24 Hours in Hell

Hour 21

I sprint down the hallways, not even checking around the corners. And I sure as hell wasn't trying to be quiet.

I was so tired of being quiet. 

I wanted to scream and yell and jump and stomp my feet. That's exactly what I am doing.

Screaming and yelling at every little creak I hear, jumping over the bodies, and stomping as I run. And let me tell you, it's never felt better to be so careless.

I wasn't really sure what my plan was. Maybe it was to throw the gunmen off of the boys' trail. Or maybe it was just to get this "game" of their's over with.

Either way, it's never felt better, no matter how much it hurt my bullet wound.

I've gotten further in the last 15 minutes then I did in the hour and a half with the boys.

I was surprisingly having fun with this too. It felt like it did when Grant and I were splashing in puddles, or when we'd make cookies, or when we'd play in the lake in the woods behind our house.

I miss that.

But I was having just as much fun here. Just Grant was replaced with Mr. Tedward and a gun.

I come to an abrupt stop at the door of the boiler room.

"Let's do this thing, Mr. Tedward," I mumble, charging down the steps of the pitch black basement. "I really, really, really did not think this through."  I just turn in a circle. "Well, what do we do now?"

Maybe I really am going insane. I talking to a fricken teddy bear named Mr. Tedward. I guess I could think of it as talking to my dad.

That actually made me feel a lot better.

I kneel down and take my backpack off. I search for a flashlight, but all I found were matches. I shrug. I'll take what I can get. I light a match. It actually helped quite a bit, but burned out quickly. I throw the match on the ground, step on it, and light a new one.

I did that for a while, having to stop every 10 steps to light a new one. I finally hit the control box.

I light one of the last matches and search for a switch. There were way too many switches on this thing. One said power. I figured that might come in handy. I flick it on watching rows of lights turn on.

I continue to search for a lock switch, but there wasn't one. 

I take a step backwards feeling a mix of disappointment and anger.

Why? Why? Why?

No switch. No computer. No windows. No way out.

A tear falls from my eye.

I was so excited to get out that I forgot that we might not.

At least the power's back on.

"That's not good enough though," I groan aloud. I plop down on the floor. I was so tired. I lay down on the cold basement floor.

I close my eyes for a second, but open them quickly.

I'm not dying yet!

I look around and sigh. There was a body of a younger girl right in front of me.

There must have been another switch or lock or something somewhere. I mean there has to be, right?