Guilty

Juliette

I'm sitting in my bedroom, watching a TV show while I paint my nails. I probably shouldn't be watching an episode of Hannibal while I sit in the dark alone in my dorm room. 

But I loved horror movies, liked to be scared and welcomed the feeling of unease as long as it was on my terms. At any given moment I could always reach across and shut my laptop. Thus, ending the horrifying displays of violence filling up my screen. But I didn't, this show was my guilty pleasure. 

My phone started to vibrate and I answered without even checking who was calling, "Juliette, hello?" 

"Back to doing formal greetings are we?" Zane asked, I smiled at the sound of his voice. 

"What are you doing calling me? You got home almost five hours ago," I say, muting my show so I could hear him better as I blew on my nails to dry them. I'd painted them a wine-red colour. 

"I tried to be nice and drive out to get James some ice cream and now I'm stuck in the world's longest fucking line," He says, grumpily. I chuckle at the noticeable bitterness in his tone. 

"How far from home are you?" I ask. 

"Like an hour, I'm closer to campus actually. If I drove another forty minutes I could be with you," Zane says with a sigh. But I barely hear him, I glance at my door. 

I swear I heard a soft knocking noise, but that couldn't be possible. No one was left in the building. Easter break started two days ago now and I was the only person here. Or at the least, I was the only one left in the building. 

"Trouble? You okay?" Zane asks me, I focus my attention back on my phone. 

"Yeah, sorry I thought I heard someone knocking," I say, shaking my head as I speak as if the action itself would remove the thoughts from my mind. 

"Oh don't go and get yourself killed, I actually like you," Zane says, sighing. I roll my eyes at him as I shoot a look over my shoulder at the door. 

I had a bad feeling, it wasn't like I could feel a sinister presence looming. But I just felt off, and my stomach was gnawing at me to take the situation a little more seriously. I was probably experiencing some form of PTSD. 

Though, I hadn't had a nightmare in weeks and I was pretty much fine, mentally, about what had happened to me when I was at Emery's. Regardless, I couldn't shake the feeling I ought to be afraid.

"You know, I'm just going to check if something's wrong, hang on," I say, putting my phone on my bed as I walk towards my door. I opened it slowly and held my breath as I stared ahead. 

From what I could see, the hallway was empty. I took a few steps forward and turned my head to the left. I could see the staircase exit and the rows of doors. But no one else was in the hallway. I twisted my head to the right and looked down the hallway. Again I was greeted with an empty hallway. 

I let out a quick breath of relief, and then I paused. What was that noise?

It sounded like running electricity, or a low humming. It wasn't any sound a human could make. No, this was the sound of a machine. I furrowered my brow, in confusion as I looked around. And then my attention focused on the elevator at the end of the hallway. 

It was on the opposite side of the stairs, I watched in anticipation. My eyes focused on the keypad next to the sealed doors and I realised it was glowing red. As the numbers changed from zero to one and then to two. 

Someone was on the elevator, on their way up. I barely had time to take another breath before the number landed on four and I watched, almost in slow motion, as the elevator doors opened.

A man stepped off, he was dressed entirely in black. And his hood was pulled up, casting his face in shadows so black I couldn't possibly make out a face. I only assumed it was a man because of his size. He was huge and seemed to be made of muscle.  

My eyes dropped lower, to the knife in his hand. It was long and curved, and the tip of his blade glinted under the fluorescent lighting. Only emphasising how sharp it was. My mouth dried as I stared at him. 

For a moment he didn't move, just stood at the end of the hall. He stared back at me, and I stared back at him. It's like we were both waiting to see what each other was going to do. And then he took another step forward and my senses kicked into overdrive as I turned on my heel and bolted. 

I ran down the corridor as fast as I possibly could, the doors flying past me in maroon blurs as I shoved the door to the staircase open. It's insane how fast you can run when your life is literally on the line. I hear his footsteps behind me as I throw myself down the stairs.

Faster. Faster.

My breath came out erratic as I ran down the stairs faster, I heard him behind me. He was running after me now. Fear filled my veins and threatened to paralyse me. But I kept running, desperate to survive this. 

I reached the ground floor and glanced behind me, the man was one staircase above me. That gave me thirty seconds to put as much distance between us as possible. I didn't know where to go. I couldn't run to my car because I had left my keys in my bedroom.

And I'd stupidly left my phone in my room, I had no way of escaping so the only thing I could do was hide. The issue was, that this man had all the time in the world to find me. No one was here and it was the middle of the night. I doubted his hunt for me would end just because the sun would rise. 

He wasn't like the monsters we were afraid of when we were children, he wasn't limited to attacking during the night. 

I opened one of the doors to another hallway and shakily pulled my necklace off. I threw it down the hallway, wincing at the shattering noise the glass pendant made as it hit the floor. I kept the door to the hallway open but ran into the room opposite it. 

I could only hope he'd see my necklace and hope I had run down the hallway. I shut the door behind me and looked around the small broom closet I was in. I shakily grabbed one of the brooms and pushed it against the door.

I rubbed the tears from my eyes, I was scared shitless but I couldn't afford to be scared right now. I had to focus and clear my head so I could escape. 

Looking up, I noticed a small window. 

Thank you, Jesus.

Silently, I opened the window as far as possible so I could climb through it. But before I pulled myself through I noticed the axe near the door, encased in a glass box. I walked towards it and punched the glass, ignoring the pain that shot up through my arm. 

I dragged myself out of the window, axe in hand. And landed on the wet grass with a thud. The night air was freezing as it bit into my exposed skin. I was only in a tank top and shorts. My fucking pyjamas. 

I let out a couple of ragged breaths as I rounded the corner of the building. And bit back a scream when I saw the hooded figure. He turned around and saw me. 

I wanted to run or scream but my feet kept me rooted to the spot as fear paralysed me. He shook his head. 

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" I asked him, tears streaming down my face. He didn't move, or make any attempt to attack me. 

"It's nothing personal Juliette, but you're a distraction." 

I frowned at him, caught off guard. That was what the man at Emery's house had said. I figured it was probably the same man. And I didn't know how to feel about the fact his reasoning for wanting me dead hadn't changed even after four months. 

Points for consistency. 

"Who are you?" I ask, repeating my words. 

He pulled his hood down, showing his face to me and my mouth fell open slightly. 

Oh, god.