Ethan Cole hated staying late at school.

  The building felt completely different once most of the students had gone home. The loud hallways became quiet, the classrooms dark, and every small sound seemed to echo down the empty corridors.

  He adjusted the strap of his backpack as he walked past rows of lockers, checking his phone for the time.

  6:42 PM.

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  Great.

  His basketball practice had ended almost an hour ago, but Coach had kept them late again. Now the sky outside the tall hallway windows was already turning dark.

  Ethan quickened his pace, hoping to get out of the building as fast as possible.

  That’s when he heard it.

  A metallic click.

  He stopped walking.

  The sound had come from somewhere down the hallway behind him.

  Ethan turned slowly, staring at the long row of lockers stretching toward the stairwell.

  Most of them were closed.

  Except one.

  At the very end of the hall, a locker door was slightly open.

  And Ethan was almost certain it hadn’t been open a second ago.