Squishy Taylor and the Vase That Wasn't (7 page)

Everything feels quiet and good.

‘Do you think it worked?’ Vee asks.

I nod. I think it must have.

Jessie is still focused on the iPad. ‘Hey,’ she says, snatching it up. ‘It
was
a hoax! Look – the video’s been edited.’

She points her finger to the screen, at the doorframe behind the ghost. The frame jumps sideways when the ghost appears, and the shadows get darker in a
flash
. It jumps back again when the ghost disappears.

‘Someone pasted video over the top here,’ Jessie says. We stare as it loops again and the doorframe jumps.

‘So there was no ghost?’ Vee asks.

‘No ghost,’ I say. I’m actually disappointed.

‘But there was
someone
who edited video and stole a vase,’ Jessie says, as if to make me feel better.

The iPad’s battery is showing 2% charge. I watch the loop flip through again. There’s still a mystery to solve.

Then, out of nowhere:
BANG!

The door at the top of the stairs slams shut.

Vee screams and we all scramble to our feet and run for the little shed.

There’s no handle on the door. Nothing to pull on. Just a keyhole. We scrabble down the side, trying to squeeze our fingers in the tiny gap.

No use
.

We’re stuck here on the roof.

‘
Help! Help!
’ Vee shouts as we all run to the edge of the building. The wall is concrete and comes up to my chest. I have to stand on tiptoe to see the street properly. The few tiny people under the streetlights don’t look up. Anyway, if they did, they wouldn’t see us up here in the dark.

‘Do you think the ghost locked us up here?’ Vee asks.

‘No!’ Jessie says. ‘There is no ghost, remember? Someone edited the video.’

For the first time, I feel a little bit scared. I glance at the closed door. ‘Do you think the person who made the video locked us up here?’ I ask.

‘No!’ Jessie says. ‘It was the wind and our own stupid fault.’

I think she’s probably right. But we
are
stuck on a roof in the dark. So it’s a bit scary anyway.

In a big rush, all I want is Mum. And the iPad is right here. I grab it.

‘Good plan,’ Jessie says. ‘Message Mum.’ But I’m not messaging Alice. I tap through to Skype.

Bloobleep bloobleep.

‘Squishy, no,’ Jessie says.

But it’s already connecting.

Mum’s face comes up. She’s not at her desk. She’s at home with wet hair and a dressing gown.

For one second she squints at me,
confused
.

Then the iPad goes black with a little white turning circle in the centre. It’s run out of battery.

‘You idiot, Squishy,’ Jessie says. ‘Skype takes so much more power.’

We watch the last light on the screen fade. This is it. We’re really alone up here. For some reason, the black screen reminds me of Dad not cuddling me goodnight. I bite my lip and my eyes blur from tears. Both my parents have
deserted
me.

Jessie is frowning. ‘We need to get a message to someone.’

She tries to turn on the iPad again, but the battery is definitely flat. Vee rips pages out of the recipe book and runs to the edge and starts folding a paper aeroplane. She throws it down to try and get someone’s attention, but it just
death-spirals
into the darkness.

I watch it go and think it needs a message. I try to write
Help
on the next one with wet turmeric instead of a pen, but it ends up a big yellow mess. Jessie stands beside me, flashing the torch towards the street, but nobody notices.

Finally we slide down with our backs against the wall. I’m out of ideas and this has stopped being a fun adventure. It feels like we’re going to be here for the
rest of our lives
. I’m getting cold. I realise I don’t even care about the vase. I just want to go home and eat breakfast.

Vee shivers, and says, ‘I’m hungry.’

I realise I can see her face. ‘It’s starting to get light,’ I say. The sky is turning
pale
all across the horizon.

‘We have to figure a way out,’ Jessie says. ‘Mum and Tom will wake up soon.’

I pull back up to my feet and lean my elbows on the wall, looking across the street. The angles of the buildings and the trees below look very familiar.

‘Is that Boring Lady’s office?’ Vee asks, joining me and pointing.

She’s right, it is. And Boring Lady is already at work. She must start early. She’s directly across from us, and two floors below. Which means –

‘That must be
Haunted Harry’s
balcony just down there,’ Jessie says.

We’re looking straight down at a balcony with a table and some pot plants.

And a big white vase with blue decorations.

Vee stares down at the vase. ‘We brought it back. We did it.’

‘Vee!’ Jessie’s got her grown-up voice on. ‘There
was no ghost
.’

‘Anyway,’ I say, ‘we haven’t finished the job yet. The vase needs to go to that temple in China.’

We all lean out, looking down at the vase glowing white in the orange sunrise. Along the wall are the remnants of us trying to signal our way out: the torn recipe book, the torch, the turmeric.

‘We can’t do
anything
while we’re stuck here,’ Jessie says. She starts waving the torch towards Boring Lady. But it’s not going to work. Boring Lady never answers our signals.

‘We’re going to have to climb down to Haunted Harry’s balcony,’ Vee says.

Jessie is horrified. ‘That’s insane!’

It’s actually not. From Haunted Harry’s balcony to here is nowhere near as high as our rock-climbing walls. I can see some good handholds in the stone. If you fell you’d
only fall
as far as the balcony.

‘It’ll be easy,’ Vee says, jutting her chin. ‘I’m going to save us.’

‘Vee, don’t be crazy,’ Jessie says, pulling her arm back.

Squishy Taylor to the rescue. I put my palms on the wall and jump, pushing down until my arms are straight. My tummy is bent over the wall. I lift one leg to swing it over.

Jessie shouts, ‘No, Squishy, stop it!’ and grabs my leg.

That’s when I
knock
the jar of turmeric.

It drops down the side of the building,
ricochets
off Haunted Harry’s balcony rail and keeps falling. The lid flies off and the powder glides out in a great, spiralling, yellow cloud. The cloud gets bigger and bigger as it drops towards the ground.

And now, finally, Boring Lady has noticed us. She stands at her window, staring first at the cloud and then up at us. I wave wildly, clinging to the wall with my knees, and Boring Lady runs for her phone. She’s waving us back with crazy, flinging hands, as if she could push us away from the edge of the wall.

‘
Hey!
What are you kids doing?’ It’s Haunted Harry. He’s staring up at us from his balcony in his pyjamas. He must have heard the jar of turmeric hit the rail.

‘We’re stuck!’ Vee yells.

‘We can’t get down!’ I shout.

‘Well, for the love of little fishes, do
NOT
try to climb down!’ he hollers back up at us.

Mina appears beside him and stares up at us, before running back inside.

‘Wait right there!’ Haunted Harry yells. So we wait.

The first person to run out the door is Dad. He ignores my bonus sisters and pulls me up into the biggest hug ever.

‘We woke up and you were gone,’ he says with a mouthful of my hair. ‘I was so worried.’ He squeezes me really tight.

That’s when I know I will
always
belong to my dad, however many bonus sisters I have.

Alice is beside us
cuddling
Jessie and Vee.