Double trouble

The night was still and quiet. There was no sound heard throughout the entire dormitory building, except for the throbbing sounds of Oliver's heart, as it drummed continuously within his chest. He had just witnessed the impossible, in the form of a talking snake, and now he was in an absurd degree of panic. Right now he just discovered that the hostel master was no longer seated on his slumber seat.

Oliver was in a high-risk scenario right now. He had thought that the hostel master would not wake up, but now it seemed like he was up already. Oliver had no clue what part of the building the hostel master was in, and this made raw dread twist in his guts.

Oliver felt some apprehension seeing the empty chair. He took time to calm himself down because things might get wrong if he got so frantic about this.

He flattened himself to the wall now and began to walk quietly towards the edge of the wall that proceeded to the other passage.

Gradually, he went, making sure he did not make even the slightest sound.

When he got closer to the edge, he began to hear some noises coming from the other side; noises of approaching footsteps.

He looked at the wall behind the empty chair and noticed a shadow cast on it. The shadow was in the image of a person, and it steadily increased in height. This meant one thing; someone was coming.

Oliver began to step backward now. As he went backward, he accidentally tripped over and fell on the floor. He wasted no time in getting back to his feet.

"Who's there?" came a voice from the other passage.

Right now, Oliver realized that the man had heard the sound of his falling. He increased his speed now, pushing towards the left corner.

As he went, he could hear the sounds of footsteps getting louder.

"Identify yourself. I order you to stop wherever you are, this instant."

Right now, Oliver was at the last passage, where he had seen the large black snake earlier. He peeped through the edge of the wall and saw the thin figure of the hostel master at the other passage, marching furiously towards him unhesitatingly.

Oliver looked back once more, there stood a wall, and there was nowhere to go. Oliver was in a tight spot right now.

He looked through the edge again, the man had increased his speed, and he was now closer than Oliver expected he would be.

Oliver's heart leaped. It began hammering faster and harder. Quickly, he began to try the doors to check if he would somehow find an open one.

As he tried each door after the other, he could hear the taunting call of the hostel master.

"There's no need to be so hasty, there's no way to run, and nowhere to hide."

Oliver was moving quickly along the right side of the passage, fumbling on the knobs for an unlocked door.

"Come on... Come on..." he mumbled, as he twisted the knobs.

He could hear the sounds of the approaching footsteps getting louder. There was a doorknob that made a 'clitch' sound. Oliver ignored that and went on to the next door.

As Oliver was done checking the next door unsuccessfully, he remembered that he did not check the previous one properly, he seldomly twisted the knob due to the pressure he had on him. He wanted to ignore it and continue going further, but something kept on holding him back.

Reluctantly, Oliver went back to the previous door and tried the knob. To his greatest surprise, the door opened.

He looked right now and saw that the hostel master had just reached the passage intersection. He swiftly entered the room, to avoid getting identified by the man.

Oliver stood still beside the door. He could hear the padding of feet along the passage. It was coming closer and closer. All of a sudden, it abruptly halted right behind the door. Oliver's heart went uneasy now.

There came two silent knocks on the door.

Knock* Knock*

It sounded again. Right now Oliver was fighting a rising panic.

There were two boys in the room, each lying on a bed at the side of the wall, opposite each other. Oliver knew how bad it would be for him if any of them happened to wake up suddenly, and saw him standing there in their room, beside the door. He wished the hostel master would just ignore everything and return to his chair.

"Come on boy, I know it's you," said the hostel master from behind the door.

Oliver wondered if he had seen his face.

"Shit*" muttered Oliver. He discovered movement on the doorknob. He quickly gripped it tightly with both hands, preventing him from twisting it any further.

"Mm... Now you're being naughty, boy," grumbled the hostel master from behind the door. He simply put more effort into the knob, and it started to twist steadily.

When Oliver noticed the increase in strength of the opposing force, he put in more of his own effort, but it was no match for that of the man behind the door.

Oliver held the knob with one hand and managed to use the other to switch the lock, locking up the door. Having done this, he exhaled a sigh of relief and returned to the side of the door.

"You think you've escaped came me, huh? I'll see you in the morning, this isn't over," the man finally said.

Oliver heard the sounds of his footsteps as he padded away down the passage. The sound gradually died off, and it was replaced again by pin-drop silence.

He glanced at the two boys as they slept peacefully on their bed, totally dead to the world, with no idea what had just happened. They had no idea the trouble that lay ahead of them.

Oliver was beginning to feel guilty about all this. He had caused them to be in such a big mess. If he had not entered their room, none of this would have happened. Now the hostel master thinks it was them. But he had no other choice, there was clearly nothing else he could do at that moment, he had to save himself, and he did not even expect that the man would notice which door he had entered.

Oliver believed it was not his fault that he was in their room. The whole thing was just a big coincidence, he thought.

Oliver got curious to know who the owners of the room were, so he could look for a way to help them get out of the trouble he had put them in.

The room was partially dark so Oliver could not identify them, though one of them got his attention. Even in the dark the boy still looked familiar.

Oliver switched on the lightbulb.

"Jasper?..." he muttered, with his eyebrows raised in a display of surprise.

He never expected it would be Jasper. Now he felt more worried, he had put his new friend in trouble.

Oliver quickly switched off the lights. The problem, for now, was how to get back to his room. He was not going to stay there till the next day.

After waiting some more time, Oliver quietly opened the door and stepped out to the passage. The passage was very quiet now. He began to walk slowly and quietly back to his room.

When he got to the other passage, he looked straight at the intersection, the hostel master was back on his chair. As he went, he wondered how the man had gone back to a deep sleep within the space of about half an hour he was wide awake.

Oliver finally reached his door without being detected by the man. He quietly opened his door and went back inside.

Max was still in the same sleeping posture he was before Oliver went out, this was all he needed to be convinced that his movements were not detected by anyone. He quietly climbed back to his bed.

He tapped on the screen of his wristwatch, and it showed: 1:30. He dropped it back on top of the drawer.

Oliver thought about all the experiences that night, about the snake and about the hostel master. This was just his second night in Melrose, and he had already attempted to get into trouble. He wondered how the rest of his days here would be.