Chapter 5 - Falling Down A Window

The two girls stood in the hallway, utterly agog.

“If he thinks we’re just going to wait here holding this ridiculous bowl while they’re in there cooking up some other scheme, he is sorely mistaken,” whispered Amanda. Zoe nodded in agreement, and the two girls silently darted down the hall. They were just about to open the study door when Oliver emerged from the master bedroom, brandishing a can of shaving cream.

“I finally foun—” He stopped short when he saw the girls. A look of fear crossed his face, followed closely by confusion as he caught sight of Amanda’s hands. “Hey, what are you doing with the bowl?”

They stared at him, unable to answer immediately due to their own confusion. Amanda finally found her tongue. “Kyan gave it to us—how were you still in the bedroom? We saw you go in there with Kyan.” Her finger swept toward the study door.

“What are you talking about? I’ve been in the bathroom looking for the shaving cream.”

“But we saw—”

“Someone,” said Zoe, finishing Amanda’s sentence. “We didn’t actually see his face.”

“Yeah, but who else could it be?” asked Amanda.

“Well, it wasn’t me because I’m standing right here,” said Oliver, getting nervous.

“Obviously,” said Zoe, “but Kyan is in there...with somebody else.”

“But who?” insisted Amanda.

“Go in and find out,” said Zoe, nudging her friend toward the door.

“Fine, I’ll do it, but take this.”

Amanda handed Zoe the bowl of water, and Zoe, not finding it necessary to be holding a bowl of water at that particular moment, set it down on a narrow table that sat against the wall. Oliver followed suit, placing the shaving cream by the bowl. He wanted to have both hands free and ready to defend himself in case anything happened.

Amanda took a deep breath, turned the knob, and gave the door a little shove. It swung in but then stopped, where it got stuck on something halfway along its path. What was that? Huh… A picture frame. What was a picture frame doing on the floor? … And what happened to the carpet? She looked up.

No stranger in sight, but Kyan was there. Well, the top part of him anyway. Everything below his chest dangled through a glowing window embedded in the floor, his arms clasping tightly to the windowsill. Amanda gave the door an extra push, and it opened wide, the picture frame clambering out of the way. That’s when they noticed the strange orientation of the room.

Kyan looked up when he heard his friends gasp. Suddenly, he lost his grip and fell deeper into the opening. The only part of him left visible was a set of white knuckles clinging to the ledge.

The girls rushed into the room and grabbed Kyan’s hands, trying desperately to pull him up.

“What…the flip…is going oooooooon?” Amanda gasped through clenched teeth.

“I just… I wanted… I’m not sure!” sputtered Kyan, trying to pull himself back up. But even with the girls’ help, he was nowhere near to getting out of the hole. “Oh snarks, I don’t think I can get back out.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t goof off so much during P.E.,” growled Amanda.

She plopped onto her belly and reached down to grab a wad of his shirt. She could feel Oliver holding down her legs. Amanda pulled mightily, grimacing with the effort, but then something strange occurred. As she looked at Kyan, she could see his brain working, and then he appeared to have a moment of clarity. He suddenly stopped struggling to pull himself up.

“It’s OK, this is a sign. I have to go. I can’t explain.”

“What the banana nut muffin are you talking about?!” Amanda found it very difficult to keep her voice down, but she didn’t want to wake Mr. Pufferly. And she especially did not want Mr. Pufferly waking up to a Kyan-disappeared-through-a-scary-glowing-window situation. She got a better grip on his arm, grabbed a bigger wad of his shirt, and pulled even harder. Meanwhile, Zoe attempted to wrangle his other arm.

“I have to,” said Kyan, “it’s my dad.”

And with that, he let go and slipped through their hands. Amanda came up dumbfounded, holding out Kyan’s empty shirt. Oliver let out a surprised yell, but his sister cut him off by jamming her hands, shirt and all, over his mouth.

“Will you be quiet?” Amanda whispered. “You’re going to wake Mr. Pufferly.”

Oliver pried her hands off his face. “I don’t care!” he said, though he couldn’t help whispering too. “Kyan just fell through a window!”

Zoe scampered over to the door and quickly closed it. Then they noticed a change: the light coming from the window began to undulate irregularly and grow dim, until it went dark, and the window slowly slid shut. Oliver let out another yelp. His sister glared at him in the muted glow of a small nightlight, the only illumination left in the room.

“What?” squeaked Oliver. “That is creepy!”

“He didn’t fall, he jumped,” said Zoe.

Oliver looked at her, incredulous.

“He didn’t jump! He was trying to get back out!”

“He let go on purpose. So to me, that means he jumped—he wanted to go in.” Zoe paused in contemplation. “I wonder what he meant when he said it was his dad.”

“Does it really matter?” asked Oliver.

“Of course it matters. Don’t you want to know why Kyan jumped down a window? Or why this room is turned sideways?”

“I just want to know how we’re going to get him back!”

Zoe’s eyes returned to the window, and she stood there staring, lost in thought.

“That’s exactly what we have to do,” she said, almost to herself.

“What?” the other two asked in unison.

“We are going to get him back. We have to go in after him.” Zoe looked back at her companions, who were now staring at her as if she were a little bit crazy. Well, the look on Oliver’s face said she was a lot crazy. He had never heard Zoe talk all that much, and now that she was, all sorts of nonsense were coming out of her mouth.

“Don’t you guys want to see what’s down there?” she urged. She looked directly at Amanda. “Kyan had the guts to do it.”

Amanda opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She had no retort to that. Suddenly, her face screwed up into a pile of determination—she did not like to be one-upped, especially not by the likes of Kyan.

“You’re right,” she said, “let’s do it. I’m in.”

“You two are nuts!” exclaimed Oliver. “There is no way I’m going down there. Besides, the window’s closed, so we can’t anyway.”

“We’ll just open it, genius,” said Amanda, rolling her eyes at him.

“Not quite yet though,” said Zoe. “We need a plan…or, at the very least, a rope. It’ll have to be a very long rope for all three of us…”

A quick look around was enough to tell her they wouldn’t find anything useful in the study. Besides, there was very little they could reach now that the room was sideways.

“Let’s go look in Kyan’s room,” she suggested, heading toward the door. Amanda moved to follow, but Oliver didn’t budge. He could not believe this was happening. As Zoe opened the door, Oliver suddenly sprang into action. He lunged and slammed it shut, the knob ripping out of Zoe’s hand.

“We can’t do this!” he squealed hysterically.

“SHHHHHHHHH!!! What are you doing? You’re going to wake Mr. Pufferly!” hissed Amanda, pushing him away.

They heard a noise from outside. Zoe cracked open the door and stuck her head out. A very faint “Kids?” came from Mr. Pufferly in the living room. Zoe pulled her head back in and shut the door.

“Well, too late. I guess we’ll have to go without the rope.”

“Are you crazy?” asked Oliver. “This isn’t a joke!”

“That is correct, this is not a joke.” Zoe bolted to the window and knelt beside it. Though it took a bit of effort, she managed to slide the window open, and the room lit up again with the eerie blue glow from the other side.

“Well, who’s first?” she asked, looking at the other two. Amanda stared at the window with no expression on her face. Oliver looked like he wanted to cry. “I guess I’ll go first since it was my idea.” And before anyone could have any second thoughts, Zoe did a little hop and disappeared through the portal. The siblings ran to the edge and looked down into the blue.

“I can’t believe she actually jumped!” said Amanda.

As the window grew dim and began sliding shut, she reached down and pulled it back open. The light grew bright once again, and the window waited patiently for its next traveler.

Another muffled “Kids?” came from Mr. Pufferly, but closer this time, coming down the hall. They both looked at the door.

“All right, let’s go! Jump on in,” said Amanda.

“No way, I’m not going in there. What if we get stuck down there?”

“Oliver, he’s your best friend.”

“Yes. What’s your point?”

“You have to help him. Even Zoe, my best friend, went in to help him. You can’t really be that much of a chicken.”

“You wanna make a bet?” asked Oliver.

They heard Mr. Pufferly go into Kyan’s room next door. Amanda’s voice grew urgent, her words coming out like rapid fire.

“Do you really want to get caught by Mr. Pufferly and have to explain to him that Kyan disappeared down a window, that he may never see his son again, and that you were too much of a scared skunk to go in after him?”

“Don’t you think someone should let him know?”

Amanda rolled her eyes at him again.

“Forget it, just get in there.” She stepped behind him and gave him a little shove.

Oliver’s words trailed off into oblivion as he disappeared through the portal. Amanda followed, slipping through just as the light began to dim. The window slid shut and a few moments later, the room silently shifted and righted itself.