The Wayward Triplets

 Saint Lin Catholic Boys School sits between the shoe factory and the old cemetery. Just like any other boys' school, Saint Lin has its fair share of mischievous, delinquent and brilliant students. The school has been around for nearly thirteen decades and is known for strict standards and deeply rooted Catholic teachings and traditions.

Just like every other school, Saint Lin has quite a handful of lores that go beyond the grounds of the school, but the most renowned one amongst them all is the Wayward Triplets.

No original background story is known about the trio, but first sightings dated back to the early years of the school. According to former students, teachers and Catholic priests, the triplets were former students of the school who mysteriously disappeared. Despite their bodies never being found, and no family members ever showing up, the institute held a mass for them.

Strange enough, teachers and stationed priests during that period had no recollection of accepting enrollment for any triplets. Yet records and files showed that the triplets did, in fact, attend the school. Most of the students also testified to it. The three boys were always described the same way. Identical faces, white clothes, bare feet and giggling abnormally.

Over the years, the story became tradition.

Senior students would tell freshmen never to walk alone around the school after evening prayers. Anyone who saw three boys dressed in white was expected to run without looking back.

But the triplets weren't really ghosts. They were students. Years ago, a group of seniors had discovered that the school's old records were poorly kept. As a prank, they created three fictional students and forged their names into old enrollment documents. They even altered photographs to make it appear as though the three boys had attended Saint Lin.

Then came the costumes. Three students would dress in white and appear in dark corridors, around the chapel or near the cemetery. Their purpose was simple: frighten everyone enough to cause confusion.

While teachers and students chased the supposed ghosts, other students would sneak out of school and disappear into town. What started as a prank became a tradition passed from one graduating class to another.

Every year, the graduating students secretly chose three juniors to inherit the secret. They taught them where the costumes were hidden, how to forge the documents and when to make the sightings. The teachers suspected nothing. The priests suspected nothing. Even the school authorities had come to accept the triplets as part of Saint Lin's history. And that was exactly how the students wanted it.

Whenever a teacher saw three white figures near the cemetery, the story spread again. Whenever students disappeared from campus for a few hours, everyone blamed the ghosts.

Nobody ever discovered the truth. And when the school year ended, the secret was quietly passed on to another group of students. The triplets had never existed. But at Saint Lin, they would never truly disappear.