مدرسه روح زده فصل 03

The haunted School - Chapter 3

A man backed out of the doorway, pulling a large vacuum cleaner. He wore a gray uniform and had the stub of an unlit cigar clenched in his teeth.

The janitor.

I sighed and made my way to the stairs. I don’t think he saw me.

The stairway curved halfway down. I started down the steps, but I stopped in front of a large bulletin board on the wall. I glanced over the notices of school events, a calendar, and a lost-and-found list.

Oh, wow. I’m in trouble. I don’t remember seeing this on my way up, I told myself.

I gazed back up to the top of the stairs. Did I take the wrong stairway? Will these stairs take me back to the gym?

Only one way to find out, I decided.

Gripping the paint cans tightly, I turned and continued down.

To my surprise, the stairs ended at the second floor.

I gazed down a long hallway, searching for stairs to take me to the gym in the basement. But I saw only closed classroom doors and long rows of metal lockers.

The paint cans started to feel heavy. My shoulders ached. I set the cans on the floor and took a moment to stretch my arms.

Then I picked up the cans and started walking again, my footsteps ringing in the empty hall. I glanced into the rooms I passed.

Whoa!

A skeleton grinned at me from a doorway.

My mouth dropped open. But I quickly got myself together. “Probably some kind of science lab,” I murmured.

I thought I saw a small black cat lurking at the end of a row of lockers. I stopped and squinted down at it. Not a cat. Somebody’s black wool ski cap.

“Tommy—what is your problem?” I said out loud.

I never realized how creepy a school building can be after everyone has left. Especially a totally unfamiliar school building.

I turned the corner into another long, empty hall. Still no stairs in sight.

Ben and Thalia must wonder what happened to me, I thought. They must think I got lost.

Well… I am lost.

I passed a display case of shiny sports trophies. A red-and-black pennant draped over the case proclaimed GO, BISONS.

That’s our team name. The Bell Valley Bisons.

Aren’t bisons big and very slow? And aren’t they almost extinct?

What a lame team name!

I continued down the hall, thinking hard. Thinking of better team names. The Bell Valley Hippos… the Bell Valley Warthogs… the Bell Valley Water Buffalos… That last one made me laugh.

But I stopped laughing when I realized I’d reached the end of the hall. A dead end.

“Hey—!” I called out, my eyes searching the closed doors. Shouldn’t there be a stairway here? Some kind of exit?

There appeared to be a narrow doorway. But it was boarded up. Old, rotting boards had been nailed over the entire opening.

I never should have volunteered to get the paint, I told myself. This school building is too big, and I don’t know my way around.

Thalia and Ben are probably fed up by now.

I gazed down the long hall. Two unmarked doors stood side by side against one wall. They didn’t appear to be classroom doors.

I decided to try one.

I leaned forward and pushed a door with my shoulder. And stumbled into a large, dimly lit room.

“Whoa—where am I?” My voice sounded small and shrill. Squinting into the gray light, I saw a crowd of kids staring back at me!