Blood, Sweat, and Hanon - A Ranger's Apprentice fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Two - Alyss

"Excuse me, but are you Alyss Mainwaring?"

Alyss looks up from her score - she's passing the time until her audition by score studying - to see a brown-haired girl looking at her. She's older than Alyss, maybe a senior or even a college student, and she holds a clipboard in her hand.

"Yes, that's me," Alyss says.

"Ms. DuLacy sent me. The string faculty just decided to let auditions number three through five warm up until their audition times. She told me to take you to one of the private practice rooms in the back hallway."

"I can't warm up - my instrument's at the luthier's, and Ms. DuLacy let me use hers for the competition," Alyss says.

"She says there's a higher-quality rental in the practice room," the girl explains. "She thought you'd want to keep your muscles warm."

Alyss nods. It is a good idea. "Yes," she agrees. "Hold on, let me get my things together." She slides her score back into her bag and stands.

"Would you like me to carry something?" the girl asks.

"No thanks, I've got it," Alyss says.

She follows the girl down the hallway, and they take a few turns to a hallway deep within the school Alyss doesn't recognize.

"I didn't know there were practice rooms down here," Alyss remarks.

"They're reserved for faculty use," the girl explains. She smirks. "They're much nicer than the student practice rooms, at any rate."

They stop in front of a closed door. The girl pulls a key out of her pocket and unlocks the door, swinging it open.

It's not a practice room at all, but a dimly lit janitor's closet.

"What -" Alyss starts to say, but the girl doesn't let her finish. She whirls and grabs Alyss, pushing her into the room before she can react. The girl hooks Alyss's bag neatly off her arm and shuts the door quickly. The lock clicks.

"Hey!" Alyss says, her mind still struggling to wrap around what just happened. She pounds on the door, bruising her knuckles. "Let me out!"

There's no sound from the hallway outside.

Alyss's mind whirls. Her cell phone was in that bag, so she has no way to call for help. And if this hallway is all storage and janitor closets, who is going to be back here during the competition? Also, the door is really thick. She doubts anyone in the hallway could hear her yelling.

She turns so her back is against the door and slides down it to the floor, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. A few hot tears slide down her face. After everything that's happened, after everything she's gone through, it comes to this? All her hard work will come to nothing now.

It's absolutely freezing in this dark little room. The chill from the air and the cement floor beneath her wrap around her, and she shivers violently. Her sweater was also in that bag, and she's wearing a short-sleeved dress. Goosebumps pop up along her arms.

She wonders if anyone will look for her. She doesn't think they'll find her anytime soon. The Conservatory is a huge building, with hundreds of rooms. Once they find out she's missing, which could be hours, it will take them a long time to search all of those rooms.

Alyss curls up on the cold, hard floor and lets the tears come.