The Eleventh Hour

Chapter 8

I glanced up at Nathaniel and almost jerked with surprise at his reaction. He stared at my door with wide eyes, an expression I could only put down to fear. His jaw clenched and his eyes flashed ferociously, his expression turning deadly. In that second he grabbed me by the hand and pulled me towards the elevator, never taking his eyes off the door. The doors opened and he pressed the ground floor button, his expression still full of panic and anger. It sent an unwelcome chill down my spine, and I was suddenly very afraid to be in my own home. There was no denying something was going on, something to do with what was on my door. Because the bow shaped ribbon wasn’t intimidating or threatening, if anything I thought it was pretty when I saw it on my car. I thought it was some sort of congratulatory decoration for winning the game. But judging by Nathaniel’s horror struck expression, that clearly wasn’t the case.

I was just about to ask him what was going on when he pulled his phone out and dialled a number. He spoke almost immediately after that. “Jackson. Come to Lola’s place now. Bring everyone ... Yes, it’s that ... Again, it’s the same thing ... Hurry.”

He ended the call as the doors opened, and he grabbed my hand and led me towards the front door. “Give me your key.” He held his palm out and I dropped my house keys in his hand mechanically.

We made it half way up the corridor when the lights suddenly went out. My head snapped from Nathaniel’s direction and focused straight ahead as his grip on my hand tightened, I really started to feel spooked now. What was going on?

A rustling sound coming from my right broke the silence, and Nathaniel immediately stopped and stood in front of me protectively, stepping back so I was once again pressed against a surface. However this time, I wasn’t enjoying it.

Was there someone there? I heard a staggered footstep and my question was answered. There was someone in this corridor with us.

My eyes were wide open but it was pitch black in the direction we were facing, the only light coming from the door at the end of the corridor.

There was a beat of dead silence and the lights came back on abruptly. We were stood face-to-face with the third person in the corridor. I peeked around Nathaniel’s arm to look at them. My face dropped.

It was Edna.

“Edna?” My voice was layered with disbelief, but undeniable relief at the same time. “What are you doing here, at this time?”

Her usually sour expression was replaced with a wide-eyed, spaced out look of... wonder? She was gawping at Nathaniel. Oh my god. Seriously? I rolled my eyes and stepped around Nathaniel, still keeping my hand tightly in his. The way his hand didn’t even twitch as I moved told me he wasn’t prepared to let go even if I wanted to, which made me feel ten times better. Even though Edna was here, I was still pretty spooked.

“That’s twice in one hour now.” She complained, finally peeling her eyes away from Nathaniel. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was about to say hello when the power went off again.” Whoa, was that Edna being apologetic? That had to be Nathaniel’s influence. Even though Edna and I had never clashed, she was never this polite to anyone, ever. Despite the crazy five minutes, I fought the urge to roll my eyes again.

Nathaniel was the first to speak. “You said the power went off before? When?” He was definitely not polite, his question was more of a demand. He sounded furious, but Edna didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh I don’t know, about forty minutes. I was waiting for the cretins to begin their loud party when a lovely man –“

“That’s why you’re here?” I interrupted. “Because of Ben and Phil’s usual Saturday night house party?” I nearly laughed, I couldn’t believe this woman! I knew she had a vengeance for those two, but I didn’t dream she’d go this far as to spy on them then gatecrash the party. Oh, Edna.