The Distraction Trilogy: Distraction Part 19

"Miss Hart needs help with something..." He winces and scratches at the stubble on his chin. "It's female and I'm not dealing with that."

I blink as my mouth falls open. "And because I'm female I'm the best person for the job? Ask Mrs Carey or something!"

"I think she's taken her earpiece out."

"Oh b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l..." I blow out a breath and mentally put on my big girl knickers. "Okay, okay, I'm going, but tell them it's me because if anyone jumps out at me I swear to G.o.d I will kill you all..."

"Duly noted." Mr Price chuckles and graciously opens the door for me.

I'm facing a long hall, decorated in black with creepy b.l.o.o.d.y stains along the ground and cobwebs on the ceiling. Luckily the lights are on, so I'm not too freaked out.

"Mr Price?" I call down the empty hall. "It's just me. I'm helping Miss..." The lights go out and I hear the door slam behind me.

That f.u.c.king a.r.s.ehole!

I can't see a thing and my heart hammers in my chest. I know it's all fake, but it's still scary. I hate the dark and I genuinely can't even make out my hand in front of my face.

"Oh my G.o.d, don't do this," I moan, letting out a fake sob. "I swear it; I'll never forgive you."

The lights flicker but reveal nothing along the hallway. I turn around and tug on the door but it's locked, as expected.

"I'm never talking to you again, Mr Price Senior... never!" I rattle the door again, but n.o.body responds. "And if you don't escort me out of here safely, Price Junior, that goes for you too."

No sounds can be heard, nothing but my own heavy inhales and exhales.

This is so creepy and I haven't even taken my first step yet.

I don't want to go through the scare school by myself!

"Okay, I can do this." It's the antic.i.p.ation that is killing me, the not knowing when something is going to happen.

I take my first step, regretting the fact I wore three inch stilettos, because I can't run in stilettos.

"Please, please don't jump out at me." I beg in a whisper, my hands feeling the air in front of me just in case I go in the wrong direction and b.u.mp into the wall instead.

The lights flicker on and off again and I scream just at the suddenness of it.

My palms begin to sweat when I hear the sound of metal sc.r.a.ping across the metal lockers. I don't want to turn. I know he's there, but instead I stand still, waiting for the lights to flicker again so I can at least try to make a break for the exit.

"Stop it," I whine when the scratching noise gets louder and draws nearer.

Unfortunately it does stop and now I don't have a clue where he is.

"I hate you for this, just so you know."

The lights flicker, but I already know he's close. You don't need your sight to determine when somebody is standing directly beside you, their face only inches from yours.

I scream louder than I've ever screamed before when the lights flicker again and my worst thoughts are confirmed. I'm staring directly at a mask from one of the scariest slasher movies of all time.

The second I'm plunged back into darkness, I start running forward, expecting to collide into a solid chest, but instead find nothing but air. My ankles threaten to give way but I don't care. I have to get out of here.

I should have known it would be a trap.

The lights flicker on and off and I hear heavy boots gaining on me. I scream and laugh at the same time as I race for the exit that leads to the next part of the tour. I hate this. I really, really hate this.

"You can all stop it now. I'm thoroughly scared, no more scaring necessary!" I plead to no avail when the hall goes pitch black once more. "Stop doing... Holy f.u.c.k, s.h.i.t, don't!" I stomp my foot when I feel the prop knife sc.r.a.pe across the back of my bare shoulders.

I spin and grab at the air, a clear attempt to grab Mr Price, but I fail. He can move way faster than I thought.

I huff and walk backwards, waiting for my wings to collide with the door that will lead me to the next room of horrors. The second it does, I spin and twist the handle, squealing again when that stupid knife drags across my back.

"Screw this, I'm out of here!" I kick off my shoes and throw one in the direction of where I imagine Isaac is, not stopping to see if it hits him or not.

I pull open the door and race through, letting out shouts of terror and curse words when Miss Hart lunges for me in the red lit room, her face covered in blood and masked by a thin transparent black veil. She shrieks and chases me with a hammer above her head.

It's fake, it's fake, it's fake!

I keep chanting this in my mind as my feet carry me forward. By the time I make it to the next door I'm out of breath, but I keep going, dodging the hands that grab at me and yelling for everybody to b.u.g.g.e.r off.

I get through the final room and lunge for the exit.

"Freedom!" I push it open and almost collapse on the pavement in the cold air, only to be a.s.saulted by the sound of laughter and cheers from a group of people.

"I so got that on camera," Hayley giggles, doing a small victory dance.

"I hate you," I tell her, scowling deeply. "I hate you and I'll never forgive you."

"You threw your shoe at me!" Mr Price Junior snaps, rubbing his shoulder with one hand and holding my pretty heels in the other. Well at least I know it hit him.

"You stalked me!" I argue, pinning him with a glare. "Okay, I'm going home and I'm hiding under my bed for a month. If you need me... call someone else."

This only makes them laugh harder.

I s.n.a.t.c.h my heels back and slip them onto my aching feet.

"Oh come on, that was brilliant and you know it. I can't wait to see the footage tomorrow." She claps her hands, giggling like a child. "I can't believe you told our teachers to f.u.c.k off, among other things."

I only growl in response, still upset at having been tricked and still recovering.

"You'll forgive me eventually." She seems way too sure about that.

"So, where are the bin bags?" I ask curtly, looking at all of the litter that rests on the ground outside of the school. "If we get this done now, we can just lock up and do the inside tomorrow."

"If it's okay with the rest of you, I really need to be getting home to my wife," Mr Price Senior says, looking ashamed of himself. "I don't want to ask too much of Crystal."

"It's fine," Isaac responds immediately and slaps his dad on the shoulder. "We've got this, right?"

Mr Diplock, Miss Hart and Mrs Carey, along with a few of the other actors, all groan in protest.

"But I'm exhausted..." Mrs Carey sighs. "I don't think I can handle anymore and these kids need to be getting home; it's late."

"Maybe we should just do this tomorrow?" Miss Hart suggests, but I shake my head. "Nope, I'm going to get this done now. It's a mess and by tomorrow it'll have blown across town."

"My feet can't handle anymore," Miss Hart insists. "And you've been working harder than any of us, in your condition..."

In my condition?

Mr Price interrupts her before she can finish. "I'll stay. I'm still wide awake. Aching, but not tired. Simon?"

Mr Diplock shakes his head. "No. I'll make it up to you all tomorrow by being here for the big clean, but I can't do this s.h.i.t tonight. I'm wiped."

"Can you give me a ride?" Miss Hart asks as Mrs Carey makes a swift exit with her group of followers.

Hayley sighs and yawns loudly. "Well, I'm helping. I'm not going to leave you stranded. It's not that bad anyway."

It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be, but it's not great and it is freezing.

Isaac grabs the roll of rubbish bags from the box of supplies by the door and tears three off the roll. He hands me a litter picker and takes one for himself as Hayley rushes to my car to grab the spare shoes we packed for this reason.

"At least everything has been disa.s.sembled," Isaac comments and I can't help but nod my agreement. "Tired? I can handle this if..."

"Don't, I'm fine. I just want to get this done."

I shake the bag loose and start picking things from the ground with the thin and long metal grabber.

"Are you mad at me for scaring you?"

I shake my head, my eyes on my job. "Nope."

"You're mad." He states with a deep laugh. "I should feel bad, but I don't."

"Remind me to pat you on the back for that."

"Oooh, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

I roll my eyes at him. "It's a good thing I wasn't trying to be witty then."

He lets out another bark of laughter. "Nice response. I don't think I have anything to say to that."

I kick off my shoes when Hayley draws near and slide my Converse trainers onto my feet. That feels so good.

"What's so funny? What did I miss?" Hayley asks, donning her own pair of trainers.

Isaac hands her a bag and litter picker.

"Nothing. He's laughing at my expense."

"You're ginger, that's nothing new."

I gape at her with feigned insult and actual shock. "You didn't just say that."

Isaac seems to find Hayley's remark even funnier than she does.

"I can't believe you two. You're a teacher; you can't laugh at that. Besides, my hair isn't ginger. It's red. Ginger is orange and mine is red. Just saying."

Isaac grabs at my hair with his litter pickers. "If I had a colour chart, could you prove it?"

Probably not. "I'm picking litter in silence. Without you two... over there where there's n.o.body but myself and the ground. Got it?"

"Aww, don't be grumpy." Hayley chokes out through her cackling. "I'll give you a free pa.s.s to insult me for the entire day on Monday when school starts."

Hmm... I'm listening. "And you'll still bring me coffee?"

"Yep."

"Fine."

"Deal?"

"I guess so." We shake on it and get back to work.

"You two are strange." Isaac comments.

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Mr Price." Hayley wipes a fake tear from under her eye.

"And dramatic." He pins me with another glare. "I still can't believe you threw an actual shoe at me."

"I still can't believe you haven't gotten over that yet." I do kind of feel bad about it now, but I'm not telling him that. "I'm actually kind of sad this night is over."

"It was a roaring success," Isaac agrees. "But I'm definitely glad it's over. Never again will I agree to be Jason for that many hours straight."

"You were amazing at it though. Yours was the one they all talked about at the end." I smile softly at him, wanting him to see how much I genuinely appreciate all he did tonight.

He smiles back, equally as soft. "You weren't so bad yourself. You kept everything running smoothly."

"Where's my praise? I was the best ticket saleswoman this side of the UK." Hayley b.u.t.ts in, totally ruining a moment she didn't realise existed.

I tear my eyes away from my teacher and let out a breath. I need to stop looking into it all so much. He's my teacher and that's final. I'm just setting myself up for a world of unnecessary pain.

"That you were; you rocked that booth." We high five and again focus on work.

It doesn't take us longer than thirty minutes, but by the time we're done I'm exhausted and my entire body is frozen solid. We dump the bags inside the door and Isaac locks up behind us.

"Is the money safe?" I ask him around a yawn and wrap my arms around myself.

He nods, looking as chilled as I feel. At least the clothes he's wearing cover his entire body. Why didn't I wear a stupid jacket?

"We should go. It's cold and I'm so tired I think I might pa.s.s out."