chapter four: Afraid

There's footsteps. I could hear them faintly, now it's becoming louder by the minute.

I wondered for a second if my friends had come back for me, but then I discarded that thought. Eddie was too chicken and Stanley was just not that kind of guy. He would never, and Richie, well, there's a ten percent chance that it could be him.

I stopped to wait on them, peering through the darkness to make out any sign of a person.

There was a sudden bright flame, illuminating the tunnel instantly, and making me catch sight of who it was.

I gasped, realizing now who thy were.

Not Richie, it was not Richie!

"Shit!" I sprinted off without a second thought, the water splashing at my knees.

I didn't take a glance back, knowing full well that they were following me.

It was Patrick hockstetter, one of victors friend. One of the meanest, that's who he was. And i was certainly not going to let him catch me.

"I'm gonna catch you, tits, you think you can outrun me fatso?" He yelled, getting closer and closer. I kept on running, breath puffing as I ran harder. The tunnel felt endless, almost like I'd have to keep on running away from him forever.

I noticed, vaguely, that there are two sections up ahead of me. I stopped for a split second, wondering which one I should choose to go in. But the sound on water splashing made me forget it and hurried through the one on my right.

There was less water in here so there wasn't any splashing when I ran.

To my right, I saw that there was a small corner, it had bars and it was big enough for me to fit in. I crawled inside of it, bringing my knees up to my chest to appear much smaller than I already was.

I heard Patrick, his voice was getting far away from me. That only means that he went through the tunnel on the left.

I let out a shaky breath, thankful that he had not followed me into this tunnel.

I brought my kneels closer to my chest, shutting my eyes and calming down my breathing. I needed to wait a bit longer before I leave, I didn't want to be caught before I made it out of this wretched tunnel and I did not want to be pummeled to the ground or forced to drink shitty water.

He may think I'm someone else, but if he finds out that it's me, victors most hated person, then I'd be getting it.

I lifted my head, straining my ears to try and hear Patrick's voice from the other tunnel, but heard nothing. only an eerie silence.

I slowly stretched out my legs, scooting my behind forward so I could climb out of the small hiding place.

I had just touched the ground, when I heard a blood curdling scream from the next tunnel. Patrick's scream echoed around the tunnels, pure terror in his voice at whatever he had seen.

I couldn't move, I was frozen to the spot, eyes wide in terror. What had he seen on the other side of the tunnel?

Did he see the lady that was screaming minutes ago?

"I SAID DON'T TOUCH ME YOU MONSTER!!! STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!!"

I was gripped in both terror and an unwillingness to turn and run for it. How could I? What was living inside of this tunnel? Terrorizing kids like this.

I needed to know, I had to.

"Shit!" I practically peeled my feet off of the ground where they had been glued to and made a run for it. My feet was once again under gutter water as I exited the right tunnel. I didn't think twice before running into the left tunnel, breath puffing with every step I took.

I heard Patrick's chocked screams in the distance, I heard the sound of cracking and chewing. I heard it all.

I knew what I was going to see wasn't going to be pretty, I just knew it by the hair raising on the back of my neck, and my heart rate going miles an hour.