مدرسه روح زده فصل 18

The haunted School - Chapter 18

Ben dropped onto the ground with a hard THUD. I followed him, landing on my feet on soft grass.

The night sky spread overhead, a solid black. No stars. No moon.

Seth and the others appeared at the window, shouting and signaling for us to come back. But we both took off, jogging over the dark grass.

We crossed the street and saw low, dark houses set far back on gray lawns. No lights shone in the windows. No cars came by. No one was out walking.

“Is this Bell Valley?” Ben asked as we crossed another street and kept jogging. “Why doesn’t it look familiar?” “These aren’t the same houses across from the school,” I said.

A chill of fear made me stop running.

How could there be a whole different town out here? And where were the people who lived here?

Was it deserted? Was it like a movie set? I suddenly wondered. Not a real neighborhood at all?

The kids’ warnings repeated in my ears. Maybe Ben and I made a mistake, I thought. Maybe we should have listened to them.

I turned back toward the school. Wisps of fog came floating up from the ground. The school rose darkly behind the spreading gray mist.

Startled, I squinted hard at it. “Whoa—Ben,” I gasped. “Check out the school.”

He was studying it too. “That’s not our school!” he exclaimed.

We were staring at a low, square building with a flat roof. Only one story high. Gray light flooded from the only window facing the street.

The light fell on a slender, bare flagpole planted near the street. And a small set of swings, silvery gray in the dim wash of light.

“We’re in a different world,” I said, my voice shaky and shrill. “We’re in a different world—so close to ours.” “But—but—” Ben sputtered.

The clumps of fog began to float together, forming a billowing wall. It moved quickly up from the ground, hiding the bottom of the building from us now.

“Let’s keep going,” I urged Ben. “There’s got to be a way out of here!”

We started to jog again, moving past darkened houses and empty lots. Running under black-trunked trees, all winter bare. Our shoes clattering over streets without cars or streetlights.

I kept gazing up at the sky, hoping to see the moon or the blinking light of a star. But I stared up at a ceiling of solid black.

We’re like shadows, I thought. Shadows running through shadows.

Stop it, Tommy! I scolded myself. Don’t start thinking weird thoughts. Just keep your mind straight ahead on what you have to do.

Which is to find a way to escape from this place.

We jogged past a black mailbox, across another empty street. And as we ran, the fog swept around us.

It floated low at first, clinging to the dark grass, billowing over the streets. There was no breeze. No wind at all.

But the fog quickly began to rise. It rose all around us. Hiding the houses behind it. Hiding the bare trees and streets and driveways—hiding everything behind a thick, swirling curtain of gray.

With a groan, Ben stopped jogging.

I ran right into him. “Hey—!” I cried out breathlessly. “Why did you stop?”

“I can’t see anything,” he choked out. “The fog…” He lowered his hands to his knees and leaned forward, struggling to catch his breath.

“We’re not getting anywhere—are we?” I asked softly. “I mean, we could probably keep running forever. And we’d never get out of this place.” “Maybe we should wait till morning,” Ben suggested, still bent over. “Then the fog will probably be gone and we can see where we’re going.” “Maybe…” I said doubtfully.

I shivered. I wondered how much of me had turned gray. Did I have any color left?

I pulled up my shirt and struggled to see. But it was too dark. Everything looked black and gray. I couldn’t tell.

“What do you want to do?” I asked Ben. “Go back to the school?”

The fog swept around us. So thick, I could barely see him.

“I—I don’t think we could find the school in this fog,” he stammered. I could hear the fear in his voice.

I turned back.

He was right. I couldn’t see the street or the trees on the other side of the thick mist.

“Maybe we can retrace our steps,” I suggested. “If we keep going in that direction—” I pointed.

But in the thick, spinning fog, I wasn’t sure it was the right direction.

“This was dumb,” Ben muttered. “We should have listened to those kids. They were trying to help us, and—” “It’s too late to think about that,” I said sharply. “I have an idea. Let’s try to find our way through the fog to one of the houses and spend the night there.” “You mean break in?” Ben demanded.

“They seem to be empty,” I replied. The fog swirled thicker, wrapping us up tightly. I tugged his arm. “Come on. We’ll find a place to wait until morning. It’s better than standing out here all night.” “I guess…” he agreed.

We turned and began walking up a sloping front yard. We had to move slowly because we could barely see.

We took six or seven steps—and then I let out a scream as someone knocked me to the ground.