Locked Away

Chapter 12

Max's POV
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Ross and I were blazing through the bar code doors like nobody's business. We were on the hunt for the key to the exit, and we wanted to find as fast as We could, so that we would have a slimmer chance of having an encounter with the panther. Once we reached the general area of where the key was said to be hidden, I turned to look at Ross. He was catching his breathe, and so was I.

"Well," Ross said, panting, "we're here. And we didn't bump into the cat."

"And let's keep it that way," I respond. I was not about to get eaten. At the pace we were moving, we'd outrun the thing before it even had the chance to react. "Okay, now what?" I asked once we have caught our breathes and have settled down a bit.

"Well, we better start looking for that key," Ross returned.

"Yeah, we should totally look for the key WHEN THE ENTIRE LEFT WING WAS MARKED WITH 'KEY LOCATION'!!" I shout at Ross, not in the mood for his jokes.

"Weren't we investigating some parts of the left wing yesterday?" Ross asked, proving to be serious about what he said. I honestly couldn't argue with that. I mutter some things to myself before giving Ross the okay. We started searching in room we didn't look in before. As we were investigating, my mind wandered back to the insanity that was a few hours ago: the body, Blue's insane looks and chuckles, how I lost my appetite to that imagery, which by the way, has not come back yet.

I'll be honest: when all this mind f*ckery was just starting out, I thought Cory was responsible. But now, I'm pretty sure it wasn't him, but Blue. I mean, he seemed a little unstable even before he saw that body, and that's not even the end of it. New theories emerged from this morning's events, mainly addressing what exactly happened with Ian. Now that I thought about it, Blue didn't seen as fazed by the sight of the cat as the rest of us were. Maybe, just maybe, Blue has some special connection with the cat, like as if he was it's...master? It made some sense: Blue could've ordered the cat to kill Ian, but there were still some inconsistencies with that idea. Mainly, Yellow and Blue are brothers. Why would Blue order the cat to do something so inhumane to his own brother? Unless...

"Uh, Max, are you done in lala land? We have a important task at hand." Ross said, poking me in the shoulder to get me back to reality. I looked at him with the "I wasn't in lala land, you dork" eyes. Ross laughed for a bit, but was serious again very quickly. We were having next to no luck finding any form of key or lead to one so far, and it was getting irritating as my stomach growled. It was 12:15 PM now, and I hadn't eaten any. Ross could start to see my irritation, but insisted that we should look one last time, to see if we missed anything. Halfway through, I raged seemingly random, shouting about how hungry I was getting, and about how I just wanna go home. Ross, concerned about how I was reacting, told me that we were heading back.

"FINALLY!" I shout, irritated. I was about to just go back myself. We went to the door, which was locked by padlock, and I used my code to open it. After a few doers of silence, I turn and poke Ross on the shoulder.

"Tag, you're it!" I say, hoping to get the more playful side of Ross to come out. He started laughing, and chased me until he tagged me. Then I chased his till I for him. We were playing around for the first time in what felt like forever. However, our fun didn't last. Ross was it, and we were a few doors before the main room. I had just opened the door, and froze. I gazed at the odd figure that was curled up right in the middle of the room. However, Ross didn't see it. He grabbed my shoulder and pushed me off to the side.

"You're it, Max!" he exclaimed to me, still in playful mode. Then he ran right into the figure, richocheting right off of it. Ross's laughter died, replaced by confusion. He backed away from what he bumped into, hoping that it didn't notice. But it opened its eyes, and scanned the room. I look at Ross in shock, seeing if he was thinking what I was thinking. It was the cat. It got up, stretched for a bit, then turned its attention to us.

"RUN!!" I yell. Ross and I bolted to the door on the other side of the room, desperate to get away from the cat before it reacted. I made it, opened the door frantically, and shouted for Ross to go. However, he wasn't fast enough. Just when he reached the door, he strangely fell down. I tried to help him up, but he couldn't get up. I look back at the room in fear. That monster had a grip on Ross's legs, and was trying to drag him back into the room. Ross looked at me, his breathing getting quicker as he tried to shove me away.

"Ross!" I shout at him, "what are you doing?"

"Go!" Ross commands me, "I'm sorry, but it's not worth getting killed to try to save me."

"Ross, I am not leaving without you!" I cry out. Time seemed to stand still as Ross spoke.

"Max, no matter what happens, I'll always be there for you." Time resumed as the cat started tearing Ross apart..alive. His screams and shouts to go slipped my ears and went straight to my brain. A pool of blood was growing under Ross as I shout his name one last time, tearing up as all of this was happening right before my eyes. The cat's eyes shot right to me, and I ran, closing the door behind me. After a few rooms, I stopped, say down by a corner, and cried for what felt like hours. The misery of watching my friend die right in front of me was treacherous to the point of unbearable. My mind wanted to head back and tell the others of what happened, but my body didn't even budge. I had to force myself to get up and move. My face was warm and wet. When I got back, no one else was there. I sat at the far end of the table and let my years flow again, covering my face with my hands, and pondering what could have been if I had chosen another, or if I warned Ross about the figure in the room. There were so many what if scenarios in my head. I killed time by checking the closet, which oddly enough, the body that was there this morning was no longer there. Other than that, I had no idea what to do without my best pal by my side...
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A/N: 300 reads. I cannot believe it. Now for big time writers who get thousands of reads on each of their stories, that's not much. But for a small time writer...I have no words for how happy I am on how much following this story is getting. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! How should I celebrate this milestone? A contest? Draw a scene? Something else? Comment down your ideas. Thank you all so much, and have a good night. ;))
P.s: the only thing I don't think I'll do is a face reveal. I'm just not comfortable with the idea that people know who I am. Besides, some mysteries are better left unsolved. (quoting Anthony from my own book lol.)