I’m not going to be so easy to catch this time.
Footsteps resound, and I suck in a breath. My fingers wrap around a doorknob, and I slowly turn it until the door creaks, and then, I step inside and slowly close it behind me, wincing when it creaks ever so slightly.
I back away from the door, step by step, and I watch with abject horror as the lights on the other side begin to flash like a strobe light. Smoke begins to curl beneath the door and enter the room, and I hold my breath for reasons unknown as I go to push myself up against the wall, but ram into something else instead.
I trip over it and fall flat on my ass, but my eyes never stray from the door as a shadow moves in front of it. I gasp silently and throw my hand over my mouth and nose to cover the sound of my breathing as I scramble backward to cower in the corner and look as small as possible.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are…” I hear Static drawl, and I nearly cry. The tears burn my retinas. He sounds so different, and I don’t know if I like this anymore.
The sharp scrape of something sounds against the wall with every step, and I choke back the vomit that crawls its way up my throat—images of his bloody axe filling my head.
“Maaadiiiisonnnn,” he sings. “Where are you, darlin’?”
“No.Nonono,” I murmur over and over as I curl in on myself, pulling my legs to my chest and wrapping my arms around them to pull myself even tighter. “This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening,” I chant.
What is wrong with me? Why did I agree to do this?
I’m choking on the beat of my own heart when the sound finally fades, and I’m left in ringing silence.
The smoke is still pouring in, and I can’t see anything because of the damn light, but I don’t hear Static, and that’s a good thing…
Right?...
I stand up, albeit very unsteadily, and wobble over to the door, head cocked to the right to listen for any sounds, but I can’t hear a thing. Just eerie stillness.
I wait for a few more minutes anyway to make sure he’s gone before I slowly pull the door open and step out.
The light is disorienting, and it disfigures the entire hallway, making the floor look slanted. I nearly trip when I take a step, so I’m forced to close my eyes to move, still stuck in utter darkness.
Feeling queasy all over again, I go in the opposite direction I saw Static moving in, hoping to get as far from him as possible. I run my fingers along the splintered wall, feeling each sliver that ends up in my skin like an omen to my stupidity.
I don’t know why I thought this time would be different…
When I finally feel the edge of the wall, I open my eyes and realize I’ve made it to a fork. I can either go forward or move left.
And if that doesn’t feel like the most apt thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.
Move forward—toward the clown that’s chasing me or choose left… the side the devil usually sits on.
Well, shit.
Either way, I’m screwed, aren’t I?
And just like that, a laugh bubbles up in my chest, loud and boisterous, and once it starts, I can’t stop it. It wracks through my body so hard, it hurts—and that’s when I hear it.
The heavythud, thud, thud.
It’s a sound I recognize.
Shitshitshit.
It’s Static.
What do I do, what do I do? I’m panicking, and I know I am. My mind is racing a million miles a minute, but I hear the heavy thud of his boots, so I know he’s coming, and I need to make a decisionnow?—
“Clown it is…” I mutter as I start forward down the hall. “Always the damn clown.”
The hallway opens up into a large room, but I can’t tell what it is because it’s still dark as all hell in here. I stumble into a wall and smack my face.
