Andy was bored. He didn't care if she came out or not now.
That wasn't true, but that's almost what he felt.
That's how bored he was. She'd been in there for about an hour now and he was hungry.
Ed was whispering to another policeman with a uniform on. Ed called him Thomas. Thomas went away and Ed asked Andy to come to the door.
"We haven't been able to find the caretaker, Mr. White. He is the only person with all the keys to the school, so we can't get the key to the music room." said Ed quietly.
"Oh. How will Cheryl get out then?"
Ed's friend, the lady sat down next to him;
"Now don't get excited Andy, but we're going to have to break down the door."
"Wow!" said Andy all excited.
"If you look along the corridor" said Ed, "you can see what we're going to use to open it."
He looked and saw Thomas carrying a big metal thing.
"Is it heavy?"
"Yes. Very." said Ed, "That's why we need you to tell Cheryl to stay back from the door."
"We thought it might be better if you said it to her. She knows you and seems to respond better to you than any of the grown ups here." said the lady.
Andy felt very proud.
"Do you remember what to say?" she prompted.
He nodded.
"Ready." said Thomas, holding the big metal thing.
Andy looked through the keyhole. He hadn't looked for a while. She wasn't under the piano anymore. He couldn't see her at all.
"I can't see her." he said.
"That's okay. She might be hiding somewhere. Say it now." said the lady.
"Cheryl, you have to stay back from the door. Don't be scared!" He shouted.
The lady pulled him back from the door as Thomas hit it with the big metal thing. It swang back really hard and Ed walked into the room. The lady followed him and Andy followed her.
"Cheryl where are you?" she called.
The room was empty. Well, there was a piano and the blackboard and stuff, but Cheryl had gone. Ed tried the other door in the room.
"Dammit! The storeroom is locked. Where the fuck did she go!?"
"Edward! Not in front of the kid...She can't be far."
But Andy didn't really notice Ed Briggs swearing, he noticed the window.
"The window is open." he said.
All the grown ups looked at the window, then at each other. The lady ran first and then Ed. Andy ran after them into the corridor. He saw them running off in different directions. He felt a big hand holding his shoulder firmly.
"Where do you think you're off to young man?"
"I can help. I hid here with Cheryl. I know some places she might be."
"You can tell me all about it on the way back to main reception. We don't want two kids going missing this afternoon. Detective Briggs and Officer Bennett can handle it. She can't have gone far."
"But –"
"Besides" he confided, kneeling down in front of Andy, "if you run off now, I'll get in trouble. You wouldn't want that would you Andy?"
"Sorry Thomas." he said as he pushed him over and ran as hard as he could and ran through the doors, across the hallway and into the nearest room. Having already chosen to use his favorite hiding place he bolted over to the lockers, squeezed inside and pulled the door to. Thomas came in then, so he had to be quiet. He could hear footsteps coming up to where he was hiding. Thomas tried one locker, then another. Andy remembered that you could turn the lock from the inside, so he moved it silently into place. Thomas rattled the door. Andy held his breath. Thomas stopped and stepped back.
"Ah crap. Where did he go?" he sighed and moved on. When Andy heard footsteps in the next classroom he quietly unlocked himself, tiptoed across the room and poked his head out of the door. Seeing the coast was clear, he sneaked along the corridor and made his way stealthily down the stairs.
Andy crept into the yard. Him and Cheryl had hidden in the clock tower a few times. He couldn't see the detective or his friend so he let himself into the tower.
It wasn't how he remembered it. There was a ladder going up to the clock before, now there was only one going down. It was very weird but Andy had seen weirder things since he'd arrived here. He climbed down and ran along the dark tunnel at the bottom.
He stopped. He could hear someone crying. It was difficult to see here. It was like night time. But he had gotten used to the dark.
He felt around and found another ladder. He climbed up to the top. He couldn't see anything now. All the light had gone. The crying was close.
"Hello?" Andy whispered nervously.
"Go away." snapped Cheryl.
"Cheryl, everyone's looking for you."
"We don't want you here."
"Is there someone else here?"
"You wouldn't understand."
He stood for a moment without talking. She was right, he didn't understand.
Cheryl sniffed.
"How did you get in the music room? The detective said it was locked."
"I don't know. I felt safe there."
"So why did you run away?"
"She wants me to go back."
"Who wants you to go back?"
"But I don't want to go."
"Don't go then. The detective and the lady and Thomas are really nice. And the teacher too. It's safe there. You don't have to be scared anymore. Please don't go back there."
Andy realized he was crying. Cheryl took his hand.
"I have to. Daddy's in trouble."
"Then tell the detective. He could help."
"No Andy, I don't want anyone else to get hurt."
"Then I'll go with you. Let me come too."
"No. You won't be safe there. I can't protect you and help Daddy at the same time. Please go back and tell them you haven't seen me."
Andy didn't want anything bad to happen to Cheryl, but he didn't want anything bad to happen to Mr. Mason either. He lay down and began to sob. She knelt beside him and gently stroked his hair.
"Andy" she said softly, like a grown up, "it's going to be okay. I'll see you again I promise. Please do what I said."
She stood up.
"I have to go now."
She walked through a door that Andy hadn't seen. She was gone.
It took him a while but he stopped himself from crying. He got up and found the ladder. He climbed back down to tell everyone what he hadn't seen.