Jacob heard his friend's soft cry. He was begging someone to not hurt them and someone had giggled in reply. Jacob turned towards the door but no one was there. He turned towards his friend and tried to see in the direction he was seeing. He couldn't see anyone. Jayden begged again. He was sobbing.
"Jayden! Jayden! What are you seeing?" He asked but the boy didn't reply. He was frozen. He heard the main door open and shut, but he couldn't leave his friend in this state.
Jayden started twitching and he was holding his hands in a protective manner. It looked like the boy was trying to protect his head from something and then he started shouting.
**********
Braylan could hear his brother sobbing in pain. The door to his room was open and the sight was a mess. The bookshelf was empty and all the books were lying on the floor. Jayden was holding a bleeding hand and Jacob was trying not to panic. Jayden was crying so hard that he had hiccups now. Braylan couldn't even remember his brother crying this hard. He was never a crying person. He tried not to loose his head and walked towards the older boys calmly. Well, as calmly as an eleven year old could.
"What is going on?" He asked Jacob in a shaky voice.
"I don't know! Someone attacked Jayden. I wasn't able to see it."He replied in an equal shaky voice. " Jayden! Let me have a look at your arm." he added. But apparently Jayden didn't hear him. Braylan got on his knees and touched Jayden's forehead then ruffled his hair. This is what Jayden always did when Braylan was hurt. The affect was magical.
"Braylan, my brother, believe me. I am not lying. I am not hallucinating. It's true. Please believe me! Please!" Jayden whispered looking directly into Braylon's eyes. The tears were still flowing and his expression was showing his desperation. He looked so scared, sad and betrayed. Seeing his brother in this condition shattered the little boy's heart.
"I believe you Jayden! I know you are not lying. That is why I am here." Braylan replied in what he wanted to be a calm and confident voice but it came out as shaky as a person's voice could get.
"You do?" Jayden asked and Braylon nodded.
"Now let us look at your arm so that we can see what we can do." He said to his brother and he showed them his left arm.
"I will get the first aid box." Braylan said already running downstairs which left Jayden and Jacob all alone.
Jacob threw a concerned glance at his friend. He was still shaken but was bit calmer. He knew that he wouldn't ask him anything until he decided to speak about it. He looked at the injured arm and saw blood. Braylan came with the first aid box and started cleaning the blood. Poor boy's hands were shaking.
"Here let e do it." Jacob said softly and Braylon handed him the kit. He say next to his brother in order to calm him. Jayden's eyes were still water pitcher, even though he tried hard not to cry. The pain and fear when mixed were enough to break down many adults and he was still a kid.
"It's alright Jayden! It's alright. I am with you. I will convince mom and dad too. Don't you worry." He said to comfort Jayden.
"No please. Don't tell mom and dad. They will take me to a hospital." Jayden whispered.
"Ok I won't tell them." Braylan replied truthfully. He knew his parents would either move Jayden to a hostel or atleast take him to the hospital and he didn't want him to leave.
The blood was cleaned and they saw the wound. It was like a triangle. No it was a triangle with 'S' in the centre.
"Please don't tell any adult!" Jayde said miserably.
"Ok Jayden. We won't tell this to anyone. But we have to clean this mess before mom's here." Braylan said and helped Jacob in covering the wound. Braylan and Jacob helped Jayden and took him to the wash basin were he cleaned his face and washed his hands. Then the boys started cleaning the blood that was on the floor. Luckily there were just a drop or two on the bed and they didn't spoil the mattress. Braylan washed the few drops of blood and washed Jayden's shirt which was covered in blood as he hugged his injured arm. Then Jacob left Braylon with his brother and took all the bloody cotton and tissues they used to the main trash so no one could find it. Only if they hadn't done this, their parents would believe him.
"Would you like to tell us what actually happened?" Jacob asked his friend after Jayden drank some milk and ate some cookies. He had calmed down a bit but he still looked pale. He had changed into one of his sweatshirt that covered his injury. Before Jayden could say something, the main door opened and closed. Jayden looked really scared.
"I think it is Mrs. Smith." Jacob said. And sure enough it was her and she was really busy at that moment as she still had to make lunch.
"Tell us Jayden." Braylan said. He was eager to hear what happened but didn't want to pressurise him.
"We were sitting in the room and suddenly we heard some noises, then all the books from my bookshelf were on ground. I heard someone calling me. I turned and saw a man..." He described the man in complete details. "I asked him not to hurt us and he said he would only hurt me and he smashed his tool on my arm." By the end of narration, Jayden was shivering like a dry leaf. Braylan was shocked and Jacob seemed like he understood many things. Braylan had many questions to ask but he knew that this was not the right time to ask.
************
"So tell me, what happened from the beginning. I overheard you guys in the garden. I was kinda spying on you guys. But then you both ran away like your lives were in danger." Braylan asked Jacob after lunch. They had convinced Jayden to take a nap and promised him that they won't leave him alone even for a second. Once Jayden was asleep, Braylon started his interrogation.
"Did you see or hear anything before we ran?" Jacob asked instead of answering and Braylon shook his head.
"Oh! Ok let me tell you...." Jacob then narrated everything, the incidents when Jayden was 8, their graveyard adventure, the amulet, the creepy old man, the nightmare and the pain in Jayden's left hand, the boy and the man and lastly why they had run. He also mentioned that they saw the man disappearing into thin air right infront of their eyes.
Braylan sat there, trying to store all the information in his brain.
"What do you think we should do?" Braylan asked after a couple of minutes.
"I don't know! We promised Jayden that we won't tell anyone about this." Jacob replied, and then the room was silent again.
" I might have an idea." Braylan said with a smile and Jacob turned towards him with excited eyes.
"Listen..."