…
"El, are you there?"
*Knock, knock, knock*
"Hey, are you there?"
*Knock, knock, knock*
"Hello… are you there?"
*Knock, knock, knock*
As the knock and the call periodically resonated, El himself stayed to keep his mouth shut while slowing down his breath. It was a silent conundrum that left after that.
That was, until…
*Knock, knock, knock*
"You there, aren't you?"
*Knock, knock, knock*
"Why don't you call me back?" it feels like this time, there was a hint of impatient behind the tones. The knocking and the calling then slowly got faster, and even faster.
*Knock, knock, knock*
"Why???"
*Knock, knock, knock*
"Why, why, why, why, why, why?
*Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock*
"ACCCCCCCKKKKKKKK" at the end of it, the man's hurried voice suddenly changed into a shriek – that of a shrill one, penetrating the door and filling all the space inside the room with ear-splitting noises. It was so loud, that it made El's eardrum ring and his head dizzy, compelling him to have no choice but to clasp his hands tightly on his ear.
A moment after, again, what's left later on – was a silence that ensued. The quiet and tense atmosphere seemed to swallow the air itself, making it heavy and difficult to breathe as El's heart palpitated inside his chest.
…
...
Then out of nowhere, that same voice outside the door earlier was heard right at the side of El's ear, as if someone was there with him, sitting right at the same bed, telling him in a whisper right on the side of his face – glaring at him from behind. El could even feel the bizarre cold that intermixed with hot air blowing right on his ear, with the stench of a rotting corpse following shortly.
"Why?" this time, it was really clear to El as the malice and hatred behind that whole connotation was threatening to strike him at any moment's notice. His heart feels like it's going to burst out of his chest.
"Arrrgghhhhh…"
El's abruptly screaming, eyes opening wide as he awakened from his dream, quickly forcing his body to instinctually sit on the bed, even when his sense of reality was not there yet.
Gasping for air, El then examined himself. He was still shuddering in horror from that experience. 'It was… a dream?'
Putting his palms to cover his forehead and one of his eyes, he once more widened his eyes. Swiftly jumps away, then landing hard on the floor of the room with his feet, simultaneously, he turns his face away to the bed where he rested earlier.
And there was nothing.
That's what he thought at first until a silhouette against the dim light with the shape of a head gradually resurfaced from his soft, springy bed as if it was a puddle of deep water or a pool. It was starting from the top of its pale bald head with many stitch marks that managed to shift the bedding and the blanket he left in there with an unknown force, up to the red eyes that finally showed itself – looking at El with all the animosity it contains.
Widening his eyes, once again, this time – El jolted awake from his sleep.
Abruptly opening his eyes, El adeptly sat and then went straight to a jump, springing away from his bed hastily. Turned his sight nervously to the place where that head was early on emerging, like someone coming out from the water. And El discovered.
Nothing this time.
Waiting in a bated breath, perspiration ran down his forehead, eyes locked to the target, and all of his five senses forcefully heightened to the maximum, to perceive if there was any other surprise occurrence that would proceed to catch him off guard again, by standing or staying right behind him. Or if there was another creepy, uncanny thing that he should be wary of, which going to startle and frighten him silly.
Seconds subsequently turned into a minute. Then two and three minutes.
Just as El wanted to exhale deeply a relieved sigh, three knocks on the door successfully made him flinch on the spot.
*Knock, knock, knock*
'Bloody hell…' El thought.
"Boy, are you there? What's happened??"
"Ah," realizing the voice, the intonation, and the atmosphere this time was a normal one, El decided to stand up, then slowly drew closer to the door.
Holding onto the handle, and after finally gathering enough of his courage, El raise his question to the other side.
"Is that you, sir???"
"Yes, what's happened? I heard noises coming from your room."
Opening the door, El found himself face to face with the man.
"What's happened, boy? You look like someone seeing a ghost for the first time," the man's eyes were surveying the inside of the room, while remained standing on the outside.
"Nothing sir. Just, some bad dreams," El commented, his face pale, still rather out of breath, along with the sweat that soaked his shirt wet.
"I see. Let me in then. There is something I wanted to tell you…"
"Alright," El then made way for the man to come inside. Stepping into the room, the man himself scrutinized the messy bed. For no apparent reason, he then looked upward and remained in that position for a couple of minutes.
"What's wrong sir?" following the man's action, El was also looking upward.
His eyes then widen in his socket. Because he found out that, there was a massive claw mark right at the ceiling. It was not there when he first time awoke in this room. El didn't know what kind of animal or beast could've done that and left that kind of mark, but one thing for sure was, whatever the thing that had left the trace in there, it was lucky for him to stay alive right now.
Another thing for El to consider was that, if he had been a normal human, he was not supposed to have seen that, because other than one candle that dimly brightened part of the room, there had been no other source of light. Observing the man, it seemed that he could also see that mark even in the darkness.
Though his guard was still raised quite high even after being rather close with the man, truthfully, after experiencing this whole day with him, El was already slowly trusting that man. However, despite all that, the rationality inside his mind based on the logical approach in his current condition, was still pretty much operating just fine.
He does not know who the man is, his origin, for what purpose he had in willingly taking care of an unknown boy like him, and how he knew about his memory loss, which only a few villagers where he lived before were supposed to be aware of it. Thus, he needed to prioritize caution to avoid dying immediately without putting up a fight.
Living in that village, all the caring adults always taught the kids from an early age that there was no gift that came without a price. They did not have a choice in how they lived their lives, as it was fate that had brought them into the world during those troubled times. At least that advice about "nothing is truly free" had given him and another boy a few more chances to keep living for years longer than they were supposed to amid starvation and conflict.
For all the reasons mentioned above, El eventually chose to pretend he did not know what the man was currently seeing at this moment.
…