Night School (Rieo Deal & I)

[3ngag3]

It all started with a bang.

A loud noise, unusual for this time of night, shook awake a young man who had nodded off in the classroom of what appeared to be a night school session. It was bad enough that his parents forced him to come here at this miserable hour night after night due to his lack of good grades, but he couldn't even take a nap due to some stupid annoyance bothering him every other minute. He sat up a bit to look around, noticing that the other students, including the teacher, were doing the same thing. Whatever that sound was, it was loud and it was close. "Stay here a moment," the teacher said as he walked out of the classroom to investigate the noise. After some time, he returned with no answer and no worries as to the source of such a loud noise. "Must have been some pranksters," the young man mumbled to himself as he used this opprotunity to get some actual work done to make it seem like he wasn't a complete slacker.

He didn't give the matter a second thought until the next night when he was back at school. As usual, he was napping, his body unable to cope with having to stay up this late. This time, however, the teacher was the one to wake him from his stupor. "Wake up Ken!" he snapped, kicking the desk the young man was sitting at, causing him to stir and moan. "If you weren't such a slacker, you would have the privelage of sleeping at home this time of night. Right now though, you're here and you have some studying to do." Ken was really starting to get annoyed with this guy. If only someone or something could shut him up...

*BANG*

It was that loud noise again, the same one that was heard last night, only it sounded much closer this time. The teacher, in his confidence, decided to once again investigate, feeling that he would be able to catch whoever was screwing around in the halls so late at night. As he left the room, no one would realize that it would be the last time anyone would see that teacher again. After about an hour, there was some murmuring between the other students, perhaps a little nervous that the teacher had not come back yet. This apprehension was not lost on Ken, who decided to investigate the matter himself. It wasn't that he was worried about the teacher or anything. It was more a matter of curiosity. Slowly, he walked out into the halls which had mysteriously gone dark, the only light coming from the moon which shone in the windows. This was a little odd to the young man who slowly inched his way through the darkness to one of the doors leading outside. He pushed down on the handle expecting it to open, only it didn't. It certainly felt like the door was unlocked, so why wasn't it budging?

Ken wouldn't have time to worry about such things as something far more mysterious and terrifying reached his ears. It was a scream. Not just any scream, but a blood curdling scream the likes of which could only come from someone being murdered. His heart began to race very quickly and the hair on his arms stood on end. This had to be some kind of bad joke being played here. And while he was eager to get the hell out of this twisted prank already, something urged him to move towards the sound he heard. Perhaps it was more curiosity, he didn't know, but whatever the case, he began to move forward again, only at a much slower pace. As he did, he began to hear things, whispers, echoes, a breath at the back of his neck. Just what the hell was going on around here?

 

[Rieo Deal]

Jasmine was a foreigner and for that she was punished with night school for not understanding the material. She could hardly read the work and after she finally deciphered it there was little time to actually complete it. Still, she had to at least pretend for her family she was fitting in with the culture, no matter how hard it was. She had played the night school off as an honor. A blatant lie, but they would be none the wiser before she adapted enough to be out of it. So, while sitting one evening half-heartedly picking apart her work, a crash sounded. It broke her train of thought entirely. And everyone else for that matter.

She whipped her head around and watched the monitor step out cautiously while all of the other characters in the quaint little classroom sat around in a shocked daze. She chewed her bottom lip, uncertain whether this would be her first time in a new land under some sort of attack. Before she could fester in the possibility of dangerous news the monitor returned, assuring them it was nothing more than a childish prank somewhere. Her eyes glanced around to see if anyone else believed it. With no desire to find something worse, they all nodded in agreement and returned to whatever they were—or had not been doing.

The next night was no better. She was more exhausted than the last and with even more things to stack up. The boy next to her was still snoozing and she felt the urge to follow suit. Again, she had no time to indulge in the idea when the monitor rushed over and roused her fellow evening classmate. The fussing was going on endlessly and she dug her head farther in her studies with no other defense against it. The nagging was grinding her gears when suddenly the noise was cut silent with an even bigger one, the crash of the previous night. But it was closer this time.

The monitor rolled his eyes and hurried out this time, ready to handle the situation with full confidence. Despite his vicious nature she found assurance in his brave act and sat back waiting, ignoring her work until the issue was resolved. But, it wasn’t resolved in a timely fashion. Or at all. Ken, the classmate that had been scolded, took it upon himself to investigate. Her lip chewing started again and she lost count of the seconds he was gone. Her skin felt prickly as if there was a high voltage unit nearby, pulling at the short hairs on her arm. A chill ran down her spine. Her breath shortened and the barely contained fear burst free as she fled to the door.

Just as she began her escape someone who had sat beside her was thrown against the wall. The screamed as bones splintered and blood squirt where the bones had broke through flesh. Then, with one ironically merciful crack, their neck was snapped by something unseen. Jasmine’s pupils dilated to twice their size and she stood briefly, shaking uncontrollably. Then a voice in her head, she later thanked, screamed, “Duck and run!” Without hesitation she obeyed and dashed down the darkened hall, seeking salvation where the crash has sounded.

Farther along in the black gym sat a swirling vortex leaking things from the world’s best and worst nightmares. Things that go bump in the night and things you bump in the night poured out and scattered through the corridors and simply through the walls themselves. One malevolent presence stood laughing seemingly more like giggling at the mayhem that was being sent forth.

 

[3ngag3]

Another loud sound silenced the whispers and creepy murmuring that had been creeping Ken out. It was almost a welcome thing had it not been for the fact that the sound was a blood curdling scream. He turned just in time to see what appeared to be a young lady fleeing the classroom in terror. His first instinct was to let her go. Due to his absolute boredom during class hours, he didn't even bother to remember the faces of any of the other students who were there. But as the situation stood, he began to think that another person at his side would help to calm the steadily growing fear in his mind brought about by this sudden chaos. And so, he gave chase, frantic to catch up with the girl who must have been running at a frantic pace seeing as how he couldn't catch up with her that easily. He ran by the classroom door then, and as he ran by, he caught a glimpse at the terror that had driven her out of there in such a hurry.

It was only brief, but it was enough to make Ken close his eyes and grit his teeth, his mind trying to make sense of what was going on. "Shit, shit, shit," he cursed to himself as he continued to try and catch up with the girl in the darkness. "What the hell is happening?" If only he could catch up with her. They would find solace in their situation and work together to find a logical solution to their problem and get right up out of this hell hole. But fate, it seemed, was trying to keep these two apart. As they were nearing the end of the hall, the lockers suddenly burst open, flapping back and forth creating several loud bangs of metal on metal. It was like a twisted audience clapping, cheering and taking delight in the chaos that was being created. "Hey!" Ken called out to the girl in the maddening sound. He hoped she would hear him, but it must have been so loud that she probably couldn't hear him. But soon, there would be nowhere left to run. With the doors locked, they would together, cornered but together.

One of the locker doors finally snapped off its hinges, perhaps caused by the rapid rattling back and forth and fell to the ground. It wasn't long, however, before the door suddenly began floating back in the air as if held by an unknown apparition. It made Ken pause in his tracks, unable to process this supernatural occurence in his mind. He wouldn't have time to do even that as the door suddenly began to rotate and shoot towards the girl like a saw blade that threatened to remove her head from her shoulders. The young man didn't need a second thought to rush forward as fast as he could and tackle the young lady to the ground, the projectile nearly missing both of them by inches.

 

[Rieo Deal]

Chaos in it's purest form. Nothing made sense. There were noises spawning from nothingness speaking in tongues and sometimes in her native tongue, other times in English. No matter what, the frightening fact that she was hearing what really wasn't there had her insides chilled below freezing. Bile built at the back of her throat as she ran as fast as her legs could carry. Her heart pumped so loud it became deafening in her ears and all that was left was her laboring breath and thumping heart. She saw a face, the boy who had first left out after the teacher, as she sped past him, but she made no point to pause there. Did it matter? They were doomed. Hell, she was running to her own doom!

How do you run from what you can't see?

Then came more crashing. It was constant and ringing from behind her. She stumbled a little and the single pause made her new found exhaustion apparent. Still, she forced her legs to move. Jasmine could have sworn she heard one of those mad voices calling out to her desperately trying to be noticed. If she hadn't been running she would have fisted her hands against her temples and dug in, praying for silence and salvation. Tears streamed down her eyes, dissolving the little make-up she employed everyday. It smeared down her cheeks in black and pink lines. What was that story? The Wizard of Oz? There was no place like home. No place like home. She'd take dishonor for years to come if she could wake from this nightmare, safe in her room, hovering over a textbook at her desk.

I'll study a thousand times harder if you can get me out of here!

Her prayers were heard, but not as she intended. A force soared into her from behind, knocking out breath and sense. Just over her head she felt a cutting murderous wind and finally a clattering of something metal slamming against the nearby corner of the wall. Still, having not seen her savior just yet she feared she had been tackled by an evil spirit and rolled out of his saving embraced. Her legs kicked out, swinging at anything and her elongated nails took purchase where she could. Jasmine screamed nonsense, her instincts of fight or flight blinding her from seeing Ken for what he was. "Leave me alone! Die spirit, die! Go away! Ah!" She flailed until she became a hazard to herself and she needed to pause for more than ten seconds to recollect her breath. In that moment she saw Ken and added two and two.

"Oh... I did not know..."

Her embarrassment lasted for moments when suddenly she shoved away from him, in the process moving him back some, as a corporal hand reached up between them. It reached out as if for something to grab and then pressed down on the very floor it was poking through, pulling itself up. As it came farther through a human shape became apparent, feminine even, but slightly decayed. Its body was opaque as if a spirit that was trapped between two dimensions. The spirit female stood up, then hunched over heavily, allowing her excessively long hair to cover her face for all but one eye. Everything else was naked. She faced Jasmine and grinned, exposing rows of shark-like teeth.

The girl could only lay there, as she had never stood up, with her eyes wide as saucers and tears barreling down her face. "Tis.. death.."

 

[3ngag3]

For all of his efforts, for all of his running and his attempt to save the life of a girl he didn't even know, Ken was met with a surprising ammount of resistance. She kicked, screamed, scratched, doing anything and everything possible to try and get her savior off of her. When all was said and done and she finally realized that what had met her was actually another person, the young man was all scratched up along his face and he had some slight discomfort in his midsection where he was kicked and thrashed. "You just realized that now?" he replied before he was suddenly met with even more violence, or so he thought. She shoved him away just in time to have him avoid the gruesome hand of something clearly not of this world. He didn't say a word, his body unable to move from the shock. All he could do was stare at the somewhat human looking individual that had sprouted from the ground like the walking dead.

She was naked save for the hair that covered her naughty bits, though, with the way she was decayed, looking at her tits probably would have made Ken vomit rather than give him an erection. She faced the girl with a sinister grin full of teeth that seemed more fit for a shark than a human. Her very presence frightened him, yet his mind was trying to will him into action. "Move...move damnit. MOVE!" He spoke these words in his mind and clenched his fists, desperate to make his body to respond to his will. And as the apparition closed in on her, he finally responded by getting to his feet and ramming his body into her, knocking her to the ground. Without hesitation, he grabbed the girl's hand and began running up the nearby stairs. The young man didn't know where he was going. Clearly, there was nowhere safe they could hide, but it was better than being in the presence of that...thing.

Back in the gymnasium, where the black hole of infinity gave way to creatures both inhuman and grotesque, two figures stood, almost like royalty, over the pit. It was unclear if they were human or not, but by the way they were gazing proudly at the hole, it seemed as if they knew more about it than anyone around here that was living. "So you sent her out first, did you?" the first individual said. "Yes...apparently, she was one of the first to escape. She should probably already be at the source." The first individual seemed to chuckle a bit. "Too bad for her. If she didn't have the instinct of an animal, she would know that she's too weak to be wandering about."

 

[Rieo Deal]

Upstairs were the various labs, including the computer lab, chemistry lab, and art studio. With the night students having need for this area it was understandably pitch black, but it did not bode well for Jasmine's lack of grace while frightened. Her tried to keep up with Ken and his speed for she hadn't quite regained her own wind from speeding down the hall and attacking him after he tackled her. She cursed at him in her own language to let go and realized quickly he understood nothing but jibberish at best. "Let me go!" She pulled her wrist free as they reached the top of the stairs. "Where are we even going?"

The doors upstairs were locked as they would be at the end of any school day to prevent students and their expected thievery. Hiding was not an option without making loads of noise. But after watching the decaying wretch creep through the floor who was concerned about making noise? What could you do when your very nightmares could reach through the walls and have you? Would they make it out alive? Was the rest of the class even still alive? The chances were slim and that fear made her crumble to the floor in a heap.

"We're to die!" She exclaimed. "Why run? It is to get us anyway!" She struggled for the right English words, but knew her true fear was only barely conveyed.

The creature watched them run and was enticed by the thrill of the chase. Knowing its prey would be a cinch to capture it trudged along slowly, a long creeping tongue lulling out of its mouth to lick around the length of her entire head. She had no idea that as she delayed those kids were more effected by the ripped hole the gym than simply becoming prey. They could fight back, but she was dense, only able to follow her hunger to where it led. She took each step slowly, gnashing her teeth nosily as she ascended the stairs. Every once in a while she would cry out in a strange animal like laughter.

-----

The darkened silhouette of a female stood nearest to the hole. Something like at a long thin tail waved about lazily behind her. She seemed most amused at her counterparts statement as a razor sharp smile gleamed in the eerily black glow of the hole. "You know so little of foreplay. Whenever do you use your best toys first?" She chuckled lightly at the blatant innuendo. "She's a test for what this will do to these children. You need not concern yourself." She paced around the hole as yet another creature crawled out. It moved sluggishly slowly leaving a trail of slime like a giant slug, but deformed with tentacles. "We have been digging this hole for some time now. Let us let the fun last, no?"

 

[3ngag3]

Ken hadn't counted on Jasmines lack of coordination. He had to stop to let her keep up with him, but soon it became apparent that no ammount of time was going to do either of them any good. She had cursed out in a language foreign to him and in his pause, he finally got a chance to get a better look at the girl he saved. She was an exotic looking girl, perhaps from India or somewhere abouts. He could feel a strange vibe about her, something mysterious and dangerous. If it were any other place and time, he might have had the good consience to stay away from her. But these weren't normal circumstances. They were running from terrors both seen and unseen and with everything on lockdown, escape was impossible. She whimpered in fear with a voice void of hope and if he had to be honest, she was really bringing him down with that talk. He was afraid too, but he wasn't the type of person simply to give up and accept his fate.

"Shut up with that talk," Ken replied in a sort of forceful tone as if to shock her back to her senses. "I don't know where we're going to run or what the hell that thing is, but I'm not going to stand here and let that...thing...kill us. There's got to be some way to stop it and I'm going to keep buying us time until we find out how. Now come on!" He grabbed the girl's hand again, this time a bit tighter so as to keep her close. With the apparition closing in on them, he began to run again, hoping to find a room that was unlocked. Fortunatley, what he and only a handful of others knew, there was one room that was kept unlocked on a regular basis. It used to be the band room, but it had recentley been abandoned and with the room being void of any valuables, it was kept unlocked most of the time. He just had to make it to the end of the hall where it was located, then they could get in and shut the door and shut out the thing that mindlessly craved their destruction.

Back at the gymnasium, a female had joined in on the conversation. The first two shillouettes didn't seem to pay her much mind until she spoke of foreplay and toys like these things that hemoraged from the darkness were simple property and nothing else. "Well, you at least remembered to put the curse on her before you sent her out, right?" The first form asked the female addition. We need those 'children' to stick around and the curse is the only thing that can do that."

 

[Rieo Deal]

Jasmine was not accustomed to being man handled or accosted, but she had no time to fuss about formalities here. Reality was being warped before her very eyes and simple things like politeness were probably the last thing in the world she'd consider if she got out of this. When she got out of this, she had to remind herself. To despair now was a terrible optioin. They would die and if it was because she cradled in the fetal position she'd never forgive herself, nor would karma, on her way through reincarnation. She stiffened up her quivering lips and picked up pace to wear down less on Ken. She saved the apology though, her breath was precious.

Having been in the school only a short time, and in not many electives at that, she had no idea where she was headed. She followed his steady lead, resisting the urge to look back towards the miserable cruel sounds of that vicious decaying shark girl. Resisting was easier said than and eventually she looked back to see the corporal body coiling around the bend, slithering out with opaque tendrils as if trying to feel for prey. Maybe those things could do more? The possibilities were endless in a world where the supersititions her people always warned about turned to be real. And just when her faith was in question...

Did everyone go through this from her homeland and was not allowed to tell? Is that why they were so blindly bound to their faith? Well she knew one thing for sure, if any of that was true they apparently had to survive! Summoning her heart and soul she snatched up Ken and barrelled straight for a door, slamming her shoulder into it. Luckily, it was the door to the band room anyway, but it broke the door off the hinges which was a haphazard they could have saved. Not that physical barriers were much a hindarance to something that could creep through them.

The lack of challenge from the door sent Jasmine tumbling to the floor, still trying to hold onto Ken by instinct alone. She was sent skirt over head onto the dusty ground.

- - - - - -

The creature was tired of the game as it could feel the distance between predator and prey growing. If that was not incentive enough it glanced at its increasingly translucent skin to see it peeling and withering into nothingness. It needed to feed to remain. Tentacle feelers slithered from the depths of her flesh and slithered about, sniffing out her victims. She could feel their energy twisted and knotted with fear and uncertainty. She felt her mouth salivate hungrily and she picked up her pace to such a point she dropped to all fours, her structure contorting to accomdate and be efficent for such a position. Once it was complete she bounded down the hall to the source of fear that stopped just at the end.

The distance was closed shortly and she stopped at the doorway, allowing her feelers to creep about and do what her blind eyes could not. She was told to feast, but her true duty was hidden to simply hurt them, therefore leaving the curse upon their skin. It crept closer almost indecisive about whom to consume first. Finally, it settled it's feelers upon Ken the first one to rebell when it had appeared.

- - - - - -

The female shrugged and folded her arms. "What do you take me for, an amatuer? A slacker?" She scoffed at the suggestion and paced around impatiently, her tail flicking hard against the polished floor. She knew her place amongst the two regal figures, more a servant than ever an equal, but this was not their homeland. There was freedom to be had here. For now she would tolerate her position of subordinance.

 

[3ngag3]

Ken's determination for survival, it seemed, hadn't been lost on the young girl. The way he was leading her about, he could feel that she didn't need to be held as tight as before. In fact, it was almost as if she were leading him about towards their destination. Boy that door sure looked close now...*BLAM* The combined force of the young man and the young lady shot the door wide open and their continued momentum sent them tumbling to the ground like a couple of boulders. When they stopped, Ken found himself in the rather unusual position of having his face up close and personal with Jasmine's behind, the skirt covering his head and the look of embarassment on his face hidden from public view. It was a situation he would have relished, had they not been chased through the halls. Quickly, he pulled his face away and was prepared to apologize, but the haunted masses of the school building did not want to give him even that chance.

A sound from behind quickly turned Ken's head. It was the newly deformed spirit that he had turned away to get Jasmine to safety. It looked to be more beast now than human. She was on all fours, her head bobbing back and forth as if sniffing the ground for prey. Her flesh had become alive and dangerous, like natural weapons to consume all that stood in their path. They creeped and swept along the ground and though it looked random, they did indeed have a target in mind. The young man was strangled by fear once more, his body slowly trying to back away from his pursuer despite his grounded position. With each slight movement the creature made towards him, the beating of his heart grew faster and faster. It was like a nightmare come to life and in such scenarios in his mind, his instinct took over and his hand reached out to try and deflect the source of his fears. "N...no...Stay away!" He knew his words would fall on deaf ears, but he kept on begging anyways as if there were some faint glimmer of hope that would come about and rescue him from this situation. "STAY AWAY!"

This outburst. This cry for mercy. It triggered something deep within Ken's spirit. The hole in which the forces of darkness spread and threatened to consume flashed with a faint light. A faint light that also appeared on the palm of the young man's hand in the image of a cross. Just having it on his hand like that, it was like a surge of energy and hope flowed from his body. The light grew brighter now, enough that it could probably burn through that which was unholy and evil. If there was hope to be found, it would be in the palm of a young man's hand.

 

[Rieo Deal]

No shadow had ever been cast without a light there before it, as so it had always been told. There in a moment of utter fear where hopeless reigned supreme there was still a glimmer that the balance had not been tipped completely. The beast being blind continued to grope away for a target when it heard him and continued to advance to the sound he was making. Jasmine had already succumbed to a muted terror. The lion she had found withing her soul died away into a timid house cat shying away from strangers entering its domain. In her heart of hearts she felt terrible to not so much raise a hand in his defense as he had her. For a moment she hated him for giving her the hope that in the end meant nothing when the inevitable was but a step away.

But then, he cried out. Light flashed and the sinister spirit recoiled. Its tendrils lashed out at the growing light that spewed hope and love and anything that which the darkness opposed. The searing brightness burned and boiled its decaying flesh, causing the beast cry out in rage and pain. It tried to hit him and managed to lash at his wrist once to leave a whelp the curse that was so needed, but was then forced back by the brightening barrier. Pain racked its very existence to such it point its retreat was slowed down, unable to manage against such suffering any long. It reached around for something to brace itself and accidentally grappled Jasmine's ankle. She screamed out but the danger did not last as the light began to make the creature shrink and melt away. A putrid paste piled in the hallway, leaving behind a foul stench that worsened with every possible moment. Then soon, even that dissipated into nothingness, back from whence it came.

Jasmine sat there, feeling a wave of safe and welcoming warmth emitting from Ken. Still, she did not understand what she was seeing and couldn't trust something dangerous was happening to him too. With one fear replaced with another, especially with prospect of being melted by a living heating lamp, she made an effort to start scrambling away from him too. If he could do that all along why hadn't he saved them at the bottom of the steps? Or was this all a new development for everyone involved. There were too many questions left unanswered and she had no patience left for things she couldn't just easily find out. So, she did the only thing females are raised to do best of all at a very early age. Nag.

"What de' hell was that? You spit magic from jour hands now? And jou chose not to speak on it?" She figured the accusing questions would prompt a wealth of admittance from him quick enough.

 

[3ngag3]

Even in the blinding light of hope, the creature continued to persist to the point where she left a lash on Ken's wrist from one of her tendrils. The painful feeling, though brief, caused him to wince and pull his hand back, dispersing the light temporarily. But the damage had already been done. Even as it made one last desperate attempt to take Jasmine for her own, she began to fade into oblivion, leaving only a pile of rancid fluid that, if it had not been for the adrenaline running through his body from suddenly releasing a power he never knew he had, would have overcome his senses and drop him like a ton of bricks. Even that, however, was only temporary and as the stench subsided and the light disappeared, there was nothing but silence between Jasmine and the young man.

For a moment, Ken remained still, his eyes gazing down at the fresh marks in his hand. One was made to look like a simple wound, while the other was forged by unknown means and meant to destroy the darkness within the school, or so he thought anyways. It wasn't until he slowly turned to Jasmine that he could see the mix of curiosity and fear in her eyes. Much to his surprise, however, the first words out of her mouth were that of complaint and confusion. She was being like a backseat driver for a ride that neither of them had realized they were taking until now. "How the hell am I supposed to speak on something I never knew I could do until now?" He replied with a bit of annoyance before turning back to look at the mark on his palm. "I mean, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you when it comes to such things..."

------------

The brief flash in the hole of darkness seemed to stir something within the two figures standing nearby. They knew the task had been complete, but that flash of light was not without worry.

"Interesting," the first figure said with a voice of intriuge. "I didn't expect the light to reach out here so soon."

"Maybe the girl has something to do with it," the other stated plainly. "We should test her and see. Send out another one."

"It's too late for that now," the first one replied. "The night is almost done and the sun will rise with it. No creature can yet survive under the rays of the sun. Not yet, anyways..."

 

[Rieo Deal]

Jasmine bit her lip, feeling properly reprimanded for her her complaining nature. It was a sudden and hidden part of herself she didn't realize she was so readily capable of. But in consideration of the situation, it was the only power she actually had. She had no presentable power and death was bursting from the very walls. Worst of all she had been up all night, long after she should have already returned home to a quiet home of sleeping heads. Now people would be awakening as she entered and expecting her to be getting ready for school. Everything was on top of its head and he was, as far as she could recount, the only one who could share this with. And they were from two very different backgrounds. What were the chances they would end up counting on one another?

Then again, how much counting on me could he have done? I just cried a lot...

She bit harder into her lip and crept closer to him to examine the damage on his wrist, but indirectly to the palm of his hand where the mark had burned in. There was nothing she could do now, but already the wound on his wrist was healing over, even in strange intricate patterns. She resisted the urge to trace and instead gazed at her own wound on her ankle. It was in a similiar fashion, but wrapped around her ankle where the tendril had swirled around it. There seemed like something more than a terrible allergic reaction to a sick creature from another plane at works here, but she was too exhausted and naive to work out the kinks. All she wanted was to go home and never come back, no matter how much shame it brought on everyone around here. Shame was a blessing any day over certain death.

"I'm sorry. I was just... it doesn't matter. We're alive, and its thanks to you. This is just... freaky..." She chewed on her lip ravenously, like the secret was in the meaty flesh of her lips that she nervously bit and chewered. "What do we do now?" Something told her, not much. Pretend like it didn't happen. Never come back. Lose my name.

That, amazingly, was not what she wanted. Instinctively, she got closer to him, feeling safer around his mysterious power now that she understood he didn't understand it and it was indeed the cause of their salvation thus far.

----

The female stepped back out of their line of sight and considered what had transpired. It was so early for that light to burst forward. How powerful was the call of these kids? Was it likely they would thwart their plans before they could solidify grounding in this world? The last thing she needed was receive blame for a blunder no one could have calculated. "Then it would be wise for us to take our leave for the eve. I believe my pet has done her task of cursing the children. They will be compelled to return or suffer a pain like no other," she said as she dipped into an elaborate bow. Remain humble and speak little. Invisible is as close as you will get to invincible.

 

[3ngag3]

What to do indeed? For the time being, things seemed to calm down. There were no more noises, no calls from the darkness, nor the clattering of doors and windows. But still, Ken seemed on edge a bit. He was still staring at his hand like it was the first time he had ever seen it. There was still a bit of adrenaline running through his body, putting his senses to their wits end. Any small movement around him caused him to tense up slightly, as if he were anticipating another attack. But all there was now was silence and the feeling of another human being at his side. In fact, just having this girl next to him seemed to calm him a bit. With each breath he took, the young man began to relax more and more until he was finally comfortable with the fact that there was no more danger around them. And as Jasmine asked what their next course of action should be, he replied in kind, "We should probably just get out of here now. I wouldn't be surprised if the commotion here convinced someone to call the authorities and if they do come, they're gonna have a hell of a hard time believing the story we got for them. I think it's best we keep this to ourselves for now."

Slowly, Ken pulled himself to his feet. Taking another at his hand, he slowly approached the door to the hallway and peeked outside. Again, he looked at his hand and pointed it outside like it was some kind of firearm. It looked rather goofy, but he really believed that if he brandished it like a weapon, these hauntings that stalked the school would be forced back in intimidation. Back and forth he turned, feeling that at any time, from any direction, the darkness might come for him and the girl. He kept this up until they reached the stairs and as he did, he could hear the voices of the others who survived the night making their way towards the doors. When he heard the click and the squeak of the doors being pushed open, the young man finally sheathed his hand and started walking downstairs. "Looks like it's all clear, I guess," he said to himself.