Chapter II
Jenny
Manteach College
Sandy Spring, Maryland
9:45 AM
By the time the ancient bus rumbled to a stop at Manteach College’s stop, the sun had long since risen. The chatter melded with the squeak-ridden thud of the doors creaking open, with a crescendo of backpacks being dragged out from under chairs and the thumping of many feet. First one, then two or three at a time descended from the bus in huddled clusters either settling down at the stop, or slowly drifting off like wayward jellyfish to the college. In the midst of it all, Jenny was scrambling for her pack and trying not to shove her way through in panic. She was going to be late for class.
She hastily waved goodbye to Jake as he slid through the crowds to his own class, and slowly wriggled her way through the writhing sea of students. Before long, she managed to edge her way to the outer limits of the crowd, before breaking into a sprint, her book-laden pack slamming against her thigh. As she ran, the rough asphalt gave way to cleanly-paved sidewalks and patches of grass, marking clearly the boundaries of the campus. Before her, in the central courtyard of the campus, stood three flagpoles; one bore the American flag, mildly weather-worn but rippling quietly; another bore the flag of Maryland, but that was tangled around the pole; the final bore the county’s flag, fluttering weakly in the breeze. She ignored them all, as she hurtled past them towards the hulking, boxy Humanities Building towards the back of the campus currently playing host to her first class of the day: Intro to European History.
She thundered to a stop at the steps leading up to the steel-plated double-doors of the building, and looked down at her watch. 9:45. Good, she sighed in relief. Not too late, only 5 minutes until class. With a crunching thud, she smacked the wheelchair access button with her bag and stepped through the yawning doors with a slight swagger from the imbalanced bag.
As the doors hissed shut behind her, she smiled wryly. Only 18 more months and then I’ll be out of here, she thought, as she walked down the echoing hallways. With a start, she noticed something particularly off: the entire building was quiet. Normally, at this hour, there would be students sitting around waiting for classes to start, or exiting class, chattering away. Instead, all she could hear was the distant murmur of the campus outside, and a faint whispering coming down the hallway, tantalizingly inviting.
She looked down the hallway with a glint of curiosity crossing her face, and saw at the end of the hallway, like a gateway to opportunity and life, was the open doorway to her classroom, empty. The whispering didn’t come from the classroom, but further down the hall. Jenny looked yearningly at the open door, as she walked down the hall, but instead of filing into her empty classroom to wait out the remaining minutes before class, she turned left, down another hallway, towards the whispering. As she passed by door after door, she found that these too were empty. Strange, she thought.
As she drew closer, the words became more distinct.
“Master, no, please… not her.”
A wheezing, grizzly voice responded, sending a chill down Jenny’s spine as she froze in place, listening carefully.
“Child, it must be her. I have told you before why it must be her.”
“But master, no… she’s my friend. She helped me. She cares…”
The second voice laughed, if one could call it a laugh.
YOU ARE READING
Shadows of Fire
SpiritualWhen Jennifer Pond goes to her friend's Halloween bash, she believes she has seen everything there is to see. But when she is abducted by bloodthirsty cultists and rescued by a crack team of exorcist commandos, she is thrust head-first.into a world...
