What Lurks in the Shadows

Chapter 2: Pathological Fear

Chapter 2

Phillipa

I couldn’t help but smile as I made my way to my locker for the last time that year. Locker number three had been a pretty decent one, as lockers go. It was only across the hall from my one of my closest friend, Kelsey’s, and only two down from Erik’s, another close friend of mine. I pulled out the last of my things; namely my purse and the two notebooks that I had used for last minute exam studying this morning.

Just as I pulled my hand out of my locker, the door was slammed right in my face.

“Jesus Christ, Kelsey! You scared the shit out of me,” I yelled, aiming a slap at her shoulder.

Ignoring me, she cheered, “We’re finally done! Three years down, one to go, baby!”

Putting my annoyance aside, I cheered along with her. I really was relieved to finally be done. After a solid week of nothing but studying, I was ready for a three month long break.

With a slight tug on the wrist, Kelsey pulled me into a sprint to see who could race down the stairs, through the hundreds of people to her crappy old sedan. After the first two flights of stairs, and about to start the last one, my feet seemed to stop coordinating with the rest of my body and I feel against someone’s extremely hard back. My legs tangled up together and the next thing I knew, I was throwing my hands out in attempt to catch myself.

Thankfully, arms held strong as I landed on my hands and knees. I sighed, my heart pounding due to the adrenaline that had suddenly coursed through me as I fell. I looked down a few stairs to see almost everyone throwing worried looks, yet I could tell almost all of them were fighting the urge to laugh out loud.

Kelsey, on the other hand, let out a rare bark of laughter as she braced herself on her knees, her back hunched and shaking with her gasps. It was uncommon for Kelsey to have a full-blown fit of giggling due to her so serious demeanor, so when she did, it increased the hilarity of the moment times ten.

“Your face right now,” she sputtered, “is… is just-” She failed to finish her sentence as tears began falling down her face and she laughed even harder.

I honestly knew how ridiculous I must have looked, and began chuckling right along with her, not moving from my spot on the ground in the middle of the crowded staircase.

“My feet just kind of… stopped working!” I cracked up, slapping a hand against the floor in hilarity.

People stopped trying to hide their snickers, and began scowling at me instead. They weren’t even trying to conceal their annoyance either.

“What the hell happened to you two?” A familiar voice called out from the scowling crowd.

I looked up to see Erik standing above me, his new blonde hair standing straight up in its latest style and a questioning grin making its way onto his face.

“My feet stopped working.” I told him, giggling. He let out a short chuckle and leant a hand down to help me to my feet again. I quickly wiped my hands on my pants and wiped the happy tears from my eyes before joining Kelsey again with Erik by my side.

“You feet stopped working? Wow, it’s not like that hasn’t happened before. No wonder you haven’t had a boyfriend yet. All the guys are probably scared that you’ll end up in the ER on the first date for how uncoordinated you are” Erik teased.

I attempted to defend my honor, “Hey! You know as well as I do that I’ve been asked on more than one occasion. It’s just been by guys that I’m not exactly fond of.”