Page 5 of Whoa

Shrinking behind them, my sweater snagged even more as I tried to make myself as small as possible while my heart thumped in my chest. This seemed absolutely ridiculous. Why was I hiding? I didn’t do anything wrong!

But they did. And you saw.

A shadow passed close by, and I pressed my palm over my mouth to muffle my labored breathing. I always thought the people who did this in movies were dramatic.

I was wrong. They were just trying to be quiet.

But in the movies, it rarely worked.

This isn’t a movie. I reminded myself.

A dark curse cut through the quiet, freezing my shaking limbs. But then the person moved away, disappearing to where they’d come from.

I exhaled, entire body deflating against the rough stone. I stayed wedged between the two garbage cans a little longer, nose wrinkled against the stench as I listened to make sure they were gone.

When I was sure they were, I slipped out of my hiding place and back onto the sidewalk. My stomach was wobbly, head slightly dizzy. Clutching my bag in front of me, I started toward my car.

My keys!

“Shit,” I spat. They were still inside. I debated for long minutes. Over just walking back to my dorm. Over calling Ben for a ride.

He’s the last person you need to see right now.

In the end, I decided to pull up my big girl panties and get my keys. I couldn’t just leave them overnight. What if the custodians found them and moved them somewhere else? What if someone found them and stole my car?

A giggle slipped out.

That was absurd. No one would want to steal my nearly twenty-year-old car. The second they got in it and dust shot out of the heat vents, they’d choke and get right back out.

It was good fortune really. I didn’t have to worry about my car ever being stolen.

But I really didn’t want the hassle of trying to track down my keys. Was there even a lost and found in this building? I didn’t care to find out.

Nervously, I went back to the auditorium, entering through the lobby once more. My breaths were shallow, my footsteps light as I went, this time not taking a shortcut through the auditorium, this time going the long way around.

I could hear myself swallow, feel the heartbeat in my temples as I moved as silently as I could down the hall to the practice room. The entire time I stared at the door I’d snooped through earlier, noting that it was now latched closed.

That’s good. They probably left.

The rehearsal room door creaked loudly when I pulled it open. So loud that I shuddered involuntarily and then looked over my shoulder, expecting to see someone there glowering.

The hall remained blissfully empty and quiet.

I went into the room and over to the side where I thought my keys might be. The room was dark, the only light filtering in from the open door. I begged my eyes to adjust quickly, loath to turn on the light and draw any kind of attention to myself.

You are being ridiculous, my mind taunted.

But deep down, my gut whispered, You are not.

I bent, looking under the chair my bag had been sitting on before. The darkness was so inky and opaque that I had to bend farther, stretching my arm out so my hand was swallowed up by the shadows.

The brush of cold metal against my finger made me jolt, but then I realized it was what I came here for. My keys!

Slam!

The chair skittered away with the force of my jump, the back of it hitting the wall. I fell onto my butt, all the air punched out of me on impact. Forgetting the keys, I glanced in the direction of the door. I could only see it because of the light coming through the small rectangular window in the center.

Someone had slammed it closed.

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