Day 734

From a distance the group of children seemed to be huddled over something, their whispering and giggling sounding more like wind through the bulrush than actual speech. To the outside observer the only strange thing about them was how the moved, like one solid unit of flesh than a group of small people.

From one place to another they were always this squat collective refusing to be parted, spoken to or separated in any way shape or form. They were soon known as "the bundle" by one or two locals and much like any unusual nickname it spread like a raspy cough. Everyone knew "the bundle" and where they were at all times.

They wore the same uniform and at first glance it was enough to fool the unsuspecting person into thinking that they all wore their own. A closer look would show that it's a carefully sewn amalgamation of several uniforms, stitched just right enough to resemble individuals, as the "group of children" act just right enough to resemble individuals themselves.

Each head has a slightly different tone but says the same things as all the others and when "their" heads are always bent inwards its impossible to see how every mouth moves in time even when only one is making any sound. But as I said, it's enough to fool you at a brief glance and that's all they need.

It's unclear what they whisper about or where they shuffle off to every night or what "their" faces look like, if they even have faces. Their uniform logo is for a school that hasn't existed for over seventy years, their home and family utterly unknown. All they seem to do is shuffle around the town outside of school hours, muttering and giggling for a while before gradually moving to another location only to repeat this.

The main theory is that they were a group of friends that died during the blitzkrieg, their huddled corpses forming this intertwined ghost that wanders their old post-school route over and over again. It certainly fits with the date of the uniforms.

Another theory says that if you follow them for their entire journey they'll lift their heads to look at someone and five days later that person will die. It seems just as plausible but nobody's ever managed the entire trip around with them. We know where they start and where they stop but somewhere in-between that an overwhelming feeling of terror grasps you, freezing you dead in your tracks until "the bundle" moves onto their next stop.