Behind Closed Doors

Untitled Part 21

I opened my mouth, prepared to ask a slew of questions, anything to keep her from staring at the floor, when I heard voices and footsteps. There were a couple of them, a drunkened voice, slurring and stumbling all about the hall, and one that was much too excited for this drab place. His voice was the loudest of them all, pitching against the walls and ceiling like a wave of obnoxious sound. There was one more voice even, that broke the sound only occasionally. He seemed cool and collected. He was telling the men about he girls, that he knew all of them and how he had personally brought many of them to this "organization" himself.

I wished with ferocity that something awful would happen to him. I even imagined him getting run over by a car. We both jumped up, as the matter of seconds were passing quickly, and tried to get away. We weren't sure where to go, any room could hold one of those thugs, but the hallway was empty and with little place to hide. We knew if we stayed there, we would surely be caught.

My ankle had started to throb again, and I was limping badly on it, determined not to fall behind or stop. It would be the death of me, her, of anyone affiliated with me really. We bolted down the hall, searching for a door to dive into, something or some place to hide.

I thought that just maybe we would be able to get away, when I heard a voice from behind us. "Hey, you, stop!" it yelled.

We paused for just a moment, before we darted down the hallway. I heard the footsteps behind up start to run, as best they could that is. The one jolted down the hallway, bouncing off the walls like Sonic gathering the golden rings on that old videogame i used to play when i was younger.

We raced, hands pushing us off the walls, feet slapping against the floor. She started to fall behind, but I yelled to her, "don't let them get you, get up here, stay with me." I knew we were going to be in trouble, if not killed, if we were caught. We couldn't be caught.

I could nearly hear the men breathing down my neck, it sent chills up my spine and made my hair stand on end. It was like a million little needle pricks all over my body. I tried to run faster, but I could hardly breathe, and my ankle was still throbbing. Just when we were starting to get our distance from them, and I stopped having to yell at Sam to keep up with my, my ankle gave out, and I crashed hard to the ground.

My palms "thwapped" onto the hard floor, and my knee banged against it too, but that pain wasn't what was bothering me, it was my ankle. It felt like it was on fire. I grabbed it, and as I did I heard the men gaining on us. I yelled at Sam to go on, because she had stopped to stare at me in horror, a panicked frozen look upon her face, and I tried my best to stand, as I watched her dart around into another hall.

I could hardly hold any weight on my foot, I kept falling, so all I could do was duck into a room, and pray no one was in it. So, I opened the door nearest me, and slipped quietly in, limping the whole time, and holding my breath.

I leaned against the door, ear pressing hard against the wood, hoping to hear the footsteps falling away down the hall, and when they did, I released a long slow breath. Shaky and pained as I was, I sank to the floor, relieved.

Turning around to finally face the room I was in, I took yet another deep breath, and turned as best I could to have a look. What I saw chilled me. It was like a scary dream, a reminder of every parents fearful words ringing clearly in my head, to beware strangers, to not trust anyone, to take care of myself, or to let them watch out for us. I remembered every time my mother said she was just worried about me, and every time my father would get mad when I went out with a boy, or just hung out with the girls.

I saw Damen.