Happy Birthday, Kaylie

*Warning: contains some graphic scenes of gore or violence. It's only PG-13 violence though really, so anybody on this sight should have no problems with it. However, if you really don't like horror-type stories or violence, I wouldn't read this.

Also, if you could leave a vote and some feedback that would be great. Hopefully the feedback won't be too bad.*

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The night was cold, as it normally is in late October. The air was chilly and their breaths could be seen in the air as they crawled from their individual cars. The six of them had decided earlier in the week that on Halloween night instead of trick or treating they'd visit with their old middle school teachers. They'd wanted to do so all year, and Halloween was as good a day as any.

Kaylie Price slammed her door shut and remotely locked her car as Claude Knight, her boyfriend, climbed out of the other side. Kyra Taylor had driven as well, Hunter Fox had ridden with her, and Jonathan and Derek Able were exiting Jonathan's Jeep. The six of them had been familiar with one another in middle school but became better friends in high school. Some were better friends than others. For example Kaylie wasn't great friends with Kyra, but they were on good terms. And Kaylie suspected that Jon didn't really care much for Claude, but they had never had any real problems with each other.

No matter how great of friends they were, the six of them hung out rather often, sometimes in smaller groups if a couple of them were busy or something. Halloween evening was like any other, except that it was Kaylie's birthday of course. She loved her birthday, a time when everyone was giving her hugs and presents and praise; pretty much every girl's dream. It was also a plus when she was younger that everyone just happened to be handing out candy on that very same day.

The sky was beginning to darken as Kaylie nodded graciously to Jon and smiled as he held the door open for them all. He smiled back, though she sensed he was smiling more at Kyra whom she knew he had a thing for. They all walked together to the front office and Jon once again held the door. He seemed to have a thing for it.

They approached the receptionist who smiled warmly at them and Kaylie spoke up in her tiny voice, "Hi, we were just coming by to stop in on a few of our old teachers. Would that be okay?" She gave the heavy-set woman behind the desk a polite smile. She had a great smile.

"Oh, yes darling," the receptionist said happily, "you all just go ahead and speak to whomever you want. I'll let all of the administrators know you're here so they don't throw you out or anything." She continued smiling merrily as they all thanked her and went to leave. Kaylie noticed Jon grab a map off of a small desk near the door.

"This will tell us where to find whichever teachers still work here," Jon explained, unfolding it and looking it over once they were back in the hall.

"We know what a school map is," Derek noted sarcastically.

"Shut up," Jon muttered, "Who do you guys want to visit?"

They all made their requests and Jon, being the organizer he was, set up a small schedule and order in which to visit them. Jon led the way through the halls; he had the best memory of them all and knew where everything was even after several years. Somehow it seemed he always became the "leader," though he wasn't the strongest, and Derek got better grades than he did. He was simply liked by most people and tried his best to always be friendly. Also, he was the best at organizing things, which added to his ability to lead.

The six of them visited about ten teachers. These were the only teachers they'd had that still worked at Carter Middle School. Most of the others had either retired or been relocated for one reason or the other. By the time they had finished catching up with the last of their teachers - whom had all been delighted to see them again - it was twenty minutes from seven o'clock. They had one teacher left to visit before leaving; they just hoped he was still there.

As they approached Mr. Murdock's room they saw the light on and so Kaylie knocked lightly, not able to see if he was inside or not through the small window. There was no reply. They knocked again, still no answer.

"Maybe he went home?" Kyra voiced the statement as a question in her soft voice.

They all nodded and agreed but Kaylie knocked once more to be sure. Just as her knuckles rapped against the door for the final time someone behind them cleared his throat roughly and the lot of them jumped and turned.

Derek let out a heavy breath, "Shoot Mr. Murdock, you scared the crap out of us."

Hunter nodded, "I about peed." Kaylie couldn't help but smile at Hunter's country accent and truthful way of saying things.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the former students from Hell." Mr. Murdock joked. He was always joking. "What are you all doing back here?"

"We came to see you sir," Derek said with a smile. "We missed you."

"Who says I wanted to see you? I think it would have been more acceptable to send me an e-mail or something."

"Oh come on Mr. Murdock, you know we were your favorite students," Jon piped in sarcastically.

"Well, I'll maybe let you slide since you were all A students... but what's Claude doing here?" Mr. Murdock's face was always serious even when he was most sarcastic.

"Aww, sir, that hurts," Claude said, his voice reflecting the hurt. "I passed with a C, and that was only because I didn't do that last project."

"You expect me to think you're a good student when you blew off an entire project? You disgust me, shoo." Mr. Murdock waited as Claude awkwardly decided whether or not he should really leave. When he finally turned to walk away Mr. Murdock grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "Just kidding Mr. Knight, but seriously, who blows off an entire project?"

They joked and caught up for the next ten minutes until an announcement over the PA interrupted them. "All teachers and other faculty should be advised that the doors will be locked in ten minutes. Repeat: It is now seven o'clock, teachers and anyone else leaving should do so within the next ten minutes." For some reason they'd all looked up at the PA above their heads as if trying to establish eye contact.

"Well, I guess this concludes our touching reunion kids. Or should I say 'young adults?'" Mr. Murdock smiled at them all and shook their hands. "I'm sure I'll see you all around, the world isn't that big and I'm sure you'll all be on the news for something or another eventually. Except maybe Claude," It took Claude a minute to catch on. "I'm just kidding Claude, I'm sure you'll murder someone eventually. Kidding again, I'm sorry, I should really be going."

They all waved goodbye and were on their way back toward the main hall. All of the classrooms that had previously been lit were now completely dark through the small rectangular windows. It took roughly four minutes for them to get back to the entrance, perhaps a bit more because they had been in the outskirts of the school to talk to Mr. Murdock. By the time they were walking past the office, the rotund lady they'd talked to earlier was packing up for the night.

Kaylie waved goodbye to the lady and smiled warmly. The receptionist returned the smile and waved, then returned her eyes to packing up. Kaylie looked away and down the hall toward the gym and auditorium where she noticed a tall figure walking slowly in their direction. He was completely covered in a black robe and the hood was up, covering his face. Had he been wearing a silly mask, she'd think it was Scream. Before she could point him out to anyone else, the figure strode quickly into the auditorium.

"Hey, did anybody else see that guy?" Kaylie asked lightly.

"I did," Jon nodded, and Hunter agreed with him. "Think it was a teacher dressing up for a Halloween party or something?"

"Maybe... but if it was, why would they head into the auditorium?" Kaylie was getting very curious; she knew she had to check it out.

"What do you say we go check it out?" Jon proposed; he seemed to be curious as well.

"What are we Mystery Inc.?" Derek asked sarcastically. "Well, we might as well; I'm a little interested too." He looked at his brother, "Let's go Scooby!"

"That would make you Scrappy," Jon laughed as they all hurried down the hall.

"And I guess Hunter is Shaggy?"

"He does sort of look like him," Jon grinned.

"Hey!" Hunter exclaimed.

Kaylie stood behind Jon as he pushed the large, heavy door to the auditorium open and entered. The auditorium was lit dimly by reserve lights which stayed on the entire night. There was no sign of the mysterious man. They split up and began searching the auditorium row by row. Jon and Hunter both started by checking the opposite doors at the bottom of the auditorium which led to the hallways.

There was no one there, it seemed he'd run off somewhere, or was possibly just a figment of their imagination. The group decided it would be best to just let someone know what they'd seen and then leave. With Hunter in front, they all exited the auditorium, Kaylie immediately noticed how dark everything was now. Apparently they'd been in the auditorium longer than they'd realized. The hallway lights had all been turned off, save for a few in evenly spaced intervals. The main hall was still lit, however, but the office was now dark and it was obvious no one was around anymore.

They moved forward, everyone was pretty silent, trying to keep their cool. When they made it to the front doors, Jon and Derek moved forward and began checking them. They pushed and pulled as hard as possible on each. The doors wouldn't budge.

"Well, what now?" Jon asked no one in particular.

"Jon, I'm getting a little worried," Kyra said, her voice trembling slightly. "I don't like being in abandoned buildings like this. And what about that guy you and Kaylie say you saw, what if he's like a killer or something?"

Jon laughed and put an arm around her gently hugging her. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, we'll be fine." He gave her another squeeze but she moved away from him slightly, he shook it off. "Look!" Jon exclaimed, pointing toward the main office.

"What?" Claude asked, "I don't see anything."

"The mop and bucket! They weren't here earlier. That means there must be a janitor still here cleaning up." Jon had already begun heading down the left hallway which he knew had a janitor's closet a ways down.

"Sounds good enough for me," Kaylie agreed, "We may as well give it a shot." She jogged to catch up to Jon and the rest of the group went to catch up with her.

The group moved cautiously down the darkened halls, paranoid at the aspect of a killer that Kyra had put in all of their heads, and simply a bit freaked that they may have to spend the night in an empty school. It wasn't long before they came up on the janitor's closet Jon had known about, which was open with the light on. There appeared to be no one around, so Jon moved up slowly, the others right behind him. Timidly they peered into the closet, unsure of what they were scared of. Kaylie watched as Jon's blue eyes scanned the inside of the closet and she could tell he saw nothing.

Suddenly, Jon jumped, causing the rest of them to jump as well, each of their hearts pounding strongly against their rib cages. A strong black hand had grasped Jon's shoulder and instinctively he had spun around, ready to strike at the person who owned the hand.

"Whoa, child!" A rumbling voice exclaimed, "Calm down!" The man standing behind them was about Jon and Derek's height, around 5'11" and pretty rotund. He had backed up slightly, both hands in the air to accentuate that he didn't intend to harm them. "It's okay son, cool it. I ain't gonna hurt ya."

"You scared the crap out of me sir," Jon breathed out heavily, after noticing the janitor's uniform on the man. "Sorry about that, we're a little freaked out."

"It's okay," the large man smiled warmly, "I shouldn't have startled you like that. I'm Felix Dice, a janitor here. What are you kids doing in school this late? By the looks of ya, ya don't even go here do ya?"

"No sir," Kaylie answered him, "we don't go here anymore, we were just visiting. We thought we saw someone suspicious on our way out and decided to investigate. Then we got locked in."

Felix rumbled a belly laugh, "What are you? Mystery Inc.?"

"Yeah, okay, not that funny," Jon retorted dryly.

"Sorry... so, you want me to let you out I assume?"

"Actually, yeah, that's why we came looking for you, we thought you'd probably have a key to get out." Kaylie explained hastily, eager to get out of the school.

"Well darlin', I'd be more than happy to let you all out. Let's get going, I'm sure you all have things to do." With that Felix pushed past them, but doubled back to grab a box of soap from the closet. "I was coming to get this when I thought I heard something in the stairwell, turned out to be nothing." He shrugged and made his way past them again.

Felix was leading them back down the hallway toward the entrance when Hunter stopped and let everyone know he was getting a drink. They all paid him no mind and continued forth as he stopped at a water fountain. Each of them were talking to one another about non-important things, parties and the such when Jon stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Hunter?" The fountain had stopped running and only Jon had noticed. Everyone began scanning the darkness with their eyes. Hunter was gone. "Hunter?" Jon asked the hallway again, there was no response. Cautiously they crept back down the hall.

"Hunter, this isn't funny," Kyra called out, making sure to stay between two of the guys at all times.

When they were all near the water fountain Hunter had been drinking from they decided to search the rooms for him, unsure of what could have happened to him. They decided that Claude should stay with the girls, so Felix, Jon, and Derek began checking the classrooms and stairwell. Kaylie watched as Jon and Derek investigated separate rooms, flicking the lights on. Felix, who had a flashlight, went into the stairwell he'd checked earlier. After a few moments a deep bellow came from the staircase, followed by Jon and Derek rushing from the rooms and kicking their way into the stairwell. Claude and the girls followed.

As Kaylie entered the stairwell, she noticed Jon and Derek were already down one flight and Jon had Felix's flashlight in hand. Kaylie was able to catch a glimpse of what they were standing over before Jon motioned for Claude to keep the girls back. It was Felix's body, soaked in blood, and she thought she'd seen some of his entrails. Suddenly Kaylie felt as if she had to vomit. The smell of blood was now pervading her nostrils and she choked a bit. Then the sound of Felix gurgling could be heard and Claude pushed the two girls out of the stairwell.

Kaylie was fighting back vomit and tears when Jon and Derek rejoined them with Felix's flashlight. They didn't say anything except that his keys were missing. It was then that Jon took the lead as he usually did.

"All right, we need to stay calm. Felix is dead, and Hunter may be too, I have no idea what is doing this to us, but I can only assume that it's that man we saw earlier. I can't imagine why. What we should do is check the front doors again and try to force our way out if need be." Everyone silently agreed, still somewhat choked up, except for Derek.

"Well what about Hunter? We just leave him?"

Jon nodded gravely, "What can we do Derek? This guy obviously has some weapons, a knife and who knows what else. We need to get out of here and then get the police to check it out. Now come on, let's check the doors."

Kaylie followed instinctively as Jon moved down the hall and toward the entrance for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. She jumped slightly when she felt Claude's hand wrap around hers. After realizing it wasn't the killer she calmed down, nuzzling against his arm and feeling secure for the first time since they'd been locked in.

After reaching the large glass doors again, the boys all tried forcing them open. They even went as far as to begin kicking the doors and the glass in their center. Their attempts were unsuccessful. It appeared that the windows had all been replaced by Plexiglas, probably because of the sniper attacks several years earlier. Jon even went as far as to check a classroom's windows and a bathroom's windows which also would not give way.

Upon returning to the group, Jon was cursing, and Kaylie was becoming more and more worried. Everyone was getting tense now.

"They'll replace every window in this damned place with plexiglas but they probably still serve that slop in the lunch room..." Derek muttered angrily.

Kyra's tiny and shaky voice interrupted the frustrated silence, "I -- I'm going to try the police." She pulled her cell phone out as the rest of them mentally slapped themselves for not thinking of that earlier.

Kyra dialed hastily and placed the phone to her ear. After a few rings everyone heard the operator pick up, "Nine-One-One operator, how may I help you?"

Kyra attempted to keep her voice under control, though it was breaking slightly, "Hi, my name is Kyra Taylor and me and my friends are locked inside Carter Middle School."

"Ma'am, you've called an emergency number. If this isn't a real emergency please hang up."

"Miss, this is an emergency, we can't get out and we think there may be someone in here."

"Ms. Taylor, he is probably a janitor, ask him to let you out." The operator sounded peeved at Kyra's assumed ignorance.

"Do you think we're morons? We've been there and done that. The janitor is dead and we think our friend Hunter may be also. The person I was talking about is a murderer." Kaylie felt that Kyra did a good job of keeping her cool. She'd have yelled.

The operator was on her toes now, "You're sure that there is a dead man on the premises?"

"Yes!" Kyra was yelling now. "And our friend may be dead too! We need help!"

"All right, calm down now. I'm going to send a unit over as quickly as possible, but it could take from twenty to forty minutes." The operator's voice was calm but apologetic.

"Twenty to forty minutes? Are you kidding? There's a murderer somewhere in this building!"

"I know sweetie, I'll get them there as quickly as possible. It's Halloween and all of our units are dispatched to keep children safe and subdue parties. This is our busiest night of the year. In the mean time try finding an alternate way out of the school."

Kyra didn't bother responding, she simply threw her phone at the nearest wall in frustration. Jon went to try and comfort her as Kaylie and the others began panicking. Claude squeezed her hand, tracing his finger along her finger nervously. Derek went to the doors and continued banging and kicking in hopes that something would break.

Jon spoke up finally, after managing to calm Kyra the best he could, "All right, panicking isn't going to do anything for us. What we need to do is check the other exits; the ones in the annexes may be able to be broken or could even be unlocked. Let's stick together and get there."

"So we aren't even going to look for Hunter?" Derek had abandoned breaking the doors.

"We'll look for him, but we need to focus on finding a way out first. If he is already dead then there's no point in risking our lives to find him."

"What if he isn't!?" Derek was beginning to lose his temper, perhaps because his brother was staying so calm. "Don't you even care about him? You've known him your entire life!"

"Didn't you see Felix!?" Jon barked, "What are the chances that Hunter is alive?"

Derek didn't respond, he simply followed Jon who had turned and was making his way back toward Mr. Murdock's room. Kaylie and Claude followed, with Kyra in front of them. They made their way without incident until they reached a fork that led to two separate annex chains. The group agreed to split up, however Kaylie was a bit dumbfounded when Claude elected to check the right annexes with Kyra. Jon seemed a bit perturbed by this as well.