Under Pressure

Chapter 3

I threw the note in my room and face planted my bed.

Who could this have been? No one else knew that I was invited because I was only invited less than two hours ago. Jake doesn't do anything after school and he doesn't know where I live. I hadn't talked to Celeste or Andrean yet and Eva and Jonathan didn't have class today.

This is a joke. The note said that I would finally see. But what is this person implying? If anything, I'd see a bunch of drunk people shamelessly grinding on each other to a beat that doesn't match the music. That's what I would see. What else would I possibly see?

I groaned in frustration and looked up at my ceiling like it could hold my answer. I decided to ignore the note and do something better with my time. I couldn't answer it without knowing who it was that sent it so oh well. However, food was in my future.

Walking to the kitchen was an interesting task. I ran into the small table at the end of the hallway near my door and my toe now throbbed in pain. I wobbled the rest of the way to the fridge and grabbed yogurt. My parents probably had a long night so it was all me. I didn't want to cook.

Once I got back upstairs, I lied on my bed and turned my music to shuffle. Happily, my blankets were soon covering me, and I was snuggling my decorative pillow close while I stared aimlessly at the objects in my room.

***

I stood up and started walking a random direction. I didn't know this town and I was just happy that no one was out at three in the morning here. Where was I? The walls of the surrounding buildings obtained a dark, eerie shade of black or grey. Spinning, I heard a sound, almost like that of a trash can lid falling to the concrete. My nerves were not calm after that point.

First I was seeing things; then I was hearing things. What was next?

I pretended it was a stray dog or cat roaming the vacant alley ways between the buildings and continued walking. Something was not right. I took a turn to the right side of the pathway and stared straight ahead. Footsteps surrounded me. Metal objects dropped- or what sounded like metal. Who knows what it really was. My heartrate rose; my body shivered.

Something slammed into the wall next to me and I jumped. My legs started running. I didn't want to be there. My fear rose and the darkness moved around me. It was dark at night and the walls closed in around me. Struggling to continue running, I sat down near a shut off water fountain and begged for air to come into my lungs. I don't know how far I ran but the length I ran was longer than normal.

The lack of oxygen made me heave and my throat closed in tighter and tighter till I was almost gasping for relief. The dark clouds above me opened up and its' rain poured over me. The shadows looked like they were moving and it freaked me out to the point where I was turning in every direction, waiting for something to pop out. The sounds made me paranoid.

I looked up at the sky and could not see the moon. Raindrops fell on my face and I shifted my neck down. Against my will, I fell back into the fountain and my limbs twisted in my clothes. I couldn't breathe nor figure out which way was up or down due to the everlasting darkness. My eyes burned. I looked for any sort of light and wondered why the fountain was this deep. Normal ones are about a foot or two deep, but I couldn't even touch the bottom of the thing.

I wiggled to get to the top and wished I could have swam professionally. I climbed over the edge of the fountain and fell to the ground, coughing up water. The water poured out and I coughed while getting onto my feet. Before I knew it, I was knocked to the ground again. Instead of hitting the ground, I was falling endlessly and everything around me disappeared.

***

Jolting awake, I threw my pillow away from me. My forehead and neck was covered in sweat and my body was over-heating. I twisted to view my clock and realized I was an hour late to class. Running down the stairs, I grabbed ice from the freezer and stuck it in a bag to help cool me down. My stomach was turning and my vision was blurry from waking up still.

My backpack had Jake's number in it, so I texted him and asked if he could grab my homework from my classes for me and drive them to my house on the way home. He texted back five minutes after and said he would be there after his last class. Thank gods for him giving me his number. Celeste, Eva, Jonathan, and Andrean weren't in any of my classes with me, so I was happy I now had someone to help me out outside of school.

I walked to the bathroom and heaved above the toilet before crouching to throw up. What was wrong with me? I felt perfectly fine yesterday, minus my slight exhaustion and boredom, but still. I had no sign of sickness.

I guess that saying is true: You never know what tomorrow holds. I sat in the bathroom for a while longer before going downstairs, getting cold water, and throwing myself on the couch. I felt like crap. My head was pounding, my body over heated, and my stomach cringed inside.

I put on a movie and relaxed, hoping I would feel better. About twenty minutes after it ended, Jake knocked on the door.

"Come in!" I yelled, patting myself on the back for unlocking it earlier. I had no intention to get up. The door opened and in walked Jake with a small stack of papers.

"Dear god, you look like a mess. Are you okay?" he said, setting the papers down on the side table.

"Actually no. I woke up late after having a terrifying dream and then after texting you, threw up in the bathroom. My body is on fire and my head and stomach hurts."

He sat down next to me. "Where are your parents?"

"That's a good question. They probably area at work. My mom told me that this week was a busy week for both of them, so that's my assumption."

"So what about Celeste? Doesn't she normally take you to class?"

"Yeah but she texted me last night and said that she wouldn't be going today because she had family matters to attend. We haven't really talked since yesterday morning." I said and sat up so I wasn't laying down like a weirdo.

"So let me get this straight. You are alone, with no one to talk to or hang out with, and you're sick?"

"Yes. I'm just trying to forget about everything up until before I went to bed last night."

"You said you had a nightmare. What was it?"

I sighed. "It was dark and raining. I remember I was lost and it was late. I kept hearing creepy sounds and footsteps, so I ran. When I reached this fountain, I sat down and choked for air, only to get pushed inside by someone or something. As I got out, I stood to my feet only to get knocked down and instead of falling to the ground, I fell into an endless pit of darkness. I remember being so scared and confused. Then I woke up and my body was on fire and I was sweating."

He patted my shoulder and called his sister. "She's coming. We will be here for you today, at least until your parents get here."

"You don't have to do that. I was just going to watch movies all day and maybe throw up a few more times."

He opened the door for his sister. They stood side by side and looked at me.

"We insist," Ivy said, with a smile. She stood there with light brown hair.

She went into my kitchen like she owned the place and started to attempt to cook something. I liked that about her, that she felt so comfortable with herself that she could just walk in and help someone without asking questions.

While she did that, Jake chose a movie and sat down. I smiled, thinking about how helpful and nice they are, and I hadn't really hung out with them before. I guess they were just really good people at heart. Ivy made fettuccine for us all and saved the rest in the fridge for my parents. She served our plates and Jake pressed play on the movie.