Trust Your Instincts

-64- Creeping Death

The apartment was painfully quiet without Mark around. He had only been gone for an hour or so and Jack was already feeling lonely. He had gotten used to living alone over the year since he moved to America, but now with Mark over as often as he was, every second that he wasn't in the apartment just seemed too quiet.

 It was almost ominous how quiet it had become, so Jack decided to put some music on and get his growing mountain of homework out of the way. It might sound stupid when such a life threatening situation was just around the corner, but Jack intended to live through tonight, and when he did, he'd have to really focus on getting into a good university. He had made Mark promise to hold the same mindset.

 It wasn't as if he had any real goals for the future, but he always knew he was somewhat naturally talented when it came to physics and math, so maybe he could go into some sort of engineering career?

 He sat down at his table and took out the first packet of homework, even going as far as to turn his phone off so that he could really get in the zone.

 It worked for a while. He had successfully finished two assignments and a homework booklet without many distractions, but by 2pm he couldn't seem to ignore his growling stomach much longer and decided to take a break for lunch. He had certainly earned it.

 After stretching and checking the fridge, Jack realised that he was dangerously low on food, and so decided just to make himself a sandwich. That would be enough to keep him going until dinner. It was either that or a pot of flavourless ramen noodles.

 As he was spreading the butter on his bread, he realised that his playlist had ended, and the eery silence had returned to his empty apartment. He was used to silence, but that didn't mean that he enjoyed it, it always unsettled him that he could almost hear his own heartbeat if he listened earnestly enough.

 He set down his knife and walked over to his laptop so that he could drown out the silence once more, but on his way to doing so, he heard the faint sound of a floorboard creak, followed by a soft curse.

 It wasn't a voice he recognised, maybe because it was so quiet that he had barely heard it, but he was almost certain that it had came from somewhere in the apartment, and within a second, he was back to standing behind the counter, the butter knife clutched tightly in his hand as he stared intently at the slightly ajar door to his bedroom.

 No other sounds came from the room, and the silence that engulfed him now was almost palpable. He was rooted to the spot with his eyes glued to the doorway, when it dawned on him that he hadn't locked the door when Mark left the apartment earlier that morning like he normally did.

 Anyone could have slipped in when his back was turned. He just hoped it was Felix or Mark playing a prank on him, but even then, it wouldn't have been in the best taste. Don't they know this close to such a life or death situation that maybe they should keep their pranks for another time?

 He must have stood in the same spot for at least five minutes, just waiting for something else to happen, but all he could seem to hear was the whistling wind outside and his steady breaths. Either he imagined the floorboards creaking because he was so on edge about tonight, or the culprit was doing a brilliant job at staying completely still now.

 He decided that if he was going to face Minx tonight, whoever was in there was nothing in comparison, and so he forced himself to move his feet, heading tentatively in the direction of his bedroom door, almost turning back at least six times. He was still hungry and maybe whoever it was would let him eat before confronting them. The idea became more and more ludicrous as each second passed. A potential murderer isn't gonna care if you're hungry before he kills you.