Running the Line of Death

Chapter 2

Later that evening Ashton had decided to see his new room. The room was across from the bathroom and it was a decent size. The walls were a light blue-grey colour and the only sources of light was from a window seat on the centre of the back wall and a fan light directly in the middle of the large, white ceiling. The bed was positioned on the left side of the room, the wooden, dark oak headboard resting against the wall. The bed was a queen size with a memory foam mattress, white sheets, and black comforter with matching pillow cases. The flooring was black carpeting.

"There's more blankets and pillows in the closet."

Ashton, standing in the centre of the room, jumped at the unexpected voice. He turned to connect a face to the words, and let out a slight breath of relief.

"You scared me.", Ashton spoke calmly, disguising the slight heart attack of fear he just had.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean too", the voice that had scared Ashton belonged to Mrs. Kacilee, who was now leaning in the doorway, staring at Ashton to make sure he was okay.

Ashton let out another small breath before saying it was okay and taking another view of the room.

"Do you like it?", Mrs. Kacilee asked, her face held a slight smile to hide the rush of emotions the room brought.

"Of course mum-I mean... uhh... Mrs. Kacilee." Ashton's face turned a bright red from embarrassment, "My apologies miss."

Mrs. Kacilee, completely forgetting the pain caused by the memories from the room, smiled brighter, and slightly laughed. "It's okay Ashton, you can call me mum."

Ashton smiled shyly and walked over to the closet. "You said there were extra blankets and stuff in here, right?"

"Yes, they're on the top shelf."

Ashton reached for the doorknob and a chill rushed through his entire body. He opened the door and peered in. The closet was large and dark, there was no light streaming in that could at least partially illuminate the pitch black space.

Ashton.

A strange voice had whispered out the boy's name.

Ashton.

It whispered once more.

"Hmm?" Ashton glanced over where Mrs. Kacilee had been standing assuming it was her who had called his name. She wasn't there. No one was, he was in the room by himself. Mrs. Kacilee had migrated to the living room, chit-chatting with Mr. Kacilee. Ashton, who was staring down the hall at this point, turned back and walked to the closet. It was still dark. Ashton blindly reached his hand into the closet to search for a light. He felt a dangling object, unsure if it was a chain or something to a light.

He pulled; nothing happened.

Curiosity got the best of Ashton, so he pulled once more, but this time with both hands. The texture was odd, it felt smooth almost but rugged at the same time. It felt thin but very durable, clearly as Ashton had just yanked hard on it. He moved his hands downward and felt something like a large knot, and below that, a loop. Ashton's chest tightened. Was it what he thought? Ashton frantically searched the closet for a light source, anything that would reveal the dangling object in the center of the closet, the object that felt like a noose.

A light flickered on, dimly at first, but grew brighter. Ashton's hand rested on the switch located on the far right side of the wall. His face was pale white at first, but after a moment, emanated colour once again. The object was a rolled jump rope that had fallen but caught on to something allowing it to dangle. Ashton doubled over as a large breath forced itself from his airways.