Nightfall (Devil's Night 4)

“You think you can scare me?” I said, not yelling anymore, because I knew he was close. “You’re boring.”

I didn’t know anything about fighting back or protecting myself, but I knew that nothing surprised me.

I might not win, but I wouldn’t scream.

Dashing back into the biology lab, I reached around the door frame to grab the receiver I’d left dangling, but I only caught air. Patting the wall, I searched for the phone and looked up, seeing the receiver and its cord gone.

What…? My heart skipped a beat. I just had it in my hand.

I quickly scanned the room, knowing someone was in here. I tried to spot them in one of the darkened corners, or their eyes peeking through one of the bookshelves…

Maybe Michael Crist’s red mask, Kai Mori’s broad shoulders, Damon Torrance’s stupid smirk, or Will Grayson’s black hoodie.

But I wasn’t waiting around. Leaving, I ran back toward the teachers’ lounge and darted into the girls’ bathroom, hopping up onto the radiator and unlatching the window. Flipping it up, I hung my arms over the side and stuck my head out.

I tried to lift myself up, my legs flailing as I tried to get some traction against the wall to push myself up more, but my back ached, and the muscles in my stomach burned as I struggled.

If my spaghetti arms could lift more than a blueberry, that would be fantastic. God, I was pathetic.

I grunted, using every ounce of strength to pull myself up, but I heard something and stopped.

Looking over the gym roof, I saw Michael Crist on the outdoor basketball court dribbling a ball and shooting baskets in the rain.

He was outside.

He wasn’t inside.

Were they all outside? If it wasn’t the Horsemen up here with me, freaking me out, then who…

The bathroom door suddenly whined behind me, and I didn’t know if someone was leaving or coming in, but I scrambled, hopping down off the radiator and whipping around to face whoever it was.

The door swung closed, no one in front of me, but then a click pierced the silence, and my eyes flashed to the stall door.

The closed one.

Someone was in here. Someone’s…

I couldn’t swallow.

If it wasn’t Will and his pals, then that changed things.

Running past the stall, I threw open the door and dashed into the hallway, making my way for the chemistry lab. It had a window like the bio lab, and I could crawl out onto the roof—flail, scream for help, whatever. I was safer in the open than stuck up here with God-knows-who.

Laughter broke out from somewhere, echoing down the hall, and I noticed more wet tracks on the floor, some leading back to the bathroom where I was and some moving alongside me.

Tossing a look over my shoulder, I saw a dark shadow moving through the glass in the other hallway and the door to the bathroom swing open, another figure emerging.

My stomach rolled. What the hell?

Racing into the chem lab, I closed the door, locked it, and pulled the shade down on the window.

Rain fell all around, pummeling the roof and tapping the windows, but I heard it louder in here.

I narrowed my eyes.

It was loud. Just like in the bio lab.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw that one of the windows was open in here, too—rain bouncing against the roof outside and drenching the countertop along the wall.