--XIII--
The next few days passed for normal.
School. Home. Homework. Chores.
Nothing strange. Or at least I wanted to think so.
But there were still nights when I would wake up screaming. And on those nights, Dad would give me one of his sleeping pills to calm me down. It was as though every time I fell deeply asleep, I would plunge straight into the swimming pool in Mira Webber's house. And every time, I would end up being clawed by several spiny hands pulling me deeper and deeper into the water until I was out of air.
On some nights, I would stay awake just so I wouldn't have to suffer the excruciating feeling of being unable to breathe, the raw scorch of water in my lungs. Sometimes, I would hear gentle taps on my window. Whenever I was brave enough to look through the dark outside, I would see Vincent Sinclair in front of the house, standing still like a statue.
If he wanted, I was sure he could just get into my room, seeing as he had managed to pull off a disappearing act when he last visited me in the hospital. But he never did. He never even tried to talk to me.
One night, I decided to stop hiding under my sheets and face him. But that was after I drew out the sharp pair of shears I had been hiding under my pillow. Taking a deep breath, I opened the window and looked out.
The yard was empty but for some reason, I could feel his presence.
"I know you're there." My voice was thin and trembling.
Some part of me hoped I was wrong—that he wasn't really there. It wasn't long before I saw a pair of silver eyes blazing in the dark. He went closer to the slivers of light coming from the lamppost across the street. When he looked up at me, I became more afraid for my life.
"Go home, Vincent," I told him. "It's late."
"Come with me then." His face was unreadable in the shadows.
"I... I can't. Okay?" I gripped tightly onto the ledge to keep my knees from collapsing. "Just... leave me alone. If you don't, I'll call the police."
A hint of disappointment ruined his expressionless mask. "But you need me. You need me to live, Aramis. If you keep this up, you'll use up all your life-force and you'll die."
"I don't need you!" I hissed, my knuckles paling as panic swelled inside my chest. "I don't need anyone!"
Letting out a muffled curse, Vincent tensed and bounded off the ground. He landed on the eaves in front of my window with barely a sound. He took a step toward me, eyeing at the frame of the window. Considering his recent display of inhuman abilities, he could've easily jumped into my room and took me wherever he wanted but he didn't, thankfully.
"You do! Stop being so hard-headed!" he just about snarled. "If there's anyone you need right now, it's me. Me! Why do you think I wasted my time sitting outside your house like a complete lunatic? You think I'd just let you perish after all I'd been through to save your ass? If you're scared now, think twice. Worse things are coming, Aramis. And you don't want to be here—alone—when that happens."
I finally let go of the ledge. My hands shook uncontrollably as I closed the window on Vincent's face. I pulled the curtains and turned around, pressing my back on the wall. Closing my eyes, I slumped down the floor and covered my ears. Whatever Vincent had to say, I couldn't take it anymore. Although, he was right about one thing—I was scared.
At school, Vincent Sinclair seemed harmless—just like any other normal student. He kept sleeping in Miss Cruz' class and the teacher still ignored his inattention. For some reason, Miss Cruz avoided me. I tried talking to her a few times but she kept making alibis.
All she could say was, "I'm not allowed to talk to you. If you have questions, come to him," before leaving me gaping at her. Meaning I was on my own if I wasn't willing to come with them.
I was desperate for any help I could get. But as it turned out, no help was coming.
How long had it been? Ten long dragging days that I was left to mull about what was happening to me.
Miss Cruz said that I wouldn't last even a couple of days unless I come with them—the cult people, I guessed. But I proved her wrong. I was still alive and kicking. They must've been making fun of me.
How I wished.
∞
Mindlessly, I sunk into my seat in Spanish, my knees buckling as I did. I could only try so hard to force the sobs back into my throat.
What's happening to me?
"Aramis?" Lindsay snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Are you okay?"
All the while, I kept staring on the floor, wanting to answer her but couldn't. My breathing was irregular and my eyes were already misty. I couldn't believe what I just saw as I walked to school.
Carefully, I kept my left hand hidden inside my jacket, afraid that someone might see it. My lips were trembling when I tried to open my mouth to speak. I swallowed hard before mustering the courage to talk.
"I was crossing a... pedestrian—," I started, blinking my eyes to hold back the tears. "I was—I was just..."
Lindsay pulled a chair closer to me and rubbed my back. "Breathe, Aramis. You were crossing the pedestrian lane and then?"
I closed my eyes tightly, a shudder running down to my spine as I tuned out the noise of the usual morning chatter inside the classroom.
"There was a girl... in uniform," I choked another sob before continuing. "She was... She was on the other side of the street, about to cross. But she just... just stood there... waiting."
The whole scene replayed inside my head.
The girl was about a couple of years younger than me, with waist-length blond hair, pale blue eyes that stared blankly ahead. There were few pedestrians; a middle-aged man in brown coat and tie, another student and me.
On the other side of the street, the girl waited alone, hugging herself when a gust of cold wind blew towards us.
The cars had passed by and the street was already empty. All of us started to cross but the girl still stood on her spot motionlessly like she was waiting for something. I got to the other side, brushing past her.
Reluctantly, I approached her to ask if she was okay. She looked really upset. Tears streamed steadily from her eyes but when I talked to her, she kept her gaze fixed forward as if she couldn't hear me.
"Hey, are you—" I started to say but she cut me with one fierce look.
All of a sudden, the girl grabbed me. Her fingers were spindly and cold. Then she began pulling my arm forcefully. She was surprisingly strong despite her frail appearance. The girl dragged me until we were in the middle of the highway.
I could already see two cars speeding toward us. I tried to yank my arm free from her grip but it just made her hold on tighter.
"What are you doing!?" I screamed when I saw the cars approaching.
The girl's head twitched left and right before it twisted around. Her neck creaked, bones snapping. Her face was facing the wrong way when it stopped moving. Suddenly, her eyes rolled up and turned all white. A contorted grin pulled up the sides of her lips.
She began laughing hysterically, blood sputtering from her mouth. It dripped to the corners of her lips and trickled down to her blouse.
I panicked and screamed for help. No one was there to hear me.
Stifling a cry, I tried to shove her away with my free hand but it just passed through her body. It was like I just punched through a wall of mist.
The girl cackled triumphantly. Her head rotated again to face the fast-approaching cars, like she was waiting for them to hit us.
My breath caught in my throat as I tried to thrash against her grip, my heart racing uncontrollably—something I hadn't felt for several days. A heavy pressure pounded on my chest, then to my head.
Thump. Thump.
I had to do something. Or else I would die. Again.
Thump. Thump.
In one blink, it seemed like everything stopped. The cars. The girl. Everything. Except me. I felt my left hand turning warmer and warmer until it burned. Wincing, I stared dumbfounded at the unearthly glow emanating from it. A transparent force began to form around it—a bone-like shell materializing out of thin air. It crept over my skin until my hand was transformed into a big set of sharp claws.
My eyes widened in fear, my whole body petrified.
Do not fear it. The gentle voice reverberated inside my head again; the same voice that I talked to me while I was in the hospital. Embrace your true nature.
As if showing me what to do, the voice flashed an image inside my head—thousands of transparent figures hovering in the air, a silver-eyed boy with a Roman numeral one tattoo on his arm and a young woman wielding a scythe twice her height.
The boy must be about Vladimir's age, dark-haired but with strong jaws. But it was the woman's face that struck me more. Leaving out the straw-colored hair and the brown eyes, I thought we looked somehow similar.
This is what you are.
When I opened my eyes, my hand—no; my claw had already snatched the ghost girl's neck. Her feet were dissipating and reforming under her skirt as she tried to thrash away from me. She tried to dig her nails into my arm, but her emaciated fingers could not even scratch the white gnarly shell that covered my hand.
It was a little too late when the car drivers realized I wasn't going to move aside. One of the speeding cars swerved sharply to the right to avoid me. The other tried to stop, its tires grating against concrete as the driver hit the brakes. It kept skidding to my direction, out of control.
Waiting until the last second before the car hit me, I let go of the girl before quickly leaping backward. I landed on all fours, the claw grating against the asphalt as I tried to break my momentum.
I felt faint for some reason.
Not too far away, the car spun, tires screeching angrily against the road before it stopped. When I looked closer, the girl's body was already smashed up all over the car's hood, her blood trickling down the windshield.
Her crooked arm twitched in an attempt to recover. It managed to move for a couple more seconds. Then it tumbled down to the hood of the car and onto the road.
"Hey, are you okay?" the middle-aged driver ran to me with worry on his face.
He didn't seem to be aware that his car was already covered with blood and macerated body parts. If he was, he would've probably called 911 or worse, the police.
Instinctively, I hid my claw behind me, cold sweat trickling from my forehead. I tried to look normal as I sidestepped to pick up my backpack from the sidewalk. But there was nothing normal about this.
"I'm fine... Sorry," I apologized hurriedly.
Then I started running away, shoving my left hand under my jacket, staggering as I did. When I took a quick glance at the car, the girl's body was already gone, replaced by wafting red smoke.
Questions whirred inside my head as I got away—the claw, the girl, Vincent, the hovering figures, the woman with the scythe. I just wanted all of this to go away. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
I was brought back to reality when Lindsay tapped my cheeks gently. My eyes opened and I was startled by the blaring light all around me.
"Aramis? Thank God..." She breathed a sigh of relief. Smiling, she propped me up on the bed.
I realized we were in the sick bay of the school. The whole room blared with a blinding light that made it hard to open my eyes.
"The light... turn it off," I mumbled, squinting to see Lindsay's panic-stricken face.
The nurse walked to my side carrying a glass of water.
"I called your Dad. He should be here by now. Here you go, Hon," she said, letting me take a sip before turning to Lindsay. "We should let her get some rest."
Lindsay nodded, but when she was about to leave, I searched for her hand and pulled her back.
"No please. Don't leave me," I pleaded. I didn't want to be alone. Not after what happened.
The nurse nodded and flicked the light switch off before I heard the noise of a door being closed.
"What happened to me?"
"I don't know... You were just telling me about this girl you saw in the street... t-then you fainted. When I left for a minute to call for help, we just found you... sleep-walking." She shuddered, unable to meet my questioning gaze.
"Sleep-walking?" I echoed dubiously. "I never sleep-walked before."
"B-but... you looked like you were hypnotized or something. You tried to—" She cut herself in midsentence, her lips pressed into a thin line.
"Lindsay? I tried to do what?" I rasped, giving her hand a light squeeze.
My eyes trailed to my left hand, half-expectant to see a bony white claw but didn't. For some reason, it turned back to normal.
"You tried to jump off the building... through the window," Lindsay admitted, her voice was barely even audible.
The shock overwhelmed me. "I... did th-that?" I mulled over it for a few seconds, letting it sink in before Lindsay spoke again.
"Aramis, is there anything you want to tell me? There's something off about you since that day you..." She hesitated and fell silent.
"Since that day I died?"
Her eyes widened with fear. "Stop saying that! You're alive. Very much alive... I just don't understand why you seem to space out most of the time. Even when you get called in class, it's like you can't hear anything. I think Carter's upset because you keep ignoring him whenever he tries to talk to you."
I felt my forehead creasing involuntarily. "I... don't remember."
"You don't remember?" she asked worriedly, giving me a meaningful look.
"I'm not on drugs if that's what you're insinuating," I chuckled bitterly. "But I think I have an idea what's happening to me."
"You do?" she said, hoisting herself on her seat.
It looked like she would burst into tears any moment now so I smiled at her and nodded. I considered telling her everything but that would just probably make things worse. Lindsay was my best friend and getting her involved was the last thing I would want if I was to deal with creatures of the dark.
I shrugged. "Two things: it's either my half of my brain cells died because of the lack of oxygen when I drowned or... I'm going nuts," I lied, letting out an ironic laugh. I just hoped the second one was really a lie.