A loud noise woke Jeff with a start.
His body automatically froze; his heart began to beat so fast he could hear it pulsing through his ears. He blinked his eyes several times in rapid succession, trying and failing to adjust them to the pitch blackness of the room.
Sometimes he could just curse Nick for insisting on sleeping with the blinds closed.
He glanced over to his alarm clock which sat next to him on the bedside table, the only source of light in the room.
2:34.
The red numbers blinked slowly, teasing and tormenting him.
What could possibly have woken him up at this hour?
Jeff swallowed, his heart just beginning to return towards its normal beat when he heard another noise.
Something was being dragged along the floor.
In his and Nick's room.
In their room.
No. No, no, no. Jeff wanted to scream. He'd always had a slight aversion to the dark exactly because of times like this. He'd heard too many stories involving an absence of light and he'd never wanted to experience it.
He tried desperately to glance towards Nick's side of the room where the noise seemed to be coming from, but to no avail. He couldn't see a thing.
Calm down, Jeff, he told himself, it's probably nothing. Of course it's nothing.
The shuffling noise started again, a low, scraping sound that set Jeff in a panic.
Ok, not nothing. That's definitely something.
Jeff's body was still in a frozen state of shock, not knowing whether to let this play out or to turn on his light and face his fears.
A thought suddenly flitted through his mind and he gasped softly.
What if it was Nick being dragged along the floor?
That was definitely not something Jeff could let play out. He'd heard many boarding school stories of teens being murdered in the night while their roommates slept on peacefully. Granted, he'd heard them all at the bonfires Dalton was so renowned for having, but that didn't minimise their merit.
Not much, anyway.
Jeff reached around blindly in the dark, his hands groping over the several items lying by his bedside. His hands came to rest on his torch (for emergencies like this, obviously) and the other on his lacrosse stick.
Perfect.
Putting on his brave boy pants, Jeff pulled the thin covers back soundlessly, slipping his feet over the edge of the bed and allowing them to rest on the cool floorboards.
He faltered for a moment as he heard a frustrated sigh coming from the other side of the room. He swallowed thickly. The perpetrator must have been having difficulties.
Jeff knew that Nick was heavy, not that he was fat or anything, but if someone was trying to drag him across the floor he could sympathise with them, as he'd had to do it several times before when –
Stop, Jeff. Focus.
Right.
Nick's life was at risk.
Picking up his weapons, Jeff stood from the bed, making a few quick steps towards the noise as the sound of rustling covered his actions.
He guessed he was maybe one and a half metres away when he came to a stop. Gripping his torch in his left hand, he raised his lacrosse stick over his right shoulder in a defensive manner.
Ok, so maybe if they had a gun or an axe or something Jeff probably had no hope. He hadn't thought it through very well, but there was no going back now.
Nick was his best friend.
On three, Jeff.
One.
He heard the noise again; another frustrated sigh and tightened his grip on his tools.
Two.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and hoped the noise hadn't given him away.
It's now or never, Jeff.
Three.
Jeff hit the on button on the torch, immediately flooding the area with light.
"Stop!" He yelled as his eyes attempted to adjust to the harsh beams.
Nick screamed, sprawling out backwards as he lost his footing from where he had been crouching beside his bed.
Jeff looked around. There was no murderer, and no body.
Judging from the look in his roommate's eyes, however, Jeff had a feeling there might be soon.
Oops.
"Jeff! What the hell?" Nick put a hand in front of his face to block the torch beams. "Put the darn stick down!"
The blonde did as he was told.
"What are you doing, Nick?"
"Looking for my phone, you – Never mind that, what are you doing?"
Jeff directed the torch away from Nick's eyes, lighting the floor in between them.
"I thought you were in danger, Nick! You scared me half to death!"
Nick brushed his fringe out of his face. "You scared me half to death! I was just looking for my phone; I forgot to set my alarm earlier."
Maybe Jeff had jumped to conclusions. Perhaps next time he'd just turn on the light or speak if he was unsure of what was happening.
He looked at Nick sheepishly. "Um...sorry?"
Nick sighed. "No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
Jeff dropped his lacrosse stick to the ground and reached out a hand to help Nick up.
The shorter boy grabbed it and pulled himself to his feet, taking his roommate in a hug.
"Truce?" Nick asked.
Jeff nodded. "Most definitely."
Needless to say neither boy slept for the rest of the night.