*KIRA MYR *
Age: 21
Sex: Feminine
***
What was that? Mr Lane, or should it be Nes, had trembled like I had never seen a man tremble before. The look in his eyes wasn't one of fear, but of horror. A horror so deep he refused to breathe. Horror like I'd only seen described in fiction.
I rubbed my aching neck, looking down at Mr. Lane's limp and unconscious figure. After Haylen's first refusal to answer my question, I didn't dare ask again.
He must've sensed my tension as his voice rang in my ears once more.
"Breathe, Nes's gone."
His words were of little comfort, but I forced myself to take a deep breath and put Mr. Lane in the office chair in front of the desk.
It took some time to regain a steady voice, the immediate effects of fear slowly dissipating. It should've been my brief dance with death that had scared me, the feeling of my lungs being refused air, but it wasn't. I was scared of Haylen.
[Calm down, Kira. If he wanted to hurt you, don't you think he already would've?]
"What now?" I asked. There were no other clues here besides the fact that the videos had been tampered with.
"We got what we needed, we know how deep Nes's influence runs. He has control over the school's surveillance system and a few members of the faculty. I've never been privy to how his puppeteering ability works, but I'm guessing it requires some condition before he can activate it otherwise he'd have just taken control of you or me. I'll spend some time thinking, see what conclusion I can come up with. You go about your days like usual so as not to arouse the suspicion of the faculty."
"That seems reasonable, but first, I think there's something you might want to know. When I fought Nes, or more accurately the students he had taken over, for the first time, I experienced something strange. I hallucinated as if I had escaped and run away just to be scared awake and realize I was still trapped in the classroom."
Haylen didn't respond immediately, taking a long moment to think before his voice rang in my ear.
"I've never seen him use an ability like that. Thanks for telling me, I think it'll help me figure out the condition behind his puppeteering. For now, go on with your day like normal but stay connected."
I nodded and headed to my current class. I had two classes this afternoon, Logistics and Advanced Literature.
It felt a little strange going to class after everything that had happened. It had only been the night before that I was attacked by Nes, but it felt as though I had been wrapped in this web of supernatural chaos for much longer.
"You look tired." Marie was sweet, too sweet for those sharp, angular eyes of hers and too sweet for this world. Her face was what I could only describe as dissonant. She had a soft voice that could calm children and a smile that could melt ice but the face of a constantly scowling sailor. She wasn't ugly by any means, she was one of the prettiest girls I knew, she was just unique.
It felt good seeing her, like I had finally left that awful world. The world where Haylen, Nes, and all those other headaches resided.
Unknowingly, I found my hand shaking slightly. Was I still afraid? I placed my other hand over it.
"I'm fine, just thinking of something." My lips curled upwards.
"Well, if you say so. Here, I took notes for the class you missed this morning." She didn't dwell on the subject, she knew that if I wasn't telling her, it was probably something she couldn't help with.
"Thanks." I turned my attention to the class, trying my best to remove myself from that world, even if for only a brief moment. I finally felt the weight of it all fall on my shoulders. The past few days, I had been moving too fast to realize it but so many things had happened.
This deep in, my only real choice was to move forward. If I stayed passive, I might be able to emerge unharmed but Eliya would still be in danger.
[I guess I really can't remove myself from that world, it's not a seperate on from ours. They bo-
[Huh?]
I looked down to see that an orange had been placed on my lap. I turned to Marie, who was already looking at me with half an awkward smile.
"Are you done thinking?" She asked, "I've been trying to get your attention for almost five minutes now! Where's Pandora?"
Looking around the room, the annoying orange-smelling man was in fact missing. He usually never missed this class, it was his opportunity to bother and pester me to his heart's content since the teacher never really cared about what students did.
"I haven't seen him since yesterday." She continued.
The last time I had seen him was Saturday but I could admit it was strange to not see that fireball at all today.
Marie seemed disappointed at my answer.
"Why? Do you need him for something?"
"No, I just…"Her face flared red as she stuttered over her words.
Ah… I remembered now.
Two weeks ago, they had both been paired up for a project. Ever since, they've been strangely close, Marie even going to his dorm from time to time.
"You disgus-"
"AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!"
Bloodcurdling. Sickening.
I felt my words cut and my stomach twist as bile rose from my throat. I had heard a sound, a sound so horrifically graphic that it made every single hair on my body stand up.
I saw the moment the sound hit Marie, I saw as her face deformed and morphed into an expression of terror. Her eyes dilated and her breath grew short and choppy.
Another sound barely registered in my ears, a fast and rhythmic thud. It took me a moment to realize it was a heartbeat, but not just mine. It was the collective heartbeat of everyone in the class, everyone whose heart pounded like a galloping horse.
Seconds after the noise had hit us, many began to cry while others froze. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew that the scream we had heard had come from a human.
A human who had just experienced primal fear, a fear so deep and boundless her descendants must've felt it.
A fear that made death feel merciful.