21 Century Haunting

|10|

Ashton's P.O.V

I waste no time turning Calum. Even though Luke was something different than what I was, I decide to make Calum like me. Luke could complain later.

Once I've called the glaciem manes, the ice ghosts, and they've started their work on Calum, Luke comes puffing back. "Mikey," he pants. "Mikey is gone."

"What direction did he go in?" I ask, straightening up.

"Don't sweat it," he says. "You won't catch him."

I roll my eyes, slumping down again. "One job -," I start, but I'm cut off by a deep rumbling making it's way through the building. Muttering curses under my breath, I pick up the now unconscious Calum from the dusty floor. As I drag him across the floor, I don't bother to see if Luke was following. I needed to get Calum to Samuel.

"We have to get to Samuel, we'll die otherwise!" I say, picking up the pace. I hear Luke hopping along behind me.

Just as we're a couple yards away from the doorway to Samuel's room, the rumbling starts again. It's much louder this time, and there is a tinny sound to it. Fighting against the pain in my ears, I drag Calum closer to the door. It takes so much more effort than it did before.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Luke fall to his knees. His hands are clamped around his ears and his face is twisted into a mask of pain.

Giving a final grunt, I manage to pull Calum into the doorway of my destination. Ignoring the pounding in my head, I woozily search the room. Samuel is no where to be seen. My vision blurs and multiplies, the pounding in my head threatening to split my skull. Falling against the door frame for support, I slide to the ground. Calum lays at my feet, unconscious.

The leering face of Samuel is the last thing I see before I black out.

*~*~*~*~*

Mikey's P.O.V

When the rumbling starts, I start running faster, making towards where I think the lobby is. After one one wrong turn that led to a dead end, I finally reach the lobby. The glass doors shake in their frames, distorting the world outside. Unthinkingly, I run at the doors, pushing and pulling to see if they'd open. It only takes one brush of my fingers to cause the doors to throw me back.

"UGH!" I shout angrily, running my hands violently through my hair. It wasn't night anymore, why weren't the doors opening?

My answer comes a moment later when a support beam falls from the ceiling, revealing a small square a pinkish light.

The sliver of light set a wave of realization over me. I couldn't leave through the doors because that wasn't how I had entered. I had to get out from the window I'd climbed in through.

Once I had figured out my escape, I pull my knife out of my belt and run back out into the halls, the knife held out in front of me. Clinging to the shadows, I run through the corridor, peering into the rooms as I go. The windows are broken and dusty like the way they were when we'd first saw them.

Relief courses through my body as the room enters my field of sight, and I waste no time dashing in. The window is there, the gaping hole beckoning me, taunting me with the idea of escape.

But I can't.

Calum.

Luke.

Ashton.

It was dawn, maybe they were normal again, maybe I could bring them to safety.

I couldn't leave without giving them a chance.

oo dang