Hide and seek

Rachel hated her school life, she found everything about it boring, the class bored her out, the teachers taught in a boring manner, the assignments given to them were not even slightly interesting but the most boring aspect of her school life were the school trips!

Whenever the teacher announced the class would be going on a school trip, she felt even more bored than usual, their school made it a point to take them to all the boring places that nobody went to, whether it was an old factory with a few workers, or an amusement park that had a few working rides, they made it a point to make the trip the least memorable thing about school!

Why couldn't the school take them to interesting places like a farm or museum or a chocolate factory?,

Just the thought of all those interesting places made her imagine and feel excited on how much fun she could have if she was not stuck in a boring school with boring people around her, there was Nancy who hardly talked with anyone and then there was Bella who was always absorbed in herself, she felt as if she was invisible to both the girls even though she sat next to them.

She tried her best to convince her mother to let her stay at home, she described all the previous trips in as boring a manner she could but it had no effect on her mother, all her efforts were in vain, her mother told her to keep an open mind because once she grows up, she will miss these things, even though she failed to recognise the importance now.

She was sure there was not a thing she would miss about school life, she couldn't wait to get out of school, no matter how boring adult life was said to be, she felt she could manage it but school was another chore entirely, boring was just a word before but it had become her whole existence now!

She could see the resort from a distance, nothing about it was lively, neither did she expect it to be, what would be lively in the middle of nowhere?

The weather was dull and dreary, there was hardly any sunshine that day, on a closer look she could see rust on the windows and doors, she just prayed for the trip to end fast, she didn't want to stay another moment in this dreadful place!

Sharing the room with Bella and Nancy made her feel even worse, she was stuck with a soulless doll and a vain self absorbed girl, she knew they weren't interested in talking to her nor was she interested in them, so she decided to get some sleep.

She was woken up by a loud noise that felt like something fell hard on the ground and shattered, she looked around to find that Bella and Nancy were not in the room, where had they gone in the middle of the night?

She went out in the hallway to search for them, there was an eerie atmosphere about the place that sent chills down her spine and she was filled with anxiety that made her impossible to stay calm.

There was no teacher around and all the other doors were locked from outside, where had everyone gone?, as she went near the entrance she found the door locked from inside, if no one had gone out, where had they gone to?

She saw an arrow drawn on the wall on the leftside, did it mean she had to go that way?, she decided to follow the arrow, only to find out there were more arrows, leading to where she didn't know but it was like someone was playing a sick game with her, and she didn't want to be a part of it but had no choice to refuse!

As she walked along the hallway and it got narrower and darker, she felt maybe she really wasn't awake and this was all a nightmare, the stress from the trip had gotten to her, she just wanted to wake up.

She had started to feel dizzy and a part of her felt angry with herself for choosing to come on this stupid trip, if she had refused to come, what could have her mother done?, if she was beyond persuasion, there was no way her mother could force her against her will.

She missed home, she missed her parents, if this was her home, she would have been safetly sleeping in her room, not wandering around some narrow, nearly dark hallway that just kept going!

The arrows led her to a dead end, that had, 'Hide Rachel!', written in large red letters on the wall, seeing the letters made her gasp, and she could feel her heart in her throat, she felt dizzier than before, she leaned towards the wall to feel less dizzy but she still found it hard to breathe.

As she tried to regain a sense of calm amid all the panic, she saw someone standing at the other end, on a closer look it was Nancy, she was slowly approaching her, she wanted to run but there was nowhere to run to, and her panicked body had no strength at all.

As the sharp blade of the pen knife pierced her soft skin, she felt a sharp electric pain run through her whole body, she grabbed Nancy's wrist with all the strength she had but it was of no use as her arms had hardly any strength left and she felt her grip loosen as Nancy pushed the knife harder into her body, she could feel the blood gushing out sideways and her body slowly shutting down, she looked at Nancy's bloody hands, they were coated in her blood but her blood somehow felt alien to her.

As she started loosing her consciousness, she felt regrets filling her mind, there were so many that she couldn't count them on her fingers, why did she come to the trip?, why did she not change schools?, why didn't she spend more time with her parents?, why did she not stay in the room?

As her mind kept on playing all her regrets over and over again, she felt everything around her was going black, it was like everything was dissolving into nothing.

She felt someone grab her hard from behind and her grip loosen, she looked around confused, the sun shone brightly from the windows and there were no arrows or any writing on the walls, Miss Becky was looking at her with a horrified expression and Bella was trying to restrain her.

Why were they all looking at her like that?

She glanced down to look at her own blood covered hands and the pen knife lying on the side, Nancy lay on the ground wincing and Miss Becky was trying to help her out, she felt she had just woken up from a dream, she wanted to say a lot of things but she only managed to blurt out,

"What just happened?!"