I began screaming. Mae quickly shut me up with a kick to the head. There was no way this was real... Chel was... dead.
"She was supposed to graduate! What happened?" I asked, feeling tears fill my eyes.
"She graduated. When you graduate, you get tested on, your brain gets messed with, and if it fails to provide them some kind of cure to dreaming, you end up dead from all the damage they cause to your brain." Mae said calmly. "Axel and I knew of this since our first year here, while you were off being a loner, we found this door unlocked once. We learned the harsh truth."
I couldn't move. Tears were streaming down my face and I looked around the room. The rest of Chel's classmates hung in bags, all attached to the bags was a slip of paper, which read: "Failure."
They... failed? Failed what?! To provide some kind of cure to dreaming?! I felt a rush of panic, fear and sadness, all at once. I couldn't contain my actions anymore and I ran from the room. I felt like vomiting. Chel was dead. I would never see her again.
Mae just let me go, she must have understood.
At home, I laid in bed quietly holding myself. I cried more than ever, Chel's deceased face burnt in my memory forever. I could hear her voice lingering around in my mind, as if she was really there. I felt myself slip out of consciousness.
"Are you alright? You shouldn't have had to see me like that." Someone said, their voice trailing in the wind. I looked up and could see I was on a hill with a huge tree. I looked around and could see Chel sitting next to the tree.
"Chel... I'm... so sorry." I said, bursting into more tears, to which she simply giggled.
"Dumb-dumb... listen. I gave up hope the minute I walked into that Academy. I've since decided to... leave all my hopes and dreams to you." Something crept out from behind the tree. It was the shadowy figure, staring straight at me. "Don't forget me... alright?" She asked, her voice sweet as it was when I first talked to her.
"I..." I froze in place, my mind-twisting, my eyes were simply deceiving me. Chel wasn't here. The Shadow wasn't here. Neither was this tree or the hill. The clouds, grass, wind... it was all fake. This was all a dream. "I won't forget you Chel." I finished, wiping the tears off of my face and looking around as the world around faded to black.
I found myself laying in my bed at a strange angle, the thought of Chel kept popping into my head, but I tried my best to ignore it. I didn't want to imagine her cold, lifeless body once again. Her voice lingered in the back of my mind. I stood up, feeling my legs tremble and shake, I fell to my knees, my stomach began clenching and I rushed into the bathroom, vomiting into the open toilet. I kept puking for minutes, the thought of death and the taste of blood in my mouth.
It must have been a while in there because I eventually fell asleep on the floor curled into a ball.
Creak... silence... Creak...
The noise continued on and on, the wind outside picked up and I seemed to be in our old house. I could hear something swaying in the wind from above my room.
"Hello?" I asked, pulling down the attic stairs and beginning my ascent into the darkness of the attic. I felt my hand touch the top and I climbed up further. I looked ahead and could see a dark floating silhouette.
I was frozen in place as the creaking continued and the human shape swayed back and forth again. Why was it floating... why was it motionless... why...
"Rocco." her voice began, "Don't look." She told me. "Don't look at that. Look away. Look away. Look away. Now." She continued, her tone rising into anger.
"Kali... why?" I begged, pleaded. I could feel myself take a few steps closer to the floating person, the wooden rafter above them was holding them somehow. The creaking noise became louder and louder, hurting my ears as I continued toward the person. I reached forward and felt long brown hair. The creaking continued until suddenly there was a snapping noise and the person fell to the floor. They lay motionless. Kali's voice continued.
"Rocco. It's cold. Don't tell mom and dad... but I have a plan to help us." She said, her body twisting and contorting on the ground, her limbs popped and cracked as she writhed around in agony. I screamed as she reached up to me and pulled on my leg. I felt like I was being dragged down into deep dark winter, somewhere the sun wouldn't reach me... somewhere I'd suffocate. Her form became the shadow, and its grip tightened on my leg. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I couldn't breathe.
My eyes rolled back slightly as I got pulled deeper and deeper into the ground, a large rope tightened around my neck... just like hers.
My eyes fluttered open. I blinked a couple of times, sliding myself toward the bathtub. I hadn't remembered Kali for... years now. After she...
Knock knock.
Someone was at the bathroom door, knocking carefully and quietly. I assumed it was Ewan since Mom and Dad never knocked on the bathroom door, especially when they were really focused on their work.
My head was staticky, my mind scrambled from the dream I just had. I stood up and gently moved toward the door. My body felt fragile and broken.
"Rocco. Are you feeling well?" Ewan asked, his voice sounded more human once again, only proving his evolution.
"Yeah... I..." my thoughts jumped to Chel once again and tears began streaming down my face.
"Open the door. Please." Ewan asked, and once I did, he pulled me into him, into a soft, almost warm hug. I could hear his parts clicking and locking.
We stood there for what felt like minutes... maybe it was.
"Somehow... I feel your grief. I can understand what happened. I know... somehow I know about the school. The academy's secret." Ewan spoke, his head tilted up toward the ceiling.
"How could you? You... weren't there." I said, wiping my tears away with my free hand.
"It's almost like you seeing it... gave me the memories. This might be the government's way of seeing what you are doing at all times, by linking us. Good thing I had encrypted the memories. They cannot be accessed by the government. They will not know what you saw." Ewan spoke confidently.