مدرسه روح زده فصل 11

The haunted School - Chapter 11

“Are we moving?” Ben asked. His eyes rose to the elevator ceiling.

“Of course not,” I replied. “We haven’t pushed the button vet.” I reached out and pushed the button with a big black 3 on it. “What is your problem, anyway?” I demanded. “Why are you so nervous? We’re not robbing a bank or anything. We’re just riding an elevator because we’re in a hurry.” “The elevator is fifty years old,” Ben replied.

“So?” I demanded.

“So… we’re not moving,” Ben said softly.

I pushed the button again. And listened for the hum that meant we were going up.

Silence.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ben said. “It’s not working. I told you we shouldn’t try it.” I pushed the button again. Nothing.

I pushed the button marked 2.

“We’re wasting time,” Ben said. “If we ran up the stairs, we’d be up there already. The dance is starting, and the stupid banner is trailing on the floor.” I pushed the 3 button again. And the 2 button.

Nothing. No noise. We didn’t move.

I pushed the button marked B.

“We don’t want to go to the basement!” Ben cried. I heard a little panic start to creep into his voice. “Tommy, why did you push B?” “Just trying to get it to move,” I said. My throat suddenly felt a little dry. I had a knot in the pit of my stomach.

Why weren’t we moving?

I pushed all the buttons again. Then I pounded them with my fist.

Ben pulled my hand away. “Nice try, ace,” he said sarcastically. “Let’s just get out of here, okay? I don’t want to miss the whole dance.” “Thalia is probably a little steamed by now,” I said, shaking my head. I pushed 3 a few more times.

But we didn’t move.

“Just open the doors,” Ben insisted.

“Okay. Fine,” I agreed unhappily. My eyes swept over the control panel.

“What’s wrong?” Ben asked impatiently.

“I—I can’t find the door open button,” I stammered.

He shoved me out of the way. “Here,” he said, gazing over the silvery buttons. “Uh…” We both studied the control panel.

“There’s got to be a door open button,” Ben muttered.

“Maybe it’s this one with the arrows,” I said. I lowered my hand to a button at the bottom of the metal panel. It had two arrows on it that pointed like this: <>.

“Yes. Push it,” Ben said. He didn’t wait for me to do it. He reached past me and pushed the button hard with his open hand.

I stared at the door, waiting for it to slide open.

It didn’t move.

I slapped the <> button again. And again.

Nothing.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Ben cried.

“Don’t panic,” I told him. “We’ll get the doors open.” “Why shouldn’t I panic?” he demanded shrilly.

“Because I want to be the one to panic first!” I declared. I thought my little joke would make him laugh and calm him down. After all, he was always making jokes.

But he didn’t even smile. And he didn’t take his eyes off the dark elevator doors.

I pushed the <> button one more time. I kept it pressed in with my thumb. The doors didn’t open.

I pushed the 3 and the 2 buttons. I pushed the 1 button.

Nothing. Silence. The buttons didn’t even click.

Ben’s eyes bulged. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Help us!” he screamed. “Can anybody hear me? Help us!” Silence.

Then I spotted the red button at the top of the control panel. “Ben—look,” I said. I pointed to the red button.

“An emergency button!” he exclaimed happily. “Go ahead, Tommy. Push it! It’s probably an alarm. Someone will hear it and come rescue us!” I pushed the red button.

I didn’t hear an alarm.

But the elevator started to hum.

I heard the clank of gears. The floor vibrated beneath our feet.

“Hey—we’re moving!” Ben cried happily.

I let out a cheer. Then I raised my hand to slap him a high five.

But the elevator jerked hard, and I fell against the wall.

“Uh-oh,” I murmured, pulling myself up straight. I turned to Ben. We stared at each other in wide-eyed silence, not believing what was happening.

The elevator wasn’t moving up. Or down. It was moving sideways.