5-Minute Freewrite: The Shadow

James stood outside the building of the abandoned school. Infront of him was a large broken door that served as an entrance to the hallway of the main building of the campus. He glanced at his watch. "7:30 pm, have an hour before my friends come looking for me.", he muttered to himself. Looking back up he peeked inside the building. The full moon just started its journey through the starry sky and its rays came in through the windows. The winter breeze dashed through the hallways, howling as it traversed the building complex. "Is that water I hear?", he thought "Maybe he was overhyping the whole trip."

James opened his school bag and fumbled around for the flashlight. He turned it on and checked the battery level. "10% left! I have to hurry!" So hurry he did, into the hallway and on towards the dining room. According to the map he acquired, the rumored shadow with fiery eyes had set up camp in the large hall. People called him crazy when he saw the shadow roaming the school grounds late at night. He was hellbent on proving them wrong. He came prepared with a knife, a cellphone, and a flashlight.

James stopped and entered a classroom to catch his breath. He ran too fast, maybe it was because he was too tense. "I should rest for a bit". The hall was just 20 meters away. He sat down and slowly he recovered. As the throbbing pulses subsided, he began to hear whispers echoing around. He looked around as he frantically scanned with the limited illumination provided by the flashlight. No one was in the room. Strange, he could've sworn someone else was in the room. The whispers grew louder then it turned into growling.

James closed the door of the classroom as softly as he could. "This was a bad idea after all." On the farthest corner, a chair moved. "What the hell!" In an instant, he was on his feet with the knife on his right hand and the flashlight on the other. He crossed both items before him like he saw in movies and waited. He could see nothing. One, two, three chairs now moved. It was coming closer! He pointed the light at the direction of the noise and there it was two fiery eyes reflecting the light back to him. Huge eyes on the floor looking up at him! "This is the end of me!", he said to himself. Fight or flight... it was neither. He froze in fear! "Goodbye sweet foolish self", he said out loud.

Then the eyes leaped forward and unto his feet... "Meow!", it called out as it brushed his pants. "Meow?" and after some silence, "MEEOOOWWW!"

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Photo credits to @the.artist-98 for providing the picture as a prompt as well.

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