Halloween Detention

Caleb

I scratched my head awkwardly while Gina paced back and forth. I could tell she was a nervous wreck, and I wanted her to just calm down. After another few minutes of Jace, Crystal, and I watching Gina, I decided to actually do something.

“Look, if you guys are willing to stay here, I’ll go look for Kristen.” Immediately, Gina stopped moving, and turned to look at me. “I’ll only be gone for five minutes.” Don’t ask me why I volunteered. I knew that there was a slim chance that I would make it back alive, but I wanted to do something that didn’t involve sitting here and waiting.

“Caleb,” Gina walked over to me ignoring the raised eyebrows she got from Jace and Crystal, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but you don’t have to go look for Kristen. Eventually, she’s going to come back.”

“Gina, I’ll be OK,”I said reassuring her with a kiss on her cheek.

Gina rested her head against my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her. “I’m going to get Kristen, and then I’m coming right back.”

“Promise?” She murmured as she returned the hug. “Promise that you’ll come back.” Her eyes began to water, and her voice started to crack at the end of her sentence.

“I promise.” I whispered before pulling away from her.

Before I could start to rethink my decision, I jogged out the room and headed down the dark hallway. I made to the door leading outside of East hall in record time. When I got outside, there was so much fog that I could barely see in front of me. I carefully made my way over to Creator’s Hall before looking for Kristen. I didn’t yell her name or anything because I was scared that the killer might hear me.

I wandered around for a few minutes before I found a blood spatter on the ground. Curious about where it lead, I followed the trail of blood droplets towards a path that lead through the woods. I rammed my hands in my pockets to keep them from shaking as I started to walk through the path.

Random tree branches stuck out over the path creating a dome over my head, and various tree roots kept causing me to trip and stumble. Occasionally, I heard a scraping sound, and I briefly contemplated going back to East Hall, before I convinced myself to continue walking.

By the time I made it another few steps, I saw a figure leaning over something. At first I thought it was Kristen, but I took another look and noticed that the figure was too tall and buff to be her. I quietly walked forward hoping to surprise the mysterious figure when I realized that it was dragging something – no it was dragging a body.

I bit my tongue to stop myself from screaming, when I realized that the body was wearing the exact same one-of-a-kind sneakers that Kristen had on today.

My heart was pounding loudly, and my palms began to sweat as I took a step backward. I tore my eyes from the scene and tried to make my way back through the path when I tripped over another tree root.

“Hey!” The figure yelled, and I cringed as I recognized the voice. “Who’s there?” I stayed completely still hoping that maybe he wouldn’t see me.

He leaned forward before pulling something out of his pocket, and I began to crawl backwards. Suddenly, I heard a gunshot, and a tree branch broke off and fell to the ground. I had to bite my lip to keep myself from screaming.

When the figure moved to put the gun back into his pocket, I leaped forward and tackled him to the ground. The two of us rolled further down the path, and I could hear him curse as I managed to pin him down. Immediately, I punched him in the face before he managed to shove him off of me.

“You’re a sick guy.” I spat as I tried to hit him again. “How could kill as many people as you did without feeling any kind of guilt?”

He swung out at me, and I tasted blood in my mouth when his fist connected with my jaw. I stumbled backwards, and he began to laugh.

“You know children are meant to be seen not heard.” His fist found my gut, and I fell down to the ground struggling to breathe.

“You know children are meant to grow into adulthood and not get killed by sick men like you.” My little speech earned me a kick to the side, and I could feel a couple of my ribs crack.

All the energy was drained out of me, and yet the only thought I could manage to have as he pulled out the gun was about how much Gina would miss me. I closed my eyes tightly as he leaned over me, and I suddenly felt sorry. I was sorry that I wasn’t able to keep my promise to Gina. God, I was sorry.