Alone Together • JJ Maybank

Thirty Five.

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Side by side with Kiara and Sarah, I stood with my back pressed firmly against the wall as we stayed as silent as possible. My heart was racing in my chest as I tried to steady my breathing, but the slow footsteps and labored breaths coming down the stairs sent a feeling of dread through me with each bang.

I looked to my right as Kiara clamped her hand over her mouth to muffle the sobs that she was struggling to hold in. Grabbing her other hand, I could feel myself shaking with fear as she squeezed it tighter.

"It's late Leon." I woman's voice hissed out, sounding closer than I expected. My head whipped in the direction it was coming from as I rolled my lips inward to physically stop any sound escaping. I felt Sarah grab my other hand as the woman continued to murmur and edge even closer to us. Somehow I pushed myself even closer to the wall behind me when she came into view, squeezing both the girl's hands tighter and scrunching my eyes closed as if I was holding on during a scary rollercoaster ride.

"I can hear you, Leon." Her creepy old voice said. I peaked my eyes open, trying to hold in the whimper I felt growing in my throat when I saw the woman directly in front of me. But she hadn't seen us. She was slowly walking past, using a fire poker as a walking stick, banging it unsteadily to the ground with each step.

I briefly locked eyes with Sarah, both of us completely frozen in fear when Kiara let out the smallest of sobs. "I've been waiting all night!" The old woman suddenly yelled, causing us all to scream as she unexpectedly turned towards us. I dropped Sarah's hand as we stumbled into each other in total panic, reaching with shaky hands for the flashlight I put in my pocket.

"Go, go, go!" Kiara pushed me into Sarah, forcing us to run away. My feet felt heavy as I followed Sarah through the creepy dark house, trying to remember the direction we had come from and drown out the haunting yells of Mrs. Crain.

"Wait, where's Kie?" I rushed out with a heavy breath when I noticed she was no longer behind me. Sarah stopped running as she turned to look at me, panic still clear in her eyes, before she shone her flashlight around the room like I was already doing.

"Shit. Where'd she go?" Sarah mumbled breathlessly. The sound of loud banging and crashing coming from a room further down the hall echoed out. Every instinct in me was telling me to run in the opposite direction, but I couldn't leave Kiara behind with a possible axe murderer.

"Quick, this way." I whisper-yelled for Sarah to follow me as I ran back in the direction we just came from.

"Where are you, Leon?" The woman's voice called out again. I stopped suddenly in my tracks when I saw her walking into the room where the noises was coming from. Sarah slammed into my back with a grunt, not prepared for me stopping.

The sound of china smashing and labored yells encouraged me to follow Mrs. Crain into the same room. Scanning the darkness as soon as I entered, I saw Kiara cowering in the corner as Mrs. Crain held the fire poker high in the air before slamming it down with a shocking amount of strength. Sarah grabbed her arm, shoving her out of the way forcefully as I ran towards Kiara. "Come on, get up, quick!" I rushed as I yanked her up from her crouched position.

"This way, this way!" Sarah called as she ran back into the hallway. I quickly followed, dragging Kiara behind me with my hand still firmly gripping her wrist. We made it to the next room, turning to slam the door closed behind us. The three of us stood still for a moment, holding the door closed as we took a second to catch our breath.

"God, she's absolutely psycho." Kiara muttered through her heavy breathing.

"We need to get out of here, right now!" I pushed myself away from the door just as the fire poker smashed into it from the other side, cracking a hole straight through the wood.