The Cheerleader's Freak (In Progress)

6

The cheerleaders slowly filed out of the gym with the rest of the students, and Chris was feeling uncomfortable with the speech that had just been given by Oliver. He didn't necessarily hate the guy, he just didn't like that he was using the deaths in a mall fire and different events that caused the people named to die. 

He was also uncomfortable with the fact that Oliver had his arm draped around the shoulders of Justina and was laughing and talking to her, just ignoring everyone else around them as they chattered as they went into the brisk cool air of outside. 

Chris wrapped his arms around himself, burying his hands inside the sleeves of his white letterman jacket as he walked behind them, and they weren't paying any attention to Chris. Chris was about to walk to the entrance of the school when he suddenly heard an ominous ticking sound in the air. Chris's eyes widened, hearing the clock again.

"Not again," he whispered as Oliver and Justina turned their heads to Chris, Oliver dropping his arm from around Justina.

"What's wrong?" she asked as Chris shivered, shaking his head.

"I'm just cold," Chris said as he smiled as he shivered not from the cold, but to hear the ominous ticking sound again, and a loud chime that echoed loudly in his head. He turned his head to the forest, a small clearing in the forest. "I-I'm just going to get some fresh air, the uh nervousness for today's game is getting to my head," he said, the anxiety creeping in his voice.

Justina furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Oliver, who just shrugged as his gaze met hers. "Okay," she said, slightly concerned as Chris turned away, walking across the field of the school to the clearing. The ticking got louder as he approached the forest, the grass bristling against his ankles as he walked, his pace slowing as the anxiety made his stomach churn.

Why am I doing this... Chris thought as he entered the clearing, walking as the forest thickened and the grass became dirt as he walked into the clearing, being met with a sight he had never seen before.

The space was empty, the clearing being made of a few trees spaced from each other as they surrounded a falling apart brown picnic table that had a few nails sticking out of the wooden planks. Chris froze as he saw the same grandfather clock embedded into the tree, the pendulum swinging back and forth as the hands pointed to the twelve and three, showing it was three o'clock. 

It loudly chimed, tick tick tick tick tick, chimed again, tick tick tick, and chimed again, but it sounded distorted as the glass of the screen of the clock crackled, forming harline fractures as it cracked and split in a tiny hole in the middle, many black spiders crawled out of the clock. The sight shocked and terrified Chris and sent him stumbling backwards into a curved and hard body. Chris spun around, freaking out when he saw Evelyn standing there with a surprised and concerned look on her face as her obsidian eyes studied his. He whipped his head back towards the tree, seeing there was no spiders or clock. 

"You...okay? Didn't mean to scare you," Evelyn says as her left thumb slightly moved on the handle of her black metal lunchbox, and the other holding a cigarette pack.

Chris was too stunned to speak, and he tried his best to compose himself as nerves wracked his body, and he could already feel a panic attack stirring as his breath slowly began to pick up. His eyes frantically searched the forest as he tried to calm himself down, closing his eyes.

"Hey," Evelyn said, concern in her voice as she placed an arm on his bicep, causing Chris to open his eyes. Hers were looking back at his, looking at him. "Come on, I'll sit you down so you can calm down, okay?" she says as she gently leads him over to the picnic table, sitting him down as the metal lunchbox clanged as she quickly sat it down. She pushed an unruly curl of hair behind her ear as she used her hands on his shoulders to make Chris look at her.