7 In The Dark

"Shut. Up." someone closed her mouth forcefully.

The voice belonged to a male.

Cloey's body started shaking vigorously. That's what happens when her fear gets out of control.

'No! That person's here!' ( Cloey's thought )

Cloey couldn't help but wonder whether she was about to have the same fate as the lifeless body that now, was laying on her.

Blood was dripping on her, slowly soaking her shirt. She didn't dare to turn behind, the scene in front was terrifying enough. The scene behind would better remain a question mark for as long as possible.

"We have to escape before she comes!" the person whispered into her ear.

His voice sounded extremely familiar but Cloey couldn't recognise it as she was too scared to think.

"Escape." she stated, unbelievably.

The person came in front and kicked the creepy lifeless body, causing it to be thrown backwards. His hair fell just beneath his eyebrows.

"You better follow me or the killer will fry you alive!" he said before cackling.

Cloey looked up at him. It was Peter. Instead of feeling relieved, she felt anger building within.

"Peter, is that how you approach people to rescue them?!" Cloey yelled at him.

Peter got shocked as he looked properly at the girl on the floor and recognized her instantly.

"Cloey Ng Hui Yii!" Peter's eyes were about to pop out.

Cloey was his classmate, the genius girl with short hair.

"You're that girl from the crazy group of kids!" he smirked.

"You're the boy who didn't know the difference between a chicken and a bird!" this time, Cloey smirked.

"You're the friend of Emma, that heartless human who didn't help me when I fell into a big puddle of mud after school, she was too concern about getting herself dirty!" Peter didn't back down.

"My vision was blury because of all the mud that splashed onto my face! Luckily, there weren't any cars passing by at that time... I might have got hit!" he continued.

Cloey kept mum for a while. She knew that Emma was always concerned about the way she looked, sometimes it annoyed her too. However, she didn't imagine her to do that to him.

"Oh," that was the only thing Cloey could say before she stood up and looked down at her shirt. It was wet, with blood.

She fixed her gaze on Peter. His hair was messy, shirt creased and the pant on his right side of the leg was torn all the way up to the knee.

"How did you end up here Hui?" Peter was the only one that called her like that. He didn't expect someone like Cloey to be kidnapped. He thought that Cloey would have had some kind of strategy to escape from a kidnapper because she was smart.

"Probably the same way you did," Cloey calmed down at last, after learning that she wasn't trapped in that bone chilling place alone.

"She dragged you by the hair?" he imitated the kidnapper's act by pulling his front layer of hair up.

"Yeah, and banged me with something!" Cloey was surprised that the both of them were kidnapped in the same way.

"It's a 'she'?" Cloey noticed what Peter was referring the kidnapper as.

Peter nodded and admitted that the kidnapper was indeed strong.

He also mentioned witnessing someone with a hoodie roaming around the building and capturing anyone that falls into sight.The strange thing was that this person didn't look familiar to the 'she' who kidnapped them. Peter was able to catch a glimpse of the kidnapper before he fell unconscious. She wore thick eyeliner and had hazel eyes. Now that he saw the body laying in front of them, he found out why the person was capturing them for. The smile on his face didn't disappear.

"And you're telling all this so excitingly like it's a happy ever after!" Cloey was about to lose her mind. They don't know where they were, how to escape or what to do to alert any humans who were possibly roaming nearby. The only piece of information they have now is that the kidnapper or kidnappers are ferocious cannibals.

"Well, it's like a super dangerous survival game! Though I have absolutely no clue about the way to escape," Peter stated calmly.

"Do you want to end up like that?" Cloey pointed at the lifeless body that looked horrifying.

"What a brilliant question!" Peter mocked Cloey.

Just then, footsteps were heard.

Peter whispered as quietly as possible, "Even if the footsteps are loud, that doesn't mean the person is nearby. I've been in this situation numerous of times in the past 24-hours. Follow me if you love your head!"

He ran quickly into the dark without even waiting for Cloey.

"Such a gentleman!" she muttered to herself while running after him. She didn't have a choice, Peter knew this place better.

"I saved you Hui!" he spun around when they reached a place that wasn't so dark. Luckily, Cloey had enough time to adjust her eyes to the dark. If not, she might have got lost while trying to catch up with him.

"I have a feeling that sooner or later, I might save your life too," Cloey grinned.

"You went missing yesterday!" Cloey recalled Laven's message.

"And you found me today! " Peter chirped.

Cloey knew that Peter loved clowning around obliviously. She thought that perhaps, getting stuck here loosened a few more nuts in his head.

"Hui, how did you end up here?" Peter asked.

"I thought you asked me that already," Cloey examined the surrounding.

"Yes, but using a different sentence structure. Just now, I asked: 'How did you end up here Hui?'," he said in a lecture tone.

Cloey looked at him frustratedly. He was too playful.

"She dragged me by my hair and banged my head with something," she stated plainly.

"I know that, but what made you to fall into her sight? Don't tell me it's your fate. Trust me, she's not kind like 'prince charming'," Peter furrowed his eyebrows.

Cloey stared at him blankly wondering why he was being so busy body.

'He's comparing her with 'Prince Charming' ?' (Cloey's thought)

"Well, I kind of forgot to invite Danial to our gathering at Little Book Hut. While walking past the shop lots, I heard loud footsteps. It was a person with an odd thick eyeliner. It looked creepy, so I ran like a cheetah but that eagle somehow managed to catch me..... Aaargh, I remembered to text Laven about what the actual surprise was about but forgot to invite the limelight!" Cloey slapped her head.

"If you ran like a cheetah, you wouldn't be here and there's a fun fact I would like to share... Eagles don't eat cheetahs!" Peter laughed.

Cloey clicked her tongue. This boy did irritate her but he had a point. She knew that she left out a lot of things in the earlier explanation, but that was enough information anyway.

The room that they were in had an open window. It was still bright outside. She wondered if this was the only place in the building that wasn't dark.

"I'm hungry," Peter said in a low voice.

This made Cloey's eyes widen. Trapped in here meant no food.

"I can stand it, but I don't know for how long. She kidnapped me while I was walking home from Jack & Jill. I bought some snacks as I planned to watch a movie with my elder brother at night. He's leaving tomorrow...Today I guess," he looked at Cloey for confirmation. He had lost track of time.

Cloey nodded. She wasn't smiling, so was Peter.

"I'm sorry," she understood his situation. It was heart-rending.

Earlier, she thought that Peter was kidnapped by someone who couldn't stand his lame jokes although she knew that was highly unlikely. She didn't want to question him more, it may cause an emotional turmoil.

The room that they were in had walls that were light blue in colour. There were spider webs and dust everywhere. The window was left open widely, unlike the earlier room she was in. The floor had tiles, marble tiles. The place looked like it was once used, most probably as a bedroom. There were no furniture there. The only decorations in that room were two halloween-like mannequins, a girl with blood stains on her shirt and a boy with torn pants.

"I wonder where she kept my bag. There's food inside it," Peter broke the silence. Cloey knew that they can't linger in there, she might come.

"Let's explore this place. You know this place better, so why don't you guide me around?" Cloey suggested.

"Excuse me! This is not a holiday trip, it's a death trip. You expect me to be a Grim Reaper who guides you to death?" he was shocked by her words.

"Then, what do you call it?" Cloey couldn't find any other relevant words to describe it.

"Well, you can ask me to 'show' you," Peter emphasized the word, show.

"That basically means guide," she clicked her tongue at his injudicious statement.

He scrunched his nose.

"Do you always do this?" he clicked his tongue to show her what he meant.

Cloey smiled awkwardly.

"Well, it's my first time in this room. I just run to random places. I follow my instincts," Peter revealed something that seemed to aggravate this whole situation.

'He has the temerity to take such risky moves!' (Cloey's thought)

A sudden thought came into Cloey's mind. Peter didn't know that she was here at first. Maybe there was someone else here too. Maybe, there are helpless victims with whom they can escape together. In order to make sure, they have to check every square inch of the building.

Suddenly, Cloey felt something vibrating against her leg.The sudden vibration made them both flinch. Peter looked at her, his jaw dropped.

.

Laven looked at Kim, surprised. He had been giving quite a lot of surprises since they first met. However, this time it was in front of Aunt Shelly.

"What do you m-mean?" Aunt Shelly faltered.

Laven just stared at Kim, with a scared look.

Aunt Shelly put a sudden break, the traffic light turned red at that time.

Luckily, all of them had buckled up. If not, they might have been hurled out of the car.

Aunt Shelly glared at Kim through the rear view mirror.

Kim bursted into sudden laughter.

"I'm sorry mam. I was just joking. When Laven gets scared, she looks helpless. It amuses me!" he tried to sound innocent.

"You freaked me out too," Aunt Shelly let out a sigh of relief.

"You can drop me at Rosemary Park," he leaned back with his hands on his head.

'So that's where he lives!' (Laven's thought)

"Yes, that's probably where I live!" Kim replied unexpectedly.

'Did he just read my mind?!' (Laven's thought)

Laven looked behind again and noticed that Kim was smirking with his eyes closed.

"Can you give me all of your numbers?" he asked Laven.

'I thought he didn't have a phone...' (Laven's thought)

Kim chuckled before saying, "I told you that my mother doesn't have a phone, not me."

'Oh my brain! He read my mind again!' (Laven's thought)

He was wondering about how Kim was able to answer to what he was thinking. It's impossible for a human to read the mind of others. So, he decided to brush it off thinking that perhaps Kim just guessed his thought and all of his guesses were precise. Albeit, his guessing skills need to be praised.

Laven showed his book to him:

'Give me your number. I'll send you their numbers later'

Kim nodded and jotted his number down using Laven's pen.

"It seems quite fishy, why won't you talk?" Kim leaned in and arched an eyebrow.

Laven didn't reply, he didn't even think about it. Who knew if he actually had some kind of 'mind reading power'. Laven hoped that Aunt Shelly wouldn't think about anything at that moment too.

Double storey houses came into sight. There were bushes with colourful flowers decorating the frontage of the housing area.

The richness of nature created a serene ambience.

'What a wonderful place!' ( Laven's thought )

"It's wonderful... isn't that what you think?" Kim relaxed his hand on Laven's seat.

Laven didn't seem to understand him. Was it just him or can Kim actually see through his mind like crystal clear water?

If that's the case, perhaps he could start a new business with him. It might be extremely profitable.

'Since when did I start thinking like a businessman!', Laven snapped out of his thought.

"This is my stop, see you next time Mrs. Laventine and see ya tomorrow Laven!" Kim unbuckled himself, ready to open the door.

"I can drop you at your house," Aunt Shelly offered.

Kim politely rejected the offer, claiming that he would like to walk there.

He was weird, but in a harmless way. So far.

While watching Kim walk further way, Aunt Shelly muttered, "That's one weird friend you got there."

Laven just smiled.

" I guess he has some dark past with his friends," he was finally able to speak.

Obviously, Aunt Shelly is one of the few people who knows that he is a boy.

Laven looked at the rear view mirror. Kim seemed to appear smaller as Aunt Shelly drove away, but he noticed that Kim didn't head to the houses. He was heading to somewhere else.

'Perhaps there's a shortcut.' (Laven's thought)

"It looks like you guys are gonna meet up tomorrow. But given the current situation, I guess you guys better not go anywhere until we get news about Cloey," worry was evident in her tone.

"I'll ask them to cancel our meet up tomorrow then," Laven's reply made Aunt Shelly smile.

She was grateful that her nephew was obedient.

Laven was worried about Cloey too. He prayed so that she would be fine.

However, there was something else going on his mind now, the parcel he received from his parents.