Bookview Valley 4

Chapter Nine: Wake Me Up; Before You Go-Go

June 16th, Sunday

Screams. I am awoken by the sound of screams. Let me tell you, it is not a nice surprise. It is horrifying and disorienting. It's like going from one nightmare to another; there is no real waking up. I almost don't think I am awake when I hear them, and it takes me a few moments for my mind to clear of the haze. When it does, I'm alert and ready for anything.

Jumping out of my bed, my eyes trail over to where Bri and Harper should be sleeping. Both of them are sitting upright in their bed, eyes wide and looking over to me. My eyes scan the rest of the room. Lilyth seems to still be asleep in her bed somehow, Rachel is nowhere to be found, and neither is Gwen. There's also two other girls who sleep in here, that I haven't actually talked to, but one of them was B.O.B. and she left yesterday. As for the other girl, I have no idea where she is either.

"What's going on?" Bri finally breaks our terrified silence. The screams had only stopped moments ago.

"I heard screams," Harper replies slowly, "Should we go check it out?"

"I think we should," I nod, sliding out of my comfy covers.

"Also, how is Lilyth still asleep?" Bri's face scrunches up as she pulls her blonde hair into a messy bun on the top of her head.

"Is she asleep?" Harper lets out in a rushed whisper. We each give each other looks until I tip toe over to her bunk. I semi-climb her ladder and peer over at her. After a second of waiting her chest rises and falls. I climb back down and turn to my friends.

"Yes, she's asleep," I nod, "I don't know how, but this isn't the time for that. Let's go find out what the screaming was."

We make our way out of the room and into the eerily quiet hallway. I can't stop anyone, at all, and it's causing dread to settle in my stomach. Where is everyone? Why is it silent all of a sudden?

"I have a bad feeling about this," Harper whispers.

"Me too," Bri grips Harper's hand as they follow me down the hallway. The second the thought pops into my head I'm cursing myself under my breath. Why didn't I think to bring the antler knife with me? I left it at home; I had thought it was all over, but what if it isn't?

We come to a stop in front of one of the rooms; it's door swings wide open unlike any of the other rooms. The three of us stare into the room, breaths held. It's very dark inside, making me realize that the sun hasn't even fully opened yet.

A head pops out of the room causing us all to shriek and nearly fall backwards. The head shrieks back at us and slips. We watch them crash onto the floor, "What the hell?!"

"Did you not hear all the screaming!?" Bri demands, catching her breath.

"From you, just now, yes," They finally stand back up and we can take a view of who it is. It's Parker, the leader of the Rowdy Ravens; not so rowdy now. His grey eyes glare at each of us, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"We were awoken by screams," Harper says, her eyes a permanent slit, "We came to investigate. Your room was the only one open so..."

"So you thought the screams came from my room?" Parker scoffs.

"It's not so dumb," I put my hands on my hips, "How did you not hear the screams?"

Parker rubs his hands over his eyes, "My roommate, he uses the loudest white noise machine. Can't hear anything, but that. Not even my own thoughts."

"It sounds pretty quiet right now," Bri raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I turned it off when I woke up. I hate that thing," Parker keeps his eyes narrowed at us, "So you heard screaming?"

"Yes, and I think we should continue our investigation," I nod. Parker glances around behind us before his eyes land back on mine. A strand of blue hair falls in front of his grey eyes and it makes my stomach do a small flip unnecessarily.

"It's a little too quiet out there," Parker says, "Are you sure you didn't just imagine something?"

"Imaging something that we all heard?" Harper snaps.

Parker sighs holding his hands up, "Alright, alright. Let's go downstairs and take a look."

. . . .

The four of us reach the bottom step, each of our heads swiveling around looking for the source of the screams. When we find nothing we finally spread out among the bottom floor. Parker checks the men's bathroom while Bri checks the women's. Harper checks the kitchen while I stalk around the janitor's closet and any other rooms that seem suspicious.

I stop in front of the janitor's closet, my hand hovering over the doorknob. My heart quickens it's pace, my hand refusing to grab the knob, and my head spins in many directions. What if it's them? What if it's Erin? What if she's come to take revenge? What if it's the other skeleton, realizing they should've killed me instead of Vincent? It could be other Skeleton lackeys come to kill me! It could be the Crimson Ske-I stop my threatening thoughts and twist the door open. Shoving it, the door swings with a creak to reveal a very dark room.

Flipping the light switch on, the room brightens to show me nothing out of the ordinary. Just a janitor's closet. As many bad memories that I have of this kind of room, none of them compare to the basicness of this room. Only mops, brooms, and some chemicals. A sigh of relief floods out of me as I shut the door back. I'm about to head to the next closed off room when I hear it; a scream.