was really careful…”

“No!” Kell said a little more forcefully. “If you have any further complaints, then I suggest you take this up with Professor Hamilton and then perhaps, the Circulate Council.”

I leaned back in my chair in a huff, and crossed my arms angrily. I felt like I was being patted on the head like a child again. I thought we were past this. I may be temporarily defeated, but I decided right then and there that I would try to get past this.

“What was it like? Phasing by yourself?” Numu leaned forward to ask me.


======================================================

“Your excursion back through time will be over seen by a Calculator."

07/ 05/ 01

Diary,

In our first class of the day with Dr. Kell, he handed out these kind of ultra-modern Ipod things (like I found in Professor Hamilton’s draw that night we broke into his office). As we turned them on, we found that they had detailed information and pictures of the eras we each wanted to travel to for our first excursion. We also found out which teachers would be taking us through time as our guides/ baby-sitters.

I found out I would be taken to London in the summer of 1755, to a large Aristocratic Ball.

I got so excited reading over this, I started giggling!

"What are you so happy about?" Peter asked me, and tried to snatch my Ipod thing off me.

"I’ve got exactly what I asked for." I gloated. "And you?"

"Yeah." He shrugged.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"To a certain music festival in America during the 1960’s…" he gloated back.

"Woodstock?!" Zack and I exclaimed.

"How did you land that?" Zack grabbed his Ipod to look at it for himself disbelievingly.

"I have my ways…" he said simply, then let out an evil laugh.

"Well it’s not like they’re going to let you do drugs or anything, so don’t get your hopes up." I pointed out.

"As an English rogue once said, ‘ways and means old girl, ways and means." Peter said smugly.

"Zack?" I asked him next, looking at his Ipod.

"I’m going to a Zero-G Football match in the year 2083 AD.”

"To watch or to compete?" I asked him, already guessing."I’m going to compete." He tried to sound modest, but he suddenly attracted everyone’s attention in the room at once.

"To play?" Jordon asked him, impressed.

"Yeah." He told everyone.

“What is a Zero-G Football match?” Numu asked us, puzzled.

“Zero Gravity.” Peter told her.

"So, Jordon, did you get Egypt?" I asked her.

"Yes. 1200 BC." Jordon nodded.

"Numu? What about you?" I asked her next.

"No. I’m visiting the Babylonian Empire in 590 BC." Numu replied.

“Wong? Where are you going?” Zack asked her last.

“Beijing in 1370 AD, during the Ming Dynasty.” Wong answered.

"OK everyone." Dr. Kell now called everyone’s attention back to him. "In your next few classes with me over the next four weeks, we will be going over your information disks thoroughly. Also on Saturday and Sunday mornings of the next four weekends we will be adding extra classes. Some of you will be learning the basics of a new language, all of you will be learning off by heart detailed histories of the eras you have chosen, and you will all be learning how to immerse yourselves in a new culture. You will each be assigned a teacher who will be your guide. Tonight, you will be meeting your teachers to discuss your plans. Peter and Numu, you will both have Professor Hamilton as your guide. Zack, you will have Dr. Myles, Wong and Jordon, you will both have me. Elisha, you will Dr. Knight. Now, are there any questions?”

Numu put up her hand. "Sir, what happens if something goes wrong and we are separated from our teachers?"

That caught all of our attention, and we all went quiet to hear the answer.

"Then your teacher will find you again. You may have been taught as a child a simple rule to follow if you are separated from your parents… stay where you are and try not to keep moving about. If in some circumstance you are unable to, try not to panic. Not only will your teachers be watching over you, but the Circulate will be as well. Your excursion back through time will be over seen by a Calculator." He assured us.

"So in this Headquarters where the Circulate is, our time traveling habits are always being monitored?" I asked Dr. Kell.

"That is correct." He answered.

I don’t know if I like that idea. It’s like Big Brother watching over us all of the time… this both freaked me out as well as made me feel safe in a comforting way. Freaked and comforted… I wondered if this is what my future would hold? I exchanged looks with Peter and Zack and saw that they felt the same way.

In a way it’s like we have almost limitless freedom with this ability we have, but then, with the Circulate, we could almost be tied to a leash.

======================================================

“Well, putting my thoughts onto paper, or hard disk as it were… it’s kind of like leaving my mark on reality.”

31/ 03/ 01

Diary,

I didn’t feel like having dinner and watching the movie for ‘fun night’ tonight. I was too wrapped in writing my Astronomy assignment on Ley Lines, Circular Stones and other land marks and their position towards the stars and the universe. I think this kind of stuff is absolutely fascinating! So far my classes with Dr. Kell are a little on the kooky side, but I love how he blends into understanding Math, Astronomy and their part in History.

I had a nice surprise tonight. As I was working on my essay, Pat came in with some Mexican food they had served in the cafeteria. He had saved me a plate and brought it in for me.

“Thanks.” I smiled at him, then immediately started stuffing the burrito into my mouth. I hadn’t realized I was hungry.

“How are your classes going?” he asked me.

“Pretty goo’.” I said with my mouth full. “Yours?”

“Yeah, same ole, same ole.” He picked up my note book and started perusing through it. He paused at my diagrams of spherical space time and at the layers of time in a pond analogy. “We’re actually working on the same thing at the moment.”

“Yeah, but while you’re doing the calculating of the phenomenon, we’re just getting the basics.” I said. “But we have got to use examples where we’ve actually seen through time.”

“No way.” He looked up at me in surprise. “We haven’t even got that far yet!”

“Yeah, but our classes are on the practical side, remember?” I reminded him before taking another bite.

“Yeah, I guess.” He put my book down again.

“At the end of the semester, we’re going to go on our first excursion through time.” I told him.

“Really?” he asked impressed. “Which time period?”

“Any.” I guess. “Whatever we choose I guess.”

“That would be cool.” He agreed.

“Hey Pat, can I ask you a question?” I asked him after a moment.

“Yeah.” He shrugged.

“What was it like for you when you were 13 years old and Hamilton appeared and offered to bring you here at Hamilton’s? Into the future?”

He was quiet for another moment, before saying, “it was a surprise. I mean, my father had been dead for six months, my mother had just been hung and only moments before I ran a knife across my wrists. I was about to pass out when this strange man approached me, spoke to me, picked me up and the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital wing at this school.”

“Really?” I asked surprised. “That’s almost the same way it happened to me! Then what happened?”

“Hamilton and Dr. Knight told me where I was and offered to let me stay here.” He said.

“Did you need to think about it for a while?”

“Nup. I mean, I didn’t have much of a future staying where I’d come from. I thought I’d give this time frame a go instead. I certainly had nothing to lose.”

“I guess not.” I saw his point. “I think that’s the way how I felt too.”

“Can I ask you a question?” he asked me next. I nodded and he continued. “Why do you always write in your diary?”

“I don’t know. My mother first gave me a diary when I was 12 years old. It just caught on, that’s all.” I answered.

“Sometimes, watching you, it’s like you’re documenting this time frame now, for later on in the future.” Pat said to me.

“That’s kind of true.” I shrugged. “But do you ever get the feeling that none of this is real? That you’re not really here? Well, putting my thoughts onto paper, or hard disk as it were… it’s kind of like leaving my mark on reality. To show that I was here, that I existed.”

“I always thought that you wrote in your diary because you were marking down how you perceived your existence.” Suddenly Nelson showed up in my doorway.

“Well, that too.” I confessed.

Nelson came into my room, shut my door behind her and put my window up a tiny bit. Then we all took out our cigarettes and lit them. We hadn’t done this all together in what felt, a very long time. It felt good getting together again.

“How are your classes going?” I asked her.

“Good.” she shrugged. “How about yours? Little Miss Circulator of
2-0-0-1?”

“Good.” I shrugged again. “But there is one thing I’m a bit nervous about.”

“And what’s that?” Pat asked me.

“Well, when we Circulate, dispersing and rotating through the circle of time, our bodies actually dissipate into energy, or light waves. How am I physically dispersing myself into light waves? It just sounds impossible right now.” I pointed out.

“Well, you saw Dr. Knight go all through see-through, I guess that’s how.” Nelson said. “Her molecules speed up in the process.”

“Have you guys studied the Friedman model yet? How gravity is so strong that space is bent around itself, making the universe with all the galaxies inside of it like a sphere? How space is 3 dimensional and time is the 4th dimension?” I asked them.

“Yep. Covered that in Astronomy two weeks ago.” They nodded.

“Do you believe it?”

“Well, since they, the teachers, know what it’s actually like in the future, do you think that they would teach us something that’s incorrect?” Nelson raised her eyebrow at me.

“I’ve got a question for you.” Pat looked at me as he exhaled smoke. “That night you, Sally and Zack followed Peter into Alpha building on Halloween. How did you sense what was going on?”

“You’re like the fifth person who’s asked me that, and the answer’s still the same. No f**king idea.” I said annoyed.

“Well here’s one. Space and time are dynamic quantities, so like when a body moves, or a force acts, like a reverberation, it affects the way in which other bodies move or other forces act. Space and time not only the effect but are also the affected. You felt the change in the time line, like a reverberation.” Pat explained.

“Oh yeah. I think that’s what Dr. Knight was trying to point out to me. That goes with the ripple effect in the pond of time.” I nodded.

“Hey, I want you to promise me something.” Nelson suddenly grabbed my arm.

“Yeah? What?”

“When we’ve finished at this college, that you’ll take me to New York in the 1980’s.” she said.

“What? Why?” I asked her, nearly laughing.

“I’d love to be apart of that disco, punk, retro thing and live in a Fifth Avenue apartment. Didn’t you ever see the movie, ‘American Psycho’?” she looked at me.

“What, you wanna become the psycho and kill everybody?” Pat laughed at her.

“OK smart ass, where and when would you wanna live?” Nelson turned on him.

“The future. After World War 3 when the whole planet goes through its second Renaissance.” Pat stated.

“You know about World War 3? When does that happen?” I asked, shocked.

“You’ll learn about it in History in Senior year.” Pat stubbed out his cigarette.

“Is it in our life time?” I asked him, suddenly worried about my family… Dad, Jen, Uncle Ben and Aunt Gabby… even Mark.

“Chill out. You’ll find out later.” Pat wouldn’t say anymore than that. “Well I’m gonna go downstairs and watch the movie.”

He opened my door and closed it behind himself.

“Well, that’s a cheerful note to end the conversation on.” I grumbled to Nelson.

“F**k the world. Human kind has always been a disaster waiting to happen. Now, tell me about what’s new with you and Zack…” Nelson poked me in the ribs.


======================================================

“We suspect that you sensed the ripple in time when we changed the time line…”

26/ 02/ 01

Diary,

Tonight when I had just finished my sanitizing duties, to my surprise, I found Dr. Knight waiting to talk to me.

She made both of us a cup of hot chocolate in the kitchen before motioning for us to sit at one of the tables in the empty cafeteria.

I sat and waited, almost cringing, waiting to hear what she had to say. I think I was worried that she would bring up my behavior over the past few weeks. I wasn’t far wrong, but what further surprised me, was how she wanted to discuss it.

“Your homework has picked up. I guess your study sessions with Maya and Brett are helping.” She smiled at me.

“Yes.” I said flatly, not wanting to go into it with her.

“It’s OK if you can learn better in a smaller group. That’s what we’ve tried to provide here at this college. But I just want you to know that if you ever need more help, you can always come to me. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, Elisha.” She said seriously. “My room is on the bottom floor of Beta building, I don’t know if you know that or not. Most evenings I’m free. If you or Zack would like to come and ask me any questions, I’m certainly not going to turn you away.”

“OK.” I said plainly, still feeling a little uncomfortable.

“I also need to know where you get confused, or need help. There’s no point you sitting in class, lost, while the rest of us go on without you. You’d be surprised to know that you’re not the only one who feels left behind sometimes. But I need to know where you get lost, before I lose you behind me, so it won’t be hard for you to catch up.”

I didn’t say anything and I just stared at my marshmallow melting in my drink.

“Even if you don’t want anyone to know if you’re having difficulty, come and knock on my door in the evening if you can’t do it in class. I’d like to help you as much as I can.” She continued, trying to catch my gaze

But there was something else weighing on my mind, which I thought I’d try asking her instead.

“What were you and Professor Hamilton talking about a few weeks ago when you were talking about me? About the night Peter was sprung for the drugs?” I blurted out.

“The night of Halloween?” she asked back.

I nodded.

“We were talking about your ability to sense what Peter, Brett and Sophie were going to do, and what may have happened. We suspect that you sensed the ripple in time when we changed the time line and prevented Sophie from using the drugs and ultimately overdosing. We also suspect that was how you sense the ghosts, when you sensed us moving through time. Are we correct?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged and looked down again. I thought I might as well say it and say it now and get it over and done with. “I think you’ve all made a mistake about me.”

“In what way?”

“I don’t know… that maybe I can’t do all of these things that you think I can. I’m pathetic at Math’s, I’m hopeless at calculating space-time in Astronomy and me stumbling upon you as a ghost going through time was pure coincidence! Me seeing the Roman soldier was sheer luck! Me sensing what Peter, Brett and Sophie were up to was a dumb guess!”

Dr. Knight sat back and looked at me quietly for the longest moment before speaking to me again.

“When you saw back in time at Government House in Parramatta Park, when you were 12 years old, that wasn’t the first time, was it?”

“How do you know about that?” I asked her in surprise.

“A few years from now you tell me. You also tell me about the time you knew your mother would never recover from cancer, even before she was diagnosed. You also tell me about the strong feelings of deja vue you would receive when walking down the street and looking at a building you’ve never been to or seen before, or your way of just knowing about something you’ve never even heard before. Professor Myles has told me that you do struggle with the calculations in his class as well, but if he told you that space was green and not black, and which galaxies have black holes inside of them, that you would just nod as if you had already known that. You can see space time in effect Elisha, it doesn’t matter if you have difficulty working out the quantum mechanics in your head. We simply teach these principles because there are students here that want or need to understand the nuts and bolts of what they can do rather than just do.”

“Really?” I looked up at her.

“You simply know. You can see. You don’t need to pull it apart to see the grand picture. You don’t need to know what exact colors they used to paint the picture. And you have the ability to walk through the canvass with out cutting it first with a pair of scissors.” Dr. Knight stated.

“Can I ask your a question?” I asked her again. She smiled and nodded, taking a sip of her drink. “Is traveling through time, how we go all see-through, is that because our molecules are speeding up, and we can dissipate and rotate through the layers of time that way? Is time like this huge circle, with lots of other circles inside of it, like layers in an onion skin? And we move through the layers that way?”

Dr. Knight just looked at me.

“Did you get one of your ‘guesses’ from this?” she asked me.

“Yeah…” I slumped back into my chair, wondering if she must be thinking I’m talking rubbish.

“That is exactly right, Elisha.” She stated. “When did this idea come to you?”

“In Astronomy when we were talking about light speed and the Maxwell Water Ripple example.”

“And this theory gave you another sense of deja vu?” she asked me and I nodded. “Then Elisha, how can you have any doubt at all that you belong here?”

“Because I may be able to ‘see’ all of this crap, but I can’t explain how I see it. And when somebody tries to explain the mechanics of seeing it, I have no idea of what they’re talking about!” I said frustratedly.

“OK.” She sat forward. “I’m going to bring this up at our next teachers meeting. We will try to revise our teaching methods to explain the basics to you, and see how you go from there.”

“No, don’t do that! Everyone will know I’m an idiot!” I said, going bright red.

“As I said before Elisha, you’re not alone in this. I can think of at least four other students who are in the same boat as you. They can also ‘see’ and will become some of our most important Circulators. I think it’s more important that we cater our teaching to their learning techniques.”

“What do you mean, ‘your most important Circulators’?” I asked curiously.

“As we mentioned that night in the staff meeting room, there are students here at Hamilton’s who will be able to circulate through time, and there are others who will be able to calculate. Those who can see and calculate, work in a special place where they can monitor any changes in the timeline in not only just our planet but in the universe. Then there are those who are able to see and to circulate through time. Interestingly, not many of those who can Circulate can accurately use quantum mechanics with their seeing, which is much more than mere understanding. But in fact only a third of our community can actually manipulate time rather than just read it, which we call Circulators. All of the teachers here can manipulate time, only our counselor cannot, she can see through time.”

“So you have Circulators and Calculators?” I asked half jokingly.

“That is correct.” Dr. Knight stated. “Though we do call our organization of people the Circulate. In the Circulate, we all hold our members prized and esteemed. We are democratic community with elected council members.”

“What about the Roman soldier, and when you were going back in time to visit your family… you may have been traveling through points in time, but what about points on earth? How did you travel from 2000 AD Canada to 1700 AD England?”

Dr. Knight looked a bit hesitant to tell me at first, or was she trying to find the words to explain it?

“As you said before, when traveling through the layers of time our molecules and electrons speed up and dissipate. Now, on our own, we can travel freely through time. But using future technology that won’t be invented for another 100 years, that technology is able to catch our matter and transport it to another location. While that future technology can only move matter from one point to another, using our own ability we also change the time frame.” She told me.

“So is that like using wormholes or portals or whatever?” I asked her.

“No, because stable wormholes or portals have fixed locations or points. This is more like a fax machine that can send our dissipated matter to an unfixed location where it doesn’t need another fax machine to print us out again. Imagine yourself fishing from the ocean, but with technology so finely tuned that you know how to detect where the fish will be, and when the fish’s matter dissipates, you collect their electrons and molecules in a special net. Then you put that matter and molecules back into another point in the ocean, and the fish reform into fish again, just at a different time and place.” Dr. Knight used the analogy to explain to me.

I could almost see those fish going all see-through in my mind. And that would be me one day? A see-through fish being scooped up and put into another country and time? Wow… that thought is just too weird.

“But what if you just want to travel through time and not country?” I ask her.

“Then you travel through time.” She shrugged, taking another sip from her drink.

“But how will the machine know that you don’t want to change countries?” I asked her worriedly.

She let out this really loud laugh and looked back at me. “The Calculators operating this machine will know.”

“So they know what we’re going to do before we do?” I asked in surprise again.

“Not all the time, but they do have a 99% success rate. As I like to remind them, that another famous man once said, ‘the future is not yet written in stone’.” Dr. Knight smiled at me.

Then a thought struck me. “What about Sally? Did a Calculator see her leaving this college?”

“Perhaps.” She said elusively.

“So what’s going to happen to her?” I asked Dr. Knight. “What was she going to be? A Circulator or a Calculator?”

“Sally is going to be a Calculator. Just as Abdul will be, and then Sophie will be a Circulator, like yourself.”

“She will be?”

“Sally will one day decide she wants to learn more about this ability she has, and she does join the Circulate.” Dr. Knight said confidently, as if she was stating a simple fact. “So does Sophie, and so will Abdul.”

“So I guess you’ve seen this happen.” I watched her face to confirm this.

“Of course. Elisha, all of your teachers met you long before your father or even yourself ever heard of this college.”

“In the future?” I asked her.

“Yes.”

“How far into the future are we talking about?”

“Now that I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” I leaned forward, impatient to know.

“That one you’ll find out for yourself eventually. I can’t give away everything right now. All I wanted to do was to assure you. You’re one of us Elisha. You are special, and you are in the right place right now.”

======================================================

“What happened to you in your childhood to wind up here at this school?” Peter demanded.

28/ 01/ 01

Diary,

Things are changing around the school. Even the people are changing. Everything’s changed.

From the lessons we’re learning to why we are learning them, how we perceive the teachers who are teaching the lessons to us, to even if we want to learn the lessons anymore.

Even Sally has changed. She seems quieter, more reserved, or is that more introverted? The morning after the meeting in the staff room Peter wanted another meeting with all of us to talk about whether we completely believe what they told us. So we all convened in his room again, Sally almost unwillingly.

“So, what do you think? Are they being straight with us or what?” Peter looked at Zack, Nelson, Sally and I.

“It makes sense with what they said to what we’ve seen.” Zack shrugged.

“I believe it.” Nelson stated. “Coz last night reminded me of something that happened when I was a kid.”

“You still are a kid.” I pointed out.

“When I was younger you dick.” Nelson rolled her eyes at me. “When I was like 8 or something, I went to the bank with my Mom as she was running errands. I saw a cowboy walk into a crowded bank, pull a rifle on a bank teller, shoot him, then run out of the bank again with a bag full of the goods. Then I realized that I was the only one who just saw this.”

“Really? Wow.” I said in surprise.

“Yeah, the same s**t happened to me when I was younger.” Peter said next. “I was sent to my first boarding school when I was 12. It was some Church of England boys school that was once a monastery that got trashed by Henry the 8th. We had to go to services every Sunday morning. And I saw a monk dangling by his neck at the end of a rope from the church rafters. It didn’t take long to realize I was the only kid who saw it.”

“Yeah? Well my story is different.” Zack told all of us. “I saw a reflection in the window of my Grandma’s upstairs spare bedroom of this little girl in old clothes playing dolls. And I saw her pretty regularly, almost the same time of the day, in the afternoon when the sun was setting. You know how when it’s darker outside than it is on the inside, and the window becomes almost a mirror? Only I didn’t see my own reflection, I saw the little girl’s.”

“That’s almost what happened to me!” I nearly jumped up and down excitedly, remembering. “I was 12 and my Yr. 6 class did a school excursion to old Government House in Parramatta Park. Before we did the tour inside the building, when I looked inside one of the windows, I saw a formal dinner party going on with everyone wearing olden day clothes! I could even hear the laughter. Then when we went inside, there was nothing there!”

Then we all looked at Sally for her turn. But she didn’t seem to want to join in with our soul sharing revelations. She seemed really uncomfortable.

“Well?” Peter asked her.

“Well what?”

“What happened to you in your childhood to wind up here at this school?” Peter demanded.

“Nothing, OK? Nothing happened. I shouldn’t even be here!” she said angrily, jumped up from his bed, then flounced out of his door for a second (and I was later to find out for a last) time.

Later on that afternoon after arvo tea I knocked on her door to see if she wanted to talk about what was bothering her. But she wasn’t in her room. Then at dinner she didn’t come to the cafeteria either. I was getting really worried about her.

Finally I found her in her room again, but she was packing up all of her stuff.

“What are you doing?” I asked her in shock.

“What does it look like I’m doing? For a school for the gifted, people ask a lot of stupid questions around here.” She glared at me and continued with what she was doing.

“Sally please don’t go. Don’t you even want to talk about this?” I asked her.

“I’ve just spent two hours in Hamilton’s office talking about this. I want to go home.” She said coldly.

“What did he have to say about you going?” I asked her.

“He tried to talk me out of it. But I think he wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to go blabbering about all this to the media. He kept telling me that this was a gift. What a laugh!”

“Why? Aren’t you exhilarated, or even curious, to learn what this thing we’ve learned we can do, do?” I sat on her bed.

“No. I came here because I thought that this school was a place where top grade students came to get into the best colleges around the world. I didn’t come here to join in a ‘Dr. Who’ episode.”

“Chickening out I see.” Nelson suddenly came to stand in her doorway. She’d just come back from the Cafeteria too. “Why aren’t I surprised?”

“Nelson! Not now!” I growled at her, but Sally had had enough. She walked up, shoved Nelson backwards out of the way, then slammed her bedroom door shut in her face.

Then this morning I saw Sally off on the mini-bus to be driven to the local airport just outside of Brownsville. As the driver was loading Sally’s suitcases in the back, I made Sally promise me something. I made her promise that she would at least email me occasionally so I would know she’s all right.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll email you.” She gave me a hug, then became tearful. “Look Elisha, I loved meeting you. But this just isn’t my thing. I was never a good ‘Ghostbuster’ and I certainly don’t think being a ‘Timelord’ is my thing either. See ya, OK?”

Then she got on the minibus. But the bus didn’t pull away immediately, and I soon saw why. Both Sophie and Abdul were leaving too. They both came down in tow with their luggage and friends to farewell them.

Brett was helping Sophie carry her suitcases and I tried not to obviously watch them say their farewells, as Jordon and Numu saw off Abdul. Wow, from our 21 students, we were going down to 18 of us left. I wonder how many others are thinking of leaving now?

Then the minibus started up its engine, and away it went, with Sally inside.

I waved as it drove around the oval and up the driveway to the main gate. Then it was gone, hidden by snow covered pine trees. I sighed and turned, about to go back inside Beta building.

Brett charged in front of me and pushed in first.

“What are you looking at?” he glared at me when I opened my mouth to tell him off.

As I went back to my room, I walked past Nelson’s room as usual, and I heard two voices coming from inside. One of them had an Irish accent. Well, I guess she and Pat are on speaking terms again.

My room felt too lonely, and classes had been suspended for the past 3 days, so I wasn’t sure what to do. So I went looking for Zack to hang with. I knocked on his door, but he wasn’t in. I knocked on Peter’s door, but he wasn’t in either. Maybe they were in the library, which I didn’t want to go to right now. So I went back to my room and played some music.

Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t tell you. Classes had been suspended for today, yesterday and the day before so the teachers and Nell could have one on one appointments with us students to make sure that we could handle what they told us. To make sure we wouldn’t go schizo or into shock or whatever. Like Sally, Sophie and Abdul did. Like their refusal to accept such things. Like their determination not to be involved in this.

I miss Sally.


======================================================

http://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=http%3A//onaya3.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

"Strange lights are seen coming from the school."

25/ 11/ 00

Dear Diary,

Guess what! It started snowing today! Real live snow! It's soft and cold and wet. Today was another cold rainy day, and when Zack, Sally, Peter and I were sitting in the Diner, I noticed that the rain looked a bit strange. When I commented on this, Zack laughed and told me it was snow! It was 'Brown Day' which meant the Freshmen and Sophomores got to pile into a mini-bus and get driven into town for a couple hours of freedom.

We all went and saw 'Scooby Doo' in the cinema and then we went to the Diner afterwards for hamburgers. I also wanted to see if this girl, Lee-Anne was working there today to ask her some more questions about Hamilton’s. Now that Peter's on the investigative team he kept telling Sally and I what questions to ask her. He's getting quite bossy actually. Sally told him to shut up or we would kick him out of the 'Mystery Machine' just like they did to ‘Scrappy Doo’ in the movie we saw. LoL!

When Sally and I went up to the counter to pay for our food, Lee-Anne was on the cash register. I asked her if she had a break coming up and she said she'd meet us outside in 10 minutes. So we four waited out the front for her, and I started to smoke while we were waiting. She came out and pretended to talk to us by asking me for a cigarette, which I gave her. She lit it and then we started asking her the questions.

"So, has anyone died there?" Peter asked her first.

"No, no-one. A few years ago a gardener had a heart attack when he was mowing the lawns, but your doctor who teaches there, revived him long enough till he was taken to the hospital here. Then they flew him out to a hospital in Thunder Bay and he had some kind of triple by-pass surgery." Lee-Anne answered.

"What about the stories you've heard about the school." I mentioned.

"What about them?" she shrugged.

"Well, what are they?" I asked her.

She shivered and pulled her jacket around her more tightly. She seemed to hesitate before telling us, as if still trying to make up her mind if she should or not. "Strange lights are seen coming from the school."

"From the main building?" Peter asked her.

"Yeah. From across the lake we see strange, bright bursts of lights, like when there's supposed to be no-one there during summer holidays." she answered.

"Blue lights? White lights? What kind of lights? Coming from the windows?" Zack asked next.

"All of the above." She shrugged. "I've seen them. One night I was in the woods with my brother and his friends. We even climbed over the fence on a dare. It was summer and there was supposed to be no-one there. But then there was a bright light, and then all of these people were walking around this building, like they came out of nowhere. One minute it's dark and quiet, the next minute it was all lit up with all these shapes of people walking around."

Just then I got a cold chill down my spine and I shivered.

"That's like what we saw and heard." Peter said to the rest of us.

"We didn't see a group of people." Zack interjected.

"But I bloody well heard them!" Peter retorted. "And it happened when you guys saw the light."

"So it's true, huh?" Lee-Anne asked us.

"Don't worry, feel fortunate that you're not there." I said to her.

"Hey Lee-Anne! Break time's over!" her brother suddenly opened the door and yelled over to us.

"I gotta go." she sighed and stumped out the cigarette. It was only half finished too, and I almost regretted the waste of a good cigarette with my supply running so low. I think she saw my reaction. "What's wrong? Running out?"

"Yeah." I said.

"For $20 my brother can keep you in supply." she said simply.

"$20? What a rip off! A packet costs only $7!" Peter replied before I could.

"$13 commission. Take it or leave it." Lee-Anne shrugged.

"Fine." I got my purse out.

She took my money and went inside, then we had to wait another 10 minutes until her brother came out this time and tossed the packet to me.

"See you next weekend?" he asked me, suddenly a lot nicer than the last time we spoke.

"I guess so." I shrugged.

"It will be $20 again, and the time after that as well, capiche?" Then he went back inside, leaving Peter, Zack and Sally staring at me as if I had just bought a broken down car or something.

"Sucker." Peter teased.

"Who else is going to buy my cigarettes? My last supply line was given a 3 month detention, remember?" I shrugged again.

It's been snowing all afternoon and most of the evening. I hope it snows all night, then maybe tomorrow I can make my first ever snow man! It's been pretty cold, I've had the heater on constantly in my room. I’ve had to, it's this annoying old oil heater that takes at least half an hour to warm up when you first switch it on!

Tonight for Fun Night we got to choose between hamburgers and tacos. I had the tacos. The two movies showing afterwards were "Perfect Storm" and "Event Horizon". I chose to watch "Perfect Storm". Remember when you made me go see that other movie in the cinemas? I still think that is the scariest movie I ever saw! Peter made Sally go see it with him while Zack saw "Perfect Storm" with me... and after about 45 minutes Sally came and sat with us instead, she hated that movie too! But Nelson loved it. She ended up staying and watching it with Peter. Pat watched that movie too, apparently, but he sat away from Nelson, I think with Soong and Wong.

After the movie finished (we were in the Gamma building Rec room) Dr. Myles came in and rounded up all the students and made sure we all left back to our dorms coz the curfew was about to start soon. I think it was about 5 minutes till 11 o'clock or something... but I thought he was being extra pushy about it. When we were walking back across the oval to Beta building, I looked over at Alpha building. I nudged Zack and pointed.

Dr. Knight, Nell and Professor Hamilton were watching us all from the library window on the second floor.

"What are they doing there?" Zack asked me.

"Good question." I thought out loud.

Just the way the three of them were standing there, watching us, made me feel a little uneasy, and definitely curious. I know they're hiding something. I know they think we suspect. And I know this curfew business isn't just to stop students from breaking the rules.


======================================================

"And what about the timing of our guest lecturer? He arrives magically, to talk about Roman Legionnaires, right after we've seen one?"

07/ 11/ 00

Dear Diary,

We were in the library doing our homework after dinner when Peter came in and sat at the table we were at. He tossed us over his notes from history and then started with, "from the guy we saw, the kind of armour he was wearing, I'd say we're looking at a ghost from around 100 BC. But what I can't work out is, why a ghost from Ancient Rome is hanging around Ontario? From the types of hauntings I've researched, there are two types of ghosts, one that died in the area, even when the building wasn't even built yet and it can interact with people years later; or it's a kind of recording, one that seems to be imprinted in the surroundings. But that doesn't explain what Roman soldiers are doing in a country which wouldn't have been discovered yet."

Sally, Zack, Nelson and I just looked at him, throwing our own daggers at him. "NOW you're interested? Bugger off Peter."

"How is the cleaning going, Pete? You look a bit hot and flustered there." Zack said coldly. That was true, he stunk of bleach.

"And doesn't that perturb you in any way? The way Hamilton and his crony just showed up, perfectly timed?" Peter leaned forward. "And what about the timing of our guest lecturer? He arrives magically, to talk about Roman Legionnaires, right after we've seen one? And how did our guest lecturer arrive here, may I ask? Did you guys notice any new looking cars parked in the staff carpark outside of Alpha building? Or did he just helicopter in, using the prestigious Brownsville hospital helipad?"

"So what are you saying, you saw our guest lecturer arrive in the middle of the night, bathed in blue light? Wow, I should become a poet." Nelson said sarcastically.

But that did make me think what he was saying may have been right. "You know what, I have been thinking about this a lot. You know how Hamilton caught us and said to Peter, 'with the type of medication she was on, she would have overdosed?' He didn't say 'could have', he said 'would have', like it was a forgone conclusion. Like he knew it was about to happen."

Zack just looked at me, then he turned to Peter. "What exactly was it you and Brett and Sophie heard that night? That scared Brett and Sophie away."

"Footsteps. Lots of them."

"That could have been from us." Sally looked at Zack and I.

"No, I mean LOTS of them, the kind that sound like it's Piccadilly Circus in rush hour. They thought it was all of the teachers and probably all of Brownsville, come back from partying early, because it came from upstairs where the teachers offices are."

"That's strange, we didn't hear anything." Zack said. "And we were right outside the teachers offices."

"Which office was it that you saw the blue light?" Peter asked us.

"How do you know we saw a blue light?" I asked him back.

"I heard Hamilton talk about it. He knows we know." Peter sung warningly.

"So? What's wrong with that?" Sally shrugged dismissively.

"Girlfriend, buy a clue! Pat saw a blue light coming from his office once, we have a guest speaker from 100 BC, and Hamilton knows when his students are about to drop dead from overdosing! What do you think?" Nelson snapped at her.

"So, which office was it?" Peter asked me again.

"I don't know, I've never been up there." I shrugged.

"Well, there's no time like the present." Peter stood up. "Come on, show me."

"What? Now? But it's cold outside." I whined.

"We should find out." Zack stood up too.

"Come on." So did Nelson, and she looked at Sally. "Don't you wanna know? Or are you too scared?"

"Fine!" Sally huffed and stood up.

"Bloody hell. Can't this wait until morning? When it won't look so strange, on our way to class?" I refused to stand up.

"Good idea." Sally quickly sat down again.

Then they all sat down again.

"And we don't all need to go. Let's keep them guessing just a little bit, shall we?" I pointed out. "They mightn't know we all know."

"Know what? Our teachers are ghosts?" Nelson said flatly.


======================================================


(THE FOLLOWING PIECE WAS WRITTEN ON SCRAP PAPER BY ELISHA BAKER AND PASSED ON TO NELSON, PETER, ZACK AND SALLY AT 8.15 AM THE 8TH NOVEMBER 2000, DURING DR. KNIGHT'S MATH CLASS)

Left breakf. early so could go to class early to check out Alpha. Light did come from Prof. H. office.


======================================================

I couldn't explain it, I just had this growing feeling inside me that something bad or something big was going to happen.

01/ 11/ 00

Dear Diary,

Last night was the Halloween bash, and what a bash it was! Even the teachers dressed up for it. Pat did an hour of DJ'ing with the other Senior, Steve, I think his name is, with some of the music they had downloaded off the net and remixed. Everyone danced, ate, and danced some more and we didn't have to stop the music till 2 AM! Well, nearly everyone. Everyone except Zack, Sally and me.

As soon as classes finished that afternoon, we all rushed back to the dorms to try and get our showers first. I was halfway through shampooing my hair when somebody started banging on the door telling me to hurry up! Then as we were getting ready, Nelson, Sally and I were running between each others rooms to lend/borrow the clothes and make-up and stuff. It was funny, Sally kept screaming, "Don't look! Don't look! We're not ready yet!" and slammed my door in Pat's face!

"Freaking hell! I'll meet you guys at the Caf then. I'm going for a cigarette." Pat shook his head at us, but I think he was trying not to laugh. He caught Zack just as he was leaving his room and took him with him, warning about a couple of shrieking banshees running wild at the end of the corridor.

Even Nelson got into a girlie mood. She did her make-up in my room and then after doing her eyes with black liquid eye-liner, she did mine for me too. Sally raced in with this color of lipstick she reckoned went well with the purple velvet skirt I was borrowing from her. Nelson and Sally then started fighting about what kind of music to play as we were getting ready, and they finally compromised on U2’s, ‘Rattle and Hum’. I turned up "In the Name of Love" really loudly and we three started jumping up and down on my bed. Then Sally started teasing Nelson about her crush on Dr. Myles and joked that she should ask him to dance tonight!

‘Club Night’ started at 7.30 PM after dinner and was in the theater in Gamma Building, where the Caf is. We three skipped dinner and turned up at 7.30. We saw that with the theater they had folded away all the chairs and lined them all along the walls, and darkened the place with the lights that usually lit up the stage, now flashing around the room like we were in a real night club or something! There was the senior guy, Steve, DJ'ing from the stage, and at the back of the room there was a table in the corner offering punch and cans of soft drink and some nibblies.

Pat and Zack were already there, waiting for us. I noticed Peter was there, hanging out with the two other Americans in our year, Brett and Sophie. He gave us a dirty look and whispered something to Brett, probably about us, and they laughed. I tried to ignore them and grabbed Sally and we started dancing. Zack and Nelson joined in, and Pat seemed really uncomfortable. Nelson asked him what was up, and he said he couldn't dance.

"So? That's not stopping Zack!" I teased and Zack tickled me!

I noticed Jordon and Raj and Yuichi come in and just stand around the refreshment table, looking a little uneasy themselves. I pointed them out to Sally and we went over and asked them to join us. Jordon and Yuichi looked relieved and agreed, but Raj shook his head and said he was waiting for someone.

After a little while of more dancing, I soon found out who... Maya arrived, looking quite conservative but still very pretty. Raj immediately gave her a glass of punch and tried to engage her in conversation. She looked over to where we were dancing, but I looked away and pretended I didn't see her. She said something mean the other day which I'm still annoyed about.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, including the teachers. Nell, Dr. Knight and Professor Hamilton looked on happily at the turn out, as they stood to the side and talked. And Dr. Myles even took Miss Inez out onto the floor for a spin!

"I think they're dating. Steve, the DJ guy, told Pat that he saw Dr. Myles take Miss Inez out to lunch at the Diner last Sunday." Sally whispered in my ear.

I looked over at Nelson, who was looking at Dr. Myles. She was still dancing, and when she noticed that I noticed, she turned her back to him and got on down with Pat, who was still moving very awkwardly. He reminded me a little of a robotic scarecrow the poor guy! Then paired with Nelson who looked like she was doing the lambada or something... I tried not to laugh!

Around 10 PM I went outside with Nelson and Pat for a smoke, and when we were finished, I told them I wanted to use the bathroom and I'd meet them inside the theatre.

When I went down the hallway, past the Caf, I heard voices coming from around the corner. I stopped before going into the Ladies and listened. I recognized one of the voices as Peter's. He was talking to someone else, another guy from the sounds of it, something about money...

I peered around the corner to see Peter putting something in his pocket, and another guy, a Senior called Paul who I buy my smokes from, put money in his wallet. I didn't know Peter smoked... he never joined Pat or Nelson and I. I turned around and went into the Ladies.

When I came back to ‘Club Night’, it looked as if Peter had returned the same time as I did. He went over and whispered something to Brett and Sophie, and the three then turned around and left. I watched them go, but something didn't feel right about this. I nudged Sally and indicated the three leaving.

"Good riddance." Sally shrugged.

"No, I think something bad is going to happen." I said to her.

"What the f**k are you talking about?" she shook her head at me.

"Come on!" I grabbed her arm and pulled her with me.

"Hey, where are you going?" Zack called out after us, then followed too.

We three hid in the doorway of the building as we watched the other three walk around the oval and go into Alpha building. Once they were inside, I then dragged Sally with me as Zack followed behind just to see what the hell it was that I was doing. I couldn't explain it, I just had this growing feeling inside me that something bad or something big was going to happen.

When we reached Alpha building, all of the lights were turned off, even the library and computer lab were all turned off.

"What the f**k are we doing here? The party is in the other building!" Sally whined.

"Shh!" I nudged her again, and walked very slowly and quietly inside, trying to listen to any footsteps or voices that might tell me where the three went. Then I heard it, footsteps that sounded like they were going up the stairs.

I pulled Sally with me, and Zack came along anyway, and we three crept inside the hallway and then slowly up the staircase. Once we had reached the first floor, I stopped us so I could listen for anymore footsteps.

Then I heard them. They were slow, but they were loud, and it only sounded as if it was one person making them. They must have known we were coming and split up. I may as well follow the one, since I don't know where the other two went, so I pulled Sally up some more stairs.

"Would you let f**king go of me!" she said angrily, snatching her arm back.

"Shh!" I hissed back at her.

I went up the next few stairs to the second floor and looked down both sides of the darkened corridor. It was totally black, with no lights, or even emergency lights on. I thought this was weird, even the EXIT signs were off.

Zack came and stood next to me. "I can't hear them anymore." he whispered to me. I shook my head to let him know that neither could I.

"This is the teachers offices. What are we doing, following them up here? You think they're gonna get high of Hamilton's own desk?" Sally scoffed.

"What makes you think they're gonna get high?" I asked Sally. Then I realized that that was what Paul sold to Peter. "S**t, maybe that's it."

Then we heard voices coming from the bottom floor, and Zack and I leaned over the railing for a better look, but we couldn't see anything.

Just then Sally started pulling on my arm.

"Ah, guys... I think you should see this."

"What?" Zack asked, then he stared, and I could see him stare, because there was a blue light on his face.

I turned to see what he was staring at, and what I saw was the source of the blue light. It was coming from under one of the teachers office doors. And it was getting brighter and brighter.

"S**t! Somebody's in there! Lets run!" Sally started back down the stairs.

"But all of the teachers are in Gamma building! We saw that!" I yelled back at her in a whisper.

Suddenly the blue light flashed into a blinding white light. Then it was gone, leaving us blinking blindly in total blackness again. But all the hairs on our arms and on the back of our necks started standing up, and suddenly the temperature was freezing cold!

"Oh s**t! Lets go!" Zack grabbed my arm and started running down the stairs, with me being practically dragged behind him!

Then Sally, who was running in front of us screamed and stopped, and Zack and I ran into the back of her, nearly knocking her down.

She had run into Peter on the first floor who had given her another fright.

"What the f**k are you doing here?!" We all exclaimed at each other.

"Where's Brett and Sophie?" I asked him.

"Pissed off they did. Thought they heard a teacher upstairs." Peter said indignantly.

"That wasn't a teacher, that was us. Or maybe that was a teacher as well..." Sally tried to think.

"But all the teachers are in the Gamma building! It wasn't a teacher in that office!" I said defiantly.

"What the f**k are you talking about? Seeing dead peeeooo..." his voice trailed off, as he didn't get to finish his sentence.

We noticed a new blue light coming from the window at the end of the corridor.

The temperature dropped here as well, and the hairs on our arms and necks started to stand on end again. We all watched, as if in slow-mo a figure of a man in a short skirt and armor, wearing a helmet, slowly materialize from the window at the end of the hallway. The same window that Nelson, Pat and I had seen that lady disappear into.

"OK, time to go." Peter announced.

He grabbed Sally, Zack grabbed me, and we bolted down the rest of the stairs and out of the building.

"Now do you believe me?!" I shrieked on our way down.

As we all poured out of the front door, we were in for another surprise! Professor Hamilton and Dr. Myles were standing outside, as if they were waiting for us. Myles grabbed Peter as Hamilton yelled at us to stop.

"Would you mind telling us what you were doing here?" Hamilton asked, looking at us individually.

"This is my first guess." Myles pulled a small plastic bag with some white powder out of Peters pocket.

"What?!" Sally exclaimed. "You WERE going to get high? I was just joking!"

"There's enough in here for a little party for four." Myles handed the little bag to Hamilton.

"No way! There is no way that we were going to do that stuff!" Zack said indignantly. "I don't even smoke! Tell them Peter!"

We all looked at Peter.

"They're clean." he said.

"But you're not, are you Petie? You were planning another party with some other people, weren't you?" Myles patted Peter on the back - hard.

"Did you know Sophie is on medication at the moment? If she took this as well, she would have overdosed!" Hamilton lost his temper and yelled at Peter.

"Hang a minute! How did you know?" I asked Hamilton.

"You don't have to have three doctorates to work out what three teens, one with the goods, are up to when they leave a party to go into an empty building to start their own." Hamilton said. "Now you three either go back to Gamma building, or to the dorms." he ordered Zack, Sally and me.

We quickly left, not to the dorms, but to Gamma building.

After what we had just seen tonight, I think we all wanted to feel the safety of numbers. We didn't go into the theater again though, we went into the Rec room where the horror movies were shown. We sat on a lounge in the corner away from everyone else, and then just looked at each other, wondering what to say.

"There you are! What have you been up to?" Pat asked as he and Nelson came over, carrying some drinks.

We three all looked at each other, not knowing where to start.

On the TV screen it was showing the movie "House on Haunted Hill". You know the one, where all the characters are locked up in an old funny farm and are slowly being killed off, by the past inmates. At that moment it was the scene where the character Sarah was running around the maze of hallways and corridors, chasing a ghost.

I pointed at the screen and then looked at Pat challengingly, daring him to disbelieve again.

Well I've just found out what's wrong with this school, it's bloody haunted!

TO: mbaker@hotmail.com
FROM: ebaker_hamiltons@evers.com
SUBJECT: No Joke!!
DATE: 19/ 10/ 00


Well I've just found out what's wrong with this school, it's bloody haunted!

I just saw the ghost! I'm serious! A real live ghost! I'm for real! A ghost! And if you don't believe me Nelson and Pat was with me when I saw it! When we saw it, is what I mean.

We were in the Alpha Building in the computer labs, downloading stuff off the Internet. I was printing out pictures of David Boreanaz, Kevin Sorbo and Sarah Michelle Gellar to put on my walls in my room.

We went over at 9 PM as Pat said the labs are usually unlocked at night since the teachers knew the students liked to use it for homework or whatever, and since we're in the middle of nowhere, who's gonna come and steal the computers? There's nobody around! Well, nobody alive anyway... then around 11 PM Nelson and I went outside for a cigarette and when we came back, we heard footsteps coming down the hall. We thought it was either a teacher or a student or even a cleaner, we didn't care about it.

After a couple of minutes, I complained how it seemed colder in the lab than it was outside. Pat said that the heaters in the building should be on until midnight and he got up to check the thermostat. He said that the thermostat said it was 22 degrees Celsius, and I told him it was not because I was freezing!

Just then we heard the footsteps again, as if they were walking right past the doorway of the lab. So Nelson got up and said she'll see if it's a cleaner or someone we can ask about the heat. She gets up, goes to the doorway and then freezes... I mean, totally not moving. Pat and I quickly got up to see what she's looking at, and we see the back of a woman in an olden day dress walk through a wall with a window!!!!

No, she didn't go out the window, she went through the wall!

The window was still closed and it wasn't broken or anything! It may have only happened in just a couple of seconds, but I know what I saw... what we saw! We quickly grabbed what we had printed and then we ran out of there! We ran out of the building and then Pat stopped running when we were halfway across the oval, and Nelson and I were yelling at him to hurry up. I think he was looking back to where the wall with the window was, then he turned around and we all ran again back to Beta building.

In Pat's room later on, Nelson said what made her freeze was this feeling inside that what she was seeing... wasn't natural. Pat has been here the longest, and I asked him if he had ever seen anything like this before. He said yes, but then he seemed to change his mind. Nelson and I pressured him to tell us what he was thinking of.

He said that a few months ago before the summer break he saw one of the rooms in Alpha building light up with a bright white flash in the middle of the night once. It was a room on the top floor, that lit up very brightly, then went black. He thought it was just something else until now. I asked him if it was the computer lab, and he said don't be stupid since it was on the top floor, and we were just in the computer lab on the second floor. So Nelson asked him which room was it, and he said it was Professor Hamilton's office.

I swear to you Mark, just as he said that, a cold chill ran down my back! I think I blurted out something about how I think Professor Hamilton is related somehow to what we just saw and Pat immediately told me to shut up and don't be so stupid. Then Nelson told him to shut up and to let me speak.

I told them how I think we should find out how old this school actually is and how old the buildings actually are, as I just had this feeling this wasn't quite right. That this whole situation isn't quite right as to why we're all here. Then I reminded Pat of what he said that first night I met the two, when he said there had to be something special as to why I'm here.

"She's right. Why are any of us here? It's like somebody has hand picked us to be here for a reason." Nelson said, staring at the floor. I thought she was about to say something else then, but she seemed to be struggling as to how to say it.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"Nothing." she shook her head.

"Come on, we've heard from Mulder over here, now it's your turn Scully." Pat said sarcastically.

"F**k you Paddy." Nelson got up from the bed and left back to her room.

"Nice one!" I glared at Pat and followed Nelson out. I tried to go into her room with her but she slammed her door in my face! Great! I really wanted to know what she would have said. So I went back into my room and slammed my door too.

It's 2 am here at the moment, and I've just left Pat's room. Mark, if your offer is still on the table, I might just accept it soon. I have to find out how weird this place is. F**k you Dad for sending me here!


======================================================

"Welcome to Hamilton's School of Headcraft and Heterodoxy. There must be something special about you for you to be here."

TO: angiepevensie@ihug.com.au
FROM: ebaker_hamiltons@evers.com
SUBJECT: Met some sane people at last!
DATE: 10/ 10/ 00

Hey Angela,

Everyone came back from dinner in the cafeteria and I met two people whose rooms are next to and across from mine and who’ll be in my year. Their names are Nelson and Pat. Nelson is from America and Pat is Irish! Or Northern Ireland as he repeatedly told me. Nelson is from somewhere in the country apparently (or 'the mid-west' as she calls it), she grew up in a small town whereas Pat grew up in Belfast. He doesn't have a laptop in his room but a bigger desktop computer. He does carry a laptop to class with him though, so he says. Genevieve, sorry, Nelson as she prefers (her last name) asked me if I smoke, which I immediately jumped at the chance. Thank god this place isn't going to be such a concentration camp as I was worried it would be!

As we were walking down the hall towards the stairs a teacher I hadn't met yet, Miss Inez stopped us and asked us where we were going. Nelson told her we were going to the library. So she said that it was a good idea to show me around a bit, but reminded us not to get lost behind any of the buildings. Pat gave her this funny smile and said to her, "would we ever do that?" and Miss Inez reminded him that he does it nearly every day. We got away with it and as we went down the stairs I found out from Nelson that Miss Inez is our Music, Art, Drama and Gym teacher (I think that’s what they call PE over here) plus she's also our Den mother on our floor of the dorms. She, like Nell, look pretty young. I think definitely in their twenties. I wonder how they wound up here in the middle of nowhere to teach around four subjects to kids who are nuts?

Anyway, we got outside and started crossing the oval that's in the center of the grounds, with the four buildings, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta around it. We started heading towards the Alpha building where Pat said the biggest library is and where the classrooms are. It's the biggest of the buildings, but in my opinion they all look pretty big… and old. They all look like stately manors that should be in an English period drama or something... which I can't work out why they're here in the middle of nowhere? And with a shitty little place like Brownsville next to them, instead of a proper town or city or something?

When we reached the building, instead of going up the couple of stairs and inside the doors, we walked around the side of the building and stood just around the corner of the back. Both Nelson and Pat each pulled a packet of their own out and Pat offered one out of his to me. I thought I could use this opportunity to ask them some questions about the school.

I asked them how they got their cigarettes as I noticed when I went to the shops today that a sign said the legal age limit is 21. They told me there's a Senior student in one of the bottom dorm rooms that gets them for them. Cool, I'll have to check that out. Next I asked them how they got here. Apparently Pat also tried to kill himself in Belfast, and his family were approached by Stephen Hamilton to come here, like what happened to me. Nelson shook her head at us and told us we were a pair of freaks. So I asked her what she did to deserve to come here? She said she would have been sent here or to Juvenile Court, but wouldn't tell me anything else. Pat has been here for a year already, and Nelson started last month. Then I asked them if anyone had ever run away? Pat shrugged and said he'd heard stories that kids in the past had tried it, and managed to hitch-hike out of here, and some of them ended up coming back on their own free will. I laughed and asked why, when Nelson said something that now bugs me and makes me wonder about.

"When there's no home to go to, what do you run from?" with that she threw her cigarette to the ground, stumped it out with her foot, than turned around and left before Pat and I had finished. I guess all of my questions had somehow offended her.

This can't be true. I mean, if all the misfits and outcasts all come here, there would surely be more than 60 students attending at a time at Hamilton's, right? So where are all the other kids who have tried killing themselves? Or have criminal records? It doesn't make sense.

"Basically life here is pretty good. There is some disciplining, but basically the teachers let us just get on with it. You'll notice there are no curfews or lights out, you just go to bed when you feel like it. The only thing is if you're a Sophomore, which you are, you have to have supervision when you leave school property. Welcome to Hamilton's School of Headcraft and Heterodoxy. There must be something special about you for you to be here." Pat said to me.

Was he complimenting me? Was he hitting on me? Why does there have to be something special about me to be here? I thought it was just because I tried to kill myself.

We finished our cigarettes and came out from the back and then he offered to actually show me the library as he had to get some books. I said thanks, but no thanks, and went back across the oval towards the dorms, or Beta building as everyone else calls it. I went back to my room and I noticed Nelson's door was shut. I guess that was it for any more conversations with her tonight.

So I'm sending this email to you Angie. It's 10:30 PM. I better go to bed soon, breakfast is at 7.30 tomorrow morning, then I have my first class. What time is it in Sydney at the moment? What's the weather like? Here, there is a cold wind outside, I shivered so much I nearly dropped the cigarette!

I may not have a home with Dad but at least I've got you.

Night night.


======================================================

Circulate

Written by K.R. Smith
Cover & Illustrations by Isabel De Sequera


When troubled teen Elisha wakes up in a strange bed with a sore head and bandaged wrists she has no way of knowing just how far from home she really is. Having been transported to a strange school in a distant land without her knowledge or consent, she struggles to understand this place that has become her new home. Making friends and learning lessons isn’t the difficult part however, rather it is coming to terms with the ghostly apparitions that infest the grounds that proves to be the real challenge.


Could the school be haunted or is there another even stranger explanation for what is going on around them? And just how could the love of Elisha’s life turn out to be a man who died centuries before she was even born? Find out what lies on the other side of the mirror in this superb novel that mixes drama with science-fiction and ghost-stories.

Available at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Smashwords and Lulu