The tainted rose

Chapter 13

Olivia's level of anxiety induced her curiosity. She kept on touching the edge of the door. Suddenly she heard a scratching sound. She placed her ear on the spot. It came from the other side.  Drops of sweat appeared on her temples as the sound grew more and more rapid. She covered her ears from her hands to avoide that terrible sound hurt her ear drums.  "Help me out. Help me" she ran towards the door and shouted again. Her ear drums were already aching with that sound. She screamed louder and she could witness the floor throbbing. "Oh please God help me. Ahhhh" She shouted with her tear filled eyes. The iron door slammed open and that enormous sound stopped

"Olivia" Ashvin,Anne and Dilan stumbled in with the help of two labourers. They became too panicked by seeing Olivia covering her ears and shouting.

They all came running towards her
"Olivia Olivia we are here. It's alright now" Olivia stopped  screaming and lifted her head to look at them.
She unintentionally wrapped her arms around Ashvin. "Olivia are you ok? Oli" Ashvin asked. Olivia shivered. "Ash ...Ashvin I I heard a loud noise ? Did you hear it? It reached towards me. Even the floor  began to shake.Over there hhh... over there" she muttered affrightedly by pointing her finger towards the  edge of that hidden door.

"Why Oli? What is it? We didn't hear any other noise except your terrible scream. We were so scared thinking whether what's going inside. " Ashvin said by pressing her tight against his chest. This unexpected clutch made Ashvin feel something beating fast inside.

"Just g..go there. It's an edge o..of a a door a...and s..ee it you might still hear it" Olivia uttered

Dilan walked near the place where her finger was pointed at and kept his ear.
"No I can't hear anything Olivia" uttered Dilan. Anne was frightened as hell.

"Oli we heard you shouting inside and we shouted back for about a hundred times and we spend almost an hour to save you. Didn't you hear us?" Olivia was shocked and she trembled.
"Wh.. wh... what? You guys shouted?" Olivia asked. Ashvin slowly stroked her head.
"Yes we did but you just kept on screaming. We could only hear you scream." Ashvin uttered.
Olivia quickly pushed herself away from Ashvin's embrace.
"What??? It means that you all were outside. I didn't hear you all. I know I know it's because of that sound. It has stopped now" All the three were looking at her as if they were looking at a possessed woman. She literally  behaved senselessly. They were confused.

"What kind of a sound was it Oli?"asked Anne.

"It was like s...someone scratching the f.... floor and I just c...an't explain it Anne. Ahhhh I"Olivia stuttered and trembled.

"Ok ok just calm down Oli. First we must find the person who locked this door while she was inside. Let's go and tell the geometry teacher that Olivia was locked inside. Let's go" Ashvin just made her comfortable by taking her closer to him.

"Ashvin I swear I heard a loud scratching sound and it was too loud. Please believe me" Olivia uttered.

"Oli now forget it. You are safe." Ashvin tried so hard to make it all normal eventhough he was absolutely  bothering  about the way she was behaving and about the things she was uttering.

"That's why I told you all. Ghosts are real. " Anne muttered.

"Oh just keep your mouth shut. Do you mean that a ghost locked Olivia inside. Just stop talking shit." Dilan snapped.

"Then what about that sound she heard?"Anne asked.

"Ah ah just stop it now."
Ashvin said by looking at Olivia who was still shaking.

"Olivia why did you come all alone here? You could have come with me or Anne?" His kind words melted Olivia for a second and calmed her down.

"It's an edge of a door. I think it's probably a closed store room or something similar to that. Normally there are lot of store rooms in these type of old buildings"  said Dilan.