Death by Detention

4

Ten more seconds and I'd fall. Ten more seconds and that would be the end of Charlotte.

I take a deep breath to compose myself. "I'm not dying here! I'll be left to haunt this place forever and I'm not staying here any longer than I have to!" I exclaim. My arms begin to shake and my shoes slide but my hands stay meaning I'm in a really awkward position. "Raine!" I cry for the fifth time, giving up on my previous comment.

There's a loud crash and shouts before I hear him again. "Charlotte!" He shouts. Raine.

"Up here! Please. Get me out!" I shout. I'm sobbing again but I'm too scared to be embarrassed by the ugly sounds coming from my mouth.

"Jesus Christ" Damon mutters as I hear him walking towards Barry's body. "Where are you Charlotte?" He asks.

"Look up!" I almost laugh. I look down and see him standing below me. "I've never been so happy to see you before"

"How are we going to get you out of there?" He says quietly.

I slide again and the wire starts biting into my bare shoulders. "Quickly!" I shout.

My fingers flex as they look for something to grip on to but I know that if I fall again then I'll fall completely.

I squeeze my eyes closed and wait. It's up to them now. "Wait! There's gardening gloves somewhere" Arla shouts and a few seconds later, the barbed wire sticking into my arms was pulled away. I winced as they drew more blood.

"I got you. I got you now" Raine says and I feel his hands on my shoulders. "Let go"

My muscles relax instantly and I fall into his arms. I grip to his shirt with my weak fingers and curl into him. "I got you" he repeats over and over into my hair.

****

Once I got the feeling in my legs back and managed to take a few shaky steps around the basement, Damon starts his interrogation. "What happened?"

"We were just crawling and then I grabbed his ankle because I couldn't see him and then he fell. I managed to grip onto the sides but he didn't" I explain. "He's dead isn't he?"

Arla nods solemnly. "Good news is that Steph's brother should be here any minute" She says.

"Who's going to tell him?" Nora says quietly. "Everyone will blame us"

Raine sighs "But it was one of us" We all look around the room.

"Four people dead. In what? An hour?" Nora says "It's sick" she shakes her head and I watch as her eyes fill up with tears once more. "Let's get out of here. We can wait up where Steph is"

I nod and look around. There are three closed doors. "Which way is out?"

Damon points towards the second door. "I think it's that one" he says and reaches for the door handle. He turns it and it swings open. He jumps back as a body in a blue jumpsuit falls in front of him. "Oh God. Not that one" he says.

It was the janitors closet. And the man was the janitor. His throat had been slit and one of the antique swords hung on the coat rack behind him.

"There's the other sword" Raine says. "Just one more and the mace"

Nora shakes her head "The other sword is upstairs. It swung down when I ran through a door just before Steph died. It barely missed me"

"So just the mace then" I say. My voice is still stuffy and I sniff away my runny nose that was brought on by the tears.

"Five dead" Arla whispers as she pulls open door number one. She screams as she looks inside "Make that six" she says.

I look past her and see a boy about 20 lying on the ground. Multiple stab wounds covered his chest and his grey t-shirt was almost completely stained red. "That's Steph's brother!" Nora shouts. "We're screwed!"

"Hey! Calm down. We'll just get out another way. Okay?" Raine says standing up from his seat on the floor. Nora nods slowly and he walks towards the other door. It opens easily and reveals a set of stairs. "I'll go first okay?" He says.

I watch as he disappears up the stairs. The blood on my forehead has started to dry and is now quite itchy. I rub it and it flakes off onto my fingers.

Arla takes Nora's arm to go up next and only Damon and myself are left in the basement. Well, other than the three dead bodies. "I still don't trust you" He growls. "It can't just be a coincidence that you could have killed Barry and Mr Banks. You were also late this morning and had plenty of time to set up the traps"

I shake my head "Believe what you want. Right now, I'm getting out of here. Alive. And that's all that matters"

I shove past him and walk up the stairs to meet Raine at the top. "Is he still giving you grief?" He asks. I smile and shake my head. The last thing we need is the two of them fighting again. "Arla thinks we should head up to the science classes. She thinks she can make a sort of bomb"

I nod "Sure. Let's get moving then"

****

I just watch as Arla starts mixing. She seems to know what she's doing so I don't say anything. "Nora can you pass the bottle with the blue label?" She asks.

Nora nods and picks up a bottle. I frown. The label on that is green. "Wait" I say just before she pours it in. "Are you sure it's the right one?" I ask.

Arla looks at the bottle and almost seems upset. "Yes. This one is" she says quietly and continues to pour it in.

Nora smiles at her and Arla returns it. I stand up and walk over to Raine. "The two of them are acting weird but I'm going to put it down to nearly dying" I whisper. 

He looks away from the window. "Probably a good idea. Otherwise you'll end up like Paranoid Pete in the corner over there" He points towards Damon who was glaring at everyone in the room with a fire axe in his grip.

"Where did you hear that saying?" I ask him.

He chuckles "No where. I just made it up. I think I did anyway"

I laugh and rest my forehead against his chest. "I really want to get out of here. But I also feel like I'm just getting in the way" I step back and turn away.

He grabs my arm and pulls me back. "Where do you think you're going?" He asks.

I laugh "Toilet? Nature calls"

"I'll come with you!" Arla says a little bit too excitable for a pee break. "I'm finished here anyway"

I look back at Raine and he shrugs. "Try not to take too long. If you're anymore than ten minutes I might spontaneously combust with anxiety"

I grin at him and walk towards Arla. "Let's go"