Let's Get Invisible Read Free Page A

repeated.
    Dumb, dumb, dumb.
    Suddenly, the light started to hurt my eyes. It seemed to grow brighter. It
was shining right in my face.
    Shielding my eyes with one hand, I reached up with the other hand and pulled
the chain.
    The light went out, but the white glare stayed with me. I tried to blink it
away, but I still saw large bright spots before my eyes.
    “Hey—you’re back!” Lefty cried. He stepped up and grabbed my arm and
squeezed it, as if he were testing it, making sure I was real or something.
    “What’s your problem?” I snapped. I was starting to get angry. “I didn’t fall
for your dumb joke, Lefty. So why keep it up?”
    To my surprise, Lefty didn’t back away. He held onto my arm as if he were
afraid to let go.
    “We weren’t joking, Max,” Erin insisted in a low voice. “We really couldn’t
see you.”
    “It must have been the light in the mirror,” April said. She was pressed
against the wall next to the doorway. “It was so bright. I think it was just an
optical illusion or something.”
    “It wasn’t an optical illusion,” Erin told her. “I was standing right
next to Max. And I couldn’t see him.”
    “He was invisible,” Lefty added solemnly.
    I laughed. “You guys are trying to scare me,” I said. “And you’re doing a
pretty good job of it!”
    “You scared us !” Lefty exclaimed. He let go of my arm and stepped up
to the mirror.
    I followed his gaze. “There I am,” I said, pointing to my reflection. A
strand of hair was poking up in back of my head. I carefully slicked it down.
    “Let’s get out of here,” April pleaded.
    Lefty started to toss his softball up, studying himself in the mirror.
    Erin made her way around to the back of the mirror. “It’s too dark back here.
I can’t see anything,” she said.
    She stepped around to the front and stared up at the oval-shaped lamp on top.
“You disappeared as soon as you pulled the chain on that lamp.”
    “You’re really serious!” I said. For the first time I began to believe they
weren’t joking.
    “You were invisible, Max,” Erin said. “Poof. You were gone.”
    “She’s right,” Lefty agreed, tossing the softball up and catching it,
admiring his form in the mirror.
    “It was just an optical illusion,” April insisted. “Why are you guys making
such a big deal about it?”
    “It wasn’t !” Erin insisted.
    “He clicked on the light. Then he disappeared in a flash,” Lefty said. He
dropped the softball. It bounced loudly on the hardwood floor, then rolled
behind the mirror.
    He hesitated for a few seconds. Then he went after it, diving for the ball in
the darkness. A few seconds later, he came running back.
    “You really were invisible, Max,” he said.
    “Really,” Erin added, staring hard at me.
    “Prove it,” I told them.
    “Let’s go !” April pleaded. She had moved to the doorway and was
standing half in, half out of the room.
    “What do you mean prove it !” Erin asked, talking to my dark reflection
in the mirror.
    “Show me,” I said.
    “You mean do what you did?” Erin asked, turning to talk to the real me.
    “Yeah,” I said. “You go invisible, too. Just like I did.”
    Erin and Lefty stared at me. Lefty’s mouth dropped open.
    “This is dumb,” April called from behind us.
    “I’ll do it,” Lefty said. He stepped up to the mirror.
    I pulled him back by the shoulders. “Not you,” I said. “You’re too young.”
    He tried to pull out of my grasp, but I held onto him. “How about you, Erin?”
I urged, wrapping my arms around Lefty’s waist to keep him back from the mirror.
    She shrugged. “Okay. I’ll try, I guess.”
    Lefty stopped struggling to get away. I loosened my grip a little.
    We watched Erin step up in front of the mirror. Her reflection stared back at
her, dark and shadowy.
    She stood on tiptoes, reached up, and grabbed the lamp chain. She glanced
over at me and smiled. “Here goes,” she said.

 
 
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    The chain slipped from