Bitter

fifty-two - cal

I'd gotten far enough away from the gym that I could no longer hear the music through the walls and instead, silence lurked from classroom to classroom. My shoes would occasionally squeak on the floor, causing me to spin around and make sure I wasn't already being watched, but other than that, no other sound carried through the deserted hallways. There were a few lights on throughout the network of halls and whenever I'd reach one, I'd pass under it quickly to make it into the dark again. I couldn't have Haley finding me first.

Come on...where are you? Every classroom I passed, I peered into the tiny windows of the doors. There were so many places he could hide, he could be anywhere. I didn't know if it was just in my head, but at one point I thought I heard shuffling coming from somewhere. In another classroom, I thought for sure I saw someone standing near a desk. Then I realized it was just a coat hanging up and I relaxed a little. Just a little.

   I'd been searching up and down the hallways for around ten minutes, when I started to get impatient. You know, I even thought about just shouting I was there to speed things up. That way, it'd be over with. But I ended up torturing myself more by staying quiet, peeking around corners and gripping the switchblade tightly in my hand.

   Five minutes left. That was all I had until I'd have to give up and meet Lydia and Marco back where we split. Hopefully they were having some kind of luck because I definitely wasn't. Haley wanted to play hide and seek and I really wasn't in the mood. I'd searched half of the school and still he couldn't be found.

   I swore under my breath and whirled around, standing in the middle of an intersection of four halls. Scanning the classrooms around me, I wasn't able to spot anything out of the ordinary. Until I noticed Ms. Hunter's, my anatomy teacher and the devil, door was cracked open about an inch. Ms. Hunter's classroom had two square windows that allowed me to see all of the empty desks and the skeleton that hung in the corner of the room. No one was supposed to be in there and if it was Ms. Hunter, wouldn't she have the lights on?

   Without any hesitation, I headed for the door and pushed it open, letting it creak loudly and announce my arrival. I could barely see anything and I turned the flashlight on on my phone, sweeping it over the room while I stepped inside. "I know you're here..." I whispered, looking around and pointing my light at any and everything. Long, harsh shadows climbed up the walls and I had to take a second glance at them, just to make sure they weren't reaching for me.

   "Where are you?" I snapped, hating the waiting. With each passing minute, it felt like my heart was beating twice as fast as before. "Come on! I'm right here! This is what you wanted, right?"

   When I wasn't moving, the silence was deafening. And when I wasn't moving, I could hear a very faint sound, like cautious, light footsteps coming from behind me. That was when I turned around with my flashlight and saw only the glint of sharp metal in someone's grasp, flying towards my face out of the darkness. My heart jumped.