"Room 208. Tomorrow. That message is why we’re here," Montgomery said to the group. She stood in between Paul and Pernwall, and Earchon Franche, the freckle-faced girl wearing a dress, stood a few feet away. Earchon Franche’s hands nervously fumbled with her purse strap.

Paul looked around the hallway. He counted heads. There were at least twenty people here, all students. "I take it that everyone is here for similar reasons?" he said, addressing the crowd.

There were nods among the group, though some gave no reaction at all. Paul turned to one of the kids who made no reaction. "You, why are you here?" he asked the kid.

The kid, scrawny and small, with fresh pimples dotting his face, tried to speak but his words came out mumbled. A girl near him managed to hear his words. "He says that he was biking nearby and saw some kids sneak in. That’s why he’s here."

"A curious one, eh? What’s your name?" Paul asked.

"Derrin," the boy replied.

"Freshman?" Paul asked.

Derrin nodded. "I, I should just go," he stammered. Derrin started to walk away from the group, but an older boy wearing a leather jacket and sporting a red mohawk grabbed him by his collar.

"He’s full of shit," the older boy said.

Paul intervened and pushed the older boy off Derrin. This prompted the older boy’s friends, all various punks and freaks, to draw various weapons ranging from knives to chains. "Guys!" Montgomery yelled. "There’s no need for violence. Stop it!"

The older boy with the mohawk made a loud snort. "Whatever. This kid stole something from us. We chased him into this school. We’re just going to take it back and leave," he said. He turned to one of the boys in his group. "Vesuvius! Take it from him."

Vesuvius, a tall kid with a nose piercing and long silver-dyed hair, nodded silently and walked over to Derrin. He patted the younger boy down, eventually fetching what appeared to be a keychain from his front pocket.

"A keychain?" Paul asked.

Vesuvius dangled the keychain in front of him. A single key hung from it.

The mohawked leader of the punks snorted again. He looked over at Derrin. "Next time you steal from us, you’re dead," he said. He turned to his group. "Let’s get out of here."

Paul watched as the punks started to leave. All of them walked in single file towards the exit. However, one of them remained behind.

Vesuvius turned and headed back. He walked up to the door to room 208 and stuck the key from Derrin in it. Click. The door opened.

"Vesuvius! What are you doing?" the mohawked leader said.

The rest of the kids stared in horror as the door opened, revealing a room that illuminated brightly inside.

*

Drake Amundson revved his motorcycle while he waited outside Port Arthur High School. He spat out the chewing tobacco he had been grinding his teeth on and then rubbed his mohawk. He hated this school with a passion. Halfway through the first semester, he had been expelled after a junior principal found a hunting knife in his locker. He knew that it had been planted on him by his enemies but lacking proof, and lacking a good reputation, he had no hope of remaining there.

But that didn’t stop him from controlling his gang. Many of his members were still in school, and it was today, the last day of school, that he had returned to pick up one of his members.

The last bell rang and a few minutes later, the member in question emerged from the entrance that Drake waited outside. When he got closer, Drake bitched at him. "Hurry up! I ain’t got all day."

The tall, silent kid with a nose piercing made no reaction as he got on the back of the motorcycle. "Hey," Drake said. "What’s that on your chain?" he asked, referring to the kid’s wallet chain.

A keychain with a lone key dangled from it. The kid smiled. "It’s the master key," he said.

"The master key?" Drake asked.

"For the school. You can open any door with it," the kid said.

Drake grinned widely. "Vesuvius! You’re fucking amazing. You did it for me, didn’t you?"

Vesuvius nodded.

"Fucking A’ man. Tomorrow, we’re gonna go back to the school and jack up the principal’s shit. I’m giving him payback for expelling me without proof," Drake said.

BOOM.

The ground shook. The school’s main entrance blasted open and thick smoke billowed out.

Drake and Vesuvius sat on the bike motionless for a few seconds before one of them reacted to the scene. "What the hell? Did you do that?" Drake asked.

"No, of course not. You think I’d be able to sneak a bomb through the metal detectors?" Vesuvius said.

"Fuck this, let’s get the hell out of here," Drake said as he hit the throttle.

*

Drake stared at Vesuvius, who stood outside the now opened door of Room 208. "What did you just do?"

"This is why I got the key. You can go if you want," Vesuvius said as he slipped the keychain into one of the front pockets on his biker jacket.

"Whatever. See you later," Drake said as he walked off with the others in his troupe following.

Paul walked towards the door. He peered inside, but could not see anything other than pure, blinding light. Storell grabbed his arm. "We should get out of here," she said.

Paul turned around to face her. "Yeah, you’re right. Brady, Xecure, let’s go."

The moment he said that, Pernwall walked into the room and vanished. Paul turned and looked inside the room. He couldn’t see Pernwall at all. "What happened? Where’d he go?" Paul said.

Montgomery hesitated for a moment, but then stepped in. She vanished as well.

"Montgomery!" Earchon Franche cried out. She walked in.

Three people had disappeared before everyone’s eyes in a matter of seconds.

"Guys, don’t go in! Otherwise you’ll be gone for good!" Paul warned. "Remember what happened to Bennett and the others!"

Vesuvius, without saying a word, walked in. Followed by Derrin and a few other kids.

"Paul, they’re not listening. We better just save ourselves," Brady said.

"Wait, where’s Xecure?" Storell asked.

The three of them looked around frantically, only to see Xecure near the door. "Xec’! What are you doing?" Paul shouted.

"I’m sorry guys, but I need to find out what’s going on," Xecure said as he stepped into the room.

"Fuck man, I can’t leave him alone. He’s like a brother to me," Brady said. "Guys, I’m sorry," were his last words as he barged into the room.

Those who had entered the room, they were all gone. Paul looked inside as much as he could, from every angle, trying to see where they were hiding, if they were hiding, but he couldn’t see a damn thing. He couldn’t even see anything in the room. He felt like he was staring into nothingness.

Paul looked around and noticed that just himself, Storell, and a couple other girls remained outside the room. One of the girls had a camera out and she had recorded the entire scene. "Hey," Paul said to her, "we should probably go to the police or something."

"Yeah, you’re right. This is so disturbing—" the girl got cut off as the ground started shaking.

"What’s going on?" said the other girl.

It felt like an earthquake, similar to what Paul and Storell had experienced yesterday when Room 210 exploded. The ceiling started to collapse. Rubble piled up on both sides, trapping the four remaining kids. "If we don’t go in, we’re going to die!" Storell shouted.

Paul nodded. He grabbed Storell’s hand and the two jumped into the room.

…