Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek: Revised Writing

I originally wrote this story in class, for the first class write. The prompt was a sentence to begin and end with, represented by the beginning sentence and end sentence. I wanted this story to have a creepy, eerie feel to it, by using a menacing seeker and people who clearly don't want to found and who definitely aren't children.

The two stood face to face. Well, stood was a bit of an exaggeration; they were crouching, rolled into tight little balls, painfully pressed under the shelves of the linen closet. But somehow, eyes still met, cloaked in shadow, just the whites glowing faintly in the darkness.

Breaking the silence, she spoke first, hissing, “What are you doing here? This is my hiding spot! Get out!”

“Shhh! There is nowhere else to---”

He only got so far before she interrupted him with a firm, cool hand against his mouth, as if she had heard something suspicious, nothing he had even noticed. Her eyes met his, a command for absolute silence glaring from them.

She motioned her head towards the door and the line of light seeping underneath it from the bright hallway outside. As they stared unblinkingly at the light, its line was broken, by feet, skipping gently past.

“Ready or not, here I come!” The unknown seeker giggled outside, somehow making even the words of a children’s game sound menacing. The two pushed tighter under the shelf, further into the blankets that lined the closet, desperate to burrow into the blankets and towels and never be found.

The line of light was still interrupted. An ear pressed against the door, barely audible, but they shivered like that ear was pressed against their mouths, listening for the faint noises of breathing. Her hand still pressed against his mouth, she now covered her own, pulling herself into the darkness around him.

Suddenly, as they drew further into the closet, something made a crinkling noise, from the plastic around an unopened, still packaged set of sheets.

There was a moment of terrible waiting, waiting for the inevitable.

The door creaked open.

Frozen with fear, they locked eyes in mute appeal. Something resigned appeared in her eyes, staring so firmly and fearfully into his. Then as if it had already been decided, she let his mouth go and thrust her hand into the light.

“FOUND YOU!” came the gleeful shout, as hands pulled her into the light, her eyes still locked with his, freezing him into the safety of the closet.

“Please, stay hidden,” her last whisper pleaded with him, as he made a move to grab her, pull her back into safety.

The door slammed shut.

The feet skipped away, heavier now, burdened with the weight of an extra person.

The silence settled back into the air of the closet, like it had never been broken at all.

And then there was one.