Eirin's eyes started getting blurry and she could feel herself slowly losing it. The only thing clear was Shade's crimson-red eyes staring right through her as he lifts her.
'I'm going to die.'
Her struggle stopped as she could feel herself floating in the air and having no foothold left. Eirin lost her grip on Shade's arm and her eyelids slowly closed.
"Are you out of your mind?"
Eirin coughed so hard and wheezed the moment she got out of Shade's grip and fell to the ground. Her body felt paralyzed and she could not move as she stayed lying on the ground chasing her breath. The only thing she could see was Shade pinned to the wall with ice-like shackles.
"What were you up to, Shade Cromwell?" Eirin's eyes landed on Cali who was standing in front of her with her arm smoking and covered in ice.
The moment Cali looked in Eirin's direction, the cold breeze created by the ice that appeared caused Cali's black hair to flutter. Showing her blonde under hair highlights glowing. "Can you stand?" she reached out her hand to Eirin, but the teenage girl was too weak to even raise her arm.
"Have your head cooled down now, Cromwell?" Cali turned to Shade, who has his head down. "Seems like it," she said after not hearing a response, she then faced Eirin, who was too terrified after what happened.
Cali reached out her hand to Eirin, but the teenage girl was still too shocked to react. And so Cali's freezing hand grabbed Eirin's and pulled her up, but her legs were wobbly, and Cali immediately caught her before she could fall.
"I'll carry you."
Judging by Cali's appearance, Eirin stared at her in disbelief. "I-I don't think you can," she said in a raspy and low voice. Her throat must have hurt so much after being choked almost to death.
Cali then placed her icy hand on Eirin's shoulder, cooling the teenage girl's throbbing neck. "Your grandmother will worry," Cali said as Eirin quickly felt a sense of relief just by her touch.
"Are you some kind of magician? Maybe a healing expert." Eirin stared at Cali with still that raspy voice coming out of her mouth, while Cali only looked at her with no emotions in her eyes. "Do you have powers?" The teenage girl could not comprehend what she was even asking at this point. Her head was all fuzzy from the lack of oxygen.
However, Cali did not answer Eirin's question, which end up with Eirin saying, "I want to go home." While holding onto Cali's hand and feeling her energy going back to her.
"Okay." Cali lent her arm to Eirin and looked back in Shade's direction. "We'll leave now, so cool yourself down."
The two left the dark alleyway, with Cali supporting Eirin. Their way towards Eirin's house made the teenage girl drown in awkwardness, as she could feel her strength going back.
"Your friend… he tried to kill me." As if still dumbfounded, Eirin stated that. She could not believe that she almost died again.
"He is not my friend."
Eirin stared at the cold-hearted woman after hearing nothing else but that. 'That's the problem for her?' the teenage girl thought as she could feel the silence suffocating her more than Shade did.
'I almost died back there. Does it not bother her?'
Questions filled Eirin's head, and even though she wanted to complain, there was no one else to rely on if she pushes Cali away. She knew that and so she kept her frustrations all to herself while hoping to arrive back home.
"I'm fine here." Eirin quickly moved away after arriving on their house's street. "Thank you for helping me."
The moment she turned her back to Cali, the tears she was trying to hide rushed out of her eyes as she dragged her feet toward their house. It was quiet, making her afraid of creating any noise. It's as if she could still feel Shade's hands around her neck and her chest felt tight while she suppressed her sobs.
'I need to stop,' Eirin thought to herself as she finds support from the wall near the path.
The fear and pain she felt scarred her, but she was still in denial about what had happened. Escaping death that she never expected to come.
'Why did he try to kill me?' Questions and more questions surfaced in her head.
Eirin opened the house's gate, and she felt glad that her grandmother was still out, as she did not want her to learn of what happened. Despite the pain, the thoughts of not wanting to be away from her best friend beat the fear of those creatures. As soon as she entered her room, Eirin let out her suppressed sobs and sat on the floor, looking like a mess. Her tiredness took over as she wept and slowly fell asleep.
Just when she thought she could finally relax, Eirin felt a cold breeze through the open window, causing her to wake. Her eyesight was blurry, but she noticed someone standing near her desk by the window, holding what seems to be a picture frame.
Eirin's forehead creased. "Grandma?" she called. The unknown person turned to Eirin, letting her see their appearance clearly, and she gasped.
An empty distorted face with white blank eyes, and a hollow-like body floating in thin air. It was not a person.
Eirin stood up and backed away. However, the creature's white eyes stayed glued on her. The silence around felt like a ticking bomb for the teenage girl. She tried to saunter towards the door, but the creature turned into a shadow and charged toward Eirin.
Before Eirin could react, invisible hands already pinned her to the wall. And her mouth was covered with something unseen, making her unable to scream for help.
'Will this be it? Am I going to die this time?' the teenage girl thought as tears welled in her eyes. 'Why are they so set on killing me? I don't want to die!' Anger filled her heart as she had just escaped what happened with Shade, yet now she is in another life-or-death situation with the unknown.
Eirin grunted and struggled while glaring at the creature. Just wishing that it would vanish on its own. As she continued using force to be free of the invisible shackles, the creature started growling, as if in pain. Its shadow-like appearance started distorting. And soon disappeared like something was absorbing until it vanished.
The young lad fell to the ground while panting. "Why is this happening to me?" she sobbed as her gaze landed on the broken picture frame on the ground. It was her picture with Ava and Bright when they were children. Now, the teenage girl stared at the window as she cried in the middle of her quiet room. Eirin barely escaped death two times today. Despite the fear of her life being in danger again, the exhaustion caused her to lose consciousness.
Eirin woke up with puffy eyes, causing Eleanor, her grandmother, to be extremely worried. "Did something happen, dear?" Eleanor asked as she watched her granddaughter prepare for school. "Today is a very special day. Aren't you going to eat the breakfast I prepared?" she continued asking after Eirin only tasted the food and didn't finish her plate.
"It's nothing, Grandma. I'm not that hungry either." Eirin knows that if her grandmother learned of what happened, they will immediately leave the place. But it's not possible for her. Growing up without parents, Ava became her salvation. She was the only person she wanted for herself. If she could only learn the reason those people were after her, then she would have found a solution.
'But grandma says it's not the time yet,' Eirin thought.
Even if she wanted to ask, Eirin remembers how Eleanor reacted to those three. If she learned that Shade almost killed her granddaughter, it will become a disaster.
"Are you sure it's nothing?" Eleanor looked at Eirin with her keen eyes. "You're not lying, aren't you?"
Eirin flashed her the brightest smile. "Yes, of course, Grandma. I'll be off now." She left the house with an anxious heart, afraid that more monsters or unknown creatures might come after her life.
'There's no time for hesitations. I need to talk to those people if I want to live here longer,' she thought.
For the problem to disappear, she needed to attack the core.
'These happened because of those three.' She shook her head. 'No, it might not be because of them, but they at least know something. I'm sure of it.'
Despite going through something traumatic, Eirin forced herself to be strong. Imagining that they were all just bad dreams. Since she thought that those three would be somewhere in her high school, Eirin searched every nook and corner before the class starts. But they were nowhere to be found.
Eirin even went to school earlier than she usually does so she could at least meet them without hindrance. "Where in the world are they from, anyway?" As she was losing hope of finding them, she reached the front door of the auditorium. Being there so early, there was nothing but silence around.
"Huh? Why is this open?"
The door of the auditorium was slightly open, causing Eirin to feel curious. They rarely open the auditorium this early, and so she entered, but there was nothing but darkness and the dim light coming from the backstage.
"There's no way they could be in here," she said after getting on backstage.
Eirin turned around and was about to exit the place, but something immediately caught her eye. "What was that?" The door to the small storage room was open and something shone, causing brightness into the dark and empty backstage. Curious about what it could be, Eirin entered the storage room.
Instead of a dusty room, an unfamiliar place brimming with brightness coming from the window greeted Eirin. The things inside looked vintage, very different from what she remembered, making Eirin's forehead crease.
"Was this for a play?" she tilted her head while staring at the unknown objects. After roaming her vision, she walked towards the window and stared outside.
Her eyes widened. "What in the world?" Something flew right in front of her, making her back away.