IN THE DARK

“Yes, it’s me,” Kerry said in a whisper. “Rachel, please don’t leave me. Where were you going?”

“I … I just wanted to get away.”

My eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness. I could see Kerry holding onto me, so frightened he didn’t realize how hard he was gripping my arm. I saw other kids up on their feet.

Chairs squeaked and scraped. Frightened cries rang off the ballroom walls. I sat back down beside Kerry. He was so messed up about Patti, he couldn’t move. His whole body was trembling.

Someone bumped me on the other side. Startled, I turned and found Eric beside me. He leaned close. “Are you as scared as I am?”

“Yes,” I said. “I think we’re all scared out of our minds.”

“It’s like living in a horror movie,” Eric said, his voice tight and hoarse. “I’ve seen this movie. Some crazed killer plans to kill us all.”

“Stop it. Shut up,” I said. “Don’t make it worse.”

“Worse? How can I make it worse?” Eric cried. “Our friend Patti is lying dead upstairs. We’re sitting ducks here in the dark and … and—”

“Quiet, everyone! Quiet!” Brendan shouted. “Please—everyone stop talking.”

It took a while for everyone to stop voicing their panic. A few kids returned to their chairs. Squinting into the heavy blackness, I could see some kids standing at the sides of the rows of seats.

“We don’t know for sure that someone cut the lights. It may just be a generator down,” Brendan said. “We get these blackouts here all the time.”

“We have to get out of this house.” I recognized April’s voice, even though I couldn’t see her. “We can’t just stay here, Brendan.”

Shouts of agreement. It took Brendan a while to get everyone quiet again. “We’ll get some light,” he said. “It’ll make it easier. We have flashlights. My family keeps a cabinet full of flashlights for power failures like this.”

“Let’s get them. Let’s go.” Eric said.

“The cabinet is in the next room,” Brendan said. “There should be a flashlight for everyone. I’ll lead the way. Keep close. Keep together. It isn’t far. It’s a supply closet only three doors down the hall.”

Chairs scraped again. Kerry stood up and led the way out of our row. He stopped to let someone move past, and Eric bumped me hard from behind.

“Oh. Sorry, Rachel.”

Normally, I’d think he was doing his usual clowning. But not now.

We moved in groups of two or three toward the ballroom doorway. We had to walk slowly. The room had no windows, so the darkness was complete.

I kept close to Kerry and Eric. The hallway was just as dark as the ballroom. We turned to the left and shuffled along the carpet, following Brendan. It was like walking blindfolded.

A hush had fallen over everyone. There was nothing more to say. We were all in the same horrible situation. We were all having the same thoughts. We all had the same frantic desire to get away from this house and this island.

To escape to safety.

As we slowly moved through the hall, I thought about Patti again. She had such big plans. She was already accepted at Northwestern. She was going to be an Education major. She wanted to learn how to teach deaf children because her sister Ashlee is deaf.

Patti would have been a good teacher. She was kind and patient and very tuned in to people. And, she and Kerry planned to stay together, even though he would be at Penn, where he got a basketball scholarship.

A sob escaped my throat. I couldn’t help it. I felt so much sadness, so much fear, I felt I might either explode or collapse.

Walking beside me, Eric must have sensed it. “It’s okay, Rachel,” he said in a low voice. “We’re getting out of here. For sure.”

Suddenly, I bumped into the kids in front of me. Everyone came to a sharp stop.

“I’m at the supply cabinet, everyone,” Brendan announced. “I know most of you can’t see me. But I have my hand on the cabinet door. And I’m opening it now. So … hang on…”

Silence. Followed by an even heavier silence.

“Whoa! What’s up with this?” Brendan’s startled cry. “Someone took them all. The flashlights are gone!”

19.

“THE KILLER IS PLAYING WITH US”

I held my breath. The fluttery feeling in my chest wouldn’t fade.

This time, there were no cries of panic, no shouts or gasps or screams.

The only sound was the thud of Brendan slamming the cabinet door shut. And his murmured words: “I don’t believe this.”

We all knew the truth now. Someone had killed Patti. Someone had us trapped. No lights. No phones. No Internet. No one to take us home.

We were all trapped on this island and trapped inside our own thoughts, our own fears.

In horror movies, victims always scream and shriek their heads off. But I was quickly learning that panic is a private thing. You don’t want to share it. You don’t want others to know how terrified you are.

All your energy goes to keeping it together. Keeping yourself moving. Keeping yourself alert. But how do you decide what to do next? How can you possibly think straight when all your energy is being used to hold yourself in, to keep yourself from flying apart in a million pieces?

Delia’s voice broke the tense silence. “We have to get outside. Brendan, show us the way. The sun hasn’t gone down yet. When we’re outside, we’ll be able to see.”

“But what if the killer is waiting for us outside?” Kenny Fear asked.

“Yes. This whole thing could be a trap,” Spider said. “He turns off the lights and waits for us to come running out of the house.”

“We can’t just stay in here,” I said. My voice came out tight and shrill. “We can’t just stand around in the dark, waiting to see which of us is the next victim.”

“We can try one of the back doors,” Brendan said. “The back of the house leads into the woods. We’ll be safer in the woods.”

“But then what?” Eric demanded. “We just hide in the woods—till when?”

“It was getting ready to storm outside,” Spider said. “We’ll be soaked.”

“Soaked is better than dead,” Brendan said. “We can hide till the other boat pilot comes from town.”

“What if he doesn’t come?”

“How will he find us if we’re hiding in the woods?”

“Brendan, are you sure Randy can’t take us back?” Eric asked.

“Trust me,” Brendan said after a pause. “Randy can’t help us.”

“Is he dead? Tell us the truth,” Eric insisted.

Brendan didn’t answer.

This started everyone talking at once. Voices were tense and hushed. I realized I was gasping for breath. The darkness suddenly felt heavy, as if someone had tossed a black wool blanket over me.

“Hey—!”

I was stunned as the hall lights flashed on. I blinked in the sudden brightness and rubbed my eyes, eager for them to adjust. Eric and I slapped a high five. Some kids cheered. Everyone started talking at once. What a relief to be able to see again.

“Maybe it was just a generator failure,” Brendan’s cousin Morgan said.

Brendan opened the empty flashlight cabinet again … as if he would have better luck finding the flashlights this time. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “No. It wasn’t a power failure. The killer is playing with us. I know it.”

His words sent a chill down my back that tightened all my muscles. I wanted to run. Take off and run and not stop till I was somewhere safe.

But we all stood there, blinking in the light, as if paralyzed, eyes on Brendan, waiting for some kind of cue, some kind of decision.

Brendan sucked in a mouthful of air. “I just remembered something,” he said, eyes far away, talking more to himself than to us.

“What? What did you remember?” April darted up to him. She shook his arm hard. “Can you get us out of here? Tell us!”

She is nearly hysterical, I realized. She is going to totally lose it.

“The security room,” Brendan said. He gently removed April’s hand from his arm. “We have security cameras. Front and back. I know they were turned on this morning before you all arrived.”

“Are there security guards, too?” Spider asked.

Brendan shook his head. “No. But the cameras may show us what’s going on here. Follow me.”

20.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20