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“So… straight-shot until I reach the T-junction. Then left until I reach the exit. That’s it?”
“Yup. Told you it’s easy.” Justin glanced at his watch. “I’d go with you, but I really need to head off. I have a PT session.”
“That’s okay. Thanks for showing this to me,” I said, motioning toward the stone steps leading down into the tunnel. “Good luck in the game on Friday!”
He smiled and patted my shoulder. “Thanks. Take care of yourself, Sienna.”
As he turned and left, I slowly descended into the tunnel, using my phone to illuminate the path ahead. The door behind me remained open, letting a small amount of light from the storage room spill into the space as well.
“It’s really not that bad,” I muttered to myself, keeping my head held high. “You’ve been through a hell of a lot worse.”
Oddly enough, the farther I ventured into the tunnel, the calmer I felt. It was actually quite fun—the sort of adventure I would’ve loved going on as a kid. The musty scent of damp earth permeated the air, making me feel as if I were about to stumble upon an ancient artifact, and my flashlight cast long, haunting shadows on the stone walls, adding to the sense of clandestine intrigue.
I hummed a little tune to myself as I trudged along, shoes loudly scraping over all the tiny stones littering the ground. A moment later, I froze, song drying up on my lips. My voice and footsteps were no longer the only sources of sound in this place. Something—or someone—was behind me.
I slowly turned around, heart hammering in my chest, and lifted my cell phone to shine the flashlight down the tunnel. A figure appeared in the bright beam of light. A tall, broad-shouldered person. They were too far away for me to make out any other details.
I breathed a short sigh of relief as I realized who it was. Justin must’ve decided to walk with me to the park on 21st Street after all. Or maybe I’d accidentally left something behind, and he wanted to return it.
“Hey!” I called out. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
The tall, masculine figure took a few steps toward me. He didn’t speak.
As he drew closer, I realized he was wearing an old-fashioned full-faced white hockey mask. The sort that went out of style decades ago.
I took a faltering step back, mind fogging with confusion. What the hell was Justin up to? Was he trying to play a prank on me by dressing up as Jason Voorhees and stalking me in the darkness?
“Uhh… Justin?” I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. He of all people should know that this sort of prank wasn’t funny at all. Especially not to a person who’d survived a horrific slasher-style mass murder. “This is silly. Can you stop?”
The masked man continued to advance toward me, one slow step at a time. As he drew closer, I realized he was dressed in a black jacket, black pants, and black shoes. Not even close to what Justin was wearing earlier.
My stomach seemed to drop right through the floor, and the fog of confusion in my mind vanished, replaced by a petrified spike of adrenaline. This was no prank. It wasn’t Justin, either. Whoever this was… he was genuinely trying to terrify me.
The masked man took another painstakingly slow step toward me. Then he charged.
Sienna
I let out a piercing scream and spun around, sprinting down the tunnel as fast as my legs could carry me. The light from my phone flashed all over the place as my hands flailed by my sides, making the tunnel look like a strobe-lit nightclub.
Heavy footsteps pounded behind me. I briefly turned my head over my shoulder to see how close my masked pursuer was, and the movement made me falter in my frenzied steps. My arms flew out in front of me, grasping at thin air in a fruitless attempt to regain my balance, and my phone went sailing out of my left hand, landing on the ground with a dull echo.
Strong arms grabbed me from behind, one wrapping around my waist while the other fisted a hand in my hair, yanking my head back. Terror froze my insides, and I screamed and clawed at the hand on my waist, desperately trying to free myself. It was futile. The masked man dragged me backward like I was weightless, twisted me around, and shoved me up against the tunnel wall, forcing all the air out of my lungs as my back hit the cool stone.
Another scream tore from my lungs as my assailant lay one hand on the wall above my head, trapping me beneath him. “Please! Someone help me!”
I assumed the masked man would cover my mouth with his free hand to shut me up, but he simply stood there and watched me scream, head slightly tilted to convey some sort of twisted interest in my behavior.
“Help!” I shrieked, turning to look up and down the tunnel. Tears blurred my vision, but that didn’t make much of a difference. All that lay on either side of me was cold, empty darkness.
“I like it when you scream,” the man muttered. The heavy mask distorted his voice, turning it into a low, guttural rasp that injected pure fear into my heart.
A whimper escaped my lips as I turned to look up at him again.
“No one can hear you. I closed the door,” he went on. “No one’s listening. No one’s watching. It’s just the two of us.”
“What do you want from me?” I asked. My voice came out in a pitiful squeak.
Without warning, the hand on the wall shot down to my right shoulder, pinning me against the wall even harder. His other hand wrapped around my throat, thumb pressing on my racing pulse.
