Free Cool School by John Marsden

competing with helicopters and low-flying aircraft. You fly on forever, until you go into orbit around the Earth. Every three weeks you pass above your home town, and you get a quick look at how everyone’s going. But don’t worry, life’s not too bad. After all, you’re famous. You’ve become a UFO. That’s quite some distinction.

ou can’t believe you’re doing this but, after all, everyone’s entitled to one mistake. You just hope you get to live long enough to make some more. The two of you tiptoe towards the crypt. The door is half open, creaking slowly in the breeze. There’s a candle burning inside, and you can see a slowly moving shadow on the wall. You feel a terrible coldness that makes your skin tingle. But you can’t help yourself: you’ve got no thoughts of going home now. You just have to know what’s going on.
    Slowly, ever so slowly, like you can’t control it yourself, your hand rises and pushes the door wide open. Inside there’s a frightening sight. It’s Sam all right, opening the lid of a large old dark coffin. You and your friend stand there in shock. Sam turns and looks at you, showing no surprise at your presence.
    â€˜What . . . what are you doing?’ you manage to ask.
    Sam smiles at you but the smile makes you shiver even harder.
    â€˜I’m going back to where I belong.’
    â€˜But . . . but who are you?’
    â€˜You don’t need to know that.’
    â€˜Where are you going?’
    â€˜I’m going to sleep again, for another thousand years.’
    By now Sam has the lid of the coffin open and is climbing inside.
    â€˜But . . . but only this morning you asked me if I would go with you . . .’
    â€˜Yes,’ Sam says, now in the coffin and closing the lid. ‘I wanted some company.’ The lid is now completely closed and only a muffled voice can be heard, as if from a great distance. ‘I thought you could spend the next ten centuries with me.’
    The candle suddenly goes out and a sharp cold wind rushes through the crypt. You and your friend race outside screaming. You sprint all the way home and hide under the bed for the rest of the night.
    In the morning you think maybe it’s a dream and so you go to school to see if Sam’s there. But something very strange has happened. Not only is there no Sam, but no one’s ever heard of Sam. And that includes your best friends, who’d had crushes on Sam. But now it’s like everyone’s memory banks are completely wiped. Why, even your very best friend, who at midnight was in the cemetery with you as you grabbed each other and shook in terror together, seems to have forgotten the whole thing.
    Yes, there’s only one thing that makes you know for sure that Sam Jarre actually existed. It’s that little scrap of paper with seven sinister words on it: ‘Do you want to go with me?’

ou know that going home to bed is the smartest move you’ve ever made. For once you’ve done the right thing. You hurry through the deserted streets, your best friend following reluctantly. You keep looking over your shoulder but there’s no one else there.
    When you get to your house you make an agreement that you won’t tell anyone what happened. You whisper a quick goodnight and sneak back into your bedroom. You get in the bed and lie there, trying to sleep.
    But you can’t. You’re still too spooked by what you saw.
    As you lie there you search your mind again and again for an explanation for what happened. But there is none.
    Next day at school the whole place is buzzing with excitement. It doesn’t take long to find out what happened. Sam Jarre got so sick last night at a basketball game that an ambulance had to be called. The last anyone heard, Sam was in hospital, in intensive care.
    You’re shocked and scared, thinking about the episode in the cemetery. You can’t