There were screams ahead of us that startled me. Some were bloodcurdling screams, and they made me wonder. I could definitely see how easy it would be to ignore the screams of a girl being raped and murdered when everyone around me was screaming. Not to mention having to deal with your own fear, which was hard to control, and the last thing I wanted to do was go toward another person's screams. Instinct told me that whatever was out there making them scream should be avoided at all costs.
The light led us into a graveyard, which was scattered with open graves and coffins. Jet clasped my hand once again, and led me around the graves. A moan erupted from one of the graves we were passing. When we peered inside, I couldn't see much, just a shadow of a coffin down below. All we could hear was scratching, as if there was someone inside the coffin who couldn't get out. Then we heard the whispering, “Help me, please, help me. Don't leave me here.” It was coming from the closed coffin, followed by those sickening scratching sounds. We started walking away from the coffin, when I turned to look behind me to see an axe-wielding madman coming at us. I screamed so loud I thought I might lose my voice. Jet turned to see what I was looking at, and when he saw the man he yelled, “Oh shit.”
He pulled me out of the room and away from the man, who was swinging the axe behind us. As we left the room, the girls’ whispers turned to full out screams, “Help me!! Hellllp me!” as the sound of axe hitting wood was heard.
I started whispering, “Oh my God,” over and over again as we were plunged into darkness once more. Shaking, I pulled away from Jet and wrapped my arms around myself, trying to stop the shakes that were taking over my body.
“I think this might be the end of it, actually.”
We saw a light on at the end of the hallway, and we moved toward it. I heard another door slam, and dread came over me like a flood. We kept moving toward the light, and I wondered what was in the hallway with us. I could hear no footsteps, just like the last time, and I wasn't sure if that was better or worse.
Arms grabbed me from around the waist, and pulled me away from Jet. I screamed bloody murder, and tried to struggle out of the grasp.
“Jet, help me. Something has me.” But at that point I couldn't even see Jet anymore; I could hear him running toward us so I knew he was coming for me.
“Natalie, where are you?”
“Here, I'm right here; you're so close.”
Just as Jet came into view, the arms that were wrapped around me let go. I heard footsteps disappearing, and a door slam.
Jet was immediately beside me. “Oh God, Natalie. I’m sorry, that was a little hardcore, wasn't it?”
“You think? You didn't tell me that people could just grab me.”
“I didn't know. It's always different; you know that. The guys that work here are allowed to do anything to scare people.”
“Let's get out of here, please?”
“Of course.”
He grabbed my hand, and we hurried down the hallway toward the light. We reached the end without further incident, and came out into the fresh night air. Some of Jet's friends were outside waiting for us, while others were still inside.
One of the gym girls approached us. “How was it? I almost died in there.”
“Natalie was grabbed, so she's pretty freaked out.”
“You got grabbed? That's nuts, where?” she asked me.
?
??Just at the end, the last hallway. Someone wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me away. Jet had to come and get me.”
“Oh my God, that's terrifying. No one grabbed me when we were in there.”
“Gee, that's comforting.”
“Well, they always try new things. At least we made it out alive.”
I laughed. “Just barely.”
I realized then that Jet was still holding my hand, and I squeezed it gently. He turned to me and smiled.
“I'm glad you came,” he said.
I woke up the next day with a smile on my face, despite the sheer terror I had experienced the night before. I had also had a really good time with Jet. He had stayed true to his word and brought me right home afterward. I almost regretted that part, though, as they all ended up going out for burgers after. I had been invited, of course, but since I was such a nerd I had told everyone I had a creative writing assignment I needed to work on. They must have loved jabbing Jet about it all night. I could just imagine the things they were saying, like why are you hanging out with a girl who would rather study then spend time with you? Or maybe one of those gym girls spent the night licking his wounds for him.
Either way, I wished now that I had gone with them. It may have done wonders for the rumor mill if his friends actually gotten to know me instead of assuming that I was that weird girl that Jet had hooked up with once.