Crossroads-Book 1

•Chapter 8•

×Lucy×

I reached home by eight o'clock.
My family just finished dinner and they were all in the living room watching TV when I walked in.

"Hey mum, dad." I waved and walked past.

They all glanced at me and returned their attention to the TV. Whatever they were watching was probably so interesting that they couldn't talk.

I walked up to the fridge, got out a few snacks and climbed up the stairs to my room.
I fell on my bed and closed my eyes. Suddenly I heard the sound of rain clattering on the roof.

My eyes darted open.
I walked over to the window and stared out of it.The night was amazing, with all the lights from the houses, street lamps, shops and cars, the outline of the sky and the smell of damp soil.

The rain got heavier. I shut the window and walked back to my bed. I took a bag of cookies and walked over to my reading-more like writing- table.
I sat down and began to write a poem.
It was sort of like writing in a diary only that this was in poem form and it wasn't always about me.

I suddenly remembered the shadow incident from earlier this evening and I wrote a poem about it.
It still worried me, though but I think it was my imagination.
I wrote about a lot of things until the sound of my phone ringing drew me out of my writing. I walked over to my bed where I kept my phone.

I was surprised to see Maddie calling. I picked the call and and what she told me surprised me the more.

"What? In where?" I asked.
Her voice was a whisper like she was hiding from something.

"Why didn't you leave that place earlier?" I chided.

"Does it matter? Please get a car and come get me...please," she whispered.

"How am I going to do that? How am I even going to leave my house?"

"Just sneak out. Lucy please hurry. My mom's gonna be very worried."

"Where exactly are you?"
She told me where she was and hung up quickly. I grabbed two raincoats and stuffed them into my backpack. I zipped the bag, slung it over my shoulder, grabbed my flashlights, and tiptoed downstairs.

My parents were so engrossed in the TV that's I could have jumped downstairs without them noticing.

I couldn't get a car, I couldn't drive, so I had to get to Maddie on my feet.

I stealthily creeped out the back door and instantly realised that the rain was actually so heavy that I could barely see so I got out my raincoat, put it on and marched into the rain.

I walked for minutes until I spotted the place.
I hoped it was the place. I pushed at the door and it opened instantly.
The place was a warehouse. Boxes lined up the walls and the place smelt of mildew and rotting wood.

In the distance, I could see a dim flicker of orange light and I heard a voice. I crawled to the left, opened a door and walked in closing it behind me.

The room I entered was dark. I removed my raincoat and dropped it aside. I removed my phone from my backpack and called Maddie. She picked the call instantly.

"Hey," I said. "Where are you?"
"I'm in the building."

"I mean where in the building girl? I'm in the building right now."

"Oh, you are? Thank goodness. Did you come with a car?"

"No, I couldn't."
"So you walked over here!?" she shreiked in disbelief.

"Yeah. I can cope pretty well in the dark. Anyway, where are you?"

"I'm in a room labelled...'bathroom'."

"Really? You couldn't tell it was a bathroom without the label?"

"It's dark in here. I can barely see Luce. Also, I think some people are here. That's why I can't come out."

"Yeah. I heard a voice from a room in front. I also saw a light."

"I think those are workers or maybe thieves? Whatever you do be careful and don't let them see you."

"Yeah. Same applies to you," I said before hanging up.

I grabbed my backpack before opening the door quietly.
I was back out in the open now. I heard a male voice say "Are you sure?"

I crouched and crawled to my left. There, boxes completely blocked every path. The voice I heard came from in front of me so I decided to go right. There, boxes were also lined up but there was a space between two piles of boxes.

I decided to follow the path. I went in through the space and from there it was like a maze of boxes. I kept walking until I accidentally hit a pile of boxes and they all fell to the ground with a crash.

I paused. I heard someone yell, "Hey! Who's there?!"
I bolted. I ran through the maze of boxes until I appeared in a corridor. I stopped suddenly. I found it.
I pushed open the bathroom door.

"Lucy!" Maddie screamed and almost tackled me with a hug. "Hey." I hugged her back but pushed her away immediately. "Someone is coming after me."

"What?" She tensed. "What're you waiting for then? Let's hide. Quick, close the door."
I closed the door and we crouched down, listening and waiting. My heart was pounding against my chest.

"The rain is so unusual," Maddie said as we stayed down. Since it was dark, I could barely see but I could make a vague outline of her face. Her hair looked damp and some of it was plastered to her face.

"Really?" I asked. "I hadn't really noticed."

After a while, I asked, "Have we lost the guy?"

Instantly the door flew open and I saw three people staring at us. I gasped, staring back at them in shock.

"Trevor?" Maddie said.

"Maddie," the guy replied, "what're you doing here? And who is she?" He said referring to me.

"Lucy," one of the other two people said. It was the girl.

"Hey, Alexa," I said coldly.

The other guy raised his arm. "Yeah and Alexis. Present too."

We all paused. Trevor snickered. Then I giggled. Next thing everyone started laughing. Except Alexis.

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Hi it's Ash!
Smile!😁

See you in the next chapter!