Airel by Aaron Patterson, C.P. White Read Free Book Online Page A

seconds the ball cap man went limp in his seat. I was speechless. I had just witnessed a cold-blooded murder. I couldn’t breathe, let alone talk. It looked like the ball cap man was napping in the darkness. There was no way anyone would see he was dead until the end of the movie.
    Now, just as if I had shouted at him, the tall man with the knife turned and looked dead at me. His piercing dark eyes shot a hole right through me. I jerked my gaze away and tried to act like I was lost in the movie. He stared at me and refused to let me out of his sight. I managed to grunt something like, “I have to go to the restroom.” I stood and slipped by Michael and James.
    I hiked down the stairs and past the killer’s row, was and I could feel him watching me hatefully. He sat still as I passed. I didn’t look his way. I could feel his gaze follow me as I turned to go out into the lobby. I was scared and in a panic, not sure what to do. My mind felt like sludge and would not work like I needed it to. 
    I hit the lobby quickly and ran full blast to the bathroom where I promptly threw up in the sink. I looked into the mirror. My reflection was the image of a stranger—I wondered at all of this for a split second. Questions came tumbling in, all jumbled up and twisted together with answers that didn’t fit. I fumbled with my phone and dialed 911. Come on, pick up! 
    “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
    I was just about to answer when I heard the door open. I turned and rushed to an empty stall. I shut the door as quietly as I could and crouched down on top of the toilet. I quickly turned off my phone but it played that irritating jingle that’s always way too loud, giving me away. There was silence then for what felt like eternity. Then I heard heavy footfalls. Someone was walking slowly through the room…toward me.
    Like a crazy person, he was whistling some random tune, very low, like a whisper. At first it was unintelligible, total nonsense. But then he came even closer to the stall where I hid, and as he did, I swear I could recognize the tune. It was beyond me to put a name to it, but it filled me with horror. 
    I shivered as he came closer, the footfalls like heavy machinery, dropping like lead weights on the tile floor. I saw under the door  the shine of a pair of men’s dress shoes.
    Oh God, oh God…! Don’t let him find me… I was crouched like a jungle cat on the toilet and if I could have pinned my ears back, I would have.
    I could see him hunch down on the balls of his feet, his coat touching the floor around him like a tent. He started looking under the stall doors, crouching lower. His hand dropped down and a bloody eight-inch long knife was in his hand. I just about screamed but I clamped my hand down over my mouth, only allowing a frightened gasp to escape.
    I watched him through the crack of the door, his body tensed like a vicious predator. He sniffed at the air. Then his hands slowly came down and rested on the floor, balled up on his knuckles with silky elegance. It was more frightening than the anger and violence I was expecting. He seemed to be completely calm and collected. 
    Down he sank, and as he did, he slid his feet back away from his hands. Lower and lower to the floor as if doing a push-up, he descended, the knife in the hand nearest to me. 
    I could not bear it, but I knew I would see his face... it was inevitable. I dreaded the seconds as they ticked along with me riding inside them, but I also dreaded those that were coming for me.
    Then it happened. His face appeared in the small space under the door. He was looking directly at me. I could not bear his gaze. My body twitched and I turned away and trembled in panic.
    Then, just as fast as he came in, he was gone. 
    I started to sob and shake uncontrollably. I stopped myself when I heard the door open again. “Airel, you in here?”
    Kim! “Oh God, Kim! ” I burst from the stall crying. As she stood there stunned, I clung to