The Vanishing Classmate

                Chapters  

1. The Common Assemblage|
2. A Memory Lost
3. The Notebook
4. The Society of the Trough
5. Underneath the Chapel
6. The Secret Room
7. The Chase
8. The Basement
9. The Revelation
10. The Escape
11. Exposed
12. Aftermath

Chapter1 The Common Assemblage

St. Alban’s University in the north of England was the type of place that seemed older than time itself. Gothic towers and crenellations loomed above cobblestone courtyards, their stones purpled with the patina of age. Winds from the River Tyne’s cuts blew through the gaps, whispering that secrets lurked within.

For most students, however, it was merely a backdrop for essays, late-night coffees, and fast-approaching deadlines.

To Amelia Carter, it was a prison disguised as an opportunity. A law student with an exacting mind, she spent most of her days buried in the library. Friends were scarce, but there was one she could always count on: Daniel “Danny” Rhodes.

Danny was Amelia’s opposite — a journalism major with a smile too big for his face and hair that looked like he had run through a storm. He had an uncanny ability to turn even the dullest seminar into a comedy routine. They had met in their first week and had been inseparable ever since.

On a rain-cooled Thursday night in October, everything changed.

Danny didn’t show up at the café where they always met after class. Amelia waited, sipping a tepid tea, tapping her pen against the table. By nine, she texted him: Where are you?

No reply.

By morning, his desk in class sat empty. By evening, his phone went straight to voicemail. By the weekend, his dorm room had been cleared out — as if he had never lived there.

Chapter Two: A Memory Lost

Amelia’s stomach twisted when she confronted his flatmate.

“Danny? Oh, you must be mistaken,” said the boy casually, not noticing the panic on her face. “No one by that name ever lived here.”

Her heart skipped. “What do you mean? He’s been here since last year!”

The boy only shrugged. “Sorry. You’ve got the wrong person.”

Confused, Amelia rushed to the administration office. “I need records for a student — Daniel Rhodes.”

The clerk tapped at her keyboard, brow furrowed. “We don’t have any student by that name registered here.”

“That’s impossible!” Amelia snapped. “We’re in the same seminars!”

The clerk gave her a flat, pitying stare, as though listening to a madwoman. “Maybe you should get some rest.”

By week’s end, professors, classmates, even casual acquaintances behaved as if Danny had never existed. His name vanished from class lists. His picture disappeared from society boards.

But Amelia refused to accept it. She remembered. And that was enough.

Chapter 3: The Notebook

Her proof arrived one stormy night in the library.

In their favorite alcove beneath the stained-glass windows, Amelia tugged a book from a shelf. A hidden notebook tumbled out.

Her fingers froze. It was Danny’s.

Page after page was filled with his messy scrawl:

There is something going on at St. Alban’s. Students vanish every few years. Records wiped clean. No families asking questions. Why?

Clue: The Hollow Society. Founded 1912. A faculty club? Or something darker?

Amelia’s chest thudded. Danny had been investigating disappearances. And now he was one of them.

Chapter 4- The society of the trough

Days turned into weeks as Amelia dug deeper.

Old student newspapers carried clues: unexplained withdrawals, students who “returned home suddenly,” names quietly erased from honor rolls.

In the archives, she found a 1978 clipping: “Another Withdrawal? Student Disappears Amid Talk of Faculty Club.”

The Hollow Society.

Danny had scribbled the name again and again in his notebook — a shadowy circle of professors, or maybe deans, who met in secret.

But why erase students? Why wipe memories?

The more Amelia searched, the stranger things became. Emails vanished from her inbox. Photocopied pages turned blurry before her eyes. She swore someone was following her — footsteps echoing in empty quads, shadows scattering whenever she turned.

Still, she pressed on.

Chapter 5 -UNDERNEATH THE CHAPEL

The clue came unexpectedly.

“She was discovered by a janitor who heard piano from the old chapel.”

The janitor stopped Amelia in the corridor. His eyes darted nervously. “You’re Carter, right? You’re looking for your friend.”

Amelia froze. “You remember Danny?”

The man shook his head. “No names. Don’t say them. They’ll hear.”

“Who?” she whispered.

“The Hollow Society. They meet below. Beneath the chapel.”

Her pulse quickened. “There’s nothing beneath it. Just stone.”

The janitor’s eyes gleamed. “Not if you know the door.”

That night, Amelia crept into the chapel. Behind the altar she found a hidden latch. Her hands shook as she opened it to reveal a winding staircase descending into darkness.

She went down.

Chapter 6 The Secret Room

The air was damp and cold, stone walls lit by flickering lamps. Amelia followed the corridor until she reached a heavy oaken door. Voices murmured inside.

“…another student asking questions,” a man said. “We can’t afford another risk.”

“She’ll be handled,” another replied. “Just like the journalist.”

Her heart froze. Danny.

Amelia pushed the door slightly open. Professors she recognized sat around a long mahogany table. At the head stood Professor Whitaker, her history lecturer, speaking calmly.

“We are the Hollow Society. Our mission is to protect the reputation of this university. Problematic students vanish. Their records erased. Families compensated. No scandals. No headlines.”

Another nodded. “The Rhodes boy resisted. He’s been… relocated.”

Amelia’s blood ran cold. Danny was alive — somewhere.

But the door creaked.

“Who’s there?”

Chapter 7 – The Chase She ran.

She ran.

Twisting corridors, endless tunnels, her breath ragged. Footsteps thundered behind her. Voices shouted.

Bursting into the chapel, she slammed the hidden door shut. Heart racing, she fled into the rain-soaked night.

She had no proof for the police. Except Danny’s notebook.

Would it be enough?

Chapter 8: The Basement

One final sketch in Danny’s notebook pointed her to a trapdoor beneath the journalism building.

At midnight, Amelia pried it open. A foul stench of mildew rose from the depths.

She descended.

There, chained but alive, was Danny.

His eyes widened. “Amelia… you remember.”

She rushed to him, fumbling with the bolts. “Of course I do. We’re getting out.”

The chains rattled free — but a voice echoed behind her.

“Bravo, Miss Carter,” Professor Whitaker drawled from the shadows. “But curiosity has a price.”

Chapter 9: The Revelation

Whitaker lifted a lantern, his face half-hidden in shadow.

“Why?” Amelia demanded, shielding Danny. “Why erase students?”

“Because memory is fragile,” Whitaker replied smoothly. “And reputation is everything. Idealists, troublemakers, failures — they disappear. Who remembers them once their records are gone? No one.”

“You’re monsters,” Amelia spat.

“No, Miss Carter. We are protectors. Knowledge must endure — untainted.”

Danny growled. “You’re murderers in gowns.”

Whitaker sighed. “Such a pity. Two more to erase.”

Chapter 10 – The Escape

But Amelia was faster. She hurled the lantern at him.

Flames exploded across the wall. Smoke filled the cellar. Seizing Danny’s arm, she pulled him up the ladder.

Whitaker’s shouts echoed through the smoke as they fled.

They stumbled into the freezing night, collapsing by the riverbank. Gasping, Danny gripped her hand. “You saved me.”

She shook her head. “No. We saved each other. Now we tell the world.”

Chapter 11 – Exposed

The following weeks blurred into a storm.

Amelia and Danny leaked the story to an independent newspaper. His notebook, their testimony, and the voices of former students brought the truth into the light. Families demanded justice.

The Hollow Society crumbled. Professors resigned in disgrace. Whitaker vanished before he could be arrested — rumors claimed he fled abroad.

But Danny’s name was restored to the records. He existed again.

Chapter 12 – Aftermath

Amelia and Danny stood in the rain outside the chapel at winter break.

“Do you think it’s over?” Danny asked softly.

She gazed up at the gothic towers, their shadows stretching into the mist. “No. Secrets never die. They wait. But we’ve made sure the world knows now.”

Danny squeezed her hand. “And they’ll never erase us again.”

For the first time, Amelia smiled. The Hollow Society had tried to wipe away her only friend — but instead, they had forged something unbreakable.

The rain poured harder, but neither of them moved. For a moment, they were simply alive. And remembered.

                                            By iqraeman