The Kid

I’m willing to bet that every teenager thinks their school looks creepy at night.

I certainly did.

The corridors, usually filled with sunlight and kids bustling about in an attempt to get to class on time, were now empty and cold. The moonlight now replaced the sun, creating a silver glow along the locker doors and linoleum floor. I was afraid to speak in case my voice resonated along the walls and looking at the school, as it looked now, I didn’t feel right forcing such an echo upon it.

My shoes clipped as I made my way through the halls with The Kid just a few paces ahead. I tried, in vain, to make my footsteps lighter but it seemed as though even the tiniest of sounds was projected.

“You’re slowing down,” The Kid murmured, in a little more than a whisper. I startled and looked up from my feet. I had been so focused on keeping myself quiet, I hadn’t even bothered to think that he would be the one to disturb the peace.

“I’m trying not to make any noise,” I whispered back.

He stopped and turned back to me. “That’s great, love, but could you do it with a bit more speed?”

I held my hands up in a surrendering gesture and he gave a nod of his head before turning back and walking forward once more. I stood up straight and walked behind him normally, tucking my strawberry blonde hair behind my ears.

He pushed the door to the stairwell open and it creaked the whole way, mercilessly. I winced and The Kid stopped, with his hand still on the door. He looked back at me over his shoulder.

“Shut up,” he whispered, before I had a chance to comment and I shrugged my shoulders innocently. He motioned for me to go through under his arm so as not to push the door any further. I did so without hesitation and as soon as I was in he reluctantly let the door fall shut.

With a thud.

“Well, if he didn’t know we were here before,” I muttered. He looked down at me with an unamused expression.

“I bet you two pounds he still doesn’t know we’re here,” he replied, the corners of his lips turning up in a cheeky grin.

“Really?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest, “Two pounds? You’re such a cheap skate.”

“That’s all I’ve got on me.”

“Wow.”

He rolled his eyes as he moved past me to climb the stairs. I quickly followed, taking the stairs two at a time to keep up with his much longer stride. For whatever reason, The Kid seemed to think the Trickster was going to be hiding out in the principal’s office on the third floor.

“I don’t really understand why you think he’s still going to be here. Who hides out at the scene of the crime?” I asked.

“Because a mythical creature whose sole purpose in life is to literally pull cruel pranks on bad people, probably wouldn’t be worried about getting caught,” he replied, in an exasperated tone.

“Now, see, I asked a valid question but you made it sound stupid.”

“That, and because once a Trickster has picked a place to ‘reform’, he has to stay until all of the bad people have been punished. It’s a drawback of the job.”

“Okay, fine, but why pick a school?”

“Why not pick a school? The Trickster lives to find and punish bad people. A school is like a chocolate factory to him. Kids can be cruel, Bonnie, really cruel. And the worst part is, some of them don’t even realise how cruel they’re being. A school is perfect for a Trickster.

“Also, Trickster’s are notorious for being arrogant. So, if I were one in a school, I would hide out in the principal’s office simply because I felt the obnoxious right to,” he finished.

“If that’s the case, then he could be stuck here for years.”

“Exactly.”

“And he wouldn’t get bored of being stuck in the same place?”

“I’m pretty sure pulling horrific pranks on people might kill the boredom. He’s not going to move off on his own.”

“Okay, how do we stop him then?”

“That’s the part you might have trouble with….”

I had intended to keep listening, but out of no-where came this ridiculously loud dripping noise. Like someone hadn’t turned the faucet on a tap the whole way.

I frowned and looked above me, searching for a pipe that may have sprung a leak but there was nothing. At least nothing I could see that could be creating such a noise. It echoed throughout the stairwell, the drops becoming quicker and closer together, like someone was turning the tap back on. The drops turned to a trickling noise and I stopped, more desperate to find the source of the noise.

“Bonnie?” Suddenly The Kid was in front of me, his hands holding me in place by my upper arms. He was looking down at me with a confused expression.

“Can’t you hear that?” I asked, slightly more hysterically than I would have liked.

“Hear what?” he asked, and all of a sudden; it stopped.

The sound had completely vanished and the stairwell felt eerily quiet once more. I shook my head, confused and a little disoriented.

“You really didn’t hear that?”

“Hear what?” he asked again, with slightly more pressure.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Like in the park when I could hear all of this traffic, but there were no cars on the road. I had ignored it and put it down to lack of sleep. But what was my excuse this time? Fear? Nervous anticipation for taking down the Trickster?

But why? And why running water of all things?

I looked back up at The Kid and offered him a small smile, “Nothing,” I told him, with a shake of my head, “Sorry, I heard buzzing. It was probably just a mosquito or something that kept flying past my ear.”

He continued to frown down at me. I forced my smile to grow, “Honestly, it’s nothing it was just really annoying me. It’s gone now, so let’s get a move on before he finds out we’re here.”

He hesitantly dropped his hands and gave me one final look over before turning and continuing back up the stairs. He jogged up the last few steps and, slowly, pushed the door open. Luckily, this one didn’t make a sound. We both slipped in and he held the door this time as it closed to create as little sound as possible.

“Okay,” he began, “here’s the plan. I’ll bust into the office, all Gung Ho and basically all I need you to do is stand outside and stop him if he somehow makes it past me and out the door.”

“How do I stop him if he makes it past you?”

I saw him shrug his shoulders, “I don’t know, stick your leg out and trip him,” he replied as he made his way around the corner.

“Well that’s comfort―”

My foot splashed in something and I stopped mid-sentence. I looked down and saw my foot resting in a puddle of water.

“What the hell?” I whispered to myself. I don’t know if it was because earlier, I had inexplicably been hearing running water, but I suddenly felt very afraid.

Something was wrong.

I looked back up at The Kid, panicked. He was still walking in the direction of the principal’s office. I opened my mouth to call out his name but got interrupted by the sound of water once again. It was just as loud as before, only this time it was faster. It was no longer a trickling noise, it sounded like it was streaming.

And it was coming from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder and saw a pool of water making its way toward me, fast.

“Kid!” I shouted and he whirled around, alarmed.

I motioned to run toward him, but before I could take more than a step, the floor fell from beneath me like a trailer on the back of a lorry.

I saw The Kid start to run toward me before my chest hit the slanted floor and I began tumbling down. I wasn’t rolling for very long before I couldn’t feel anything beneath me.

I felt weightless and as my body turned its-self around all I could see was black and my own hand outstretched in front of me in a hopeless attempt to grab a hold of something.

The Kid was gone, the school was gone. There was just nothing except a coldness I had never felt before. I fell in slow motion and I didn’t know why.

Maybe the body panics before it knows you’re about to die. Maybe it slows everything down in your brain so it gives you more time to come to terms with what’s happening.

Maybe it wants you to breathe.

I sucked in a giant breath, not completely sure why, and closed my eyes.

My body hit water and I crashed through it. The force threw my arms and legs up and in front of me, as the initial shock left me incapable of moving.

It was freezing.

I sank deeper, keeping my eyes closed. I let the pressure of the water pull me down without comprehending the consequences. My throat began to tighten, on the verge of becoming uncomfortable and it finally clicked with me that I didn’t want this to happen.

I opened my eyes and forced myself to start swimming toward the surface. My body fought against the water weighing me down, but I had to keep going.

When I felt I was getting closer to the I gave myself one final push upward, with my hand outstretched to break through. It hit something hard and cold, like glass but ten times thicker. I swam up to what was supposed to be the surface and my palms fell against a blanket of ice, coating the water like a crystal coffin.

I tried hitting and kicking the ice, stupidly thinking I would be able to break it. I tried screaming for help, but the water just filled my lungs quicker. They were beginning to burn.

I saw feet scramble toward me before I saw The Kid kneeling above.

“Bonnie!” I could hear his muffled cries. I screamed back at him to help me, continuously slamming the ice with the palms of my hand. But he didn’t do anything, he just kept shouting my name.

Suddenly, I felt something pulling me away from him, a force pushing me from the side in a different direction. It was as though the water had turned into a river and I was being forced down stream.

“No, no!” I screamed, petrified. The Kid placed his palm on the top of the ice, above mine, but I was quickly being dragged away from him. The water pulled me down and away from the ice. Away from The Kid.

My lungs felt like they were on fire and the pressure from the water was forcing my eyes closed. I looked away from where I had left him. I couldn’t fight much longer.

A hand grabbed mine and pulled me back the way I had come.

I sat up, coughing and gasping, trying to get my breath back.

“Bonnie, breathe!” The Kid instructed me over my wheezing. He was holding my hand and had his other on my shoulder. My chest still felt tight and I spluttered in an attempt to clear my throat of water. I felt like I was going to be sick so I pushed The Kid back slightly so I could turn over. I gagged a couple of times before realising there was nothing in there to force out.

My breathing became less heavy and I slowly began to calm down. As I did I noticed I was back in the school corridor. I also noticed I was dry as a bone and there was no evidence of water anywhere around me.

I turned back to The Kid.

“What the hell just happened?” I gasped.

“The Trickster made you see things, hear things. I guess he knew we were here after all.”

Air had never tasted so good.

“I guess you owe me two pounds then.”