مدرسه روح زده فصل 16

In a total panic, Ben grabbed the doorknob and bumped me out of the way. He tugged with both hands. Then he lowered his shoulder to the door and tried pushing it open.

But the door didn’t budge.

“That door won’t open,” Seth said calmly.

I turned. Seth still held his arms tensely at his sides. The other four gray kids stood on either side of him, their eyes narrowed at us, squinting at us through the dim gray light.

“Why why is it locked?” I stammered breathlessly.

“It isn’t a door we can use,” Mary replied. Another tear glistened on her pale gray cheek. “It leads to the world of color.” “Huh? Excuse me?” I cried.

“Whose idea is this little joke?” Ben demanded impatiently. “It’s not funny, guys! Not funny!” I could see that Ben was about to lose it. I put a hand on his arm, a signal to calm down.

I had a feeling that these kids weren’t joking.

“How do we get out of here?” Ben demanded. He banged a fist against the door. “You can’t keep us in this weird gray room. No way!” Seth motioned to the desks again. “Sit down, guys,” he pleaded again. “We’re not trying to keep you here. And we don’t plan to hurt you or anything.” Ben glanced at his watch. “But—but—”

“We’ll try to explain,” Mary offered. “You really should try to understand what has happened.” “Especially since you will be staying here with us,” Eloise added.

Another cold shiver ran down my back. “Why do you keep saying that?” I asked.

They didn’t reply.

Ben and I dropped into desk chairs. The three girls took chairs across from us. Eddie crossed his gray arms and leaned against the blackboard.

Seth pulled himself up onto the teacher’s desk. “It’s hard to know where to start,” he said, running a hand back through his thick black hair.

“Start by telling us where we are,” I demanded.

“And then tell us how to get to the gym,” Ben insisted. “Make it short—okay?”

“You’ve come to the other side,” Seth said.

Ben rolled his eyes. “The other side of what?” he asked impatiently.

“The other side of the wall,” Seth replied.

Eloise sneezed. She pulled a wad of tissues from the bag at her side. “I can’t get rid of this cold,” she sighed. “I think it’s because there’s no sunlight.” “No sunlight?” I cried. “The other side of the wall?” I let out a loud groan. “Will you all please stop talking in mysteries?” Mona turned to Seth. “Start at the beginning,” she said. “Maybe that will help them.”

Eloise fumbled around in her gray bag. Finally, she pulled out a pack of tissues and placed them on the desk in front of her.

“Well, okay,” Seth agreed. “The beginning.”

Ben and I exchanged glances. Then we leaned forward to listen.

“The five of us were in the very first class at Bell Valley School,” Seth began. “The school opened about fifty years ago, and—” “Whoa! Wait a minute!” Ben jumped to his feet. “Tommy and I aren’t morons!” he declared. “If you went to school fifty years ago, you’d be at least sixty years old!” Seth nodded. “Guess you’re good at math, huh?” It was a joke, but it sounded bitter.

“We haven’t aged,” Mary explained, straightening her black bangs with one hand. “We’ve stayed exactly the same age for fifty years!” Ben rolled his eyes. “I think that elevator took us to Mars!” he whispered to me.

“It’s all true,” Eddie said, shifting his weight. “We’re frozen here. Frozen in time.” “The elevator must move between your world and ours,” Mona said, gazing back at it. “No one else has ever come here by elevator. It’s not how we arrived.” “I don’t understand,” I confessed. “None of this makes sense to me. The elevator was boarded up. Hidden. Why did it bring us here?” “It must be the only connection between our worlds,” Mona said mysteriously.

• “This is all crazy. We’re missing the dance,” Ben whispered.

“Let them finish the story,” I told him. “Then we’ll go.”

Seth stood up and began pacing back and forth. “The first class at Bell Valley School was pretty small,” he told us. “There were only twenty-five of us. It was a brand-new school, and we were kind of happy to be the first ones in it.” Eloise sneezed. Mona said, “Bless you.”

“One day, our principal announced it was Class Photo Day,” Seth continued. “A photographer came to take a group photo of our class.” “Was it a color photo?” Ben broke in. He laughed. But no one else did.

“School photos weren’t in color in the nineteen forties,” Mary told Ben. “They were in black and white.” “We all gathered in the library to take the photo,” Seth continued. “All twenty-five of us. The photographer lined us up.” “I recognized him right away,” Eddie broke in. “He was an angry man. An evil man. He hated kids.” “We were all in a crazy mood,” Mona added. “We were laughing and joking around a lot and pretending to wrestle. And the photographer became furious because we wouldn’t stand still for him.” “We all hated him,” Eddie chimed in. “The whole town knew he was evil. But he was the only photographer around.” “I’ll never forget his name,” Eloise said sadly. “Mr. Chameleon. I’ll never forget it. Because… because a chameleon changes colors—and we can’t.” “Mr. Chameleon?” Ben snickered. “Didn’t he used to hang out with Mr. Lizard?”

“Ben, stop—” I pleaded.

I could see that Ben didn’t believe a word of Seth’s story. He kept making jokes. But Seth and the others looked so solemn, so bitter.

Staring at their old-fashioned clothes and haircuts, at their sad, gray faces, I believed them. They were the vanished kids, I realized. The lost class of 1947.

“The photographer lined us up in three rows,” Seth continued, pacing back and forth, hands shoved in his gray pants pockets. “He stood behind his big box camera. It had a drape on the back that he stuck his head under. Then he raised the flash high.

“He told us to say ‘cheese’. Then the flash went off with a loud CRACK!”

“But it wasn’t a normal flash,” Mary broke in. “It was so bright… so bright…” Her voice trailed off.

“So bright, we couldn’t see,” Seth continued, shaking his head. “The room—the library—it disappeared in the flash. And when we could open our eyes, when we could see again… we were here.” Ben opened his mouth. Probably to make another lame joke. But I guess he changed his mind. He closed his mouth without saying anything.

“We were here,” Seth repeated, his voice shaking with emotion. He slammed the desk with his fist. “We weren’t in the library anymore. We weren’t in the real school anymore. We were here. Here in this black-and-white world.” “As if we were trapped inside a photograph,” Mona broke in. “Trapped forever inside a black-and-white photograph.” “Trapped in Grayworld,” Eddie said bitterly. “That’s what we call it. Grayworld.”

“We’ve tried everything,” Eloise added. “We’ve tried every way to get back. We still call out for help. We still think maybe someone will come….” “I heard you,” I murmured. “I was in class. And I heard you calling.”

“But—but—” Ben sputtered. “I don’t get it. Where exactly are we?”

No one answered for a long moment. Then Seth walked up to Ben. Pressing his hands on the desktop, he lowered his face close to Ben’s, staring Ben in the eyes.

“Ben,” he said, “did you ever see a wall and wonder what was on the other side?”

Ben glanced uncomfortably at me. “Yeah. I guess,” he replied.

“Well, we’re on the other side!” Seth cried. “We’re on the other side of your world. And now, you are too.” “Soon you will be one of us!” Eddie said.

“No—!” Ben cried.

He said more, but I didn’t hear him.

I glanced down at my hands—and opened my mouth in a high scream of horror.