Dudes, the School Is Haunted! Read Online Free PDF

school.”
    “Those kids were lucky,” Ben replied.
    I pressed the button on the wall. To my surprise, the doors slid open. “Whoa—!” I peered inside. A dusty ceiling lamp clicked on, sending pale white light
down through the metal car.
    “It’s on!” Ben cried. “It’s working!”
    “Let’s take it to the third floor,” I urged. “Come on. Why should we walk up
all those stairs?”
    “But—but—” Ben held back. But I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him
inside the elevator. And followed him in.
    “This is great!” I exclaimed. “I told you I knew how to get there.”
    Ben’s eyes darted nervously around the narrow gray elevator car. “We
shouldn’t be doing this,” he murmured.
    “What could happen?” I replied.
    The doors closed silently.

 
 
11
     
     
    “Are we moving?” Ben asked. His eyes rose to the elevator ceiling.
    “Of course not,” I replied. “We haven’t pushed the button vet.”
    I reached out and pushed the button with a big black 3 on it. “What is your
problem, anyway?” I demanded. “Why are you so nervous? We’re not robbing a bank
or anything. We’re just riding an elevator because we’re in a hurry.”
    “The elevator is fifty years old,” Ben replied.
    “So?” I demanded.
    “So… we’re not moving,” Ben said softly.
    I pushed the button again. And listened for the hum that meant we were going
up.
    Silence.
    “Let’s get out of here,” Ben said. “It’s not working. I told you we shouldn’t
try it.”
    I pushed the button again. Nothing.
    I pushed the button marked 2.
    “We’re wasting time,” Ben said. “If we ran up the stairs, we’d be up there already. The dance is starting, and the stupid
banner is trailing on the floor.”
    I pushed the 3 button again. And the 2 button.
    Nothing. No noise. We didn’t move.
    I pushed the button marked B.
    “We don’t want to go to the basement!” Ben cried. I heard a little panic
start to creep into his voice. “Tommy, why did you push B?”
    “Just trying to get it to move,” I said. My throat suddenly felt a little
dry. I had a knot in the pit of my stomach.
    Why weren’t we moving?
    I pushed all the buttons again. Then I pounded them with my fist.
    Ben pulled my hand away. “Nice try, ace,” he said sarcastically. “Let’s just
get out of here, okay? I don’t want to miss the whole dance.”
    “Thalia is probably a little steamed by now,” I said, shaking my head. I
pushed 3 a few more times.
    But we didn’t move.
    “Just open the doors,” Ben insisted.
    “Okay. Fine,” I agreed unhappily. My eyes swept over the control panel.
    “What’s wrong?” Ben asked impatiently.
    “I—I can’t find the door open button,” I stammered.
    He shoved me out of the way. “Here,” he said, gazing over the silvery
buttons. “Uh…”
    We both studied the control panel.
    “There’s got to be a door open button,” Ben muttered.
    “Maybe it’s this one with the arrows,” I said. I lowered my hand to a button
at the bottom of the metal panel. It had two arrows on it that pointed like
this: <>.
    “Yes. Push it,” Ben said. He didn’t wait for me to do it. He reached past me
and pushed the button hard with his open hand.
    I stared at the door, waiting for it to slide open.
    It didn’t move.
    I slapped the <> button again. And again.
    Nothing.
    “How are we going to get out of here?” Ben cried.
    “Don’t panic,” I told him. “We’ll get the doors open.”
    “Why shouldn’t I panic?” he demanded shrilly.
    “Because I want to be the one to panic first!” I declared. I thought my
little joke would make him laugh and calm him down. After all, he was
always making jokes.
    But he didn’t even smile. And he didn’t take his eyes off the dark elevator
doors.
    I pushed the <> button one more time. I kept it pressed in with my thumb. The
doors didn’t open.
    I pushed the 3 and the 2 buttons. I pushed the 1 button.
    Nothing. Silence. The buttons didn’t even click.
    Ben’s