In the middle of October, 2006, the Grade Seven students at Brewer Middle School took a field trip to a building that they had seen from a distance for most of their lives, but had never visited up close. The tour guides were various city officials and the future developers of the old paper mill. It was raining quite hard and the students were poorly equipped with flashlight, which added to the overall effect of the visit. What follows are the essays, as written, by roughly half of the students. The essays are presented as written by the students, hoping to preserve their turns of phrase, their usages and their idiosyncrasies as writers.

Brittney Kelly
I felt so uncertain as I  stalked through the old buildings door which creaked with every step I took. I thought I was in a horror story and everything around me was crushed, cracked and destroyed as if all the old workers scampered out of the old mill for there lives. The old holes where the paper machines once stood we're dark and moldy. Like a Tornado had come and ripped them out from there roots never to be seen again. As I entered the next room howls of the wind were roaring past of the cries of those who linger in the old mill. Blood dripping flowing down the walls like a water fall and patting the ground like the workers running from the horrible building.

The memories of those who once worked there at one time had written on a metal wall there names so that when they had past away or when the mill closed they would still be remembered that they we're once apart of it. Though that did not happen because of the old mills passing. The roars of cries and screams are telling us that they are ecstatic that there fine old paper mill had passed away and all the work they did working there fingers to the bone was gone never we're going to be used again though I am sure that the old memories like the metal wall, and old boots and clothes will be in a museum or placed in the mill when it is restored again.

The prices of restoring the mill are outrageous but some people say the mill should stay the same rotting away all the beautiful work ruined never to be seen except in bits of pieces. Others how ever say the mill should not have tours until it is restored because it's not safe sense most of the eldest rooms have collapsed or caved in. The old mills fate lies in the hands of Tom who is known as the reconstruction boss to bring the mill back to life. With no power electricity or paper machines or people the mill is dead. Lifeless no happiness or business all the workers are hurt mentally and at the same time think about more people getting benefits for jobs even money. Also the reason I think that the mill should come back to life is because to                look at the old workers faces and see the pain and absence of all the work they did gone, history.

The Mills most memorable room is the Paper machine rooms where the paper was made all the workers scurrying around trying there best to get the job done and done correctly. One of the workers, Mr. DeBeck, helped guide the way through the wind fed mill. He said that it still hurts that all his hardships his office everything he loved about the mill had suddenly changed like the sun is just coming out and it is setting so the moon can come out. Even with all the difficult situations he had dealt with he still led the way and talked about what he knew about each room. How ever we couldn't see the offices because the stairs were not safe not only that every thing in there was personal not something everyone needed to see.

One of the most humorous sights I saw was a bucket hanging on a string. Our leader Mr. DeBeck said it was a prank the guys use to play on each other. The bucket used to be filled with water or sometimes different liquids like colored water and so on. Also in the very same office there was a dead bird how sad but then really gross to. As I walked through the next room I saw a plethora of soaked cardboard and dust frosted floors and really old equipment. My friend Chiyanne said "This old mill is creepy!" All the floors in the mill creak with holes like it is trying to swallow you into the depths of eternal Horror. It seemed like it didn't want us there it couldn't wait until we left in some form of way. The old mill will eventually be reconstructed some day and it will never go down the road of treacherous cruelty again for lack of caring for the mill at least some people care about the mill.

The old mill and its fine memories are there but the electricity is gone and all the business is gone. Now the plans are said that the old building will be new but now it is death mansion with ghosts and the unknown!  

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