In the School Team's locker room...
The locker room was alive with chatter and the clang of metal doors, but Elias barely noticed. Nothing could drown the voice of his little brother, that occupied his mind.
"You can't avoid this!"
"I'll take it all away from you!"
The voice followed him everywhere like a persistent fly, a cold, terrifying whisper.
It was horrifying, suffocating, and inescapable.
He wasn't sure he wanted to escape it too... He didn't deserve to.
No matter how big the punishment might seem, it was well deserved. Notwithstanding, it was ruining his life; there wasn't much left of it anyway.
Nothing mattered anymore, and that's including those surrounding him at the moment, casting their dumb shadows upon him, he didn't give a—
"We are talking to you, douchebag!" One of them blasted, dragging him up and pinning him against one of the lockers.
"What was that out there huh?! Elias, you better not ruin this for us, we all have worked our arses off for this!"
Elias just stared at them, his eyes deep and hollow. He could see their lips moving, but what they said never reached his ears.
"What is your problem?!" The guy holding him by the neck asked, his eyes a mix of fury and concern, noticing the bag below his eyes entailed something worse than fatigue.
"What is it going to take to get your head back into the game?!"
"Hey, let him go!" A male voice that was barely louder than a whisper came from the sidelines.
The confidence was giving.
The person? Erhn...
"Stay out of this, phantom freak!" One of the boys snapped, returning his attention to Elias.
Rolling his eyes, Seven stepped forward. The crowd parted at the behest of some preternatural powers.
He had to agree he was scary and weird in the most majestic way.
With an effortless yank, he released Elias, dragging him toward the maze of lockers by the bathroom.
Elias who appeared like he couldn't care less didn't resist. Cutting to a corner, he slumped against the cold metal of a locker, refusing to take another step.
"You shouldn't have done that..." Elias muttered, voice flat. "It wasn't necessary, now they'll come for you..."
Seven leaned against the opposite locker, arms crossed. "Are you okay?"
"What are you doing here?" Elias scoffed, avoiding the question.
Seven squinted his eyes before he replied curtly:
"Tryouts...decided to join."
Elias let out a soft chuckle, causing Seven to raise an eyebrow. He was his roommate, yet he barely knew anything about him.
Everything seemed vague, distant, and unreadable.
Let's not start with the suspicious night outs, this was just another reason he needed to get close to him. This save was the first step, but now he's just thinking it's going to be a lot harder than he thought...
"Just surprised, you don't exactly seem like someone with a life..."
'Touché...', Seven thought, frowning. 'That hurt."
"Don't get me wrong, though; it's just...just stay away, okay? For your own good."
Walking away without waiting for a reply, Seven's nose twitched in response to a peculiar scent which he successfully ignored...
Zephyr was probably here, dying of laughter.
Folding his hands stubbornly as his brows knitted together, he muttered to himself...
"Of course, I have a life..."
His voice was drenched in disbelief much to his own disappointment.
---
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Elias walked the poorly lit path toward his dorm. The fog that swirled around made seeing far beyond a chore.
The air was crisp and cool. It was thick with humidity, clinging to his visible skin. The Dorms were eerily quiet—no student chatter, no distant hum of the vending machine, no teacher nags.
It made his footsteps sound like thunderbolts and he hated to admit it, but it exposed another subtle sound...
He wasn't alone.
He pushed his hands further into his pockets and buried his face into the hood of his leather jacket, the warmth chasing away the cold—but not enough to shake off the uneasy feeling that was creeping up his spine.
At first, it could be ignored but there was nothing mistakable about the faint scuff of a shoe against the dry grasses, stopping when he stopped.
The faint footsteps that rhymed with his, slightly off-beat.
A shadow at the edge of his vision that disappeared when he turned to look.
His heart pounded against his chest as he resisted the urge to break off into a sprint.
Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was all in his head. Focusing on the path ahead, he dared not look back again. But the feeling didn't fade, but instead increased with the passing seconds.
It was insistent and cold, his knees wobbled, but he forced himself forward. It made the night feel infinitely vast yet suffocating.
The fluorescent glow of the security post was his only source of comfort. His breath hitched as he cut through the shortcut towards the post. Curfew be damned, repercussions were the least of his worries now.
The dorm building loomed ahead, the path stretching longer than it should. Without thinking, he broke into a sprint and didn't stop until he reached the entrance.
The wind brushed against his ear, carrying with it a rotten voice...
"You run too fast."
And that was all it took for his little sprint to evolve into a full-blown run for survival.
---
Elias' eyes snapped open. They widened with fear as he imagined himself jolting up from the bed. His body was frozen still, greatly disappointing him instead.
Sweat beads appeared on his forehead as he lay still, feeling a cold weight pressed down on his chest. He tried to move his fingers, they twitched but nothing else obeyed.
His ears picked up a faint sound.
Though his body remained frozen, his eyes darted around the room; His breaths came in short gasps, and the darkness felt deeper, almost alive.
Then, his gaze shifted upward.
And he saw it...
A shadow sat comfortably on him.
Beyond terrified, he would have screamed out if his lips complied. He felt trapped in his own body, tears sliding from his eyes onto the pillow beneath his head.
The shadow, clearly enjoying his reaction, had its feet draped over his shoulders. Its face hovered close enough for him to smell its breath—putrid, like decayed flesh.
"You're awake,"
With a sickening crack, it repositioned itself and laid on him, pressing his entire weight against him.
Elias' struggle to escape remained futile, but not without turning his face beet red. His own flesh was like a cage, entrapping him.
Tracing its fingers around his face, the creature laughed loudly—its voice, chilling and grating:
"Missed me? For someone as short as you are, you sure do run fast. Hehe, too bad, you can't outrun your guilt..."
Its ink-black legs swung playfully, its gleaming eyes, full of hatred and revenge, as they searched Elias' face:
"You didn't mind carrying me like this in the past, big brother. What changed?" It tilted its head. "Oh right, you killed me!"
Elias' heart nearly stopped.
The shadow shifted again, perching on his stomach, its feet dangling off the bed. It scoffed, voice dipping into something bitter, "And I won't rest till I take back what you stole from me nine years ago."
The room drowned in sorrow as his little brother—Henry—began to hum. The melody was soft, hauntingly familiar. Then, he started singing, his voice distant, swaying his legs to the rhythm.
"Mummy is upstairs...baking your cake, Dad is with her...chocolate he makes, my little brother, go to sleep. Drink your milk..."
He gets up and retreats to become one with the shadows again...Elias, who still felt suffocated, watched him go from his peripheral vision. Soon, the pressure lifted and the room returned to normal.
"...and close your eyes—see you again,"
His last whispers lingered behind as Elias abruptly jumped up from his bed, his back drenched in sweat. His chest heaved up and down as he glanced through the room in search of something—anything.
"H-henry..." His voice broke, and he buried his face in his hands while letting out pained sobs.