Gloom (complete)

Blobs

Having a thousand questions, but not enough time to ask any of them, Jacey swallowed her words. Blain began forward first, legs awkward and slow. The boy maneuvered himself through the ice and snow. He was much better at it then Jacey who had shorter legs.

She had only been standing outside for a couple of minutes but already her sweats were freezing and heavy with snow and water, and her body was violently shaking, as ice and snow seeped in through her inappropriate clothing. Her legs burned with exhaustion as she followed after Blain wordlessly, any words frozen in her lungs. She never looked back, not wanting to see if that thing was following them.

Around her, nothing was recognizable, while also being disturbingly familiar, like anamorphic images in an illusion. Lily's Café was a lingering shadow across a veiled road, a once very popular after school hang-out was in ruin, snow covered and aged. She wondered how long they had been trapped inside the now caved in part of Lester-Miller. Everything was overlaid in snow. She had wondered before what exactly had happened, but had never been able to come up with anything not frightening, she had decided not to think about it and instead focused on her own survival and Blain's. But now she was faced with reality and a daunting fact. There was no clear picture of what was going on, she had no idea.

There was no one else around. Desolate, abandoned. No one had been out to clear snow off Lester road, no one was outside at all. Everything was quiet besides her own haggard breathing and Blain's whispered words she couldn't comprehend.

Lester-Miller Middle came into view a few minutes of them shuffling through the cold. Jacey could smell smoke in the air. Blain didn't even slow down as he continued forward, bypassing their old school. A scream nearly kicked her feet from underneath her when they were a block and a half away, shattering the heavy silence violently. She couldn't bring herself to look.

Blain half-turned, peering over her head, blue eyes narrowed in concentration and pure exhaustion, trembling violently. In a whirlwind of movement, Blain had grabbed her arm and swung back around pulling her after him. His movements were quick and long. Jacey stumbled and fell a countless number of times, unable to keep up with Blain's brisk movements, only for Blain to harshly yank her onto her feet again. They were in town in minutes, Blain pushed her into the ally between Henry's Bistro and Heather father's bakery and ice cream shop, pulling her down and behind a stack of wooden crates nearly completely covered in snow, they waited.

"Help... someone help me..."

The voice had her starting, craning her neck around Blain's shoulder and peering out of the alleyway. Blain didn't turn, but instead watched her, his breathing heavy and uneven, escaping through pinched lips.

"Please..." Came another frightened yell.

While Blain breathed loudly, Jacey held her breath, she couldn't breathe even if she wanted. Fear seeped into the air and slowly came alive. Like tiny bugs made of sandpaper, fear, her own, and others, wiggled over her skin, dug into her pours and stole her breath away.

"Help..."

She waited until Blain's hand had loosened its painful grip on her arm before yanking her arm away and stumbling forward. Blain caught her at the opening of the ally by her shoulder, he yanked her back although she had no plans of leaving it; and slammed her into the outer brick wall of Henry's, pressing his body into hers as if she had plans of running out of the ally and his body was to be her barricade.

"What in the hell?" He hissed. She ignored him and leaned over and forward, peering around Henry's. A second later she found what it was she was looking for. A figure, a man, a person in a dark heavy jacket, a fur lined hood over his head appeared at the top of Miller-Shore road awkwardly stumbling through snow, he barely made it half-way before a black blur wrapped around his body, surrounding him. He had no time to scream.

The black, shapeless blob's laughter reached her hearing, bouncing off the empty, snow covered buildings and sending chill down Jacey's spine. It trembled on top of the man, stretching and... It was almost as if was attempting to consume him whole.

"Let's...let's go..." She could feel Blain's hot breath on her face and his hand around her arm lightly tugging at it. The horror and distress was more than clear in his voice, it was practically floating in the air. She felt the horror and panic herself, but for whatever reason she couldn't bring herself to runaway, not yet anyway.

Blain gave up on trying to get her moving when the black blob shifted again. Both teens froze. The blob 'poured' off the man's now still body, pooling onto snow covered ground like oil leaking onto a sheet of paper, limbs, black and scrawny, shifting unnaturally. Its shapelessly form rippled for a few seconds before beginning a jerky crawl away; moving back down Miller road as if nothing happened.

Jacey sucked in a breath of icy air once the 'thing' was out of sight. Her hands shook at her sides along with her whole body; Jacey didn't notice at all. She couldn't go yet.

Weakly shrugging Blain's hands off her, Jacey stepped out of the alley, driven by something she couldn't quite understand.

"What are you doing?" Blain hissed under his breath as if he wasn't even expecting an answer. Good, because there was no answer, she thought. Honestly, she had no idea what in the hell she was doing.

Jacey found herself standing beside the man's body in a blink of an eye, eyes blank as she closely stared at him. His face white, bloodless, drained of all color. His blue eyes wide open and soulless, staring off into the empty sky above. If Jacey hadn't witnessed him running and screaming a few minutes before, the girl would say and swear he was a mannequin.

The overwhelming urge to touch him hit her like an itch and she found herself bending beside the man, her fingers brushed across an ice cold face, the flesh stiff and hard.

"What was it?" The girl questioned, voice breathy and slurred. A voice inside her head was weakly reminding her of her state, cold and wet, urging her up and moving. It was funny because her body felt fine to her.

"I dunno... you're turning blue... Hey... Hey... Jacey... Wh - "

Why was Blain talking so slowly? Why was he calling her name again? She wondered all of these things as her world dimmed.