Millie rubs at her face as she wakens, realizing that she had passed out leaning against the desk in the classroom shortly after Marc had left. Her elbow lightly taps the mouse, waking the computer from standby and the monitor takes a few seconds before flicking on. Her weary eyes gaze over to the bottom right of the screen and she quickly sits up, shocked to see it is already eight-thirty in the evening.

"Crap!" She mutters, swiftly turning around to look at the clock on the wall to confirm the time. She digs her phone out of her pocket and sees seven missed calls from her father, along with several texts. "Damnit."

She sends him a quick text, telling him that her phone died and she is on her way home from Marc's house. Last thing she needs is for him to freak out even more.

Through the thin strip of window on the classroom door, she can see that the lights in the hallway have been turned off. After slipping the phone back into her pocket, she slides the chair out from under the desk to get to her feet and grabs her backpack from the floor. She slings it on her back and quickly walks for the door.

She opens it, the light from the room casting onto the set of lockers that line up directly across from her. She peeks her head out, glancing down both the left and right side of the hallway. "Hello?"

Her voice echoes loudly as it carries through the hollow walkway. No other classroom lights are on, at least not on this floor, so everyone must have left. Even the cleaning staff.

"That's okay, Millie. You're just all alone in the school. At night." She talks to herself, as reassuring as she is sarcastic, as she reaches along the wall to flick the classroom lights off. She closes the door behind her as she steps out into the hallway. "A school where a girl was murdered a few weeks ago, and the killer is still on the loose. Nothing to worry about."

Further down the corridor she can see where the moonlight is glistening through the double doors. A red exit sign glows above them. She sighs, slowly walking toward them as she quietly makes her way down the hall.

A few feet in front of her, another hallway crosses through horizontally. Her steps slow as she approaches the intersection. As she passes through it, her head turns left-to-right as she crosses through the dark halls to further approach the exit. She walks alongside the lockers on her right, picking up pace as she gets closer to the doors.

A faint noise—the sound of something light falling to the ground, such as a pen—echoes through the corridor from behind her and she stops, turning around to face the dark hall. There is a slight rattling before it fades out.

Millie nods, biting her lip nervously as she turns around and hurriedly walks toward the exit. "That's just the building settling. It's an old building."

Creaking is heard, as if a rusty door to a locker was slowly being pulled open. She doesn't turn around and, instead, clinches onto the straps of her backpack as she bolts for the exit.

Some of the classroom doors in front of her are open, and she can't help but think something, or someone rather, just may jump out at her in any second. She continues to run, centering herself in the middle of the walkway as she reaches only a few feet away from the door.

Outside the building, the trees rattle above the sidewalk as a heavy gust of wind comes rolling through. Leaves tumble to the ground, brushing against the sidewalk up to the school's entrance.

The door slams open as Millie busts through it, taking a massive sigh of relief as feels the fresh breeze on her skin. She glances back at the door as it slowly retracts to shut and, without hesitation, turns to walk toward the parking lot ahead of her.

Her car is the only vehicle in the lot, parked along the first row near the handicapped spots. She quickly cuts through the grass, ignoring the sound of the leaves and branches crushing beneath her feet as she hastily makes her way to the car. She digs her keys from her pocket and pushes the unlock button, the lights on her car lighting up as she approaches the driver's door.

Suddenly, she hears branches breaking and footsteps stomp on the pavement as somebody runs up behind her. She spins around, grabbing onto the small canister of pepper spray she has hanging from her keychain.

"Hey!" Deputy Dave Bennett stands there with his arms raised up in the air defensively, as if being held at gunpoint. It's clear by the way he is acting that he's a rookie. He lifts up a binder that is embellished with stickers. "You dropped this at the entrance."

She turns her head to peek behind her, noticing that she had left her backpack unzipped. It must have fallen out when she had panicked and ran through the doors.

"Sorry!" Millie lowers the pepper spray. She glances up at the tall man as she reaches over to take the binder from him. "You must be new."

"Excuse me?"

Dropping one strap of her backpack from her shoulder, she slings it over to her right side. She slides the binder into it, placing it on top of her laptop and several other books. She looks back at him. "Well, my dad is the sheriff. I was pretty much raised in the station so I know almost all the officers there."

He shifts positions to stand up straight, as if addressing the sheriff himself. "Your Sheriff Martinez' daughter? Nice to meet you, I'm Deputy Bennett. Dave Bennett."

"Millie." She smiles as they shake hands. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Your dad—sorry, Sheriff Martinez—said he wanted officers to patrol the school parking lot and to keep our eyes open for any suspicious activity." He smirks, still holding onto her hand. "What about you? Why are you out here after hours?"

Millie gestures at her backpack. "I fell asleep working on a project for the school newspaper."

She looks down to see he is still holding onto her hand with a tight grip. He follows her eyes and nervously lets go of her hand. "Okay, well you should get going. It's not safe to be out here at night. Especially alone."

Nodding, she backs up to the driver's door and pulls it open. "Well, thanks for the binder."

"No problem. It was nice to meet you." He smiles, watching as she starts the car. She waves at him through the window before backing up. "Drive home safe!"

Bennett watches as she turns the car around and peels through the parking lot. She taps her brakes as she approaches a speed bump, the rear lights casting a dark red glow on him as he continues to stare her direction. As her car slips away further in the distance, so does the light, leaving him among the shadows.

♫ ɢɪᴠᴇ ᴜs ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ʟᴏᴠᴇ / ғᴀʟʟᴜʟᴀʜ ♫