SCRATCHED

Chapter 27

2020, Dark Hallways.

Jay could taste the vanilla in her hair.

They struggled through the hallway, one arm over her shoulder, the other clutching ribs that were most likely broken. Pain in every step, yet matching his step with hers somehow eased the pain. The walls seemed starved of sunlight, a perfect place for fear to lay its nest, for the shadows to take their rest.

A quiet chaos, where blood lost its color.

Outside, blades sang songs, and death was the lyrics. A loud chaos, where bodies lost their souls. Jay could picture Brandon in the circle, his speed unmatched, but his skill lacking. Somewhere in the silence, he could hear the twin scimitars cutting the air, dancing, their shiny silver interrupting the darkness before his eyes.

Shiny silver, now a warm red.

Behind them the sun's kindness swarmed in, through the door left open, sweeping beyond their feet, guiding their path. Though not enough to battle the dark's cruelty, it allowed them to see where every foot touched, where every drop of blood landed, and just how far every breath traveled. It was a gift they had learned to appreciate.

Until the door closed.

They watched their shadows being swallowed, and then...

Dark hallways.

"It's OK. It's all right," he heard Camie mutter, more to herself than to him.

The chatters were now mere hums, and the spirals of darkness sharper than any blade could be. Before the sunlight was blocked, Jay had not paid much heed to the swarm of doors from every angle. But now, as he limped in Camie's arms through the blinding black, he felt their presence, their eyes.

A sound made them halt in their unsteady tracks. It came from the far end of the hallway, close to the room Jay had been kept. A soundless sound, so low it could almost mask itself under the silence. But fear had more than two eyes and ears.

A presence. Someone. Something. Slowly moving through the dark as they were. They breathed like corpses, eyes wide but seeing nothing, the hums from outside more forgotten as they increased. And then they heard the creak of a door, the thing that followed almost sinking them beneath the earth entirely.

Sunlight.

His eyes burned when the blinds were opened, the sunlight piercing in. He blinked a few times, then looked up at the person who had walked into the room - a woman.

The door to a room. His room. And what the sunlight revealed was much scarier than what the darkness concealed.

The beams of golden yellow marred the skin of the creature, a dark green the color of vomit. It was bigger than the door, even with its legs crouched. Claws so long and massive they seemed heavier than its entire body, strong enough to crush almost anything. Jay regretted looking at its legs, because now he felt the earth beneath them would crumble and they would plummet. Still better than being eaten alive.

It was easy to control his breath when his mind could still picture a mouse running around, sniffing a bag of choritos.

Their eyebrows folded, a new wave of shock and fear sweeping under their feet. The light was well-rested on the creature, almost like it belonged there, but the creature had only blinked, a small twitch and those layers traveled back.

It could see.

Its large feet slowly carried it into the room, and Jay remembered the mixture of smells in those walls. It was sniffing. They could almost see it following its nose, those eyes open but not as effective. How on planet earth did it break out of that cage?