Chapter 2

"Jayden, can you pass me water?" Braylan said. They were sitting in the kitchen, eating dinner. Jayden's physical being was present with his family, but his mind was with the amulet, old creep and the memory that was struggling to come on the surface.

"Jayden, I am speaking to you! Jayden, JAYDEN!!" Braylon shouted.

"What happened?" asked Jayden coming back to the present.

"I asked you to give me some water, bro. You are not in this world or what?" Braylan repeated his request.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you dude." Jayden said, while pouring some water in a glass.

"Are you hiding something from us? Did you see something?" asked Jane. Her last sentence acted as a trigger. Jayden recalled that night. He felt someone in his room, but no one was there. Then he remembered his nightmare. Those cloaked figures. He could smell them again. Suddenly something hit his brain. It smelled same in the graveyard, near the amulet. Is someone or something after me since that time? He asked himself. He never mentioned that night to anyone except for his parents. He didn't even tell them every thing. He hid his feelings about the soul. He didn't mention his weird experience in the school restroom. He didn't even tell his best friend, Jacob, about all of this. He didn't want to tell anything about today's incident. He vividly remembered the alarm on his dad's visage when he mentioned something harming his soul. He didn't want them to be worried about him.

"Are you alright, son?" His dad's voice interrupted his thoughts. Marco was staring him. His face showed concern.

" I am alright dad." he mumbled.

"You can share it. What's bothering you. You can trust us." Jane said. She too was concerned about this change in her son's behaviour. Braylan was staring Jayden.

"Well, me and Jacob were walking in the other park. We were talking and didn't realise where we were going. Until I bumped into a gravestone. We were scared when we saw the grave and turned back." There was no way he was going to tell his parents about them exploring the graveyard for some time. That would put both of them in trouble. " So when we were returning, it was dark already and a creepy old man was sitting on a bench. No one was there except him. He was really creepy and he smiled creepily and asked us from where we were returning. Jacob and me, we freaked out and ran all the way to my home." Something kept him from saying about someone bumping into him, the amulet, the smell and the temperature drop.

"So this is bothering you." Marco said smiling, " Man you are becoming paranoid." He said, still grinning.

"Whaa..!" This wasn't what Jayden expected. He expected his parents to be worried. He didn't expect them to make fun of him.

"I am telling the truth! You can ask Jacob too. He saw that man!" Jayden tried to make them believe him.

"Come on Jayden, you are simply being paranoid!" His mom said, tilting her head and shrugging her shoulders.

"No, I am not!! It's not paranoia!! You don't believe me!!"

"Well buddy, if you want us to believe that you saw elves and fairies, then sorry man, we don't believe you." Marco said.

"But dad! This isn't fantasy, this is truth!" he was desperate. He wanted his family to believe him.

"Oh Jayden, it's 2020. Stop living in 1980's or something." his mom said with a small laugh.

"Fine!! Don't believe me." Jayden said angrily and stomped up to his room. He was really angry. He expected his family to believe him and try to give him some logical help. He didn't expect him to call paranoid. That was unfair. Now he could not even count on his family!! His phone rang the notification tune. He grabbed his phone angrily and was glad to see that the message was from Jacob.

Hey, what are you doing?

Hi, nothing much

You??

Same

Did you tell your parents

anything??

I didn't

Well dad forced me.

They don't believe me

and say that I am

paranoid 😣😣

What!! I can't believe it!

We both can't be paranoid

at the same time

That's what I said. But

they won't believe.

And the boys talked for a long time. Finally they kept their phones and readied themselves to sleep. That is when Jayden felt first sign of trouble. He heard a footstep and felt that the source wasn't too far. It was not actually a footstep. But a whoosh of wind that was coming from the inside and not the window. He was really scared. He suddenly remembered the cloaked figures. He expected the room to fill up with the rotten smell and then they would pop up within no time and get him. His first instinct was to run to the master bedroom and tell about this to his parents. But then he remembered their words , it broke him. Now he had no one. He had to fight whatever it was, all alone. He felt scared. He had no support from anyone now. He wished his parents would believe him like they did when he was a kid. They believed him and cared about him. Now he felt like his parents don't even care about him.

A lone fighter, who thinks no one loves him or cares about him. A young soul, which is broken and weak. A mind which is young, yet hopeless. It must be a very easy target for many...