Trapped

29.

I didn't sleep at all, but I pretended to be asleep when Ryan snuck out early the next morning. I checked his direction through half closed eyes, then once he was out of the library I quickly took off my other shoe to increase my stealthiness and then I went to the door. I opened it just wide enough so I could squeeze through and then I quietly shut it behind me. I heard his boots thumping down the hallway to my right. He wasn't even trying to hide where he was going, probably since he was confident that no one would dare to come after him after he killed Eddie. But I was equally brave and stupid and when you mix that with desperation, you get a very motivated and fearless person. I followed the sound of his boots and memorized every turn and every step that I took. Before long we were on the ground floor and I could no longer hide in the hallways. I had to crawl in behind a flipped over couch and wait. His boots stopped slamming on the floor and I slowly peeked out from behind the couch. He was standing in front of  a door that I assume led to the basement and then with one move he crushed all my hopes and dreams of finding out what he was up to. He took out a key from his pants pocket and unlocked the door, then he went through and locked the door behind him. 

I waited for a few minutes before I crawled out from behind the couch and rushed to the door, there was only one way I could think of to get the door open and that was to break it. Before I did however I went to the kitchen to grab a knife, just in case Ryan heard me and wanted to kill me. Then I stood a few feet from the door and ran towards it, jumping up just before I hit the door and came crashing into the door. The door cracked and pain shot through my shoulder where it made contact with the door. The door was basically broken, it just needed a little extra force to completely break through the thin wood. I gave it a hard kick and that was it, the door swung open and I rushed in, keeping the knife close. 

I went down the staircase and into the basement where I no longer heard Ryan's footsteps. I looked around and there was nothing to see, it was basically just an open and empty room with wooden floorboards, which didn't make sense since Ryan was nowhere to be seen and there was nowhere else he could possibly go. 

I walked around the room and tried to figure out where he could have gone. I was walking across the middle of the floor when I heard a creak below me. One of the floorboards under my feet were loose. I bent down and tried to wiggle it out of place and sure enough the floorboard lifted up. Below the floorboard there was a door handle and I opened it and lifted it up. There was a ladder that led into an underground tunnel, I clambered down and started walking through the dimly lit tunnel. There was water on the floor that kept flowing in and out like waves and the further I went into the tunnel the deeper the water became. 

After a good long walk I finally reached the source of the water, the tunnel opened up and ended at the side of the island, very close to the ocean. Every now and then a high wave would send water streaming into the tunnel. There was a rope ladder that hung down across the entrance of the tunnel and it was swaying from side to side viciously. I walked closer and peeked out of the tunnel and looked up, then I ducked immediately afterward when I saw Ryan climbing up the rope ladder. He was making his way to the top and he was almost there. I knew I would find a way out of this place, but I never thought that it would be this easy. I just had to wait until Ryan was far enough away and then I could go get Erin and the rest and lead them out. 

I smiled and sat down on the wet floor of the tunnel and looked out at the view ahead of me. I took in a deep breath and just relaxed for a while, giving Ryan a chance to get far away before I would follow him. In that moment everything was quiet and serene and I felt very relaxed. I hadn't felt that way since we came to this world and it was nice. After a while I realized that the ladder wasn't swaying as much anymore and I peeked out of the tunnel again. Ryan was nowhere to be seen and I took the opportunity to make sure of what I was getting us all into. I climbed up the rope ladder and when I reached the top Ryan was nowhere to be seen.