Danger

Chapter 1

As she walks down the long corridors to room 211, she sees a glint of light. Out of pure cliche curiosity she follows it. Just when she hears a footstep, does every horror movie she has ever watched, comes flooding in. She pushes the thought away and continues to follow the light.

The corridor in which she is walking is a unique one. It has very many vintage tapestries depicting violent battles. The red and gold threads in the bottom come neatly to make perfect 4 inch tassels. It has high ceilings, with old roman columns. It probably was once a Gothic church, or small castle at one point. But now it's just a school for the gifted, a magnet school, in a forgotten town. It's nothing special, but it has been Veronica's home for the past 5 years, ever since her parents brought her there.

She has always loved acting. It's always been her passion. The day she turned 13 she was able to apply to the school. And so she did. On her first day she met a boy named roman. And he charmed his way into Veronica's heart.

Veronica has never really trusted anyone. But somehow Roman had his way of changing that. She was never able to figure out how. But he did. But still she always thought there was something odd about Roman. I don't know, maybe it was how over confident he was, or maybe how mysterious he acted around others. Or maybe, just maybe, it was how as soon as he came, people stated disappearing. Then again she might just be jumping to conclusions. Roman made her feel special in a way that no one else could. She liked that.

But something just made her feel like Roman was behind this shining object. He was constantly trying to scare her. Trying to get her to admit that she was afraid of something, like all normal human beings.

Who ever or what ever it was, Veronica was determined to figure out where that bloody light was coming from. It was horribly obnoxious, and bright. So like any sensible person, she followed it.

As if by magic or something. As soon as she turned the corner, she was consumed by the light. It wasn't like fire. Yet it burned every inch of her skin. She felt like she was rapped in a warm blanket, but just as she was getting used to it, it came to a crescendo. And she let out a gut-wrenching scream.

She felt as if every fiber of her body was being submerged in lava. And suddenly just as the light came it was gone. And she just dropped to the floor like a rag doll. Her body still tingling from that awful light. Just as her world started to fade she heard footsteps. And as she closed her eyes she could see Roman turn the corner in a full sprint. His eyes wild with joy and a wicked grin of accomplishment. And just like she slips from consciousness.

*************

Veronica was sore. Her neck was cramped and her legs were stiff. Her hands were bound to, what she pictured was a chair. She could feel the tight ropes, burning, rubbing, squeezing her hands into nothingness. She was done hurting. She was done seeing nothing but numbers above the 3 heads that watched her intensely. She couldn't quite figure out what the numbers meant but they were all sevens.

The person on the right was the first to speak. It had a deep foreign voice that she couldn't recognize.
"Ar yoo awake yet mees?"
The man was surprisingly polite, at least from what veronica could get from the question.

Instantly the man next to him spoke up, this time she recognized the voice. It was a kid from class. She had seen him a few times. But never really talked to him. She only knew him to be the quiet type. But here he is. And here she is. In some sort of cellar tied to a chair.

"No duh. geez who would have thought we would be stuck with a retard, u little."

He muttered the last part under his breath in a string of curses. But just loud enough for veronica to hear. She almost laughed, but decided better. But she was apparently not the only one. For the man to the left laughed very heavily. If the boy in the middle wasn't pleased by this gesture he didn't show it. He just went cold.

Suddenly she saw his number go up. It went from a 7 to an 8. But just as the color returned to his face, it went back down to a seven.

That's odd. Is it rating anger, hatred, oh gosh, What Are These Numbers?

That question stayed on Veronica's mind the entire time the 3 argued. But just as she thought she knew what it was, she heard a voice. It seemed to be nowhere, yet everywhere at the same time. It seemed to surround her, she had never heard it before. A moment of panic raised in her, as she thought she would die.

The 3 men saw her discomfort and sneered at her.

"Aw does the princess not like us fighting"

the boy in the middle said sarcastically. As he knew she couldn't answer with the tape over her mouth.but the continued with their evil remarks to one another.

Then the voice was back. All it said was
"Danger"
I mean as if that wasn't obvious. But what was strange, was that she didn't recognize the voice. It was new. And every time she heard it she felt like something was inside her. Like something would rush in, a breeze maybe, and come inside of her. She really had no idea. But it made her squirm. She didn't like it. she didn't like the numbers. She didn't like the men. She didn't like the ropes on her wrist. She didn't like how she didn't know where she was. She didn't like how dry her throat was. She didn't like how much she hurt. And most of all she didn't like the looming feeling of something behind her.

There were obviously a lot of things she didn't like. But what could she do about it. She felt a pressure rise up in the back of her throat

Oh gosh no, I will not cry I will not cry. I can not cry. Not now. Not in front of them.

She closed her eyes to drown out the string of curses the men were throwing. But nothing would allow her to escape the second voice in her head. The word DANGER being forced across her mind in a very high pitched girls voice. All she wanted was to go back to her parents house. Back to her mother. She would know what was going on. She was special. In a way no one else was.