Silence. Slush squished softly under our feet as my brother and I got out of the car. We headed towards the square building ahead, constructed out of white bricks with a dark wood outlining. I followed my brother, questioning why he had basketball practice at nine o’clock at night. He was all ready for practice wearing a pair of light blue Michael Jordan shorts that gently swayed in the frosty night. I sighed when we entered the humid gym that reeked with the smell of body odor. I sat down on the wooden bleachers closest to the door. I opened my small binder, sifting through the papers pretending to be slightly interested in my middle school lifeline. Boredom and distraction overcame me and I could no longer pay attention to repetitive worksheets. I tried to entertain myself by peering at the boys playing basketball, thinking of all my high school possibilities. The doors opened and the fresh air wafted in, I looked up as two upperclassmen strolled in. I felt an overpowering sense that I did not belong. I got up leaving my papers behind; I knew my brother wouldn’t notice my absence.
The air was still and snow flurries whipped through the empty dark hallways that that led into the empty school, leaving an eerie sense when you starred down them. White gates covered the entrance into the middle school leaving nowhere to go. I walked onto the front lawn carving little patterns into the shallow white dust. The orange glow of streetlights illuminated the light snowfall, which fluttered into the empty street. I walked around in boredom; the frigid air seeped in through my jacket raising my skin. I went up to the royal blue gym doors and tugged on the silver handles, locked. I didn’t care, I didn’t mind being stuck in the snow. I felt comforted for a while, but I shivered as the night deepened and the prospect of being stuck outside didn’t sound appetizing. I sat down on a wooden bench staring into the memorizing streetlights. I soon noticed a slight crunching sound coming from the overgrowth of twisting trees that grew from the frozen creek. Comforting myself, I assumed it was a cat or bird.
I heard it again. Louder this time, I distinguished it as footsteps. Moving my head in all directions, looking for a slight obstruction in my present view. “Crunch” the hairs on my back raised, Am I really alone? “Crunch”, “Crunch”, “Crunch”, I frantically searched for someone but the looking through the dark only worsened my anxiety. “Crunch”, I yelped out hoping for a response. Images flashed through my mind of a crazed killer jumping out, no one would notice if I disappeared. “Crunch”, I couldn’t handle it anymore, my imagination took off I started shaking. Who could be out there, why weren’t they revealing themselves? I sprinted to the door, locked I forgot. “Crunch”, bewildered I called out again quaking in terror. “Crunch”, louder than ever before, my heart pounded. My breath puffed into the air like short cigarette puffs making a hallow sound. I gazed again into the dim surroundings. Hallucinations of psychopaths continually popped up imprinting into my mind. “Crunch” I didn’t want to test my fate. I turned on my heels racing toward the other side of the gym running at a hundred meter sprint pace. My feet clapped against the ground echoing off the halls. I yanked at another pair of silver handles, locked. At the verge of tears I pounded on the doors slightly yelling, despite the cold sweat hurled down my face. I kept yanking at the doors flashing my eyes in all directions for my killer. Finally a sweaty red-faced basketball player opened the door in complete shock. Flustered and teary eyed I stomped to the other side of the gym, faking my attention to homework.
Basketball practice ended, worn out my brother vaguely opened the gym doors. I peered outside, a man walked out from the shadowy parking lot and greeted his son, is he my deadly stalker? Tense, I walked away almost jogging to my brother’s car. Inside the green snow covered corolla a temperature below zero awaited us. I opened my mouth to tell all about my night, I paused finding myself speechless, what had happened? Nothing at all, no person attacked me, I had no wounds or emotional damage. My salt stained brother glanced in my direction with a confused expression. “How did basketball practice go?” I asked with a forged smile, “Dumb”, my brother replied without the slightness emotion. The corolla sped up the icy streets and my brother turned up his 90s rock music. I laid into the cushy seat and tried to captivate the events. I turned up blank and felt slightly embarrassed. I felt manipulated by my senses, immature and naive about the whole situation. Fear took over my basic knowledge and control. Did I overreact? Sliding deeper into the seat I drifted off to sleep, realizing an answer would never be revealed.