Disappearing Act Chapter 12

The three friends looked at each other with worry in their eyes. They had no idea what they had gotten themselves into and the more they learned the more frightened they became.

"What did that voice mean by evil?" Chad asked, allowed.

"Don't you mean who," Ryan corrected. "I think it was trying to warn us about somebody."

"Well it wasn't very specific," Gabriella replied.

"Or was it," said Chad simply. Gabriella and Ryan just stared at him. "The voice immediately interrupted when I said we should talk to Hernandez."

"You think it meant Hernandez?" Gabriella asked.

"It does make sense," Ryan agreed. "He is the one who arranged this. Maybe this was all planned out. He arranged our school to come."

"But why?" Gabriella asked.

"Maybe it's a plan to get back his career, or maybe he wants to move on to other kind of tricks. Either way our friends are in trouble and Sharpay was the first to disappear. Who knows what has already happened to her."

"Don't think like that,"

"She's right," Chad interrupted. "Let's just get out of here before we're caught where we shouldn't be."

"I'm afraid you are too late," came a voice behind them. They all turned to see Hernandez standing there, but there was something different about him. He didn't seem like the cheerful man he had been before. "It's not polite to break into other peoples rooms. Were the ones I gave you not good enough?"

"Um, we're sorry, we were. . ." Gabriella began, attempting to think of a good excuse.

"Let me guess," Hernandez interrupted. "You got lost. I do grow tired of that excuse. Nothing good ever happens to those who let their curiosity wander where it doesn't belong."

"What did you do to our friends?" Chad asked.

"You will figure that out soon, but for now I'm afraid you are going to have to watch my plan unfold behind the curtain. I can't have you trying to ruin my plans. I will come and deal with you later, for now you will stay here. And don't bother looking for a way out of this room, because there isn't any."

"We have teachers here," Gabriella stated. "Someone is going to notice that several students are missing.

"Don't worry, dear," said Hernandez, grinning evilly. "I have already taken care of that little problem."

Hernandez turned as if to walk out the door and suddenly disappeared. The three looked at each other worried and Chad walked up and tried to open the door. He jiggled the handle, but it wouldn't budge.

"I guess there was really no point in trying that," said Chad, turning back to the other two.

"What are we going to do?" Gabriella asked, beginning to panic. "We can't let him get away with this."

"We don't even know what he is getting away with," Ryan reminded them. "All we know is that he is the reason everyone has gone missing."

The three sat down looking around the dark room. Hernandez was right about there being no other way out. There were no windows and it appeared that the room didn't even have a closet. None of them could believe that Hernandez was behind all of the disappearances. He had seemed like such a nice man and he had always been great with entertaining people. There was something off about him though. He didn't seem like himself, almost as if he was another person entirely. Ryan had begun pacing the room as Chad and Gabriella remained sitting on the floor. It seemed as if it had already been a couple hours and Hernandez had not returned yet.

"What's going to happen to us when he gets back?" Gabriella asked, suddenly.

"I don't think I wanna think about that," Chad answered. "Who knows what he has done to the others."

Suddenly there was a loud crack that echoed through the whole room, the three looked around, but they couldn't see anything.

"What was that?" Chad asked.

The walls began to start moving closer together, pushing all of the furniture to the middle of the room. As the room began closing in the three friends huddled in the middle.

"What are we gong to do?" Gabriella yelled. "Any minute now we are going to be crushed."

The walls became etching closer and as they huddled closer it suddenly stopped. They looked around, but it didn't seem like anything in the room caused it to stop.

"What just happened?" Ryan asked out loud.

Before anyone could answer the floor below them dropped sending the three falling several feet, then hitting the hard concrete, and knocking them unconscious.