Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

60

"Hey," Jake whispered, rattling my shoulder. "Be quiet. Wake Colby up and tell him the same, then come out to the living room." I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, the light from the room's small window causing me to squint. I sat up and turned to face Colby who was still laying on his side, then leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

"Baby, wake up," I said quietly.

"Hmm," he groaned.

"Colby, you need to be quiet. Please wake up," I whispered.

"Mmm," he replied.

"Come on, love," I said. I grabbed his shoulder and lightly pushed it, turning him onto his back. "Wake up," I said, holding his face.

"Why," he whined.

"I don't know. Jake said we need to get up and come to the living room and be quiet. Let's go," I said.

"Mhm," Colby said groggily. I stood up and then pulled him up by his hand. We quickly fastened our bags shut and then slung them over our shoulders before making our way into the living room.

"Hel—," Colby started. He stopped talking when all of the guys looked at us with wide eyes and Sam held a finger up to his lips telling us to be quiet. We both nodded and joined them in the corner they were all crouching in.

"What's going on?" I asked in the quietest whisper I could manage.

"Someone's outside," Sam whispered back. "We don't think it's a dog, but it could be a guard."

"We woke up to footsteps and a shadow walking past from the window," Corey whispered. "They've been walking in circles around the place for at least ten minutes."

We all huddled in the corner for another few minutes, my adrenaline and heart rate increasing by the second. I reached out and tightly grabbed Colby's hand. He lifted it up to his mouth and kissed it.

"It'll be okay," he whispered.

The sound slowly faded away after what felt like forever.

"Oh, thank god," Blaze finally said. Before any of us could reply, there were three strong knocks on the front door. We all froze when we heard the noise, our eyes widening even more than they had before. I could hear Corey swallow.

We heard the doorknob start to turn and then the noise of someone ramming themselves against the door, which was how we'd had to open it.

"Go, go," Blaze mouthed, pointing toward the room Colby and I had been sleeping in. We all quickly rose to our feet and lightly stepped to the room, then slowly shut the door behind us.

"It's not a guard," whispered Blaze.

"How do you know?" asked Sam.

"A guard wouldn't knock like that since this place is clearly abandoned," Blaze replied.

We heard the front door burst open and then slow footsteps creaking across the wooden floor. I realized we'd left all of our supply bags out there.

The footsteps got closer and we heard the intruder walk into the room next to us before making their way to the room we were in. Colby reached out and pulled me against him, partially tucking me behind him. I held my breath as I watched the doorknob turn. The suspense was killing me so I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could and grabbed a handful of the back of Colby's shirt.