A/N: Welp, I am terribly sorry it's taken so long to update! Life has been a bit busy and I just didn't have time to work on this. I feel like the story is a little slow, so I'm trying to come up with more ideas to make it better, but I just don't know - my brain is mush lately. But thank you so much for reading and keeping up with the story! It is greatly appreciated, and I hope you continue to be patient with me and leave some good feedback!
Of course she wants to go look for the key, Garry thought. Why couldn't he have just told the girl that he had no clue where her dorm was? He would be back in his apartment at this point, snug on the couch with a beer in hand and some independent film playing on HBO. It would have been quite a pleasant evening, he was sure.
But, something in him had found the girl alluring, and he wanted to help her. It was like he had met her before, like in some past life, if he even believed in that sort of thing. How could he refuse her when he felt so drawn to her?
"Garry, you coming?"
Ib was standing in the doorway, one foot already extended into the black abyss of the hall. Aforementioned foot tapped impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah," the man mumbled before following her and making sure the door was left open to let some light stream into the hallway. He cringed outwardly at feeling, once again, extremely frightened and uncomfortable. Even with some of their surroundings dimly illuminated, it was still difficult to make out what was around them. Garry saw a picture frame crooked on the wall and an old fire extinguisher in its case further down. His eyes drifted down to the edge of the wall where it met with old linoleum flooring.
That's when he noticed Ib on her hands and knees, slender fingers running along the bottom of wall and the floor directly beneath it. In the dim light, Garry thought he saw her glance over her shoulder back at him. He was suddenly uncomfortably aware of his own heartbeat, now thudding hard against his ribs. He could have sworn she heard it, because she paused momentarily, head lifted, before resuming her search.
What's wrong with you, Garry? The girl is barely legal – don't even think about it.
The purple-haired man shook his head clear before starting to the other side of the hall to search for the key.
"Crap!" Ib had stopped. She felt the cool air from a vent near the floor. "We went too far. That whole 'sudden chill' thing was talking about the air conditioning."
"We haven't looked on this side yet," Garry pointed out. "I'll check this side."
Good. Distract yourself.
Garry began to run his hands along the wall and floor like Ib was doing before, making his way back towards the door of the lit room. A few feet forward, his fingers brushed over something that was a slightly different texture than the rest of the wall.
"Hey, Ib, hand me your phone."
Without a word, Garry heard Ib rummaging through her bag to find her phone again, a few moments later handing it over. He thought he felt her shiver when she finally found his hand, the back of her thumb brushing against his palm. Her hand was so warm, despite the eerie cold of the hallway. He imagined for a moment what she would do if he wrapped his fingers around her hand and pulled her down towards him. She would be so close, close enough for him to feel her breath against his skin, to smell the perfume on her neck. Close enough to press his mouth against hers and envelope her in his arms until they both forgot about the killer and her stupid clue.
Goodness, he needed to stop thinking about that.
He fumbled around with the device for a second, head whirling with his own embarrassment and guilt, before finding the button to turn the screen on. Using it as a flashlight, he held it over the spot on the wall.
Ib knelt down beside him to share his discovery. "The killer taped the key to the wall?"
Tearing at the pieces of masking tape, Garry took the copper colored key and turned it over in his hands. "This is so strange. I don't understand why a killer would do any of this, or even have the time to leave this kind of stuff around." Garry straightened himself up, handing the phone back to Ib and clutching the key tightly in his hands. "Something isn't right."
"Maybe she's one of those killers that likes to play with her victims' heads before she ultimately kills them," Ib offered. "I've seen a lot of specials on television about people like that." Sadly, Garry realized she was being completely serious.
"Well, let's hope we can get out of here before she ultimately kills us, then."
Mary could hear voices down one of the hallways as she crept quietly through her carefully laid out trail of clues. She had already run into one group of students who had gone the opposite way of the first group upon leaving the stage. She easily played the part of the lost and scared survivor, friend of the deceased and first to discover his body. The three girls immediately welcomed her character into their brood, but Mary found herself bored very soon after. They had only found one clue of hers, and they couldn't even figure it out. It became very apparent that it would be by the grace of God if these girls won. So, when they had their backs turned, distracted by the text one of them had received from some guy, Mary slipped away.
And so she found herself in one of the hallways that she had stationed a freshman at, ordered to shut the lights off at the sign of anyone coming down it. She immediately spotted the light of one of the adjacent rooms and strained her ears to hear what the two voices were saying to each other.
"I've seen a lot of specials on television about people like that."
"Well, let's hope we can get out of here before she ultimately kills us, then."
Mary knew almost instantly that the voices belonged to the first couple to find Weiss. The guy had the same higher-pitched voice, and the girl sounded just as serious as she did before. It seemed like they were finding some of her clues, and taking the whole acting thing very seriously. Even when it was just the two of them, they were staying in character. She admired that.
She heard their footsteps as they headed to the open door, the two still muttering on about something as they entered the room and closed the door behind them. Grinning to herself, Mary crept down the hall after them.
"Okay, let's see where this door will take us now," Garry said as he twisted the key in the lock and the doorknob gave way. Hands trembling, half expecting the killer to be waiting for them on the other side of the door, he pushed it open.
There was another lit room before them, empty racks meant for costumes lining one wall and extremely old looking mannequins on the other. Some of them even had dresses on them still, the fabric torn at the edges and the color dull.
"Creepy," Ib observed, moving past her companion who stood still in the doorway. Her shoulder brushed against his arm, and she faintly noticed the sudden stiffness Garry seemed to acquire. How odd.
"Th-this is really strange," Garry uttered, glancing around them. "It's like it used to be the backstage or something, but it was never cleaned out all the way." He shied away from one of the mannequins that he noticed he was standing too close to.
"It would appear so."
As they both took a few steps more, the sound of the door opening from the room before met their ears. Garry spun around immediately, eyes wide with fear, Ib suddenly at his side and clutching his sleeve. They were only a little relieved to see an equally scared blond gaping at them from her spot by the door.
"H-holy…you scared me!" the blond squeaked, both hands pressed against her chest. She looked to be no more than a year or two older than Ib, face flushed and blue eyes glassy as though she were about to cry.
Ib released her grip on Garry's shirt, not having realized she reached for it instinctively, and took a tentative step forward towards the girl. "Are you alright?" she asked.
The girl squeezed her eyes shut and firmly nodded her head 'yes'. While she didn't appear to be alright, Ib wouldn't press it any further. She had other inquiries to make.
"What are you doing here?" the brunette asked.
Taking a deep breath, the newcomer answered, "I saw that body out on the stage! There was so much blood! I…I couldn't believe it." It looked like she was struggling to keep herself from breaking out into sobs at any moment.
"So you came here?" Garry had spoken up this time.
The girl nodded again. "I heard someone coming and thought it might be whoever did that to that poor guy," she explained, "so I ran off the stage. I got lost though, and it was too dark to see anything, until I saw the light from the room."
Something about the girl wasn't quite right, Garry realized. She made him uncomfortable. But, he couldn't place what it was, and it seemed that Ib wasn't as put off by her as he was. Instead, she seemed rather sympathetic.
"You can join us," Ib offered. "We've found some very weird clues, and we think the killer might be some kind of psychopath you'd see on Criminal Minds. It's not safe to be walking around here alone."
The way Ib said it was so blasé, like she was asking the girl to accompany them on a trip to the mall. It made the situation sound so ridiculously impossible. But, Garry was too scared to question it much, in case there really was a psychopathic killer biding her time before she beat their heads in. He refused to let his guard down at this point, just in case.
Her face brightening, the blond hurried towards Ib and took her hands in hers. "I'm so grateful! I thought I was for sure going to die tonight!"
Ib, offering a nervous smile, shrugged. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. Let's just get going, okay?"
"Okay! My name is Mary, by the way." The blond let go of Ib's hands and turned her smile upon Garry, who had to struggle to keep himself from grimacing at the uneasy feeling he was getting in his stomach.
"I'm Ib, and this is Garry."
Garry had already turned and started towards the other end of the room as they had been before, leaving the two girls to trail behind and finish introductions. Whatever it was about Mary that made Garry so uncomfortable had not dissipated, and he had a bad feeling that there was more to her story than what she was offering. But, luckily for her sake, something in the corner of the room caught his eye, and he decided Mary would be dealt with later.
There was a very demented looking doll hanging from a rope that demanded his attention.