Note: This was originally a short story that I decided to write just the pass the time while I sat in the dorm rooms at Converse where I first starting writing this. This is dedicated to all my fellow writers at Converse. You might find yourselves in it and the places that are in it will be familiar; I’m sorry I couldn’t put everyone’s character in; that would have been too many. But I decided to lengthen it with chapters so please give me any suggestions.

The storm outside roared with intensity that ripped the sky apart as if an earthquake was destroying the heavens. Wind bent trees in the dark moonless night that seemed to flash with mystery every time the lightening illuminated the black clouds that slowly crawled overhead like an angry wave of black ants. Thunder shook the resident halls in intervals of mere seconds before a louder boom echoed the first angrily. A cool rain fell in sheets, blocking anyone’s view for a couple feet in front of them. And the problem was that it hadn’t stopped raining in three days and now it looked as if the heart of the storm was passing overhead.

Kyle Blackwell sat at the circular table in the middle of the Walden Resident Hall lobby with the couches and chairs set in front of him, all facing the television. The narrow double door behind him stood open allowing a cool mist to blow onto his back as it intensified the echoes of each thunderous clap. Despite the miserable weather, the sounds of the raging storm could be called peaceful.

Conversation surrounded him as the three other members of the camp spoke among themselves. All seemed absorbed in their conversations as if they were ignoring the horrible storm outside as it hammered sheets of heavy rain down on their rooftop.

Meghan Bishop ran into the lobby through the open front door that stood on an upper level behind and to the left of the television and chairs, with a book held over her head substituting for an umbrella. The overhang above the door created a waterfall over the front steps. Mixed with the already intensified sounds of the narrow double doors behind Kyle, the open front door made it seem as if the storm was warring within the lobby.

“What news of the weather Meghan?” Brett Blackstone asked, standing and crossing his arms. “The cable’s out. We can’t pick anything up. We have no way of keeping in touch with the news.” He paused for a brief moment and glanced cautiously at the others, lowering his voice as he did. “There’s no chance of a tornado, is there?”

Meghan lowered the book and threw wet, long brown hair out of her face as her dark green eyes searched all of their faces from behind her peach colored glasses. “No, I haven’t heard anything about the weather. It’s strange; I can’t seem to find anyone else on campus. Earlier today it was busy with people from other workshops and camps. Now I can’t find anyone, not even in the dorms.” She glanced at the television as she rubbed her wet hair, as if trying to dry it out. It was muted with a screen of static erupting across it like a violent storm of its own. “If the cable’s out then we’ll just have to find another way of figuring out our situation here. I’m sure it’s nothing, just a severe thunderstorm.” The others nodded with doubtful expressions slowly crossing each of their youthful faces. At the ages of seventeen and eighteen with Meghan their twenty-five year old counselor, they took her word on most things but they thought that this time she could possibly be wrong.

Valerie Timmerman stood from a chair next to the couch and walked to the window, slowly pushing back the curtains as she did. “I hope it lets up soon.” Gasping, as if a sudden dagger had struck her, Valerie spun on her heels, with long curly brown hair spinning and dark brown eyes wide, to face Meghan. “Where’s Ashley? Have any of you seen her?” She paused and covered her mouth with a shaking hand. “You don’t think she’s out there in the storm, do you?” An expression of complete concern crossed her face and Kyle felt a sudden stab of sorrow for the woman. He had gotten to know her over the past four days here and he had gotten along with her very well, which he knew was very unusual for him. After all, he wasn’t that great with women; he tended to get very shy around them.

“I don’t know,” Meghan answered, shrugging as a worried expression slowly swept across her face. As the counselor here, she was in charge of watching over all of them and this did not sound promising. She gave each of them a panicked look. “I haven’t seen her since the storm started.”

“Should we look for her?” Melissa Kneece asked, running a hand through her shoulder length red hair with her dark blue eyes glued to the windows with the raging storm outside. She crossed her arms and gave each of them a sidelong glance that looked as if she was glaring at all of them, but Kyle knew that it was only concern on her face. Again, over the past four days he had gotten to know her quite well too. He felt relieved that he had made two friends in such a quick manner. It took worry away from him since it was better then not getting along with anyone here. It was good to know that he had two people to talk to if he needed to. “Well, we can’t just leave her out there.” Her voice was loud and hurried as if she was afraid. “Should we look for her?” Everyone nodded, even Meghan, reluctantly.

“It’ll be better if we look for her,” Meghan agreed. “Though I don’t want anyone out there right now I think we have no choice. We can’t just leave her out there.” They all nodded understandingly. “It’s dangerous and if we go out there we all need to stay together, understand?” They nodded again, all getting up and moving close to her. “This storm is too strong for us to split up. It looks as if it’s getting worse by the minute.” Cindy Hall, the quietest of the small group, stood from her chair and watched them with brown eyes from behind her black-rimmed glasses.

Meghan, Melissa, and Cindy started across the lobby and opened the door, that stood opposite the front door, and that led into the dorm hallway. Kyle thought he heard Meghan say something about having emergency flashlights or candles or something that might help them in their search for Ashley but he couldn’t be certain. Brett fell back into a chair and crossed his arms, sighing heavily. Kyle stretched, watching the dark windows as he did.

Kyle jogged across the lobby to the door that led to the stairway and opened it. “Hey, what are you doing?” Valerie asked him, jogging up behind him and following him into the dimly lit stairwell.

“I’m getting a drink before we leave,” Kyle replied, opening the other door that led to the stairwell that traveled down to the basement of the building. “Are you coming?” Valerie nodded and went through the door as Kyle held it open for her. They jogged down two flights of stairs until their feet hit the basement floor.

With an elevator, seemingly never used, a small bathroom, a dark damp storage room with fans buzzing angrily, closely resembling the sounds of children’s screams, and a coke machine, Kyle didn’t see anything else in the basement or at least nothing else worth a second glance. But he knew right away that this was not a place that he wanted to spend too much time in, especially not with the storm raging outside.

“So, how’s your day been so far?” Kyle asked, turning briefly to see Valerie behind him. “Do you think it’s a good idea to go looking for Ashley in this storm?” He produced two dollars from his wallet and turned back to the machine. After some button pushing, he finally held a Diet Coke and turned to Valerie with a raised eyebrow. “I have another dollar. Don’t worry, it’s on me. What do you want?”

Valerie studied the machine and said, “A Diet Coke too I guess. Why not? I might as well get something while I’m down here and not paying for it.” Kyle inserted the money and soon handed her the bottle of soda. He followed her gaze to the dark storage room that stood open to the small hallway that they stood in. “I wonder what’s all in there. This building is old. Who knows what might be buried in there.”

Kyle shrugged as he started across the hall towards the open door. He didn’t know what he was going to find. He knew they were supposed to be looking for Ashley but only taking a quick look wouldn’t hurt anyone.

After taking two steps, Kyle suddenly regretted thinking that. The lights suddenly flickered and darkened. “What’s happening?” Valerie’s voice carried in the darkness as she moved a step forward.

“The lights were probably hit by lightening,” Kyle answered calmly, as his eyes searched the darkness around him. He couldn’t see anything at all; this wasn’t helping them out at all either. “Just stay still for now. I’m sure they’ll be on in seconds.”

Standing in the complete darkness of the basement, both Kyle and Valerie stood silent and still, with only the whirling fans as their company, and as Kyle listened, he heard footsteps slowly approaching behind him. “Kyle, is that you?” Valerie asked in a worried voice.

“No, I thought it was you,” Kyle whispered back worriedly. Kyle stood completely still; with the bottle dangling from his hands, as he heard the soft footsteps slowly begin to circle him, as if someone was studying him.

“What the hell?” Kyle whispered uncertainly as he tried to follow the footsteps with his eyes yet he saw only darkness. He tried to move backwards to reach Valerie but he didn’t exactly know where she stood. He raised an arm, the one not holding the soda, and tried to reach her but in the darkness he realized that it was no use.

Soon cold hands gripped his shoulders. Kyle was only able to gasp in surprise and briefly turn before he was violently pushed and soon found himself sliding across the basement floor with wide eyes staring into the darkness. He slid into the small bathroom and coughed as he hit the wall and had the air knocked out of him. His shirt flew into his eyes as he coughed again and heard the door slam shut only two feet away from him, trapping him in the darkness of the small bathroom. He could only see spots of light in front of his eyes when he closed them but besides that he saw nothing but a dimmer darkness. Apparently his eyes were getting accustomed to his new surroundings. But the only thing he worried about was Valerie’s safety. He didn’t want anything to happen to her.

He quickly staggered to his feet breathlessly and found the doorknob, which was jammed from the outside, locking him in. Valerie’s scream soon reached his ears, muffled by the walls. “Don’t you hurt her damn you!” He yelled, slamming his fists angrily on the door trying to open it. “Whoever you are, don’t you hurt her!” Soon another scream echoed Valerie’s first; the voice belonging to the same person. He didn’t know who he was cursing but he swore that if any harm came to her, he didn’t know what power he’d be able to muster up inside to help her.

“Help me!”

Kyle threw his shoulder against the door and fell to the floor painfully. Grinding his teeth in pain, he stumbled to his feet again and was answered by the lights. They suddenly flickered on briefly, cut off again, and then began flicking on and off at every other second. “Valerie are you alright?” Kyle called through the door, as he slammed into it again and kicked it violently.

“I’m all right Kyle,” Valerie answered in a troubled voice. “Don’t hurt yourself.” Her voice seemed to be getting closer. “I’ll get you out of there.”

Kyle nodded and turned to face the mirror, rubbing a hand over his mouth in confusion. He stopped in mid-stride as fear captured him. The mirror above the sink was cracked down the middle with words written on it; words written in blood. No pictures, just words. Kyle inched closer with wide eyes, studying them carefully. “Listen for the bells Kyle. Only then shall I appear.” These were the words that his eyes scanned but to him they were meaningless. He just wanted to know who knew his name and was playing this joke on him.

A figure. A little girl's outlined figure flashed in the mirror briefly, with her back to the closed door, just inches from Kyle. He fell back in terror and spun but as he did, the door opened and only the opened door and Valerie’s worried expression met him. “What is it Kyle? What happened?” Kyle blinked uncertainly and swung his gaze around the hallway with wide eyes.

“Ah, it’s nothing Valerie,” Kyle lied in disbelief. “It’s nothing at all. I’m just tired that’s all.” Giving the otherwise empty hallway one last glance, he turned to her and studied her face. “Are you all right? What happened out here? Did anyone hurt you?”

“No,” Valerie answered in a soft whisper. “After the lights went out, I heard footsteps and then I felt cold hands on my shoulders. They shoved me to the ground and then I heard laughter echo in the hallway. Insane laughter Kyle; it felt as if eyes were watching me from the darkness.” She paused and visibly shivered uncontrollably. “It felt as if someone was standing over me and watching me…pinning me to the corner, to the floor rather. I didn’t know what to believe. I was so frightened that I just wanted to ball up and cry.”

Kyle slowly moved out of the bathroom and embraced her gently. “It’s all right. I don’t know what that was either but I promise that I won’t let anything happen to you.” She nodded against his shoulder before gasping again.

“‘Listen for the bells Kyle. Only then shall I appear?’” She worded it in a question, pulling out of his embrace, and looking up into his face with frightened eyes. “What’s that mean?”

Kyle sighed and slowly nudged her to start up the steps with him following. “I don’t know what it means.” His voice was low and uncertain. Confused and afraid even. “I don’t know who put it there and I don’t know who was in the hallway. But when I find them I will end their little game. I don’t care what that means right now. I just want to meet the others and find Ashley.” He looked down at Valerie and saw the shadows, cast by the flicking lights, that danced across her face. He could see the present fear on her face but he admired the way she tried to hide it from him. He knew that she was hiding her fear much better then he was hiding his own fear that mirrored his face like a mask.

Both Kyle and Valerie spun as deep laughter began to fill the darkened stairways and hallways again. Kyle gently pushed Valerie to a run up the stairs with him close on her heels. They ran, ran up the stairs and burst out into the lobby with frightened eyes. Both sighed in relief as the door closed, shutting the laughter off once and for all.

Both had their eyes glued to the closing door as Kyle yelled,” Guys, we heard footsteps around us and then…” He fell silent as he turned and saw the empty lobby with the dimly flickering lights, casting eerie shadows across the couches and chairs. A loud static echoed across the room from the television that was still on, now un-muted, casting a shadowy light like creeping death out across the dark lobby.

“What?” Valerie muttered, finally noticing the empty lobby as well. “Did they leave without us?” She stared in disbelief, first at the lobby and then out into the pouring rain.

Kyle looked around the lobby in bewilderment, in silence, and nearly yelled as a loud bang rang throughout the room behind him, followed by hurried footsteps that skid to a fast stop. Valerie screamed and spun on her heels in terror with Kyle soon following, doing his best to quiet his desperately throbbing heart. Melissa had emerged from the doorway that led to the dorms, with pure terror covering her face and filling her blue eyes. She gasped loudly with red hair flying as she stopped, as the three of them stared at each other in silence.

“Where is everyone?” Valerie asked again, slowly studying the fear on Melissa’s face. “Did they leave without us?”

“None of them are in there rooms,” Melissa answered in a weak, forced voice. Her eyes lowered to the floor in disbelief. “I don’t know where they are.” She lifted her wide-eyed stare and smiled at the sight of the other two. “But I’m so glad to see you two. Not three minutes ago when the lights went off, I heard…”

“…Footsteps,” Kyle finished.

“And loud insane laughter,” Valerie added in a shaky voice. “As if someone was watching you from the shadows.” Again she shivered and began rubbing her covered arms. “As if someone was standing over you, watching you closely, and laughing at your inability to stop them.” Her voice slowed as she lowered her eyes to the ground. “Laughing at you because you were powerless against them.” Melissa nodded looking at both of them in confusion.

“But how do you guys know?”

“It’s something we can’t talk about now,” Kyle replied slowly, smiling at each of them; a forced smile of fake reassurance. “Something’s wrong here. We have to leave.” Giving the two doors one last back glance, the two girls nodded happily and followed Kyle out into the pouring rain, none paying any heed to it. “Come on, we have to find the others. They probably already went out to look for Ashley. We can meet them out here.”

All three of them were soaked to the bone in seconds as the thunder grew around them, as if being freshly released into the sky. They ran along the slippery walkway with cold rain soaking them, cold wind hammering into them, and with their eyes constantly looking for the others but it was as if the others had disappeared all together. They seemed to be the only three left. Trees that lined the narrow walkway were being bent by the chilling wind, which had just increased in speed and power.

“Do either of you have a cell phone with you?” Kyle asked as they jogged along, wiping rain from his eyes. It blurred his vision and made it look as if the trees were jumping out at him. His hair was matted to his head and pushing it out of his eyes didn’t really do much good

“No,” Valerie answered in a loud voice to be heard above the thunder that shook the earth and rolled the heavens.

“No,” Melissa echoed her, throwing dark red hair out of her face. “You?”

Kyle shook his head disappointedly and sighed heavily. “No. Damn I don’t have one. I’ve never had one; I haven’t seen the use for it. Until now.” He closed his eyes and shook his head again. “Wait!” He skid to a stop and pulled out his room key, with a smile slowly crossing his rain drenched face. “I don’t have one but I think Brett might have one in the room. He won’t mind if we borrow it. And if he’s in there he might know where the others are.”

Turning towards the Goodwin Resident Hall, Kyle took the rain slicked steps two at a time, surprised that he didn’t slip, and threw the front door open with a violent push that the wind desperately fought against. Valerie and Melissa were only steps behind, nearly slipping on the steps themselves. Silence filled the lobby with only two good lights working.

Kyle opened the door that led into the hallway with the dorms and shadowed walls with dancing shadows all focused on him as if they were eyes spying on him. With dark patches in the hallway mixed with patches of flickering lights from the lightening, it looked like a scene from a horror movie, not something that was real. Valerie and Melissa began to follow Kyle down the long hallway, never taking their eyes from the open doorway opposite them at the end of the hallway as if it were a gaping hole into the depths of hell. Something was lying halfway in the doorway but Kyle knew better then to look at it, he was afraid to see what it was.

“Ah!” Kyle yelled in surprise as he neared his door, jumping back with the two girls unconsciously echoing his every move. In a small square outlet inlaid in the wall, directly across from his room, sitting on a white bench, was Cindy Hall. She was huddled in a ball with a sweat drenched face, matted hair, thumb to lips, and rocking back and forth with wide-eyes staring; not seeing. “Jesus, Cindy what happened to you?”

“Sweetie, what happened to you?” Melissa whispered, leaning closer to Cindy and wiping matted hair from her face. The girl’s wide eyes briefly turned to face her in fear and then she huddled herself even closer to the wall. “We have to get you out of here.” Cindy shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut briefly as if afraid.

This looked familiar, Kyle knew it did. He looked over at Valerie and met her eyes. Something in her eyes said it was strangely familiar to her as well, but how Kyle couldn’t tell. He just knew that in a strange and distant way, this was very wrong but somehow right at the same time. Melissa straightened and looked at them with sad eyes.

Cindy slowly turned to face them with blank eyes. “I’m not crazy!” She whispered as she began to rock faster, repeating it over and over in an emotionless, unknowing voice. Outside, the strengthening storm seemed to echo Cindy’s every cry of insanity, as if it too could feel her pain. Never taking his eyes from the shadows, which mirrored every emotion that danced across Cindy’s terrified face, Kyle fumbled with his room key and finally shoved it into the keyhole.

Shoving the door open, Kyle came face to face with the dark empty dorm room in front of him. With a closet on each side of the door, with two beds to the left and two writing tables and chairs to the right, and the large window directly opposite him, it was clear that this was a small room. The window stood closed, with the blinds drawn open to look out at the grass and storm outside in the dark night. Every flash of lightening lit the dark room and when Kyle tried the lights, not to his surprise, they didn’t turn on.

“Where would he keep his cell phone?” Kyle muttered softly as he slowly found his way around the small room. First he checked the two writing tables opposite the beds and then the cabinet between the two beds. Both Valerie and Melissa slowly and cautiously entered the room with searching eyes as well. “I know he didn’t have it on him earlier. So, where the hell is it?”

Kyle sighed heavily and kneeled down at the foot of his bed to look underneath. Perhaps Brett could have lost in somewhere in here. With his attention focused on the bags under the bed, Kyle barely heard the closet door open and then footsteps behind him that moved quickly to the window and stopped.

“Kyle!” Melissa said in a panicky voice, moving forward and tapping him on his shoulder. “Is that Brett?”

Kyle slowly stood, looked at her wide-eyed expression and pointing finger, and turned towards the window where a figure was standing, with his back to them, legs apart and hands folded behind his back in a formal fashion. He seemed to be staring at the sky with his head slightly tilted.

“Brett?” Kyle asked in a soft, uncertain voice. There was a slight nod of the head followed by complete silence. “Ah, it’s good to see you. We came back into the lobby and didn’t see anyone. We thought you guys already went out to look for Ashley. Did you?” The figure shook his head. “You didn’t? Then where did you guys go? Where’s Meghan?” Silence filled the room and Kyle gave the two girls a sidelong look of confusion. “What’s wrong with you Brett?”

“We didn’t look for Ashley,” Brett replied slowly, never turning to face them. His stance never faltered. “We didn’t look for her, we just left and hoped something had happened to you three. Hoped something bad had happened. I see our wishes didn’t come true this time.”

“What?” Melissa nearly yelled in an angry, uncertain voice. “You wanted something bad to happen to us? What’s going on in your sick head Brett? What’s wrong with you?” She looked at Kyle but he merely shrugged, with the same lost expression on his face. “What happened to Cindy? We saw her in the hallway.” She paused and raised her voice. “You can’t tell us that you didn’t see her!”

“I saw her,” Brett’s whispered voice returned in a flat tone. “Nothing’s wrong with me. As for Cindy, it was her time. Soon it will be your times as well.” Thunder and a flash of lighting that lit the room quickly echoed his laughter. Kyle backed in disgust as he noticed liquid on Brett’s hands. “Do you hear the ticking Kyle? Do you hear the second ticking?”

“No, what are you talking about?” Kyle asked uncertainly, taking a step towards his temporary roommate. “I don’t hear anything Brett. Listen, we just wanted to see if you had your cell phone.” Another shake of his head. “Then I guess that’s a no. Can you help us?”

“Tick, tick, tick,” Brett started between his laughter and Kyle saw a small smirk curve the ends of his lips. “Tick tock! Do you hear it yet Kyle? Valerie? I know you two know what I’m talking about. Melissa?” He paused and tilted his head again. “No of course you don’t hear it Melissa.”

She whipped her fury-covered face to look at the back of his head. “Why not? Why wouldn’t I hear…it? Whatever it is anyway?”

Brett seemed to think about this for a moment before answering, “Ah, because it’s not calling for you Melissa. It has other things in mind for you or rather you have other things in mind for it. It knows you’re different Melissa, different from these two. It knows that you’re unpredictable and independent of control. But it’s calling for the other two.” He laughed again insanely. Kyle and Valerie exchanged confused looks of uncertainty. “You should go to it.”

“Brett, what’s wrong?” Kyle asked, stopping behind the man and gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Brett. What ticks?”

Brett suddenly spun and knocked Kyle back with a strong hand. Kyle gasped loudly in both fear and surprise and heard the two girls soon echo him. “Oh no, not you too,” Valerie said sadly. “Brett what happened to you?”

Droplets of blood ran and dripped down Brett’s face. He was crying but instead of tears, he was crying blood and for some strange reason this didn’t strike Kyle as odd. As he slowly backed away, with the girls behind him and Brett slowly making his way towards him, he gave Valerie a confused look but she seemed to remember something as well. This apparently seemed familiar to both of them as well, just as Cindy had somehow looked familiar. What was going on here?

“Your lives are all fragile!” Brett yelled at them, balling a fist and punching the solid window strongly. A deafening clash shot through the room—or rather through the people in it—as the glass shattered outward into the grass and rain from the impact of Brett’s balled hand. He slowly retracted his hand and brought it close to his bleeding yet seeing eyes. They were eyes that slowly rose, along with the smirk on his face, to meet the others’ horrified stares. “You’re all as fragile as that glass.” He began to pick the broken shards of glass out of his knuckles, ripping veins and muscle tissue open painfully yet he showed no affect of it on his face. He laughed and examined each shattered shard carefully before tossing it to the floor mindlessly. “This glass is you.” He swept a bleeding hand out at the three sharing the room with him. “And you’ll all break just as easily as your minds are shattered by insanity. After all, one can only last against the ticking for so long!”

The three of them slowly backed out of the room as quicker as they could, never taking their eyes from Brett’s blood stained face and newly bleeding hand. What had happened to him and Cindy? Kyle saw blood on his shirt from where Brett had hit him and realized that his roommate was wiping the blood away as if they were tears, as if he hadn’t known it was actually blood that had been leaking from his eyes.

Cindy was still rocking back and forth with her head down and sometimes she would cry sadly and look up at them with terrified eyes. Brett stopped in the doorway and studied all of them with red eyes; Kyle could see that now in the light. What happened to him? Kyle asked himself. What happened to Cindy? What the hell is going on here?

Brett leaned forward, with that smirk on his face, and laughed loudly at them. His laugh abruptly stopped and was immediately replaced by a scream that made Melissa scream and Valerie and Kyle nearly jump a foot into the cold still air surrounding them—somehow pushing in on them and confining them within invisible constrains. “Listen for the bells Kyle!” Brett screamed in Kyle’s face in a furious rage. “Listen for the bells!” In surprise, Kyle fell against the wall and grunted as the air was pushed out of him. “Wait for the bells! Only then shall I appear. Listen for…”

“I’m not crazy!”

“…The bells. They will ring soon Kyle. They will ring for you; they’re calling you.” He looked at the two girls and smiled through the droplets of blood. “They’re waiting for you as well Valerie. You cannot escape the bells. Tick tock…” He broke into laughter and looked at the ceiling, with his voice rolling with insane laughter. He smiled at Valerie and gently reached forward with that broken glass decorated hand, as if he touch her—to wipe hair out of her face. “You know you won’t last. You can’t last. The ticking is too much!” She recoiled and stepped away from him. It didn’t affect the man however and he let his hand drop to his side limply. “…Tock, tick, tick, tick, tock…I hear them now!” The three of them took off down the hall at a run, never looking back. “You cannot escape them! You shouldn’t even try. You cannot escape the second tick of insanity Kyle!”

The three of them ran down the hall, with Kyle at the back. Both Cindy’s and Brett’s voices and laughter followed them down the long hallway like disturbing notes of a song. Kyle tried to block it out but so much of it seemed so normal to him, as if he had seen it before and was completely powerless to block it out. And strangely, it appeared that Valerie was having the same trouble as him. And the last thing Brett said didn’t make any sense but somehow Kyle knew what it meant. Somewhere in his mind he knew what it was; somewhere deep down in his memory it wasn’t as strange as it would have sounded to someone else.

You cannot escape the second tick of insanity Kyle!

Valerie burst through the door first with Melissa behind her and then Kyle. They all slowed and let out sighs of relief as the door slammed shut behind them, blocking out the other two’s voices and laughter. Something was happening at this college and they were in the middle of it. They were in the middle of a nightmare that they didn’t know how to escape from.

The storm still raged outside but Kyle opened the door of the lobby and walked out into the storm with the other two behind him. Looking for the cellular phone had only gotten them sidetracked and then they had met Cindy and Brett and had been terrified.

“Well, what do we do now?” Melissa asked as they started across the stone patio of the building with the rain relentlessly pounding down on them.

“We head to the bell tower and hope we can meet Meghan or Ashley,” Kyle replied over his shoulder. Only the other two’s gasps answered him and before he knew what was happening his eyes met the dark sky and he felt cold rain beat down on his face as he got closer to the ground. He didn’t know when he had slid and fallen backwards but the last thing he remembered was a sharp pain that bit into the back of his head and then the two girls faces looking down at him. As their worried, wide-eyed faces entered his vision, he sighed and helplessly watched as the darkness began to devour him in a stinging pain of helplessness.

He hadn’t seen sunlight in days. Or rather he hadn’t seen daylight in almost a week. Most people didn’t stay in track with these sorts of things but when it had rained nonstop for about a week now, from dawn to dusk and from dusk till dawn, it was hard to miss. Officer Robert Henderson had been keeping track of it for the entire time it had been raining and though it was summer and a drought had been hanging heavily in the air, rain was desperately wished for and needed. And don’t get him wrong, he had been glad to see if; glad for the first day or two! But now it was starting to become annoying and it was beginning to bother him. He wished he could see sunlight again—even a small glimpse between dark cloud breaks, that all he wished for—but he didn’t think the cloud break would be coming anytime soon.

It was late; he guessed around midnight or later and yet here he was still sitting in his patrol car, alone and tired, watching the occasional car drifted by in his tiredness. He didn’t know why he was still an officer after so much time or why he hadn’t gotten a new partner over the past ten years but it was senseless to think of such things when none of them could be changed.

Officer Henderson sighed and rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his hang, doing his best to stay awake despite the meaninglessness of it. He quickly and unconsciously spun the combat knife—a trophy left over from his time as a marine—in his right hand, not needing to pay attention since he knew he’d never miss a beat with it. It was an old trick he had learned and now he found himself going nowhere without his trusty knife. He just never could see himself without; it was hard to say when the time might arise when he would need it.

“Officer Henderson, do you read me? Over.”

Robert leaned over and picked up the receiver, pulling it free of its resting place, and placing it near his mouth. His finger found the button and pressed down. “Henderson here. I read you loud and clear dispatch. Over.”

“Officer Henderson, are you near the Converse campus? Over.” The woman didn’t sound all too happy about her job either but he knew she hadn’t thought about ending it—her life that was—as he had over the occasional cup of coffee in his office at home while his family slept. One single bullet from his Beretta could put an end to all his problems, all his worries, all his stress…but also all his love and care he had towards his family. It was an awful thought for he knew he’d regret it and never truly be able to go through with it but then again, it was a thought that haunted him almost every night. Or at least on the nights that he had at home after this forsaken job of his.

“Copy that dispatch,” Robert answered, yawning as he leaned forward in the cramped seat of the cruiser as he tried to look out the window and into or rather through the heavily falling, blurry rain beyond. “Yeah dispatch, I’m about a block or so away. I just drove past there about ten minutes ago.” He paused and fell back in the seat again. “It’s strange out their tonight dispatch. Various camps are on campus and the college looked pitch-black earlier dispatch. It appeared that no one was home—not a single soul. Over.”

“Copy that Henderson,” dispatch replied, in a crackling voice over the receiver. “We just had a call from the campus. A janitor he said he was. He claimed someone had broken into the bell tower on the main building and was rummaging about. He didn’t want to take a look himself and requested an officer.” She paused and Robert nearly sobbed from what he dreaded to hear next. “Henderson, since you’re the nearest to the campus could you take a drive over there and check it out. Over.”

It was true. He was cursed. He kicked himself for not driving on! Ah, damn his luck! “Copy that dispatch. I’m on my way right now. I’ll take a look but I’m sure it’s probably nothing. Henderson over and out.”

He leaned over and hung the receiver back up on its peg with a frown quickly crossing his face as he started the ignition and sheathed the combat knife again. His patrol cruiser was once again on the road and backtracking before he could even put a second thought into what he was doing. Damn his job and its command system. He just wanted to get this miserable, rainy night over with.

Robert shut the cruiser’s engine off, gave the sky one last dark look of his own—with an equal one from the heavens above as answer—and opened the door, stepping out of the cruiser as he did. The cool wind, stronger now then earlier, hit him hard along with the cooling rain, which hammered down on him threateningly. The wind grabbed and ripped the door from his grip, slamming it closed as if warning him not to leave. He looked up into the sky again and cursed under his breath.

He wasn’t far from the main building of the campus and from where he stood he could see the bell tower quite well through the rain that blurred his vision. It stood dark and alone, as if reaching up towards the dark clouds for an answer. Officer Henderson knew it would get no answer much like how he knew he’d see no sunlight anytime soon. Drawing the flashlight from his belt and flipping it on, Robert Henderson started at a quick jog down the walkway to the side entrance of the bell tower, which surprisingly stood open with the open door swaying in the increasing wind outside. It appeared that the storm was strengthening itself and caving itself in overhead as if it didn’t plan to leave anytime soon.

He moved in with one hand holding the flashlight up, the other gripped tightly around the handle of his standard issue Beretta, still holstered but still as deadly. There were no lights, no voices, no moments, and bizarrely, no people. He moved forward anyway and soon found the narrow stairs that led up into the bell tower overhead. They were a set of two stairwells. The first was short and steep, which turned after a couple steps onto a longer much steeper stairwell that led upward to the large door that would bare him into the bell tower. Windows lined the right side of the steeper second stairwell and every fresh flash of lightening lit up the stairway with dancing, laughing shadows that mocked the officer’s every move.

He made his way up them on shaky legs, careful not to fall backwards on the narrowness of them. Once he reached the top landing, Robert pushed the doors open and entered the room. He didn’t pay much heed to his surroundings but he couldn’t help but notice the large window opposite where he stood. Dusty rafters and chairs and tables littered the large room’s floor but the window was what had caught his attention or rather the person standing in front of them window had.

Robert jogged across the room on watery legs and stopped behind the uniformed man, who hadn’t signified that he had even heard Officer Henderson enter the room. The uniformed man—another Spartanburg police officer Robert noted happily and quite strangely at the same time—stood with legs spread and arms crossed over his chest, with his back to Robert. Yet even with his back turned Robert couldn’t mistake that jet-black hair, combed parted down the middle, that he knew so well. It was strange, wrong even, but Officer Henderson couldn’t bring himself to admit that it truly was…different from reality.

“Andrew?” Robert Henderson asked uncertainly, tilting his head to try and get a better look at the man’s face but it was useless. “Officer Andrew Grobin? Is that you?” He reached forward and laid an unsteady hand on the man’s shoulder. “I’ll be damned. Andrew, it is you isn’t it?” Robert nearly found himself laughing happily in spite of himself.

There was a grunt from the preoccupied man and he slightly turned his head, stopping in mid-turn. But there was no spoken answer. The man paused and glanced out the large window again, seemingly admiring the raging storm outside. Then he slowly began to turn and even in the darkness, Officer Henderson could make out his face and sure enough it was Officer Andrew Grobin but it seemed to be only part of the man.

Robert screamed in fear and recoiled, desperately pulling his hand back as his scream echoed inside the large bell tower. He fumbled at his belt for anything but couldn’t seem to find his grip. The flashlight shook in his hands as he raised it to lock onto Andrew’s face or rather what was left of it. Officer Henderson started moving backwards towards the door and every step he took, Andrew matched it as he advanced towards Robert.

Officer Grobin’s left eye hung on his cheek and his entire jaw seemed to have been ripped out of his head. He uttered wordless sounds as he advanced on Henderson, whose eyes were about ready to pop out of his own head from complete fear.

“No,” Robert sobbed franticly. “You can’t be here. You’re ten years in the ground!” He staggered backwards and lowered the flashlight from his old partner’s mangled face. “You can’t be here!” The memory of that day ten years ago still haunted Officer Henderson in his sleep.

“Robert, cover me!” Andrew yelled, charging around the parked cruiser with Beretta held low and back hunched. They had been at a stalemate with the men inside the abandoned house for nearly five hours now and the S.W.A.T. was just beginning to form their plan to go in. “I’m going to get Jim back here!”

Officer Henderson looked over the hood of his cruiser at Officer Jim Barren, who had taken a bullet to the leg and couldn’t move. He had fallen in the line of fire and had been lying there for nearly an hour or possibly more. If he stayed there any longer he was going to bleed to death.

“No, Andrew wait!” Robert yelled after his partner. “It’s too dangerous! Don’t worry we’ll get him! You don’t have to worry about it!” He started forward but it was too late. He was powerless to stop anything that happened now. All he could do was watch his friend run across the open road, with no cover and no sense, and all Robert could do was fire in the general direction of the house in hopes of hitting someone. “Why are you doing this?” He whispered to the empty air in front of him. “Andrew, why are you being a hero?”

He fired a total of three shots towards the house when he heard his friend scream in pain, wheel around, and then collapse to the cold winter pavement below him, his staggered breathing coming out in tiny wisps of steam from the chilling weather hanging around them. Robert locked eyes with his friend and saw Andrew mutter, “Robert, help.” It stabbed his heart to know that those were the last words his friend was ever going to speak.

“No!” Officer Henderson screamed as the first bullet took off Andrew’s jaw in one violent moment of bone and muscle ripping, which seemed to fill the man’s ears. He screamed again and saw his friend’s own soundless scream of agony as he collapsed to the pavement again heavily. The second bullet—merely seconds later—took Andrew in the back of the head and exited his left eye in a life-ending, blood splattering moment of disgust. Robert screamed again as his friend collapsed for good with one good eye staring at Officer Henderson in death, as if looking towards his old friend for help.

Robert turned from the sickening sight and fell back against the side of the cruiser in anger and sorrow. His best friend had just died because he had tried to do what was right.

Officer Henderson didn’t know why the memory had attacked him so hard suddenly but it somehow had. He hadn’t actually thought about the event, which had taken his friend out of this world over the past years though he had thought about his deceased friend on many occasions. He just hadn’t felt like remembering how it had happened; after all, knowing that it had happened was bad enough on him. Yet here his friend stood, looking as he had in the last moment of his life: beaten, battered, and ripped apart. It was not a view friendly on any man’s soul.

“How are you here Andrew?” Robert sobbed uncertainly. “You’re dead. You’ve been dead for nearly ten years now! How are you here?” He didn’t know what to think anymore. Surely he had just fallen asleep in his cruiser and was having a horrible nightmare. “Yeah, that’s it.” He tried to reassure himself, doubtfully. “I’m asleep, that’s all.” He looked around him and laughed, nervously, almost frighteningly. “This is just a bad nightmare.”

A gurgling, throaty laugh escaped Andrew’s lips—the top ones at least. It was sickening for Robert to watch as his friend laughed, with only the top teeth and roof of his mouth moving as he did. Air made up where the rest (tongue, lower jaw, bottom teeth—it was truly disgusting) of the man’s mouth should have been.

Fear covered the officer’s face as he stared his old dead friend in the remaining eye. “It’s true Robert,” Andrew started in a deep, gurgled voice, as if blood was getting in the way of his remaining speech. It horrified Officer Henderson to see his old friend speak as he had when he had been alive but to see no jaw move when he spoke, yet the words were spoken normally, was horrifying beyond description. The lack of the man’s jaw flabbergasted Robert and as he stared, now with mouth as wide as his eyes, his legs couldn’t help but stop as if he didn’t have control over them anymore. All power left his body and though he knew it was wrong to see his friend before him, he couldn’t help but be overjoyed at Andrew’s return. “I am dead but this is no dream, no nightmare that you can simply run away from. You can’t run away from this as you had run away from me, from helping me all those years ago. Where were you my friend? You were supposedly my friend—a friend who was watching my back—yet I still ended up in the grave! My death is your fault and you can’t run from your guilt anymore!”

“No,” Robert sobbed miserably, straining to hear his own soft voice. “No, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know that it was going to happen. I didn’t know you were going to die.” He paused and wiped his eyes with a hand that he didn’t think was quite there. “I’m so sorry.”

“Bullshit!” Andrew screamed through blood and a mouth-less face. Henderson found himself unable to move in his sorrow and unexpected sudden fear of his old friend. Officer Grobin neared and soon stood before the living man, with noses almost touching, face to face and of the same height. Andrew’s remaining eye pierced both of Robert’s searching for the guilt that the man held deep inside. “You can’t run from what you did to me anymore Robert! You can’t run from yourself anymore! You know as well as I that you are a murderer at heart!” Andrew’s dead, decomposing hand ran up Robert’s uniform and gripped the collar disgustingly, as he turned his face to admire it in abhorrence. If he had had a mouth, he would have littered the uniform, that didn’t rightly belong to the man wearing it, with his spittle. “This isn’t yours! You have no right to wear these colors or that badge! You let a man die—you let me die!”

“No,” Officer Henderson sobbed in front of the dead man’s face miserably, closing his eyes in regret. “It was an accident. I’m so sorry Andrew!”

“That you should be,” a perfectly normal British voice answered in front of him. There was no hissing to it or any mockery in it. Robert’s eyes shot open and he came face to face with a middle-aged man with graying hair and dark green eyes. Andrew was gone and this man had seemed to take his place. A smirk lined his hard features and he seemed to be laughing at the officer.

“Who…” Henderson stuttered questioningly, “who are you?”

“Ah, just another bad memory inside that head of yours Robert,” the man laughed, tilting his head merrily. Grabbing Robert’s shoulder, the middle-aged man dove the combat knife deep into the officer’s chest with that same smirk disrupting his features. Henderson screamed and fell to his knees, gripping the handle of his knife in confusion and blinding pain. The British man tossed the blade onto Henderson’s back but the officer paid no heed to it.

As Officer Robert Henderson slipped off into the eternal darkness that was called death, he couldn’t help but wonder. How did you get a hold of my knife? How did he do it without me knowing? His weakening grip faltered and the flashlight fell to the dusty hardwood floor of the bell tower; the lighting going out forever as it hit heavily. He chuckled and collapsed fully. I’ll wake from my nightmare and be at home with my wife. Or rather in my cruiser a block away from this campus. Only the officer’s luck had finally worn out. He hadn’t needed a bullet as he sat sipping his coffee in a full house but rather a single knife jab in a dark bell tower, all alone in his final moments.