| a horror story |

happy valentine's day

It was a quiet Thursday morning and Sarah was having trouble leaving her bed. It was ten past seven and she was still scrolling through her social media feed, frequently laughing at pictures her friends had posted. She then came upon an advertisement about chocolates and she suddenly remembered that it was Valentine's Day.

After the first moment of shock, she returned back to giggling at her friends embarrassing themselves publicly. She never really cared for Valentine's Day, at least that's what she tells herself - she had embarrassed herself greatly a few years back, she doesn't want to talk about that.

She observes the buildings to her right as she sits comfortably in her dad's SUV. The ride to school had been short and after a few slowing minutes, she was calmly making her way to her first class. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary until she decided to stop at her locker to drop off a few things.

There were several people crowded outside the ladies washroom. Something felt off. What in the world could be happening that's sparking up these peoples' interests, specifically for the bathroom? She decided not to ask anyone since she really wasn't in the mood to socialize, she never is.

She dropped off her textbooks in her locker without being noticed. She quietly scooted around the crowd of people and walked to history class. She heard the door open behind her but didn't bother to look back.

Still, something felt off.

The usual loud thumping sound of basketballs against hardwood was missing. The yells and screams of joy and excitement seemed to have lessened, completely. The only sound she heard was of her own rubber soles against the cold concrete.

After her short walk, she grasped the doorknob of the room but immediately pulled her hand back. It was freezing cold.

She stood there, shocked, unable to move, or think. She heard someone call her name. A jolt of realization woke her up from her restrained state and she quickly turned to see a friend of hers, Lily.

The friend asked Sarah what she was doing. At that moment Sarah couldn't come up with anything to reply with, she was still somewhat in a frozen state.

Once Sarah was able to put together words in her head, she hastily said that she was going to her class. There was a moment of silence between Lily and her. Neither of them were saying anything; in Sarah's case she was still trying to remember the basics of sentence structure while Lily just looked at her, weirdly calm.

Lily was the one to break the silence and said that she remembered Sarah's first class to be on the other side of campus. She sounded unusually calm while talking, parallel to her emotionless demeanor.

Then again, is calm equivalent to emotionless? Or was Sarah thinking of something more menacing? Her close friend, who she had met all those years ago, seemed

numb

Sarah continued to stare at Lily. She was in a daze that felt like it lasted for hours. The corners of Lily's mouth seemed to be curving slowly, into a subtle smile. The last thing Sarah saw before a strong, pounding, headache took over her head, and overcame her vision.

The gusts of air she rapidly sucked into her lungs through both her nose and mouth were cut short and incomplete. The used air that she pumped out felt searing hot, making her body naturally stop breathing, causing a unstable breathing cycle.

Sarah had fallen onto her knees as her conscious started to give out. Her entire body dropped onto the now burning concrete. So hot it felt cold.

A sound of dripping water was distant. The ground seemed completely cold now. Though the temperature of her body felt normal, her face felt different. It felt cold, wet, numb.

Another distant sound was heard, it sounded like squeaking metal. Her eyelids flew open. She saw, pipes? Blue pipes. She slowly started moving her limbs and sat upright. She was in the bathroom?

She was in her school uniform, in the school bathroom, what? She looked at herself in the mirror and nothing was unusual. The only thing was that her shirt was wrinkled, probably due to her laying on the tiled floor only a few seconds ago. She quickly flattened the wrinkles and walked to the door that led outside, into the corridor the lockers were located.

She turned the doorknob and swung open the door. She saw several people in front of her after attempting to exit the bathroom.

No, it can't be.

They started asking her questions all at the same time. She pushed people out of the way and looked into the direction facing away from the bathroom.

No.

No.

What?

She saw her, herself.

Walking away.

What?

She stood there.

Numb. Numb?

Numb.

happy valentines day...