Free Awake by Egan Yip Page A

that will be enough.”

 
     
    - Into the Dark -
     
     
    “Hey, watch it!”
    “Ouch!” Kevin groaned, “You’re stepping on
my head!”
    “Sorry!” Tom lowered his foot slowly,
searching for the next rung on the wall. It was nearly impossible
to see anything in the dark.
    Kevin reached the solid floor at the bottom.
“There’s got to be a light switch somewhere.” He groped around in
the darkness, feeling the wall for anything to press. Finally,
Kevin felt the shape of the switch and flicked on the floodlights.
Startled by the sudden light, Andrew lost his grip and fell,
knocking Tom off as well. The two boys landed on top of each other
ungracefully.
    With Andrew’s foot in his mouth, Tom
mumbled, “Gurd awha heee!”
    Andrew removed his foot and asked, “I didn’t
quiet hear you.”
    “GET OFFAH ME!” Tom screamed.
    “Oh, oh! Sorry….” Andrew quickly got up.
    The hole was empty. There was nothing much
to it aside from a door. When Tom opened the door, a cold draft
swept across them. The door led to a giant steel hallway, which was
cold like a freezer. Besides a low hum coming from the fluorescent
tubes overhead, it was quiet.
    Kevin hissed out a trail of vapor. “I
should’ve brought a jacket! Why’s it freezing down here?” He stared
at the group. “Wait a minute…. Where’s Katie? I thought she was
behind us.”
    “She didn’t want to come down.” Andrew
rubbed his arms, shivering. He looked in his chest pocket. Terminus
was snuggled inside, immersed in Andrew’s body warmth. “I don’t
blame her. Let’s do what we came for…and quickly.”
    Kevin nodded in reply, keeping his lips
closed, afraid to lose heat from his breath.
    The main hall only had twenty doors, ten on
each side. However, each door was nearly a football field apart.
The other end of the hall seemed so distant and tiny. They began
examining the first few doors.
    “This place is massive!” exclaimed Kevin.
“Each door leads to a different department…”
    “And they all have code names,” Tom added,
pointing at the sign. “Like this one. It’s called ‘Phantom.’ I
wonder what’s inside.”
    “Phantom,” Andrew said nervously. “I don’t
like the sound of that.”
    “Why not?” Tom snickered. “Do you believe in
ghosts?”
    An uneasy feeling rising in his chest,
Andrew glanced around. “N-no way. G-ghosts don’t exist…I
think.”
    While Andrew was looking around, Tom snuck
behind him and let out a ghastly moan in his ear. His eyes nearly
bulging, Andrew gasped, then jumped and spun around, his hand
clutching at his heart.
    Squeezing Andrew on the shoulder, Tom
cracked up. “Oh man, are you serious?”
    Glaring at Tom, Andrew stormed away.
    Kevin ignored them and hurried down the
corridor, glancing at every door.
    “There’s got to be something here related to
sleep.”
    The third door down had a sign that read:
Fairy Tale. He thought about it for a minute. Many times fairy
tales involved sleep, usually being some form of a curse. Could the
solution to their problem lie behind this door?
    A voice behind him shouted, “Boo!”
    Kevin thrust back his elbow and made contact
with someone’s gut. Kevin looked over his shoulder and saw Tom
kneeling on the ground, grunting.
    Tom held his stomach tightly. “Ugh…I wasn’t
expecting that.”
    Kevin smirked. Then he turned his attention
back to the door and placed his hand on the door. “What do you
think? Should we open door number three?”
    Tom, still in pain, groaned, “Sure, why
not?”
    Curious, Kevin glanced around the hall.
“Where’s Andrew?”
    Tom shrugged. “He just ran off. Maybe he
went to check out another door…” A thought came to his mind, and
his face split into a grin. “Or maybe he’s thinking of a way to get
back at me. But I’ll be ready. No one ever gets me back and gets
away with it.” He suddenly forced out a howling laughter that
echoed through the halls, making him sound like a stereotypical
villain.
    Kevin said