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19<br />
“The dog!” Erin screamed.<br />
“Hey—I’m gone! I’m invisible!” April exclaimed at the same time.<br />
I could hear Whitey whimpering. He sounded really frightened.<br />
“Pull the string!” I shouted to Zack.<br />
“Not yet!” April protested.<br />
“Pull it!” I insisted.<br />
Zack pulled the string. The light went out. April reappeared first, with an angry expression on<br />
her face.<br />
Whitey reappeared, and fell down. He jumped up quickly, but his legs were all wobbly.<br />
He looked so funny, we all started to laugh.<br />
“What’s going on up there?” My mom’s voice from the stairwell startled us into instant silence.<br />
“What are you doing?”<br />
“Nothing, Mom,” I answered quickly, signalling for my friends to remain silent. “Just hanging<br />
out.”<br />
“I don’t understand what’s so interesting up there in that dusty old attic,” she called up.<br />
I crossed my fingers, hoping she wouldn’t come upstairs to find out.<br />
“We just like it up here,” I replied. Pretty lame, but it was the only thing I could think of to say.<br />
Whitey, having recovered his balance, went running to the stairs. I heard the dog’s toenails click<br />
on the wooden stairs as he went down to join my mom.<br />
“That wasn’t fair,” April complained after Mom and Whitey were gone. “I didn’t get any time.”<br />
“I think we should get out of here,” I pleaded. “You see how unpredictable it is. You never know<br />
what’s going to happen.”<br />
“That’s sort of the fun of it,” Erin insisted.<br />
“I want another turn,” April said.<br />
We argued for about ten minutes. Once again, I lost.<br />
It was time to start the competition. Erin was going first.<br />
“Ten minutes is the time to beat,” Zack instructed her.<br />
“No problem,” Erin said, making funny faces at herself in the mirror. “Ten minutes is too easy.”<br />
April had resumed her position, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, studying her<br />
watch. We had agreed that she would take another turn after the competition was over.<br />
After it was over…<br />
Standing there watching Erin get ready, I wished it were over already. I felt cold all over. I had a<br />
heavy feeling of dread weighing me down.<br />
Please, please, I thought to myself, let everything go okay.<br />
Zack pulled the string.<br />
Erin disappeared in the flash of light.<br />
April studied her watch.