The Twisted and Mysterious Life of Collin Pierce

Chapter Eight: Hidden in the darkness

Collin was still having trouble sleeping, he wasn't traumatized but he was very stressed out. Collin had been chased by security from a subway only one day after he had almost been obliterated on a boat and only three days after his best friend had been murdered. Alex's face kept coming up in his mind every tome he tried to sleep, it wasn't his former happy expression either, it was the face of him after he died. Collin could only see his open eyed face with cold pale skin and blood on his shirt and his neck, cold lifeless eyes staring into Collin's soul. He could hear Alex say to him 'why didn't you save me Collin? It's your fault, I wouldn't be dead if it weren't for you!' He would hear him say that and then he would start to shuffle in his bed and start to scream with his mouth closed, he kept having traumatic seizures. Collin woke up covered in sweat, he needed to sleep with his cat to keep himself calm.

Collin began to sleep, but he wasn't fully asleep yet. He rolled over and shifted his legs. Every time he moved, his cat would get up and walk over to another part of the bed. He thought of happy things, like meeting Dayna and Nathan, or when Marcus gave him a hug for calling him sir, or the subway run, dangerous it may have been, but it was a lot of fun. Then he remembered Miguel Hernandez, and how he told him of that thing the murderer said to him, 'this blade is salvation'. Collin traced his happiness all the way back to its roots, with Alex and Phil. Every morning Collin would meet up with Alex at Phil's store. They would talk about what was going on in the neighbourhood and tell Phil about what they were doing in school. Collin yearned for those things back, he knew that he couldn't have Alex back but he believed that his friend would always watch over him.

Collin rolled back over to face the room, he heard a footstep but he was the only human, in the room. Suddenly a shape formed in front of Collin, it raised its arms and swung them down between Collin's chest and his arm. Collin burst from his bed, Phantom in hand and swung back at the shape, he backed toward the door. He heard a thump on the ground, and flipped the lights on. His room was empty, the shape was gone. But Collin could feel a blades cool edge beside his chest. His parents rushed into his bedroom and said. "Collin, what the hell just happened?" His mother asked. "Helen, relax, he probably just had a nightmare, that wouldn't be surprising after what's happened to him." Collin's mother looked at him and then at his father. "Alright then Joseph, how do you explain that hole in Collin's covers?" Collin looked up at them. "It was Wilbur, he got scared of a noise from outside and scratched the covers." Collin was known quite well as being an excellent liar. "Are you sure that's what happened?" His mother inquired. Collin nodded. His parents both left his room and he went back to sleep.

The next day, Dayna came over to see Collin, he needed to tell her about the shape last night.
"So a shape just appeared, tried to stab you in your sleep and then vanished when you tried to fight back?" She seemed impressed by the fact that he was still alive. "It was really weird." Collin replied. They left the house to come get Nathan.

After collecting Nathan, the three went down the streets and over to a cafe. Nathan ordered some coffee and then came back to join in on what happened. Collin explained to Nathan what was going on and about the shape and how it just disappeared. "Do you think it will come back again?" He asked. "I don't know, probably. I mean, if they're willing to destroy the Staten Island ferry then I think that trying to slice me up in my sleep is child's play to them." Collin was brave sounding but really, he was terrified, he didn't know how he was going to find this killer, let alone keep himself alive! "Tomorrow is the first day of school, I think you should worry a little bit about that as well." Dayna put in. Collin had completely forgotten about school, he didn't really have time for it anyway. "Yeah, I guess I should worry about school," Collin looked at the ground. "Don't worry, you're smart and cool, I think you'll pass as an acceptable person at school." Dayna calmly told him. Collin had to get ready for school tomorrow, it wouldn't be very exciting, but he did have to go if he wanted a good job, though, he couldn't pay to much attention to school if he wanted to live another day.