Daredevil

The thing

Her heart leaped as the face of a seemingly docile human appeared from the darkness, standing quietly in the centre of the room just a few paces away. The boy unaware of her frozen figure on the lounge table, his head low on his phone and face, lit by the screen, pinched into a scowl. She could squint and see the large silhouette that was his enormous body that towered over her even from this distance. Gritting her teeth, she gently lowered to a crouch. But it made no difference to her vulnerable position which was only concealed by darkness.

The floor, she had to get to the floor. Tables were like a cage with no bars, the confines instead being the fatal drop that surrounds her, but key being the dim outline of her fishing line dangling off the side. She slowly rose, her eyes on his, anticipating his reaction. Trying to control her shaky breath, she peeled her attention off him to glance at the hook wedged into the wood. Only a stone's throw away.

She took a step. Held her breath and clocked the humans reaction, eyes and frown remained down. She watched him for several more seconds before focusing on her next quiet step-
No reaction.
Again-
No reaction.
Again-
None.

Her heart pounded in her ears and limbs felt alight, she gazed at the hook, counting her lucky stars that her eyes were adjusted to the darkness and hope returning to her at her progress to halfway, another step-

Time stopped. Phone at his side and piercing, dark eyes on her, the room is silent as they hold eye contact, aside from the hammering of her heart in her chest. He opens his mouth to speak-

"What th-"

She doesn't give him a chance to finish, her senses return, adrenaline floods her body, and she bolts to the hook, vision hazy but focused on grabbing the line.

She had a head start.

-

The blonde takes a second longer to react, watching the small blob sprint across the table to the edge before the cogs in his head finally start to spin.

He glowered. A mouse.

He spins around to the wall, snapping the light on and glancing back around to see a-

Human figure.

He does a double take on the now still figure, blinking trying adjust his eyes to confirm what the hell he just saw.

-

She frantically rubbed her eyes, cussing under her breath at the now blinding surroundings. It was disorienting, see the dorms with the lights on, but she didn't dither.

She sprinted her last length to the hook, letting out a small gasp and fumbling with her grip on the line as she sees the boy pounce in her peripherals. She panics and leaps off the edge, first fully falling before painfully catching herself with the line and continuing to slide down, palms burning like the fiery pits of hell despite the adrenaline.

-

His eyes dart around the scene. A fishing line- leading to the floor. The thing running towards it. Cogs click in his head again as he realises what it's doing, and the blonde too, springs into action.

The thing zips down the line and clashes to the floor with a small cry, taking him aback as he halts at the edge of the table, towering over it. Without even looking up, it makes a mad dash to his right. To the couch.

He reaches, but the thing has already ducked under the couch, his hand swiping only the air. Hands ball into fists in frustration, knuckles turning white. He let out a furious grunt, dropping on his hands and knees to peer under the couch, eyes focussing on a small blob, standing out from the shadows, and narrowing.

-

Can't run, can't hide, can't move. Her limbs shake uncontrollably even when curled into a tight ball, her eyes now water from a mixture of dread and fear as they meet the humans blood red eye, an expression full of determination that made her mind scream to run. But she can't.

The eye disappeared upwards. Had he given up? Left her alone? A butterfly of hope fluttered in her chest but was quickly shot dead, falling as her stomach dropped. Fingertips appeared where the eye had left.

He was lifting the couch.

Light flooded into her only cover, the boy lifting the huge couch up and over his head from his crouched stance, taking almost all the weight of the couch into his palms.

Her intense shudder at the humans terrifying strength woke her up. She crept up from her crouch, keeping her eyes to the floor as she rose. His face turned to a suspicious scowl and with that, she ran again.

She booked it to the opening on her left, heart stopping as the crash of the couch being almost dropped quickly followed. She dread to think of her fate had she been seconds later, still under the couch, standing upright.

Wait, if the couch was down then the boy was-
She turned, only to see his car sized hand looming to towards her.
There was no where to run.
No where to hide.
No way to win.

-

He cursed under his breath, barely holding the couch as it came crashing down. He glared over the couch to see it running. Towards a wall...

This was it, games were over. He quickly darted around the couch towards the speeding figure, reaching for it. The creature squealed as he finally grabbed it from the floor, he frowned but payed no mind to the noise, he had just caught it, he thought, turning his wrist to look at it.

Caught her.