Haunting Winds

Chapter 4

It was bright enough outside the auditorium that you could forget it was night. The exact opposite could be said inside. David tried to keep his eyes on the doors and away from the stairs next to them. Allan, on the other hand, could not take his eyes off it once he did. The pile of chairs stacked against the gate seemed to push into it as if they were trying to get out. Allan felt he could see eyes looking at him from the darkness of the space between each chair.

"Come on, Rob," David said. "Open the door."

"Right," Robert replied as he took out his lanyard and a ball pen from his pocket. He dismantled the ball pen and used the ink cartridge to push the lanyard in the gap between the doors. He maneuvered the lanyard over and under the latch and pulled it back underneath using the cartridge again until he could grab both ends of the lanyard. He took a look at all his friends who were looking on in anticipation. David urged him on and Robert gave one hard pull on the lanyard.

THUD-CLACK!

Robert fell on his bottom as the lanyard when through and one of the doors opened. Ian jumped in excitement and the others smiled.

"You did it!" said Ian.

David helped Robert back up. "I told you I could open it."

The four of them stood in silence as they looked into the auditorium. They looked at each other waiting for anyone to step in first.

"Come on, Rob. Go on in," David said.

"Fine, you cowards," Robert replied. He took a step inside looking around waiting for his eyes to adjust. The rest looked on as he stepped sideways to a corner vanishing from their sights. A second passed and then another.

"Rob?" David called out. There was no reply.

"Come on, Rob. We know you're just going to jump on us the moment we walk in," said Allan.

Ian took out his cellphone and turned on its led flashlight. He pointed it inside and slowly walked inside, away from the corner Robert walked in to. The others reluctantly followed side by side. "Robert? This isn't funny. It's played out," Ian said.

Ian turned off his flashlight and turned to David and Allan and motioned them to leave. They understood and started to exit, giggling as they went. They got through the door and Ian closed the door loudly and looked through the glass slits. They all laughed while waiting for Robert to come back.

They saw Robert running to the door shouting at them to let him out while he slammed into the door. Ian and David blocked it making Robert slam into it harder with his shoulder. Once they got their fill of laughter, they finally let Robert through.

Robert pushed Ian back shouting, "You asshole!"

David was rolling on the floor laughing while Allan was wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "You did it first. We told you to come out and you didn't," they continued laughing.

"Stop laughing!" Robert yelled as he grabbed Ian by the shirt and pushed him to a wall.

Ian grunted as his back hit the wall. He tried to push Robert away, but the shorter, fatter boy was much stronger than him. "Okay okay. Jeez. Relax."

Robert let go without taking his eyes off him. Ian felt the back of his head for any lump. The other two were catching their breath when the auditorium doors creaked close.

The four kids stood silently watching the door. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. David couldn't help but glance at the stairs to the sixth floor to see if anyone or anything was watching them. He saw nothing but specks of dust floating in the air.