Bitter Heart √

Thirty Nine

I found myself tongue-tied at that moment. I didn't know how to tell him about yesterday and not mention those metal disks. Not when I still had no clue why Alex had the same ones in his room. Jesse might tell him anyway, I thought.

"Nothing." I looked away and shifted a little on my feet. Unsure. "But...I know where the locker is."

I heard him exhaling before he dragged both of his hands down his face. "Where is it?"

"Upstairs." I stuffed my hand inside my back pocket and took out a small, silver key. "Here's the key." It wasn't hard to find it once Mom had told me where it was. The only thing that had stopped me from opening that locker was the fear of what was inside.

"Why didn't you open it?" He asked me with a small, curious tilt of his head, and I wish I could've switched off that urge to step closer--to keep staring. This wasn't right. I wasn't supposed to feel this way towards him.

He didn't like me. I wasn't supposed to like him either.

I blinked and looked away, my eyes lingering at the staircase. I didn't want to answer him, so I just shrugged in response.

"Come on," I told him before heading for the stairs, and shortly afterwards, I heard him following.

Once we reached the familiar storeroom, I opened the door and went inside, a bit too aware of Caden's mere presence right behind me. I flipped the switch and the moment a dimly lit bulb came to life, I stepped a bit away from him and willed myself to act normal.

Caden looked around the small room, seeming a little unfazed. I couldn't help but wonder then where he'd been this whole time. If he hadn't been staying over at that mansion-like house where his other friends were, where else was he staying?

"This key is supposed to open that door." I jerked my chin at the hidden door behind the tall, brown shelf. "And the locker is inside."

Never in my life had I ever gone past this door. I didn't even remember ever coming around this storeroom as a kid. This place has always creeped me out.

"Go ahead." Caden broke the silence.

I gave him a quick glance before pushing the key inside the lock. For some reason, Chicken hadn't followed me upstairs and I wished that she had. The lock opened with a small click and I pushed open the door.

It was dark. Just darkness ahead.

"No way in hell am I going in there," I whispered in horror, my eyes still trying to make out anything within the darkness in front of me. When Caden came forward and stepped right beside me, our arms touched a little, and my heart raced.

Caden, without waiting for me, went inside. He probably figured I wasn't really planning on going in, at least not when it was so dark in there. Were there stairs? What if I fell down in there somewhere? I watched the seconds passing by until I heard his voice,

"Are you just going to stand there?" And it sounded faint, almost a little too far away from me.

I forced myself to move then, cautiously stepping past the threshold. There weren't any stairs, thankfully. And when I said it was dark, I hadn't really known it would be that dark, not until I kept on walking and walking down the narrow hallway. The air around me felt stale and musty. And I probably would've slammed right into a wall at the very end only if Caden hadn't gripped my arm right then, pulling me to an abrupt stop.

Once he switched on his phone's flashlight, I pulled away from him in an instant, glad that he couldn't see my face heating up. This wasn't normal. I was acting absurd.