“Then what does it matter if I say the words? I know you’re there,” Will said again, still grinning like it 215was all a joke. It was weird to see him smiling. I didn’t think I’d seen him do so once since I’d met him.

The moment he’d finished speaking, the light in the Strangers’ Room flickered out. One of the girls – I guessed it was Emily – shrieked as utter darkness swept over them, as inky and fathomless as the bottom of a well.

“The window!” Emily cried, her voice hysterical. “There’s someone over by the window. I saw them! I SAW THEM!”

Will flicked his phone torch on and pointed it at the window. He was too far away to illuminate it properly, and the shadows seemed to slither around it like snakes. I clearly saw the word JUMP! painted on the wall.

“Jesus, Em!” he said. “There’s no one there! You probably just saw your own reflection in the glass. Get a grip!”

But Kenzie was staring at the window too, and she was much closer to it than the others. Suddenly something changed, and a look of absolute horror contorted her face. It made her appear almost not human. Her entire body shrank into a cringe as she started to turn towards the others. Her voice was 216so quiet that I saw, rather than heard, her say, “Oh God—!”

And then the torch on Will’s phone must have malfunctioned because they were plunged into darkness once more, thick and suffocating. The screen of the phone was completely black, and I could only tell it was still recording because of the sound. It was hard to tell exactly what happened after that. Something – I guessed it was the door – slammed closed with such a loud BANG that I could hear plaster raining down from the ceiling in chunks.

Will was calling Kenzie’s name, and somebody was crying. There was the sound of scuffling and panting in the dark, and then Kenzie – it must have been Kenzie – saying, “Get out! Get out!” But her voice sounded strange and different from how it had before. In fact, it was hard to tell who was talking during the next few moments.

“Where’s the door?”

“There’s someone in here with us!”

“Get out!”

“Will, let go! You’re hurting me!”

“I’m not touching you!”

Will’s phone was jerking around wildly, and 217every now and then I could catch a flash of light that I guessed was a reflection from the mirror, or moonlight bouncing off the window. The camera was moving so fast that it was hard to tell what I was looking at, but at one point I thought I saw someone standing facing the window. Will must have thought the same because I heard him say, “Kenzie, get away from the window!”