The Hell Files

Chapter 9 : Still

I wake up to a soft humming floating across the room. I sit up, a bit disoriented. Rubbing my eyes, I look around to see the room is quite dark, but a little bit of light filters through the window.

Looking around slowly for Riley and Riot, the humming continues. I swing my legs over the side of the bed slowly and my gaze catches on the door.

The dresser is half in front of it, about an inch away from the door which makes me assume someone had been trying to get in. My eyes drift down and I stare, shocked.

Riley and Riot sit together on the floor, backs against the dresser. Riot's hair is a mess as if someone or something had been pulling at it frantically and it looked like Riley had a good sized bruise on his check. I could only assume the two had started arguing at one point-I wouldn't put it past her to have punched him anyway.

Riot's head however, is resting on Riley's shoulder, almost tucked into his neck. I can tell Riot's asleep as Riley's hand gently strokes her hair.

"Riley?" I whisper.

The humming falters for a second as Riley's eyes flutter open.

"Is... what... um... did... did someone try and get in here last night?" I stutter out.

Riley nods, continuing to hum and stroke Riot's hair.

"But... but they're gone now right?" I ask, fiddling with my hands.

Riley sits still for a moment before nodding slowly. I start to stand up when Riley holds out a hand to stop me. I look at him confused. Slowly, he points towards the top of the window.

I turn my attention to the window and look around, not seeing anything until I look up to the ceiling.

There, hanging in the corner, is a silver mechanical bat that's yellow eyes glow, staring at Riot but it's ears twitch and I know it's listening for something, anything.

A Challenge.

Swallowing, I look back to Riley who's hand has dropped and humming continues.

"I though you just said it left," I hiss, turning back to it slowly to make sure it wasn't coming after me.

Riley doesn't respond, he just keeps petting Riot's hair and humming.

Calm yourself.

I take a few deep breaths and watch the Bat. It doesn't seem to be looking anywhere but Riot. It's ears however, twitch and turn, listening to every creek and creep in the room.

Riot's told me about the Bat before, however I've never seen it. I tried to think of what she had told me about it before, the story about how she learned more about the Challenges.

"It's small and silver-obviously metal," she explained, spinning in the chair. "But it's a little devil. Hard to catch because it's small, just fast enough to be out of arms length, but slow enough that it isn't that hard if you run fast enough. It can't see very well but it can hear impressively well, much better than a real bat. The worst part are it's claws. If you aren't careful they could seriously hurt you. Catching it isn't too hard... if you've got a group that is, but if you aren't careful... I've seen kids with some pretty wicked scars from that beast and it makes you wonder what really goes on in this so called school. You have to be carefully Jamie. There's no such thing as being too careful in this place."

I try to keep my eyes from tearing up.

There's no way-not in this room or in this scenario-that we can get out with a good ending.

For once it seems though, luck is on our side.

The lights outside the door turns on dimly, letting the school know it's now okay to be awake and outside of your dorm.