Lucas Ryan Versus - Madison Daniel Page 0,40

to the floor and slammed my fists into the cold tiles. The horrendous sound in my brain now felt as if it was tearing my skull open. I tried to scream but couldn’t. The showers at the back of the room exploded with steaming water. The heat from them crept up on me in a matter of seconds. Through the sticky steam came laughter.

“Who’s there?” I called out. “Ms. Strickland? Is that you?” The laughter grew louder and deeper. I tried to stand up but found my palms stuck to the tiles like magnets. I could slide them around a little but not pull them from the floor. The scalding hot water found my fingers, then my palms, followed by my knees behind them.

“Oh, no,” I stressed. When I finally focused on the fiery water below me I realized it wasn’t water at all…it was blood. I screamed as loud as I could, “Ripley!”

~ Calm yourself, Lucas. ~

“Get me out of here! Now!” I ordered. The blood started to creep up my wrists and forearms, all the way up to my elbows. What was happening? I demanded Ripley to appear. “I need you! Now!”

~ I can’t. ~

“What? Why?”

~ Trapped. ~

And with that, I crumbled. I was on my own. I stared at the blood along my arms and hands hoping to find the strength to stand up. The laughing finally stopped, leaving only the echo of my pounding heartbeat and rushing torrent from the shower heads. Suddenly, they turned off and the steam began to clear. My hands were still locked in place but the painful buzzing in my head was receding. The pools of bloody water started to bubble as if being brought to a boil but the heat was almost completely gone now. Slowly, the crimson liquid pulled away from me, slinking back towards the shower stalls. The lights above began to hum with life and flicker in a strobe effect that made the sight of retreating blood more ominous than before. I shook my head trying to steady my vision in the blinking light. The liquid began to take shape…a haunting shape. A shape I didn’t want to see ever again.

“Ripley, someone’s here…” Ripley never answered me back. I called out again, “Rip?”

The form twitched and clicked, gulping up more sludge until two glowing slits stared back at me. Muscular, ominous, and demonic. I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. It was impossible what I was seeing. I held my breath and reluctantly pulled at my hands again. Surprisingly, they pulled from the wet floor, no longer covered in blood. The flickering light slowed but still made it hard to see in the distance. I carefully leaned back on my knees and steadied myself to stand but felt too weak to do so. Just as I was about to fall backwards a fortifying hand fell upon my back.

“Lucas.”

My dizzy head whipped around to find Olivia standing behind me, determined and beautiful.

“Olivia!” I screeched, with a cracking of my voice. Her eyes held me for a moment before pushing past me to the back of the room. She squinted in a desperate ploy to make sense of what she was seeing. I turned back to the shower stalls, sheepishly finding my footing again.

“Do you…see that?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t having another one of my epic hallucinations. “Please tell me you see it.”

Olivia slid by my side, never taking her eyes from the impossible form in front of us. Slowly, her hand caressed mine with her warm fingers tangling around my palm. She stiffened as if she had been turned to stone.

In the weakest of whispers, she said, “Yes.”

The lights popped completely on in a flash. The blinding light washed over us revealing nothing but an empty and ordinary locker room. No steam, no blood, no monsters. Olivia and I exchanged a horrified but relieved stare. We knew we weren’t crazy. We knew what we saw. We knew things had just gotten much worse. With a gulp, I tightened my grip on her hand and whispered…

“He’s back.”

LEVEL 18

AMEN

The football game was a blowout. Taylor threw for nine touchdowns and ran for over three-hundred yards. He seemed to be getting better at the game, even though that didn’t seem possible. Championship trophies and MVP awards were given out in accordance but my experience in the locker room dampened his winning mojo. As we met Roland and Morgan in the school parking lot, outside the gymnasium, Taylor stopped me

readonlinefreenovel.com Copyright 2016 - 2024