In a small classroom at the abandoned Burnhart Elementary School, four people joined hands and sat in a circle in one of the vacant classrooms. Dust filled the air, and thus their lungs, and vines of ivy lined the windows. Lit candles sat on the ledge of the chalkboard and in the center of the four. Other than that, the only illumination was provided by the glints of street light outside. The people began to chant quietly, as instructed by a dusty book that sat on the lap of Anna, who led this session.

Seated next to Anna was Patti, Anna’s life-long friend. They knew each other since early elementary school. Julia was next. She rarely spoke unless spoken to.

Gus was the sole male of the four. This had been his grade school before it closed a few years ago. Now it sat vacant, waiting for a new owner. The energy of youthful minds still flowed through the halls and rooms, and where the four people now sat was Gus’s fourth grade classroom.

As the sound of the chants filled the normally silent walls of the classroom, doubts began to invade Gus’s mind. The collar of his red plaid shirt seemed to grow tighter, and soon seemed to strangle him. "Anna…" he whispered.

"Don’t break concentration!" hissed Anna. They continued the incantation, but the doubts in Gus’s head continued. Finally, he released Anna and Julia’s hands and quit speaking. Almost immediately, his mind grew blank and he no longer heard the voices of those next to him. He faded into the air like a wisp of smoke and disappeared.

It took all Anna’s psychological discipline to keep her from panicking then. She and the others knew that if they were to avoid a similar fate, they would have to hold concentration until the end of another chant. This one to safely end the spell before it was complete. They spoke frantically, their minds raced. Finally, the room grew silent.

"Oh God," cried Anna. For a second, she and her colleagues looked to each other. "Look around, see if he’s still here. Find him!" The others grabbed a candle and scattered out of the room, while Anna held her head in despair.

"Gus?" the two girls called in alternating fashion as they searched the rooms and corridors. The only replies came from their own echoing voices. "Gus, are you there?"

Patti walked into a classroom down the hall, and heard the doorknob of the closet across the room start to turn. "Gus?" she asked. The creaking of the door as it opened was the only reply. It cracked open slowly at first, then hit the wall behind it with a sudden burst. A figure in a red plaid shirt tumbled out, and its arms slammed to the floor. "My God, are you okay?" asked Patti as she rushed help him.

"Yeah, I think so," came Gus’s drowsy reply. Patti led him back down the hall.

"Oh, thank God," said Anna. "I told you how dangerous it was to break your concentration. You could’ve gone to the other side!"

"But I was on the other side…of the closet door!" said Gus, laughing slightly.

"I’m not joking, we never could have gotten you back. You would have been lost forever!"

There was a short pause, then Gus asked, "Why’re we doing this anyway?"

"I thought we discussed this already," came Anna’s reply.

"I know, but even now we’re still young."

"But we’re quickly getting older. Our days will grow monotonous, as we are forced into work schedules and routines. We’ll work for the rest of our lives, rushing through our days, forgetting how it is to enjoy life. Doesn’t that scare you?"

"Of course it does, but working is a part of life. It is only a part, however; life is still there to enjoy. Besides, I don’t want to be little again. I hated it enough the first time."

"But it’ll be different this time. We’ll have each other. We’ll be able to start over and do it right this time."

"It’ll just stall the inevitable. We’ll have to get older sometime. Besides, when I was younger, I constantly had to rely on other people to take care of me. Now I’m finally able to do things on my own. I have more freedom. I know more people who share my interests and understand me. The way I see it, I’m finally at a good age, neither too young nor too old. Perhaps when I’m fifty I’ll want to be thirty again, but I’m only twenty. I don’t want to be ten again."

"But we can’t do this without you. We need four."

"I’m sorry Anna, but you’ll need to find another."

Anna then became so distraught that she almost ran out of the room.

"I wanted it to be you!" she shouted. Gus took a few steps back.

"Me? Why?" he asked.

"Are you a fool?" scolded Patti. "Don’t you see? Have you not seen?"

"I wanted to start over with you," said Anna, sadly. "Oh, if only we’d met earlier, when I was younger. You would have loved me then. I was pretty, before my teeth grew crooked and my hair grew matted. Before I grew heavier. You would’ve loved me then."

"I was a child," said Gus. "I didn’t even know what love was."

"But now you do."

"Anna, you don’t need to be a kid to be loved. You have always been very special to me."

"As a friend. You should understand how that feels, to love but not receive it."

"Too well," Gus replied. "But whether ten or twenty, I would love you the same way."

There was a pause. "Perhaps you should go then, and me as well. Forgive me if I never see you again." She started crying.

"Anna…"

"Shut up!" snapped Patti. "You’ve said enough." She then put her arms around Anna, and whispered gently, "He’d never stay with you like I have." They turned and started away.

Gus walked toward one exit of the long abandoned school building, and the other three toward another.