If I Go

Chapter 19

"Oh my God," Chloe gasped. My hands trembled as I held my phone. "Ian stole Gaven's phone! What are we going to do? They found us!"

I put my phone in my pocket and gave Chloe the folder. Reluctantly, Chloe took it, her knuckles turning white.  I then looked into her terrified eyes.

"Chloe," I began. "We need to split up. Now that Ian knows we are here, we can't just stay here and wait until he comes. We have to get out of here before—"

The sound of muffled footsteps filled the air. I stopped talking, remaining still and quiet. Nerves built up inside me, the butterflies flying rapidly in the pit of my stomach. I tried to calm myself down, taking deep breaths. But it was no use.

We were trapped.

On instinct, I felt for the door knob and sensed that it had a lock on it. Why does this door have a lock on it? Dismissing the thought, I locked the wooden door. Chloe was beside me, breathing in shaky breaths.

I slowly faced Chloe again. Her face has lost its perky, bubbly color. Her eyes casted a nervous shadow. She was clutching the folder as if her life depended on it.

Maybe it does.

"Chloe," I whispered. "Go back there and hide beneath those books and toys. Don't move, or make a sound. I want you to be safe, all right? Everything's going to be okay. You just have to hide."

"W-what about you?" Chloe asked, stuttering nervously.

"Don't worry about me," I said. I tried to flash a reassuring smile. "I'll be okay. Now, hide!"

"Okay," Chloe replied. She hurriedly went behind the books and curled into a little ball while I quickly put anything I could find on top of her; teddy bears, books, and more stuffed animals. Once I knew she was concealed from the naked eye, I took a deep breath. The butterflies in my stomach flew around aimlessly in my stomach. My heart pounded so loud, it hurt my ears. I tried to calm myself once again, but to no avail.  I could faintly hear something being smashed to the floor. I heard the thud thud of feet running on the wooden floor above. A bead of sweat scattered down my forehead, and I hastily wiped it away. I was panting nervously, like I just ran a mile. My hands were shaking with fear as I waited anxiously for the unknown.

Chloe remained silent, and still throughout. My mind was swirling with possibilities and questions. Is Gaven okay? Where is he? If Ian stole his phone, does that mean they did away with Gaven? Did Gaven fake it, waiting for the right time to run away from Ian and Calvin? Will he ever come back? Whose upstairs, Ian and Calvin? Or is it Chloe's parents?

I swallowed, hard. I forced all of those thoughts to be unanswered. I didn't want to think about the outcome of Gaven. Didn't want to think about the person trampling us from above. The person is going to squish us, crush us under its weight.

I could hear my heart pounding out of my chest. My palms were slick with sweat, unable to grasp anything. My eyes were as wide as saucers, unable to go a minute without darting back and forth, looking for something that lays out of place. Whenever I tried to calm my nerves, it was no use. My nerves had completely taken over and had a mind of its own.

I strained to hear a sound coming from upstairs. But there was no sounds; no movement. It was complete and eerie silence. It was unsettling, not being able to hear anything besides my heart beating uncontrollably fast. I could feel the nervous adrenaline race through my veins, faster than the speed of light. After what felt like an eternity, I heard it. A thump, coming from somewhere faraway. Probably the stairwell that leads into the basement. Was that Gaven? Was he down here instead, looking for us? Or was it Ian and Calvin?  We couldn't risk ourselves being found, not now. We just had to wait it out.

And so we did. We waited nervously, not wanting to know what awaited us at the other side of the door. I heard a pair of feet loudly walking all over the place. Who's there? Who's out there, walking? Could it be Gaven? Hell, is he even a possibility anymore? Is it Ian and Calvin trying to trick us into coming out in the open?

I took in a deep, shaky breath. I tried to be silent as I waited impatiently for the unknown person to appear before me.

I heard the sound of footsteps, inching closer to the slender door that Chloe and I hid behind.

"In here," I heard Ian's muffled voice gesture to the door. I heard Calvin panting over to Ian. Ian tried the knob that I locked.

"It's locked," Ian panted, stating the obvious. I heard them both shuffle around the space, pacing. "I know they are in there. . ." Ian said thoughtfully.

"Use this!" Calvin exclaimed, faraway from Ian. He rushed over to Ian and gave him something. I heard Ian take it from Calvin's hands.

Soon after, I heard a bang.

"Hit it again," Calvin demanded.

Ian hit the door, hard. Once again, I heard a bang and realized what they were doing.

They were breaking down the door. I thought. With a baseball bat, maybe?

Bang.

Yep, definitely a baseball bat.

I sensed little wood chips fly off the door. They were making progress. My breath quickened as the wood chips fell to the floor.

"Nat?" Chloe called under a blanket of stuffed animals and books. "What it happening out there? Are you okay—"

Her question got cut off by another hard bang against the door. I instantly shushed her, telling her everything would be fine. But the problem was, everything wasn't fine. It was never going to be fine. Our lives are falling apart, practically collapsing around us.

Just as Chloe went silent, the slim door had a jagged hole through it. I saw Ian standing there, smiling his devilish smile, while holding the bat.

"No more playing games," Ian snarled. His eyes sparkled with madness, looking right at me. That's when I knew it was over.