|phobia|

|achluophobia|

|ella|

"I'll give you twenty dollars, if you'll go into the abandoned school for an hour!" Nate yells at me. There's four of us.

Nate- the arrogant one.
Natalie- the keeps to herself, but keen one.
Lukas- the pompous, self centered, but slightly more intelligent one.
Then, there's me. Ella Marie Greyson- the adventurous, vulnerable, and quite gullible one.

"Nate, leave her alone. There isn't a way on earth she'd go in there." Lukas laughs rolling his eyes. He then walks over to the gates and rattles them for effect. "She's too...scared." He says smirking. "I am, in no way afraid of this old place! Why should I be, it's just a school for crying out loud." I walk over to the gates and open them. I open them, walk inside, and shut them right after I walked inside. "One hour. You guys better be back. I swear to g.." I start scolding. "Oh relax El! Stop being so uptight. It's an hour you'll survive." Nate says. Whatever.

I begin to walk towards the dilapidated building. 39 years it's been abandoned. Some people say it's because some kid was killed in a bathroom, others say they just couldn't keep up with bills from the government.

But the thing I heard most? An asylum is across the bridge. Hence is why we were out tonight. Stupid traditions. One of us always has to do a stupid dare around the town in honor of those psychotic fools in there. Anyways, a patient who had "visions" and "heard voices" had escaped. I would to, obviously, but that's my opinion. Again, back to the topic. He, apparently, came into the school and hid. When they went looking for him, he had vanished. He was 11 when he was admitted. This happened 9 years ago. So, I guess in a small way, I am scared to go in here. But it's a date and I definitely don't want to have to face being called a "chicken" for the rest of my high school days.

As I walked towards the school I felt wind swirl around me. It feels like it's only 49 degrees out here. I turn around to wave at Nate, Natalie, and Lukas. But they're gone. I pull out my cell phone and try to turn it on to call Nate. It won't turn on. I flip it to the back to see the battery latch was clogged. I open it to see my battery was gone replaced by a sticky note. "Have fun, doll face. ~Lukas, Nate."

Wonderful. Abandoned in an abandoned school. Ironic, I'm aware. I walk into the building trying to warm up my hands by rubbing them on my arms. I open the main doors, and walk inside. Dust, webs, and heat? They must still have the heat on. It's so dark, like the pitch blackness of pitch black. I'm scared of the dark also, isn't this lovely. I just love it in here! I do, however, have a really bad case of achluophobia. I turn on the small flashlight they gave me, and walk up the long corridor. This isn't so bad.

I keep walking until I see a relatively good room to sit in. I walk in and see desks with chipped paint on them. Flipped tables almost like a barricade. Scratched chalkboards and a door. I walk to the door and twist the nob. Locked. There isn't even a lock to lock? Alrighty then. Walking out of that mistake I walk into a room and begin to look around. bing. What was that? It was high pitched but not like a voice. A piano key maybe? ing. Yeah, a piano.

"Lukas! Nate! Natalie! Quit trying to scare me you idiots, it isn't working." I say walking towards the noise, which is getting more frequent. bing. bing. bing. I see the end of the hall way and three sets of two doors. A sign saying 'Auditorium' lets me know this is definitely where it's coming from. I quickly push open the doors, walk down the stairs. And from where I was looking the stage was only 50 feet from me. I scoff and look up. "Luka..." I stop in my tracks as I see something I don't expect. Something that frightens me to my maximum limits. A person, with brown hair, which to me looks flatter than 'curly' so more as wavy, long coat, and a sinister gaze.

I open my mouth to scream but it never happens. I look at him as he looks at me at the exact same time. As our eyes met, I let out a small gasp. I felt small. I've never been so scared, weak, and as vulnerable as I am now. Green piercing eyes look back at me. What have I gotten myself into.