The Haunted Hangman

Chapter 12

Liam's apartment block towered above us. "Wait here," he whispered.

He scurried into the elevator lobby while we took cover in the dark garden. When he was sure that nobody was around, he waved us forward into the elevator lobby.

Zayn looked around curiously as he stroked his cat. "So different from the houses in my time," he said with a sigh. "Dear old Queen Victoria would have loved a palace like this."

A bell chimed, and the elevator door slid open.

"It looks like a coffin," the hangman grumbled, peering into the cage.

"It's okay, Mr Malik," Liam promised. "It saves us walking all the way to the roof."

We crowded into the cage, and Liam jabbed a button. The door closed, and the cage began its long journey to the top of the building.

"I still don't think this idea will work," muttered Niall, as the cage rumbled up the shaft. "I mean, how are we going to get onto the roof? The doors are always locked."

"Fear not, boy," the hangman said with a grin, "locks don't stand in the way of ghosts. Never have, never will."

"But what about the weather?" Harry wondered our loud, chewing her lip nervously. "It must be very hot up on the roof. You'll burn a crisp. And what happens when it rains? You'll get soaked. You might even catch a cold and die."

"Ghosts aren't affected by the weather," Zayn snorted. "Besides, just think of the view I'll have. I'll be here able to see my enemies coming long before they can see me."

When the elevator shuddered to a stop, we piled out and followed Liam along a corridor. He pushed open a heave metal door and led us up the fire stairs. Our feet clattered eerily in the concrete.

Eventually we reached another metal door at the top of the stairs. Beside it stood a fire control box and a fireman's hose rolled up on a reel. The door was securely bolted with a huge padlock on a chain.

"Turn around," whispered the hangman. "I don't want you to see what am I about to do."

We did as he said.

The next moment, we heard a mysterious crunching sound followed by a loud, echoing clang.

When Zayn told us we could turn around, we saw the padlock had been squeezed into a pulp and the broken chain dangled from the door frame.

Niall gasped in amazement. "How did you did that?"

Zayn tapped the side of his smashed nose with a gloved finger. "That's a ghost secret boy. You have to die before they teach you tricks like that."

Without another word, Zayn gave the heavy door a push and it swung open. "All clear," he said and stepped out onto the roof.

His cat mewed at the sight that greeted us.

We gazed across the rooftops if the neighbouring blocks. The sky loomed above our heads. I had the feeling that we could almost reach up and touch the stars - that's how high we were.

In the distance I could see the canal, snaking it's way through the suburbs. It was a ribbon of colored reflections.

The soft murmur of traffic sounded from the streets far beneath our feet. A television was playing in an apartment below.

A stiff breeze stroked the rooftop, causing our clothes to flap against outlet bodies.

"Lou, I feel giddy already," Harry whispered, his eyes fastened on the low parapet that surrounded the roof. "I don't want to go near the edge. I can't stand heights."

And then he screamed.

An earsplitting scream that might have come from the pits of hell.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

iLoveCarrots_1D