*I am proud of this more so then my other chapters, I hope you enjoy reading it cause I enjoined writing it!*
Chapter 7: Suspension
Viewpoint: Annabeth
The gym, despite being new, still gave me the creeps. The air inside felt generic, the bleachers where we were sitting made my butt feel flat, and worst of all it was dark.
"Tell me again why the lights aren't on?" I said, looking around the empty gym.
"Light controls are in the control room, which is locked. Sorry." Riley rubbed the side of my arm which was wrapped around my pink sweater.
"I guess you want that explanation now." I looked Riley right in the eyes and knew exactly the answer. "It's a long story so I'll just start from the beginning. It was last week at Bryan Wilkins party. You had left me alone to hang out with your friends so I had to find something else to do."
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The living room of Bryan Wilkins was enormous in size. The expertly designed room made you feel nothing but awe as you stepped into it. A large fireplace with gold antics atop it, leather couches, a massive chandelier, a number of artistic statues, such as a odd ball-shaped statue that was hollow and metal lines moved in and out of it. The kind of room that made you feel rich.
Annabeth didn't feel this way as she entered though, she was no stranger to the riches. Bryan Wilkins had been her neighbor for years in the same gated community. Her only feeling was how Riley had abandoned her at the best party of the year. She thought this time would be different, but it wasn't.
She scanned the living room as she entered it, nothing had changed since last year. A few people sat in the middle of the living room surrounded by the misplaced sofas and a marble coffee table which were against the wall. A brown bear bottle rest in the center, teens encircling it from all but a few sides. Spin-the-bottle. Classic party game.
Her brain started to turn and revenge was her intent so she stepped into an empty space in the circle and set down, crossing her legs.
"Wow, I can't believe we are playing Spin-the-bottle. I feel so...ghetto." She said drawing the attention of the crowd. Annabeth only recognized a few people. Amanda Stacy was directly across from her, the incessant bitch was another member of the gated community and as conceited as they got. To her immediate left was Darien Orslavo, being almost 100% Russian and even richer then her parents were, she made sure to cock a smile and play nice. Last but not least was Sean Matheus.
She had seen him a few times before, but he was new in school and she didn't really know him well. Problem was his sister. Annabeth hated her, due to a little situation before where she hit on Riley, and because of that they had never spoken.
"Let's mix it up a bit shall we?" Amanda said. "7 minutes in heaven." Everyone looked around at each other and thus it was a mutual agreement. "Choice is by Spin-the-bottle, exactly seven minutes, anything is allowed. Who wants to go first? How about you Annabeth?"
She had issued a challenge, because Annabeth had a boyfriend she assumed she would turn down the offer and be embarrassed.
"Sounds like fun, Amanda." Annabeth reached forward and grabbed the bottle and without much power behind it she spun. Annabeth hoped it would land on a girl so she could just sit in the closet for seven minutes and leave, but as the bottle came to a stop it landed on, Sean Matheus.
"Ohhh. Annabeth and Sean. Well, go on now." Amanda rushed them over to the closet nearby and shoved them inside. They stood there and stared for just a minute and Sean broke the silence.
"Uh, hi." His voice was shaking.
"Hey." Annabeth grabbed her right arm with her left.
"We aren't going to do anything right?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"No, we aren't." She responded. "See here lies the problem. If we go back out there without doing anything they will mock us."
"That's true. Amanda seems like the type to do that."
"Exactly, so we just back out and tell them we made out or something, doesn't matter, just no sex." Annabeth said being sure she had made the point.
"Agreed."
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"And that is what happened." I said finishing my story.
"I'm sorry. I was hearing all these rumors and I didn't know what to believe. I'm glad you thought of your reputation though and protected it."
I breathed out. He wasn't mad and a weight was gone from my shoulders. This moment of relief was coupled with a moment of fear. The gym doors opened and a figured slipped inside.
"Who's there?" Riley asked, he stood up in the bleachers and started to walk down them. I followed quickly behind him. "Are you deaf or just stupid?" He said again. I could hear footsteps towards the opposite end of the bleachers, toward the far wall. Someone was defiantly here.
"I'm scared." I whispered.
"Don't be. Stay here." Riley stopped me with his arm when we got to the bottom of the bleachers. He walked out into the gym floor and I slowly lost sight him. It was quiet for a moment them I heard a slam like something hit the ground really hard.
"Riley, are you okay?" I called out.
"Who are you? Why did you just kick me?" Riley said. Someone must have hit him! Who though? Who would do that? More sounds came from within the dark. I wasn't sure exactly what was happening but I found out. "Annabeth, get the lights on!" I focused and walked a little closer.
Riley was in a fight but not a regular fight. Whoever this was he was good. He came at Riley from the front and jumped into a kick, Riley tried to block with his arms but it didn't do any good. He slammed into the ground, full force. "Annabeth!"
"I'm on my way! Keep talking to me Riley!" I turned around, using my hands to find the stairs on the bleachers.
"Why are you attacking me?" Riley asked as he was still getting attacked by the stranger. I was hallway up the stairs, stumbling and falling on my way, when a flash of lighting stuck the building. The gym lite up, revealing the attacker for a moment. Time seemed to stand still as I looked into the things eyes. I say thing because it was shaped like a man, slightly taller then Riley but not very bulky in terms of muscle. His eyes were an fierce yellow. All those things aren't the strange part. The strange part is his body was completely covered in a black form. It was swirling and moving all around him, like it was alive.
My eyes expanded with fear, it felt like they would explode. Riley looked equally terrified as the lighting disappeared and everything went dark again.
"Riley! Run!" I yelled hoping he would take my advice. I didn't have time to see if he had. I continued up the steps as fast as possible, at the top I found myself at the door to the control room. I moved my hand along the door until I found the doorknob and turned it back and forth. Right, it was locked. Crap. Now what I supposed to do? I slammed my body against the door hoping it would come lose but all I was doing was hurting my shoulder.
I could hear Riley being thrown around like a rag doll in the gym below.
"If I only had those damn keys." I said under my breath. Then I felt something in my right hand. It was sharp but not sharp enough to cut me. It was cold and I looked down to see what it was, as if that would help, it was pitch dark. I used my left hand to feel it around in my hands. It was keys. I didn't have time to worry about how they had got there, I chose a key then found the lock, slipped it in and turned. No good.
I grabbed another of the key ring and put it in the lock, click, the door opened. I ran into the control room, unsure of where the lights were. I used my hands to feel around the control panel and pressed any switch I could find. The air conditioner came on full force, blowing my hair and other items in the room around. I keep going, a large mechanized sound filled the gym. The button for the retraction of the bleachers.
I keep flipping random switches when finally I found it. With a flip the gym was lit up like a Christmas tree, though without all the colors, or the excitement of it being christmas. So really nothing like a Christmas tree. The figure looked up toward the control box and starred at me for a second. Riley ran toward the shadowy man and attempted to tackle him. In a great physical feat he jumped into the air and used his foot to jump off of Riley's back and behind him. Riley fell to the ground and I saw the extend of his damage.
His nose was bloody and there was blood dripping from his head. He was holding his ribs and breathing heavily. I turned off the air and made the bleachers come back out so I could get down to the gym floor. I ran out of the control room and down the gym stairs as fast as I could. When I got to the bottom I was stopped by Riley.
"No!" He screamed from across the gym. "Stay there." He looked at me, I could see the pain in his eyes but I also see the demand. Riley was always concerned with how people viewed him and his girlfriend rescuing him, even though I'm sure I wouldn't help at all, would hurt his pride. I stood there, clinching my fist, cheering him on.
As he stood up from the ground, his eyes drifted closed for a moment and his leg gave out. He picked himself up before he fell and tried his best to stand still. His breathing was loud and heavy, I knew he couldn't beat this thing. Then I noticed something odd, then wound on his head began to stood bleeding and the cut stared to disappear.
"Riley." I said in astonishment, pointing at his head. He reacted and touched his hand to his head. He was just as shocked as we were, but the shadow didn't give us time to contemplate it. Enraged he charged toward Riley, who took his hand off his rib and prepared for the attack. The shadow pulled his fist around to punch Riley, who put his palm out to catch the punch. Within a second of catching the punch he spun his arm around and used his other hand to land a punch of his own.
The shadow was knocked back but recovered with a backflip. He ran at Riley again, this time using the same flying kick move as before. Riley moved to the left and slammed his elbow into the shin of the shadow, while he was in midair. The shadow preformed some kind of breakdance move when he hit the ground and picked himself up. He didn't even seemed phased by the attack.
"How did you do that Riley?" I asked him in the midst of the battle.
"I don't know. I just could all the sudden. Now get out of here. I can handle him." The shadow came for him again. I felt like I was watching a Jackie Chan movie. He came at him with rapid hand movements and my eyes could barley keep up. Riley blocked them his own impressive speed. Riley was getting overwhelmed so he backflipped to catch a breath. Riley was an active and fit guy, but he could NOT do a backflip. The shadow didn't waste time, he did a sweep with his foot and Riley fell on his back.
The mystery man pulled a short dagger-like sword out of nowhere, sporting the same flowing darkness as he did. For the first time, the mouth of monster appeared. He smiled, his bright teeth gleaming. Riley was pinned down and couldn't move, it seemed like the end and there was nothing I could do. I thought of the ways I could help him and only one thing came to mind. Like before, a shimmer of what felt like air moved around my right hand, something cold and hard had fallen into it.
I looked down to see a gun in my hand. It was a chrome .44 magnum Desert Eagle pistol. I knew because it looked just like my fathers and I was a girl who liked my guns. I was terrified, but not by the gun. How did I even get a hold of it? Who's was it? Where did it come from? All these questions filled my head at once. Then I looked up and only one thought seemed to cover all of those. Save Riley.
I pulled the gun up and put the monster in my sights. Just like I had hundreds of times at the gun range, I wrapped my finger around the tripped and took a deep breath and fired. There was almost no recoil and the sound of the gun echoed throughout the gym. The shadowy man stood still for a moment then his sword disintegrated into the air, his body fell backwards and onto the ground, and like a pile of dust, when he hit his body burst into black smoke. I ran over to Riley and sat next to him.
I looked around, the gun was gone, but I wasn't worried about it. Riley looked at me and pulled himself into a sitting position.
"What the fuck just happened." He said. I was tempted to laugh and he had a smile in his face but something caught my eye. That seemed to be happening a lot today. I turned my head to where the shadow had fallen and the smoke had cleared. Laying on the ground in front of us was an actual person. Not just a shadow. We had killed someone.
It was Sean.
Check out the other chapters!
Chapter 1 - Irritum
Chapter 2 - Animositas
Chapter 3 - Superbia
Chapter 4 - Avaritia[Currently not posted to YWS, continue to the next Chapter won't cause too much confusion]
Chapter 5 - May Traverse
Chapter 6 - Sorocos
Chapter 7 - Suspension
