Afraid of the Dark

Ç̴håptę̶ř Föu̴ŕ̷tėë̴n

The moment Seán got into the building, he collapsed to the floor and screamed a frenzied yell which quickly merged into intense howls of utter dejection and grief. He repeatedly slammed head into the ground, clawing wildly at his hair as if he was trying to rip out every single strand. He kept screaming that distraught, insane sounding cry as he suddenly began trying to push an invisible force away from his body, striking his arms out sporadically while pulling himself along the floor. "What did you do!?" he shrieked, his words aimed towards no one in particular. "What did you do!?". He backed himself into a wall, staring down at the smeared blood he had left along the laminate flooring, momentarily ceasing his arm movements to quickly look towards at his hands in fear, watching the warm blood that wasn't his own drip from them. He started laughingly hysterically, all while trying to smash his head through the wall that it rested upon, pounding his legs with his fists before tightly wrapping them around his body as his stupendous giggling made him double over in pain. Then, as if his previous actions were not terrifying enough, he started to choke, telling himself to "Relax," and "Go back," between each and every cough. His eyes which had been darting wildly around the room landed on the young American man who was staring down at him with absolute terror. An unnaturally large grin spread across Seán's face, dripping with a black gunk that splashed in thick globules onto his clothing as he still choked beneath the smile. His eyes had been filled with grief, but now they filled with panic as he realised one of his friends was standing close by. "You deserve this," he muttered, looking Ethan striaght in his eyes. He dug his nails into his ears and screamed again, attempting to drown out whatever noise he was hearing.

Despite the fact Ethan kept telling himself that this was only Seán, and that he was only a man who needed help, he couldn't help but back away in fear, his legs moving on their own. "Seán...?" he whispered. All of the previously black screens around Ethan flickered on, showing mass upon mass of static snow screens, shifting wildly towards where the Irish man sat.

"R... han! S... atta.. you!" Mark's voice said in a broken message. In his fear, Ethan had forgotten that there was still someone on the phone.

The Irish man looked at him with the eyes of a predator cornering its prey, his mouth either grinning or grimacing, but which one it was Ethan could not work out. His shaking and sporadic movements were starting to slow, and within a few moments he was sitting still with his eyes glued to the man in front of him, the flashing white noise reflecting in his eyes. He began to stand up, using the wall as support, before taking a few shuffling steps towards his new target.

Ethan looked into Seán's blue eyes and watched them slowly bleed to green. At first he thought that he was seeing things, that the stress was making him hallucinate, but he quickly realised that this was not the case. Seán's eyes had just turned green.

"Run!" Mark suddenly yelled. His voice was miraculously clear. "Run, Ethan! R..." the call disconnected.

Seán giggled lowly, licking the black liquid off of his lips. "Run, Ethan, run!" he taunted, mimicking Mark's deep voice. Ethan started to back away faster, but Seán started to approach quicker. The American man's hasty retreat rapidly turned into a full-on sprint to escape and reach where his friends were waiting at the Hangout. The American man pumped his arms and moved his legs as quickly as he possibly could, driving himself forward as he hurtled through the echoing halls, the sound of demonic laughter emanating from behind him as Seán followed closely at his heels. At some points, Ethan felt like he could feel someone breathing down his neck, or that someone was brushing their hand across his back. It was as if Seán was showing that he could catch Ethan easily, but wanted to relish the chase, taking pleasure in the young man's desperation.

Mark repeatedly tried to call Ethan with Wade's phone. When that didn't work, he tried to text instead, begging that his youngest friend would respond and show him that he was alright. He stood in the middle of the room, holding the phone with both of his hands as if it was a lifeline, all while looking from the Hangout's entrance to where PJ lay unconscious in the corner. He couldn't leave the British-Italian YouTuber alone in such a vulnerable and critical state, but he didn't want to simply stay where he was and leave Ethan to fend for himself against a psychotic Seán. He kept looking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... he couldn't decide what was the right thing to do.