Echoed Corridors

Familiarity

The next few chapters are going to be very interesting and may be the last ones...

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"I think it's dangerous, what you're doing and I insist that you are no longer a part of it." His hand reached for my shoulder but I flinched so quickly as if a gust of wind had just flown my way. I could not look into his eyes; a single look would break me.

"Don't you think I know? But how dare you betray me like this, who the hell do you think you are?" The gap between us seemed like a million miles apart and even though this scenario made me want to leap into his arms and stay rest assured that I would be safe there, I couldn't.

"I think that I'm somebody who loves you, who cares about your life."

"Maybe that's not enough."

11:56pm

I sat alone waiting for any sign of a person. Any sign of anything would ease me out of the crippling anxiety I was going through right now. Maybe this was a setup, maybe somebody thought pranking a girl who spent her life at the wrong side of what seemed to be a life ruining 'prank', was a good idea. I couldn't help but place my hand onto my heart just counting each beat, each palpitation which was increasing to one every three minutes now – not the greatest of odds for me. I should have left by now; I was stupid to have come alone. I should have called Spencer; she would have known what to do. I should have left a more informative note, what to do if I'm not back after a certain time. So soon after, my thoughts were interrupted.

The door one the west side of the church swung open. It was the one leading from the bell tower, yet it still left a breeze to fall into the room.

Maybe it wasn't a prank.

I believe that was clarified when I saw the black hoodie standing in front of me. I wanted to leave but my feet seemed to be glued to the floor – I was unable to do anything apart from watch at this second. My heart was racing faster than ever before (something that truly amazed me) and soon enough I was walking over to the figure, something I would have never done before. Each step closer filled me with a sense of familiarity, I remember Spencer talked about this once – the feeling you know the person behind the mask even though you don't know who stands there. The feeling that filled me inside made my curiosity begin to cloud out the rest of my anxiety. I wish that could happen in the rest of these situations.

"What do you want from me?" I finally croaked out, my voice a low tone as I plucked up every last ounce of courage I had left in me. Somehow it was just enough. Maybe this time it was different and this wasn't the person who was trying to kill me but help me. Or maybe with thoughts like these, I was being as gullible as I was back in High School. My mind was too packed with thoughts.

"Who are you?" I asked as there was no response to my previous statement. I saw the figures mouth begin to move and it was this moment I knew this was a whole different game – this was not like before. Never had I heard the voice of the anonymous texted before. Never had I been said to meet them alone, with no reasoning for it.

"Mike-"

My world froze. My whole world. I needed to know the rest of that sentence but of course that wasn't meant to be.

The next few seconds I felt like time went by much slower than any second had ever passed in the whole of my life.

The church door slammed open.

"Aria!" Ezra screamed out, almost throwing himself towards me. His brows were furrowed and the man almost choked up his lungs on how breathless he had suddenly become.

The figure instantaneously moved.

I wanted to know what to do next but my mind was already stuck on the voice of the person dressed in all black. I knew that voice, and what did any of this have to do with Mike? I wasn't focused.

I felt the outline of a gun resting softly against my back.

My world stopped.

Thanks for reading! I hope you like this chapter and please be sure to comment and tell me what you think!