Gateway to hell.

Chapter 4.

Kendall's first class was devoid of her friends, and for that she was glad. She needed to think without any of them questioning her sanity. She had just 45 minutes before her next class with Neve and Gabby, her heart pounded along with the ticking of the clock, emphasizing every passing minute.

"What the hell is going on here."

She thought to herself. Gentle, quiet Neve. Her friend since kindergarten, always there in the background, ready to catch her when she fell. The teacher droned on in the background, lulling the brooding Kendall into a childhood memory.

The three of them racing along on their new bikes. Kendall, Gabby, and Neve, always together. If Kendall fell off her little pink bike, it would be Neve running to her aid. Her snub little nose wrinkled with concern, running to the house and back, throwing herself at Kendall's prone form, with no regard for scraping up her own chubby knees on the unrelenting tarmac. Focused on her task, she would come brandishing a plaster, and antiseptic cream. Gabby chattering away in the background, oblivious as usual as Neve would be gently, and ever so carefully applying a plaster to Kendall's newest abrasions. Her little face a mask of concentration, huffing away her mousey brown hair that flopped over her furrowed eyebrows. Intent only on helping her friend.

Kendall shook away the memory. Her daydreaming had cost her time, and the lesson was almost done. Anxiety crashed over her like a wave. She knew what she saw, and it wasn't Neve.

If there was something ...she paused, gulping down air that didn't seem to reach her lungs. The words seemed to stick in her throat, as if it were filled with cotton.

....Something evil inside her, then I have to get Gabby to see. She twisted her blonde waves nervously through her fingers . At least then I won't feel like I'm losing it, she thought. Or at least if she saw IT again with her own eyes, with one of her friends looking at Neve too, then they could confirm she was crazy! I can deal with crazy over demonic any day, she mumbled to herself.

The teacher was wrapping up the lesson so Kendall's gaze floated towards the door. Gabby's face appeared, her perfect features so carefully made up ( the kind of make up that looks as if you're not wearing any but really, every feature on her proportioned face had been carefully highlighted and smoothed out) her shiny blonde Bob bouncing around as she hopped up and down in the window impatiently, plump nude lips mouthing at her to hurry.

Kendall's perfect eyebrows furrowed slightly, as she studied every line on her friends face, fear suddenly gripping her like a vice expecting something evil to warp those features she knew so well.

Her blue eyes narrowed in concentration, her heart thudded in her chest as she searched for any sign of something unusual in her friends face. Slowly the tightness in her throat loosened, as she realized it really was just Gabby. She let out a shaky breath, and rose to go meet her impatient friend.

" Are you ok now? What the hell happened? Why did you go off like that, Neve's like a total mess!"

Gabby blurted, as she bounced along beside her. Kendall took long strides down the hallway, her face fixed forward, and neutral as her mind whirred trying to work out if she should blurt out the horrible truth or lie and try and keep what little dignity she had left.

"So Neve says she didn't say anything to upset me?"

Kendall questioned?

"She says the same as she said when it happened. You told her something, she won't say what, and before she could answer you...your face kinda scrunched up all mad, like someone had spat at you or something, and you let fly!"

An ice cold tickle crept up the back of Kendall's neck. Neve had said what she'd said, she had heard it clear as day. Although Neve was not a liar, Kendall knew that too. Desperation clouded her mind. Normally she would share her problems with her friends..but now? Just for the moment, maybe it's best to suck it up, hope it goes away.

" You know what...I don't even know what went through my mind! It's the stress from last night, I didn't sleep and..."

Gabby interrupted her, as per usual ;

" There's Neve, let's go talk before the next class starts."

She gestured toward the end of the corridor with a flourish.

Neve stood outside the classroom door, her hands clasped together in front of her, as she wrung them together nervously. Her brown eyes were shot with red from crying ,and her eyelashes glistened with tears she had tried to blink away. She caught Kendall's eye , and immediately lowered her gaze, her forehead creased with worry.

Kendall's adrenaline spiked as she prepared for the worst. Not knowing what to expect. She steeled herself and went toward Neve with open arms. That was her best friend , nothing else she chanted in her head.

Neve threw herself the remaining distance between them, her relief palpable in the air. Tucking her head under Kendall's chin and wrapping her arms round her, Neve sobbed gently . Her soft brown hair against Kendall's throat filled her senses with the familiar apple scent of her shampoo, instantly calming Kendall and chasing away her doubts like the last few stubborn shadows of night as the sun rises.

"Neve I am so sorry, I must have been affected by last night more than I thought. I am actually hearing things. I thought I heard you call me a cunt for god's sake!"

Kendall told her. She pushed her at arms length, stooping slightly to look Neve in the eye and drive her apology home.

Neve nodded enthusiastically.

"It's ok, I understand. I was just so upset, I had no idea what I'd done, or what was going on. Are we ok? I can't bear to have you upset with me, I would NEVER say anything like that to you."

Neve sniveled, wiping away the last of her tears.

" Yay everything's good, let's go goof off in the ladies for 5 minutes. Neve's a hot mess, and I can do without particles, and atoms and shit being rammed down my throat in physics class just yet."

Gabby announced to her friends, pulling the three of them together in a awkward threeway embrace.

Arm in arm, they strutted quickly across the corridor and slipped into the bathroom, as the halls emptied and students filed into classrooms. The three very different in appearance girls preened in the mirror stretched across the row of sinks. Kendall's long blonde locks fell in soft waves down her shoulders, as she applied a racy crimson lipstick to her perfect cupids bow. Her expression was impassive, but inside her mind whirled. She tried to forget, but every movement in the mirror made her flinch, expecting to see something hideous staring out from her friends familiar faces. A bang echoed through the tiled room. Kendall jumped, and too scared to shriek, sucked in a painful breath, the air felt hot as though she was gulping fire down her throat.

"Hey, you're ok. It's just a toilet door slamming."

Neve said softly, her hand on her arm reassuringly. Kendall let out the breath stuck in her throat with a strangled rasp.

" Hell, I guess I'm a little jumpy huh?"

Kendall croaked. Once again oblivious, Gabby who had been humming to herself in the mirror, ushered the girls towards the door.

" Let's go girlies. Detention must be avoided at all costs."

As Kendall turned away from the mirror a crouching black shadow  was revealed in it's reflection. Thin spindly black arms, like gnarled, burnt,  long dead branches with spindly clawed fingers reached toward Kendall's retreating form. The bathroom door clicked shut as they left. The mass slowly straightened itself filling the space completely, As it turned ever so briefly, the face of all evil opened it's mouth and let out a deep chuckle, and over it simultaneously a shrieking high pitched cackle, the very epitome of madness itself, a sound no human could stand to hear.

In the blink of an eye, before it's full face was to be revealed, the space was empty, and silent as the tomb