Palinoia

Chapter 5

I ran a hand through my hair as I slowly walked towards the living room. I scanned the room briefly making sure everything was fine. And I guess it was. The lights were off, making the room look dark and unsettling. I even cross-checked that all my books stacked on a footstool were in place.

I let out a groan, realising that my plan to actually do some revision had been washed down the drain because I was exhausted. I lazily threw my bag on my bedroom floor before laying down on the bed. So many thoughts circled my mind that I was surprised I didn't get a headache.

My phone soon buzzed and I took it that Peter didn't get 'contaminated' but I still checked anyway. I checked anyway just to be sure and was right. He sent three messages. One, confirming that he wasn't dead. Two, asking if I was dead? What a genius. And three, stating that he left the water running in his kitchen sink.

Nothing scarier than paying high bills huh.

I instantly replied and told him that I was fine and there was no need to worry. I also reminded him to check before he leaves his house next time.

After some time of frequent texting, I put the phone down and tried to relax my head. It didn't exactly work out as I ended up stressing my brain. Sighing once again, I closed my eyes. Maybe sleep is what I needed.

As if fate wanted to answer my question, a small noise could be heard from the kitchen which caused me to immediately get up. My apartment wasn't too big but reasonable in size. And the fact that I was the only person who lived in it meant that there was someone uninvited who was inside.

I walked out and headed inside the small kitchen and looked around. Surprisingly, nobody was inside and it would seem as if it was a rat or something but the last time I checked, rats didn't echo the sounds of footsteps.

I searched each cupboard that was there and found nothing. Everything looked like it was the exact same as I had left it. I guess I was just hallucinating. The things that stress does to you. Although, in my obscured mind, I couldn't help but like the events that took place. I've been bored for so long in my life that, as I've mentioned, it caused me pain. And these kind of events aren't exactly your normal-everyday thing.

Still. I didn't exactly fancy having a part of my body being chewed or any other means that those vectors could infect me.

Just as I was about to head back to my room, as if on cue, another sound was heard and my turned around sharply. If my eyes weren't trying to deceive me, I'm pretty sure I saw a shadow run across the living room. "Who's there?" I asked, the tone of my voice raised. I walked towards the living room and turned on the light, seeing nothing.

I ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the biggest knife that was there. When I returned to the living room, everything looked to be the same. As so I thought. Once I started to observe the room, I noticed that change and clenched the handle attached to the blade.

My book stack had one book knocked down that laid perfectly on the floor. I picked up the book and stared intently.

Madness Within Us.

I certainly found it strange that it was the one book I hadn't read in the stack that was removed. I remembered seeing it in the book store and for some reason it caught my interest. Maybe it was the fact that it was the only book collection that nobody wanted to buy or maybe it was the fact that I was just very curious. Either way, I bought it but kept forgetting to read it.

Instead of placing the book back in the shelf, I decided to take it just so that I wouldn't forget to read it next time.

I noticed that there was no more sounds that were heard but when I went back to my room, the window was wide open, welcoming a cold breeze. I looked out the window and stared down. There was still some people running around even when the siren was slowly fading away. I watched with keen interest as people continued to display expressions of horror on their faces.

I couldn't understand how they could still be so terrified instead of being grateful that they were still alive at this point because an hour passed since the emergency siren ran so shouldn't they have found a shelter of some sort? It also didn't help how pathetic they looked while running.

So, so pathetic...

I mean, I somewhat felt sorry for them. Running around all day must be tiring.

"Tekuni saviours! Where are you?!" I heard one of them shout. This caused me to sigh and stare up at the night sky.

Why do people put so much faith into them? It's all a bunch of false promises. If I ever joined that force, at least I wouldn't make such empty promises.

The thought actually made me laugh. Like I'd ever join the TSN force. There was absolutely no one who could ever change my mind.