“Okay,” I said. “Go ahead, Erin. You go. Then I’ll go. Then Lefty. We’ll all
beat Zack’s record.”
Erin and Lefty clapped. April groaned and rolled her eyes. Zack grinned.
It’s no big deal, I told myself. I’ve done it three times already. It’s
perfectly painless. And if you just stay cool and wait patiently, you come right
back the way you were.
“Does anyone have a watch?” Erin asked. “We need to keep time so I know what
time I have to beat.”
I could see that Erin was really into this competition.
Lefty seemed really excited, too. And of course Zack would compete in
anything.
Only April was unhappy about the whole thing. She walked silently to the back
of the room and sat down on the floor with her back against the wall, her arms
folded over her knees.
“Hey, you’re the only one with a watch,” Erin called to April. “So you be the
timer, okay?”
April nodded without enthusiasm. She raised her wrist and stared down at her
watch. “Okay. Get ready.”
Erin took a deep breath and stepped up to the mirror. She closed her eyes,
reached up, and tugged the light chain.
The light came on with a bright flash. Erin disappeared.
“Oh, wow!” she cried. “This is way cool!”
“How does it feel?” April called from behind us, her eyes glancing from the
mirror to her watch.
“I don’t feel any different at all,” Erin said. “What a great way to lose
weight!”
“Fifteen seconds,” April announced.
Lefty’s hair suddenly stood straight up in the air. “Cut it out, Erin!” he
shouted, twisting away from her invisible hands.
We heard Erin laugh from somewhere near Lefty.
Then we heard her footsteps as she walked out of the room and into the attic.
We saw an old coat rise up into the air and dance around. After it dropped back
into its carton, we saw an old magazine fly up and its pages appear to flip
rapidly.
“This is so much fun!” Erin called to us. The magazine dropped back onto the
stack. “I can’t
wait
to go outside like this and really scare people!”
“One minute,” April called. She hadn’t moved from her sitting position
against the wall.
Erin moved around the attic for a while, making things fly and float. Then
she returned to the little room to admire herself in the mirror.
“I’m really invisible!” we heard her exclaim excitedly. “Just like in a movie
or something!”
“Yeah. Great special effects!” I said.
“Three minutes,” April announced.
Erin continued to enjoy herself until about four minutes had passed. Then her
voice suddenly changed. She started to sound doubtful, frightened.
“I—I don’t like this,” she said. “I feel kind of strange.”
April jumped to her feet and ran up to me. “Bring her back!” she demanded.
“Hurry!”
I hesitated.
“Yes. Bring me back,” Erin said weakly.
“But you haven’t beaten my record!” Zack declared. “Are you sure—?”
“Yes. Please. I don’t feel right.” Erin suddenly sounded far away.
I stepped up to the mirror and pulled the chain. The light clicked off.
We waited for Erin to return.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Just… weird,” she replied. She was standing right next to me, but I
still couldn’t see her.
It took nearly three minutes for Erin to reappear. Three very tense minutes.
When she shimmered back into view, she shook herself like a dog shaking water
off after a bath. Then she grinned at us reassuringly. “I’m okay. It was really
terrific. Except for the last few seconds.”
“You didn’t beat my record,” Zack reported happily. “You came so close. But
you folded. Just like a girl.”
“Hey—” Erin gave Zack a hard shove. “Stop being such a jerk.”
“But you only had fifteen seconds to go, and you wimped out!” Zack told her.
“I don’t care,” Erin insisted, frowning angrily at him. “It was really neat.
I’ll beat your record next time, Zack.”
“I’m going to be the winner,” Lefty announced. “I’m going to stay invisible
for a whole day. Maybe two!”
“Whoa!” I cried. “That might be dangerous, Lefty.”
“It’s Max’s turn next,” Zack announced. “Unless you want to forfeit.”
“No way,” I said, glancing at Erin. Reluctantly, I stepped up to the mirror
and took a deep breath. “Okay, Zack, say good-bye to your record,” I said,
trying to sound calm and confident.
I didn’t really want to do it, I admitted to myself. But I didn’t want to
look like a chicken in front of the others. For one thing, if I did wimp out, I
knew that Lefty would only remind me of it twenty or thirty times a day for the
rest of my life.
So I decided to go ahead and do it.
“One thing,” I said to Zack. “When I call out ‘ready’, that means I want to
come back. So when I say ‘ready’, you pull the light chain as fast as you can—okay?”
“Gotcha,” Zack replied, his expression turning serious. “Don’t worry. I’ll
bring you back instantly.” He snapped his fingers. “Like that. Remember, Max,
you’ve got to beat five minutes.”
“Okay. Here goes,” I said, staring at my reflection in the mirror.
I suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
A real bad feeling.
But I reached up and pulled on the light anyway.
When the glaring light dimmed, I stared hard into the mirror.
The reflections were bright and clear. Against the back wall, I could see
April, slumped on the floor, staring intently at her watch.
Lefty stood near the wall to the right, gaping at the spot where I had stood,
a silly grin on his face. Zack stood next to him, his arms crossed over his
chest, also staring into the mirror. Erin leaned against the wall to the left.
Her eyes were on the light above the mirror frame.
And where was I?
Standing right in front of the mirror. Right in the center of it. Staring at
their reflections. Staring at the spot where my reflection should be.
Only it wasn’t.
I felt perfectly normal.
Experimenting, I kicked the floor. My invisible sneakers made the usual
scraping sound.
I grabbed my left arm with my right hand and squeezed it. It felt perfectly normal.
“Hi, everyone,” I said. I sounded the same as ever.
Only I was invisible.
I glanced up at the light, casting a yellow rectangle down onto the mirror.
What was the light’s power? I wondered.
Did it do something to your molecules? Make them break apart somehow so you
couldn’t be seen?
No. That wasn’t a good theory. If your molecules broke up, you’d
have
to feel it. And you wouldn’t be able to kick the floor, or squeeze your arm, or
talk.
So what did the light do? Did it cover you up somehow? Did the light form
some kind of blanket? A covering that hid you from yourself and everyone else?
What a mystery!
I had the feeling I’d never be able to figure it out, never know the answer.
I turned my eyes away from the light. It was starting to hurt my eyes.
I closed my eyes, but the bright glare stayed with me. Two white circles that
refused to dim.
“How do you feel, Max?” Erin’s voice broke into my thoughts.
“Okay, I guess,” I said. My voice sounded weird to me, kind of far away.
“Four minutes, thirty seconds,” April announced.
“The time went so fast,” I said.
At least, I thought I said it. I realized I couldn’t tell if I was saying the
words or just thinking them.
The bright yellow light glowed even brighter.
I had the sudden feeling that it was pouring over me, surrounding me.
Pulling me.
“I—I feel weird,” I said.
No response.
Could they hear me?
The light folded over me. I felt myself begin to float.
It was a frightening feeling. As if I were losing control of my body.
“Ready!” I screamed. “Zack—ready! Can you hear me, Zack?”
It seemed to take Zack hours to reply. “Okay,” I heard him say. His voice
sounded so tiny, so far away.
Miles and miles away.
“Ready!” I cried. “Ready!”
“Okay!” Again I heard Zack’s voice.
But the light was so bright, so blindingly bright. Waves of yellow light
rolling over me. Ocean waves of light.
Sweeping me away with it.
“Pull the chain, Zack!” I screamed. At least, I
think
I was screaming.
The light was tugging me so hard, dragging me away, far, far away.
I knew I would float away. Float forever.
Unless Zack pulled the chain and brought me back.
“Pull it! Pull it!
Please
—pull it!”
“Okay.”
I saw Zack step up to the mirror.
He was blurred in shadows. He stepped through dark shadows, on the other side
of the light.
So far away.
I felt so feather light.
I could see Zack in the shadows. He jumped up. He grabbed the lamp chain.
He pulled it down hard.
The light didn’t click off. It glowed even brighter.
And then I saw Zack’s face fill with horror.
He held up his hand. He was trying to show me something.
He had the chain in his hand.
“Max, the chain—” he stammered. “It broke off. I can’t turn off the light!”
Beyond the shimmering wall of yellow light, Zack’s outstretched hand came
clearly into my view. The dark chain dangled from his hand like a dead snake.
“It broke off!” he was crying, sounding very alarmed.
I stared through the light at the chain, feeling myself hovering beside Zack,
floating, fading.
Somewhere far in the distance, April was screaming. I couldn’t make out her
words.
Lefty stood frozen in the center of the room. It seemed strange to see him
standing so still. He was always moving, always bouncing, running, falling. But
now he, too, stood staring at the chain.
The light shimmered brighter.
I saw sudden movement.
Someone was crossing the room. I struggled to focus.
It was Erin. She was dragging a large cardboard box across the floor. The scraping sound it made seemed so far away.
Feeling myself being pulled away, I struggled to watch her. She pulled the
box next to the mirror. Then she climbed up onto it.
I saw her reaching up to the lamp. I saw her staring into the light.
I wanted to ask her what she was doing, but I was too far away. I was
floating off. I felt so light, so feather light.
And as I floated, the yellow light spread over me. It covered me. Pulled me.
And then with startling suddenness, it was gone.
And all was darkness.
“I did it!” Erin proclaimed.
I heard her explaining to the others. “There was a little bit of chain left
up there. I pulled it and turned off the light.” Her eyes darted frantically
around the room, searching for me. “Max—are you okay? Can you hear me?”
“Yeah. I’m okay,” I replied.
I felt better. Stronger. Closer.
I stepped up to the mirror and searched for my reflection.
“That was scary,” Lefty said behind me.
“I can feel myself coming back,” I told them.
“What was his time?” Zack asked April.
April’s features were tight with worry. Sitting against the wall, she looked pale and uncomfortable. “Five forty-eight,” she
told Zack. And then quickly added, “I really think this stupid competition is a
big mistake.”
“You beat my record!” Zack groaned, turning to where he figured I was
standing. “I don’t believe it! Almost six minutes!”
“I’m going for longer than that,” Lefty said, pushing past Zack and stepping
up to the mirror.
“We have to fix the chain first,” Erin told him. “It’s too hard to keep
climbing up on a box to pull that little piece of chain.”
“I felt pretty strange at the end,” I told them, still waiting to reappear.
“The light grew brighter and brighter.”
“Did you feel like you were being pulled away?” Erin asked.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Like I was fading or something.”
“That’s how
I
started to feel,” Erin cried.
“This is just so dangerous,” April said, shaking her head.
I popped back.
My knees buckled and I almost fell to the floor. But I grabbed the mirror and
held myself up. After a few seconds, my legs felt strong again. I took a few
steps and regained my balance.
“What if we couldn’t turn off the light?” April demanded, climbing to her
feet, brushing the dust off the back of her jeans with both hands. “What if the chain completely
broke and the light stayed on? What then?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You broke my record,” Zack said, making a disgusted face. “That means I have
to have another turn.”
“No way!” Lefty shouted. “It’s my turn next!”
“None of you are listening to me!” April cried. “Answer my question. What if
one of you is invisible and the light won’t go out?”
“That won’t happen,” Zack told her. He pulled a string from his pocket.
“Here. I’m going to tie this tightly to the chain.” He climbed up onto the box
and began to work. “Pull the string. The light goes out,” he told April. “No
problem.”
“Which one of us is going to be first to get invisible and then go outside?”
Erin asked.
“I want to go to school and terrorize Miss Hawkins,” Lefty said, snickering.
Miss Hawkins is his social studies teacher. “She’s been terrorizing me ever
since school started. Wouldn’t it be cool just to sneak up behind her and say,
‘Hi, Miss Hawkins’? And she’d turn around and there’d be no one there?”
“That’s the best you can do?” Erin scoffed. “Lefty, where’s your imagination?
Don’t you want to make the chalk fly out of her hand, and the chalkboard erasers
fly across the room, and the wastebasket spill everything out on her desk, and her yogurt fly into her
face?”
“Yeah! That’s way cool!” Lefty exclaimed.
I laughed. It was a funny idea. The four of us could go around, completely
invisible, doing whatever we wanted. We could wreck the whole school in ten
minutes! Everyone would be screaming and running out the doors. What a goof!