It was bad enough having Eyra squeezing my arm like a maniac.Ouch!

       The Zico seized my other arm and tugged on it.Ouch! Ouch!

       "Did you hear that?" he whispered urgently."Hear what?" scowled Ukwon.

"I thought i heard a laugh," Zico said. "From behind the door".

        I shook myself free and pressed my ear against the door. Something was happening on the other side. "It sounds more like a sigh. Like somebody who's sad". I reached for the door handle. It felt icy to my touch. "Do you think we should go in?"

        "I'll bet it's locked," Ukwon said."I'll bet it isn't," said Eyra, pushing past me and grabbing the handle. She turned it, elbowed the door open and jumped back. But nothing happened. No ghosts leapt out, no screaming spirits attacked us, nothing.We looked at one another. Then, with a skeptical sneer, Ukwon led the way inside.The late afternoon light cast a gloom over the abandoned classroom. A thick layer of dust was draped over every surface. As we walked further into the room, we left tracks on the floor like a footprints on a beach. All the desks had been pushed to one side and chairs were piled in untidy stacks in one corner.

        "We'd better get out of here," Zico warned. "If someone catches us, we'll be in BIG trouble". Without warning, Eyra gave a cry of alarm.

        She gripped my arm again, squeezing and shaking it."Look..." she croaked, pointing to the whiteboard, at the three letters printed on its surface...

H E L

         "Who wrote that?" she asked me, in a voice that sounded like her lungs had been tied in a knot.