Consciousness

Chapter fourteen - The hooded figure

* Bang*
*Bang*
The door knob jingled and popped.
Gentle, clicking footsteps followed.

I breathed heavily and looked over at Matt and Micah for answers to this nightmare but my eyes could only make out the silhouette of their faces .

"I'm scared" I breathed quietly.

Matt reached his hand out for mine. He wrapped his fingers in mine and squeezed them tightly. "Me too" he whispered.

"I don't understand why this is happening to us" Micah chimed as he looked under the crack of the door for feet. "I don't see anything"

"We need to stay quiet" Matt said with his finger gesturing up to his mouth.

Micah and I nodded softly.

We sat there for what felt like ages until we began to hear footsteps once more.

This time they were closer. Louder.

I could feel my body shaking uncontrollably as I stood there in the dark with two innocent people standing at my sides.

Who could it be?

*clunk*
*clunk*
*clunk*

The footsteps suddenly began to sound like they were disappearing. Whoever was out there, was walking away? They must think that we aren't here and are going to look elsewhere. I sighed in relief.
"Matt it worked" I can't believe it actually worked.

"We still have to be quiet, whoever that is could still be waiting for us out there." Matt whispered as he adjusted the door so it was creaked open enough for us to see the shelf that sat across the hall. Nobody was there.

We crept out the tiny closet and began to tiptoe down the aisles as we looked around nervously. Matt had a bat tightly gripped in his sweaty, nervous hands and Micah had what looked like a bundle of newspapers swirled together creating a weapon. I almost wanted to laugh at the sight until I remembered that none of this was funny.

We walked around the building and saw nobody. Nobody was here at all. We definitely heard footsteps and that means somebody was here.

I shivered as it was very late at night by now and the temperature dropped significantly.

"You're cold?" Micah asked as he removed his coat and wrapped it around me with a smile.

"Thank...you" I said with a shiver. I smiled too.

I saw Matt frown from the corner of my eye and I could see that he was jealous. Micah did confess his feelings for me not even 12 hours ago, but I was just happy that my friend...both my friends were okay.

As we made our way towards the front door, we all looked around at each other with nervous expressions. Matt slowly grabbed the knob and began to twist it. It creaked open. A hooded figure was standing on the other side.

We all gasped with fright as the figured charged at us quickly. I let out a scream and dashed for cover under a nearby bench. I held my breathe as I looked around for the others. I could see Matt tucked underneath a table across the room. I continued to look for Micah. As I looked down the aisle of shelves, I saw Micah's feet and next to him I saw another's.

"Hello Micah" said a very familiar voice.