All the other kids were coming out of hiding now and as Ralph walked up he asked, “What’s up?”
“They’re quitting,” Paul said. “Game’s over.”
“What happened?” Ralph asked.
“Nothing,” Jimmy said. “We’re just done.”
“But it’s early,” Ralph whined.
“I don’t care,” Jimmy said. “I’m telling you, go home. We’re done.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Ralph said. “You’re not the boss of me.”
Jimmy strode over and pointed a finger into Ralph’s face. Ralph’s eyes grew big and he flinched a little.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home,” Jimmy said, and then looked around. “All of you. Game’s over.”
“Fine,” Ralph said and grabbed his sister and started home. All the others mumbled something and headed off down the street.
Luke could tell the three new kids didn’t know what to make of it all. They stood around for a minute and then Cece said, “Well, it was fun for a while. Nice meeting you guys.” They waved goodbye and walked home.
Luke, Ellie, John, and Jimmy were left standing in the middle of the street. They stared at each other for a moment and then John said, “Do we go look?”
“For what?” Luke asked.
“Footprints.”
“Why?”
“To see if someone was really there,” Jimmy said.
“Someone was there alright,” Luke said. “Ellie heard it too.”
“I did. It was creepy,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.
“I think we should wait until it’s light out,” Jimmy said. “No use traipsing around in the dark.”
“I agree,” Luke said. “Besides, what if he has a gun or knife or something?”
Nobody said anything for a minute as they all thought about that. Finally, Ellie said, “Sorry you had to be the bad guy Jimmy. Everybody seemed pissed.”
“I don’t care about that,” Jimmy said. “They’ll get over it.”
Ellie smiled at him. “Still-it was big of you to take the heat.” He waved it off.
“You guys do know that if this gets worse, we’re going to have to tell them all,” John said. “For their own safety.”
Everybody nodded, but Luke didn’t want to think about it getting worse. That voice he heard was going to keep him awake tonight as it was.
“We should walk Ellie home,” Luke said.
“Thanks, guys,” she said. The four of them headed off toward Ellie’s house.
The snow was falling hard now and Luke could hardly see ten feet in front him. They talked about mundane stuff as they walked and their voices had an odd quality to them; muddled and stale, like they were trapped in a vacuum. Ellie said only a few words here and there, then suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs. “Whoo hoo!”
They stopped and looked at her as she smiled, sheepishly.
“Did you hear that?” She said. “No echo at all. It was like my voice was sucked away.”
“You are weird,” Jimmy said, but was smiling. Luke laughed and John just stared at her.
“You scared the crap out of me,” John said.
“Whoo Hooooooo!” Luke yelled, and then laughed.
“Aaaaeeeeeee!” Jimmy piped.
Pretty soon they were all yelling at the top of their lungs and laughing at the stupidity of it. As they stopped, the giggling quieting down, they heard a distant “Whoo hoo!” mocking them and they all froze. Ellie shifted next to Luke and grabbed his arm. Luke felt suddenly colder and wished he were home in his warm house.
“Come on,” John said, and started walking faster.
They got to Ellie’s house and stood at her door.
“It could have been anybody, you know,” Jimmy said.
“Yeah,” Luke mumbled. “But it could have been him, too.”
“Thanks for walking me home,” Ellie said. They were all quiet for a minute, then Ellie added, “You guys are my best friends.”
Luke didn’t know what to say and apparently neither did Jimmy or John, because they all stood there shuffling their feet.
“Bye,” she said reaching for the handle, but then stopped. She turned, quickly took a step toward Luke, and kissed him softly on the lips. She smiled coyly and Luke felt himself turning red. She opened her door and disappeared inside.
“What was that?” John asked, grinning.
Luke couldn’t help the big grin on his face, but he said nothing. He could still smell her hair and the feel of her lips on his. He looked away, embarrassed, and led the way home.
Chapter 6
Luke couldn’t sleep. The evening’s events had his head in a spin and he couldn’t shut it down. The voice kept replaying in his head and that laugh chilled him to the bone. He could not seem to get warm. Several times over the last few hours he thought he heard it again, outside his window, a whisper, like sandpaper against the glass, or a little titter of laughter. He thought he was imagining it, but he couldn’t be sure. It did little to help his restlessness.
Then there was Ellie. Every time he thought of her, the voice would slip from his thoughts. He relived the kisses over and over again and felt silly at how good she made him feel. The smell of her was still on his jacket so he lay with it next to him. Jimmy and John would think he was stupid, but he didn’t care. She was the most beautiful thing in his life right now and he clung to that ferociously. He could hear her voice in his head saying to him, “I know you’ve been wanting to do that, but I knew you wouldn’t, so…” and he thought it very cool she was so bold. She was right. He would’ve never kissed her first.
His cell phone vibrating on his bedside table startled him. He looked at the clock. It was 3:32 am. He picked up the phone looking at the caller I.D. and smiled.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“I can’t sleep,” Ellie said.
“Me neither.”
“Is the voice keeping you awake?”
“Yeah,” he said, pausing. “Along with you.”
“I’ll hang up then,” she teased.
“No-I mean-not now. Thinking of you was keeping me awake.”
“I know, silly. I was teasing you. You’re keeping me awake too.” And he could tell she was smiling even though he couldn’t see her.
Silence for a moment and then he could hear her rustling in her bed. Imagining her laying there was making him feel funny.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yeah. Just scared. I’ve been wanting to call you for the last three hours but I was afraid I’d wake you.”
“You can call me any time, remember? I told you, for any reason. Any time.”
“I know, I just…”
“Any time.”
“Ok. I’m glad you were awake.”
“I’m glad you called.”
She giggled. “Now we know we’re happy about that. Why can’t we sleep?”
“That creepy voice won’t leave my head. I keep thinking I hear it again outside my house.”
