"You know, back when we were kids, those who were older than us would tell us many boring things that dulled our very sense of selves. Our freedom, imprisoned by the rules that were set out there, waiting for us to step so carelessly, crippling our souls so that they can drag us off to their world. Yet they were the ones who created us, the ones who gave us life, and we, I guess are sometimes the causes of their destruction. Like how wars conjure deaths, or how children stress their parents out. But if you think about it, it's also really poetic how we have the ability to hurt them, draining them of their capabilities and to slowly tear them apart. Making them hurt all over, gratifying the dormant bloodlust that we all have inside us, waiting for the right moment to spring into our lives, causing chaos, withering everything that we know dear. But of course, it doesn't have to be negative all the time. We can say that wherever light stands, there will always be darkness that is beckoned to come. And it is up to everyone to see and to choose their path, may they even see what others cannot, giving up their filthy bare palms to the beautiful things hiding in the dark, and avoiding the dreadful things, stalking and haunting them whenever they are alone in the light. Me, I was born and raised "good" so they sent me off to wander in the bright colors of day. But oftentimes I envy those who run freely in the shadows, just as I had always envied you."
"Wow, that's a pretty long monologue, are you sure you want to perform that?" Reese snickered as he ate the last of his jawbreakers. His red-highlighted hair seemed through the dim lights of the school hallways. His tanned face glistened as he chewed carefully, trying not get the candy stuck in his teeth. Again. The smears of snacks stained bleach-white on his beloved skull shirt as the creases and folds never ceased in their consistency to annoy the other party.
"Yeah, I guess it just feels right. It did came from my favorite author you know." Mako's eyes lowered to the stain on his bestfriend's shirt as he gripped his own sweater, spreading his long fingers through the delicate fabric, trying to feel for any kind of dirt on it. His jet black hair bounced gayly under the fold of his beanie, dancing to the rhythm of his steps as he walked by. Mako had everything. Scrawny, check. Weak, check. Edgy, check. The cold winter wind from outside would easily blow him away, like a thin cornstalk swaying heavily against the harvesting wind. Easy prey for the ones bigger than him. That's why the pair went down to the old abandoned hallway just to get to their poetry club.
"Yeah, you said that like a hundred times now." Reese gave him a smirk as they turned right through the abandoned halls of their school. For some reason, the school had the whole area decommissioned, so nobody uses it anymore, only the "weirdos" that try to hide away from their predators.
"Why did they shut this place off again?" Reese asked as they walked feverishly across the empty corridor. His hand slowly tapping on the lockers, making an indescribable beat. "Rumor has it that multiple incidents took place here, you know? Kidnaps and stuff. Nobody buys that story anymore though." Mako said as he rubbed his eyes, forgetting that he smeared eyeliner on them earlier. "Ah shit." He muttered as he looked at the sides of his hands, now partly colored in pure black. He patted the front pockets of his dark denim jeans, expecting to feel his handkerchief in there. "Hey wait up!" Mako called out in front of him, making Reese stop for merely a split-second before resuming to walk. "Hey Mako, is it me or is it getting dark?" Reese slowly turned around, his face almost looked sunken against the dim lights. Mako heard nothing and kept on checking his pants. "Now where did i put that- hey Reese, have you seen my handkerchief?" He looked up, expecting Reese to answer him in some kind of nutty joke, but there was no one in front of him.
The sound of silence covered the empty hallway as quickly as Mako looking up. He looked around gingerly, the lockers at the sides seem to sway in unnatural colors as Mako kept staring at them, making him woozy and slightly confused. The first thing that came to his mind was that someone was pranking him, and that he'd already fallen in the trap. Mako was never the one to fight. He wanted to, but he physically can't. His body would be crushed against any heavy impact such as the fist of a bully. So his primal instinct tells him to run. And that primal instinct was shooting up like crazy in the situation he was in. But instead of running, he had the sudden urge to walk down the aisle a little slower.
"Reese?" He called out, taking a step forward.
"Reese where you at?" He called out again, taking another step. The air was getting chillier and the corridor seemed to stretch for miles under the darkness.
"Reese!" He called out thrice, the unnerving silence began to choke him, hindering him of his speech.
"Reese this isn't funny!" His voice rose, his mind trailed off. Maybe it was like those old-cliche horror movies he used to watch when he was a kid where the guy was set to be suddenly left alone, but was scared by his friends at the last second.
Seconds pass, then minutes, Mako couldn't let it last until what felt like another hour passed, for all he knew, Mako was standing there idly in the shadows alone, for way too long. In his imagination Reese would pop out and scare him on the next turn. But there was no next turn, in fact, Mako had been walking in a straight line for the last who-knows-how-long. He wanted Reese to scare him, to say to him that it was all just a prank. To trick his mind that it was all just a game.
Yes... it was all just a game.
A game... but the hand touching Mako's shoulder wasn't a game. It was real.
Mako froze. He can feel the creeping ligaments of the jointed limb, thin, frozen stiff and netherworldly gray, grazing up from his shoulder and moving slowly up to his cheek. It smelled as if it was just done slaughtering a whole class of seventeen-year olds just like him. Under the dark, he could slightly see the visible holes in the hand as a flow of cold air passed through the hanging skin, making it look like as if it were breathing. Stronger and stronger the pungent corpse-like odor penetrated Mako's nose, rendering his breathing useless. The long, sharp fingernails pinched Mako's shoulder lightly as it slowly dug into his skin, leaving trails of fragile wounds and bits of blood scattered here and there. He wanted to scream. Mako wanted to scream so bad. He did not like the pain. But his body was paralyzed with fear as if he was frozen in his sleep. He stood there, half-believing that what he was experiencing was a dream, a dream where you can get hurt. Just as the pain started to subside, another hand touched his other shoulder, and for a few mere seconds, it didn't move an inch. And then he heard the breathing. Like a corpse, blowing cold wind into the back of his ear. It slowly reared its head unto Mako's face, moaning lowly as it slithered its cold skin against his cheek. Mako could only see part of its face as the hand was blocking his view. Holes littered against its sunken-like skin as the cold mesmerizing air passed through them. The mouth was almost as if it belonged to some kind of zombie. The whole chin was gone, the skin chipped off, leaving the sight of rows of rotting teeth against brown, pungent gums. He couldn't see the the eyes as it wore a tattered hood. It turned its head sidewards to look at Mako's face. Its cold breath just inches from Mako's cheeks. It slowly turned towards his ear, breathing slowly in and out.
"We found you."
Three words. Three words that Mako will never forget hearing, followed by a loud ear splitting screech that almost shook the whole hallway. Gaining the will, Mako turned around quickly just in time to see everything in their perfect orders. No ghosts whispering to his ear or no hands clasping on his shoulders. And behind him stood a confused Reese. "Come on slowpoke, we're gonna be late for poetry class. I personally can't wait to exchange deep words with everybody in our peer group." He said, mockingly in a british accent before trailing off, laughing. Mako was left alone, wondering what the hell just happened.