My Friend Paul: First Spark

Chapter 5 The Strange Market

C5. The Strange Market

We move to the narrow passage. Matt on the lead, followed by Erna. They are talking in hushed voices and sounded like they are arguing. Paul glances back and smiles at me. "We're going to school!" he mouthed.

"You believe them?" I ask him silently over his shoulders.

"I read the letter!" he says, pulling slightly a torn envelope from his shorts.

I dab my pocket out of reflex. It's still there. So it's this letter that convinced him. . . . This blue letter.

"What happened to you?" Paul asks. "We can't find you because of that stupid shirt. Stupid junkies all around. I regret I gave that to you, I've been stupid. We're lucky these two showed up."

"Yeah," I say. "What's with the letter? I can't understand mine."

"Well, it's an invitation. Not that much was said on it. But Matt explained everything. Free tuition, free dorm, free food. Wait, what's the color of your envelope?"

"It's blue," I say.

"We're both Eagles!"

"You're a pig. What eagles are you talking about?"

Paul suddenly halt in the middle of the alley. "Aw," he complains. "that's my foot."

"Idiot," I say. "Just walk or I'll push you."

"Look," he says. He stands sideways and nods to Erna's direction. . . .

Matt and Erna were gone!

"They disappeared!" I exclaim.

"Nah," he says. "There's a door. Look."

Paul scratched the gray wall, but to my surprise the solid looking blocks crumple like a curtain on his hand, revealing a hidden door. He steps inside and motioned me to follow.

"Cool, isn't it?" he says. "Don't be afraid, Lo'. We've been here a while ago. Come and see. It's wonderful down there, you will not believe." Paul smiles and stretch his arm to me. I hold his hand and hear our balloons kiss each other in the air, then I peek inside the secret entrance.

At first, I can't recognize what I'm looking at. The daylight scarcely enters the passageway and an orange light illuminates what I understand as a downstair. Matt and Erna appeared below on the landing, holding four flame torches and looking up at us.

"They call this place Mo-og," Paul says. "It's really spooky here, to be honest. Matt also told me that the school is also partly underground, like this place. Blimey, no one knows this tunnel except us. Those idiots driving us out of our space on church will drool if they see this place. There's a lot of empty rooms to sleep in!"

We stepped inside and Paul released his hold of the curtain wall; suddenly, all the noises outside was replaced by the distant flickering noise of fire from the four torches Erna and Matt are holding. The place is eerily quiet and I can almost hear Paul's breathing and heartbeat.

"You sure about this?" I ask him. The place is almost suffocating and I can the feel panic rushing up my head. I stretch my hand to the wall behind us; it is cold and rough and heavy to the touch, but I can weirdly push my hand on it as if it is a heavily soiled carpet hanged on the corridor ceiling.

"Let's go," Matt calls below.

We go down the stair holding hands, careful not to slip. This corridor is wide enough for a small car to pass, only if that car can run down a slippery staircases. They hand both of us our own torches as soon as we reached the landing.