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“Hell yeah.”
We don’t waste a second. Grayson curls his fingers around the handle and presses his hip against the huge door, creating a gap just big enough to slip inside.
The gymnasium is massive, and with bleachers rising to the ceiling on both sides, the acoustics are perfect for spirited ballgames and graduations. Though now, as the cold and cavernous room is shrouded in darkness, it feels like another world entirely.
There's nothing to suggest that Knox has been staying here other than the fucking chain on the ground by the door. I'm sure he had some grand escape route planned for that unlocked exit, but he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.
A sliver of dull moonlight shines across the gymnasium, lighting up the basketball hoop at the end of the court. I glance up just in time to watch King slip in through the other entrance. He meets my stare and nods before silently closing the door behind him and letting the gymnasium fall into complete darkness.
My gaze shifts toward the storeroom and the anticipation burns within me. I can’t fucking wait.
The power to the school is cut and I grin wide, knowing that Carver and Cruz are exactly where they’re meant to be. I flick my stare between the guys and keep my voice down low. “Let’s haunt this motherfucker.”
Without another word, both Grayson and King’s hands curl around the massive locks on the door, shoving them hard and letting the heavy metal slide into place. The sound is like nails on a chalkboard as the locks fall into position with loud BANGS that echo through the gymnasium, the sound rocking right through me.
The storeroom door swings open and Knox comes tearing out wide-eyed. “WHO’S THERE?” he wails through the gymnasium, his tone bouncing off the walls and echoing around the open space.
We remain silent, and without skipping a beat, King hits play on his Bluetooth speaker, and a woman’s loud, ear-piercing scream tears through the gymnasium. She cries and shrieks, her tone so terrifying that it sends chills down my spine.
Knox panics, backing up against the door he’d just come barreling out of, his gaze flicking around the room but coming up blank.
He runs to the door that Grayson has just bolted and grips the lock, desperately trying to pull it back, but it’s no use. It won’t budge. He turns around, frantically trying to figure out who stands around him in the dark, but we’re giving away absolutely no clues.
The screeching woman intensifies as a low shallow laugh tears through the room, sounding like a fucking horror movie. The man catches up to the woman and the scream that tears out of her is enough to make me want to throw up.
He laughs louder and the sound is absolutely chilling. “WHO’S THERE?” Knox demands, the panic in his tone making everything seem so freaking right in the world.
All at once, the guys and I reach into our pockets and hold the little LED strobe lights that Cruz had lying around in his garage, and as we turn them on, we start running. Light bounces off every corner in the room, a horrifying contrast against the darkness as the sound of our shoes slap against the basketball court.
Knox’s head whips around, unsure where to look and only now just realizing that there’s more than one person in the room. “WHO’S THERE?” he wails again, his terror making me feel all kinds of good inside.
King’s speakers kick up a notch and the laughing only gets louder as the woman tries to fight him off. There’s one big BANG and everything goes quiet. We stop moving and the strobe lights turn off, sending the room back into complete darkness as the silence surrounds us.
I grin wide, struggling to hold back my sick laughs, and just when Knox pushes off the door and goes to bolt across the room, the horrifying sound of the man butchering the woman sounds through the room, her screams fading as she chokes on her own blood. “NO,” Knox yells. “LEAVE ME ALONE.”
All at once we move again, the bright white strobe lights flashing through the room. Knox screams and runs for the third exit, the one we left open for him. We chase after him just as the man over the speaker was doing to the woman.
As we cut through the narrow hallway leading to the locker room, we cut our lights and the sound, letting Knox hear nothing but the noise of our feet slapping against the linoleum as we race behind him, quickly gaining as he looks back over his shoulder, desperate to figure out who’s here, but if he hasn’t worked out who’s after him yet, that’s his own fault.
Knox breaks into the boys’ locker room and we come to a silent standstill as we listen to his loud panting that bounces off the walls. King stops behind me and grabs the metal door, letting it clang shut with a loud BANG, and again, I’m more than impressed with the acoustics of this school.
