Haunting Winds

Chapter 7

Allan touched his ankle where the skin was raw. Penny touched his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

Allan shuddered at her touch but did not answer.

David walked towards the door and said, "what the hell was that? Where's Ian? We need to find him!"

"We can't go back in there," said Robert. "Whatever that thing was, it got Ian and it's still there waiting for us."

"What do you mean we can't go? Our friend's in there and he needs us!" yelled Penny.

"He wasn't in there anymore! Did you see him in there? He wasn't there. It's just the stupid girl in there now and she's waiting for us too," Robert replied.

"Whatever that girl was, it looks like she can't leave the hallway. She can't follow us here," said David. "But we still have the soldiers to worry about. We need to find someplace we know is safe."

"We're not going to leave Ian, but he wasn't there. I saw. Or I didn't see him. He vanished or something and we can't just walk up to whatever that girl is."

"He's gone, Robert," Allan spoke at last. "That's what it means. You didn't see him because he's gone," Robert felt his heart flutter. Allan's words cut through him like a knife. It made him want to cry. He knew what Allan meant, it was all his fault for taking them up here. He wanted to yell at Allan, but he couldn't. "It was exactly like Jerome told us earlier. The students in the classroom, they were ghosts. They tried to turn us into ghosts and they got Ian."

"I'm not sure if I heard it correctly," Penny said. "But I thought I heard Ian talking to his parents."

"Yeah. He kept saying mom and dad like they were in the room," said David.

The four of them were silent, but they could hear their own heartbeats. A faint wail could still be heard coming from the door. Allan started down the stairs and the others followed him in silence.

The four remaining children passed the fifth floor and saw the doors to the auditorium were still open and the lights remained off. Allan looked into the auditorium and sighed, "if only we stayed here. We shouldn't have gone up. We could have spent time here and called it a day."

"There's no point arguing now. Come on. Let's try getting downstairs again," David told him.

"We can't just go downstairs, we have to find Ian," Penny said.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Robert asked. "We don't know what's going on and we don't know where to look. Should we stop by the auditorium and ask your fairy friends for help?"

Penny looked hurt and turned away.

"I thought so. So what's the plan? We can either go inside the auditorium and hope we're saved by Penny's fairy friends or we can try downstairs again," Robert said putting his hands on his waist. Everyone was silent. "Well, Penny?"

Penny was furious and walked past Robert towards the stairs. She went down the stairs not waiting for the boys.

"Penny, wait!" Allan shouted chasing after her.

David shook his head at Robert and said, "not cool, man," He followed the two downstairs and Robert followed suit.

"Penny, slow down," Allan said grabbing her wrists. Penny stopped without turning to him. "It's going to be okay. You'll see. We'll get Ian back."

Penny looked Allan in the eye and he turned away. The others caught up with them on the fourth floor. The fourth floor was bathed in light and felt more welcoming than the fifth and sixth floor.