Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series by Vaiya Books Page B

room, making
it appear as if somebody had just flicked on a light switch.
    Because of the unnatural light, Ian could see
various tools of all shapes and sizes hanging from pegs on a
distant wall in front of him. One tool in particular caught his
eye--a curved sickle with an old, deteriorated wooden handle. It
was just the sort of weapon the grim reaper would use to carry out
his evil will.
    Dread clawing into his heart over both the
rusty sickle and the bright light that still wasn’t fading away,
Ian shut his eyes tightly and waited for things to return to
normal. This, however, didn’t happen as the light only intensified,
growing more radiant and dazzling by the second.
    By now, Ian was thoroughly terrified.
Nightmarish thoughts flooding his mind like rats swarming a sewer,
he opened his eyes, and, through the blinding haze, hurried towards
what he thought was the door to the staircase. But being
disoriented, he stumbled over a book instead and tripped, slamming
his knees into the rough wooden floor.
    Grimacing in pain, his kneecaps absorbing
their second injury today, the first being when he’d scraped them
up after plowing into Coach Sandler, Ian slowly arose and
frantically searched again for the staircase. Only this time, he
proceeded carefully so he wouldn’t stumble again, as it was still
too bright to see anything. However, as he groped for the wooden
door, his fingers only touched cold stone plastered with cobwebs
and dust.
    Brushing the sticky webs onto his jeans,
disheartened by his vain attempts to get out of this awful place,
he sat down on the floor, trembling, as he desperately struggled to
make sense of the bright light.
    After a few moments had passed though, he
finally came to a conclusion, and when he did, he just sunk his
head in embarrassment, his fear quickly dissipating: the blinding
light was more than likely an ingenious Halloween prank concocted
by Hazel to try to scare him, as she’d been the one to give him the
idea to check out the attic in the first place. Sadly, to his utter
shame, he’d completely fallen for her ridiculous antics, not even
sensing the obvious trap. How could he be so stupid?
    Feeling terribly ashamed, expecting any
moment to hear Hazel’s cheerful laugh, Ian molded his mouth into
somewhat of a smile as he regained his composure. He wouldn’t let
Hazel have the satisfaction of seeing him afraid of a little light.
She already had enough to be satisfied with today.
    As he waited nervously for Hazel to come
through the attic door, turn off whatever was causing the brilliant
light, and lightheartedly tease him for falling for her prank, a
blast of thunder suddenly jolted the room, sending deep echoes
throughout the large dusty library, and causing the attic door to
slowly creak shut.
    As he heard the door shut, his optimism
shattered into tiny fragments, panic sweeping into his heart as he
leapt to his feet. This wasn’t just a practical joke; this was
something out of a horror movie.
    Alarmed, hunched over, a dark feeling of
foreboding in his mind, Ian hurried towards the place where he’d
thought he’d heard the door close, only to end up ramming his
forehead into one of the gigantic bookshelves.
    Dismayed and nearly hysterical with fear, he
rubbed his sore temple and backed away from the bookshelf as if it
were an evil phantom. Thrusting his hand into his pocket with hands
shaking and fingers trembling, he yanked out his cell phone and
flipped it open.
    Fumbling around for the #5 button, the speed
dial for Eddy’s number, he heard another burst of thunder, which
shook the house and knocked the cell phone right out of his hands,
sending it crashing moments later onto the floor.
    Stooping down, panic-stricken, as if he were
trying to disarm a bomb that would blow up in mere seconds, Ian
swept his hands across the ground, groping around to try to find
his phone. After only a short while, he brushed against it with his
cold, clammy fingers and picked it up, his fingers