Free Room 13 by Robert Swindells Page B

moved the torch slightly to get it in the centre of her beam. It was like a stain, lighter than the surrounding woodwork. As stroke followed stroke, the stain seemed to shrink and become paler, and then to divide, becoming two whitish blobs whose shapes altered until, by the twelfth stroke, they formed the figures one and three. As the echo died, they heard a door close somewhere below.
    ‘I think she’s coming,’ warned Fliss. ‘Switch the torch off, Lisa.’ She did so, plunging the landing into darkness. They withdrew and half closed the door again.
    ‘Did you see that?’ breathed Trot. ‘It just came out of nowhere. I can’t believe it.’
    Fliss snorted. ‘You’ve got to believe it, you div – you saw it. The point is, what do we do when Ellie-May gets here?’
    ‘We stop her,’ hissed Gary. ‘By force if we have to. We agreed.’
    ‘OK, but which of us actually goes out there and grabs her – or do we all go?’
    Lisa shook her head. ‘We can’t all go. It’d scare her to death. It should be a girl, Fliss – you or me. But I think we should try calling her first – from here.’
    ‘Sssh!’ Trot pressed a finger to his lips. ‘She’s here.’
    They looked out. Ellie-May was standing on the top step, looking at the door to room thirteen. She hesitated for a moment, then moved forward. Lisa nudged Fliss. ‘You, or me?’
    ‘Me.’ As Ellie-May drew level with the bathroom, Fliss cupped her mouth with her hands and hissed, ‘Ellie-May!’
    The girl didn’t turn or pause, but continued walking slowly towards the cupboard. Using her full voice this time, Fliss called out, ‘Ellie-May – over here!’
    It made no difference. The girl was standing before the door now, reaching for the knob. Fliss felt a push in the small of her back and Lisa hissed, ‘Go on, for heaven’s sake – before she opens that door!’
    She left the bathroom and moved across the landing, approaching Ellie-May from the rear. As the girl’s hand closed round the knob, Fliss took a gentle grip on her shoulder and said, ‘Ellie-May – You don’t want to go in there.’
    She felt the thin shoulder stiffen under her hand. Ellie-May’s head turned, slowly, and Fliss found herself gazing into eyes which were dead as a shark’s. The girl’s lips twitched. ‘Let go of me,’ she hissed. ‘Leave me alone.’
    ‘Ellie-May!’ Fliss swung her round and held her by both shoulders. ‘Listen. We’re trying to help you. If you go in that room, you’ll die!’
    Ellie-May snarled, shaking her head. ‘Never die. Never. You, not me.’ She tore herself from Fliss’s grip and turned, scrabbling for the doorknob.
    ‘Gary!’ cried Fliss. ‘Lisa. Quick – I can’t hold her!’ There was a scampering of bare feet on carpet and they were with her, the three of them. Hands reached out, snatching fistfuls of Ellie-May’s clothing, circling her wrists. She hissed and fought, amazingly strong, freeing one hand to twist the doorknob and push.
    The door swung inward. Fliss, one arm crooked round Ellie-May’s neck, glanced inside and saw not a cupboard, but the room of her dream. There was the table with the long, pale box upon it and beyond, a small, curtained window. A window which wasn’t there in the daytime. The eye that sleeps by day! She dug her heels into the carpet, threw her weight backwards and fell with Ellie-May on top of her.
    ‘Quick, one of you – close that door!’ She flung both arms round Ellie-May’s waist and held on as the girl bucked and writhed. Lisa dropped to her knees, grabbed Ellie-May’s legs and fell forward, pinning them under her. Fliss heard the door slam, and then the boys were there, catching the girl’s wildly flailing arms. Ellie-May fought on for a moment but they were too many for her. Fliss felt the thin body go limp, and the girl began to cry. When they let go of her she lay curled on her side with a thumb in her mouth, moaning softly.
    They got up and stood, looking down at her.