I PANTED FOR BREATH as we ran down Wiggins Street. “Are you sure they were serious?”
“I will be so-o-o-o-o angry if I’m not able to see this thing,” Heather said through clenched teeth.
“What are they doing down there on a weekend morning, anyway?” I pressed on.
“It figures, doesn’t it? I’m probably the only one of us who doesn’t have the sight—”
“And why did they just happen to call you? And why are they still down there?”
Heather glanced my way, as if she just now noticed me. “Clarence is kind of freaked out, and he won’t stop pacing the platform. He wants to go back and take the ride again, just to be sure. Max remembered what you had seen—”
“How could he remember? I never told him!”
“I did.”
I stopped running. I felt as if I’d been punched in the stomach.
“This was supposed to be a secret, Heather!”
“Sorry,” Heather said, turning toward me.
“I only told Max, though. And I didn’t mention the part about your father—”
“But you promised!”
“Don’t be a baby, David. This is important.”
“And a promise to me isn’t?”
Heather rolled her eyes. “We are talking about a major psychic phenomenon, okay? I guarantee, this cannot stay a secret for long. You will be needing a press agent soon.”
“And I guess you want the job!”
“I will ignore that remark. Instead, like a good friend I will politely answer the question you asked me. For your information, Max called your house first. Your mom found the note you left, and she told them you were with me. Max and Clarence and the others were on the way home from an early strike-ball game downtown. Any other questions?”
“Heather, I don’t want to have anything to do with this!”
“Fine. Good-bye.”
Heather disappeared down the station stairs.
I glowered at her for a moment.
Then, grumbling, I followed.
Max and Clarence were waiting just inside the rotary gates. So were three other kids from our class, all in strikeball uniforms—Cheryl Howard, Rod Skinner, and Lenny Feldman. All of them looked a little shell-shocked.
“Oh, great,” I murmured as I caught up with Heather. “It’s turning into a party. Soon the whole school will know.”
“I said I was sorry,” Heather hissed.
I inserted a token into the rotary gate and pushed my way through. “Listen, you guys, if this is some kind of joke—”
“Did you all see it?” Heather asked.
Max shook his head. “Just Clarence.”
“He wants to go back,” Lenny said. “With witnesses this time. As many as possible.”
Rod Skinner circled his index finger around his ear in a cuckoo gesture. Max immediately poked him in the side.
“Oh. No offense, Moore,” Rod said.
“David, maybe you can get through to him,” Max said. “We can’t. He just shut off.”
“Talk to him,” Heather whispered.
They were all looking at me now. With concern.
I approached Clarence. He didn’t seem to notice me. He was pacing the floor, looking up the track, and muttering, “Come on…come on, baby.”
In the distance, I could hear the oncoming train. “Clarence?” I said.
“Leave me alone!” He snapped around angrily. But his face instantly softened. “Oh, it’s you…”
A joke. He’s playing a joke. “Uh, Clarence, can you tell me exactly what you saw?”
He shrank into himself, looking off into the distance. “This light…I mean, I guess it was light…but how…?”
Cheryl was behind me now. “He said it was bright out there, but the inside of the car was pitch-black.”
How could he have known that detail? Had I told that to Heather?
“Clarence, were there people on the platform?” I pressed.
Clarence nodded. “The door opened. And someone on the train—a kid—he stepped out. And they were so happy to see him.”
I braced myself for the question I had to ask. “Did you see…anyone you recognized?”
WHO-O-O-O-O-ONK! With a loud horn blast, the train pulled into the station.
We all turned to one another.
“Uh, Clarence,” Lenny said, “you sure you don’t want to go home…”
“Get some rest…” Rod continued.
The train was stopping now, its brakes shrieking. “No,” Clarence said. “We have to go.”
Heather gave me a look. A see-I-told-you-so look.
She boarded the train after Clarence. Then Max, Rod, Cheryl, and Lenny.
I tried to move my legs but they wouldn’t go. The thought of taking the trip again was paralyzing me.
Heather stood in the door, holding it open. “Well?”
“I—I have to think about this—“I stammered.
Heather yanked me inside by the arm.
The doors whooshed closed. The car was empty except for a man in a down coat sleeping on one of the bench seats. Lenny, Cheryl, Max, and Rod were already kneeling on another seat, staring out the window.
Clarence was by the door, gripping a handrail. His jaw was set, his face grim. Heather stood next to him. “Tell me when you see it,” she whispered.
The train began to roll, picking up speed. It stopped at Deerfield, then went on.
My legs started to shake.
Then the Granite Street station was coming into view. Dim and grimy and empty. But the train was not slowing down.
We were going to pass right by.
EEEEEEEEE…Squealing brakes.
The train lurched violently, then stopped.
I tumbled to the floor.
Then, blackness. No light whatsoever. I could feel Heather next to me, sprawled on the floor.
And Clarence started screaming.