Rays of morning's light escaped through the blinds into the room, it formed layers of white across the walls and objects. Unusual as it seemed, the night had been warm although a not-so-cozy experience, especially when every turn they made had them bumping into each other's face and at some point, Henry had fallen off the bed in an attempt to get as far off as he could from Chris' snoring which turned up a notch louder than normal-poor boy, must've been all that running.
The environment was blurred at first as Henry's eye lids opened and then seconds later, things happened to come into perspective. It took him a moment before he finally remembered where he was and how he had gotten there- pieces of the previous night came into his head once again, making him heave heavily. He walked over to the window and opened the blinds, his eyes narrowed at the flooding in of day's light.
A knock was heard on the door, Henry walked over to answer it. Alex stood at the door, still in her pajamas, her hair stood on its end and she quite looked a bit different without make-ups.
"Dad'll be ready for work-" she stopped sharply and rolled her eyes, "-school I meant- in twenty minutes. You just might want to-" Chris grunted abruptly, making Alex pause again while she peeked through the partly open door to see Chris roll over to his back quite unaware of her presence, "-get set for school." She turned to leave already before halting at the stair way, "breakfast??"
Henry shook his head lightly and then swallowed, "No, we're good."
Without another word, the young miss hurried down the stairs and Henry closed the door gently.
"You didn't just refuse breakfast, right?" Chris mumbled drowsily from the bed, he rolled to his sides to face Henry who had taken off his shirt already, about to head to the bathroom.
"Get your ass out of bed already," Henry replied as he tossed the shirt to the bed, "long day ahead."
Chris rolled out of bed sluggishly and then palmed his face with both hands while he yawned, "You didn't have to remind you know."
Henry left for the bathroom later on, giving Chris enough room to reminisce on the previous day's events. He could feel himself get drowned in a sea of thoughts about what they were facing at that point. For some reason, he couldn't make the slightest meaning out of it and it worried him the more. At first it was the appearances, and then the librarian gets killed by this thing, his roommate gets hospitalized all of a sudden and Mr. Parker seemed to know something about what it was all about.
Henry returned from the bathroom a few minutes later, his body was covered in droplets of water dripping down. He gave a sharp heave and then walked over to the bed where he had thrown his cloths. Chris on the other hand remained there with his eye, hovering all about his friend.
"Are you gonna skip bathing?" Henry asked as he noticed his friend's absurd look at him.
"How'd it go?" Chris asked.
Henry raised an eyebrow, quite confused about the question, "What?"
"The shower," Chris said, "nothing..."he rolled his hand in a circular motion and then clasped them lightly, "...you know, strange?"
Henry stood upright and threw his hands to his sides; he gave Chris a closer look, wondering if this whole thing had started having an effect on him. Chris read meaning to the look; he rose from the bed and without a word, pulled off his cloths and walked numbly in the bathroom's direction.
Chris entered the bathroom, a small confined area with a shower hanging about 6ft. high behind the flowery shower curtain. There was a toilet and then a white sink with drops of water falling off the tap attached on it and above hung a mirror on the half tiled walls. The door jammed lightly as Chris let go of it, he took a deep breath...everything's fine, he thought to himself.
He stepped into the cold floor of the shower after he had finished brushing his teeth hastily. For some reasons which Chris couldn't quite tell, he could feel his heart beat pound harder than usual, there was this strong conviction he got that he wasn't alone in there. Just as he closed the shower curtain, he caught a glimpse of something move from the corner of his eye, he spun around with a gasp but there was nothing there.
"C'mon now dude," he mumbled, "don't be such a-"
The curtain rustled gently, he whirled around and caught sight of a shady reflection which faded in an instance. Chris whimpered and took one step backward as his gaze was fixed on the curtain. His pulse roared by the time a knock landed on the door.
"Dude, would you get over with this already?" said Alex from the other end of the door. Chris' breath whooshed out as he rested a trembling palm on the wall while he tried getting himself back together.
An hour later, all three- Henry, Chris and Mr. Parker- arrived at the school. There were patrol cars and ambulance vans stationed at the school entrance and the atmosphere around held suspense as they alighted from the car. They left Mr. Parker for their hostel, just as they approached their door, they noticed the group of men there all dressed in black suits with Kendrick standing at the door. All attention fell on them when they finally got to the room.
"There they are sirs," Kendrick said pointedly to the men as he gestured in their direction. The two men dressed in black turned to the two friends who seemed visibly shaken and most definitely surprised.
"Gentlemen," the hairy well-built guy said to them, "we'd like to have a word with you please." He directed them towards the exit to the hostel. Chris shot a questioning look at Henry momentarily as his body itched in anxiety.
"Dude, what'd you guys get into?" Kendrick questioned, quite concerned and a bit dumbfounded, especially since the moment the ambulance van and cop cars pulled up in from of the school.
"Nothing, we're good," Henry mumbled and then jabbed Kendrick on the arm lightly and then followed the man behind. Chris gave an eerie smile and then followed suite too, trying hard to keep all his raging emotions in check, the thought of life behind prison bars freaked him out and it sure wasn't something he would ever want to experience.
They were led to the school's Vice-Chancellor's office. It was an exquisite room, somewhere they'd never been in their 2 years in the school.
"Henry Monroe and Christopher Myer, I assume?" the hairy one said as soon as the two were settled. They nodded almost in sync and then mumbled a positive reply.
"I'm Detective Miles," the man continued, "and that's Detective Maloney," he gestured at the direction of the skinny fellow standing next to the VC's table. "We'd like to find out a few things from you."
Chris heaved slowly; oral interviews were not just his thing...even worse when he had to talk about a topic like this. Henry balled his fingers into a fist nervously and tapped on it.
"Where were both of you last night?" the Miles guy asked, scrutinizing the duo's body language.
"We were," Henry paused and then took a slow breath as he now drummed nervously on his thigh with his fist.
"Take it easy now fella," Detective Maloney said in a voice which seemed rather too baritone than he looked.
"We're being trailed by something," Chris blurted, almost stuttering. The detectives gave a cursory look of curiosity as Chris' reply took them aback.
"How do you mean?" Detective Miles asked, throwing his arms around his sides. Henry managed to give the whole story in bits, all the time, the detectives kept a trained eye on his expressions.
"So how'd you explain the fact that the CCTVs stopped working during the time all this happened?" the officer questioned after hearing Henry's explanation.
"And it was only you guys who saw this thing you talk about?" the other detective added sarcastically.
"Ever heard of a malfunction? Look, we didn't kill Mr. Edward or the security guy, okay?" Chris snapped back in reply, "the real guy's out there," he paused and took a cursory look around, "hell...he might even be here right now."
The two detectives walked over to a corner of the room for a moment to discuss something and then returned to the two friends. It was a moment of unease as the detectives stared at both of them for a while before finally saying another word.
"Fine, you've been of great help and we'd get back to you after investigations, or if we ever need your help."
"Not with ghost, no thanks," Chris mumbled as he rose to leave.
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