Not a Night for Clowning Around

𝕋𝕎𝔼ℕ𝕋𝕐-𝔽𝕆𝕌ℝ

KELLEN GRABBED MY arm, but I bit his hand, granting me a few seconds of leeway. Without another thought, I bolted as far away from him as I could.

All of my thoughts leading up to this moment were wrong. Matt wasn't the stalker, nor was Jake. I couldn't wrap my head around it being Kellen the entire time. One of my dearest friends who I thought I could trust with my life was the one tormenting me for months.

"You can run, but you can't hide," he yelled after me.

I had to find a way to get out of here. If anything happened to me, no one would believe Kellen had anything to do with it. He was always so quiet, and most of the time we forgot he was even there.

I made as many rapid turns as I could in hopes of confusing him. No matter how fast I ran, I could still hear Kellen's shouts behind me. It sounded like he was so close.

I reached a series of wooden doors, not knowing if any of these were the exit. I twisted the first doorknob, and a giant mummy leaped out. I opened the second door, and another mummy popped out. Bracing myself for a third stupid mummy, I opened the last door, but surprisingly there wasn't a mummy.

There was a whole room behind the door. I stepped inside and peered at the room around me. It looked like a child's bedroom. I was about to leave until my eyes zeroed in on someone sitting on the floor.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping this wasn't another one of Kellen's tricks.

"Carter?"

I recognized the voice in a heartbeat. "Jake!" I ran over to him, throwing my arms around him. Once the initial relief wore off, I was confused. Kellen said Jake left, so what was he doing here?

"What's going on?" I looked at Jake, whose eyes were swollen. "Were you crying?"

"Don't you see?" He gestured in front of him, but there was nothing there.

"What are you talking about?"

"I-I... there... what?" He looked around in confusion. "Where is everyone?"

"Jake, you're freaking me out. There's no one else here but us."

He looked around bewilderedly. "It wasn't real?"

"What happened?

"The room... my parents... m-my mom..." he sputtered.

"You're okay," I assured him. "None of that was real. It's Kellen. He's been messing with us."

"What?"

"Kellen's my stalker. We need to get out of here."

Jake gasped. "It was Kellen? I'm going to kill that bastard."

I helped him to his feet. "We need to focus on getting out first."

Before we could even exit the room, Kellen caught up to us. "I see you found your lowlife lover."

Jake looked even more confused. "What's he talking about?"

"You're outnumbered," I said, hoping Jake would forget everything Kellen just said. "Let us go or you're going to regret it."

Unexpectedly, he burst into laughter. "You're so cute, Carter. But who says I'm outnumbered?" He paused. "You're just a weak little girl who cried over harmless notes."

"Shut up," Jake warned.

"And you? Your parents are lucky they died so they didn't have to see how pathetic you'd grow up to become."

Jake clenched his fists. "Stop talking."

Kellen smirked at him. "It's a shame Mommy died just to protect a hopeless coward."

"If you don't shut the fuck up right now I'm going to kill you."

"You mean the same way Daddy killed Mommy?"

That was enough for Jake to get riled up. I had no idea what they were talking about, but clearly Kellen hit several nerves. Jake lunged forward and swung his fist right into Kellen's nose.

"Fuck!" Kellen cupped his nose and leaned forward.

Jake turned to face me. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Within the moment Jake looked away, Kellen pulled something out of his pocket. It felt like everything was going in slow motion when I saw the glint of the knife in his hands.

"Jake!"

It was too late. Kellen stabbed the knife into Jake's stomach, earning a scream from me. Jake fell to the ground, and without hesitation I ran to him.

"Oh my God." I placed his head in my lap and lightly smacked his cheek to make sure he was still awake.

"Carter," he groaned softly.

Tears were free-falling down my face now. "Stay with me, please stay awake. I'll find a way out, Jake, but I need you to stay with me."

While I was preoccupied with Jake, I completely forgot about Kellen. Something hard collided with the back of my head, and then everything went black.