The song above is one I found that really suited this chapter. It's actually one of my favourites, despite how creepy and wonderful the violins sound. I would really recommend listening to it for this chapter as it really adds to the atmosphere (link above).

Don't forget to vote if you like and tell me what you think.

x

Eleanor immediately ran to the front of the store where the light switches were located, pressing all five of them down at once with one harsh flick in an attempt to light up the first half of the shop as quickly as humanly possible. She couldn't explain it, but there was something so terrifying about darkness. Especially in this moment. In the blanket of darkness, the eyes struggled to see, the lack of illumination containing an eerie sort of vulnerability. Anything could creep up on her without her knowledge, leaving her literally in the dark when the final blow came to her head. Before she could even comprehend what was happening. 

The lights flickered, highlighting the tile for a few seconds at a time before they settled in their usual, dull, yellow glow. And, in those small quivers of light, Eleanor felt her heartbeat increase to at least double the speed, eyes wide and staring as she continued to look at the man seated in the booth nearest the counter. He hadn't moved. And he was grinning almost maniacally, the blinking of the lights causing his waving hand to flutter in and out of existence. 

She couldn't explain it, but there was something very unnerving about him. The air surrounding him seemed a little more charged, some hidden code in them yelling at anyone in close proximity to back the hell away. It was something in his expression. The way he held himself. His smile was too wide, the happiness meeting his eyes so much that Eleanor couldn't trace any other emotion on his face. It reminded her of a predator, luring the prey in with something akin to friendliness only to go straight in for the kill when the victim was close enough. It was in his eyes, the way the light bounced off his irises and followed her every move. Looking her dead in the eye. Assessing her. 

By the time she stood in front of him, his grin had faded into a content smile. His feet were still resting on the table, long legs stretched out onto the dark grey of the granite. There was a menu in his hand and he momentarily took his eyes away from hers to scan it almost mockingly. Eyebrows furrowed and drawn together as if he was scrutinizing every detail of the food choices. When he spoke, the ends of his sentences mimicked the actions of his eyes, mocking and clearly directed at Eleanor. "I'll have the cheeseburger and chips, please. Oh, and a small cup of Sprite on the side." He tilted his head to the side, grinning once more and blinking slowly as if it would give him a look of innocence.

He looked psychotic.

Eleanor gulped, stuffing a shaking hand into her coat pocket as the light above her head flickered one last time, adjusting itself to the way it had been so abruptly switched on. And it stayed on for a couple of seconds. Before it completely blinked out. Eleanor was standing beneath the only broken light, the angle she was standing at giving her a slight shadow. "We're closed."

She reached over to take the menu from his hands, she wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. He made her nervous. And not in the good way. There was something so inhumane about him. His cheeks a bit too pale. His eyes a bit too dark. His hands a bit too cold. His confidence a bit too-

Wait.

He had grabbed onto her hand, the chill of his touch making every hair in her body stand on end. She could almost feel the goosebumps rippling over her skin, a rolling wave of sudden fear as he used his grip on her arm to slowly pull her closer. Until she had her elbows leaning on the table and their faces only inches apart. So much that she could smell the foul odour of his breath. It was an odd smell, the stench so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

She was so dazed by her sudden dose of fear that she didn't realise the rather compromising situation until he spoke. His words were soft and quiet but just as stealthy and silent as a cobra making its way towards the chose victim of the evening. Spewing its poison until the opponent was too blinded to protest against its advances. "You're just as beautiful as he said you were."

The disturbing words set off alarm bells in Eleanor's mind, yanking her arm out of his cold grip. No longer paralysed by fear. She was perfectly capable of getting herself out of this. She just had to rely on her brain. She could get away from this freak. She would get away from his freak. She just needed to somehow get him out of the store so she could lock up. But that would leave them alone on a cold, dark street. She found herself wishing that Flynn would be here soon. Something was telling her that she couldn't beat this guy. He looked too smug to be beaten so easily. Like he knew that he'd already won. 

At first glance, Eleanor had considered him to be none other than her number one enemy, Liam McAllaistar. Playing another stupid prank on her. But, upon closer inspection, although he looked similar, he was most certainly not Liam. His face was longer in shape, cheekbones and jawline a little sharper and defined. He also looked to be a little taller than his lookalike, even when sitting down. Perhaps broader shoulders. And his fashion taste was nothing like that of Liam's, either. He wore a deep red T-Shirt, black jeans with a gold chain hanging off one pocket and an odd necklace that looked like a small, solid gold jar. It was no larger than the tip of Eleanor's thumb.

When he stood up, Eleanor unintentionally jumped back. She had been right. He was tall. Unconventionally so. He towered above her even from a distance away, shadow covering her terrified form as he slowly began to walk towards her, each step as sure and as confident as the echoing sound they made on the tile. Eleanor had no idea why he seemed so threatening. But there was something about him, a mixture of his nauseating grin and the way he spoke as if they were old friends. As if he knew her. 

He stopped walking towards her just as Eleanor's back hit the wall. She could hear the pulse in her ears, heart pumping her blood so fast that she could practically imagine it sloshing and thrashing about inside her skin. Her mind was reeling, scrappily trying to put together an escape plan but failing under so much pressure. She was smart, she knew that, but her brain had never been put to the test when it was also swimming in a pool of its own fear.

He sat himself down happily on a table not too far away from her, resting his hands behind him and slowly kicking his legs back and forth in a slow, steady rhythm that coincided with the ticking of the overhead clock. He tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling for a while, making some ticking noises under his breath. The pure insanity of his manner sent chills down her spine, tendrils of fear clawing at her mind that was frantically trying to piece things back together. The guy looked athletic, he would easily catch up to her if she tried to run. He expected her to escape, she realised. He was prepared for such a move. It was probably why he was so relaxed. She needed to catch him off guard. Or...or at least wait long enough so that Flynn could show up and tell him to back the hell off. Where the hell was he, anyway?

She turned her head away from the psychopath in front of her to glance out of the window, once again seeing nothing but darkness. Her stomach was twisting itself in knots, churning and turning itself inside out as she stared into the dark night outside. She had really never expected to find herself in this kind of situation. It had never really occurred to her that anyone would want to do something like this to her. Unlike the other kids in the academy, she wasn't valuable. She couldn't be held for ransom. She had listened to the self-defence lessons the school had provided and laughed as the other students had fretted about being held hostage in return for some sort of code or cash reward.

Her breath got caught in her throat when her gaze returned to where the Liam lookalike had previously been seated, her whole body stopping for a moment as her heartbeat took a moment to recover from both the shock and the fear she was feeling. Because he wasn't there anymore. Just an empty table with a neatly folded menu and the ticking of the clock mingling in with the sound of her now laboured breaths. Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it. Why had she taken her eyes off him? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. He could be anywhere. Anywhere. He could be ready to stab a knife into her back at any moment. He could be coming for her right now. 

Her eyes flitted frantically around the room, looking for any sight of his distinctive ginger hair, scanning all the way from the open door to the back of the blacked out kitchen. He could be lurking anywhere. Waiting for her to make a run for it just so he could catch her again. Something told her that he was someone who enjoyed a game of cat and mouse. Enjoying the torment of his victim.

"Looking for me?"

The voice came from right next to her ear, feeling hot breath strangle her throat with a whole new sense of fear. Letting out a sound that almost appeared to be a small squeak, she jumped round to face him. He was only a few feet away from her, the same stench in the air as he leaned closer to her, grin wider than ever and eyes dancing with the reflections of the overhead lights. She backed away from him, sliding along the wall and moving towards the exit. She didn't even care that he would probably be able to catch her anymore, she needed to get away from him. 

Her back hit the window.

He had followed her all the way there, now only about a metre in front of her, holding his hand out into the gap between them. She refused to take it. The pale object hovered there for a moment, not once shaking as he kept glancing from his hand to her eyes. It didn't take him long to realise she wasn't in the mood for greeting him, sighing and slipping it into the back pocket of his dark jeans. "I apologise for not introducing myself earlier." Now that his voice wasn't so quiet, Eleanor could detect his strong British accent. It was that of someone who was upper class, well-rounded words and sentences delicately structured. It actually reminded her of some of the students back at the academy. "My name is Luke. Luke McAllaistar. I believe you may be an acquaintance of my little brother."

"L...Liam?" She cursed herself for stuttering, but she couldn't help it. The rush of adrenaline and fear in her body was so much that she couldn't think to form proper words. Nothing was quite making sense in her mind, brain gasping for air as it struggled to pull the dots back together. Liam. Liam. He looked like Liam.

Luke nodded once, lifting a hand to gently fondle with the pendant hanging around his neck. They were standing only metres away from the door. So close that Eleanor could practically smell the fresh air from outside. It was so close and, as she glanced back at her captor who appeared to be fascinated with the new object of his attention, she decided that she couldn't waste such an opportunity. But what to do? She needed to think quickly. He would be able to catch her movements if she tried to run. Perhaps he was expecting her to make a move on him. It would make sense. He seemed to love watching as she struggled to get away from him. What would he be expecting her to do, though? Perhaps she could use his own prediction against him. What was the most obvious thing? A knee to his manhood perhaps? That was a pretty generic thing to expect from a woman you've cornered. But...then she would have to catch him off guard. How the hell was she going to do that?

Her shaking hands clasped around the cool metal in her pocket. Her keys.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she brought her knee up to give him a strike where no man should ever be harmed. Her right hand held the keys tightly in her palm, hidden in her pocket as the sharp edge of the metal cut slightly into her palm. It wasn't necessarily made to be a weapon. But it was all she had. And, surely with the right velocity...

As anticipated, he grasped onto her leg, holding it in midair as he stared down at her with a menacing grin. He looked as if he was about to open his mouth to speak another mocking taunt, but she didn't waste any time. From what she had seen so far, he prided himself in knowing her every move. In being ahead. If she wanted to get away from him, she needed to make her move before he saw it coming.

Wasting no more time, she lifted her right hand and struck him with the sharp edge of the keys right across his eye, wincing when she heard the sound of metal scraping against skin. And, although the action may not have done the most damage it possibly could have, he hadn't been expecting it. He immediately let go of her knee as he cried out in pain, putting two hands over his eye as she quickly made a break for it towards the door. She pushed her legs to move as fast as they possibly could, already hearing the quick footsteps of him catching up behind her.

But her little act of violence had gotten her far enough ahead to be out of the door before he could reach it, slamming it shut and locking it just as he was coming up to it. She watched through the glass as he banged his fists against it, expression looking almost feral as cries of outrage could be heard from outside the store. She didn't want to look at his eye, but she couldn't really help it. There was a small cut in the surrounding skin of his eye. Just a graze. But it was bleeding. It made him look all the more terrifying.

The cold air wrapped itself around her, a comforting hug acting as a reminder that she had done it. She had escaped that lunatic and whatever the hell he had planned for her. Her heartbeat was still beating fast though, empowered to move faster with every sound that Luke made. She could practically feel him glaring at her through the glass, rage so evident that she honestly wouldn't have been too surprised if the window shuddered and broke under his fists. 

She was surrounded by a faint, red glow provided by the overhead sign reading Orlando's Pizza Place. One of the lights flickered.

What the hell was she supposed to do now? There was a live man trapped inside the store she worked at who seemed very, very angry and she hadn't even turned off the lights. What the hell was she supposed to say to her boss who came to open up in the morning? How would she explain this? She supposed that she could tell the truth, but it was very unlikely that he would believe her. Why the hell would someone have taken the time to work out where she worked, as well as her name and when her shift ended? How would he have even gotten that information in the first place?

She had been so caught up in her thoughts that it took her a moment to realise that Luke was no longer banging against the door. No, now he was...he was crouched on the floor right next to her feet, on the other side of the door, of course. Hunched over. Body heaving with...sobs? No. No. He wasn't crying. His body was wracking, whole spine thrown back by what appeared to be incredibly powerful coughs. They were so loud she could hear them through the glass. They sounded violent, and, when she looked down, she could see that his spasms had ejected something onto the glass. Blood. Blood erupting from his mouth with every new cough that his body forced him to make.

It was at this point that an engine roared beside her, a dark blue car pulling up next to her shaking, terrified figure as a familiar blonde boy sprinted out of the car and ran to stand beside her. He looked just as scared as she was, blue eyes wide as he stared at the boy now collapsed on the tile inside the store, blood running out of his mouth as his chest heaved with long, shaky breaths. 

Eleanor watched as Flynn crouched down to get a better look, face looking paler than usual in the darkness as he pressed his head up against the glass. "Luke?"