Wake Up, Dream No More

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Chapter 1

"Darkness surrounded us like a coal mine during a blackout. Rain slashed at tree limbs, slicing through leaves and sending them fluttering toward the earth. We were no longer sure where we were.

Suddenly, an old man, with a long beard and a rifle appeared out of nowhere and began to chase us. We stumbled over huge tree stumps and branches and fell into a huge mud puddle. I jumped up to run, but my foot got stuck in the puddle of mess, and I began to panic.  As I crawled over the ground, bumping into tree trunks, I stammered, "Hello, is anyone there?"

I heard someone yelp, as rain splattered branches started to snap. In the darkness, I bumped into someone. Turning quickly, I saw a girl shivering in the cold and crying.  I knew that she could hear my teeth trembling. 

Something icy and as large as baseballs began to drop on us and rain came down with trembling thunder. A big boom and a long streak of lightning caused the earth to tremble and shake at our feet. Red lightning struck the ground and I saw a bright, bold light.  As the lightning struck a tree, a cave opening appeared about 10 feet in front of us.

We all stumbled into it.  We heard a noise behind us and the ground began to shake. I yelled for everybody to be very still and quiet. For a minute, we did not hear a sound. The fire from the tree dimmed and darkness again fell over us. Everyone started screaming like crazy. A girl was doubled over and crying loudly. 

Just then, we heard something rattle and it kept getting closer and louder. As our eyes adjusted to the light, we saw two mysterious girls walking toward us. Everyone screamed!

Somebody seized me from behind and for a minute I was too scared to move. I thought I was going to die, and was sure my short life, as I knew it, was over. All of a sudden it was deathly quiet. I couldn't see or hear anyone. I began reaching around, and I grabbed onto something wet, and cold. I couldn't move. I was so scared, I couldn't even think straight.  I didn't move for a long time. It was cold, dark, quiet, and scary, very scary.

Chapter 2

I suddenly had the courage to turn around and look.  The thing moved around me, and I saw it staring wide-eyed at me in my dresser mirror. I was caught up in my blankets, my damp pillow over my head, when I saw, my face!

"Yes", I called, " I'll be right there." Man, how long had my mother been calling me? It was a dream, just a dream."  John rolled out of bed shaking. He sat on the edge of the bed for a minute until he felt his legs would hold him.

"Man," thought John. "That was the worst dream I have ever had. I wonder what time it is?"  He looked at the clock and jumped straight out of bed.

"Today isn't going to be my day," John mumbled. "What else could go wrong?"

 I had spoken too soon. I only had 30 minutes to get to the bus stop. I stumbled around my room collecting my school stuff. I couldn't find my math notebook, and then, I spotted it sticking out from under the bed.  I jammed everything into the bag, dropped it by the door, and headed for the bathroom.

"This can't be happening," John thought as he lunged for the front door. "What happened to my alarm?  If I miss this bus, and I'm late one more time, I am grounded for a month!"

Just then his mother yelled, "John, do you have your homework?"

"Yes," I said.  But I really didn't. I ran out the door and slipped on the bottom step. I hurt my elbow and ripped the knee of my pants. For a minute, I sat there, too stunned to move. Finally, I dropped my book bag on the ground and ran back inside to change my clothes. After I had changed, my mother said to mop up the bathroom floor, because I had left wet footprints on it.

As I ran out of the front door, for the second time that morning, I turned and yelled back to her, " Mom I don't have time. You said I'd be grounded for a month if I missed the bus again"  At that moment, John's mom ran back into the house, got her keys and got into her mini van.

John sprinted for the bus stop. Just as he turned the corner, he saw the last person getting on the bus. He started screaming for it to wait and ran faster. Just as the bus pulled from the curb, he heard the kids on the bus yelling for the driver to wait.  He put his foot on the bottom step, pulled himself into the bus, and plopped into the first seat he saw.  He was so out of breath, he couldn't talk.

" Man, I thought you were walking for sure," said Hakim. "What happened to you?"

Still breathing hard, John said, "I overslept. I had this really weird dream."

Just then, John heard someone annoyingly giggling behind him. He quickly turned around to find Denise with this stupid smile on her face, trying not to laugh aloud.

"What's up with you," John said. "What's so funny?"

"You, you run like a six-year-old girl," crowed Denise. And at that she started laughing so hard the bus driver looked in the mirror to see what was going on. She was doubled over, her braids were hiding her face, and her body shook.

"Oh come off it, Denise," glowered Hakim. "He does not. He was just in a hurry."

"Ignore her," Hakim said.

"It is really hard to ignore someone whose laughing like that," John said as he scowled fiercely at her.

"But really, man, you NEVER oversleep," said Hakim. "You are always up early playing your video games."

"Like I said, I had this weird dream about this old guy with a long white beard," said John. "It was so strange, in fact, you and Denise were there." John went on to tell all about the dream. He did not leave out a single detail.

Hakim had this weird look on his face and Denise had stopped laughing. Together, they said, "We had that dream too."

They all stared blankly at each other, trying to comprehend exactly what this must mean. Could it be that it was only a dream, or had it really happened?

John thought that maybe they were pulling his leg. It would not be the first time they'd played a trick on him. He remembered the time they had called his house and told him he was late for school. He was up and dressed before he realized they had tricked him and that it was a holiday.

"I hope you guys aren't playing one of your stupid tricks again," mumbled John. " I'm telling you, this was no joke. This was the scary stuff."

They all looked at each other.

Denise said, "I had the same dream and about the same people." 

 John said, "What if it comes true?  Do you think we'll all die?" 

"Oh do you think that it is going to come true?" cried Denise loudly.

They all started talking together as their voices got louder and louder.

 " Hey, you kids keep it down," nervously shouted the bus driver.  But, the bus driver had over heard their private conversation and started laughing louder and louder.

They tried to forget about him and the dream and talk about what was going on at school. Then they remembered they were having a surprise guest in their third period history class.

Hakim said, "What if it's him?"  They yelled, and the bus driver slammed on the brakes in the middle of the street.

John turned around and saw that they had a new bus driver: a man with a long beard.

John whispered, "No way this can't be possible." He looked again, but this time he saw their regular bus driver who was not too happy.

"I am reporting you three to the office as soon as we get to school," he said angrily. "You almost caused us to have an accident!"

Then there was complete silence. They were all thnking that it was really weird that they had all had the same dream.

  When the bus stopped in front of the school, they remained in their seats as if they were in a trance.  They were so scared, and they didn't know what to do. Hakim realized that there was no one in the bus and said. "Come on you two.  Nothing is going to happen to us.  Let's just go to school and get our day over with."

Denise said, "I hope that it was just a dream. I really thought I was there."

  John said, "We need to keep this between us.

As they stepped off the bus, Denise, Hakim and John heard a loud, thrashing noise. They turned around, and for a second, thought they were still in the dream.

  Hakim turned first and said, "Don't worry man, it's just your mother."

 "John, John, dear your homework." his mother cooed.

"Yeh Mom uh thanks, see ya," he said.

"I guess I'm just a little tired and jumpy." John said

Chapter 3

They went to their first bell class and everything became business as usual. Mr. Thorpe, the math teacher was as boring as ever. His voice sounded even more like a jet engine today., and John, who was really tired, dozed in his seat.

On the way out of class, Mr. Thorpe said, "John, I hope you had a good nap. It earned you a zero for the day."

John was too tired to even respond. He just shuffled out of class with his shoulders bent and his head down. Hakim walked up to him and told him to pull himself together.

   Second bell was even worse since John, Hakim and Denise went in different directions. All through English, all John could think about was that stupid dream, if it was a dream. After all, didn't Hakim and Denise have the same dream?

   "Oh, well", thought John, "third bell should be easy since we have a guest speaker. I will just try to stay awake and look interested."

   He met up with Denise and Hakim on the stairs and slowly they walked to class just getting in before the bell rang. Mr. Carr, the history teacher began as he usually did. He explained what they would be doing that day. He then motioned to the back of the room to introduce the guest speaker. Hakim, John and Denise, turned around and saw the man in their dream.  They started to breath heavily and look very frightened. Denise began to whimper.

Mr. Carr said, "I would like to introduce Mr. Theonus Frye. He is a World War II veteran who will share his collection of World War II memorabilia with us today."

"It can't be," John, said out loud," impossible!"

Mr. Carr glared at John and continued. "As you know, we have been studying World War II, the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler. I thought it might be interesting to listen to someone who was actually there.

John was too terrified to even cry, he was breathless. Hakim was under the desk shivering with fear.

John thought, "What could this man be doing at our school? Why is he here?"

 The man started his presentation talking about how he hunts for deer at night. He said that last night it was raining so hard that he couldn't even see. He explained how he thought he'd sighted deer running through the trees but when he heard screaming, realized that instead of deer it must be people.

John didn't understand why he had mentioned this information since it didn't have anything to do with World War II or the Holocaust. John and Hakim , who had finally come out from under the desk, looked at each other, but didn't know what to do or say.  Denise just sat in her chair whimpering. 

The guest speaker must have noticed how strangely they were acting and said, "Are you three ok?"

They all yelled and ran out of the classroom, down the hall, all the way to the office. As they were trying to explain to the principal's secretary all about their dream, Mr. Franks, the principal came out of his office to see what was going on. They launched into the story all at once until the principal told them to come into his office and calm down. Even after they gave him all of the details about the dream, and about the man in Mr. Carr's class, the principal was not trying to hear it. He told them that if they did not get back to class and apologize for their behavior, they would all have In School Suspension.  

On the way from the Principal's office, John not very convincingly said, "Don't worry about anything. You know that it had to be a dream. Let's just hear him out and see what he has to say."

When they arrived back to class, the guest speaker was well into his presentation so they just sat in their seats. John began to look at him carefully and noticed that although his clothes were cleaner, they were the same clothes from the dream.

They all began to watch Mr. Frye carefully.

I wonder if he is he going to tell us about the same dream?" thought John.  "I guess we will just have to wait and see."

Mr. Frye continued speaking about the artifacts he had brought with him. Just then, the fire bell rang and everyone filed out of class.  John passed a note to Hakim, who then passed it to Denise. The note said, "Since he didn't get to finish today, maybe he will be back tomorrow. Let's follow him and see where he goes. Ride your bike to school and I will meet you out back."

Hakim and Denise nodded at John and continued walking. When they returned to class, it was time for the next bell. Mr. Carr said that Mr. Frye had agreed to return tomorrow to finish his presentation.

On the way out of the classroom, the guest speaker came over to John, Denise and Hakim and whispered, "Tonight don't fall asleep."

Hakim and Denise both looked at me. I got up without thinking, and stumbled to the door. They followed.

"What do you think your doing?" said Mr. Carr.

 I looked at him, and then to the guest speaker. " I, I, I, don't know," stammered John.

   "Well, I think you owe Mr. Frye an apology for your rude behavior," said Mr. Carr.

   All three students stammered an apology and headed for the door again.

   "Not so fast. I expect to see all of you at 7:30 for detention tomorrow morning," Mr. Carr said sternly.  "And Principal Franks wants to see you in his office again, so go right now. Here is a pass to your next class.

When they got to Mr. Franks office, he informed them that Mr. Frye had agreed to be the 7:30 detention teacher instead of Mr. Carr and that he expected them to be on time and in their seats by 7:30.

  John managed to reply for all of them and they slunk out the door.

   "I am not going to detention if that man will be there!" Denise said in an alarmed voice.

   "Oh Denise, don't be such a baby. Remember it was just a dream and only comes to haunt us when we're sleeping. Besides, you won't be alone. Hakim and I will have your back," John replied.

   "I feel safer already." Denise said sarcastically.

   Hakim decided it might be a good idea to change the subject.

"Man, my mom is going to be really mad about this detention," said Hakim.

"Wait," said John. "This may be a good thing. This way we don't have to explain why we are willing to ride our bikes to school. Our parents will just think we are being responsible," John said as he smiled at them.

"Ok," said Denise as they headed to the bus, "We will do it your way, but that man is really spooky. I am afraid to follow him."

"It will still be light outside after school, what could possibly happen?" said John.

"I know it will still be light outside," Denise said, "but the man is still really spooky. I don't know John, what do you think Hakim?"

"I don't know, what could happen John. "Maybe he is a vampire or something." Hakim said in a shaky voice. " If we ride our bikes to school he might try to snatch us up and take our bikes."

"No Way!" John bellowed. "He can't catch me."

"Yeah right" said Hakim.

Denise, still not convinced that this was a good idea said, "What might happen in the night still can happen during the day. I don't know, but I don't think this is such a good idea, we'll never know if someone is following us."

After much discussion, they decided that John was probably right, and after all, what could actually happen if it is still light outside. They decided to meet each other in the hallway for detention at 7:00.

Chapter 4

They all got off of the bus at John's stop and went inside to hang out for a while. His mother was not home from work yet so they started playing video games. They lost track of time and it started getting dark.   Denise and Hakim decided they'd better head home.   They all agreed to call each other on the three-way and figure out a way to catch this, so called detention teacher. They hurried home and called each other to make a plan because they did not want to relax and fall asleep.

   While Hakim was on the phone with Denise and John, he heard his mother calling him from downstairs.

   "Hold on you guys, my mom is calling me. Let me see what she wants, ok?"

   Hakim ran into the kitchen to find his mother preparing his favorite stew..

   "What's up with you? Your teacher Mr. Carr called," his Mom said between clenched teeth,  "and said you were being disruptive and disrespectful to a WWII vet. And you got detention."

   Hakim was too surprised to speak and before he could answer his mother said, "You're grounded."

   Hakim decided not to argue; instead he took the opportunity to say, "Ok, Ma. I will just ride my bike to school for 7:30 detention. That way you will not have to take me."

   His mother looked at him suspiciously but decided to let him ride his bike.

   Hakim ran back upstairs to tell the others that his mother had grounded him but when he picked up the phone, he got only dead air. "What happened to them," he thought, as he hung up the phone receiver. The phone rang just as he put it down. He jumped back from it before picking up the receiver and quietly said, "Hello?"

   "Hakim, its us," said John. "We had to hang up, our parents came home. Guess what, Mr. Carr called and,"

   Hakim cut him off. "I know, he called here too and I am grounded. What about you?"

   "Yeah," they both said. "We are too. So what are we going to do about tomorrow?"

Later that night they snuck out of their houses, as quiet as church mice, and as unseen as possible.  It was past all of their curfews, but they met up in the park to make a plan. They had to come up with a plan. 

They snuck back home and remembering what Mr. Frye had said, tried not to go to sleep that night. But, eventually they fell asleep. John, Hakim and Denise had the weird dream again. Little did they know, the danger that was ahead for them the next day?

Chapter 5

The next day they woke up late, struggled out of bed and got dressed. Bleary eyed they said goodbye to their parents, jumped on their bikes and made their way slowly to detention. 

They met up with each other as they were riding their bikes to school. John said, "I wonder if Mr. Carr is already there? We are so late."

"Hopefully he's not," said Denise.

As they rode up to the school, they saw Mr. Frye coming down the sidewalk.

Denise whispered, "Mr. Carr wasn't kidding. Mr. Frye must be our detention teacher, but why is he late?"

"This can't be," John said. "Guest speakers are not allowed to substitute just like that."

"Maybe not," Hakim said. "But there he goes into the building and we'd better hurry before Mr. Carr finds our were late."

They pushed their bikes into the bike racks, locked them and grabbed up their book bags. As they all followed cautiously behind Mr. Frye, Hakim saw something shiny on the ground. He stooped to pick it up.

"What's that?" John and Denise said.

"I'm not sure," Hakim said as he turned it over and over. "It looks like an old Egyptian coin or something."

"Well stuff it in your pocket and hurry, we are so late," said Denise.

As they were rushing to detention, they were surprised to see Mr. Carr.

"What are you doing roaming the hallways? Its 7:28 AM, aren't you supposed to be in detention?" said Mr. Carr.

"We just got here sir, we were just on our way," said John.

"You have less than 2 minutes to get at that detention," said Mr. Carr.

"Yes sir, we're going now," said Denise.

As they entered the detention room, it got pitch black, really dark, and the wind picked up. It was dark as a cave and it started raining cats and dogs.  But, there seemed to be no one in the room.

"BOO!" said Mr. Frye. Everyone jumped; they turned and paused because they were looking at Mr. Fryer and he looked like ghost.

"Have a seat children and get to work. I look forward to seeing you later."

John, Hakim and Denise sat one behind the other keeping a wary eye on Mr. Frye who just sat there humming to himself and smiling.  Hakim passed John a note.

"What do you think he meant about seeing us later?"

   John returned the note, which said, "Keep cool, man. He is coming to Mr. Carr's class, remember?"

   Hakim nodded and started his detention work.

Chapter 6

Seventh bell finally arrived and Hakim, John and Denise met at the bike racks.

"We have one big flaw in our plan," John said. "We are all grounded and should go straight home today."

"That's what my mother told me too," whined Denise. "I really don't want to get into any more trouble."

"Well, do you think I do?" said Hakim. "But we need to get to the bottom of this dream thing. I feel as if I haven't slept in weeks. I can barely keep my eyes open."

   They unlocked their bikes and then saw Mr. Frye speed away. They hopped on their bikes and started to follow his blue station wagon, when they heard a shout.

" Hold up!"

They turned around to find Robert skating towards them.

" Where are you guys going?" said Robert.

John, Denise and Hakim gave each other a look that meant, "We can't tell him."

Denise whispered, "Get rid of him Hakim. He is your friend."

Hakim, who hated lying to his friend, knew that he could not tell him where they were going. Instead he said, "Oh, hey Rob. You know, we got in trouble yesterday and we have to go straight home."

   Robert gave him a look of disbelief and said, "Yeah, well aren't you going the wrong way?" "You live in that direction," he pointed.

   "Yeah, well uh, we know a short cut and with this bad weather all of sudden we are in a real hurry, so see ya" Hakim said and got on his bike again.

The others jumped onto their bikes, and began to follow him. They left Robert standing in the road looking confused and suspicious.

"Man, we lost him," John said, speaking about Mr. Frye.   They peddled around a while. Suddenly they spotted something blue behind the Getty Mart.

"Look, I think I see his car," screamed Denise. "He must have stopped for gas or something."

"Ok then," said Hakim. "Go slowly, we don't want him to spot us."

 Unaware that Mr. Frye could see them on his rear-view mirror, the kids rode after him.  Mr. Frye took a sharp right and as the kids tried to keep up with him, they heard a screech.

Denise turned suddenly and saw Hakim lying in the road. " Oh no, Hakim got hit by a car!"

As John and Denise rushed to him, he sat up, held his elbow and said, "I'm ok, I'm ok, it's just that the ground is wet and I tried to turn too fast. Hurry, we are going to lose him again!"

They started following Mr. Frye when suddenly there was a dark mist in the air and when it cleared the car was not there and they were somewhere else. It was so cold and dark it didn't even seem to be of this world.

They all hid behind a tree and Hakim said, " Where is he, and where are we?"

Hakim started to shake and Denise started to cry. "Stop!" John said. "Someone or something could hear us."

But little did they know that Mr. Frye was right behind them. They heard a rustling noise, turned around and saw Mr. Frye hurrying down a dark, dirt road. John thought that they could probably ride around for hours on this bumpy road, and just become more lost! Slowly, they followed him on their bikes. He walked into a really big, broken down house. A few minutes later they carefully followed him. But once they were inside, Mr. Frye was gone. They searched and searched the house.  It was confusing; the walls were set up like a maze. They realized that this was only the downstairs. They crept up the stairs and found themselves in a room as big as the house. It took up the whole upstairs and on the wall there was a really big, floor length mirror. 

John walked over to the mirror but could not see himself. John thought to himself, "Maybe this is where the man went, maybe there's a secret door." So he started to feel around the mirror. He pushed and pulled but nothing happened.

"Are you guys just going to stand there looking scared?" whispered John. "Come help me. I think this might be a secret door."

Hakim and Denise approached the mirror and not being able to see their reflections in the mirror, backed away quickly. John pushed really hard on the mirror and the mirror slowly creaked open.

Chapter 7

   Hakim whispered, “Ssssh, quiet. I hear footsteps.”

   Mr. Frye came slowly up the stairs, completely aware that they were standing there. He turned the corner and they all plunged themselves through the secret passageway. The door slammed shut and Mr. Frye gave a horrible laugh. On the other side, it was really dark and they couldn’t see any thing as they shuffled one behind the other into a dark room. Hakim pulled out his key chain with the flash light attached. Before he could turn it on they heard a noise.

   “Turn on the light.” John hissed loudly. John and Hakim froze. Denise wondered what was wrong as she slowly followed their gaze. They all saw their reflections step out of the mirror and walk straight toward them. Denise screamed and backed away. Just as she did, the reflections vanished like puffs of smoke. John and Hakim stood like blocks of concrete, afraid to move. John got himself together first.

   “ Come on you baby, you always are screaming and crying. I wish you’d stop. If you’re so scared then just go home and forget it ok,” said John.

   “I-I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t really know you felt that way about me” she sniffled “Sorry,” cried Denise. “Lets go then. And she looked, charged, and ran ahead She had an angry feeling in the bottom of her stomach.

   “Whoa, what got into her?” said John.

   “You know, you were a tad bit mean to her,” Hakim said.

   “ I was? Well she deserved it. I don’t need to have her crying and screaming all the time, I’ve got other things on my mind right now than some silly, upset woman” John said angrily.

   “ You just don’t get it do you?” said Hakim.

   “Get what?” said John. “She annoys me”

   “Let’s just go on,” said an exasperated Hakim. Just then his trusty key chain light flickered and went out.

   “Now we really don’t know which way to move,” said John. “Maybe we had better hold onto each other. If we only had another light.”

   “Here” said Denise, still pouting from John’s malicious words. “ I have a lighter I found on the sidewalk when we were walking over here.”

   “Why didn’t you say so before,” hissed John?

   Hakim looked at them, took the lighter from her and flicked it on. They began looking around the dim space. Hakim turned quickly when he heard a scratching noise and tripped over something very big, kind of shaped like a box. He kneeled down and tried to pry it open. After a few minutes, he was able to pull back the lid. As he did, a lot of furry, long tailed, red-eyed rats jumped out and started running everywhere. Denise and Hakim dropped back when the rats started running over their feet. They were all so terrified.

   Denise thought, “Why me? What should I do?” She could feel goose bumps rising off her arms. She was so frightened that her stomach muscles seemed twisted and her eyes were ready to overflow with streams of tears.

   “Oh my gosh! What just happened? This is not happening to me, this is not happening to me,” Hakim whispered to himself.

   John frantically looked around for somewhere to go and spied what looked like a very small door. He wasn’t sure they would even fit into it but they had to get away from those rats. “Over here, you guys,” whispered John. “I see another door.”

   “ I have never, ever seen such a tiny door like that,” said Denise. But John and Hakim were already running toward it. “No, stop, don’t go in there!” said Denise “ You don’t know what’s in there.” She quickly followed, not wanting to be left alone and without any light. It was a door, but who knew where it would lead them. As John pushed it opened he took a step back, wondering what was back there, but not wanting to directly find out. Once the door began to open, the walls of the room began to close in, and the only other exit vanished like an ant in the dirt.

   Denise yelled, “ What are we going to do?”

   “The only thing we can do.” John replied. John headed into the dark doorway then turned back to see his friends just standing there. “Are you guys just going to stand there or what?” he asked. Hakim and Denise backed away from the opening and John yelled to them, “come on guys, we have to check it out, the room is closing in fast!” He then squeezed through the door and the others then followed. They held onto each other as they entered yet another completely dark room. Hakim flicked on the lighter and all of a sudden there was noise, like someone trying to breathe. John slowly walked in with Hakim and Denise behind him. As Hakim held the lighter up over his head, they realized that they were in some kind of laboratory and they started to slowly walk around, still holding on to each other.

   Then Denise said “SSHHH! Did you hear that?”

   But it didn’t sound like one person it sounded like three or four people. They spotted a large steel table and ran and hid behind it. People began walking in and one person had a lantern.

   “I think its Mr. Frye,” whimpered Denise.

   “Maybe its Mr. Frye, or maybe its not,” said John. “Be still and listen,” he said sarcastically.

   It was Mr. Frye, and with him were their history teacher Mr. Carr and the principal Mr. Franks. They were so surprised they almost gave themselves away. They scooted further under the table, deep into the shadows.

   Mr. Carr spoke first. “I thought I heard something just now, moving around, over there.”

   “It’s probably just the rats,” said Mr. Frye. “I’m sure my mirrored room took care of those kids.”

   “Maybe,” said Mr. Franks “I am going to check it out anyway. Give me that light.”

   John, Denise and Hakim began to shake so hard they felt the table move. John reached behind him and felt around the floor. His hand touched something cold and damp. He took a deep breath and grabbed it. It was a large oval-shaped ring and he pulled it very slowly, afraid that it would make a creaking noise. “Guys, guys,” he whispered. He had to shove them a little to get their attention. “I think I found something.” He continued to pull until an opening appeared. It was pitch black in the area, but John slowly edged his foot into the gap. He felt a ladder! Quickly, he yanked the others back toward the gaping black hole and they quietly inched their way down the steep steps. Hakim pulled the trap door softly behind them. At the bottom he flipped open the lighter and luckily found a lantern on the ground. As he lit it, they could here talking above them.

   “I know I heard something,” said Mr. Franks. As he walked toward the table, he bent to peer under it, and spotted a key chain. “Look,” he said as he lifted it up for them to see. There was someone here. “

   Below, John, Hakim and Denise held on to each other, not daring to let a single breath escape. It was only a matter of time before they would find the trap door.

Chapter 8

    Mr. Franks then replaced the table. “I don’t know who, or how but someone was here. I bet you any amount of money it was those kids! Well, they didn’t just disappear now did they? We’ll look around some more. If those kids find out about our plan, I don’t want to begin to think of what would happen,” growled Mr. Franks.

    The other two men just stood in place looking apprehensively at the key chain. Mr. Frye knew that the kids had found the house but was now afraid to say anything for fear that Mr. Franks would vent his bad temper on him. He had to figure out a way to get those kids out of there. He had never intended for it to go this far. Why did those blasted kids have to meddle?

    Mr. Carr broke into Mr. Frye’s silent musings. “I am not at all concerned about those kids. No one would believe their story anyway after they went crying and screaming to the your office Franks,” he said with a sly smirk. “They really looked foolish with their talk about a dark cave and somebody chasing them. Who will believe that they all had the same dream?”

    “Probably no one,” said Mr. Franks. “But we need to find them and make sure they don’t get a chance to blab.”

    “OK, ok said Mr. Frye. “I know this house like the back of my hand. If they are here I will find them.” As he walked away he began wondering how he could get those kids out of the house before the others found them.

    Under the trap door, Hakim, Denise and John had heard the entire conversation. Realizing that Mr. Frye would start looking for them, they looked around for a means to escape. They had snuffed out the lantern when they heard the voices overhead, but now needed the light to find the way out. Hakim carefully lit the lantern, handed John the lighter, and blocking some of the light with his hand, held it up. They began circling the room walking slowly, holding each other’s hand. Denise saw the door first and told John to open it. Surprisingly, he said no and told Hakim to do it. Hakim just stood where he was for a minute, took a deep breath and went towards the door. Reaching toward the handle, he quickly drew back, afraid. Then he looked at Denise and knew he couldn’t let her see this naked fear in his eyes and he yanked the handle. Dark black smoke came billowing out and then a big boom scattered them apart. When the smoke cleared Hakim found himself alone in a room with windows from floor to ceiling. He held up the lantern and looked around expecting to see the others but they weren’t there. No one was there. Maybe they were still hiding in the other room. He turned to reach for the door handle but there was no door.

    John and Denise found themselves on the floor face down. As they sat up, spitting dirt out of their mouths and brushing cobwebs off their faces, they realized that Hakim was not with them and neither was the light. They sat in total eerie darkness, afraid to move any further or even talk. Finally, Denise found her voice and squeaked, “I will never listen to you again. As it is our parents are probably looking all over for us, I am sitting in who knows what, in the dark and oh, by the way, I am not crying!” she said angrily. “You are such a jerk. Why did you have to bring us here.”

    John by this time was not any happier about this situation than Denise, but since this was the second time today he had seen her angry, he decided not to say anything. Instead, he reached around until he found her hand and pulled her to her feet. They stood there like that until they felt their breathing settle down.

    “I’m sorry Denise,” John said. “I know I was pretty hard on you back there but you looked as if you were getting hysterical and losing control. We should not have come here and now we have lost Hakim,” he said in a broken voice. Denise realized that John was pretty upset and held her peace, then said, “ Ok, so what now? We have no light since my key chain was left up there and.”

    John stopped her. “We have this,” John whispered as he reached in his pocket and pulled out the Denise’s lighter. Slowly, he flicked and it spluttered to life. And when that happened they saw they were standing in a spooky room filled with spider webs. John turned around slowly, still holding Denise’s hand and saw the door, a door with a floor length mirror.

    “This is not possible, we just came through this door and the mirror was on the other side and up there,” John murmured and pointed. Slowly they edged toward the door but this time as they got closer, they were able to see themselves. Just as they got a good look, and pushed on the door, the mirror cracked and shattered on the floor. Denise and John threw themselves through just as the last shard came crashing down. Really frightened now, the pair cautiously looked around and saw a long, dark, scary-looking hall.

    “Go first John,” said Denise. Holding onto her hand, he flicked the lighter again and took a step. His foot never touched the floor because there was no floor, it was gone. Instead, Denise and John found themselves sliding down a small passageway. When they finally stopped, they found themselves in a damp, dingy cave. They could not understand how the cracked mirror had led them here.

Chapter 9

     In another room, confused, weary and hungry, Hakim walked over to one of the black soot covered windows. As he turned to walk to another even dirtier window, he stepped on something and he again heard a bang. Bumping into something, he wondered what it was.

   “Ouch John, why did you bump into me like that?”

   “What are you talking about, I’m still sitting here.”

    “Denise, John,” whispered Hakim?

    “Hakim, man where did you go?” John asked as he turned toward the Hakim’s voice.

    “Man I don’t know, I found myself in this room full of dark, dingy looking windows and next thing I knew, there was another bang and I find you guys.”

    Denise said, “We are really, really glad to see you.”

    “So… where are we now John?” said Denise a bit scared.
   
    “ I don’t know… but I have a feeling that we aren’t in Kansas anymore.
Denise, not feeling much like laughing, pushed John away and then stood up in total darkness. It made no sense. How did they get here? Where were the other men? “Oh man!” Denise screamed. “Right now I’d sure love to see Mr. Frye, or any of those men. I hate this; I knew I should have stayed home. But I had to be curious.”

    “ Just like the saying goes ‘Curiosity Killed the Cat.’” Right about now, I’m feeling like a scared cat and I’m sure not trying to be killed.” Changing the subject, John asked, “ Hey Denise, will you go out with me?”

    “ What?!?! We are in the middle of a crazy house and you want to date me??”

    “ I was wondering, you know, if we get out of here, I would like you to be my girlfriend?”
Exasperated Denise replied, “WOW!” Oh-Oh-Ok, I’ll get back to you on that. Now how are we going get out of here?”

    “That’s a crazy question to ask.”

    “At least I asked a question, instead of just standing here in the dark looking stupid.”
Disgusted with both of them, Hakim said, “Will you two love birds stop fighting and let’s try to get out of here?”

    “John, light the lighter. Hakim, are you okay?”

    “Yeah, I’m alright, just hungry and tired. Lets get out of here.”
John took the lighter and used it to see where he was. “Hakim, what happened to the lantern?”
Hakim bent down and felt around on the ground next to him and sure enough his hand felt the cold metal of the lantern. “Right here. Light it, ok?” John lit the lantern and the room filled with a narrow beam of light. It was enough for them to see that the only way out was to go through the passageway that they came from but there was no way they could climb back up because the surface of the passage was smooth and slick.

    They all sat there for a few minutes, quietly talking about how they were going to get out when they decided they would look around for another way, like a false wall or something. They spread out and began feeling around. As John started to explore the paneled walls, the unusual surroundings and excitement began to put Denise into a panic. John tried to calm her down but Denise passed out and John did not know what to do. For a minute, he sat there and waited while Hakim continued to probe the walls. John felt Denise begin to come to.

    “Hey, Denise, girl, can you hear me?” John said as he patted her face and hands. Denise simply moaned and continued to slip in and out of consciousness. John was getting to the point of panic when Hakim said, “There are some ancient writings and pictures all over these walls. Can you bring Denise over here?”

    John carefully lifted Denise so her head rested on his shoulder and half dragged and carried her across the dusty floor. She suddenly felt lighter and John realized that she was slowly coming to and bearing more of her own weight. By the time they reached Hakim’s side, she was fully conscious but glassy-eyed and breathless.

    “These writings look like the ring I found. Look.” Hakim said as he pulled the ring from his pocket. “See that symbol?” Hakim said as he pointed at the ring, “It looks like stars and that one on the wall looks the sun or maybe a moon?”

    “This history lesson is very interesting,” John, said with a sigh, “But Denise needs to get out of here, now.”

    “Ok, ok, I just think that this ring is important somehow.” he said as he stuffed the ring back in his pocket. “Let’s just keep feeling around these walls.” Slowly they made their way around the room and out of nowhere a fat gray rat slithered out of a crack in the wall. Denise started to scream and turned to run, but still unsteady on her feet she fell into a wall. Hakim and John could hear Denise screaming and screaming and it sounded like her screaming was getting farther away. They pushed hard on the wall where they saw Denise fall and the wall opened to reveal another room full of mirrors. Every mirror had Mr. Frye in it. John, angry and disturbed began to karate kick every mirror but could still hear Mr. Frye’s evil laugh. Each broken mirror opened up a passageway. Hakim came up behind him and grabbed him by the neck and wrestled him to the floor until he stopped fighting him. Denise, no longer screaming, just sat there dazed and silent.

    “That’s it, we have to get out of here now!” Hakim screamed. He grabbed John and yanked Denise to her feet and they stepped through one of the passageways between the mirrors. As they walked down the hall, they heard yells and screams coming from behind the walls and kept seeing murky, eerie shadows run by in various sizes. Strange sounds echoed in the empty space, like rabid dogs, pulling against chains. They saw a small shadowy figure look directly at them and run away.

Hakim and John began pulling Denise along as they chased the shadow down the hall to dead end. Hakim hit the wall hard.

    “Ow, did you see that? It went right through the wall.”

    John heard a bang inside of the wall and then another bang. “Did you hear that?” John decided to take a chance. He grabbed onto Denise, who had not let go of Hakim and ran straight into the wall. They all fell through to the other side and everything changed again. They found themselves outside in a creepy graveyard, surrounded by dense fog. They could not understand how they had transported through the wall and ended up there.
Scared and confused, not knowing what to do, Hakim murmured, “Which way should we go?”

   “Let’s take a right.” John said. “Go first Denise.”

    “No let’s split up and if you don’t find anything, meet me back here in five minutes.” Hakim said.

    “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to split up. That wall we just went through might have been a trap. It could be sending us in the wrong direction. Besides, you’re the only one with a light,” Denise whimpered.

    “She’s right,” John said. “Let’s stay together.”

    “What should we do now? I am so scared!” Suddenly, Denise felt a cold, mossy, slimy hand slide down her arm; sending cold chills down her spine.

Chapter 10

   She turned around quickly, hoping to catch the culprit, but no one was there. “Did-did you feel that?” she asked, fearing the answer.

   “No, no.” the boys answered. “What?”

   “I thought I felt a cold hand on my arm just now. I don’t know, maybe it’s just my fear. Let’s just get out of here.”

   She turned around and saw a paw-like hand on Hakim’s shoulder. She screamed, pointed at Hakim and she and John started to run. Hakim was not far behind them when they stopped to catch their breaths and Hakim said in a shaky voice, “Did you guys see that tall, pale slinky monster back there? He had his hand on my shoulder.”

   Denise and John looked at each other and told Hakim that he was just seeing things. “After all,” Denise said, “this is a graveyard”.

   “Then why did you scream and run like you were having a heart attack? Why are you pretending that you didn’t see anything?” Before Denise could answer a bright shiny light blinded them. It looked like car headlights, bearing down and coming straight for them.

   “HELP!” they all screamed. “ HELP, HELP!!”

   In the blink of an eye, the car swerved and continued down the rutted road. “Oh man, I think my heart just dropped through my feet,” Hakim said as he bent over trying to control his breathing?

   “I think we should follow that car. It seems to have slowed down some. Maybe whoever is driving knows the way out of here,” stuttered John.

   “Ok, what do we have to lose? Let’s go!” Hakim yelled as he grabbed for Denise’s hand. As they chased after the car, it slowed down even more and before they realized it, the car stopped and out jumped Mr. Frye. He quickly ran and grabbed John around the throat. “You are all going with me and be quick and quiet about it,” he said as he dragged John along over the rocky, rutted road.

   Hakim, John and Denise were too frightened to protest and since Mr. Frye had a tight hold on John, they followed. They continued the journey on foot and finally after what seemed like hours, they came to an old broken down house whose shutters were falling off. No light shone through the blurred windows as Mr. Frye pushed John into the house and waited for the others to file in after him. No one spoke or looked at the other person for fear that they would panic even more. It was totally dark and quiet except for the flashing lights and the whirring sound coming out to the corner of the room. Mr. Frye struck a match and lit a lantern. It was at that moment that they all saw the ominous blinking machine in the room’s corner.

   Denise found her voice and said, “What’s that?”

   Mr. Frye laughed and said, “It’s a dream machine and I can make anyone have any dream I choose. You kids have been nothing but trouble since I put you into this dream,” he said with a cold, cruel chuckle. “You were supposed to