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Just as Erin had.<br />
The three of us called his name over and over.<br />
Silence.<br />
Zack didn’t reply.<br />
“I’m going to bring him back,” I said, instantly gripped with fear once again. I ran to the string.<br />
“Wait,” Erin said, holding me back.<br />
“Huh? What for?” I pulled away from her.<br />
“He said to wait till fifteen minutes, remember?” she argued.<br />
“Erin, he’s completely disappeared!” I cried.<br />
“But he’ll be really mad,” Erin pleaded.<br />
“I say bring him back,” April said anxiously.<br />
“Give him until fifteen minutes,” Erin insisted.<br />
“No,” I said. I pulled the string.<br />
The light clicked off.<br />
A few minutes later, Zack flickered back. He smiled at us. “How long?” he asked, turning to<br />
April.<br />
“Thirteen minutes, twenty seconds,” she told him.<br />
His grin widened. “The new champ!”<br />
“You’re okay? You didn’t answer us,” I said, studying his face.<br />
“I’m fine. I didn’t hear you calling me. But I’m fine.”<br />
Zack looked different to me, too. Something was very different about him. But what?<br />
“What’s your problem, Max?” he demanded. “Why are you staring at me like I’m some kind of<br />
alien life-form or something?”<br />
“Your hair,” I said, studying him. “Was it like that before?”<br />
“Huh? What are you talking about? Are you freaking out or something?” Zack asked, rolling his<br />
eyes.<br />
“Was your hair like that before?” I repeated. “Buzzed real short on the right and then combed<br />
long to the left? Wasn’t it the other way around?”<br />
“You’re messed up, Max,” he said, grinning at Erin and April. “My hair is the same it’s always<br />
been. You’ve been staring in that mirror too long or something.”<br />
I could’ve sworn his hair had been short on the left, long on the right. But I guess Zack would<br />
know his own hair.<br />
“Are you going to go?” Erin asked, jumping up behind me.<br />
“Yeah, are you going to beat fifteen minutes?” Zack asked.<br />
I shook my head. “No, I really don’t feel like it,” I told them truthfully. “Let’s declare Zack the<br />
winner and get out of here.”<br />
“No way!” Zack and Erin declared in unison.<br />
“You’ve got to try,” Zack insisted.<br />
“Don’t wimp out, Max. You can beat Zack. I know you can,” Erin declared.<br />
She and Zack both pushed me up to the mirror.<br />
I tried to pull back. But they practically held me in place.