Read Online Forever Freaky by Tom Upton - Free Book Online

basketball
to the rack, and headed for the door. The lights in the gym went
out.
    We were in the dark again, but something was
wrong. There was a soft groaning all around us. The bleachers were
slowly rolling in on us.
    “He hit the switch!” Jack cried.
    There wasn’t enough time for us to scuttle
along the wall to the end of the bleachers to escape.
    For once my pitiful thinness came in handy. I
was able to squeeze under one of the bleachers as they began to
collapse. I rolled and bounced off a couple lower bleachers and
landed hard on the floor. I got up, and I called out to Jack,
“Where’s the button?” Before he could respond, I picked the answer
out of his mind, and started running through the darkness toward
the door.
    I felt over the wall next to the door. When I
caught the light switch I flipped it and the light fixtures above
flickered on.
    I saw the two buttons, one red and the other
black, just beneath the light switch. I quickly pressed the red
button, and the bleachers creaked to a halt. They were almost
completely closed. I pictured Jack behind them, crushed like a bug.
I saw blood gushing out of his mouth and ears. I saw his head
flattened like a pumpkin under a car tire. I pressed the black
button, and the bleachers started to inch forward and expand until
they were fully opened again.
    For a moment everything froze. I couldn’t
read Jack, and thought for sure he was dead. I couldn’t move my
feet, to go and check if I was right.
    Then he emerged from the far end of the
bleachers. He was slightly hunched over, carrying his gym bag with
one hand and holding his head with the other.
    As he walked toward me I was furious. I
wanted to punch and kick him. I hated so much that I had felt
scared for him. I didn’t want to feel anything for him.
    When he stopped before me, he was still
holding his head.
    “Don’t say it,” he said.
    “Hiding under the bleachers,” I hissed. “What
a dumb-ass idea.”
    “Can’t we just get this over with,” he said
meekly.
    “Yeah, definitely,” I seethed, wishing my
heart would stop hammering against the inside of my ribcage. “And
after we’re finished, I don’t even know you. Got it?”
    I turn round and stormed out of the gym and
into the dark hallway.

     
    We made our way up the dark stairwell to the
second floor. Jack was behind me with the flashlight, and as we
jogged up the stairs, the beam of light made creepy jiggling
shadows all around us.
    We came out on the main second floor hallway.
Before we headed for the girls’ room, we turned the other way and
went to the end of the hall, where a large window overlooked the
parking lot. We had to make sure Carl had left the building. We
didn’t need any more surprises.
    When we reached the window, we saw Carl’s
beat-up red pick-up truck just as it started to rumble out of the
dark lot. At least now we had the entire building to ourselves—just
me, love-puppy Jack, and whatever creature lurked in the girls’
room.
    ***************
     
    Jack wanted to enter the room first. How
gallant! Maybe he was trying to make up for being such a nitwit. I
found the gesture more annoying than endearing. I wondered if he
would be so eager if I had told him that I heard something growling
in there earlier.
    “Go right ahead,” I said. I took the
flashlight from him, so that he could open the door and slip
between the two lengths of police tape. I really wanted something
to be inside, something hideous and festering, to scare the beans
out of him. Maybe that way he would finally get the message that
this paranormal stuff wasn’t as cool as he believed—that it could
be downright dangerous. Maybe, then, too, he would think of me
differently, and leave me alone. But all this was wishful thinking;
Jack was, at best, a very slow learner.
    Once inside, he stood with his back to the
door, holding it open for me.
    I rolled my eyes, and gave the flashlight
back to him. I slipped between the police tape easily.
    It was only