“Come on, Sally,” I cried. “We’re out of here!”
I picked her up from the bed and started through the door.
With one foot over the threshold, I hesitated.
Wait a minute. It was sunny out there. But it should be dark. It was night, it was supposed to be dark.
My foot sank down into empty space. I jumped back and the vision of the sunny backyard winked out in an instant. On the other side of the door loomed a dark, vast, bottomless pit.
And we’d almost fallen for it—fallen right into it!
I slammed the door and stood there shaking, clutching hold of Sally.
“That was a close one,” I muttered. “How do I decide which one to try next?”
I sat down on the bed with Sally, and tried to think it through. Which door? One of them led to safety, I would stake my life on it.
The house wasn’t going to wait for me to make up my mind. The room started to shake. Then the bed tipped and threw us to the floor.
Sally started to cry. The air grew thick with menace. Something was coming to get us. Something worse than anything we’d seen so far.
We had to get out. But which door?
33
Sally yanked at my arm. “Come on, Jason, I want to go,” she cried. “Look!”
One of the doors opened slowly, as if pushed by an invisible hand.
“Get me out of here, Jason, please!” cried Sally, tugging me along.
The floor bucked harder, as if trying to prevent us from reaching the open door.
All that showed on the other side of the door was blackness. I couldn’t see a thing. We might be leaving this terrible place for something worse. I pulled Sally back.
“It’s Bobby,” cried Sally, trying to wriggle out of my arms. I clutched her tighter. “He says we should hurry.”
The room shook us like dice in a cup. I couldn’t hold on to Sally. She got away from me and ran to the door.
“Sally, no!” I cried.
How could we trust Bobby? It was Bobby who’d taken Sally to the attic. Sure, he’d also provided the trapdoor in the nick of time but then he had imprisoned us in this room. He wanted to keep Sally with him forever, I was sure of it.
Sally hesitated at the door, looking back at me. “Come on, Jason, it’s all right,” she pleaded. She stumbled back to me over the heaving floor and grabbed my hand. “Come on.”
Her eyes were shining. Sally truly believed that Bobby would rescue us. Maybe she was right. And what other chance did we have, anyway?
As I started to rise, the floor bucked and I went down on one knee, hard. Sally helped me up and I followed her to the open door.
Now or never. This might be the end for both of us. We’d be trapped for eternity.
I held Sally’s hand tight as we stepped through the door into the darkness.
Suddenly we were on a winding stairway, going down. There was just enough light to see the next step. I couldn’t tell where we were going but Sally kept trying to skip ahead of me, giddy with relief to be out of her haunted room.
My throat was tight with fear. The stairs seemed to go on forever. Where was Bobby taking us?
A child’s laughter floated up from somewhere below. My stomach clenched at the sound, but Sally joined in, laughing as if all this was a delightful game.
The smell of green grass and pine came drifting up the stairs. It smelled clean and safe and real. A part of me started to hope our night of terror was over. Sally pulled at me to go faster.
We reached the bottom. Another door stood open and a fresh breeze beckoned.
Still hesitant, I moved cautiously forward. I poked my head out the doorway.
We were in the backyard! For real, this time.
“Go to the tree,” whispered a child’s voice beside my ear. “You’ll be safe by the tree.”
I jumped and looked all around but I couldn’t see anybody there.
“Come on, Jason,” Sally demanded, hopping up and down.
I let Sally lead the way to the cherry tree. I looked back at the house and was startled to see a little boy standing in the doorway we’d just come through.
A little boy. And I could see right through him.
The child waved and smiled and then the boy and the doorway both vanished.
Sally lay down on the grass under the cherry tree and was asleep in an instant. I was still awake and guarding her when the sun broke over the horizon.
We had survived.
34
A cold hand gripped my shoulder. I bolted upright, instantly alert. “Mom!”
Sally rubbed her eyes and blinked in the sunshine.
“You two gave me a fright,” said Mom, sounding really worried. “I checked your rooms this morning and you weren’t there. What are you doing out here?”
Dad appeared over her shoulder. “Well?” he said. “Is this some kind of game, Jason?”
Why were they acting like everything was normal?
“Is everything all right inside?” I asked. “Anything broken?”
“What?” said Dad, looking puzzled. “Of course everything’s all right. What shouldn’t be all right?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, thinking of the overturned furniture, smashed mirrors and vases and lamps, broken crockery. I should have known it would all be back in place now, because the house didn’t want my parents to know what was going on.
Dad took me aside. He looked stern. “If you’re frightening your sister with this ghost nonsense, I’ll be very disappointed in you, young man,” he said.
I knew it was no use trying to tell them what had happened. They’d think I was making it up.
Mom bent down to Sally’s level. “What were you scared of, honey? Was it Bobby?”
Sally looked at me and pushed out her lower lip. “I’m not scared of Bobby,” she said stoutly. “Bobby is my friend.”
“She, ah, she had a nightmare,” I said. “I woke up and it was hot, so we decided to come out for a minute. I guess we fell
