and I crouched with our backs to the wall, and Raj collapsed against the wall next to us, breathing heavily.
I spoke through gritted teeth. “I already had it open! Everyone in the Greater Michigan Area heard that.”
He pointed at the broken window. “It’s open, isn’t it? Let’s get on with it.”
Allie punched his arm with each word. “You… will… get… us… arrested.”
“We already killed someone tonight,” he said. “Who cares about a broken window?”
Her voice sharpened with exasperation. “You don’t know he’s dead!”
Like three crouching statues in the night, we scanned the street for any sign of movement, any sound, any flicker in the shadows. After what felt like forever, Allie rose to her feet. “Okay, let’s get this done.”
The trashcan had taken out most of the glass, but jagged shards jutted out from all around the window frame. I clutched the knife and used the handle to hammer out the glass at the bottom and the larger pieces on the side. When I was sure I wouldn’t be lacerated going in, I handed the knife back to Raj.
“Hey… you broke my knife.”
“It sacrificed itself for us.” I carefully checked the window frame one last time. “I’ll climb through and unlock the door from inside.”
“We’ll wait here,” Raj said, “outside where we’re safe from whatever lives inside there at night. Have fun though.”
We were close enough now that no amount of Raj’s bullshit was going to put me off. I pressed my hands on the sill. “Give me a leg up.”
Crouching, he clasped his hands together. I steadied my foot in his hands and he lifted, wobbling and grunting till my elbows were on the sill. I heaved and kicked, pulling myself through the frame. Half inside, I clawed my way in and swiveled around, pulling my knee over the edge and wriggling inside.
My feet found the floor and the smell of musty books filled my nose. The dim glow from the streetlight outside was enough to make out rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves along the wall. I crept past a stack of cardboard boxes and stepped through the doorway into the hall. Faint shapes were visible in the darkness: rows of lockers, classroom doors, and noticeboards. A loud ticking came from a clock hanging above the library door. This place was so creepy at night it almost made the security guard at the Bel Air Center look like a safe bet.
On my right, I made out the silhouette of two figures standing outside the glass door. I lifted the floor bolt and eased the door open.
Raj had a serious expression. “Good evening, we’re here to talk to you about Christ our Savior.”
“He better get on with it if he’s planning to save us,” I said.
He stepped past me into the hall, and Allie followed, smiling.
Shoulder to shoulder, we walked down the main hall, heading for the stairwell at the end. The hall became darker as we moved deeper into the building.
“This place is uber-scary at night,” Raj said. “I can barely see my own hands. If it gets any darker I’m going to wet myself.”
“Try not to lose control of your bladder while I’m walking behind you,” I said.
Allie pulled her phone from her jeans pocket and swiped the screen, lighting up the walls. Raj and I did the same and followed her into the stairwell. Our footsteps echoed as we climbed, sweeping our phone flashlights across the stairs.
“That’s strange,” Allie said. “These are fire stairs – they’re supposed to always be lit.”
The glow from my phone went dark and I swiped the screen again.
At the second-floor landing, Raj held his phone under his chin and cast an eerie glow over his face. “Did you hear about that kid who was murdered at Cannondale ten years ago? They say his ghost still hangs out in the halls at night. Several students have disappeared from here – never to be seen again.”
Allie laughed. “Not even a ghost would want to hang out here, Raj.”
“Don’t blame me if you’re never seen again.”
The sound of dripping water through the stairwell wall grew louder as we approached the third floor. I swept my phone light across the landing. “It wouldn’t be all bad if we disappeared. At least Kyle wouldn’t find us.”
Ahead, Allie stepped into the hall and aimed her phone at the ceiling. A small red light blinked on and off above her. “What’s that?”
“A smoke alarm?” Raj asked.
Allie bit her bottom lip and arched an eyebrow. “Maybe we’ve set off a security alarm. Alarms are silent sometimes, right?”
A growing sense of dread made my heart race. “We’ve made it this far. Let’s just get the guitar and go.”
We crept down the hall, glancing back at the flashing light, passing one door and then another, and continued until we came to a door marked with a musical note.
Raj shined his phone light on his face and shouted, “Boo!”
It was like the lack of sleep was making him extra Raj-like. I gripped his arm. “You’re waking up half of China. Thieves are supposed to be quiet, you know?”
Allie gave a strained smile. “Raj, if you don’t shut up, we’ll kill you and hide your body in the storeroom, okey dokey?” She looked at me and tipped her head at the music room door. “I hope that isn’t locked.”
Stretching my sleeves over my hands to cover my fingers, I turned the handle, and the door creaked open. The stale carpet smell brought me back to every dull music class I’d ever had. A dozen Casio keyboards arranged in pairs facing each other made a line down the room. A cracked cymbal and a wooden maraca lay on the floor, and an electric guitar leaned on a stand in the corner.
Raj and Allie watched from the hall as I stepped into the classroom and moved around the island of keyboards, treading over power cables that snaked across the floor. Cannondale’s safety policy was survival of the fittest – the death of the weakest by electrocution made the species stronger.
The Motown guitar sat on its stand against the far wall. It was missing two strings, and the red paint had a small chip at the bottom, but it’d still have value. Peering through the window, I looked down at the front schoolyard. A row of small floodlights mounted along the cast-iron fence lit up the front of the building. The entire state of Michigan would have seen us if we’d come through the front. I gripped the guitar by its neck and slung the strap over my shoulder. A shiver of excitement went through me as I headed for the door, feeling like a thief who’d just gotten away with the crown jewels.
The hall was empty. I peered back in and swept my phone light across the classroom walls. “Guys?”
This had to be one of Raj’s stupid pranks. I started down the hall. “You guys are hilarious. We need to get out of here.” Even more than before, this was feeling like not a good place to be at night. I swept my phone light from side to side, searching for open doors and any movement. Heading back down the hall, I passed the blinking red light and stepped into the stairwell. Water dripped behind the wall like a distant slow-ticking clock. I held my breath and listened, my heart pounding hard enough to almost force its way out of my chest.
A shoe scuffed the concrete behind me, and two hands came down on my shoulders. My heart leapt into my throat as I let go of the guitar, sending it swinging wildly on its strap. On autopilot, I drove my elbow back into the person behind me. A moan came as someone fell to the concrete and then burst into laughter. Giggling started outside the stairwell. I clutched the guitar and aimed my phone light at the floor.
Raj rubbed his chest, grinning. “I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts.”
Now I understood how Bundy felt when he decided to push Raj’s face into his meatballs. I managed a smile. “I hope that was worth it.”
At the stairwell door, Allie peered in with her hand to her mouth. She stepped forward with a mischievous smile and touched my arm. “I’m sorry.” It was incredible how much I liked the feel of her touch. She lifted her hand to my shoulder. “C’mon, Mr. Springsteen. Let’s get out of here.”
Raj climbed to his fee
t. “Totally worth it.”
With our phones lighting the way, we started down the stairs. The dripping grew fainter as we crossed the second-floor exit and made our way to ground level. On the last stair, Allie grabbed my arm and froze. I opened my mouth to speak, and she pressed her finger to my lips. The stairwell’s heavy door muffled the faint clopping of footsteps down the hall. Raj’s eyes popped wide.
Allie shut off her phone, and Raj and I did the same. At the bottom of the stairs, we stood in pitch darkness as the footsteps grew louder. For a moment, I thought Gordie might have followed us into the building, but my unease turned to dread when I realized he couldn’t have made it over the gate. Clutching the guitar’s neck, I moved to the stairwell door and eased open the handle, peeking into the hall. Light filtered through the windows at the front of the building, but there was no sign of movement.
“I told you there’s a ghost,” Raj whispered.
I searched for Allie’s face in the darkness and spoke under my breath. “Who would be here at this time of night?”
Out in the hall, the footsteps stopped and a beam of light swept across the wall.
Allie put her mouth to my ear, her warm breath tickling my neck. “I think it’s a security guard – he has a flashlight.” With her lips that close to my neck, I didn’t care if it was Satan himself. She whispered, “We must’ve set off an alarm.”
The footsteps started again, louder than before and echoing through the hall. He’s coming. Holding the