Whispers in the Dark (8 page)

“You saw that?” Denise asked. “It's like she saw something!”

“I guess,” I said, unconvinced. “I mean, I saw her running. I couldn't really tell.”

“Adrian, this was the exact day Raven told me that she could ignore the taunts, but
her sister couldn't ignore them anymore,” Denise explained. “Ashley saw something,
Adrian!”

I knew I had a blank look on my face. I still wasn't convinced.

“She just ran down the hallway,” I said. “That doesn't mean she saw a ghost.”

“Okay. Watch this,” Denise said. She pulled out another DVD labeled
Jason March 5
and played a video file on it. “Look at the boy with the basketball jersey on. That's
Jason. This was right before his basketball practice.”

Jason was talking to a group of guys. Once again, Robin walked right behind him and
slightly touched the back of his shoulder. It didn't look as if Jason felt anything;
he just kept laughing with his friends.

Denise fast-forwarded a bit more, then pressed Play. Jason was walking down the hallway
by himself, dribbling a basketball. He suddenly stopped as if he had just walked
into a glass wall. His head slowly tilted back as if someone had him by the neck.
He dropped the basketball, and slowly elevated from the floor. He was hovering above
the floor.
Oh, my God
! What was going on? How was this possible?

Denise pressed Pause, and looked at me. Was this some type of joke Denise was playing
on me? But she wasn't laughing; she looked distressed and unhappy. After a moment,
she turned back to the computer and pressed Play again.

Jason dropped to the ground holding his neck, gasping for air. He got up and took
off running. The video ended. We both sat there in silence.

“What was that?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Do you believe me now?” Denise asked.

“I don't know,” I said, baffled. “I don't know what to believe. I mean, there has
to be some type of explanation, right?”

“There isn't one.” Denise shook her head. “After this happened to Jason and Ashley,
they weren't the same. Their parents took them out of the school and we never heard
back from them.”

“Has anyone else seen this?” I asked.

“No. I wanted to show someone, but I didn't. I knew there was something going on
here, so I sneaked in here last year and looked through the footage. I took a few
video editing classes in college, so I converted the footage with some editing software
and saved it on DVDs. I knew it shouldn't be deleted. This is all new to me, like
it is to you. This is only my second year here, Adrian,” Denise explained. “And since
Raven felt comfortable enough to talk to me, I didn't want to betray her trust. These
videos aren't enough evidence to accuse Robin of anything. I mean, all she did was
touch those students' backs.”

“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head.

“But there's something going on at this school. I know there is,” Denise insisted.
“So maybe you can help.”

“Maybe I can,” I said, uncertain. “Do you mind if I take these DVDs home and look
at them a little more? I'll bring them back tomorrow.”

“Sure,” Denise agreed, then ejected the DVD and handed me both of them.

What had happened was frightening, more frightening than anything I'd ever seen on
TV, because it was—it looked—real. Dorian was right! There was something about Robin
that wasn't normal.

Chapter 6

T
hat evening, Lea and I sat on the bed looking at the footage. She was just as stunned
as I was, her hand cupped around her mouth as she watched Jason elevate into the
air.

“So nobody has seen this?” Lea asked.

“Nobody,” I replied. I kept rewinding it back to Jason first being lifted up.

“Are you going to show anybody?” Lea questioned. “I mean, you have to show somebody.
A priest, a rabbi, somebody! I don't want whatever it is at that school coming back
here to this house.”

“Maybe I can show Robin's parents this,” I suggested. “They're the ones who need
to know what's going on with her.”

“Yeah, baby, do that,” Lea agreed. “But can we stop looking at it? It's really creeping
me out.”

“Okay,” I said, before taking one long last look at Jason suspended in the air.

I arrived early to school and got the keys from Denise so I could go back into the
security room. As frightening as the video of Jason was, I had to see it again. I
really wanted an answer as to what I was looking at. How was I going to approach
Robin's parents with this footage? Did Raven know Robin could do this to people?
Should I show it to Raven?

“Knock knock,” Denise said, knocking on the door. “Still trying to figure it out,
huh?”

“Yeah, I've never seen anything like this,” I told Denise. “I've seen this in movies
and TV shows, but not in person. We have to do something with this footage. We have
to show someone.”

The warning bell rang. The small security room was silent as we both watched the
live shots from the various cameras across the school.

“Look, there's Robin now.” I pointed to the top monitor, labeled
Monitor 1
. “I'm
sure she's headed to my class.”

We both watched her move from Monitor 1 to Monitor 2, which displayed the live shot
from the hallway where my classroom was. Just watching her move through the hallway
was unsettling to me. How could one student bring such fear to a class? How could—

“Look!” Denise yelled out. “She just touched someone! Did you see that?”

The male student that she had touched was busy talking to a group of guys, and didn't
seem to feel her hand run across his back. It was Dorian.

“That's Dorian!” I said.

Fearful of what would happen next, I gripped the edge of the desk and didn't look
away. Dorian left his group of friends, then walked down the hallway, out of frame
from the surveillance camera.

“Where did he go?” I asked, looking at the other monitors.

The final bell rang. All the monitors showed students heading to their classrooms.

Nervous about what could possibly happen to Dorian, I told Denise, “I've gotta go
find him.”

“Wait, look! There he is!” Denise pointed to Monitor 6, which showed Dorian looking
at something in the distance. “What is he looking at?”

We frantically looked at all the monitors. The hallways were empty now.

“Look!” Denise yelled. Dorian was running, and ran back into frame on Monitor 2,
where my class was. Dorian stopped and was suddenly picked up by his neck! He was
twisting, kicking, trying to get free!

I ran out of the security room and down the hallway toward my classroom. I heard
Denise following me. As fast as I could, I pushed through two double doors and ran
full speed. I went down my hallway, but no one
was there! Where was Dorian? I looked
frantically around the hallway and into other classes.

He was nowhere to be found!

The only other person in the hallway was Denise, now running toward me. “Where did
he go?”

“I don't know,” I replied, still looking through the small windows on the doors of
different classrooms. I checked the boys' bathroom and looked through each stall.
Nothing!

Denise and I looked for a few more minutes, then she finally said, “You go to class.
I'll keep looking for him, and go back to the monitors.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I didn't want to stop looking, but I knew my class was wondering
where I was. I walked back down the hallway and entered my class. “Hey, everyone.
Sorry I'm late.”

“Mr. Ramirez, there's a rule that if a teacher is fifteen minutes late, then we get
to leave the class,” Cali said, to which the class agreed. “So you made it back just
in time.”

“There would have been a sub here, Cali,” I told her, making my way to my desk and
glancing over at Dorian's empty desk. “You guys won't get off that easy. But like
I said, I do apologize. Has anyone seen Dorian? Did he come in and leave?”

Everyone shook their head, no. I looked at Robin, who looked blankly back at me.

“I saw him before class, but I don't know where he went,” Miranda replied.

I fumbled with my paperwork, still thinking about what I saw on the monitor. I really
hoped Dorian was okay. If only I could have gotten here faster. Hopefully, Denise
would see where he went and let me know.

“Okay, well, today I want to discuss some of the themes in
The Hunger Games,
and
how these relate to today's society,” I said, getting in my teacher mode. “What do
you all think are some of the themes?”

“I think violence as a form of entertainment is the biggest theme,” Cali answered.

“Good,” I told her, as I turned around and wrote
violence
on the dry-erase board.
“And how do you see that relating to today's society?”

“Well, if you look at reality TV, it's all pretty violent,” Cali explained. “All
the best shows have some arguing or someone fighting in them. Like all the “Housewives”
shows have some type of arguing or fighting, and my dad always asks, why do they
hang around each other if they don't like each other? And I have to explain to him
that it's not that they don't . . .”

As I listened to Cali's explanation, my mind was still stuck on what I'd seen on
the surveillance cameras. Where was Dorian? Was this place full of spirits, like
Denise said? Honestly, what had I gotten myself into?

I looked over at Robin, who was twirling her pen while looking at Cali.

“So that's why I don't even watch reality TV, because to me it's really not reality,”
Cali finished.

“Okay, that's one idea,” I said. I looked over at Robin. “Robin, what do you think
is another theme in the book?”

Robin looked surprised that I'd called on her. Everyone turned to look at Robin.

She didn't say anything.

“I think poverty is another theme to look at,” Raven intervened, saving her sister
from speaking.

“Poverty is another theme we're going to discuss,” I told them as I wrote
poverty
on the dry-erase board. “Robin, did you have one you wanted to add?”

Robin still didn't say anything. I wasn't trying to embarrass her, but she had to
say something in class. Instead, she shook her head, no.

“Okay, well, let's talk about poverty in the book,” I told them.

For the rest of the class period, we discussed
The Hunger Games
. Robin continued
not to say anything.

Just a few moments before class ended, the door swung open, and Dorian walked in.
With a blank look on his face, he closed the door and slowly went to his seat without
saying anything.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to show up,” Cali remarked.

Even though he was late, I was relieved that Dorian had made it.

The bell rang.

“Hey, Dorian, I want to speak with you, Robin, and Raven after class for just a minute,”
I told them. “Everyone else, have a good morning.”

Dorian put his book bag down and sat at his desk. I watched as the rest of the students
walked out of the classroom. Once everyone left, the four of us remained, the three
students in their seats and I, standing at my desk.

“Now, I wanted for you three to stay behind so I can see if we can resolve this feud
that's been going on,” I explained.

No one said anything. Dorian looked dazed.

“See, here's the thing,” I continued. “I want us all to have a good school year,
and I don't want rumors, or gossip, or bullying to interrupt the school year that
I have planned. I want this to be an exciting year for everyone, so if there's anything
that needs to be resolved, let's discuss it now.”

No one said anything. Raven and Robin looked at Dorian, who was staring at me with
a frightened look on his face.

“Dorian?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

Dorian swallowed and nodded.

“Is there anything you need to talk about?” I asked him.

Dorian shook his head.

“Raven?” I asked, and she shook her head as well. “Robin?”

No again.

“And, Robin, you're going to have to say something in class. Five percent of your
final grade is from participation,” I warned her. “So you don't want to lose that
five percent. Remember, it's all about gaining as many points as possible, not losing
them, okay?”

Robin nodded.

During the entire conversation, Dorian had made no eye contact with the twins. He
just kept looking straight ahead at me.

“Okay, well, I want to make sure we can all move past this,” I told them.

Everyone nodded again.

“All right,” I said, giving in. “You guys can go on.”

Raven and Robin got up out of their seats and gathered their notebooks. I turned
around and started erasing everything I'd written on the board. When it seemed everyone
had left, I turned around to my desk and saw Dorian was still sitting at his desk,
looking at me. But he was shaking and sweating profusely.

“Dorian?” I asked, walking toward him. “What's wrong?”

I noticed his hands were gripping the edge of his desk. As I reached him, I realized
that he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at something
behind
me.

I slowly turned around. There was nothing there. But there was—there was a tall shadow
of a person on the wall behind my desk. But the shadow was too tall to be me—or was
it? I moved slowly to the left to confirm it was my shadow, but part of me knew the
shadow wouldn't move. I was right. “What the . . . ?” I said.

The sheer terror on Dorian's face explained it all. I stared back at the shadow.
And it started to move. I felt my anxiety start to kick in. My body temperature immediately
rose, and my heartbeat sped up. I started breathing heavily. Chills ran down my back
as I watched the shadow slowly move along the wall and then out the door.