He closed his eyes breathing deeply, triggered by anxiety, trying to calm down. "Relax Collava, even if she doesn't like my present, I will still give it to her. How will I know she doesn't like it if I don't give it to her,right ?" He told himself trying to be optimistic of the reaction he would get from Iris. "Breath in...out...in...out. "Col tried to advise himself to calm down. It seemed to work ,a bit, cause he slowly opened his eyes with a smile on his face only to see everyone in mayhem. What was happening. Everyone was rushing through the sidewalks, and others in the middle of the road causing cars and other vehicles to swerve and drift into the rushing crowd, trampling and crushing the victims to bits. Those who were lucky enough to survive that , thinking that their imminent fate of death had been evaded ,only to find the riper with his scythe at hand coming to reap the souls of those that escaped. They would die awfully, some tripping and getting trampled on by a stampede , others getting there limbs crushed by the falling boulders from the collapsing buildings, while others,the trauma of watching their loved ones die before their eyes led them to take their lives. Col still standing looking around wondering what had transpired in just a matter of seconds shaking to the bone. He had a look of confusion on his face with a hint of fear in his eyes. Everything was blurry, the scenes flashed before his eyes like film frames from a movie tape . The scenes were changing constantly. Everything covered in a dark hade of red like those from horror films. The scenes shifted from floral shops to hotels to the city square,each leaving him more and more in horror. Scenes kept changing, on and on and on, till , it all stopped at one scene. Goosebumps covered his whole body even in places where there aren't supposed to be. His heartbeat tremendously increasing by the second. His heart pounding against his chest threatening to jump out. Confusion in his eyes and face turned to disbelief as he looked at the current scene. He was standing at the door to Iris's apartment. He tried not to imagine the terror and monstrosity waiting to be uncovered by his eyes. The door was wide open. The floor was covered with rubble and rocks clearly visible that they were part of the collapsed wall. The air suspended dust particles making the vision blurry. Flashes from police sirens flashed on the walls as he trembled like a someone who had looked at death in the eyes. He walked not seeing whatever was in front of him. Step by step , he walked on , then , he noticed that he was walking on a pool of blood, dark and eerie, looking at his reflection on the blood which shifted time to time forming disfigured faces. He looked around and saw the blood was spreading all around him, it was almost like he was in the middle of a sea of blood. Panicking, he was breathing loudly, trying to find where all the blood came from but disappointed to find nothing from the blurred sight. He heard a voice, soft and sweet, singing a lullaby ,not just any lullaby,one his mom used to sing to him while he was a kid.
🎵 Come with me, let's go to the king 🎵
Of sluuumberland ,with all our friends
We shall seek, where we find peace 🎵 And lay our heads,till we meet again 🎵
He tried to follow the voice, which seemed to come from one of the rooms across the hallway. He walked slowly on the wooden deck as the planks of wood creaked the more he went closer. He finally reached the end of the hallway, where he could hear a voice clearly behind a door to one of the rooms. He twisted the knob and opened the door.He was shocked , but deep in him he had some joy in him as he saw his mother, at her earlier days when he and Iris were still in kindergarten, she was singing the song while seated,rocking Iris in her arms trying to make her fall asleep. Col slowly walked towards his mother as his mother looked at him while smiling reaching out a hand to him.The creaking of the wooden deck seemed to dissipate into the background as he slowly walked into the room , which was brightly lit unlike the past rooms and scenes. He held his mother's hand ,leaned in and hugged her. She slowly went on singing the song as she softly transitioned to humming the tune with her eyes closed leaning her head on top of Col's head who was standing next to her, Col and Iris in her arms. Then she sat up ,gently rubbed her thumb on Col's cheek. Col , who then was still a child, was chuckling and smiling, enjoying the ecstacy of his mother's touch.The warmth of her hand made all of Col's negative thoughts to fade away as he held onto his mother's hand with his heart at ease. Then suddenly his mother screamed springing off the seat to her feet looking at Col with aw in her eyes. She moved back a couple of steps and then looked at the thumb she was rubbing Col's cheek with. The look in her eyes could say that she had seen a horror beyond recognition. It was stained in blood.What! Then she let out another loud scream. This time pointing at the ground where Col was standing. The spot Col stood , oozed out blood seemingly oozing from the spaces in between the planks ,the blood slowly started to spread in the room covering the whole floor. " Wh...wh...why , do you have blood, all o...over you , Col?" Silvana Kamasiva , Col's mom, asked him while stammering as the finger pointing at Col trembled with fear. Col looked up to her and said he didn't know what was happening. He tried to walk up to his mom and hug her tightly so that she can comfort him but he was only pushed away by his mother telling him to stay away from her and her true child, who was Iris. The room slowly got encroached by the red hade from the other rooms. Col thinking that she was joking,ignoring what she said still tried to run up to her. He clinged to his mother but his affection was only pushed away. His mother slapped him sending him to the floor but he still got up. Before he could even run towards his mom, he was kicked in the head by his mom with the sharp edge of her high heels grazed on Col's skin, from somewhere around the brow down the eye leaving him bleeding and sobbing in pain"I told you to stay away from me, cursed child." His mom shouted at him before she ran into the distance as Iris who was in her hands reached out her hands to Col while crying in a loud voice while calling Col. Her voice faded away as sight of his mother and her vanished as darkness engulfed the whole room. A spotlight was on Col who was on the bloody floor. His clothes all stained with blood. The blood oozing from the ground where he stood was coming out more fierce, with force like water flowing from a broken dam. It filled the room up to the brim, Col still somewhere inside the room was suspended in the blood, trying to hold his breath but unwillingly stopped every time he tried. Suddenly, the blood submerged banging Col onto the hard floor leaving Col coughing up the blood he took in. As he was on his fours, down on his knees and arms touching the ground,he tried to catch his breath as he wondered what to do. He wanted to cry but no tears came out , he tried to scream but his mouth wanted to maintain its silence. All he wanted was to let out all the coldness and anger in his heart. He grinded his nails over his face as he tried to force himself to cry, he wanted to cry , or did he? He was in a faze till he saw, Iris, lay there, no sign of life in her with her face pale white in colour. His eyes widened as he slowly started to crawl on the floor slowly accelerating. Col hopped and crawled desperately to Iris ,trying to hold her in his arms. She was cold, her warmth had left her body and she didn't wake up despite Col trying to nudge her to wake her up. Denying that she was dead, Col tried to talk to her well aware that she heard nothing of what he was talking of. "Wake up! Iris! Wake up! You said you will never leave me, remember,you promised." He shouted. He let out a wail which echoed in the background as tears of sorrow rolled down his cheeks. He held Iris even tighter than before as he laid his head on Iris' chest sobbing his life out of him. Col's grip on Iris' body started to loosen, when he raised his head to look at what was happening, he saw Iris body fading away into particles blow away by the wind. Out of the blues , he felt something or someone touching him on the shoulder. Poof!!!
Back to reality. It was all a vision , a daydream or rather a nightmare if you would. "Col..Col!" He heard a voice call him. He turned to see Izumi , one of the lobby guards to The Enigmatic. He was coming in for his shift." Oh Izumi, longtime no see, how's it hanging" "Col , you completely zoned out for while there while in the middle of the sidewalk, then you suddenly screamed out of nowhere , are you fine?" Izumi asked Col who seemed obviously not fine cause he was even sweating which was kinda sus provided that it was on a Monday morning chilly as hell and it wasn't even past ten in the morning." Yeah, I'm totally fine ." "Well just know if you need someone to talk to I'm always here, okay bro." "Okay , got it , 'my very caring psychiatrist.' "Col said joking around with his old time buddy. Col and Izumi used to be friends in high school till they all went to different colleges and were reunited by The Enigmatic. The walked together upto the lobby and then Izumi went into his shift while Col went to the elevator to go to the next floor where Iris's room was. He pushed the buttons to the elevator which didn't seem to work after multiple trials, " Hey Izumi , do these buttons even work. " "Bad luck on you today Col , you're gonna have to take the stairs, the elevator is on repair. " "Oh come on! Ughhh! Why does this piece of crap always have to have some kinda problem when I'm coming to the building." " Maybe it's that bad luck charm of yours you always carry along. " " What bad luck charm, I don't even have any charm on me !" "Well it's that unsure , pessimistic attitude of yours. You might as well get rid of it and you'll see changes in no time , trust me on this. An unsure mind comes with unsure possibilities. " " That doesn't even make sense you idiot,who in the world says quotes like that , you're always blabbering non sense saying I have an attitude. Since when did I ever talk to you with that so called ' unsure, pessimistic ' non sense of yours. Gimme a break" " Don't gimme that , you know very well that you do , but because I am not in the mood for an argument right now. Just go to wherever your going we'll talk later. " " I wasn't even gonna argue but I was going anyway. " "Catch you later. " " Yeah, yeah , whatever." Col said as he ascended the stairs and within no time, he was standing infront of Iris's door. The thoughts of the vision was very vivid in his mind, just the thought of what he saw happening made him shiver. But , he tried to assume that it was just some sort of distorted dream and nothing much too consider." Knock knock" Col knocked at the door. "Coming." Iris shouted behind the door. Judging from the faintness of her voice, she probably might be in her bedroom or maybe in the shower. He quickly counter checked his look before Iris opened the door. He pushed back his silvery hair winking at his reflection on the shiny platinum door cover sending flying kisses just to realise that he's single and he was meeting up with his sister not his girlfriend, he bumped his palm onto his forehead as a sign of punishment for forgetting he was single and for thinking otherwise. He could hear her coming ,Iris's footsteps behind the door were audible enough since she was wearing those fancy wedged shoes which looked like heels but they weren't. Anyway, she opened the door and to Col's suprise , Iris had her arms wide open for a hug. "Come here you," she said as she took short steps towards Col looking forward to a warm hug. She squeezed Col in her arms as she hugged him tightly. This wasn't quite the reaction he expected. He was waiting for the arrogant 'oh great , your late ' but instead he got the 'here's my cuttie wuttie honey bun'. It's not like it's a bad thing or something like that, no , actually, he kinda liked the feeling in his heart , happy, satisfying in some sort of way. But what he didn't like, is the feeling in his lungs, he could barely breathe since Iris was hugging him so tight, additionally, the conc kolone on Iris choked him the more , he wasn't used to this pumped up, expensive deodorants , he was more of the guy who one shower was the ultimate move on him , if his soap couldn't make him smell good then nothing would. Even if he were to put on some deodorant, it would smell like the burf of a kinky house cat which always eats too much and does nothing much in the house. But still, he just gathered all the strength in the smell buds in his nose and told them "get it together buds , your tougher than this , you have smelt things far more worse than some perfume, you have smelt my underwear ,my farts ,my feet and even far more worse ,my socks so you are stronger than u think lads. " His nose was on fire , I know by the time he would be let go he would have red eyes like a werewolf in the night , oh well. After the almost five minute hug was over, it was time to head out. Iris took her bag and looked her door. "Ok I'm all done , let's go. " Iris said as she held Col's hand like she always did when they were kids. She pulled Col's hand telling him to hurry up." You know that we might not find a reservation if you continue walking like that slowpoke. " Iris told Col as she continued pulling him. "Wait, what? Aren't you supposed to make a reservation before you go there" " No, not where we're going, if you dont find a reservation immediately you get there then you've lost your chances." "Where are we going anyway?" "Like hell no , I wouldn't tell you even if I were given a million dollars. Hurry up and you'll find out yourself. " " Easy for you to say , for a million dollars, I can't even imagine what I can do to get that. Let alone answer some random questions. " " You can answer any question for a million dollars? Even if you were told to say your crush's name. " "Fuck yeah, I can even say that am gay for a million dollars. " "Shit bro , you are one fucked up person. " "Yeah , yeah let's go. " Col said as he sighed. Iris looked at him and smiled. Iris looked at him as if he saw someone who she hadn't seen in a long time. Col minding his own business just happened to turn his head only to find his sister looking at him. "The fuck , why you looking at me like that?" "Nothing, I just missed you a lot. " " Oooohkay ...I guess. " Then Col thought to himself" Is this how all rich people act , it's cringe as hell. Damn , money must have fucked up their minds, shit, she just glaring at me like some hungry stray cat." Then he turned his head to see if she was still looking, the minute he turned his head, he met eye to eye with Iris. "Fuck she still looking at me. "His conscience shouted within him. They went down the stairs Col closing his eye not to make eye contact with Iris who by then had clinged to his hand like glue. Col walked blindly down the stairs when he bumped into someone. He opened his eyes to see someone in a black t-shirt and black sweatpants with dark brown hair and brown eyes." Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you , I'm really sorry. " Col said to the person. The person looked at him with a smirk and continued walking up the stairs. He climbed like two steps and said "So you can see me , ha. " Col happened to hear this and looked back , by the time he looked back , the guy had already vanished. There continued walking till they walked out of the building. They passed by many shops and cafes that Iris was commending their quality but Col was distracted by what that man said. "Hey, hey!" Iris said while snapping her fingers around my face to catch my attention." Huh?" Col ,confused because he didn't quite hear what Iris was saying, said. "Do you always zone out like this. " "No , why. " "Nothing, just asking, I should have my phone next time you zone out so that I can take a picture. " Iris said as she looked around in her bag trying to find her phone then she stopped." Ugh, no,not again. " Iris said, looking bored all of a sudden. "What's wrong?" Col asked " I forgot my phone, now I'm gonna have to go back and get it. " " Should I take you there?" He asked " No , no need to, I'll go there myself. Just wait for me here ,it will only take ten minutes. " Iris said as she ran back to the building. Col was left there standing," At least she would have bought me some coffee." Col told himself. It's was like seven minutes past the time Iris ran back to get her phone when busy looking at his shoes acknowledging how worn out they were when he saw a huge shadow cast down on him. When he looked up ,he saw a large winged beast, not like a dragon but more like a falcon , black in colour. It didn't have a definite shape since it seemed misty fly in the air and crashed into one of the buildings not just any building. It was The Enigmatic. His heart started racing , his hands trembling, everything around him started feeling cold when he saw it had crushed into Iris's apartment. He include his body forward starting to run towards Iris department when he suddenly started to sink in fast as if he had fallen into a hole. When he looked below him he saw he was falling into something like a black warp hole. What the hell is happening here." Why did it have to happen after I saw that vision? What is it's significance. " Col asked himself. He tried to grasp onto something but nothing was tangible. He looked up as the light slowly faded as he sunk deeper and deeper. His body fully sunk into the hole as he was confused , perplexed beyond words, he looked around and only saw darkness. " Hello , Collova Denvas. We met again. " He had a voice, deep and echoed, say behind him. He turned only to see...
....END OF CHAPTER 2.....
....ENCOUNTERS....
( Next chapter will be out soon , hope you enjoy this one, if you do vote for me plz )