When The Monsters Roam: Part 7

Chapter 4, Part 2: Back to Base

Everyone felt a collective fall from disappointment as the key failed to unlock the door. The night janitor pulled the key out and threw it on a nearby table. Evelynn felt her anxiety crash over in a wave. Now she gave them all the wrong keys. It was not going to give her more popularity points.

“Well, that’s discouraging,” The man said, frowning, shoulders sagging slightly.

Evelynn walks back out of the room. She didn’t want to hear their disappointment. She just couldn’t handle it. The office was still dark, yet her flashlight illuminated the path just in front of her. The curtains were drawn, leaving the room with a suffocating feeling.

She made her way back to the spot she had been searching before, going to rummage in the drawers again. 

Peeling back papers, her nerves made her tense. Suddenly, she felt a hand settle on her shoulder, making her jump and drop her flashlight. Her breathing speeds up, fear gripping her throat as she rushes to grab it again, fumbling her hold, until she spins around. It’s the monster–

Her thoughts are immediately crushed, burnt, and buried as she sees the janitor behind her. “Oh…” she muttered, relaxing slightly.

“You seem a bit nervous,” the man said, his eyes narrowing slightly as if to examine her suspicious behavior. “If you’re seeing things or hearing things, you can tell me. I’m here to help you.”

Her throat became parched at his words, uncomfortable. Telling him would draw unnecessary attention, but was anyone else really in trouble? Could she risk that? But the thoughts get pushed away quickly. Obviously not her, she would never be the target.

She was just probably an unexpected pawn thrown in that the monster didn't expect to come. Evelynn shakes her head no, finally, lying.

The Man’s hand tightens its grip on her shoulder for a moment, and she wonders if he believes her. However, he lets go after a moment, saying, “Go get your friends, come on. We don’t need the blankets anymore; we’ve probably already drawn too much attention.”

Evelynn nods again, nonverbally confirming she understood. The Man led her back to the group, all talking to each other quietly, except for Jack, hanging back from the rest.

She thinks of if Jack is really that bad for a moment, if maybe he could be her friend. Just maybe they could both find something good tonight. He already had his own friends, but maybe…

The group walks down the halls, heading to the cafeteria again, she assumed. Her flashlight flickered, and she looked back behind her. The overhead lights of the hallway flickered faintly next, twice. Unease grew in her. It grew, and grew, and grew, until suddenly she felt the fear it nurtured seeping into every bone and crevice of her body, freezing her in the spot. Her flashlight and the overhead lights tried to flicker on again for a moment, both then turning a dark red. Like those UV lights her mother had, but red.

Evelynn’s eyes widen more, moving to check her flashlight, the adrenaline kicking in to give her the ability to move again. She turned it off manually,  but nothing happened; it still shone red.

At that moment, she spun around, freaking out completely. She needed to know if anyone else was scared. But when she finished turning around, the red lighting went away, and she was back in the regular hallway, only a few steps behind the rest. Alex had just made it to her and was waving at her to try and get attention. Her stomach plummeted about as low as she ever would believe it could.

“Hey, Evelynn, you good? You stopped and…” Alex looks down at her flashlight, still off, except now not shining at all. Not even with a murky red light. “Did your flashlight die? You look scared.” He looks over her, then behind her, trying to see if there are any threats around.

“No, I just turned it off, sorry,” she mumbled, turning her flashlight back on, feeling bad. It shone nicely, a fresh, normal light, not tainted by the red of before, thankfully. She had half expected it to cause everything to go back to the way it was. But her problem is how she must have been standing there for much longer than just a few seconds, and why aren’t they all scared too? “Did you see what just happened?” Evelynn asks him, looking up to catch his attention. 

“What happened?” Alex replies, confused. He shifts his weight between feet, seeming worried about her and staying there too long to lose the group.

“The lights, they went,” she started, not finishing, but trailing off. He obviously hadn’t seen it, based on his reaction. Otherwise, he would likely be asking her the same questions.

“Never mind,” Evelynn decides, “I was just imagining something, sorry.”

“Alright,” he said, not entirely convinced she was telling the truth, but taking it for now.

“Let’s go back to the group; we shouldn’t lag behind them. We could get secluded and end up in danger.” Evelynn noticed the slight insistence in the last words, pressing them to her as advice not to leave the group, because it wasn’t safe.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Evelynn agrees, voice quieter. She didn’t mean to waste his time with her daydreaming. That must have been it. It had to be. But she had never had daydreams that vivid, that dark.

Alex led her up to the group, going fast to where she almost had to jog to catch up. She almost tripped over her pajama pants, and then ended up with Alex stopping again, which was not her point.

The hallways were as dark and cold as ever, with the kids just talking as they walked down. Astrid and Lily were starting to make hand puppets in the flashlight, even, which was very lifting to watch, considering how terrified she was minutes before.

~Written by Ashlynn Blue, do not try to copy~

When they got back to the cafeteria, one of the lights they had left there had dimmed while they were gone. The Man picked it up, examining it, then sighed. “Hopefully these hold up all night, but why don’t you kids play some games while you can? If we leave soon, we might not be able to come back tonight, because they’re surely looking for you by now.”

They all go under the tables, through the opening, and back inside the fort. It was almost comforting there, like a childhood fort. Without the blankets and cushions, and much, much larger, but still exhilarating when inside.

They all got half inside their sleeping bags, and Lily started passing out caffeinated sodas. They had already brushed their teeth, but honestly, nobody was going to care. The mint taste had worn off a while ago.

“I’ve got Uno,” Luke says, pulling out the bright box with a smile. “But fair warning, I’m pretty good.”

“Yeah, sure,” Alex snorts, grabbing the deck from him and starting to shuffle. “You lose like eighty percent of the time.”

“That’s pretty embarrassing,” Jack mocks, smirking.

“Oh, would you just shush already?” Astrid rolls her eyes, voice sharp.

Jack fell quieter, just taking the cards as they got handed to him.

Evelynn picked up hers. Pretty good setup, a couple of plus-twos, a reverse, and four number cards. Alex was to her left, and Astrid was to her right. Astrid seemed the larger threat from experience, so she braced herself.

The game went smoothly for about three turns, when Astrid took her turn. She hit Lily with a plus-two, who then stacked on another, and then it went to Jack, who threw his cards, angry.

“They’re teaming!” Jack fumed, pointing to the two girls who snickered a little. “It’s cheating.”

“Jack, it’s not a big deal, it's just four cards,” Luke starts, voice as calm as a steady stream, though his eyes showed annoyance.

“It is a big deal if they’re teaming!” Jack yelled again, face full of betrayal.

“Evelynn, did you see them cheating? Because we already said stacking was allowed earlier, so they didn’t break any rules that way,” Alex asks her, causing the other two boys to look at her.

Evelynn immediately felt anxious as the eyes fell on her to decide, and she knew that whatever she said, someone would be mad. “I didn’t see anything that looked like cheating, but I don’t know–”

“That’s so stupid,” Jack interrupts, throwing his cards down. “Of course, this is what I get for playing card games with a redhead and some simping mut.”

She tensed up slightly at his outburst, eyes widening slightly. She didn’t mean to make him blow up, but she had told the truth. Alex had started to choke and cough, so she tried to ask him if he was okay, switching away from her self-annoyance. “Alex? Are you okay?” She moves closer to the front of him. “Your face is red. Is it serious?” She didn’t know what made him like this, but now she was getting a bit scared.

Luke moves over, the anger in his face turning to nervousness as he sees Alex. “Uh, yeah, he’ll be fine, I’ve got it,” Luke said, clearing his throat and giving her a reassuring smile.

Evelynn takes him at his word, still a bit worried. But she trusts Luke would be able to help, he was pretty smart as she knew.

She grabs a water bottle from the snack area, catching a look at Jack in the corner, alone. Evelynn then grabs a Dr. Pepper, since the Coke was mostly gone, and heads over to Jack.

“Hey,” she says quietly, very nervous. She sets the cold can on the ground next to him, the metallic rim shining slightly as the ray from a nearby flashlight hits it. “I’m sorry if we made you mad earlier.”

Jack looks up, narrowing his eyes at her. “Why are you over here? In fact, why are you even here? Did you finally decide you want to be friends with the dumb kids or something?”

“What?” Evelynn said, agape in shock. Did people think that of her? “No, I–” she stops, then tries to calm down more. “I don’t think you all are dumb, I just came because I wanted to.”

He stayed silent for a moment, then Jack leaned over and took the Dr. Pepper can from the ground, opening it with his thumb. “Dr. Pepper is so much better than that Coke you guys passed out earlier,” he says casually, and Evelynn smiles to herself, relieved that they were on equal ground now.

“I mean, Coke is pretty good in my opinion,” Evelynn says, shrugging as she sits on the ground across from him.

He gives a huff of mock annoyance. “I guess being smart makes your opinions stupid, huh?”

“Well, that’s not very fair,” Evelynn replies, rolling her eyes.

Jack takes a swig of his Dr. Pepper, squinting slightly as the bubbles hit his throat. “Is it worth it?” he asks after a moment.

“Worth it for what?”

“To be smart,” his voice is gruff, slightly annoyed that she was taking too long.

“Well, I dunno. Everyone tells me it is.” Evelynn answers, feeling unsure of herself, holding onto her knees in a hug.

“Well then, I guess we’ll just be the experiment for that, then, huh?” Jack seemed to be over the question now, but his hand had started shaking slightly. Maybe he wasn’t just a jealous brute, she was starting to think. Maybe he’s an insecure brute.

When it seemed he was done with her company, she got up, taking the water bottle from earlier with her. Evelynn spotted Alex and Luke next to immediately, talking about something very animated in their expressions and actions, meaning it must be something about annoying things, she guessed.

She headed over and held out the water bottle to Alex. “Hey, I wanted to grab this for you because of earlier,” Evelynn said, hoping he was better now. “I hope you feel okay.”

“No, no, I’m good, really, thank you though,” Alex said fast, face changing rapidly to where she had no hope of reading it. He took the water and smiled, though, so she hoped they were good emotions.

“You’re welcome,” she smiles back, trying her best.

Yet, against all their hopes, a flashlight in the corner of the room was starting to flicker out. Evelynn turned around in confusion, while the others also noticed this time. And then, the light went out, and so did the others, plunging them into darkness again. Except, just as quickly as they went out, they turned back on, all murky and red.

~Written by Ashlynn Blue, do not try to copy.~