All through the orphanage, the night was calm and silent. Everyone was fast asleep, with their consciousness long lost in the subconscious world of their sleep. However there seemed to be just a few that were yet conscious of the physical world, and out of those few was Oliver and his newly found stalker.
Oliver stood by the window, closely observing this unknown person as he moved along the lawn. He sensed there was something rather sinister about this person, and judging from the manner he walked, he was probably up to something odd. Oliver was so curious to know who this person was.
Even though he couldn't see clearly from where he was, the facial features of the person, he still found the person's body shape strikingly familiar with Jasper's. Whoever this person was, Oliver had a feeling he or she might somehow be his key to finding credible evidence to prove there was a werewolf in the orphanage, and also to expose a potential suspect.
"What the hell are you up to?" Oliver muttered under his breath, "I guess there's only one way to find out."
He wanted to take the window, but then he remembered his bad leg would be a big hindrance to climbing down the wall. Now he was left with no other choice but to take the stairs, while trying to avoid getting caught. Who knows what other punishment he'd receive from the principal if he gets caught for the second time in a row, he thought, but it was now or never. He felt it might be his only chance to seek out the truth, most likely, a risk worth taking.
Closing up the shutters, he quickly slipped into his pair of black slip-ons and silently headed towards the door, cautious not to wake Max. He quietly unlocked the door, slowly pulling it open. To his greatest surprise and bitter dismay, seated there on a chair, directly facing the door, was the hostel master; Mr Garret, loudly snoring away. Oliver was so shocked, he never expected that the hostel master would deliberately relocate his chair to the very front of his door, as though he was some major threat or point of attention. It was at this moment he really understood what the principal meant by his movements being strictly monitored and restricted
Oliver just stood still at the door, completely clueless about his next course of action. He didn't want anything that would keep him on the principal's radar the rest of the year, even now he was still trying to come out of the mess he was already in.
After a little wait, Oliver took a deep breath, finally making up his mind. He slowly pulled the door further, then as quietly as a cat, he walked right out of the room.
The moment he closed the door and turned to leave, he felt a bumpy sensation underneath his left foot. As he looked to see what that was, his head became swollen in great terror and trepidation at the sight of what he was. He learned that he had mistakenly stepped on Mr. Garrett's foot; the very person was super cautious and careful not to wake. Right now, his heart was pounding in an unusually quick and irregular rhythm. With his left foot still on top of that of the housemaster, Oliver's entire outer body was drastically frozen to a fault. He was stuck in a really critical situation right now, as he was aware that even a small movement made had a great tendency of triggering the hostel master to wake.
Oliver gradually lifted his foot off from the master's leg, with so much carefulness, scrupulously ensuring to keep it steady as though his life depended on that. Finally, he removed his foot without waking the hostel master. He immediately proceeded along the passage, towards the staircase. He hurriedly climbed down the stairs, as he realized he had wasted meaningful time and he didn't want to lose whom he was after. He took the escape door under the step then he made his way to the back door. Luckily, it wasn't locked, just fastened to a latch. He simply unbolted the latch and opened the door.
Arriving outside, Oliver's gaze immediately went straight across the lawn where he had last spotted the unknown skalker while he was yet at the window. Looking there now, there was no sign of anyone, and neither was there any moving object spotted.
"Where are you hiding?" he muttered, as his gaze traveled across the courtyard with unnerving thoroughness.
He left where he was and moved a little further toward the lawn, but he still couldn't see anyone. He suspected that the person had either made for the woods or had taken cover behind one of the trees lined up along the sides of the walkway. While he was still surveying the environment vigilantly, he suddenly felt a mild touch on his right shoulder. With a quickness that could almost be qualified as cat-like, Oliver instinctively turned back to see who had touched him, while reflectively knocking off the arm from his shoulder at the same time. Oliver was expecting to see Jasper or worst, but standing right there behind him, about two to three feet taller, was a boy. Though Oliver couldn't see his face from the dark, he knew for sure, from his physique, that he wasn't the person he saw moving along the lawn. Then who was he, Oliver wandered, as so many questions began to run through his mind.
"Who the hell are you?" he inquired in a demanding tone.
"Whoa, it's just me. No need to freak out" replied the tall boy.
"Xavier?" Oliver said. On hearing the voice, Oliver immediately recognized who it was.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked.
"Oh, I uh… kinda dropped off a bit during the evening prep and no one bothered waking me up," Xavier explained.
"What of you?" he asked Oliver, "What brings you out here in the middle of the night?"
Oliver didn't want to mention the actual reason why he had come outside, as he knew it would sound so unbelievable.
"I was just coming from the infirmary when I heard a sound, then I came here to check," he said.
"What sound was it?" Xavier asked thoughtfully.
"I think it was like rapid footfalls," Oliver answered. "Did you hear it?"
"Nah, I don't think I did," replied Xavier.
"Yeah, it wasn't that loud," Oliver said, "Maybe it's not such a big deal."
After a brief moment of silence, Oliver let out a long yawn.
"I better get back to hostel, I'm starting to feel sleepy," he said.
"Me too," Xavier added, "This place is starting to give me serious creeps."
They both headed back into the dormitory building, each going their separate ways to their own houses. As Oliver ascended the stairs and was now moving along the passage, he came across Jasper's room and found that the door had been left open. Just at that point, his sheer instinct came to play. Driven by unwavering curiosity, and the will to know, Oliver simply made up his mind to accept whatever outcome his next action might result to. Perhaps, this was the only way he could clarify his thoughts on Jasper. It was his chance to find out if his suspicions about the person he saw on the lawn were true.
Oliver slowly pushed the room door further, quietly slipping through the limited space provided. As he came in, his heart kept hammering in anxiousness and panic. He couldn't see the beds clearly enough, so he switched on the lights. He immediately froze up in shock as the light revealed the self-figures of both Jasper and his roommate, present on their beds and sleeping peacefully. Oliver felt so disappointed in himself. He had strongly believed Jasper was the one he saw, but not the truth had surfaced, and it read otherwise.
The second he was about to swish off the lights, he came to notice something odd about the images on the beds. Taking a closer look, he observed the images of both boys looking a bit unrealistic, and the closer he went, the more flat and unnatural their shapes became. Oliver was totally confused at this point, he even rubbed his eyes severally in case he was having bad vision, yet both their bodies still seemed unreal. Now, just to confirm if this wasn't an early symptom of hallucination, Oliver tried touching Jasper's body. To his greatest disbelief, his hand went right through the figure on the bed, without any feeling of any sort. Half mad with dread, Oliver went further and splayed both arms around the bed, but he felt nothing but the sheets beneath. He did likewise to the other boy too, but his hands still passed through him like he weren't there.
"What on earth?" he muttered, his voice edging with horror.
Just as he was about to get convinced that he might be losing his mind, he spotted the mega sonic super projectors at the four corners of the ceiling.
"It's only a hologram," he sighed, "how convenient."