Chapter 7

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9.39pm, 30 October 2020

-Ella's POV-

I yelped, afraid of the dark. I fumbled for my flashlight, pushing the bottom in the side. "Damn it," I said, throwing the flashlight on the floor in anger. I curled myself up and pushed myself against the wall.

"Ella? What's wrong?" Paul asked, his voice gentler than ever.

"My flashlight is not working..." I muttered and then I thought of something else. "My phone!" I exclaimed, rummaging through my bag for it.

"Save your phone's battery life. We can use it to contact the others. My phone dead." I let out a frown, curling myself up and rocking back and forth. "Where are you Ella?"

"At the side or something," I said. The longer I was trapped in darkness, the more I felt as if walls were caving in on me. My claustrophobia got the better of me, making me feel scared and uncomfortable.

A hand touched my arm and I was about to scream when another hand clasped around my mouth.

"Chill woman! It's me!" Paul whisper-yelled. I calmed down a little, assured that there is someone here with me. We sat there is silence, anticipating something bad to happen. It was painful to be sitting in the dark, waiting for something bad to happen, or waiting for what you know might be death. The only comfort I had was Paul holding onto my hand, reminding me that I was not alone.

Suddenly, the handle of the door shook and rattled, alerting both Paul and I. Paul's grip on my hand tightened and we stood up. I was ready to run, to fight if I had to.

We moved closer to the door and I leaned against it, trying to hear who was outside. "It's locked. What do we do?" A muffled voice said. I furrowed my eyebrows trying to figure out who it was.

"What if Jason comes? This is the only good hiding place," another replied. They sounded like girls...

"Lock this door and just stay here. Don't switch off your flashlight. It's so dark," a third voice, a guy this time, commanded. Silently, we unlocked the door and swung it open to reveal Isabelle, Hannah and Nick, watching us with shocked faces.

"Hannah! Isabelle!" I exclaimed, letting go of Paul's hand and running up to hug them. They returned the hug with a smile on their face and I turned to face Nick. "Hey Nick ."

"Hey Ella," he replied, smiling.

"We lost you inside the sports complex. Where were you?" Isabelle questioned. I explained everything, from pulling Chad and Erin up, to being in the dance room. When I was done, I turned to look at Paul and Nick who was listening too, and that was when Isabelle noticed Paul. "Thanks for helping us back there," she said, Hannah muttering a thanks too.

"No problem. How long more till you guys think we can come out?" He asked. All of us shrugged in response, the same question stuck in our head. Nick was playing with his flashlight, and that was when I noticed something shiny on the floor on the other room.

I walked over to inspect it, picking up a heavy key, just like what Kristine had at the gate. The key was old but surprisingly not rusty. It had an identical star-shaped pattern for its head, a tiny sapphire adorning each spike.

"What do you have there?" Paul asked, coming closer to me. The others followed, but before anyone else besides Paul could enter, the door slammed shut, leaving me to scream in the darkness and for Paul's hand to find mine. "Hush child," he said, patting my head and proceeded to chuckle. . I slapped him on the shoulder and felt for the doorknob. I grabbed it and tried to turn it, jingling it.

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