Never Open That Door – First Attempt

This is part V of this story. Part IV can be found here and references the preceding three parts if you haven’t read them:

******

The corridor went dark about two hours after her encounter with Cory.

She was dead tired, but she knew she would be admitted to the sleep unit and would find out what was going on in that room.

She could have sworn that Corey had gone back to the room about ten minutes after she had come back from the toilet. She knew because there was a pause in his steps outside her room. If he did go back to the room, maybe he had removed the key, which she saw him accidentally kick under the door when he got startled.

She grabbed her phone and switched on the torch. Armed with a bent coat hanger, she crept out of her room, leaving the door open in case she needed to make a hasty return!

She approached the door and knelt on the floor. She slipped the coat hanger under the door and wiggled it from left to right.

Damn! Nothing.

She tried again with the same result. Her heart was beating so hard, and her hands were sweaty. She could feel her pulse pounding in her neck.

Was that a creak from upstairs?

She stretched as far as she could above the door frame. Maybe he had put the key back.

Bingo! A golden key fell to the ground. I sounded like a ton of bricks had hit the floor.

She quickly picked it up, nervously turned the key, and unlocked the door. She peered into the black abyss surrounding her phone torch's stark contrast.

“Squuuek, squeekk!”

There was a definite sound of squeaking floorboards as someone walked over them. Cory was up.

Gabby panicked. She closed the door as quietly as possible and reached to replace the key above it.

As she did, she felt a tug on her wrist. She heard Cory coming down the stairs. She quickly turned and ran back to her room, closing the door.

As the footsteps approached, she fumbled with her phone to turn off the torch.

She waited, fearing her breathing was so loud he would hear that. As always, the footsteps stopped outside her door.

Damn she forgot to lock it in her haste to get back. She could just make out the handle in the dim light coming through the window. She waited and watched.

Slowly, she saw the handle go down. He was coming in. He had known she had opened the door!

She couldn’t watch. Closing her eyes, she hid her mouth under his chest and lay there motionless, waiting.

A few minutes passed, and nothing happened. She opened one eye and waited for it to adjust to the light.

The door was closed, but she made out two feet under it. As she did, they shuffled off down toward the door.

Again, she waited with bated breath. What's next?

A few minutes later, she heard footsteps shuffling down the corridor, past her door, and up the stairs. The familiar creak, the floorboards, and a door shutting were the last she remembered.

******

Morning came, and Gabby had only managed a few hours of sleep.

Had Corey seen her?

Did he know she had opened his door against all his instructions?

She went to fiddle with her bracelet as she habitually did.

“My bracelet—where is my bracelet?”

Gabby racked her brain, trying to think of the last time she had seen it or fiddled with it. She drew a blank.

She got up and went to the bathroom to shower. While having a shower, she thought about her assignment, which was due today. Despite everything, she was proud of what she had put together.

Tomorrow was Saturday. He always went out for a couple of hours in the morning. That would finally be her chance to see what he was hiding behind that door. She had to know. Her journalistic curiosity was piqued, and it would not go away.

Now she knew where the key was; she hoped it would be quick and easy.

She jumped back as she opened the bathroom door and dropped her belongings.

Standing there in the doorway was Cory.

“You startled me,” she said.

Cory made no apology, and she wondered how long she had been there. Despite the warning from Briley, she had not locked the door. Had he been in?

Had he been watching her as she had taken her shower?

She stared into his eyes, looking for answers. None were there, except that he was creepy.

“y---ou--- mu—st -have dr---oppe—d th---is,” he stuttered, holding her bracelet up for her to see.

“Oh, thank you, I realized this morning I had lost it, but I had no idea where,” she replied.

“It wa---s in –th-e -corr---id—orr, nea---r the d- oo—r. Y—o-u d-i—d-n—‘t go in---n , d-i—d y---ou?”

“No,” lied Gabby. “It must have been when I went to the toilet last night. I dropped my phone in the dark. It must have happened then. Thank you."

******

When Gabby returned to her room, she shook uncontrollably and was in a cold sweat.

Cory was starting to scare her. How did he always know when she was having a shower, and why was he there when she came out?

She had to find out what was in that room, if it was the last thing she would do.

Tomorrow would be her chance, but now she had to get organized and head off to Uni. She was already running late.

She got dressed and hurriedly left. On her way to University in the car, she put on the radio to distract herself from what had happened. "Horror Movie" came on the radio.

"Great," she thought, just what I need, and changed the station. As if someone was trying to tell her something, the next song was Michael Jackson's "Thriller". She turned the radio off in disgust and focused on how she would work things out tomorrow.

******

Don't miss Part VI, the conclusion to the story.

Till next time

Calvin