Sensing Fear

Leo lived in constant fear. No matter what he did, or how he did it, it was never good enough for the bullies at school. He was constantly beat up and ridiculed and pushed down. If he had the guts, he'd stand up for himself. He definitely thought about it a million and one times a day. Any time he wasn't in class, he was practically flying down the halls to his next class to avoid those who would stuff him into lockers. He had probably been stuffed into almost every locker on campus at this point. 

"Well," he heard a familiar voice ring out from behind. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's the matter, chicken boy? Run out of feed?" Nick snickered with his friends as they made their way to Leo's front side. Leo was paralyzed with fear, even though this sort of thing happened daily. It happened daily and nobody did a thing about it. 

"G-guys, come on. I-I know you all have classes to get to," Leo managed to whisper. 

"What was that, chicken boy? You know I don't understand it when you speak that language," Nick smirked down at Leo and shoved him backward.

Leo took a breath to retort, but was cut short when a hand gripped around his throat. 

"I'm done with games," Nick snorted, "I'm gonna teach you a lesson on how to speak up." 

On the last word, a friend of Nick's swung open a nearby janitor's closet, "It's cleaning time." 

Nick practically threw Leo into the closet and slammed it shut. Leo could hear the muffled laughter fading as the boys walked down the hall. 

"Light switch, light switch," Leo muttered to himself as his hands fumbled around the walls, desperately searching for life-giving light. His hand brushed against a switch on the wall and he flicked it upward. He heard a loud clank from directly behind him, but other than the noise, nothing had happened. 

Leo stood in the dark, puzzled. He could have sworn that was a light switch. Instead of looking for another switch, Leo slowly shuffled toward the sound of the clunk he had inadvertently caused.  

A locker? he thought. He knew it was, but in the janitor's closet? 

It was open. He squinted, trying to see into the unearthly blackness that enveloped the air around him. The attempt to see was futile, yet he tried. He reached into the locker, hoping to find a flashlight, a lighter, anything that could help him. Instead, his hand touched nothing. He kept pushing his arm further into the seemingly endless locker, until his body gave way to gravity and he could feel nothing but the sensation of falling to his doom. 

It felt as if he was falling forever, with nothing but the void to accompany him. Once his fear subsided, he took a moment to come to terms with the fact that the rest of his existence would be spent falling through a bottomless pit that somehow made its way onto school grounds. Suddenly, the underside of his arm was... wet? 

Why is my arm wet?

His other arm hit something that made it wet, too. What is happening to me? 

His fall seemed to slow down rapidly as his body became entangled in some kind of web. 

Better than dying in a bottomless pit. 

His descent finally slowed to a stop and his head was mere inches from the ground as he bobbed up and down in a web. The faint sound of dripping water could be heard as he struggled to grasp what just happened to him.

"A web?" he said aloud, "This is huge, there can't be-" he stopped short as he came to the realization that if there was a web this big then... 

"No, no. No, no, no, no, no," he struggled to break free of the web that had broken his fall, and he couldn't help but think of how strategically placed it was. 

Finally, he writhed himself free and dropped a few inches to the cold, wet cobblestone. 

I gotta go, I gotta get out of here, he thought as his feet began to shuffle along the stone. I have to... how do I get out of here?

He paused momentarily and thought out loud, "I fell down that hole. That hole was pitch black. This area is pitch black. Except for-" he trailed off as he noticed a slight flickering in the distance. 

Following the light should lead me out. 

He carefully moved his feet, feeling the ground before trusting it with his weight. Eventually, he made his way to the light source. A single lit lantern hanging off a rusty nail in the wall. He swallowed the lump he didn't realize was in his throat and took the lantern for himself. 

"Okay," he whispered to himself, "this is just Nick. This is just him and his stupid posse of frats playing a trick on me. That's all it is."

He inhaled and screamed into the darkness, "It's not funny, Nick! Let me out right now!"

His voice reverberated and made its way back to him, sounding just a little distorted. 

No response. 

"Nick," he said in a normal tone, "you really aren't funny." 

He listened intently as his voice echoed all around him. He closed his eyes to focus. 

There's water. It's dripping. I'm definitely underground. It's cold and damp and uncomfortable. Maybe a sewage system? But it doesn't smell horrible. In fact, it doesn't really smell like anything at all. It just smells... cold. And lonely. 

He reached out the hand that wasn't holding the lantern. Almost immediately, his hand came into contact with the wall. 

Cold again. Wet. Almost as if the water is constantly trickling down it. Like a miniature waterfall. I hear it converging with another body of water. Maybe a way out of here? And I hear- what is that? 

He squeezed his eyes shut tighter until all he could focus on was that noise. It was in the distance, but he thought it might help him determine where exactly he was. 

It sounds like... foot steps? I knew Nick was playing a horrible prank on me. Wait until he sees me, I'll-

The sound seemed to multiply. All of his friends are here too? Great, this is just a recipe for my embarrassment. 

"Nick," he took his hand off the wall and opened his eyes, swinging the lantern about, "Nick, it's still not funny! Show me how to get out right now!" 

He was immediately answered with an inhuman shriek. It was still in the distance, but closer than it was before. 

"Nick?" Leo whimpered. He heard the shriek again, but this time a lot closer. Almost as if whatever it was was closing in on him fast. 

No. No, no, no, no, no. 

He didn't even stop to think. He just ran. He ran as fast as his nonathletic legs could carry him. He pushed himself through the tunnel, choosing direction on a whim. He wouldn't stop running, he wouldn't stop to think, and no matter what, he wouldn't let that thing catch him. 

He pushed himself further and further until he physically couldn't run any longer. He paused and shucked his backpack off. His breathing was erratic and quick as his eyes darted around the never ending corridors, scanning for any sign of danger. 

I'm fine, he tried to convince himself, I'm fine. 

He couldn't seem to shake the feeling that there were a hundred eyes on him. 

He shook his head as his breathing calmed down. 

There has to be a way out. I've been running forever. 

The shriek came again, this time almost directly next to him. He gasped in shock and his adrenaline pushed him to go. Go. Go. Go. Go! 

He ran faster than he'd ever run his whole life. He'd do anything in this moment just to feel the sun again. He choked on a sob as he continued to fly through the tunnels. 

After rounding a corner, he skidded to a stop. 

You have to be kidding me, he thought. A dead end. No left or right turns, and no way out. He slowly swiveled around as tears began to sting his eyes. 

He stood in silence as he awaited his fate. 

He waited and he waited and he waited and he waited and something's got my ankle. 

He screamed and dropped the lantern as his hands flew to his face, in a fruitless effort to save his life. 

He rocketed up in bed, screaming at the top of his lungs. 

"Honey!" his mother ran to his aid, shushing him and trying to soothe him, "Leo, honey, you're okay. It's okay." 

"It was a dream," he ran his hands over his face, "all just a dream." 

"Oh, honey, you must be traumatized from last night," his mom frowned, "but anyone would be, so it's okay. It's all okay." 

"Last night?" he cocked an eyebrow at her. 

"Yeah, last night some kids from your school found you unconscious outside of the abandoned sewer system downtown. After you didn't come home from school, I called the police and they had everyone swarming the town for you."

"Abandoned sewer system?" he repeated. He hadn't known an abandoned sewer system to exist within their town. 

"Oh, yeah, and nobody knew how you got there or where your backpack went, but we found you and you're okay, and that's all that matters." She embraced him and left him alone in his room. 

It wasn't a dream, then, he thought, astounded, that was real. 

He shuddered at the thought, but quickly shook it out of his head. 

After a minute or two, he lied back in his bed and shut his eyes to try and catch some much needed sleep. He saw nothing, and he felt nothing, and he smelt nothing, and he tasted nothing, and all he heard was 

drip, drip, drip.