12 hours | short story | 5sos

three

|calum|

"why's it gotta be so dark?" avery whined as we all made it downstairs to the concrete flooring. i shined the light emitting from my phone around, not seeing much except for concrete walls and some cleaning supplies stacked in a far corner.

"maybe because we're underground and it's nighttime?" michael snarked, shuffling a few feet ahead.

"and no lights are on," ashton added, chuckling as he looked around.

"smartasses," luke huffed.

we all spent a few minutes looking around, scoping out our surroundings, and looking for the bodies of mr. benson's victims- as if there actually were any. i didn't believe in any of it, but i was always down for an adventure.

"guys! over here," sasha said excitedly.

i turned my light towards her in just enough time to watch as she pulled open a door, leading to nothing except more darkness. a long hallway with a few doors on either wall greeted us, and sasha was quick to dart off ahead of the group to explore it.

"sash, wait up!" arissa called after her, surprisingly rushing ahead of michael and ashton to catch up with the girl.

"come on, guys," i nodded towards avery and luke, giving an extra-reassuring look to aves, "it'll be fine."

avery let out a long, defeated sigh before following behind with luke close to her side. i felt bad that we had dragged the girl down here, but surely she was smart enough to know that there wasn't actually anything to be scared of. it was dark- that was the worst of it.

"there's nothing down here, guys," luke spoke up, shining his light into the rooms i'd already passed. there was nothing interesting behind any of the doors. all of it was storage- old textbooks, tools, cleaning supplies. there were a few stacks of ceiling tiles in the second room on the left, all of which were covered in a thick layer of dust. it looked like no one had touched any of it in years.

"exactly," avery added, "can we go now? please?"

"quit being a crybaby," sasha called from ahead of us. i watched as she stepped into one of the rooms, leaving our lines of vision. she reappeared a few moments later, looking defeated at the lack of findings behind any of the doors.

"well, that was a bust," ashton sighed. he shuffled back towards us, the other three members of our group close behind him.

"at least we can now say we've broken into the school," michael laughed.

"what an achievement," avery said sarcastically. despite not being able to see her face due to the darkness, i knew she was rolling her eyes.

"we're making memories here, aves!" sasha grinned, throwing her arm around the girl as we began making our way back to the stairwell to head back up.

"i don't know about you guys," arissa said, skipping ahead of the group, "but i had a good time."

"me too," michael spoke.

"me three!" ashton added.

"i'm just ready to get the hell out of this place," avery spoke, shuddering.

the seven of us made our way back through the door we'd gone through, bringing us into view of the stairwell. avery was the first to begin her ascent, with luke staying hot on her tail. the rest of us took our time following behind the two.

"guys-" avery's voice shook as she spoke, and the sound of banging against metal filled our ears soon after. "guys, the door won't open!"

"what?" luke asked, nudging avery aside to try the door himself.

"what do you mean it won't open?"

"just pull the damn handle!"

"i'm trying!" luke interrupted the shouts from sasha and michael.

"cal, did you put the textbook down so the door wouldn't shut?" ashton asked frantically, looking up at me.

"yes! i swear i did!"

there had been plenty of times in my life when i was unsure of whether or not i'd actually done something i was meant to do, but i knew for a fact that i put the textbook between the door and the door frame. i wasn't fearful about coming down into the basement, but the last thing i wanted was to be stuck down there all night. there was no way i would have let that door lock behind us.

"clearly you didn't!" arissa raised her voice, turning to look at me.

"someone moved it then! i know i put it down!" i responded, my own voice rising in volume with each word. i didn't like being accused of anything, let alone something like getting us stuck in our school's basement.

"who the hell would move it?!"

"yeah, which one of you fuckers think you're a comedian?" michael was getting more and more accusatory with each word.

"can you all just shut the fuck up!" avery spoke, almost yelling louder than i'd ever heard her speak before. she was not one to raise her voice.

"we're locked in," luke spoke from beside avery, shining his flashlight down the steps- nearly blinding me.

"there's gotta be another way out; a window, or something," ashton spoke, turning to go back down the steps and look around.

the rest of us followed, hopeful that we could find some other way out of the basement. i had no desire to spend a night in a cold, dark basement with the six idiots i called my best friends. i loved them, of course, but an underground slumber party was not my scene.

there had to be some other way out of the basement, and i was not going to stop looking until i found it.

|edited 04/26/2022|