Sora looked around the expanse of dandelions, they were dancing in the evening breeze without a care in the world. She couldn't share in their whimsical freedom, swallowing the panic constricting her throat as she stared at Káel's house, a distant and chilling sillhouette of wood mixed with sharp grey stones.
She pushed herself off the large rock behind her, going as fast as her feet would carry her to close in on her friend's sanctuary, vaulting the iron fence and throwing her arms out to collide with the door and halt her momentum. After tossing the door mat to the side and snatching the spare key she fumbled with the small object, finally stilling her trembling hands to jam it through the lock with a click.
"Káel!" she burst, her voice crawling back into her throat as she stared at the torn up room. The scarce pairs of shoes once neatly lined together were thrown to the walls, along with multiple racks, bins, and a few chairs, all in a chillingly perfect circle. "Káel?" she whispered, suddenly fearing the prospect of drawing unwanted attention as she slowly searched the house for signs of her friend.
It was empty.
She double checked his room, throwing open his closet just to make sure, before she breathlessly ran into the kitchen, snapping a picture of the circle of debris. "Káel?" she whispered, checking over her shoulder and jumping as the door in front of her clicked open.
Brick peeked through, his chiseled scowl hardening as he locked onto Sora's gaze. They both knew the severity of the situation, but despite their best efforts, neither had even the faintest pointer towards what had happened to Káel. He pushed through the door, swiftly passing Sora to check the house for himself, while Sora couldn't drag her gaze from the room, a chill of panic digging down to her bones. She'd be dead meat if she didn't find him, and fast.
"Jeremiah?" she whimpered. Was he gone too?
Brick came back, shaking his head grimly as he kicked an overturned basket of umbrellas.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered. "I was going to go after him, but the sun went down before I-"
Brick raised his hand, turning his attention to the other side of the house seconds before there was a knock on the front door. Brick wouldn't have called the police. She quietly crept to the front of the house, peeking through the blinds to catch a glimpse of two bald and uniformed men, and a stout woman with her greying blonde hair bunned up. They didn't look like officers, bearing embroidered white flowers on the right shoulder of their overcoats.
The woman snapped at the door, watching one of the men pound his knuckles on the surface with extra ferocity as Brick came down the stairs. He gently opened the door, facing the three strangers with a neutral frown as the woman cleared her throat. "Could we speak to Káel Williams?"
Sora lowered herself to the floor, ensuring the guests wouldn't see her behind the large sofa overlooking the landing to the front door. She could hear the woman's voice clearly from her position, but her face didn't scream familiarity in any sense.
Brick folded his arms, staring at the three that didn't have a smidge of authority to him, and certainly didn't have the right to see Káel, even if he was here.
The woman frowned in displeasure at the lack of response, holding a stamped up badge of laminated paper to Brick. "Social Security. Now may we see Káel Williams?"
"Vacation." Brick replied plainly, smiling as the expressions of the three dropped to confusion.
The woman scrunched her nose up in disgust at her false information, creating a couple lines of foundation on her cheeks. "And when will he return?"
Brick shrugged.
She scoffed. "Are you not his guardian?"
Brick went stiff in confusion at the word, catching Sora's gaze through the crack of space beneath the couch as she shook her head. He mimed her actions, stepping into the view of the two silent men as they tried to trace his glance. "Housekeeping."
The woman sighed. "Very well. Please contact the police when Mr. Williams, or his parental figure returns." She held out a slip of paper for Brick to grab, swiftly wishing him farewell as the three turned away.
Brick closed the door, not even stealing a glance at the paper as he tore it in half and chucked it over his shoulder. Sora exchanged a nod with him, peeking through the curtains and snapping a couple pictures of the three as they went into a polished black van.
Whoever they were, they weren't Social Security.
—————
The feeling of sticky cobwebs tickled the back of Káel's neck, as he stood frozen alongside Vera, in the presence of the clearly possessed door. "We should go."
"Hold on a sec," Vera replied, creeping towards the door. She wasn't about to let a cheap spooking enchantment scare her, she was intent on seeing what that door was baiting her with beyond its concealing black iron.
She cupped her hands and softly spoke, rastastrill. A vibrant orange orb formed in her hands and she pushed it forwards, watching it levitate through the doorway and catching Káel's awe with growing confusion.
It quickly bathed the small room in light as it flew to the roof and remained stationary like a ceiling lamp, painting its surroundings that were cluttered with beaten old books and a strange array of dusty old trinkets. Thick dust infused cobwebs blanketed most of the dungeon like room, encasing a good portion of the old objects in stringy cocoons, and setting off Káel's arachnophobia as he watched for the creepy crawlies.
Vera coughed as she brushed the dust off a book. "This room is in desperate need of some attention."
Káel joined her, even though with every breath it felt like he was breathing in the fumes from an exploded vacuum bag. The desk in the middle of the room let out a loud wailing screech, as his pant leg was snagged by an abnormally thick cobweb and he tripped against it. They both froze, darting their attention around for potential spectators, but the cramped space was empty, along with the doorway.
"Watch where you're stepping." Vera hissed.
Káel wiped the sticky cobwebs off his pant leg. "I don't think we're supposed to be down here."
"I don't think anyone's been down here in a long time." she retorted, holding a vial of purple liquid up to her light. "Besides, the door wasn't locked."
Something had recently shattered down here, but in the clutter of miscellaneous cobwebbed items it was hard to locate the piece. Vera was intrusively picking up objects and playing with them, while Káel passed the time hovering near the doorway and inspecting the floor for shattered objects.
Within the mess of ripped pages, dirt, cobwebs, and the occasional trinket, he noticed strange marks. Long snaking trails cutting through the cobwebs and dirt, leaving hints of the stone grey floor visible. They weren't Vera's, unless she had a serious foot dragging issue, and he had yet to step there.
He didn't like the thought of it, but slowly followed the snakey trail until he reached a wall. It was surprisingly clean, and the marks on the ground stopped at its feet, some even going through it.
He decided to follow the tracks the other way, but stopped when he stepped on something with a loud crunch. He jumped away from the spot like a frightened cat, staring wide eyed at the white object laying in splinters under his foot, but quickly recollected his thoughts. It wasn't a bone, to his utter relief. It was a broken shard belonging to a white vase that had tumbled to the ground.
Was that the thing that broke? Káel thought, lightly pushing through the vases remains with the tip of his shoe.
There was a solitary flat brown rock that appeared to have been resting in the vase before it broke, and he took an interest to the useless object, for the simple reason that it was the most mundane thing amongst the stacks of old metal bound books, vials, and fancy jewelry. The common sight almost reminded him of home with its lackluster appeal, standing as an odd sight that didn't fit in with the oddity around him. Snatching it off the ground, he bounced it between his palms in boredom. He already wanted to go back home.
"Wow this is some pretty pricey stuff." Vera said, ripping the cobwebs off a jewel encrusted necklace. "It's kind of a strange place to put it all."
Káel switched his gaze to Vera to see what she was fooling with now, but immediately stopped cold, letting the brown rock he was juggling tumble to the ground.
Behind Vera stood a towering shadow.
It didn't have any defining features, looking like someone's silhouette was smudged by a cheap eraser, dwarfing Vera as it's head stood a foots length from the roof.
Vera saw Káel's face and timidly looked over her shoulder. Instead of running, punching, or even screaming a little she turned her head back to him with an unamused frown. "What?"
"What do you mean what? Don't you see that?" Káel whispered harshly, pointing at the black mass behind her.
The figure twitched, lifting its oval head and looking at the teenagers with burning white holes for eyes.
Vera scowled at Káel, placing the silver necklace back on the desk. "It's not funny, stop it."
Typical brat. She thought, the boys here weren't any different from the ones back home. Playing dumb jokes for their own amusement. She scowled in disappointment, this one was trying especially hard to fool her into getting scared by nothing, he was even going pale as a unicorn.
The shadow parted its mouth, displaying two rows of gleaming white teeth that curved into a bone chilling smile.
"Are you kidding? Get away from there!" Káel screamed, moving to grab her as a cobweb caught his pant leg and dragged him to break the fall with his hands an knees.
Vera tried to grimace through her growing grin, her amusement only escalating as she watched Káel's genuine panic like a play. When he'd gotten to his feet again and they locked gazes she threw her hand behind her. "There's nothing-"
She paused mid scold, her mouth still hanging open. From her wrist up, the temperature had dropped to a freezing chill, piercing through the warm flesh of her palm as she drew back with a shudder. She couldn't believe it, timidly moving her hand to feel the spot of freezing air. Káel wasn't messing with her, but whatever he was seeing was as visible as air to her.
The shadow let out a wispy sigh and crawled forwards, walking through Vera like she didn't exist. Káel stopped his mission to save Vera upon realising she didn't need saving, he did.
Whatever the shadow was, it slowly dragged its tentacley black drapes across the floor, looking at Káel with its pupiless eyes and wide smile.
His chest burned and the blood drained from his face. The door was close, but that thing was closer.
Vera ran to the door, watching Káel as he threw a thick book and it bounced off an invisible mass a couple feet in front of him. She felt a little bad, not being able to help him, but it wasn't her fault she couldn't see it.
Káel did a quick twirl to try and spot another weapon. The book didn't work, even though he'd successfully planted it in the things face, and Vera's light was starting to flicker as the shadow crawled towards him. He had to find a distraction before his gap of escape got tighter to slip through.
Its long bony black fingers reached towards him like a zombie, and he ripped off his overcoat, blanketing the things face with it. He wasn't going to miss the ugly thing anyways. The shadow grabbed at its face to remove the plaid cloth, and he took this chance to duck away and run.
Without looking back he bolted through the door with Vera, almost flying up the stairs and failing to stop until they were through a couple hallways. He took the rare moment of safety to sit against the wall in speechless terror. Something was burning at his chest, he hadn't noticed it through the pool of psychological shock numbing his senses, but now it was starting to and he reached down to pull out his fire hot necklace, light steam was coming off the tooth's glossy white surface.
Vera crouched on the ground, regaining her breath to speak. "What was that?"
"That big black thing?" Káel tried to regain his breath with another deep sigh. "You seriously didn't see it?"
She shook her head, steadying her breathing with slow deep gasps. A furry head popped around the corner, the rest of the feline trotting out when it saw Káel and Vera. "Ragdoll?" Vera panted, too tired to greet the feline with a friendly scratch behind the ears.
Ragdoll rubbed her side against Vera and purred, but when Káel went to pet her instead she flattened her ears and narrowed her eyes. He gave the affectionless cat a couple strokes on the head, and was rewarded when she sneezed on his open palm.
As Káel distracted himself with wiping the cat boogies off his palm, Vera rose to her feet, her confrontational posture returning as she focused on the end of the large hallway in front of them. "Someone's coming."
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4/13/2018