Second Chance

Chapter 31

I stared at Riley for probably a solid five seconds, before I blinked, and he disappeared. Did I imagine it? Was I still dreaming? Or was I going completely insane? He obviously wasn't actually there, because he was currently buried six feet under the ground back in the town of Darkwood.

"Impressive, Justin." A deep voice broke me out of my trance, and I realized one of the Descouche brothers was talking to me. I looked up at them, then got off of DK and helped him to his feet.

"Thanks." I said offhandedly, scanning the crowd again. I doubted I would be able to find Riley again, but I saw a shadow enter the building for the briefest second. So, like any other dim witted moron, I pushed through the crowd towards the shadow.

I knew I was hallucinating, but I was so desperate to even just see Riley again, that I would follow this hallucination to the end of the world if I had to. I made it back into the building, just as the shadow slipped away around a corner. I kept following it, but every time I got closer to it, it seemed to get further away from me. I knew this was stupid and totally pointless, but I couldn't stop, even if I wanted to.

I was getting close again, when I heard someone calling my name from behind me. I didn't stop though, I kept at my same steady pace. They eventually caught up to me, and no surprise, it was DK.

"Where are you going, Fish?" He asked. When I didn't answer, he grabbed onto my shoulders and turned me around to face him. "Hey, what's going on?"

I glanced at where the shadow went, then looked back at DK. "Nothing, I'm fine." I muttered.

"We're getting lunch soon, want to come?" He offered, lightly tugging me in a different direction.

"Sure." I said, still a little foggy brained from what just happened.

DK was blabbing on about how he wasn't really trying when I fought him, and how he let me win to get the target off my back. I thanked him for that, but throughout the conversation I was barely paying attention. All I could think about was the shadow leading me somewhere, and I couldn't help thinking if that could have been Riley's ghost trying to show me something.

—-

I sat in a cafeteria style room with DK and two other of his friends. They were talking about their plans after getting out of Juvie, although most of them were getting transferred to a prison, like me. Although I doubted they would be stuck there for as long as me. DK was also bragging quite a lot about having me as a cellmate. So apparently I was a celebrity now, after not even two days of being here.

I poked halfheartedly at my meatloaf, but I wasn't hungry in the slightest. I just wanted to go back to bed, but if I did that I probably would have another nightmare about Riley. He seemed to be haunting me anyway though, so maybe getting tortured by him in my subconscious was a better option.

I offered the rest of my lunch to DK, and he gladly took it. I then got up and stalked away, feeling a strange haze set over me. As I was walking down the hallway, I felt as if I was being watched and followed. I kept looking behind me to see if someone was there, but there was no one. I was completely alone, but it felt like I was being slowly suffocated by something.

I sped up until I reached the door to the room full of cells, and I opened it and ran inside. I thought I could finally calm down, but once I saw what was in front of me, my heart skyrocketed out of my chest. I was standing in the field again, but I only saw it for a split second, before I blinked, and I was back in the room.

I hurried up the stairs and onto the second floor, making my way towards my cell. As I was turning the corner to walk inside, I expected to see some other horrifying thing lurch out at me, but my cell was completely free of any ghosts or hallucinations.

I walked inside and sat down on my bed, covering my face with my hands. I had no idea what was wrong with me. I was totally fine yesterday, but ever since the fight with DK I felt very odd. I felt like I was swimming through honey, and I was going to pass out any second. On top of that, I've been having hallucinations of my dead brother and the place where he died. Was I actually going crazy?

I finally uncovered my face and stood up, deciding that if I washed my face it might make a difference. I went over to the sink, turned on the tap, leaned my head down, cupping the water in my hands, and splashed it all over my face. I brought my head back up, then let out a probably very girly scream as I saw Riley standing behind me in the mirror. It was the terrifying burnt version of him, with third degree burns plastered all over his body. He didn't necessarily look angry, mean, or evil, he just looked sad. He was still insanely scary looking though, and when I whipped around, he of course wasn't there.

If I was already losing my shit on day two of being in Juvie, how the fuck was I going to survive two months here?