“You’re locked in the auditorium?” His voice was steady and calm, and I knew he was about to explode.
“I think so,” I admitted as I looked around again. “Can you ask Jett to call Ava?”
“He’s on the phone with her. She’s coming, babe.”
“Will you stay on the phone with me?” I asked him, my voice almost inaudible.
“I’m going nowhere.”
“I’m completely overreacting. I know this.” I tried to make light of it. Gray said nothing, and we were merely on the phone, silence between us. I heard the thump again, and I jumped just as the lights went out completely, which caused me to scream in fright. “It’s okay, it’s okay, the lights are out. I think you’re right: it’s just the janitor, and he doesn’t know I’m in here.”
“Ash is on the phone to maintenance,” Gray told me. “Just hold tight.”
“Now I know how people feel when we do Mayhem,” I tried to joke, and I heard his sharp inhale. “Gray?”
“I’m here, baby, you okay?”
“What was the gasp?” I demanded as I pressed myself against the wall like a coward.
“Jett elbowed me in the ribs.”
“And you say I’m a terrible liar,” I mocked him. I glanced at my phone screen quickly. “You cannot kill me for this, I mean it,” I warned. “My battery’s about to die.”
“Tell me you’re making a bad joke.”
“I thought I had plugged it in,” I admitted weakly. “I don’t remember switching it on.”
“Queeny,” he breathed softly, and I heard his despair. “Ava’s almost there, okay?”
“Okay.” I felt tears threatening, and I cursed myself inwardly for being this oversensitive idiot. I was locked in a building that was supposed to be locked at this time of night. I was fine. I was being hysterical. “I’m completely overreacting,” I told him again.
“Who gives a fuck?” Gray replied gruffly, and I had to smile at his complete dedication to me.
“I never used to be so troublesome,” I joked weakly.
“Yes, you did,” was his quick reply.
“Dick.” I heard it go, and I held the phone up as the red flashing battery icon took over the screen, and my phone died. “Shit.”
What did I do now? Sit and wait for someone to come get me, or try more of the doors? Why hadn’t I already tried more of the doors? Carefully, I made my way to the next door, my hands scraping across the wall, keeping me steady. I stumbled over a trash can and yelped spectacularly loudly in the empty theater, the acoustics echoing back to me. Well, that wasn’t fucking creepy at all.
Trying not to be the hysterical girl that panics in every horror movie ever, I reached the next door and gently tugged. Nothing. Fine. Next one. Sometime later, I was back at the stage, and I knew I didn’t have the courage or the energy to try to make my way around the other side. The green glowing sign of the EXIT taunted me, and I cursed myself for a fool as I hastened toward it. I had tried the locked doors, not the emergency exits. Gray was going to kick my ass, and I deserved it.
Pushing on the bar, I almost screamed with frustration as it refused to budge. Weren’t they supposed to open? Wasn’t that the whole point of them? They opened no matter what and were unobstructed at all times? This college sucked balls at safety, I rambled to myself as I held tightly onto the bar like it was a lifeline. The good thing about the exit was it gave some light to the dark room.
Which was a good thing.
Until I saw the shadow move on the other side of the hall.
Fuck off.
I hadn’t seen that. It was my imagination. Please, Lord, let mebe alone in here. I stood stock-still, hardly breathing, for I didn’t know how long.
The lights went on at the same time as the doors flung open, and I screamed out loud at the loud bang, and then I heard Ava say, “It’s okay, we have her.”
Blinking, I looked at her and Mia as I hurried toward them. I didn’t care that I looked like a fool. My steps slowed as I saw the janitor.
“You?”
