Fifteen minutes later there is a knock on our room door. Nick and I turn to each other silently debating on who is going to answer the door for the pizza guy. I sigh in defeat when he does not make an effort to stand up and my stomach keeps grumbling. He passes me a twenty dollar bill and smiles smugly. Rolling my eyes, I take the money in my hand and make my way to the door.
When I open the door the same guy who was helping Ruth and I the other day, in the library, stands in front of me. This time he is dressed in a Domino's work outfit. He seems to recognise me too while he passes the pizza box to me and I give him the money. When his hand touches mine in the exchange, he smiles creepily at me and holds tightly onto my wrist.
“You are so beautiful. Give me your number.” he demands.
“No! Now please let go you are hurting my hand...” I groan in pain as I try to pull my hand back. “... Denzel.” I read the name tag on his t-shirt.
“Give me your number or I will not let go sweetheart. Simple as that.” he offers an evil smile. His hand slowly loosens its grip around my wrist and suddenly his eyes are wide open like he is seeing ghost. My wrists is slowly turning red so I rub it where it burns. From then I know that Nick is standing behind me. I can practically hear and feel him breathing heavily whilst his cold breath hits the back of my neck. His breath smells minty fresh with just a little bit like of cherry flavoured bubblegum that he was chewing on a couple of minutes ago. Wilting around I stumble to see him glaring daggers at the pizza guy, Denzel, who has already started to marching down the corridor in a a sudden hurry to get away.
“Hey! What about my change?” when I shout for him, Denzel halts in his tracks.
He is almost near the front of the dorm entrance when he pivots around. He takes some money ot of his pocket and throws it on the carpeted floor without checking how much it is. He runs out of the door and into another corridor until he disappears. I go to pick up the coins off the ground and then go back into the room. I notice that Nick is already sitting on his bed with his laptop testing on his lap firmly. He takes the coins as I hand them to him then stuffs them in his denim jacket.
After closing the door and making sure that it is locked I join him on his bed. He switches the TV – that hangs perfectly on the wall – on with the remote controller that was provided. With Derek's father being a technician, Derek was able to to follow is instructions and assemble our television then connect it to the internet of the campus WiFi.
I patiently wait for Nick to scroll into his Netflix account and choose between a couple of horror movies. I really enjoy watching horror movies except, of course, if they involve anything that has to do with clowns. I have been terrified of clowns ever since I was in diapers. They just have this thing that makes them a lot more creepy. The whole crazy afro, rosy nose, white face paint, large colorful – and sometimes polkadotted – jumpsuit, big red shoes and balloon animals look is just not my cup of tea. I had one at one of my birthday parties as a young child and I have never felt so scared in my life. Especially when he asked me to sit on his lap so he could take a photo with him.
When the movie starts it is not as scary as I thought it would be. I guess it is because the clown has not made an entrance. Yet. In the next scene the clown finally appears and begins to chase a couple of teenagers around. I feel something crawling up my arms and up my spine. I do not even register when I let out a terrified scream when they zoom in on the innocent-looking clown.
“Oh my gosh, turn it off!” I hide behind the blanket to block my eyes from seeing the TV screen.
Nick chortles when he watches my hilarious reaction. His arms slide around shoulders then he wraps them on me. He pulls me up into a sitting position and closer to him. I refuse to look at the screen then feel my heart starting to race. One being because Nick is so close to me and two because I am still a little bit shaken from the movie that still keeps on playing in the background.
“Autumn, it is okay. It is just a movie," he whispers into my ear affectionately. "Do you want me change? I can if you want me to.”
I disagree since I do not want to seem like I am a baby. Plus Dad has always told me that if I wanted to get over a fear, u have to find a way to tolerate it. Like find a way to make it not scare me anymore. So I am going to watch this movie one way or another. I am jerked back to reality when someone screams in the television. I lean my back against the wall with Nick sitting adjacent to me.
“No no it is okay. I can watch this. So let me get this straight: these teenagers were at a Hallowe'en party and...”