In the darkness

Chapter One

I see the words of the textbook floating off the page, as I feel my head dropping down. I feel a tugging, a pull, gently guiding me into the sweet darkness, and I let myself go.

*Hours later*

I wake up, groggy and distorted. A sharp pain flashes up my arm as I shift, pulling myself into a sitting position. I wince as I hear my spine click. Looking dimly around me, I recognize the tall bookcases of the school's library ...

I shake my head, and scramble to my feet, ignoring the sharp pricks of protest from my arms and back. I was the the school. The school.

I grab my shirt sleeve and yank it up, revealing my watch. The small, luminous face glows in the darkness, flashing the dreaded numbers back at me.

"11:59 ... oh my God ..." I whisper, and I feel my heart start to thud.

Looking up, the towering shelves suddenly seem threatening, like they are about to lean in and collapse on me, to bury me in its arms ...

I turn and run, fleeing the library, and I let out a gasp as the lights flicker on, blinding me. I stop, and then the lights flicker off again, plunging my world into darkness. I stare around me, hesitantly taking a few steps forwards, until I hear a thud.

I freeze.

A single, leather - bound lies on the floor five meters away.

Another thud, then another. Two more books lay on the floor, and then a sharp, shrill shriek pierces my ears and the books start to pour out, a river of volumes, coming closer, closer ...

I turn and start to run blindly, stumbling over my own feet, fleeing from the horror of this new night.

I hear the thuds grow in volume, and soon, as I reach the door, a thundering of falling objects fill my ears. I desperately hurl myself against the door, and it opens, letting me fall into the wide, dark corridor. I turn and slam it, pressing my shoulders against it as my body vibrates slightly with the impact of the books flying onto the shuddering door, one after the other.

I lay there against the door, shivering, trying to ignore the looming, dark corridors stretching out on either side of me.

"You will never escape ..."

I startle, my head jerking up. "Who ..." I say weakly, trembling.

"You will never escape ... stay here ... forever ..."

"N-no ..." I shake my head, scrambling to my feet. Without thinking, I take off down the corridor, my hair flying out behind me, my heart thumping, blood pounding in my ears.

But still the voice follows me.

"You will stay here ... alone ... no-one will ... save you ..."

I stagger into the girl's bathroom, and slump into a stall, locking the door. Tears start streaming down my face.

"Why me ... me ... what did I do ..."

"Alone ... forever ..."

Above me ... I whip my head up and shriek loudly as I see a face, a skeletal face, leering down at me from a jagged hole in the ceiling.

Taunt, grey skin stretches over its high, protruding cheekbones, and its eyes ... dull black orbs, with a fiery red flame burning with hate, revenge ... somehow glimmering ... with malice ...

"N-n-no ... p-please d-don't ... I ... I ..." I stutter out, shaking with fear as the face looms down closer, closer ...

I jerk to the side, and unlock the door with shaking fingers, lurching out of the bathroom.

I look back, and my breath hitches in my throat.

Its coming.

Faster ... closer ...

I bolt, my arms pumping as I race down the corridors at a speed that would have made my teachers scream.

I turn left, left, right ... left ...

My breathing is heavier and a sharp pain is stinging in my side. But I need to get away ... I need to escape the monster ... the creature ...

A thin, skeletal hand creeps over my shoulder, its long, white fingers gripping me, digging into my flesh ... I wrench away, gasping, and sprint faster, fear flooding my body.

I reach the last corridor, and my heart starts to lift.

I turn a corner.

And see the exit.

The fire exit, a glass door with moonlight filtering in through the smooth, clean glass.

I reach it, and press down on the handle -

"Oh Gods ... no ... n-no ... please ..." I hurl my shoulder against the door and it does not budge. And still the figure, the grey faced, black robed figure glides closer, closer, its face leering at me ...

"No escape ... no-one ..."

"J-just ... open ... you damn door ..." I shake the handle, punching the unyielding glass.

The figure draws closer, raising its hand.

"P-please ..." I whisper, sinking down onto the floor, my back pressed against the cold glass that separated me from the outside ... from my life ...

I hear a low, gurgling hiss, and I squeeze my eyes shut, my hands clenching into fists, preparing myself for certain death.

The grey faced figure towered over me, its face bathed in moonlight, the building lost in shadow, its skeletal hands raised.

Then I feel something thin and cold wrap around my neck, and I fall into the darkness of oblivion.