Book 1 Chapter 31: The haunting of Dorm 5
Chapter 31: The haunting of dorm 5
Jaeger's eyes panned back and forth as he slowly crept away from the fountain. His eye's watched the plants that were once vibrant slowly wither as their life force was extracted by an unseen entity walking towards the fountain from the opposite direction.
*shhrck*…*shhrck*…
Each of its steps were deliberate and without hesitation and at other times the sound of the steps would disappear only to come closer at a faster rate.
'Is this…thing toying with me?'
The shadows swayed and dashed forward and while Jaeger braced himself for impact the shadows ran at the unseen entity like a mob and crowded it with all their willpower.
"GOooo!..." A voice all too familiar of Tom rang out as it echoed off the walls of the courtyard and into Jaeger's ears again.
The crowd of shadows were slowly before pushed forward, or all together withering away at a rate like kindle to a blazing fire.
Jaeger's brows furrowed even as his steps picked up. He vanished into the cooridor of the left wing and ran down the main wing hallway until he reached the front entrance. His hand hesitated on the handle for what felt like eternity until it shook and twisted allowing his body to escape the confines of the school.
"Tom?...then…if that was his spirit…then he's dead…who were the others?" Jaeger made his way towards the field and when he was in the back left corner and collapsed against the fence that had the cafeteria on the other side he finally stopped and took in the cold rain around him that felt in an onslaught.
The cape moved up and rain cascaded off it like a large umbrella.
Jaeger held his all too familiar cigarrete in hand but each time he went to light the habit he found his hand stopping and falling back onto his soaked leg.
'Fuck…Who am I saving then? What am I preventing?'
Jaeger's eyes moved up to the windows of the school that weeped as rain drained by the windows edges and fell to the earth below. A light cascaded across the fence behind Jaeger and sent countless fragmented lines across the ground in the shape of bent X's.
"WHooo…" The cigarrete finally lit up in its dismal glory. A puff escaped Jaeger's cold lips and rays of light cascaded through the smoke that drifted and retreated away in the wind. He didn't move for a long time, even after smoking twice.
Jaeger's body slowly moved up as he clutched the fence and followed its edge to the gate that lead through the fence into the field. His eyes didn't care about what was to the right of him, they stayed glued to the school as if his life depended on it.
Backing through the gate at the speed of a turtle the gate slammed shut behind him as he moved to the entrance of the cafeteria in a trance. His hand hesitated again over the handle.
'Damnit…' Jaeger turned the handle and stepped inside. The glow of light from before receded from the ceiling towards the kitchen set in the very back past the cafeteria counter. Jaeger scanned the surround rectangular tables that lined the walls.
Wet steps left trails on the floor, the rain that fell off his cape left random dots that let out tick sounds on the spotless polished floor.
His eyes scanned past the counter as he saw a person look around before heading into the closet of the kitchen where the light receded entirely except for the bottom of the door. It would seem that the light was coming from there and with it the following scene that Jaeger would see.
Steps slowing to a light crawl Jaeger bent down to keep his ear to the door as a conversation began to pick up inside.
"Why…why couldn't we…" Someones voice was wobbling on the edge of despair, as the sobs of others was let loose through the crack in the door.
'What happened?' Jaeger thought solemnly.
The sobs and sounds of tears continued for a long while until it simply became silent inside. A feeling of loss filled Jaeger's chest out of the blue and it left him pondering as to the source outside of himself.
"What happened…" A bear like voice broke the silence, repeating the question within Jaeger's mind through the mouth of another.
"I don't know…at first I thought it was the pipes of the building, but then I heard it travelling room to room as if it was passing through the walls of each of the dorms. I know the rest of the people on my floor were out at the village taking the weekend off except for…Isaac." The voice of Tom was the one to give the account of this 'happenstance' it would seem.
"Isaac? The little short loner kid?" Brent asked both confused and bewildered.
"Yeah…that kid…anyway, the noises moved until the one at the end of the hall where he stayed and then I saw the light go out from under his door. I knocked a bunch of times but didn't receive any reply at all until…the light came back on. All I saw from the bottom of the door was this shadow swinging back and forth and when the door miraculously unlocked I saw him…hanging from the ceiling…there was nothing I could do…no…I should've broke the door down…"
Brent gave a loud pat to Tom's shoulder, "that part wasn't your fault…"
Becca's voice sounded out like a squeeling bell, "So…so that's what started it?"
"It must have been" Tom replied frankly, "I felt the room as the light burst out…and then ran down the hall and straight into Brent, when I told him what I saw he didn't reply until…he yelled to run"
"What…what did you see then Brent?" Serenity asked.
"i…I saw Isaac…that's why I was so confused when he said he…hung himself…I saw Isaac yelling, but no words were escaping his mouth but I read his lips and they said to run…go away…run…run…go away…" Brent began to repeat himself without stopping until Tom shook his shoulders.
"If you tell me its gonna be okay you have to believe it too stupid" Tom joked with a downcast tone.
The girls were quite for a while Tom and Brent consoled each other.
"I still can't believe…" Serenity let out several sniffles between each word, "i…that it made him kill himself…the teachers will view it as a suicide…won't they…shouldn't we tell everyone?"
"They would either think we're playing a joke, were crazy, or were stirring up trouble through an 'old ghost story'. You know the teachers of this school don't really…care or believe in the afterlife…"
Becca cut her friends words down as gently as she could.
Tom slapped the floor, "The talismans we placed broke…that means this thing isn't simply a ghost, its something more malicious and this proved it. What was outside the school has slowly entered inside the school and is taking off what I would assume would be the weakest of the dorm students…it…there has to be a purpose to all this, just like the old story…but…Isaac never did anything, hell I don't even think he knew those bullies"
Brent shook his head, "I don't think it's the bullies…like what we said before, I think their spirits fed something or simply…even if it is there spirits, their spirits are possessed to enact things…like bring the livening into the afterlife and feed the source…think about it, it may have caused Isaac's death but it didn't control him right after he died. It merely wanted him to die…I don't know what's going to happen to him after this though…"
The 4 grew silent for a long while, long enough that Jaeger who had his ear propped to the door couldn't help but feel the scene was over but then,
"More talismans…we know we cant offer up to the spirit, but we can reconcile with Isaac's and protect him…even though we couldn't when he was alive."
The lights dimmed in the closet finally, leaving Jaeger in a half dark kitchen with hoarse breath.
'Just what the fuck is this thing' Jaeger took out his smoke and spun it in his fingers. The purpose of the curse shouldn't be to simply kill the living, it would make more sense to perpetuate the curse itself. Much to alikeness of a fire looking for sources to burn brighter and hotter until all things near it succumb.
No, this was a domino effect, and with how things carried out it was a strong one that had worked well.
Jaeger stood up from the floor when his eyes looked past his hands that had a light in them about to light up the smoke. One of the tables in the cafeteria was lit up with light from the window several feet up above it.
'So fast?'
Stalking into the cafeteria, Jaeger bent down to the closest table to the kitchen and crawled along the floor until he was only a table away from the lit table, shadows that sat around its edges soon materialized into the four students Jaeger had come to know well in such a short amount of time.
"I can't believe no matter what we threw at it…fuck" Brent murmured while stirring what looked to be kimchi and rice.
Tom looked at all the sullen faces around the table, "Its okay…nobody was lost this time…its just that several things don't make much sense to me."
"What do you mean?" Serenity asked while putting down a pair of chopsticks, obviously in no mood to eat.
"Last night we heard the same noises from before on both wings…so there is two spirits…yet…when each of us caught glimpses of it we each saw it as a different thing with Serenity being the only one to see it as the leader of those…5…anyway, Brent said he saw a tall demon looking creature whereas Becca saw it as a *cough* voluptuous woman"
"Yeah that really doesn't make sense…" Serenity nodded, while Becca and Brent looked at each other and then back at Tom. They silently gave their confirmation of what they saw.
"So for one…it appears differently to people and for two it goes after the weakest of us…but why do you think those two mixes so well?"
"I don't know" Brent said frankly but curiously.
"Its because its manifesting the worst fear! And using that on the weakest person to start with. The weakest would most likely not be able to handle the fear, but so far no physical efforts have been made against people that's why when we threw things at it and swung bats it it…it didn't do anything"
Becca's eyes glowed in understanding, "You mean it's using the mind to first reel in the weakest, because it can't substantialize its form!"
"Yes!" Tom said with a nod.
"BUT…how do we combat what we cannot touch?" Brent rubbed his temples.
Serenity looked at everyone in their contemplative stupors, "Well…what about the church?"
"The huh?" "What?"
"The church to the east! It has priests and monks remember? Why don't we ask them for help about all this?"
Tom was nodding until he stopped himself, "That could only mean we send one person so that we don't all leave…but that would be dangerous…so we would have to send two…leaving half our forces here to fight the spirit alone..."
"Isn't that what we have been doing?" Becca asked with doubt.
"No…think about it like this, if we leave 2 boys then who protects the girls wings? If we leave one girl and one guy, who protects the person alone in their wings? That's the real conundrum." Tom shook his head.
Tom continued, "So…that only leaves one person to go to the church, ill go"
Serenity shook her head but Becca patted her shoulder, "Brent might be the strongest…but he isn't the wisest…whereas, tom is also the fastest in both regards"
Tom rubbed his cheeks, 'I'm not fast at…everything…heh…' He murmured under his breathe.
Serenity nodded to Becca and then turned to Tom before reached a hand up towards his face lovingly before brutally slapping him upside the head, "You also don't have the best hearing dumbass"
Jaeger watching this conversation couldn't help but think about Alexandria and her fury temper.
'If I ever make it out of this…I swear I'll do everything I can to see you'
Tom stood up, "ill leave early in the morning…and go from there okay?"
Everyone nodded before standing up with him and placing their hands on his shoulder and praying. Tom watched everyone with a sadness they would never get to see, only Jaeger saw him mouth 'If I die…you have to live'
'Tom…' Jaeger muttered in his mind, 'You really are a good guy…'
Tom had saved his own life back in the school, and evidently had indeed died but kept his promise.
'I think…I need to find a way to talk to Tom and just ask him all of what happened…but the church…hmm'
Andrew had mentioned the church without much regard to its importance because of the distance from the school, but now since Tom had left to go find it, this could only mean the two were inextricably linked.
The scene faded.
Jaeger took a breather only to find a light emanating from beyond the front entrance, 'Aw come on give a man a break!' but then quickly threw the thought away in case a spirit came in to say 'the dead don't rest' and could only chuckle wryly.
He walked forward at a strut after getting up from his hiding place, and opened the door only to find the light splitting off in two directions. One towards the front gate, and another towards the school.
*ding*
"EH?" Jaeger looked down to his watched and flicked the display out into the air.
'Boon of Mystery: The time grows near. Make a decision on what perspective to follow.
Quest: Follow Tom to the church, protect him from the spirit.
Quest: Stay at the school, protect the students from the Spirit.'
"What the fuck? So theirs two spirits? Or is it because if I follow one person, so too does the spirit? Or is their two spirits? What the fuck" Jaeger lit up his smoke and leaned against the cafeteria door while the rain poured past the overhang not far overhead.