Whispers in the Dark (12 page)

“I told you it was the twins!” Dorian interrupted me. “I knew it was! I'm never going
back to that school! Ever! Whatever it was, I don't want it coming to my house.”

I sat there for a moment, looking at the fear in his face. He was right. If something
like that happened to me, I wouldn't want to go back, either.

“Well, I'm gonna leave my number, so you call me if you need to talk,” I told him.
“And if we are going to get this all sorted out, you need to tell your mother. In
fact, I think Denise is letting your mother know a little about what we've seen right
now.”

“Okay.”

I patted him on his shoulder, then got up from his bed and walked out of his room.

“So the school is haunted?” Mrs. Fuller said to Denise. “Why haven't I heard about
this before?”

“None of us knew,” Denise told her. “Some of the students have started seeing things
that no one can explain, and Mr. Ramirez saw something, too.”

Dorian's mom looked at me for confirmation.

“It's true.”

Mrs. Fuller looked confused, then said, “Okay, well, thank y'all for checking on
him and stopping by. I'll speak with Dorian about this.”

“Okay,” we agreed, then left Dorian's house. Denise and I didn't say much on the
ride back to the school. I felt so uneasy going back. I sat there thinking about
how I had wanted this job so bad, and had no idea I would be facing this type of
challenge.

Little did I know, this was just the beginning.

Chapter 10

O
ver the weekend, I changed my lesson plan to include more discussion questions for
my class.

“All right, everyone, we're going to do things a little differently today,” I told
my class early Monday morning. “Today I want to talk to you about choices. Now, I
know we've been talking about
The Hunger Games
and some of the themes in that book.
I want to look at another book, called
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
.”

I looked over at Isabelle and saw that I finally had her attention, since that was
the book she'd been reading.

I was really hoping my topic of making choices would spark something in Robin, with
the choices she's made. I felt somewhat guilty for talking about her behind her back
to Raven. I tried to focus on my thoughts, but the way she was staring at me kept
breaking my concentration.

“How many of you have read this book?” I asked, holding up my copy.

Most of the students raised their hands.

“Good, so you all are familiar with the story,” I said. “Well, for those of you who
haven't read this book, it's all about making choices in life. Now, we as humans
are a sum total of the choices we make. Sometimes our friends and family might not
like those choices, but they are still
our
choices. Junior is the narrator in this
book, and he has to make the best choice in his life. See, once you understand the
message that the author is trying to make, you can analyze the book better. You see,
in life, each of us is the author of our own book. Every day, you make a choice that
could
affect you for the rest of your life. I remember my grandmother telling me
that the choices that we think are small, aren't so small, because in the end, all
of them count. So, with that being said, I want you guys to think about some of the
choices you've had to make.”

“What are some of the choices you had to make?” Isabelle asked, catching me off guard.

“Well, let me think,” I started. “When I was in high school, I tore my ACL, my knee
ligament, playing baseball, and I had to decide what would be best for my life after
that incident. Baseball was my everything, and I just knew I was going to go to the
major leagues after college. But after that injury, I had to make a different choice
for my life. And that choice was to teach.”

“Wait, you tore your ACL playing baseball in high school?” Brent asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“I bet that was pretty painful, huh?” Brent commented.

“Trust me, that was the worst pain I've ever felt,” I explained. “You don't ever
want to tear your ACL. I had to have surgery, then I had to go to rehab. I was out
of school for a couple of months.”

“I bet you learned your lesson, didn't you?” Robin said. Everyone turned and looked
at her with shocked expressions.

I was just as shocked as the students, partly because she finally said something.
But I didn't understand, really, what she meant by her comment, so I asked, “Learned
my lesson? What—what do you mean, Robin?”

“Bad things happen to bad people, and maybe it was because of a choice you made,”
Robin suggested.

I felt a cold chill. Did she know about Christy, and what happened? Where was this
coming from, all of a sudden? Everyone looked to me for my reaction.

“I'm not sure what you mean by bad people,” I said, responding carefully, “but, yeah,
bad things happen to bad people
and
bad things can happen to good people, too.”

“Do you think you're a good person, Mr. Ramirez?” Robin asked.

“Robin?” Raven said from across the room. She looked confused.

Robin looked at Raven and turned back to me. “Can I use the bathroom?” she asked.

“Go ahead,” I said, and Robin got up from her desk and walked out of the classroom.

“Well, that was weird,” Miranda commented.

“Can I go see what's wrong with her?” Raven asked.

“Yeah, go ahead,” I told her.

I stood there silent for a moment, thinking about what had just occurred. Robin asked
those questions as if she knew what happened that night.

“So, let's finish our discussion,” I told the class.

That evening, Lea and I had dinner at Applebee's, and I decided to tell her everything.
I told her what happened to Christy and about the dreams I'd been having, then I
told her about the outburst Robin had in class today. I even told her about Robin
and what she did to Dorian. Lea didn't say much on our way back home in the car.
I knew this whole situation was frightening for her. It was frightening for me.

“Adrian, I don't want to stay here,” Lea finally opened up.

I took a deep breath. I knew I shouldn't have told her the truth about everything.
I should have known that she would just use it against me as a reason to leave Newnan.

“I just don't have a good feeling being here,” she admitted. “Now you're telling
me all of this, and I just feel like this situation isn't going to get any better.”

“So what do you want me to do?” I asked, angrily. “Quit my job? Sell the house?”

“It's not that, Adrian,” Lea said. “It's just that I feel like we could start over
in a new city, you know? There's too much going on here, and—”

“Lea, just stop it!” I demanded. “You know this opportunity for me—”

“Me, me, me,” Lea mocked. “It's always about you, Adrian! You never stop to think
about other people and how they feel.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, frustrated with her accusation. “You're
the one being selfish! You know if it was the other way
around, I wouldn't be complaining
the way you are. You always try to put things back on me . . .”

As we pulled up the driveway, I noticed Lea staring up at our bedroom window, where
a light was shining.

“What?” I asked, looking at her.

“I turned all of the lights out when we left,” Lea said softly.

I looked at our bedroom window. “Are you sure?”

“I know I did,” Lea said. “I never leave the lights on.”

That made me nervous, because I knew it was true. Lea always made sure all of the
lights were out and that the doors were locked. I started hoping that she just forgot
this time. We both sat in the car, looking at the light in the window.

“Babe, you probably just forgot this time,” I reassured her.

“I know I didn't forget,” Lea insisted. “Before we left I made sure I—”

Suddenly the light went out.

“Oh, my God!” Lea shrieked. “Somebody's in the house!”

Fear shot through my body.

“Drive off! Drive off!” Lea said, panicking. “I'm calling the cops!”

I cranked the car up and drove down the street.

“Hello . . . hello,” Lea said to the 911 operator. “My name is Lea Flores, and I
believe someone is in my house. No, me and my boyfriend just pulled up and a light
was on, then the light went out as we watched.”

I pulled into a gas station as Lea gave our address to the operator.

About ten minutes later, we saw two police cars flying down the street toward our
house. I followed behind them all the way to the house. Two police officers jumped
out and went around to the back of the house, with their hands on their guns. Another
officer went toward the front of the house and looked through the windows with his
hand on his gun.

Lea and I sat nervously as we watched the three police officers search all around
the house. Then one of the officers came to my car and said, “There doesn't seem
to be a forced entry. You wanna open the front door for us, so we can search the
house?”

“Okay,” I agreed.

I opened the front door for the officers. They walked into the house with
their guns
drawn. I went back down the street and got in the car with Lea. Her hand trembled
as she held it near her mouth and watched the police officers moving through the
house. I reached for her hand and caressed it to comfort her.

About fifteen minutes later, the three police officers came out of the house, and
one walked toward our car. “We checked the entire property, but we didn't find anything.
There was no sign of forced entry on any of the windows or doors. Did y'all actually
see someone in the house?”

“No, we didn't,” I told the officer.

“So what if we didn't!” Lea snapped. “We know what we saw. There was a light on in
our bedroom, then it went out when we pulled up.”

“Ma'am, calm down,” the officer said. “I understand that. But there was nothing in
the house that looked out of place.”

“Did you check the attic?” Lea asked.

“Yes, ma'am. We checked the attic, every room, and every closet,” the officer told
her. “Maybe there's a short in one of your lights that could have caused it to go
on and off.”

Lea and I looked at each other. We both knew what we saw, and we knew there was no
short. The only thing we didn't see was someone moving in the house.

“Well, thanks, officer,” Lea said. “We're going to stay at a hotel tonight.”

“A hotel?”
I asked.

“Yes, a hotel!” Lea exclaimed. “I'm not staying in that house tonight.”

“Okay, feel free to contact us if y'all see anything suspicious, okay?” the officer
said. “We'll keep a patrol in this area tonight.”

“Okay.”

Instead of arguing with Lea, I went ahead and drove to the closest hotel. The hotel
room did give us a sense of peace. This light situation had us both shaken up pretty
bad. Maybe she was right. Maybe moving somewhere new would be a better start for
both of us.

My thoughts were interrupted by a text from Greedy asking if I'd heard anything from
the school about his application. I simply replied no, then set my phone on the nightstand
and went to sleep.

Chapter 11

A
fter a night at the hotel, Lea and I were both still shaken up when we got back
to the house Tuesday morning. I decided I needed to have another talk with Robin
to see where her outburst came from. I was sure she was upset about my conversation
with Raven and that I'd seen the surveillance tapes, but I hadn't expected her to
react the way she did.

When I got to my classroom, I heard two students talking, but I couldn't make out
who it was.

“Trust me, it'll be okay,” one of the students said as I opened the door.

It was Isabelle, sitting in her seat and talking to Robin, who was sitting behind
her.

“Good morning,” I said, greeting both of them.

Neither of them said anything back to me. Had they heard me?

“How did you guys enjoy the discussion we had yesterday?” I asked, breaking the silence.

Once again, neither one of them said anything.

“What? You guys aren't talking today?” I asked, irritated by their silence.

Then Denise stuck her head around the door and said, “Mr. Ramirez, can I speak with
you for a second?”

“Yeah, sure,” I replied. I looked back at Isabelle and Robin as I left the classroom,
wondering what they had been talking about. “What's up?”

“Take a walk with me,” Denise said. “I had a revelation, Adrian.”

“A revelation?”

“Yes, you see, we're taught that when people die,” Denise said, “they're
either called
up to heaven or to hell, but I believe there are still spirits that are left here
to roam the Earth. And the ones that are left here to roam either stay in the area
they know, or they go to a place that they would like to have known. A place of excellence,
a place of prestige—they go to places where they couldn't go when they were living.
Like this school.”

“Okay.”

“But just like the good ones roam, the bad ones roam, too,” Denise explained. “And
I feel that there are some bad ones around you. I don't know what it is, but there
is something in your classroom. That's why I never go in there. I can just feel a
presence in that classroom. I don't know if it's because of Robin or not, but I believe
that you have to leave this school.” “Leave the school?” I asked, angrily. “No! I'm
not leaving! I just started here.”