Jayden fell on his face, still shaking. Slowly the shaking stopped but Jayden was whimpering. Braylon got near him and touched his head gently. He didn't move or gave any response. Braylan tried to turn him and after some struggle, he succeeded. He then tried pulling Jayden in a sitting position. It was impossible. He won't budge. He checked Braylan's heartbeat. It was beating. He checked his nose and he was breathing. So instead of pulling, he tried pushing. He pushed him from his back and soon Jayden was sitting.
"I feel weak." He managed to whisper.
"It's okay. Cn you come to the kitchen with me?" Braylan asked. He didn't want to leave Jayden alone. Even for a second. Jayden didn't reply. So with all his might, Braylan pulled him in a standing position and half carried him to the kitchen. He didn't know Jayden was this heavy. Jayden had always been a skinny boy. He felt his spine cracking, but he was not going to complain. He then dragged an armchair from living room to kitchen and made Jayden sit in it.
After drinking a cup of milk , eating chocolate bar and two granola bars, Jayden seemed to get back some of his colour and energy. He still didn't speak and sat with his eyes closed. He sat in that position for so long that Braylan thought he was asleep, unconscious or dead. He gently shook him and he grunted in reply.
"Still weak?" He asked, smiling that he was not dead. Jayden slowly opened his eyes.
"What do you think happened?" He asked Braylan who didn't have any answer. "I feel like my energy is gone. It's weird." He whispered more to himself than to Braylan,who remained silent. He got some chips and cookies from the cabinet and gave him a packet. He opened his packet and started munching.
"What happened to you?" He asked after sometime.
" I am not sure what happened. I just felt eak and my knees give away. I was feeling cold and then I felt my hands give away and I felt face flat on the ground."
"Did you see anything?" and Jayden shook his head after sometime. Jayden couldn't tell about his sheild. The crash was because of his sheild. Many spirits had hit it togather and it had knocked the wind out of him. He didn't know for how long he could take this. But he wasn't going to give up his fight.
"We can cancel today's trips if you want." Braylan said eyeing him. Jayden shook his head. He didn't want to miss chance of fun. Not now when he knew that every second is unpredictable. He might hurt them because of some bad force.
"I am fine. We should enjoy the last of our holidays. He said, standing up and moving the armchair back to its place. He was regaining back his energy, bit by bit. So it would be useless to be not go somewhere and stay back at home. "I think I will go to Jacob's house. Didn't see him for a long time." He went back to his room to get dressed as he was in his PJ's. Braylan seized this opportunity and texted Jacob to go back to his house. It might be have looked a bit suspicious if Jacob was at Samuel's. They were not that informal.
********
While changing, Jayden noticed that there is a bruise on his chest.It almost covered his whole chest. He gingerly touched it and to his surprise, it was not painful. He poked it and still it didn't hurt. He rubbed it and then smacked violently. It didn't hurt. Well a bit. But that was because he smacked it. H shrugged his shoulders and dressed himself, thinking weather or not he should tell Jacob everything. It was hard to decide. He never had a secret that Jacob wasn't aware of. It felt like betraying him. He started walking towards Jacob's house, still unsure if he should tell him. While ringing the doorbell, he decided that he will tell him what he had already told Braylan.
************
It was good that Jacob was warned beforehand. He knew all the stuff Jayden said. After sharing everything, Jayden sat there in silence. Jayden knew that something is stopping him from saying everything. Even if he wanted, he wouldn't be able to say the whole story.
"So it's our first day tomorrow!" Jacob said, in order to cheer Jayden, but Jayden's mind went back to the last time he thought about his High school. His room was mess and someone came to hurt him. He felt weak, heard someone whisper and laugh xlo, harsh laugh, and he had a weird dream where he saw entities trying to come near him but something kept them. The spirit boy warned him to be careful and someone had touched him and they were both in pain. But he couldn't always look like he is going to die. So he smiled, even if it was fake. Jacob, who thought he was successful in cheering him up, started talking about his favourite things. They spoke for a long time and then Braylan called him saying he should come back for lunch so that they can go out on time. They said their farewell and Jayden walked back home.
After lunch, they were soon in car and their journey started.
"So where are we going?" Braylan asked cheerfully after sometime.
"Eh.. About that! Jay, we have to go visit your psychiatrist. We wanted to say but you looked so pale during lunch that I didn't." Marco replied.
"It's okay dad!" Jayden replied. He didn't feel like arguing. They reached psychiatrist and after some suggestions and a couple of tests, they were free. After psychiatrist, they went to arcade and had a lot of fun. Soon it was dinner time. They dined at another restaurant. They ordered pizzas, pasta, ice cream cake and soda.
Nothing happened that night and Jayden was able to sleep peacefully. The next morning, he was suspicious about his peaceful night. But he had to rush to the school so he didn't get much time to think about it.
He took a shower, dressed and went down for breakfast. It was cereal with some milk. He sat on the chair and started eating his breakfast. He was going to use his bicycle to go to school. So he had to be a bit early. He was eating his breakfast when Braylan entered the room.
"Mornin'" he said, yawning.
"Wake up sleepy head and finish your breakfast." Jane smacked Braylan on his head as he was sleeping with his hands supporting his neck. His mom was getting a bit late, so it was ok for her to become a bit restless. Braylan started eating his cereal.
Jayden finished his food and went to the sink to was the bowl when he saw a shadow pass. It was very quick. First he thought that it was his imagination but when he was saying goodbye to his mom, he saw a shadow behind her. He ignored it and walked towards the door. He took his bicycle and started pedaling. His bicycle jerked and he saw a bloody hand on his handle. He almost crashed his bicycle. He quickly stopped near a sidewalk and used tissues and sanitizer to clean the print. It took a lot of time, but eventually, he managed to clean it. Preoccupied with the handprint, Jayden pedaled his cycle and reached the school. This school was different from his elementary school in every way. There were no cartoons or numbers painted on the wall. They school ground was bigger. He reached the main building and found his class. He sat on the bench waiting for Jacob to come. He hoped that he and Jacob would be sorted in the same section.
After few minutes, Jacob appeared in the door. He scanned the class and automatically walked towards Jayden.
"Hi!" he said with a wide smile, sitting beside Jayden's desk.
"Hi, so what are we doing today?" He asked. They usually decided what they would do after the school at this time.
"I think we should go to the park. It has been a long time since we went there." Jacob replied.
"Nice idea!" The school bell rang and the students were expected in the auditorium for school assembly. Jayden and Jacob followed the rest of the boys (they were enrolled in a boys' High school).