Nine Doors

Prologue

Despite what my math teacher might think, I’m not stupid.

I’m not mean either. At least I try not to be.

So that’s not how I got into this mess.

I got into it because I was bored.

I know that’s a dumb excuse, but I bet boredom’s the reason lots of people get into trouble. It can drive you nuts. It can make you do stuff you’d never do in a million years.

For me, that meant hanging out with Richard.

There’s nothing wrong with him—at least, not really. In fact, it’s almost the opposite. Spend a couple of minutes with Richard and you end up feeling like there’s something wrong with you.

I don’t know how he does it. He just stands there all innocent and smiling, but somehow he makes you feel like garbage. It’s as if the guy’s a pickpocket, only he doesn’t take your wallet or your cell phone or anything like that. He takes your brain. When he’s done messing with you, you can’t even think straight anymore.

It’s kind of hard to explain, but here’s an example.

My name’s Emery. I can’t say I love it, but that’s my name. Usually, I don’t think too much about it one way or the other.

So one day I ran into Richard down by the Snack ’n Go, and we were having an okay time just talking about music and movies and whatever. I was thinking he’s not such a bad guy. He’s actually pretty funny. It was the middle of August. Everyone else was away. I figured, why not spend some time with him?

Then, out of the blue, he started calling me Emily. As in, "So, Emily, seen Scream 12 yet? Or, Whoa, nice sneakers, Emily." Just kind of dropping it into conversation like that.

I let it go a few times, but then I said, Would you quit it with the Emily stuff?

He got all serious and said, Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.

I said, You didn’t upset me. I’m just saying don’t call me Emily. I said it in my normal voice. I didn’t scream or anything.

He took a step back and said, Okay, okay, as if I was making a big deal about it.

I looked at him for a second. I wasn’t sure how to react. If I said anything more, I figured it really would look like I was turning it into a big deal.

He bit his lip and turned away as if he suddenly had to read the Ice Blaster poster in the store window. I couldn’t tell if he was laughing at me or not, but I wouldn’t have been surprised. I got the distinct feeling he was trying to bug me—which, of course, just bugged me more.

I could feel my whole face twisting up into a knot. I felt like calling him Ricky or Rachel or Jerk and seeing how much he liked it.

A couple of seconds later, he turned around as if nothing had happened. I was all ready to let it go. I mean, I’m a reasonable guy. I’m not looking for trouble.

Then he started calling me Emery.

Emery, this. Emery, that. It was my own name, but somehow Richard managed to make it sound even more irritating than when he was calling me Emily.

If the owner of the Snack ’n Go hadn’t come out right then and told us to move along, I seriously think I would have hauled off and punched Richard.

I’ve never punched anyone in my life!

See what I mean about the guy?

Richard makes you think things you don’t want to think, do things you don’t want to do. He’s always twisting stuff around in your head.

Sure I was bored, but I knew Richard was like that right from the start. I knew I should have kept my distance. I knew I shouldn't have let him weasel his way into my brain.

I guess that makes me as much to blame as he is for what happened next.

Door Number One

It all started out innocently enough.

A few days later, I was riding my bike around the neighborhood just for something to do. I saw Richard come out of his house. I was only going to say hi and keep moving, but somehow we started talking about school and the closing ceremonies. Richard did this hilarious impression of Mr. Moffatt tripping over the microphone cord and practically flattening Kalli Harvey. (He did a pretty good impression of Kalli too. She’s usually so perfect that we were all shocked to hear her swear like that.)

Then the next thing I knew we were hanging