Do not enter!

Chapter 8

Alice felt sorry for the construction site herself. She and her parents walked past the structure of steel girders before going the last part of the journey to the school. The school was just as quiet as the desolate site. The parents were alright with having to stop next to the school and turning around. "Do you think anything is going to happen to that construction site?" Alice asked her parents. Her mother sighed and shook her head. "I don't know Alice. I truly don't know. I am hoping that the lot that the construction site is on would be used for something that would help the community. Then again, it could be wasting away." She answered. "I think something will happen to that construction site in the future. You'll never know. Another construction company would tear down and recycle the steel girders and build the small mall that the community is longing for." The father said optimistically. "I don't know if a small mall is going to be built there at all. There might be a different building that might be built on the lot that the steel girders stand on." The mother countered, feeling unsure. The family still felt sad as they all walked back home while they saw the abandoned construction site coming up. Alice saw how sad the lot appeared with nobody finishing the construction.

As the parents looked both ways, Alice gazed at the steel structure. It appeared as if there was somebody standing on one of the high horizontal girders. "Mom, dad, there's somebody on the building!" Alice shouted in alarm as she stared up to the highest point of the building where a construction worker was standing. The family stopped in their tracks. The parents surveyed the areas of the building where she was looking at. There was nobody standing on anyone of the girders. Then they both looked at Alice. "Are you sure there was somebody up there?" The father asked. "No, I thought somebody was there for a second." Alice responded as she looked at the horizontal girders. There was nothing standing on the girder building frame. Alice looked back at her parents and observed "Maybe it was just my imagination." The parents crossed the street. "I don't know about that Alice." Her father said as he looked in the small cracks in the wooden fence. "Sometimes vandals come to abandoned buildings like this one. They will be doing some graffiti on the walls, and on the building itself. Or even trying to destroy the building down without permission." The father explained as he moved his head slowly away from the wooden fence. "Well, I don't want this building to be vandalized. I want it to be a small mall that will serve the people living nearby. That way, people could meet and talk to each other." The mother piped in. The father smiled. Then the family set off back home. On their home, somebody was watching. James was watching the family by standing on the girder.

The ghost watched and faded away once Alice and her family were out of sight when they started to walk on the street that intersects with the street that their house was on. The family came back in time for lunch. The rest of the day was calm. Alice rode in the car to go to school on Monday. She didn't want to encounter Amelia, Liam, or Rosalie. Then again, Alice hoped that they would become a nicer. However she was wrong. Alice came to school early. She said "Goodbye." to her parents and went inside the school. Alice felt revolted on the inside when she saw Liam leaning on her locker. "Hey squirrel, did you bring any acorns for lunch?" He wondered with a delinquent smile. "Can you move away from my locker please?" Alice demanded. "The real question is that where have you gotten your acorns from?" Liam still held a smile on his face. "Are you going to waste your time teasing me, or do you want to be expelled?" Liam's smile didn't fade away. Instead, he stood only an inch away from Alice's locker. As he walked away, "See you later squirrel, I'll bring lots of acorns for you." Liam spoke. He still felt that it was funny teasing Alice a little. Alice went to put her things in her locker. She couldn't believe that Liam is still teasing her after getting into trouble with the principal. Suddenly, the light above Liam flickered once. He looked up. The light didn't flicker again. Liam made a smirk at Alice before turning around to prepare himself for class. The next light in front of him flickered. Liam felt that it was just a problem with the light. "Loser." A hoarse voice whispered into his ear. Liam looked all around him. He was even more baffled. Then the light above him started to flicker. Liam didn't let that bother him. He then continued to his locker. "Loser. That's what you are." The same hoarse voice whispered into his ear. Liam looked around him again. "Okay guys. You can come out now." Liam said as he looked at the custodian's door. He thought that his friends were hiding in the small room that had all of the things a custodian needs.

Alice took no notice of Liam. She thought that he was going to pull a prank on her. Alice had all of her things put away in the locker. Now all she needed was to wait for her friends. "Why are you making fun of other people loser?" The hoarse voice whispered into his ear. "Hey enough with the prank guys. I know you're in there. You're trying to pull a joke on me using ventriloquism." Alice studied Liam from a distance. She thought that he was strange, or just his immature self. Liam took one step towards the custodian's office. He slipped on the floor as if it were slippery. He fell on his back. "Oww." Liam commented, as he felt his behind and his shoulder blades to be a bit sore. Alice saw him slip. She examined the hallway, but only from a small distance away from her locker. There was no sign used by the custodian to indicate that the floor was slippery. Liam tried to push himself up. He was only able to push himself up so that he could be on his knees. "This is not funny anymore guys." Liam adduced as he tried to get himself back up again. However, when he was able to get himself standing. He noticed that there wasn't any yellow sign used by the custodian. The floor didn't appear slippery or wet sign from where he was standing. Liam than noticed a pool of water coming from underneath the custodian's closet. He felt that he should tell an adult right away. He turned and went in the direction of the principal's office. He only slipped again and landed on his chest. Alice had her two hands against her mouth. "That's got to hurt." She said in her mind. "Loser, you deserve to be slipping. Making fun of people makes you a loser." The hoarse voice whispered in Liam's left ear. "Wait a minute! Liam said as he struggled to get himself sitting upwards. "Who is this?" "Why are you being a brat? Making fun of other people." The hoarse voice whispered into his left ear. "Wait a minute, whoever, you are, I want to talk." Liam offered as pushed his chest off the floor. Suddenly, he was flung against the ceiling. Some unknown force has pushed him from the floor. "Ow." Liam said as he felt his shoulder blades hurting more now that they were smacked up against the ceiling. Alice gasped. "What do you want?" Liam queried as he felt himself being glued to the ceiling. Then Liam fell from the ceiling and fell to the floor. He landed on his chest. His chin was a little hurt falling from the ceiling. Then suddenly, this unknown force threw him onto the ceiling again.

"Ow." Liam blurted, even louder than before. "Are you supposed to be making fun of people loser?" The hoarse voice whispered into hie ear. "I'm not a loser." Liam replied. Alice sprinted over near where Liam was stuck to ceiling. Then Liam fell from the ceiling and hit his face on the floor. Tears were coming down his eyes. Then the unknown force lifted him from the floor and onto the ceiling within a second. "What do you want?" Liam demanded. He wanted to be back on the floor and did not want to be flung onto the ceiling again. "Listen, stop making fun of other people. You're just a loser by making fun of others. Please stop it for good." The hoarse voice whispered into his ear. Liam was sad and hurt. "Please let me down. I will not make fun of anybody again. I promise." He pleaded. "Are you sure? How I can not tell if you're lying or not?" The hoarse voice whispered into his ear. "I mean it. I'm not lying, just please let me go. I won't be a loser again." Liam proposed, nearly screaming. He was no longer glued to the ceiling. He was released from the grip of the mysterious force and landed on the floor. "Ow." Liam repeated. Alice walked up to him. Liam tried to push himself up to his knees. He had his face covered with tears and it was also red. Alice held out her hand to help him up. Liam got up on his own. "I think you should go to the school nurse. You don't want your bones broken or something." Alice recommended. Liam was using his arms to wipe away his tears. "Thanks for the tip." Liam sputtered when he calmed down a little. He limped away to see the school nurse. Alice went to the principal's office. She saw her talking with the teacher responsible for attendance. "Morning." Alice told the principal. "Good morning to you too." She spoke in return. The principal saw Liam limping towards the school nurse's office. "What happened Liam?" She asked as he still let out two tears before entering the office. Liam turned to look at her. "I slipped on the went floor next to the janitor's closet." He answered glumly. Alice knew that was only part of the truth. He had been thrown onto the ceiling and onto the floor. And slipped on the wet floor next to the janitor's closet twice. The janitor came from another part of the school. She had short blond hair and was slim. "Excuse me." Alice questioned. She walked up to the janitor. "There's some water that has been leaking from the janitor's closet." The janitor herself couldn't believe what she heard. Alice went to show the janitor what had happened. The janitor couldn't believe her eyes. "I thought I had left the water off." She revealed, feeling a little frustrated.