Into Darkness

Chapter 5

Ryler:

It's been a few days since the party and I have yet to see Austin again thankfully. Nikki has tried to gather info on him but it's difficult since neither of us knows his last name, so Nikki has been snooping around the grad students trying to see if anyone knows him. So far she hasn't found anything out though, unfortunately. I even double checked and made sure she was hanging around the physician assistant students. There aren't a lot of them so I figured it shouldn't be too hard to find at least one person who knows him. I was wrong.

"Give me a couple more days, I'm sure I'll find something" Nikki says as she follows me around the library as I put books away.

"I know" I say. "I trust you Nikki."

She sighs, "I know, I just feel like I'm letting you down right now."

I laugh, "Don't be ridiculous Nikki."

"It's just crazy though, it's like this kid is a ghost. I asked at least fifteen different PA students and none of them knew of an Austin."

A chill goes through me when she says this but I don't let my worry show. "Maybe he's quiet like me" I say hoping to offer some comfort to both of us. "Plenty of the kids in my classes probably have no idea I exist."

"Plenty of people notice you Ryler" Nikki says.

"No they don't. I'm invisible." Aren't I?

"You are the farthest thing from invisible Ry" she says with an eye roll. "You may want to be invisible, but people still notice you. It's hard not to when you look the way you do."

This is all news to me. "How do you know people notice me?"

"People ask me about you all the time Ryler" she says like it's obvious, like I should have known all of this already. "Especially the guys."

I feel momentarily flattered that people have been taking notice of me because for a moment I'm reminded of my old life where I was often the center of attention. It feels good to know that people still see me and wonder about me, but it also terrifies me, because being noticeable is what nearly got me killed before.

"Okay, well I'm going to see if there are any PA students here that I can harass" Nikki says as we come out of the stacks. "Will you be okay here?"

"I'll be fine" I say as I offer her a smile. "Go harass people."

She smiles and winks at me before walking off like a woman on a mission and once again I'm alone in the stacks. I continue putting books back on the shelves and I try not to get creeped out as I think about my interaction with Austin in here, but it doesn't work. I get creeped out anyway. It's darker in this section of the stacks and I hate it so I try to get through it as quickly as possible. As I place book after book back on the shelves I hear something and I tense up immediately. I don't do the lame thing people do in movies though when they call out to see if someone is there because that never ends well. I look around and see no one at first and my heart races a bit more quickly. I peer around the bookcase to look down the hallway but I still see no one so I turn around and when I do my heart jumps into my throat.

"Oh my gosh" I gasp as I come face to face with a girl. I relax a little when I see that I know her.

"Sorry!" she yelps as she takes a step back. "I didn't mean to scare you. Karen told me you were back here."

"It's okay" I say as I catch my breath and offer her what I hope is a friendly smile. "Do you need help finding a book?"

She nods, "Yes please."

Once she tells me what book she is looking for we head over to the section it's in and after scanning through the books for a minute I find what we're looking for.