Out of the Darkness - A KathNiel Story

Chapter 7

Kath's hands were shaking as she tried to make out where she was, desperate to try and find another door but all she could feel were old wooden shelving units up against the walls of the narrow room and she stumbled over buckets, brooms, and mops that were everywhere and clattering to the ground all around her.

"HELP!" Kath screamed, tears streaming down her face. She felt on the shelves frantically, searching for a key for the door even though she knew it was impossible for them to keep a spare key inside the room itself. She just had no idea what else to do. She screamed with shock and pain as she knocked something over on the shelves, making it smash and she felt the pain of something cutting her. She could feel the blood. She couldn't help but sob, for once desperate for her parents.

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DJ chuckled as he looked down at his phone, seeing a text from his little brother but he looked up when he heard his name being called.

"DJ!" He caught Marlann as she threw herself at him, the two of them holding onto the crease in the other's arms.

"Hey! What's going on? Are you okay?" DJ asked, seeing the fear and panic in her eyes.

"I can't find Kath." Marlann choked out.

"Wait, what?! She's fucking blind! How can you lose a blind girl?!"

"She wasn't outside her classroom! I was running late because the teacher refused to let me leave early because I couldn't nail a certain dance routine - he didn't listen when I told him I had to go! I run all the way to her classroom and she's gone and her entire class is gone. I'm running around yelling for her and I saw Sue and her friends... th-they were laughing at something and they were just in Kath's class." Marlann was fighting hard to keep herself from crying and DJ's heart pounded against his chest. He knew it wasn't a good sign if Kath was missing and Sue was laughing with her friends about something.

"Right, we're gonna search for her for the next five minutes - then if we can't find her, we'll go to the main building and demand the receptionists contact security. They have cameras here, they'll be able to track her down." DJ urged and Marlann nodded her head quickly, taking DJ's hand as they ran together in the direction of the classroom Kath would have come from, then taking the route she would have needed to go on to get to her next class but there wasn't any sign of her.

"DJ!" Marlann finally let her tears fall, terrified that something had happened to Kath, and DJ had to admit that he was scared too.

"I'm gonna go to the main building, okay? Y-You try and find someone from security. I'll text you!" DJ spoke louder than he intended to out of panic and Marlann nodded, the two of them quickly going their separate ways and DJ raced towards the main building of the university, looking around quickly and he even stopped students who were on their free periods, desperately asking them if they'd seen Kath - although it was hard for him to describe her as anything other than 'blind' because he'd never seen her before.

DJ was about to run to the reception desk when he saw something that caught his eye on the ground.

Down a narrow hallway that only held a few storage rooms and a unisex bathroom, he could see a white cane discarded on the ground.

A chill ran down his spine.

DJ ran into the hallway, instantly hearing the sound of someone banging on the janitors' closet door and whoever it was on the other side of the door was obviously in tears. It didn't take a genius to know it was Kath, and that she'd been locked in the janitors' closet by Sue and her friends. "Kath?!" DJ exclaimed, trying to open the door but it was locked. He could imagine that Sue had somehow managed to snag a key from the janitor or security, making up a story about needing supplies from in the closet. "Kath, can you hear me?!" He called.

"Help me!" Kath sobbed, banging on the door even though it caused a sharp pain to shoot through her entire left hand. Her entire body was shaking.

"M-My name is DJ, I'm Marlann's friend!" DJ called through the door, hearing nothing but Kath's sobs in return. She remembered the name from when Marlann had told her about her friends - she found herself filled with a sense of relief that it was someone she could trust, but she was desperate for any kind of help.

"I do-don't know where I am!" Kath sobbed and DJ's heart shattered in his chest, his eyes burning with tears.

"Get away from the door, Kath, okay?! Move away from it! I'm gonna have to break it down!" DJ called and he heard her stumbling and yelling from inside the closet - he couldn't imagine how terrified she was.

He backed off from the door slightly before raising his foot, kicking the door as close to the lock as he could get.

The door swung open and he couldn't help but let a few tears fall down his face at the state of the blind girl inside.

He'd found Kath.

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