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"You've got the keys, right? And the, um, money? Or did you pre-order the tickets on my phone?"
"I pre-ordered them, like you said! Let's just go, this will be so funny...", Amy replied.

There were so many "Maybe-we-shouldn't-be-s" and "Are-you-sure-about-this-es" floating about my conscience at the moment, I was shaking. I hated myself for being such a downer, and worrying all the time about everything. I did nothing but worry, and it always made my blood run cold and my heart beat like crazy... Maybe I had anxiety problems. Maybe it was the coffee.... Oh, god.

Heather. You're worrying again.
Oh, right, um... no. Forget it. I'm sure I'm fine, so I'm not going to be the one who ruins this trip. We were going to have fun, I was sure of it... well, even if I wasn't sure of it exactly, I could try to convince myself. I told myself that if anything went wrong, I wouldn't have to lie because I could just say that I wanted to see Fright Night anyway. Which I did.

Amy whipped her head around the corner of the door and smiled widely.
"You ready, then?"
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All the way to walk to the bus stop, all the way, everything that crossed my mind was strategies on how not to get caught. I added in some parts of conversation here and there during that pressing and melancholic bus ride, like "D'you think we'll have time to get popcorn?" or, "David Tennant's in Fright Night, isn't he? That should be good..."
But obviously my mind was elsewhere, again. It wasn't sensing the coldness creeping over my skin or the loud grinding coming from somewhere deep inside the mechanics of the lumbering, awkwardly constructed vehicle. It was inside the cinema, not being stimulated by the complicated plotlines or the flawless CGI effects, but more concentrating on how hot it was.

It was becoming really airless and tight. I kept looking over my shoulder, but not to giggle and mock over whatever was going on with those two, but to try and stop myself from being seen. I saw them with their arms around each other, but I honestly couldn't have cared less about that.. the only thing I cared about was-

It was...
something else
what?
what was so important...?

My mind became less dependent on thoughts and daydreaming and suddenly became aggressively vivid. I could see something, something grey, on the ground, and it was moving fast. It looked like.. it was spinning? No, it was moving, but it moved in a straight line and it was consistant. My ears were hit by an unexpected, offensive and piercingly loud screeching, like two pieces of metal creating sparks as they ripped each other apart. It got progressively louder, and I felt my hands clasp onto my own ears because I wanted to tear them apart, wrench them away from my skin. I could hear my pulse in my brain, and feel it pumping.
I could see something else. Something that was now definitely spinning. It kept going, and the brain-wrenching sound only grew louder. And louder. And my senses, everything that I knew was being completely overtaken and overwhelmed by something, it felt like a danger, something I should be completely afraid of, and it grew stronger, and it only became more incredibly intimidating, and the screech turned into a loud, desperate scream-

"Heather? You okay?"
I was hit hard by consciousness. Where was I, again?
I pulled myself upright.. I'd been hunched over in the bus seat.
People all around were staring at me as if I'd just made some outrageous blasphemic or racist comment out loud. I'd been actually grasping at my ears and scrunching up my eyes, doubled over in my seat although in pain.
The old women with bus passes in hand, the young mothers stood slumped by their baby's prams, the 'cool-group' kids that sat with one blackberry earphone in their ear listening to whatever the charts had threw at them for this particular week, the lost old creepy men that had no idea where to go next, or apparently didn't know how to wash their hair, either, every single one of them thought that I needed help. That I was going around the bend completely.
I probably was.

I swallowed to regain some of the saliva back into my mouth. It was dry, and sour, like I'd just recovered from losing my voice, or like I'd been shouting for hours, and it tasted like raw caffeine.

I looked over at Amy.
"I'm fine.
Just don't
say
any more about it, and I'll be absolutely fine. Come on, it's our stop next. We've got our film to catch."

______________________________________________________________________________________________

The bus gave a long sigh from the foundations of its structure the very moment that the heap of passengers, still quite dazed at the events of the last few minutes and still feeling it quite relevant to stare as they passed me, all piled off of the bus and dispersed along to wherever they were heading.
I thanked the bus driver as we left, and he gave no reply, instead shooting me a sympathetic look as I stepped off onto the pavement. I stood with my feet fixed firmly to the ground, rocking slightly back and forward on my feet but with my back straight. I inhaled the thick, cold air as if it was icy water. It was invigorating, and so relieving for some reason to be I breathing air properly. I acknowledged this now as being a privilege. Something that was not to be taken for granted any time soon.
I looked up and around the town. It looked somewhat odd, and looking into the skyline looked as if someone had purposely decided to place a few shabby, disshembled buildings in between so many well-built, smooth and advanced structures, to make some sort of artistic statement. It was actually quite intresting to me.
It occurred to me suddenly that something was bothering me about being in the town's crowds and mayhem and traffic, and I felt the danger crawl through my skin once more, but I would not allow it to dominate me. I pulled Amy, stumbling over the stone tiles and through the door onto the grey carpet of the cinema.
We were just on time for our..
their...
showing.
After we had claimed our tickets from a middle-aged, chubby woman at the front desk, we found our theatre and crept in through the door, still double-checking over our shoulders to make sure they were'nt strolling happily behind us.
Amy was giggling all the way to our seats. I giggled too, but I know she could hear the nervous wobble of my laugh. I was only trying to reassure her through playing along. I couldn't help knowing that there was something very wrong, but I swept it out of my mind and started laughing because by the time the film started, I was actually trying to have a good time.
It was quite a slow-moving film, and there were some unexpected parts, which were'nt shocking, but just sort of irrelevant and misplaced. Other than that, I recognized it to be a really good film, that stayed true to the original version of "Fright Night".
40 minutes into the film and half a small bag of popcorn later, Amy nudged me hard in the arm.
"Ow!" I laughed,
"That was right in the elbow!"
"Shhh!" she replied,
"Look!"
I followed her gaze and her pointing arm, that on Rachael and Ashley.

They were full-on eating each other's faces.

I burst out into laughter without thinking. I wouldn't have been able to control myself even if I did think about it. I realized now that this was just harmless fun.


What was I worrying about?

The digging anxiety was still there, but I pushed it away. It was silly. We were only having fun! It was a good film, and Amy was having fun making fun of Rach. I looked down into our popcorn bag, and then up into the back row where I saw something completely unexpected.

Rachael, still holding on to Ashley's arm, was stood upright on the back row looking in our direction.
We'd been caught.
All of the fear and worry and danger and intimidation, aggression, everything came flooding back, breaking the mental barricades that I had built.
I could swear that just for that tiny moment, my brain and heart completely went ablank and completely forgot how to work.
I froze.
In a sudden impulse, and without moving any other part of my body, I grasped Amy's arm around her wrist tightly.
I don't know if I was keeping myself safe by staying with her, but I was sure something was completely wrong.
That's all I could describe the thoughts as.
Something was completely wrong.


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I don't exactly know where else I'm going to try and go with this chapter, because it's not mine to play with, and I might have to delete this, but I did try to keep the spoilers to a minimum. No clues. If you read this, thankyou.