With Stars In Their Eyes

Chapter 10: Crimson Academy

Once the door closed and they were swallowed by darkness. Luna felt Adam's hand gripping her shoulder as she descended the stairs into the damp basement, helping her feel secure. They had no idea what they were walking in to. Luna remembered the flooding and found herself gritting her teeth, waiting for her feet to enter the cold water.

As they reach the bottom, they paused to look around. There were rays of light piercing the cold darkness like spears. It was just enough light to make out some of their surroundings. The room had about a foot of water littered with floating debris. A door at the far side of the room hung open off the hinges. There were shelves on both sides of the room with various cleaning supplies and boxes.

Looking around, Luna realized that she didn't know exactly where Freddie was. He could be anywhere. They could follow the doors all they could and they knew the general direction, but they didn't even know if this section of the school connected to the part he had fallen into.

Luna took the first step into the frigid water. Chills shot up her leg and up her spine. But she plunged her other foot in after it to lessen the shock of feeling it twice. Regretting wearing her shoes for this task, she shuffled forward to give Adam room to follow. Once they were both in the water, they stood in silence. Desperately trying to listen for anything hinting at Freddie's location. All they could hear was a distant dripping and creaking coming from the ceiling. Considering that so far there was only one way to go, they both waded through the water towards the door.

"It's ok," Adam whispered, almost afraid to break the eerie silence. "We're going to find him." It was all the reassurance Luna needed to enter the second room. They had to find him. Luna couldn't handle any more death. No more tragedy.

The next room was well lit, with a large chunk taken out of the ceiling. Looking up they could see what remained of a classroom. A desk was overturned and dangling through the hole, caught on a piece of frayed linoleum. The hole underneath was illuminated, though they were unsure how deep it was. Luna find herself leaning over and examining it. Something blue shined through the dark water. It was like a diamond, completely mesmerizing. So much so that Luna felt herself tipping over the edge.

"Woah," Adam said, catching Luna by her waist and putting her back up on her feet. "Be careful."

"I'm sorry. I could have sworn there was something down there." She said, turning around and looking up at him. He does not release her hips, he just hold her there. Planting a kiss on her forehead, he smiled and looked up to examine the room again. It had two doors. One closed, and one about a foot open to reveal a big empty room with lockers on one side.

Adam slowly approached the open door, placing his hands on either side. It looked safe enough, but there was only one door; the one Adam was looking through. That leaves you one choice: the ominous closed door. While Adam was still looking through the other door, you reached your hand out to touch the knob.

Turning it and pulling he knob, something tumbled out of the room, pushing Luna back and down into the water. She screamed, but it was silenced by water flooding her mouth and nose. She landed hard on her hip and her head hit the floor with a dull thud. It was heavy and unforgiving. It weighed her down into the black water.

Almost immediately, Luna felt a hand around her wrist, pulling her up into the light above her. Choking, she wrapped herself around Adam as soon as she could breathe. Drawing in long shuddering breaths, she felt tears explode from her eyes.

"I have you," He said, "Don't look."

But, Luna couldn't help herself. Once she was back on her feet, she turned around to glance at what had just threatened her life. Looking back at her, floating in the jet-black water, was a face. She jumped back into Adam, shrieking at the shock of what she saw.

His eerie blue eyes were stuck in place. His skin was peeling, exposing grey muscle underneath. His body was riddled with holes, leaking black, viscus fluid. His lips were parted, exposing broken, yellow teeth. His body was mangled, contorted into a strange position like he was trying shield his face from something. The name tag sewn into his uniform said "Barry". Could this be the janitor?

"Oh my god," Luna whispered, "He must have been down here when the shower happened."

Adam pulled her away and sat her down on an overturned crate as far away from the body as possible. He took a large tarp that was hanging next to it and covered the body. He then pushed it through the water, out of the way of the door. Returning to Luna, he held out his hand and took her's. She had caught her breath enough to stand.

"Are you ok?" He asked, studying her face. "You look a little pale."

"Not as pale as him..." Luna stepped towards the door with little hesitation. The need to get out of that room and away from the body was fierce. Blocking the powerful feeling of dread and embarrassment engulfing her, she pushed forward, into the strange room.

It was a large room, filled with soggy boxes and stacks of fold-up chairs. There were packing peanuts floating in the water and concentrating around the door at the other side. Luna stopped feeling the cold because all she could think about now was finding Freddie so they could get out of the basement and back to her bed.

They both stopped suddenly. The sound of groaning reached their ears from the room ahead of them. Like she was just hit with a lightning, Luna ran towards the door with excitement. This was it: they found him. Hopefully he was ok.

She paused at the door. Last time Luna opened one, a body tried to drown her. Adam walked past her, turned the knob and opened the door into the large room. Freddie was in the middle of the room, laying on a pile of broken floor. It was tall enough to keep him dry. There was floating debris all around him, making it hard to advance to check on him.

"Freddie!" Luna yelled. "Are you ok?" She moved boards and insulation bit by bit, making a path to him. He was still groaning and holding his leg.

"I think i messed up my leg," It was leaking blood onto the boards underneath him and fading away into the murky water. Not knowing how bad it was, they were filled with urgency. He was in a lot of pain, so they crossed their fingers as they approached him. They weren't equipped to treat a bad injury.

Gritting her teeth, Luna reached the collapsed debris. She reached out a hand and moved his to the side to examine his laceration. It was on his calf, about 2 inches under the knee. Two inches long, and roughly a centimeter deep but it didn't look like it had hit anything crucial.

"You're ok," Luna said in a calming voice, "Your'e cut but it's not unmanageable."

"Really?" He squeaked, "I'm not dying?"

"No, your'e not dying." Adam laughed as he took some clean-looking rags off a shelf and approached Freddie. "We just need to stop the bleeding and get you out of here."

They worked together to pack the wound and wrap it to the best of their abilities. Adam swooped him up and held him like a gigantic baby. Luna couldn't help but giggle at the sight of them. Freddie had a look in his eyes, hinting at the fact that he was seconds from passing out. Good thing they were headed back to the stairs.

It was going to be a long trip back considering the hallway was too dangerous to walk through while carrying some one. They needed to find another way back, but that wasn't going to be easy. They had no idea how to navigate the rest of the school. Maybe if they found an exit they could walk around to the door to the gym.

If they could get there without the school killing you.