After Hours

Chapter 4.

Ember's POV.

   What on earth is Grayson doing here? He looks very scared and confused.

  "Whats going on?" he asks, looking at me.

   I shrug. Vanessa slowly walks up to him and narrows her eyes at him. "Do you have any weapons?" she asks.

  "What?" Grayson says. "Why would I have weapons?"

  "Just being cautious," she says, backing away, sending worried looks over her shoulder.

  "We need to get back to the bathrooms," Devan says, looking at his watch. "They are coming out in 2 minutes."

  "Who?" Grayson says.

  "Just shush and come with us," Eva says, grabbing his hand.

   We run back to the bathrooms, when I hear a loud bell sound that makes me jump. "What was that?" I ask.

  "We're too late," Devan says, his face going white.

  "What do you mean? Whats happening?" I ask.

   Vanessa pulls Eva and Devan close to her, fear clearly in her eyes. I take Grayson's hand and get behind the others.

  "Time's up," a voice says, making me jump.

  "Just go back to the bathrooms," I say.

  "We can't," Eva says, staring into the fog in front of us.

  "It's literally 3 yards away," Grayson says. "We're going. Come on Ember."

   We start to walk away when Vanessa hisses through her teeth. "Stay. Here."

   Grayson stops walking and I almost bump into him. A figure comes out of the fog. All of the sudden, Vanessa starts laughing. Eva and Devan join in and I look at Grayson with a confused expression.

  "What's so funny?" I ask.

  "Ok, Cameron. You can stop now," Eva says, holding her stomach as she laughs.

   Devan turns on his phone's light and shines it in the fog. A boy with blonde hair gelled up like Grayson's comes into the light of the phone. He smiles at us and the other s to turn to face us.

  "Do you believe us now? Stop acting like you're all innocent. This is real. And in five minutes They are really going to come out," Eva says, her smile fading.

  "Why did you do that?" I ask.

  "You wouldn't believe us unless we scared you," Devan says.

  "But now we know it's Cameron so what help did that give?" Grayson says.

   Cameron walks over to us and crosses his arms. "I have been with Them before. I was there "sacrifice" so to speak. I have scars and this," he points to his eyepatch. "Shall I remove it?" he asks, toying with the patch.

  "I'm good," I say.

   Grayson takes my arm and leads me a few feet away from the others. "I have a water bottle in my pocket," he says, taking it out.

  "So?" I ask.

  "Here," he then splashes the water in my face, making me sputter and cough.

  "Why did you do that?" I ask, wiping my face.

   He splashes his face too. "Are we waking up?" he asks, looking around.

   Vanessa comes up and slaps him hard across the face. Grayson stumbles back and the water bottle falls from his hand.

  "This isn't a dream! Now, get your butt in the bathroom so we can explain," Vanessa shouts, pointing to the bathroom.

  "Shh," Eva says, and rushes us in.

   Grayson sits down next to me up against a stall. Vanessa, Eva, Devan, and Cameron sit across from us, arms folded.

  "I want answers," Grayson says, glaring at Vanessa, who glares back.

  "I'll start," Eva says. "So, you both came here, expecting a happy fun time, right? Wrong. This place is messed up, man. I've been here for almost two months. But the thing is, I can't leave. Once you get in here and the Gate closes, you are stuck here."

  "Yeah," Vanessa cuts in. "I've been here the same time as Eva. I got the job, went home that night and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night and I was here. I got here before Eva did, but she came a few minutes after me. We hid in here and then we heard it. The cries and screams of other people hiding here that we didn't know about."

  "I got here a few days later," Devan takes his turn now. "I woke up the next morning and I thought it was a dream. I got dressed and came here to work. I went home that night and the same thing happened. For over 3 weeks now for me at least."

  "But here's the thing. We only have a little longer before Eva and Vanessa can't even wake up in there house in," Cameron says. "One day, the won't ever be able to leave. We can't let that happen. So, when you wake up in the morning, thinking it's a dream, it's not. You're stuck here until you find a way out and stop Them."

   I'm feeling sick right now. This is real, right? I hope not. "Who is Them exactly?" I ask.

  "You know the people here dressed up as the Disney characters?" Vanessa asks. When I nod she continues. "They are all real. And all evil. But the thing is, Cinderella, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, all of them are turned. And by that, I mean scary. Like, really scary. It's really bad here at night," she says.

   Grayson looks at me and I sigh. "How long do we have? Since we just go here?" he asks.

  "Three months," Eva says. "Me and Vanessa only have a week left before we're stuck here."

   I don't respond. But I feel my eyelids drooping. I fall asleep and wake up in my house.

   Is this a dream? Or is it all real?

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Thanks for reading!