The clock ticked 9:30 on the wall. Mrs. Singer looked at us from her glasses as she sucked in her cheeks, making her perfectly lined lips pout. The club registration form crumpled under her long acrylic nail. Her hair was all stuffed into a bun, not one hair strand dared to escape. We all stared back at her with anxiousness. Penn and Enzo sat on the two small chairs whilst the rest of us towered over them, cramped in her small room. They made this school appear big by making half their rooms smaller, it seems. 

“This club will be able to promote tourism on the basis of the town’s religiosity and schizophrenic beliefs.” She read. She looked up again but then returned to the paper. 

“Our investigation skills will help in the future mysteries.” She flicked the paper onto the other pile of papers and sighed. 

“Ok…” she fixed her glasses and joined her hands on the table. “It’s very imaginative that you kids came up with this. Go do your thing as long as this place doesn’t get burnt down… which I don't mind if you do.” 

“Just hope that happens.” Ethan said.

“Luck is on your side because the last opening was left.”

“Only one spot?” I whispered to Penny.

“You wouldn’t run clubs with the whole school in all of them.” Penn whispered through her teeth.

“However, you would need to do a little negotiating.” She announced, putting her chin up. 

“A little negotiating. Call me a wall street worker cuz that’s not a big deal.” Nigel smiled.

“We know how it will end.” Enzo gave him a look.

“Negotiate with who?” Penn asked.

“With them.” she said with a dead face. 

We stood face to face with the other alleged club. There were three boys and one girl. All of the boys had a new version of the bowl cut. All of them wore glasses, with round frames and up to their eyes, looking accusingly at us. In milder terms, their shirts reminded me of my grandpa. 

“The untold is not believed and the quiet is not approved and due to the high ordinance of the unseen, it is our job to bring light to the truth. This is why we deserve to have the spot in the clubs this year.” Patel had a crisp accent. He didn’t miss a word. 

“You guys aren’t even six people.” Izzy questioned. 

Suyi put her finger on Izzy’s face and shushed. “It takes one to know the truth.” 

“Who are you guys again?” I asked. 

“The extraterrestrial intelligence scientific research and development group.” he said as he fixed his glasses. 

“Seriously? Aliens? That’s what you came up with?” Izzy raised her eyebrows. .

“They aren’t even real.” Enzo added.

“You run a supernatural club and we are supposed to believe that?” Suyi snapped.

“What’s next? knockoff J2?”  Ken intervened. Penn gasped loud and clear. I was too stunned to speak. 

“Whoa whoa we actually know what’s up.” Nigel raised his hand up.

“You mock us. You mock us when we talk of the unseen. You follow telltale signs but what are you going to do when a parasite grows inside you. When an unknown organism invades the place you sleep on, throws you around because of your lesser intelligence. All because you didn’t believe in this.” He stripped the magazine cover on my face. It was a picture of a UFO flying over the pentagon. Another picture of an unknown organism was pasted beside it. 

“That’s photoshopped.” Nigel and I said in unison. 

“How can you believe it’s real?” Enzo scratched his head in frustration. 

“You think ghosts go around chasing people?” He pointed his finger at us.

“They do, freak,” Penn defended. We went back and forth giving reasons as to who was the better one. 

“Calm down everyone!” Suyi yelled, stopping all of us from speaking.

“Room 92. Whoever solves the mystery by the end of school, gets to have the official club.” the quiet guy, Roger, said with a pause.

“What’s in room 92?” I asked.

“A tragedy.” Patel spoke in a low voice. He fixed his shirt. Ethan appeared to be dazed.

“Room 92 is in the basement. Most of the basement is used for storage and washing the school dishes but there is one room…no one dares to enter it. Hell, don't even breathe near it. The light always flickers at the most odd times. The room booms with noise exactly at 12:03 PM and when you are lost in your wildest dreams and forget you are even there, that’s when it comes standing in the shadows.”

I flicked the light switch up. The white bulb flickered open, shining bright and well. Beige paint peeled from the wall, gripping to its last of abilities. A small window was on the back. The room was spacious enough for the six of us. A table and chairs and we will be ready to go. 

“Looks fine to me.” Nigel said as he scanned the room.

“It would only be to you.” The stiff boy entered. Nigel and I gave a look to each other.

 “According to my deductions, it is an alien abduction.” Roger scanned the room.

“Clearly this is a ghost story.”

“Clearly a one your great grandmother wrote in her will.” Patel gave Penn a side eye. Penn lunged at Patel but, fortunately enough, Izzy and Enzo refrained her from doing so. 

“Alien life disguises itself in the natural environment. Think about it. Viruses. Genomes. Fungi. It may be visible to us. Interact with us. But none of them. None of them are from the -” 

“Okay, we get it. Peel the wall and there would be a face ready to mind control our future.” Penn made dramatic gestures with her hands. 

“This will take forever.” Nigel and Ethan sighed. A nervous smile came on my face as they both bickered. I looked around the room again. Even with my limited ability, I couldn’t sense anything. Maybe it was nothing, just a rumour from years ago or something hidden right under our noses. 

“Ethan, do you sense anything?” I asked.

“Nothing that I can see,” He shrugged.  

“Normal malfunctions.” Nigel sighed.

“Something will come out of it.” Ken moved and stood in the middle. He held a device in his hands.  

“Since you people can’t prove it, let us do the work.” Suyi intervened.

“At first, the temperature change of the room. No matter how big the technology is, the temperature always radiates through.” Suyi took the heat detector from Ken and scanned the whole room, going through every inch of the walls. She nodded no as she went over the last wall. 

“The heat test never fails.”  Patel went into thought. 

“It does make sense.” Ethan agreed, hanging his head to the side as he gave it a thought. 

“Ethan you must stay focused.” Nigel shook him. “You can’t lose yourself to the other side.”

The light started to flicker. Not slightly but violently. My eyes hurt by the flickering. After a brief moment, the bulb went off, only the rod glowing red. The room became dim except for the sunlight coming from the window. 

The light bulb screwed onto the socket. I figured out that it could be possible that there was a need for repair. None of us had seen any other signs and there were spare bulbs in the storage room so nothing hurt to try. I stepped down from the chair. 

“There we go. No more ghost lights.” I gestured to the light bulb as the light switched on perfectly fine.

“See suckers. We are winning.” Penn showed her fist to Patel.

“Oh, it's 12:03.” Enzo looked at his phone. All our eyes travelled to the vent. The only thing I could sense was silence. No coldness either or change in the room. 

“Maybe there isn-” I got interrupted by a strong howling sound echoing throughout the room. It didn’t even come like a whisper. It appeared with brute strength, nearly bursting my eardrums. Then it was gone. In a second, the sound wasn’t there anymore. 

“What was that?” Izzy removed her hands from her ear.

“It’s an electric signal.” Ken raised his hand in a whimsical manner.

“Its a sign from the ghost.” Penn corrected.

I walked to the vent. Everyone watched eagerly as I placed my face close to the vent grill. A hot breeze touched my face. Nothing similar to the sound came from the vent. I stared into the vent dumbstruck. The light was another thing but this was simply puzzling. The vent is used all day long but why only 12:03?

“There isn’t any sound right now except for the wind.” 

“Let me see.” Ethan pushed me over. He pressed his forehead to the grill. 

“There isn’t anything.” A puzzling look came on his face as he said to us. 

“You guys can’t sense it.” Penn pushed him over.  She also peered into the vent. “Yeah, I can't feel it too.”

“Maybe we got ghosted.” Ethan said with a straight face. Penn gave him a side eye while I held in my laugh.

“Seriously, Ethan?” Enzo questioned.

“What?” he smiled. I ended up laughing and I got more sideyes. 

“The vents run through the whole place. We can’t know just by the face.” Izzy pointed out. Nigel and I looked at Enzo. Enzo looked at both of us before he realised. 

“NO!” he asserted. 

“Enzo, you’re small and teeny tiny and the only one who can fit in the vent.” I convinced him or more appropriately tried to. 

“You guys always do this to me.” He cried. 

“That’s because only you can do it. You’re capable. You can do things we can’t.” Nigel insisted. 

“Enzo, you were made for this.” I added. 

“Stop buttering me. Izzy’s short too. Ethan can see ghosts too.” 

“Yeah but Izzy can’t see and Ethan can’t breathe properly.” 

“Um… Who said that?” Ethan said quizzingly.

“No, I’m not going. You guys can’t force me.” he resisted. 

“Here goes our lion king.” I said as we both grabbed him and lifted him towards the ceiling. Nigel started to sing the lion king theme song. The ceiling wall moved as his head hit the plastic. 

“Ach! You guys will take the trash out for a whole month.” His voice echoed. 

“Done and done.” Nigel pushed him up and let go. Enzo’s leg dangled in the air before he crawled inside the ceiling.  

“Oh God.” Izzy bit her nail.

“He’ll be fine. Hey, did you see the Prism world new pics?” 

“Kyle Hardy looks so cool in those pants.” Penn gushed. 

“I know right.” 

“Jack Swan couldn’t have looked better.” Izzy swayed side by side in admiration. 

“He doesn’t even sing properly.” Nigel furrowed his brows.

“Did I hear Jack Swan disrespect down there?” Enzo’s voice echoed.

“Absolutely.” 

“There’s a hole in here.” he shouted but then he went silent. We waited in anticipation. I peered into the vent again and there was no sign of him. Before there was some sound of struggle but this silence was worrying me now. I mean he is small and he can easily escape from places. Maybe there isn’t anything to worry about. His head popped out. He gasped for air as he came out.

“What did you see?” Izzy asked him.

“Whatever that sound was is not a ghost. Also the pipes going outside.” He came down. 

“Yeah but what is the sound? It was so loud.”

“It has to be something.” I muttered.  I checked the time. An hour until the break ends and so does the challenge. We can do this. We are halfway through it. I pumped myself up. I walked out the room, tracing the direction Enzo told me the pipe went. At the end of the corridor, the thin yellow pipe had started to show. We walked and walked all the way to the second floor of the school. I went left but realised that it was the other left, not the right that I thought was left. The pipe ended near the printer room. We peeked in to see the bulky printer sitting against the wall. The printer seemed to vibrate in its place. Freshly printed pages were on the table next to it. 

“I wish they were next week's quiz.” Nigel sighed. Ethan moved the printer and behold there was the vent opening. We all made noises like we reached enlightenment.  

“Well, No ghosts in the area.” I called it.

“That would make a good band name.” Izzy chuckled. 

“No ghosts in the area. Bussi’n my ass in Korea.” Nigel rapped as Enzo beatboxed. 

“It’s so out of tune.” Izzy put her hands on her ears as she smiled. 

“Just tune out.” I joked. Izzy elbowed me as she rolled her eyes.

We made our way back to room 92. Penn looked down to her left. She stood there and stared at something that I couldn’t see. Izzy ran up to her and the two of them turned the corner. I reached where Penn stood before and looked down the corridor. Emptiness was all I could see. No sound came out of the rooms and the light didn’t blink. A slight ringing sound rose in my ear. 

“You okay?” Ethan asked.