A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

Longmead High School were as ancient as some of the teachers who worked there with many locked doors leading off into the unknown, rumour has it (from many former pupils!!!) that they all lead to the same spot deep under the school where all the teachers would meet after the school day was done and carry out rituals cleansing their souls of evil after having to deal with the unruliness of the ‘unlearned’ as they were called.

Rumour also has it that a brother of one of the pupils had managed to get into the tunnels under the school but was never seen again, just the odd scream heard from deep in the belly of the school basement was heard for a few weeks it's said, but then….silence.

But Daniel was totally uninterested by these rumours as he walked the long stone clad corridor of the school on his way once again to the Headmaster's office, looking at the pictures of the former Head teachers hanging on the walls, each one as scary as the next one,

‘ I’m sure they are all staring at me’ thought Daniel as he continued his walk down the eerily silent corridor, the occasional banging door heard in the distance until he was distracted by a faint mumbling noise coming from round the next corner.

As he rounded the corner he was confronted by the sight of Harvey sitting at a desk which had been placed outside, normally that meant that he had been in trouble too, he was humming and mumbling to himself unaware that Daniel was sneaking up behind him like a Lion hunting its prey,

'BOO' screeched Daniel as he grabbed hold of Harvey by the waist and scared him so much that Harvey shrieked like a small child does,

'YEEEEAAAAH' he went causing him to almost lift off the seat he was sitting on, Daniel on the other hand had collapsed against the wall laughing so hard as Harvey and his class work went everywhere, all over the floor and down the corridor too.

'What the blooming heck are you doing to me Daniel???, you scared the life out of me', Whimpered Harvey as he tried to recover from what had happened, Daniel had managed to bring the laughter down to a snigger as he thought about how funny it was,

'Sorry mate, I so couldn't resist it, I've never seen you jump so high!!' he replied 'Looks like you've turned even more pasty than you already are'.

Harvey snorted at Daniel in a way that suggested he wasn't very happy with him,

'Not funny mate!!, it's not my fault I can't tan!! You look like you don't wash!!', he bent down from his seat to pick up all the paperwork that was lying around on the floor, muttering under his breath as Daniel just stood there watching him.

'Aren't you going to help me pick all this up, seeing as you caused this', Harvey grumpily asked Daniel.

'Nah, not my work to pick up, anyway what are you doing outside class?, what have you done this time?'

Harvey smirked as he told Daniel what had happened,

'Well you know Miss Jacobs….'

'Yes…' Daniel replied in an inquisitive way hoping that this was going to be a good story to hear, not like the ones Harvey normally tells.

'Well you know how much she goes on about all these old writers and stuff and how she tells us she's spent her life learning about each one and boring us about ‘what they were trying to achieve’ or something like that…',

'Right, but what happened?' Daniel looking totally confused now as Harvey carried on,

'She was blabbing on as usual about this writer bloke from the past and all I said was that anyone could write stuff like that and how none of it made any sense and how it was totally boring, she totally flipped at me which kind of scared me, ha-ha',

'And she threw you out for that mate?' Daniel questioned,

'Oh no mate, I'll carry on, so I told her that I wasn't really bothered about learning about this stuff anymore as I wouldn't need it in the future seeing as I was going to be big sports star, so she screeched at me, ranting that this was the only thing she had ever cared about and her whole life was about understanding writer's….blah blah blah blah', Harvey continued his story in epic detail as Daniel looked even more confused now,

'So then I said to her ‘maybe you should get out more and go and get some real friends seeing as you only care about old dead blokes’, then she completely lost it and screeched at me to leave her class which caused that massive vein on her head to pop out, So here I am mate, think she may have overreacted a bit. ha-ha'.

Daniel stood there chuckling to himself as he pictured Miss Jacobs and her massive vein making an appearance, but all of a sudden a huge gust of wind appeared as the door to Harvey's class swung open wildly almost taking Daniel’s head clean off its shoulders.

'Woah!!!' Daniel leapt back in defence as he was greeted by the sight of Miss Jacobs standing there, face looking full of anger as she caught him chatting to Harvey who was supposed to be sitting in silence,

'Right Mr Jones, first of all I sent you out of the class as once again you were being disruptive and you have completely upset me!!, second I catch you talking to Mr Carter here who, as I'm presuming, has been sent from the class too for some kind of disruption'.

Daniel decided that it was his turn to answer in his unique way,

'Ding Ding, I think we have a winner here Harvey, let’s see what prize she has won!!!'.

Harvey snorted with laughter as Miss Jacobs grew angrier and by now was close to exploding,

'Right that's it, be off with you two, get down to the Heads office and don't you dare stop or I'll have you expelled, DO YOU HEAR ME!!!!'.

And with that Daniel piped up, 'Alright alright we're going, jeez I was already on my way there anyway so there's no need to shout, don't let the vein on your head pop out anymore or we will all be in trouble!!!'.

Miss Jacobs screamed at the boys like a howling banshee,

'How dare you talk to me like that, I'm in my right mind to write a letter to your parents about your disgraceful behaviour, NOW GO!!!'.

And with that Miss Jacobs turned on her heels and slammed the door shut sending a cold breeze straight through Harvey’s clothes leaving the two boys sniggering to each other.

Daniel peered into the class window to see what the teacher was doing until she turned to catch him laughing and gesturing about the vein that they saw throbbing on her head earlier, to which Miss Jacobs stormed over to the class door and stood there just staring at him with her piercing evil looking eyes until Daniel finally piped up

'I think we better go mate, reckon she's going to turn into a dragon or something!!, Don't fancy being eaten today, ha-ha'.

Harvey stood up from his desk still clutching all his paperwork and decide not to make eye contact with his teacher as he scuttled past the door and along the corridor with Daniel,

'Think I went too far this time, don't you mate?' Harvey asked inquisitively as he feared what was going to happen in the Headmaster's office, Daniel on the other hand was less than fazed by the events and tried to reassure his scared looking friend,

'Nah, I reckon it will be fine, she's only upset because you literally destroyed everything she has worked towards all her life!!, Ha-ha'.

Harvey whacked his less than caring friend on the arm with his books as they made their way along the breezy cold corridors towards the Headmaster's office which was at the far end of the school, totally hidden out of the way from the pupils to hang about near.

The closer the boys got to the office the more Daniel started thinking about school, and what he was actually learning there which brought him to a halt, he turned to Harvey and said,

'Do you think that I really want to be here anymore mate?, I mean I'm so fed up of this place and all the teachers make me miserable, don't you think there's something out there for us to do instead of being at school?'.

Harvey looking deep in thought for a moment casually replied,

'Well, to be honest my mum will kill me if I don't do well at school, she's already threatened me with going to stay with Aunt Hilda over the summer holidays!!, so I think I'll take my chances here thanks!!',

'But surely your mum knows the amount of trouble you get into here, I know mine does' Daniel said, 'And anyway it’s nearly the end of term so I'm sure we won't be missed',

Harvey, trying to take Daniel’s thoughts off school had an idea, 'I tell you what mate when schools over today let's go to the Hideout and hang out then we can talk about what we are going to do'.

'Mmm, good idea mate, the Hideout does sound like a great plan and we can carry on our ‘War’ too' Daniel replied with a big smile on his face,

'Think we should take Bucksy too, he loves a good run around and he makes a great horse!!, I'm sure he will happily come with us mate, He always acts odd in the woods anyway' Harvey replied as their excitement level grew higher and louder.

Harvey’s eyes then bulged out as he thought of an idea,

'Seeing as we are going to the hideout why not take the ‘weapons’ we have made, I'm sure the swords and shields are still at mine and this time Bucksy is going to be on MY side for a change, I’m looking forward to being ‘The King of The Woods’ this time!!'.

Daniel stopped dead in his tracks, his mind seemingly running overtime as they were edging ever closer towards the Headmaster's office when he seemed to have an idea, grabbing at Harvey's arm he told him his plan,

'Tell you what mate I've had a great idea…'said Daniel, Harvey rolled his eyes back and muttered, 'Here it comes..'. Daniel hit Harvey on his arm and continued to tell him what was going to happen,

'Why don't we go now??, Look I'm sure the teachers aren't going to miss us, I mean there's only a bit of the day left, we may as well make the most of the sunshine, all we have to do is go down this corridor, sneak past the classroom doors and get out past the front desk, then we are out of here!!'.

Harvey didn't really react with the excitement shown by Daniel apart from saying,

'You've forgotten about one thing though haven't you..'

'What are you talking about Harvey?' a confused Daniel replied.,

'Even if we get out of here, past the classrooms, past the front desk and out towards the back gate then there's still the small matter of Mr Twitcher and Rollo'. Harvey seemingly pouring water on the plan as Daniel thought for a minute or two,

'We will be fine mate, trust me, I've sneaked past him a thousand times in the past, that's the easy bit, come on mate live a little…'

Harvey stood there for a moment and processed everything that Daniel had said a worried look spread across his face but Daniel was always too persuasive for him to turn down,

'I shouldn't do Dan but…..Ok mate lets go, but if we get caught I'm blaming you for the whole thing' Harvey said as they slowly made their way down the corridor and edged closer to the front desk,

'Also I can't be bothered to sit in the Heads office while he lectures us about ‘the values of a good education’, blah blah blah, plus I can never stop looking at that massive mole on his cheek',

Daniel sniggered as he recalled the