School's Out

In the flat and verdant lands of the Arkansas Delta sits an abandoned school. The rusty metal doors were probably once locked up tight, but they had been pushed open at some point. It's hard to tell how long it has been abandoned. There are still some library books on shelves and assorted toys scattered about. But also parts of the roof are gone, and chunks of ceiling tiles and insulation sit in soggy heaps on the ground.





It had stormed the day before, and rainwater had percolated throughout the building. The long hallway in the middle of school was interspersed with puddles, and the floors were still wet.



I'm not sure of the history of the building. It was once an elementary school, but it probably closed when the school district was consolidated. It then served as a daycare/learning center. In one room, there were some old teddy bears left behind.



In one room there were desks set up, as if a teacher would stroll in at anytime to start a lesson. But most of the chairs were filled with debris or water. Many of the desks had water damage, the fake wood peeling up like sunburned skin.



Like all abandoned and forgotten places, there was that sense of both sadness and foreboding. This building must have seen decades worth of kids passing through, running down the halls and trying to sit still during math lessons. Now the only movement was water dripping down through the gaps in the ceiling.





Although the students are long gone, there are a few reminders of them. Like this stuffed animal, sitting on a book shelf that's covered with fallen debris from the ceiling.



The screams and laughs of kids at recess are nothing but memories. Now the building is quiet, the only noise being the sounds of the occasional car driving down the nearby road.