hail trials + 5sos

four

LUKE ANTICIPATED A LOT of things. Torture, polygraphs - an arena, for fùck's sake; but not fúcking Hell. Not the place he despises. Not the place he couldn't bear going to.

Not High School.

So when Luke's vision clears, and he finds himself in a Janitor's closet, he balls his hand into a fist and punches the door. He doesn't have to time to react, to act like a pusśy and weep, so he chooses to jump the gun instead. He tightens his shoe laces and fixes his shirt. And when he's outside, he runs. The sound of his Converse slapping against the yellow linoleum echoes throughout the halls, bouncing on every wall. He keeps running. Keeps turning. But he finds no way out. Whichever way he twists, whichever door he bangs into, he keeps getting back to the closet. He feels his heartbeats increasing, his palms turning clammy. When he reaches the janitor's closet for the umpteenth time, he stops. Kneels down, and rest his hands on his knees. Shoes scraping against the floor cause him to look up, and he isn't surprised when he sees himself.

"It won't work," they say, a dry chuckle leaving their parched throat, "believe me when I say I tried."

"Who are you?" Luke manages to ask, straightening up and leaning against a wall, trying desperately to get his breathing back to normal.

"Like that makes any difference," the person scoffs, shoving their hands into their jeans. Luke notices that he has abnormally huge hands. Well, you know what they say about hands...

"I'm Hemmings. Luke Hemmings. Second year."

"Ah," the person says, clearly possessing no idea about who Luke Hemmings is, "Atiya Madeira, freshman."

"Is this actually happening?" Luke says, perplexed by the present. He knows that the world has advanced, and he knows that almost anything is possible, but to go this far? For what? For a study that could be controlled in a lab?

"I think it's pretty legit, yeah," Atiya says, leaning against the wall opposite Luke, "but I have no idea how we're going to get out."

"Me neither, to be hone - wait. When I say fear, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?"

Atiya doesn't have to think this over, because she's been through this with herself so many times that it's always there at the back of her mind, in front of her eyes. So she chews on her lip, then says, "Water. Drowning, suffocating."

Luke's eyes light up, and he holds out his hand, "Follow me."

++

"No way that is going to work," Michael chuckles, leaning against the glass, "admit it, Calum, you just want to see yourself naked."

"Shut up, Clifford."

"Guys?" One of them says, Calum is not sure who it is, and they all look towards the source of the voice, "there's a latch here."

"For real?" Jack says, pushing the person away and pressing his palm against the cool metal. When he feels a protruding surface, his laces his fingers through it and pulls. The glass shakes, and Michael backs away. It does so several times, before completely disappearing into thin air.

"Whoever you are," Teresa mutters, her hand held out where the glass once was, "I love you."

Khadeeja awkwardly scratches her neck, and Jack beams at Teresa.

"Let's go," Inês says, getting up from the floor and ducking into the newly opened passage way. One by one, the students follow her out, their feet scraping against the floor and arms stretched towards the wall.

"See if you can find a switch." Khadeeja says, squatting down and blindly running her palms over the base of the wall. When she finds nothing, she stands back up and raises her arms towards the ceiling. Feeling the presence of a string, she pulls hard, and the entire hallway is flooded with light.

The seven youngsters wince and raise their arms over their heads in a vain attempt to adjust to the sudden brightness. Ale is the first one to recover, and she whirls around to see that the room they came from is gone. There's nothing in place of it, just a black abyss. It's then that Ale realises just how scary all of this, and falls down to the ground.

"Ale?" Jack says, crouching besides her and gingerly poking her, "you alive?"

"You can't keep doing that," Teresa says, hooking an arm under Ale's and pulling her up, "we're all dealing with this shít."

"We need you, Ale. If your dad is in the university, he will find you. And we will get him to get you out, okay?" Inês assures Ale, placing a palm on her shoulder. What she doesn't say, however, is that all of them are secretly planning to use Ale as bait. As a hostage. As a way to escape.

Ale nods weakly before pushing against the wall and standing back up. She says, "You guys go forward. I'll be there in a minute."
Inês wants to protest, but she presses her lips into a thin line and nods, motioning the others to follow her. Michael, however, lingers for a moment. When he opens his mouth to say something, Ale cuts him off.

"I know the only reason we haven't split up, or rather, you guys haven't got rid of me is because my dad's a professor. Fúcking Inês with her holier than thou personality," Ale says, chuckling darkly as she starts walking towards the others, "she doesn't think I'm that fúcking dumb, does she?"

"You're supposed to trust us, for fúck's sake. This is what the whole thing is about. It is not the time to make an arch-nemesis, Ale." Michael says, walking along with her. He picks up his pace, because the last thing he needs is to get lost in a tunnel.

Ale just shakes her head and keeps walking, head bowed and hands in her pocket. When they reach the group, Jack turns and mouths 'everything okay?' at Michael, who in turn nods.

Teresa is the first person in the line, and the one most eager to get out because her claustrophobia is quickly catching up with her. When she reaches the end of the tunnel and sees where it leads, she almost shouts from frustration.

"Oh, for fúck's sake!" She groans, slamming her hand against the wall.

"What is it?" Calum asks, poking his head outside.

"Welcome to High School, children. Welcome back to Satan's haven itself."

++

lets play a game of how many song references can atiya fit in a story