The Haunted Orphanage

Chapter 96

Dan's POV

We threw the door back into place and locked it. Just as soon as Phil turned the lock, someone on the other side was kicking it and screaming things I didn't understand. 

Phil, Nate, and I quickly made it our job to wake up everyone in the room. Mark stayed at the door with Jack and the brown-haired Canadian we identified as Robert. Nate insisted that whatever had been wrong with Robert was fixed since he now seemed awkward and afraid of whoever was on the other side of that door instead of wanting to kill us.

Phil woke Tim up, Nate got Jason, and I took care of Percy.

While we were waiting for everyone to wake up and get alert, I found myself staring at Mark and Jack. Mark seemed almost like he was glaring at Jack, while Jack simply didn't seem like himself.

I found myself not trusting Jack. Something just didn't feel right. I mean, I was aware that he'd been receiving torture and that I shouldn't have judged him too harshly, but something seriously wasn't settling with me.

To add, Jack's irises kept changing from blue to bright green. They would switch back and forth for a few seconds before the bright green remained, or both colors would swirl in the iris together. I tried convincing myself that this was the aftermath of some experiment gone wrong, but the only thought I had left was quite the opposite—it was an experiment gone right.

"Alright, time to go," I instructed in a whisper to keep whoever was on the other side of the door from hearing us. I had to keep myself from getting distracted from our current mission.

Phil carried Sam, and Robert and Mark put Thomas on a blanket to carry him.

I walked over to the wall we found the secret door at with Nate and Percy. I turned the doorknob to try to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Well, shit," I mumbled to myself.

Percy and Nate helped me try to force the door open, but it wasn't having it. It stayed perfectly locked in place.

"You know, for a door as old as this, you'd think it'd pop open a little easier," Percy muttered under his breath while he pulled.

Nate, seeming to realize something, let go of the door and hurriedly felt around his neck.

Whoever was outside of the door started laughing before sinisterly commenting, "She just brought us the key."

Jack quickly grabbed a bed and started pushing it over to the door. I stared at him in disbelief for a second, in shock that someone that scrawny could push a bed, before Percy mumbled, "Whoa."

My attention snapped back to Nate, who was now holding his necklace with two keys tied to it.

"Step out of my way," Nate demanded with confidence I'd never heard from him before.

Percy and I obliged, moving to the sides of the door so Nate had a clear path to the lock. He bent down slightly to line his eyes up with the lock before plugging one of the keys into it and turning it.

He tensed up when he noticed that the key wasn't moving. "Uh-oh."

Something crashed against the door leading to the hallway before a voice yelled, "You can't hide in there forever! It won't be difficult to move an obstacle. Mrs. Myers wants to see you all face to face."

Now, it was my turn to tense up. I took a second to look back at Phil, who was staring right back at me with worried eyes.

I mouthed Who's Mrs. Myers? to him, but before I could receive a response, Mark commented, "I think I've heard that name before."