CHAPTER FIVE
"an avid participant in the observation of life."
SNEAKING A PHONE into an economics exam in a room full of hundreds of students was against the school policy, yet Ethan did it anyway. He was aware of the risk, of the consequences, but if it ensured Juliet's safety, then he would do it over and over and over again. He would do anything for Juliet. Anything.
So, he hid it beneath his shirt, only allowing his notifications to buzz for one person. It wouldn't make a sound, only vibrating against the skin of his chest if she sent a frantic message through, but it would be enough for him to realise. He just had to realise, if anything were to actually happen. He wished it wouldn't, but nothing he did would stop the killer. He knew that, yet he pleaded to himself anyway.
Originally, the girl was downstairs in the trio of girl's shared apartment, laughing and having fun with the rest of her friends. However, the constant worry and fear of being slaughtered drained her energy to nothing but a mere firefly in the dark, and so, with a tired hand running down her face, she ventured back up to her room. The others were alert of this, yet they thought nothing of it, shrugging the blonde away with droopy smiles as they continued to enjoy their evening. Juliet made sure her door was locked before falling onto her bed, passing out almost in an instant.
She was asleep for only an hour before awaking with a start, eyes wide as they surveyed her dark room. The light seeped through beneath her door, illuminating the floorboards - the clear, empty floorboards. She should've stayed in bed, maybe then everything would fall away, just like something had outside her bedroom door. That's what made her get up, to check the fallen object - it reminding her of someone else standing in her very own clothes.
She didn't hear the banging on the window floors beneath her, shouting out her name as they realised where the killer had ran to. Tara and Chad, unaware to the madness, were running through the apartment building in order to reach their friends in the room across from them. It was like they'd forgotten about Juliet's existence.
She switched on her bedroom light before slowly and quietly walking towards her door. Her phone was in hand, the screen lighting up her face, as Ethan's contact filled up the entirety of the device. The police were obviously her first choice of communication in a situation like the coming - if the killer just so happened to be strolling around her apartment. However, if there was a killer, she needed to stay silent. Texting Ethan wouldn't give her away, and then the boy could call them for her. It all made sense, if the killer was in the building. She didn't know that they were.
She peeked around the corner of the crack in her door, glancing around her apartment. She could see the blankets on the couch ready for Ethan's return, and the dying flowers on the bench he'd bought for her almost a week beforehand, and then, with shaking hands and nervous eyes, she saw the knife lying on the tiled floor of the open room, and even worse, the cloaked hand reaching for it from around the corner of her bedroom wall.
She immediately pressed a hand to her mouth, moving back behind the door to conceal her presence in the apartment. She quickly turned the brightness all the way down, and with tears springing to her eyes and a blurry sight, she texted Ethan, even if it was the last thing she'd ever do.
Meanwhile, the boy in question was pushing his papers together before standing up from his desk. The time had just closed, their pens being ordered to be placed down before the students were asked to leave the building in a neat and well-ordered fashion. However, when Ethan felt the buzz of his phone against his chest and sneakily spared it a glance, he was sprinting out of the building faster than he'd ever ran before.
"Your luck's ran out, Juliet," the girl heard from outside the room, the voice growing closer and closer to the darkened entrance of her bedroom. She held back a whimper, squeezing her eyes shut as she pressed her head quietly back against the wall. When she finally reopened her eyes, she caught sight of the shadow of a hand reaching for the door handle, pushing it open completely to engulf the room in a brightness even she couldn't hide from. However, it seemed to not be bright enough, because the killer stepped into the room without even seeing her pressed against the wall beside them.
As the killer behind the mask craned their head in Juliet's direction, she sucked in one last breath before moving forward. She kicked them in the stomach before they could even think about lifting up their knife and plunging it deep, deep, into her flesh and blood and watch it ooze from her inflicted wound. They couldn't even think of it.
As soon as the killer had dropped to the floor, the knife once again clattering to the floor beside them, Juliet ran out of the room and straight to the open front door. She took the stairs in two, hand gripping the rail tightly as she frantically swung her head around every so often. She could hear the killer coming, them clambering down the steps a few floors above her, which only pushed her to go further. She hadn't even seen if Ethan had received the text anyway, so as she knew it, the fate of her life was in her very own hands.
Of course, no one was waiting for her in the lobby, and no one seemed to be roaming the streets around their block. Juliet let out a cry of disbelief as she pushed herself into the fresh, midnight air of the city - where had everyone gone? There were always people around in New York, so why had they all disappeared?
She sprinted down the street of New York, tears building up in her eyes, but she wasn't a runner. Juliet was a reader, an avid participant in the observation of life, so when she was forced to run for a long period of time, even if it was for her life, she wasn't very fast. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd ran.
That was what explained the situation she found herself to be in, glancing around one last time to see if the killer was still chasing her. However, she'd fallen right into their trap, because when she turned around, they were charging at her with their knife extended towards her heart.
She widened her eyes, letting out a gut-wrenching scream as she turned to the side, trying to avoid the blade of the knife. It didn't strike her in the heart, but it struck her in the arm, slicing cleanly through her skin as the killer stumbled forward. The girl fell backwards into the wall with an hand on her arm, the blood pouring through her fingertips as she cried out into the night. She thought nobody was around, that no one could hear her, but she was wrong.
Ethan had heard her scream. He was running down the street beside her when his ears perked up, listening to the piercing voice he knew better than anyone's. He pushed himself forward, running faster than ever, as he swiftly turned the corner to see a sight he never wanted to witness again. The killer was pulling themself to a stand as they eyed the bleeding girl down, her unaware to their movements as she tilted her head painfully towards the sky.
"Julie!" Ethan cried out as he hurriedly moved forward, his voice interrupting the killer's movements as they turned around to face his direction. The boy stumbled to a stop, warily eyeing the distance between himself and the masked mystery, and the distance the killer had from the crying Juliet. The killer seemed to take notice of this as they smirked beneath the mask, tilting their head to look back at the blonde against the wall.
"Don't you hurt her!" Ethan shouted angrily as he stepped forward, brows drawn in as his lips twisted down. Ghostface merely tilted their head as they lifted their knife up, using their other hand to swipe off the girl's blood. They sent the boy one last glance before turning around, their back to the boy, as they stepped closer to Juliet with the knife held tightly in their hand. "Don't fucking touch her!"
He ran up to the killer, pushing him from behind, causing the masked individual to fall to the ground once more. Sirens filled the air as the police drove down the streets nearby, drawing closer and closer to the scene incriminated by the person behind the mask. That person hurriedly stood to a stand, stumbling back before they finally regained their composure. With one last glance back at the two, Ethan's hand hovering by the girl's waist as he stood protectively in front of her, the killer dragged the knife across the air before their throat to mimic death. Then they ran away.
"Ethan," Juliet cried, blood dripping from her arm to the floor as she finally caught his eye. He turned around in an instant, his own flicker of worry clouding his sight as he surveyed her bleeding arm and terrified face. "Thank you."
He drew back for a second, brows furrowing as his lips twisted into a deeper frown, before he brought a hand up to her cheek. "Don't thank me, alright?" He pleaded, his voice quiet in the loudness of the moment. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone. I should never have left you alone."
"You didn't know," she muttered, eyes flicking down to rest on the collar of his shirt. She didn't have the energy to stare into his deep eyes.
"That doesn't make it any better," he mumbled, thumb rubbing against the soft skin of her cheek. That was when she finally glanced back up, meeting his sight once more with teary eyes. "Let me see your arm."
With eyes squeezed shut and a whimper of pain, she brought her hand away from her arm as his hand dropped from her cheek. He glanced at it with a hidden wince, watching the blood continue to drip from the wound extending along the width of her arm, before turning back to her with a soft smile.
"They're coming, the pain will go away soon," he promised, hair casting a shadow across her face to hide the gleaming street lights from her view.
She ducked her chin, a forced laugh flying through her lips as she shook her head. "I never wanna do that again," she laughed, her voice light. Ethan's lips tugged up into a smile.
"You won't have to," he swore, pushing her hair gently away from her face to catch her eyes.
However, did he really know that was true?