“Sigh.”

      “Can you stop that? You’ve been doing this for the last two hours you know? It’s getting really annoying.”

      Arthur and Brian walking down the busy hallway toward the more secluded part of the building to reach the campus library. The hall is full with decoration for the valentine’s day. Pink and red covered the wall, and on the way there they’ve saw some peoples who’s giving roses or other useless Valentine’s stuff—as Brian called it—to their significant other. Although there’s obviously peoples whom having a dark expression and mumbling curse word whenever they see couples showing off their happiness.

      Typical single peoples.

      “Sigh… I will have to go to find the prof and beg him to give me some time to do the essays.”

      “Why didn’t you do that when the class over?”

      “Like I said before, I need to meet Danny to get something I ask him to make, and he will be going out with his beloved ‘GF’ later, so there’s no way he’s going to cut his date short for me.”

      “What kind of thing?” Brian asked curiously since the Danny guy he mentioned is an engineering major student.

      “You’ll know soon. Oh, here we are.”

      They stopped at the entrance of the college library. This part of college is more quieter than usual, almost silent, where even the hallway looks void of peoples since its placed on the part of the campus that’s rarely got any sunlight and the collection isn’t as great as the public library across the street from the college, so most of the peoples doesn’t even bother to came there. The whole hallway in front of the library and the library itself is probably the only place in the whole campus that spared from the whole pink-red decoration all across the school property.

      Arthur walking into the library and looked around for Danny while Brian waiting outside. No one else is in the library except for the librarian and one or two people there and there, buried in their thick book and tons of paperwork. Arthur looking around between rows of bookshelf and he seen Danny chatting quietly with his girlfriend in one corner of the library tables and he greeted them cheerfully.

      A few minutes later, he got out from the library followed by Danny and his girlfriend named Chelsie. Brian greeted them and they returning the gesture back before walking together and gone to the parking lot area to continuing their date, they said.

      “Here, take this.” Arthur gives the thing he get from Danny after the both of them is out of sight.

      “Uh, what?” Brian asked confusedly when he saw the thing Arthur gives him.

      “This is my Valentine’s gift for you. I supposed to be giving you this on white day thought. But the faster the better right? Oh, wait for me for a bit okay? I will catch up for the prof and beg him to give me a chance or something…” He started to walking away from Brian that’s standing still on the spot while he hold the supposedly White-day-turn-Valentine-day gift Arthur gives him. “Anyway, I’ll call you when I’m done with this. So stay around the campus area okay?”

      Brian seems to be awake from his momentary loss of words and shouted at Arthur that have gone farther to the empty hallway.

      “WHO THE HELL GIVES A BASEBALL BAT TO SOMEONE AT VALENTINE’S DAY?”

      The only sounds he heard next is Arthur loud footsteps from running and merry laughter that echoing through the hallway.

***

      “So he gives you eighteen pages of essays and you’ve gotta finish it before the end of the week?”

      “Yup. I’ll be dead before then, so just throw my long awaited White day presents on my coffins.”

      “You should really cut your play time or else you won’t be able to get your diploma.”

      “No way, dude! GAME IS LOVE. GAME IS LIFE. It’s impossible to do if you’re not going to be my BF!”

      “…I’m seriously tempted to kick your head right now, you know?”

      “IT’S A JOKE! …Kidding, it’s not a joke. L. O. L.”

      “…”

      Arthur walking in the hallway alone after meeting the professor and begging him for a good forty minutes before he gives in and letting Arthur have his chance to do his paper.

      He’s taking a sip from a drink he bought from the vending machine before. There’s not many peoples left in the college for some reason. He guesses that they all have skipping their class in the afternoon for their date and to attend the Singles Only annual party one of the fraternity he forgot which held every year, although not all that attend the party is singles.

      He’s talking with Brian on the phone with the initial intention to asked about his position right now to pick him up and so they can going home together and maybe prepare to go to the party or out for night date together. It took a couples of unanswered call before Brian picking up his phone. Most likely he’s putting it on silent mode.

      “Anyway, how do you like my present?” he changed the subjects swiftly.

      “It’s really sturdy and pretty, I have to admit. And its not because of the pinky pink ribbons that was wrapped all around it, I tell you. But still, metal bat? Why?”

      “Well, remember when you told me once that you dreamed to became a batter on the baseball team when you’re still a kid? You see, I just thought that it would be nice to give you pieces of that dream, although you didn’t seems to care much about sports in the first place anyway. As to why it’s metal, I just thought that it was cool to have metal instead of wood.”

      “Okay…? Thanks for your gift, but what with this ‘A heart B' on the body?”

      “Try to guess it.”

      “Forget about that. I don’t want to know.”

      “Aw, cummon now. I especially asked Danny to put that little detail with his skill as a laser master you know!”

      “Alright, alright. I get it. Thank you. This bat is beautiful, thought the chance is rare for me to use it as for now, so I probably just going to hang it on the wall or something. But I thank you for your thought. Really.”

      “Hell yeah you got it! So, ready to know what those ‘A heart B’ mean?”

      “…No. Ready to go home yet?”

      “Oh right, where are you-Oh shit! I’m sorry!” he’s too focused on his talk with Brian on his phone to realize that a man have walking straight to him and bumping him on his chest and causing his drink to accidentally spilled on the man shirt and the floor. Magically, there’s no drop of juice that landed on his own clothes.

      “What’s wrong?”

      “Ah, that. I spilled drinks on someone clothes. Sorry buddy.” He looked to the man that keep silent when he said the last sentence

      “Dude.” Brian sighted. “I’m going to the rest room on the west wing first floor now. The one close to the library. Meet me there later.”

      “Okay. Hey, I said I’m sorry!”

      The man suddenly grabbing Arthur hand tightly, and he doesn’t seems to having any intention to letting it go any time soon.

      “Look, I’m sorry. If you want me to pay for the laundry money, I’ll give it to you or whatever. Now, will you let go of my arm please?”

      Arthur looked uncomfortably at he man blank look as he staring at his arm. He get more impatient as he tugged his hand free—with a lot of effort—from the man grip.

      There’s no one else at the hall at the moment, and Arthur anxiety keep building up the longer he’s alone with the man although he doesn’t know why that tingling feeling that saying something is not right is creeping on the back of his neck.

      The man keep staring at him with the same blank look. He didn’t know what to do, so he put his phone back to his pocket and take his wallet out and hand some cash to him.

      “Take this money, and once again, I’m sorry. I hope there’s no hard feelings?” he said to the man. But like before, there’s no change in the man expression, and after a moment of silent, Arthur walking back from the man slowly, like he’s afraid if he’s going to jump on him any time.

      “Uh… Right. I’ll be going then.” He’s turning around and about to dash from the constant stare of the weird man, but once again, he’s bumping with another person and falling on his butt while the other person also have the same fate.

      “Damn! Sorry! Are you alright?” he’s scrambling to stand up and helping the other person—that apparently is the college janitor—to his feet.

      “Look at where you’re going kid!” the middle aged janitor scolded.

      “Um, sorry.” Arthur apologizing again, and he janitor only huffed in respond.

      He didn’t know that he’s in front of the janitor office, and it’s seemingly that the only janitor in the college just walking out from the janitor office that doubled as the cleaning supplies storeroom and place to find one lost things.

      “Kids these day. The youngster back at my time is much more respectful with the elderly and of course didn’t knock them on the floor!”

      “Right… the peoples back then is really the best kind. Of course you’re right!” Arthur want to get away from the ‘back at my day’ long speech, so he just agreed to whatever he saying. “Can I go now? My friend is waiting for me.”

      “Youngster today is really-Hey. What’s wrong with you kid? You sick or something?” the janitor noticed the weird man from before and walked to him hurriedly because he has crouched on the floor and shaking uncontrollably.

      Arthur also looked back to the man, but he stay on his spot in front of the opened janitor office, a little curious, but the weird feeling he have before still linger, and he opted for a saver choice.

      When the janitor bending down and tried to pick the man up, he suddenly stopped shaking and standing up, startling both the janitor and Arthur.

      The man look different, at least according to Arthur short meeting with him. There’s nothing wrong with his appearance, but he looked a bit paler than before and one huge difference from before is a big, toothy smile on his face. It stretched so wide he thought his cheeks would torn apart from the force he out to put that kind of smile. It would look almost comical if his eyes don’t look dead and totally bloodshot.

      “What’s wrong with you kid? You, kid over there. You know this kid?” the janitor asked Arthur with confused face when he’s turning around from the man with the widest smile he ever seen.

      Arthur is about to answer him when the man behind the janitor grabbed him and started to biting, tearing, and swallowing the flesh of the janitor neck in a matter of seconds.

      A scream of agony resonated on the empty hallway, and Arthur is frozen on his spot. Unable to say or do anything from shock, he could only watch.

      The smiling man continues to tearing flesh by flesh from the screaming janitor that flailing uselessly on his grip, but the man wouldn’t let go. After too much blood loss and losing a big portion of meat, the janitor movement become weaker and his voice also became smaller before he stopped his movements completely and limping on the smiling man arms.

      There’s no other sound except for the smiling man activity, whine Arthur presence I seemed to be forgotten.

      The man keep eating, Arthur could only watching with wide eyes.

      Seconds pass by, and that’s when a sounds signaling a few tweet notification from Arthur’s phone blaring on the hallway.

      The smiling man head snapped to his direction, Arthur comes to his sense.

      “Oh. Shit.” He whispered, his voice a little shaky.

      The smiling man stopping his activities and slowly letting his hand go from the janitor hollowed chest to looked at Arthur with a big smile that still plastered on his bloody face.

      Arthur’s blood turn cold that instant and when the man let the remain of the janitor body falls down on the floor with a loud ‘bang' from the impact, he take a step back the moment the man taking a step at his direction and he’s turning around to see the door to the janitor office still opened wide and without thinking he get inside the room since the man is already behind him with arms stretched wide to grab him. He managed to slammed the door shut before the man reached the door and bolted it immediately.

      The man did not giving up however and starts to banging and scratching the door relentlessly. The man make some weird gurgling sound and every time he pounded on the door it would shook as if it would falls down any second.

      Arthur sweated hard and his heart beating like crazy, adrenalin still running on his body when he run from the man before.

      Worried that the man might break the door for real, he moved a heavy wooden desk in order to block the door with a leftover Chinese food that falls down to the floor and making a mess in the already messy room. Still worried that it might not hold on and the man might break the door, he place several chair and a small shelf on top of it to gave him a sense of security at the very least.

      He cursed out loud with relief when he feel that he’s locked inside the janitor room safely.

      The smiling-motherfucking-cannibal-man still doing his activity earnestly outside, but the door doesn’t shake as much as before now.

      The next thing he need to do is to find a way out.