…
"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 resonating, El himself stays to keep his mouth shut while slowing down his breath. It was a silent conundrum which 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 getting 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 hurried voice suddenly changed into a shriek – that of a shrill one, penetrated the door and filling all the space inside the room with ear splitting noises. It was so loud, it made El's eardrum ringing and his head dizzy, compelling him to have no choice but clasping his hands tightly on his ear.
A moment after, again, what's left later on – was silence that ensuing. Quiet and tense atmosphere that seems to be swallowing the air itself, making it heavy and hard to catch breath as El's heart palpating 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 felt the bizarre cold that intermixed with hot air blowing right on his ear, with the stench of 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 notice. His heart feels like it'll 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 onto the floor of the room with his feet, simultaneously, he turned his face away to that 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 resurfacing 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 shown 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 then go straight to a jump, springing away from his bed hastily. Turning 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 locking to the target, and with all of his five senses forcefully heightened to the maximum to perceive if there was any other surprise occurrence that will proceed to caught 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 relief sigh, three knocks on the door successfully making him flinch on the spot.
*Knock, knock, knock*
'Bloody hell…' El thought.
"Boy, are you there? What's happen??"
"Ah…" realizing the voice, the intonation, and the atmosphere this time was a normal one, El decided to stand up, then slowly drawing 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 happen. I heard noises coming from your room."
Opening the door, El found himself face to face with the man.
"What's happen boy? You look like someone seeing ghost for the first time," the man's eyes were surveying at 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 sweats that soaked his shirt wet.
"I see. Let me in then. There is something I wanted to tell you…"
"Alright," El then make way for the man to come inside. Stepping onto the room, the man himself was scrutinizing at the messy bed. Looking upward for no apparent reason, he stays looking like that 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 doesn'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 stays alive right now.
Another thing for El to consider was, if he was a normal human, he was not supposed to seen that, because other than one candle dimly brightened up part the room, there was no other source of light. Observing the man, it seems like, he also could saw that mark even under 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, in spite of 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 few villagers where he lives before were supposed to be aware of it. Therefore, this time, he will have to still keep the precaution on top of the priority, as to not ended up being dead right away without giving any fight.
Living in that village, all the caring adult always teaching the kids since early age that – there is no gift comes without a price. And they did not have a choice in living their lives either way, as it was fate that 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 chance to keep living for more years than they were supposed to be in the midst of starvation and conflicts.
For all the reasons mentioned above, El eventually chose to pretend he did not know what the man had seen at this moment.
…