The Fourteenth Dial

T

"Come on, Hatch! Let's get going or we'll be late!"

"Yeah..!"

——

Flowers lined up the concrete path towards the large, simple building. The brothers walked in, surrounded by people their age chatting loudly - forming groups of all shapes and sizes.

Chase couldn't help but think about how every one of those groups were different from each other. Something different to offer and possibilities endless with so many personalities.

His older brother, Hatch, watched the insignificant people gathering in like-groups. Never understanding how people will only interact with those like themselves. It brings nothing interesting for him.

"Hatch! Hey, I hope you didn't forget about our test! Hurry!" There was no verbal response from him, he casually walked towards the direction with no acknowledgement to his brother or the one who called to him.

"... Oh, right! Class!" Chase finally realized and disappeared into the hall.

It took Chase until the bell rung loudly for him to realize he has no clue where he's going. Dark brown eyes close as a heavy sigh escapes his mouth. Dreadlocks fall as a cascading veil around his lowered face. "Man, I should have asked Hatch to help me..."

A voice from behind caught him off guard, "You must be Chase." The guy said with a nervous chuckle.

"Who are you?"

"Ha, I should have expected Hatch didn't tell you."

This guy knowing his older brother made him hesitant for a moment. "He told me to look for a younger kid that would be pouting - guess that's you - right? I'm here to help you find your classes."

"Oh! That's great! Thanks, I was just going crazy after being late on my first day!"

The young man gave a lighthearted grin and began walking the other direction. Your brother gave me your schedule and this Philosophy class is on the other end of the building.

As the two of them were walking down the suddenly empty halls, Chase noticed something out of one of the windows lining the wall. Some sort of black spot in the sky.

His thoughts were interrupted by the other man's question. "So... you seem pretty young to be here, are you taking college courses for high school?"

"No, I just skipped a couple grades." He answered plainly. "Now that I think about it, you know my name, but you never told me yours," Chase chuckled.

"Oh, right! Sorry, just call me Kevin, a Sophomore."

"Kevin Softstone? Hatch has talked about you a lot. I think he finds you a great friend!"

"Yeah? He does tend to make it hard to tell, but we get along." The walk became a bit quiet so Kevin quickly found a topic. "My dad wants me to be a lawyer, so I'm starting off with American Government as my major, what are you trying to become?"

"Criminal Justice is what I'm majoring in, but I actually want to become a detective."

"A detective!? I'm guessing your parents don't really care for that idea..."

"My dad's been dead for a few years, but yeah, my mom doesn't really want me to be a detective since he died as one."

"Holy shit dude! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have brought it up..."

"It's fine, you didn't know, but -"

"Yeah?"

"What is that thing?" Chase points at the dark space in the sky that has grown noticeably in size since a minute ago.

"I-I don't exactly know what you're talking about?"

"You don't see it?"

Kevin tried looking through the windows, inspecting really hard, but came up empty. "No, sorry."

"Hmm..." Chase was thinking incredibly hard before the earth beneath them began to shake. He swiveled his head so quickly, it almost appeared as if his neck would snap. He could feel something strange, as if it was wrapping all around him.

Just then, screams and crashing could be heard from several different directions. Kevin grabbed Chase and led him to the place where they met, near the front doors.

Just then, a centipede-like creature came through the wall and impeded their escape. It had a human torso were the head would usually be. The arms of the pulsing, human-shaped flesh seemed to be slowly tearing off its own flesh with a quiet crying sound as it looked on where the two were headed.

The whimpering suddenly stopped, it's arms collapsed to its sides and the head turned slowly, but steady. Cracking echoed in the halls until the head was 180 degrees towards them.

Kevin's breathing escalated as he watched Chase look forward at empty space in a daze. He could hear this horrible cracking sound, but could tell exactly where it was coming from - so he took Chase and ran as fast he could.

The monster's humanoid section unnaturally twisted its torso into a spiral with its head upside-down, gazing upon its new victims. Its many legs tapping loudly on the tile and resounding within the deserted hall.

Kevin could only hear the nauseating claws hitting hard floor all around, not be able to tell exactly how close it was and honestly not one-hundred percent sure he's not running towards the source. He kept his focus, he chose this route and all he can do is follow it down the exceedingly long hall.

Once they pass some lockers, they get torn as if blades ran through them a part of the way, screaming and blood were still everywhere and he suddenly turned, yanking Chase behind him like a doll.

The teenager could see how the creature tripped over itself and continued down that way. Kevin's exhausted voice came through his mental fog, "Is it gone?"

"F-for now."

"What was that thing? Something was chasing us, but it looked like you could see it."

With that, Chase confirmed that not only was that thing real, but that Kevin could really see it. "It was some sort of centipede thing, you don't want to see it."

The two students hid in a janitor's closet and tried to calm their breathing. Various screeching and people yelling could be heard from everywhere.

'Sounds like there are multiple of these things...' thought Chase.

"Hey! Wake up! You haven't been paying much attention since this started get ahold of yourself!"

"So I'm guessing you didn't notice."

"Notice - what?"

"We were running down that hallway a pretty long time, and we only just turned."

Pale skin turned translucent and cold - breathing completely halted as Kevin was piecing it together. He had been freaking out, not thinking about anything. He had failed as an older man.

"But don't worry, if you hadn't been there, I would've stayed frozen and probably died, so it's good we were doing different things."

The older student felt nauseous at their predicament, monsters all around and a school that's larger with more twists and turns than usual.

'Clack'!

One of the many feet of that thing chasing them before had hit the ground, a low, human-like cry wavered through the air. It was quiet and sent an ominous chill through Chase's smaller body.