Carmen goes to step forward, but Ava shoots her arm out to stop her. No one's speaking. Despite the fact both of Jamie's irises have pissed off to who the hell knows where, I can feel his gaze on us. Staring. From all my experience with the paranormal, I have never seen this before in my life.
"What's wrong with him?" someone asks, and it takes me a moment to realise it's me.
"He's--I think something has possessed him," Ava replies, her voice shaking. "I've heard of it, but I've--but I've never seen it happen."
"What?" Tom exclaims. "How has--You said we'd be safe here! How did something get in?"
"We are," Ava snaps back, "it must've gotten to him before we entered here, it--it takes a while."
While the two of them argue, I'm fixated on Jamie. His twitching has subsided, and he's standing perfectly still. Inhumanely still. Annabel has manifested beside me now, her body huddled up to mine, and I don't like that I can't reassure her. The cave daze is making me feel slightly sick now, and my mind is muddled with its calming effects and an unprecedented fear.
Tom and Ava have stopped sniping at each other, and all is silent again. I don't think anyone has any clue what the hell to do. We're just standing motionless, like sitting ducks waiting for whatever the hell is messing with Jamie to do something. I turn to Ava in hope of something--anything, to see her with her eyes shut. Her expression is calm and controlled, like she's focusing on something. I'm about to question her when for the first time, Jamie speaks.
"That's not going to work, quack, though the effort is rather charming." It's his voice, but it doesn't sound right. Like there's something off.
"What?" It's Tom who responds.
Jamie laughs. My eyes are still locked on Ava, and at Jamie's comment, she flinches slightly but quickly regains composure. What's she doing?
"Well, perhaps less charming, and more pathetic. In fact, didn't you call us pathetic a short while back? Rather hypocritical, don't you agree?" Jamie continues, and I'm trying to put my finger on what's different about his voice, but I'm struggling. "I've met worms who have possessed powers stronger than yours. I can barely feel a thing, bless your heart. A pathetic excuse for a quack, though you know that, don't you? You agree. You'll never be like your mother, Ava, try as you will."
Ava is visibly shaking. She's biting her lip, her eyes still shut, and she's muttering under her breath. What's he talking about? If this isn't really Jamie, how does he know Ava's name? Shit, shit, shit. What do we do? What does it even want?
"You three work on the door," Ava eventually says with strain in her voice, her eyes still closed and her mind still focused on whatever it is she's trying to do with Jamie's captor. "I've got its energy preoccupied, it'll be easier to open."
Jamie laughs. "You're going to require far more than whatever this is, quack."
Ignoring the comments, Ava snaps at us to go to the door again, and this time, we obey her. Tom's switching between yanking on the handle and desperately trying to turn the lock, but to no avail. I turn back around to face Ava and Jamie just as Jamie steps forward. The footstep is heavy, and he almost loses balance, but he's closer.
"Help her," a voice whispers, and it takes me by such surprise that I jump. Annabel stands beside me, her eyes boring into me. "Whatever she's doing, you can do it--You must be able to. Help her!"
I stammer. I can't. I don't know what to do. I don't know what she's doing. Tom is still bashing the door and trying everything imaginable to open it, but it's not working. Nothing's working. Jamie takes another shaky step forward. Shit, shit, shit.
"Ava, he's walking towards you, he's--What do we do?" Carmen yells.
Ava doesn't reply. I don't think she can. All her focus is on whatever it is she's doing. Annabel's voice is raised now, almost yelling at me to help Ava, but I don't know how. I'm too scared to try anything because if I do, everyone will catch on to me. They'll know. Every single person here will know.
Carmen's trying the door now, but her attempts are as useless as Tom's. I join her, but my hands are shaking so much that I'm only making it worse. Suddenly, something whizzes past me, almost knocking me over, and then there's yelling infused with laughter as that something--Tom--lunges for Jamie. He doesn't even get close. The second they collide, Tom is violently shoved against the cave wall. Jamie is laughing hysterically.
"You insipid fool!" He booms through laughter, as Tom scrambles up from the ground, dazed. "I apologise, I imagine that's far too complex of a word for you. To be frank, it's a miracle you obtain the mental capacity to count to ten."
As Jamie spits insults towards him, Tom backs away. He's limping slightly. Ava stays in the position she's been in for the past five minutes or so, but her face is pale. She's struggling. I have to be able to do something, I have to.
"No one likes you, Thomas," Jamie continues, his voice now steady and low. "You irritate them. You irritate everyone. Then again, you've never been one for friends, have you? Poor thing. It's only a matter of time until this piteous bunch cast you aside. You're nothing. No substance, nothing, just a brainless little virgin."
"Shut up!" Tom yells, but all it does is spur the creature inside Jamie on.
"Now, now, there's no need to shout. I'm sure you'll amend that small issue eventually, don't worry yourself. Well, it'll probably have to be with something deceased or another spastic like you, but then I suppose beggars can't be choosers."
"Oh, piss off, dickhead!" I snap, and what I've just done quickly dawns on me.
Jamie turns away from Tom in the corner of the room, and towards me. A wide grin spreads across his face, and now it's my turn. Whatever it wants to say, it can bloody well say it. I don't need anything to convince me I'm a useless piece of shit.
Out of nowhere, a sharp pain stabs itself into my skull. I clench my eyes shut, and lift my hand to my head. My ears are ringing. I try to push it out, and as immediately as it appeared, it's gone. What the hell? I reopen my eyes to see Jamie's blank irises digging into me, his lips curled.
The pain strikes me again. I push against it, squinting this time. The third time it returns, I'm prepared. This time, I don't let it go. I keep pushing. I force my eyes to remain open this time, and Jamie's entire face is twitching. His nostrils are flared, his lip is curled, and his teeth are grinding against each other.
Then I spot Ava in the corner of my eye.
Her arms dangle by her side, her hands clenched slightly as some colour returns to her face, and after having her eyes shut for over five minutes, they're finally open and are looking straight at me. She knows.
I briefly lose focus. Ava swears, I think directly at me, and quickly shuts her eyes to return to the focused demeanour she'd adopted before now. The stabbing pain returns, and I counteract it again. Jamie's face is twitching even more sporadically now, and he's grunting.
"Felix, get your spirit to work on the door," Ava demands, her eyes still shut.
"I don't have, I mean, I--"
"Get your spirit to work on the door!" she snaps, and I don't even have to say anything because Annabel obeys immediately. "Its energy is primarily focused on us, and there's only so far it can stretch." She takes a breath. "Carmen, Tom! Keep trying the door!"
I continue forcing all my energy against Jamie's captor, but it's straining every inch of my body. I'm winning; I can feel that I'm winning, that we're winning, but every part of me wants to let go. Suddenly, there's a clicking sound. It echoes throughout the cave. Then there's a long squeak. The door. They've gotten the door open. Holy--Thank fuck for that. My relief is short-lived because within seconds, the force pushing against me intensifies. I feel dizzied.
"Run through!" Ava calls to Carmen and Tom. "We're only five minutes or so away, so grab the map and go!"
"What about you?" Carmen questions hastily.
"I know the way, don't worry. Go!"
With that, Carmen and Tom make a break for it. Their footsteps echo behind them, but I can't concentrate on the sound for long. I continue forcing myself against the energy attacking us, but I'm turning weaker. I can feel it.
"Tell your spirit to push with us," Ava instructs. When I don't respond immediately, she swears and continues on. "Stop stalling! Do you even have any idea what you're doing? Your spirit can help us, tell it to help us. For the love of--What's their name?"
"Annabel," I answer quickly this time. No turning back now.
"Annabel, touch Felix, and focus on his energy. It will guide you to follow what we're doing." The calmness I'm used to hearing in Ava's voice has returned, and she speaks slowly. "It might feel strange, but it's normal, I promise."
Annabel, who's still standing at the doorway out of here, manifests herself beside me. She doesn't need to be told twice. She grabs my hand, but the moment she does, flinches and pulls away.
"It hurts," she stammers, looking up at me.
"Felix?" Ava questions.
"Yeah, hang on," I mutter back. God, my head is killing me. "I know," I whisper to Annnabel. "Just make yourself stay with it, okay?"
This time, I take Annabel's hand. She instinctively pulls away, but stops herself letting go completely. Jamie hasn't spoken since I started fighting him back, and I can only assume it to be a good thing. The weight of his energy lifts ever so slightly, but it's not because I'm letting go. It's because it's now three against one.
No one says a word, and it's so silent I swear I can hear Tom and Carmen in the far distance. Then without a slither of warning, the pressure disappears completely. Annabel's hand falls away from mine, and the intensity of all my focus being released almost trips me over. It feels like I've just emerged from being buried six foot underground.
Ava is running, but I'm not sure what towards because my eyesight is patchy, but I don't think it's out the room. She's bending down in the middle of it, and Annabel has joined her, but I don't know why. I stumble towards them as my senses begin to recover.
As I stop beside Ava, I realise she's crouched over Jamie. He's half sitting, half lying on the grey ground with a dazed look on his face, and I've never been more relieved to see his stupid grey eyes looking at me. His face is white, and he's blinking rapidly. Finally, I snap out of the stupefied state I was in, and make myself useful.
"I'll pull him up, and you just grab his arm and keep him balanced," I say to Ava, who clearly has no clue how to get him to stand.
She nods, and does as I instructed while I drape Jamie's arm over my shoulder and force him to stand, all the while not taking her eyes off me for a second. She looks pissed. Really, really pissed. Jamie is mumbling incoherently, but by the time we get him on his feet, he's able to stay half upright. Ava drapes his other arm around her shoulder, and we begin to awkwardly guide him towards the cave's exit.
"Will it come back?" I ask Ava as we approach the doorway.
"No," she answers simply.
"Why are--Where are Tom and Carmen? What happened?" Jamie says, finally regaining the ability to speak normally.
"Are you sure?" I question, ignoring him. "Can it not possess him again, or one of us?"
"It can't remain in here without a body to inhabit and protect it from the cave's blessing. We're fine. Whoa, how are you so clueless?"
Her question sounds more rhetoric than anything, so I don't answer it. It must only be five minutes or so until we finally reach our destination, but it feels like hours. Jamie can pretty much stand perfectly now, and he keeps asking us what happened, and we keep telling him we'll explain later. We've stopped outside a door at the end of a well-lit passageway, and as Ava goes to open it, I inhale a breath of air. Thankfully, this one opens perfectly.
"Carmen? Tom?" Ava calls up the stairs at the other end of it, and within seconds, there's a reply.
"Ava? We're here! Are you okay? Is everyone okay?" Carmen speaks at a hundred miles per hour.
After reassuring Carmen, Ava begins ascending the stairs while I follow behind with one of Jamie's arms still slung over me. At the top of these concrete stairs is a tiny room with a blue door at the other side of it. Other than Tom, Carmen and Ava standing in the middle of it, it's empty.
Wasting no time for explanation, Ava scurries towards the door, opens it, and hurries us all through it. Somewhat confusingly, as we step out of the compact room, we find ourselves standing in some girls' toilets. I'm surprised. I mean, they smell pretty good.
We leave the bathroom, Jamie now able to walk by himself, and I realise where we are within seconds. Ava was right. She really was leading us to uni. We're in The Cavern. We're on the basement level, so hurry upstairs to the ground floor. There's not a soul in sight. It's unnerving seeing the social hub of university so dark and deserted.
I don't know if it's because the numbing abilities of the caves have worn off or because in addition to the fact we're being hunted by something that wants to kill us, it's finally dawning on me that everyone here knows I'm not fully what I seem, but an intense sensation of panic is falling over me. I try ignoring it as we jog our way through the ground floor of the building, but it's dizzying me. Suddenly, there's a black shadow. No. Then another. It flies past my eyes. No, no, no.
We're getting close. As we pass a table loaded with stacked pamphlets, they're thrown into the air in a wild flurry. Something black whirs past us. We up our pace. Panic has flooded my whole head by now, and I can barely think straight, let alone walk straight. I don't know if it's because she notices this, or just because, but Carmen grabs my hand and steadies me. It helps. More black shadows. I try to reassure myself because there are no Trackers this time, but it doesn't help much.
Paper cups, napkins, coffee stirrers, and pretty much anything that isn't nailed to the ground are flung at us as we pass through the food court, but we can't stop. Finally, we reach The Cavern's main entrance. Carmen bashes the emergency door release, and just like that, we're free. As we step outside, it quickly dawns on me that this isn't just going to be a straight run to Ava's car because dotted around us like mould in a white room, are bursts of black energy.
Now, we run. Rubbish from the ground whirls in the air as we scramble down The Cavern's steps, and the trees that frame the adjacent road are swaying wildly. It's drizzling slightly, and the route we're taking is poorly lit. To make matters worse, as we run down the road, the streetlights' bulbs explode aggressively, making it near impossible for us to see where we're going.
Rubbish continues being thrown at us, and as we take the turning for our accommodation, I have to shove Tom out of the way of an incoming glass bottle. It scuffs me, but only on my hand.
"Where are you parked?" Jamie yells through the rain and rustling trees.
"Just outside!" Ava replies. "We're not far!"
We up our pace. Bursts of black explode around us, and despite the rain and crap being thrown at us every passing second, we eventually find ourselves in the car park we need. We're not even a hundred yards in when Ava falls, her car keys flinging out of her hands and crashing to the paved ground. Something throws them into a nearby bush.
Tom goes to lift her up, but she can't move. Something is weighing her down. There's a shadow figure above her, so to catch its attention, I bend down and somewhat stupidly throw some gravel at it. Stupid or not, it works. The bastard falls right into my trap. The second I feel a nudge, I force my energy against it. Ava is released. I turn my attention to the bushes where the keys were thrown to see Annabel floating them in front of her face. God, I love her sometimes. She throws them to me, and we're beside Ava's car within less than a minute.
I pile into the back with Tom and Carmen, while Jamie takes the passenger seat. Considering Tom is twice the size of anyone here, it's not an ideal set up, but now's not really the time to complain. Once inside, seatbelts aren't even a consideration. Ava starts the engine, and we're off before Jamie has even fully shut his door.
Now that my legs are no longer carrying the weight of my body, and the distraction of trying not to fall over has disappeared, I feel lost. Confused. My head is aching. My chest is tight. I can't keep still. It feels wrong to be sitting down, I need to be moving. We've left the uni's grounds now, but the black bursts continue to follow us. I furiously rub my hands together. Why can't I catch my breath? Shit, shit, shit. The panic is setting in again.
They know. Everyone knows. Not just Jamie anymore, everyone. Ava knows, Tom knows, Carmen knows. Every single person here knows. I'm trapped. I'm stuck in this car. I want to escape it, I want to run away. They can't know. No one can know. They think I'm crazy. They must do. I try to breathe in, but I can't, and I don't know why. Shit, shit, shit. My head hurts. I can't breathe. Why can't I breathe? I can't keep still, I can't think, I can't focus. Everyone knows. Everyone.
"What the hell, Felix?" Someone is calling my name, but I can't hear them properly over the throbbing in my head.
Are the bursts of darkness still outside? Are they still following us? Why can't I hear anything properly? I can't breathe. I still can't breathe.
"What the shit was that all about? Are you a messiah or something, what the actual shit?" I think it's Tom.
"He can interact with them, it's complicated," someone replies.
I think it's Jamie. Yeah, it must be.
"Wait, you knew about all this?" Tom's eyes are on me. My vision is turning more and more blotchy so I can't see him, but I can feel them piercing into me. "Bloody hell, thanks for telling that loser and not me, mate."
I didn't want to tell anyone. I don't want to tell anyone. I just want to be normal, that's all I want. I don't want to see these things. I don't want this. I don't want any of this.
"Felix! Felix, calm down!" Ava.
Does she know I can't breathe? Do they all know? Can they tell? Black spots flood my vision, and I don't know if it's the dark spirits or if there's something wrong with me. Voices are shouting, but I don't know what they're saying.
"They're latched onto his energy, they're following him, and his energy is like a flashing light to them right now! It's too manic!"
"He can't help it, I think he's having a panic attack!" Carmen?
It doesn't feel like I'm here anymore. Maybe I'm not. Maybe this is all in my head. Maybe I'm in the middle of a hospital suffering from a psychotic episode. Maybe Annabel isn't real. Maybe my parents aren't real. Maybe there never was an accident. Maybe none of this is real. I feel sick.
"Don't! It could go badly, I--If he is having one, it might be dangerous!" I think it's Carmen again.
"It won't be any more dangerous than this!" Ava snaps back. "Tom, just do it!"
I use the little energy I have to turn my head slightly to look at Tom, and that's when I see him with his eyes squinted shut and his fist raised, moments before it hits me square across the face.