✧Midnight Footsteps✧
969 Words
Flora woke with a start.
For a few seconds, she lay perfectly still, staring at the dark ceiling above her.
Something had awakened her.
She wasn't sure what.
The dormitory was silent.
Moonlight filtered through the curtains, painting pale silver shapes across the floor.
Flora turned onto her side and checked the clock beside her bed.
12:17 AM.
Too early for morning.
Too late for anyone to be awake.
Then she heard it.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Footsteps, Slow and Steady.
Echoing somewhere beyond her room.
Flora sat upright.
The sound came again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Someone was walking through the dormitory.
At midnight.
A sensible person would have ignored it and gone back to sleep.
Flora Faye was not a sensible person.
Curiosity had always been one of her greatest strengths.
And one of her biggest problems.
A few minutes later, Flora quietly slipped into the hallway.
She pulled her hoodie tighter around herself as she looked both ways.
The corridor stretched into darkness.
Portraits hung silently on the walls.
The old wooden floor creaked beneath her slippers.
The atmosphere felt completely different from daytime.
The academy seemed older somehow.
More mysterious.
The footsteps echoed again.
This time from farther down the hall.
Flora's eyes lit up.
"There you are," she whispered.
She followed the sound.
Suddenly, a door opened nearby.
Flora nearly jumped out of her skin.
A figure stepped into the hallway.
Rocky.
His hair was sticking up in every direction as if he had fought his pillow and lost.
Rocky blinked when he saw her.
"Flora?"
"Rocky?"
For a moment, they simply stared at each other.
Then Rocky pointed down the hallway.
"You heard it too, right?"
Flora immediately nodded.
"The footsteps?"
Relief washed across Rocky's face.
"Thank goodness."
"What?"
"I thought I was imagining things."
Flora folded her arms.
"So your first thought was to investigate?"
Rocky grinned.
"Obviously."
"Terrible idea."
"I know."
Another door opened.
Kira stepped into the hallway.
Unlike Rocky, she looked fully awake.
And unlike Flora, she didn't look excited.
She looked annoyed.
Very annoyed.
Her gaze moved from Flora to Rocky.
Then back to Flora.
"Oh no."
Rocky frowned.
"What?"
Kira sighed heavily.
"The two of you are together."
Flora looked offended.
"That's a strange thing to say."
"It's midnight."
Kira pointed at them.
"Flora follows mysteries."
Then she pointed at Rocky.
"And Rocky follows Flora."
Rocky's face turned red.
"What?"
"What?"
Flora looked between them.
"Wait."
Kira rubbed her forehead.
"Forget I said anything."
The footsteps echoed once more.
All three froze.
Tap 3x.
This time the sound was much closer.
Suddenly nobody was joking anymore.
Flora lowered her voice.
"Okay."
"You hear it now?" Rocky whispered.
"Yes."
Kira nodded.
"I definitely hear it."
The three exchanged glances.
The footsteps were real.
And somebody was definitely walking through the academy.
Together, they followed the sound.
The corridor twisted through the old dormitory building.
Past empty classrooms.
Past staircases.
Past hallways Flora hadn't noticed before.
As they walked, the academy seemed to grow quieter.
Darker.
The shadows stretched across the walls like black fingers.
Even Rocky had stopped making jokes.
Which worried Flora slightly.
Then the footsteps stopped.
Instantly, The silence felt wrong.
Rocky swallowed.
"Did we lose them?"
Flora listened carefully.
Nothing.
Not a sound.
Then—
Tap.
The noise came from below.
Kira looked toward a nearby staircase.
"Down there."
The stone staircase descended into darkness.
Flora frowned.
"I didn't know there was a lower level."
"Neither did I," Kira admitted.
Rocky stared at the darkness.
"Nope."
Flora looked at him.
"Nope?"
"Nope."
"That's not a complete sentence."
"It doesn't need to be."
Despite Rocky's objections, the three carefully descended.
Each step creaked beneath their feet.
The air grew colder.
The deeper they went, the older the building felt.
Eventually they reached the bottom.
A narrow hallway stretched before them.
At the end stood an ancient wooden door.
Unlike the others in the academy, this one looked centuries old.
Dust covered its surface.
Its metal handle was tarnished with age.
And carved into the center—
Was a familiar symbol.
A circle surrounded by strange markings.
The same symbol from Flora's letter.
The same symbol on the Forgotten Door.
Flora's heartbeat quickened.
"What is that symbol?" she whispered.
Nobody answered.
As she stepped closer, something caught her eye, A small silver object lay half-hidden beneath the dust.
Flora knelt down.
"What did you find?" Kira asked.
Carefully, Flora picked it up.
A key.
An old silver key.
Tiny symbols were engraved along its surface.
Symbols she didn't recognize.
Yet somehow...
They felt familiar.
As though she had seen them before, Somewhere.
Before she could think about it further—
A voice echoed through the hallway.
"Students should be asleep."
All three nearly screamed.
A lantern suddenly illuminated the darkness.
Standing at the top of the staircase was an elderly woman.
Her sharp eyes fixed on them.
For one horrifying second, nobody spoke.
Then Rocky pointed directly at Flora.
"Her idea."
Flora gasped.
"What?!"
Rocky backed away.
"It was!"
Kira raised her hand.
"He's not entirely wrong."
Flora stared at both of them.
"I can't believe this betrayal."
The elderly woman slowly descended the stairs.
The lantern light danced across the stone walls.
As she approached, Flora noticed something strange.
The woman didn't look angry.
Curious, perhaps.
But not angry.
Then her eyes landed on the silver key in Flora's hand.
Everything changed.
The woman's expression hardened.
The curiosity vanished.
For the briefest moment, genuine concern appeared in her eyes, Concern, Fear or
Recognition.
Something, Flora couldn't tell.
The woman stepped closer.
Much closer.
Her gaze never left the key.
When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Tell me, Miss Faye..."
Flora's stomach dropped.
The woman knew her name.
"...where exactly did you find that key?"
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