Malakai

Ch. 1

"Hey are you there yet?" Alec asks his best friend Fabian over the phone. He grabbed his phone from his ear, put it on the passenger seat next to him, and put it on speaker phone to help him hear his answer.

"Yes dude we're all here." Fabian told him supportingly.

"Yeah loser we're all here!" His friend Delaney chimed in from the background. Alec adjusted his vision to the night road that laid in front of him. He had been driving for nearly 3 hours, and was getting pretty tired of it. The moon glowed on the road in front of him.

"Yeah dude we're all set over here. The only thing missing is you, so hurry up!" Fabian said excitedly, ending the call. Alec smirked. He couldnt't wait to live his best life surrounded by all his friends.

He finally reached the house. He pulled in to the garage that was already open, waiting for the final key to put it in place. Alec got out of the car and walked to the front. The door swang open.

"Wassup man!" PJ said, embracing him in a small hug. Everyone else that was there greeted Alec excitedly.

"So...where's my room?" Alec asked, grabbing all his luggage and other belongings.

"Oh yeah, I'll bring you to your room." Maddie told him. Between all the friends, Maddie was the most cautious of all of them. Basically she was always there to look out for everyone. Maddie walked Alec up two flights of stairs to bring him to his room at the very top of the luxurious house. "I can't believe we all actually stuck with the plan we made 8 years ago." Maddie told Alec.

"I know right. It's crazy to think that this was only a thought in our pea-sized brains when we were all 15." Alec said, quietly reminiscing on his teen years.

"Honestly, I'm surprised we all stuck together after all those years." Maddie told him.

"Especially after all the things we've been through. Now look at us, living our best lives." Maddie told Alec.

"Right! I'm so proud of us." Alec said, laughing. Maddie joined in his laughter. Once Alec reached his room, he dropped his luggage and walked downstairs, following Maddie.

Alec trotted down the stairs to join the rest of his friends at the base of the house, conversing, watching television, and having fun.

"Alec, sit here." Sam swiftly said. Alec quickly walked to the open seat on the soft, warm brown couch. There were mountains of food on the kitchen table.

"Oh, before you sit, can you grab the jalapeño poppers on the table." Aliyah asked nicely. Alec stopped in his tracks to grab the hot plate off freshly made jalapeño poppers that sat on the kitchen table.

"I'm gonna guess Delaney made these?" Alec said rhetorically. Everyone nodded.

"Who else would've had made them?" Sam asked joyfully. Alec nodded, knowing Delaney was the best cook among the friends. He walked back to the living room from the kitchen to put the poppers on the table, and returned to the seat that was calling his name.

"So, how was your trip?" Asked Sam.

"Ugh, you know. It was a 4 hour drive. Nothing good about it. But I'm glad I'm here now." Alec said. He smiled as everyone cheered. Fabian walked up to the couch, shot glasses and a large glass of tequila in his hand.

"Alright guys, we're gonna toast." He handed everyone a shot. "A toast to a new life!" Everyone cheered, rejoiced, and finally drank up. Maddie and Aliyah cringed at the taste, while everyone else seemed fine with it.

"I do not know why I did that, I have a job interview tomorrow." Aliyah told the group. Out of everyone, Aliyah was definitely the most intelligent in the group.

"Don't worry, it was one shot, won't do anything bad for ya." Fabian reassured her.
The group laughed and joyously played a board game.

After a couple of hours, it was late.
"Alright, I'm gonna go to bed. Catch y'all in the morning." Delaney said. She walked into the narrow hall located on the bottom floor of their mansion.

"Okay. I'm probably going to go to sleep too." Maddie joined her, also walking down the hall on the bottom floor. Everyone soon dispersed into their rooms, leaving the newly bought house in a already worse condition. Cups, glasses, napkins littered the floor.
Alec walked all the way up with Fabian, who's room was also located on the very top floor.

"Bro, I was having this conversation with Maddie when I first got here, but I can't believe our dreams turned into a reality." Alec said. Fabian turned to look at Alec, providing for a shocked look.

"I KNOW RIGHT." Fabian exclaimed.

"Shut up Fabian." Aliyah exclaimed from all the way on the bottom floor.

"Yeah that was pretty loud." Fabian whispered for which seemed like the first time in his life. "But yeah, you're right. Who woulda thought. The squad actually did what we put our minds to." Fabian said. They finally reached the top floor. "Well, goodnight brother. See you in the morning."

"Aight, likewise." Alec told Fabian. He walked the opposite way that Fabian did to his room. He opened the door, grabbed all of his stuff, and finally set his room up with all his clothes. He put on his pajamas, finished getting ready for bed, and finally entered his bed. He sank into the bed like it was quicksand, sighing with relief after a long day.

As he was drifting off the sleep, something jolted him awake.

He heard a small chuckle, which sounded like it came from the corner of his bedroom. It spooked him out at first, but he dismissed it as either a creak of the wooden floor,
or Fabian loudly laughing at some stupid video across the hall. He closed his eyes again.

He heard the small laugh again.

He opened his eyes again and put on his glasses to examine the area of where it was coming from. The moon glowed bright from the large window in his room, helping him see what the sound was coming from. There was nothing there. The corner of his room developed a black color that he had never seen before, a black so dark that it seemed no forms of life could habit it.

The darkness grew from the corner. Alec rubbed his eyes as his heart rate began slowly increasing. His hands started getting clammy, and his breathing quickened. The darkness grew, and from it was this dark energy that infested the whole room.

Alec got up and turned on his room light that was right by his bed stand. The darkness dissipated as quickly as it arrived. Life went still, and yet again he could hear silence that filled the room.

He turned off his light, and quickly shut his eyes, hoping this time he could fall asleep.
As he drifted off into a deep slumber, he heard the laugh of a young boy once more.