Possession (boyxboy)

Chapter 12: All grown up

My blanket may come back to get you."
☆

"Matty, you need to explain to me what is going on." Billy says, getting up from the bed, still rubbing his neck from where the blanket had been.

"There's no time." Matty says, grabbing his sweater and a pair of joggers which were hanging over a desk chair. "I can't guarantee I killed it, my blanket may come back to get you." he adds, as he pushes his feet into his cat slippers.

"Your blanket?...what?" Billy is not getting any of this as he also gets his clothes back on.

"Like I said..." Matty repeats, "There's no time, I'll explain later." he walks past Billy, heading out of his bedroom and hurries down the stairs.

He heads straight to the kitchen, grabbing a sharp knife from the drawer and his mother's spare lighter from the back of the cupboard.

Billy finds himself just watching and following Matty as he seems to have some kind of action plan, as he grabs the keys to the shed from the hooks by the side door and heads into the back garden, the evening sun now setting in the sky.

Billy looks on as after a minute or two, Matty reappears with a rusty looking metal bucket with a strong smell of petrol coming from it. "Matty, seriously. What is going on?"

"Here, just take this, protect yourself.'' he shoves the knife into his hands.

"Protect myself from what?"

"My blanket Billy! My blanket is magic and...and something has gone wrong. I don't know why it did that to you. It's supposed to seek revenge, I've never known it to physically hurt people.''

Billy says nothing, it's not because he understands what Matty is saying because he doesn't, but one thing he did know was that ten minutes ago he couldn't breathe and apparently that blanket was somehow the cause.

Matty heads to the part of the garden where he had dropped the blanket out of the window. There it lay, motionless and harmless on the grass. "Just be careful." Matty says, shielding Billy slightly with his arms as he stood just shy, with his knife in hand. Matty carefully places the old bucket on the grass and edges closer to the brown material to pick it up.

Carefully, he crouches down to reach for the material and is almost there, when the blanket twitches ever so slightly. It causes Matty to freeze, as the blanket slowly slithers across the grass like a snake towards his slipper. Matty stays still as the blanket slowly coils it's way up his leg, before creeping up his body, and curling around his neck. And there it seems to stay.

"Matty. What should I do?" Billy asks through clenched teeth.

"Just stay where you are. I'm gonna try to stand up." Ever so slowly, Matty straightens his legs, then his back and eventually he gets to a standing position. The blanket nestles into Matty's neck like a cosy scarf before one of its corners gently brushes his left cheek.

"Matty..." Billy begins. "It's like it's your pet." He looks at the brown material snuggling into Matty.

"It's my comfort. My blanket from when I was a child, but I've not seen it act this way before. It's never hurt people and it's never hurt my mother or Joy. I don't understand why it wanted to hurt you." Matty remains still, a little scared to move.

Billy looks at the attachment the blanket seems to have with Matty, then something clicks. "I think I do ...Matty, do you sleep with your blanket?"

Matty looks at Billy with surprise and with a slight air of embarrassment. "I have no choice," he says. "Even if I go to sleep without it, it's always there in the morning, snuggled next to me."

Billy looks at Matty, taking a sigh. "Matty I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think your blanket is jealous. Jealous of me."

"No!" Matty begins. "It doesn't work like that. It's my protector, my seeker of justice. It's not my...my lover."

Billy boldly takes a step forward. The blanket around Matty's neck lashes out at him, making a hissing scream like a possessed cat. "I beg to differ Matty." He concludes. "It seems that I'm a threat. Maybe I will be the one to sleep with you from now on."

Matty raises a hand to the blanket coiled around him, gently pulling it away. It ever so gently glides around his arm. His plan A to destroy the blanket is wavering. Nostalgia setting in. All those times it had been there for him, making sure he was ok, ensuring the perpetrators would pay the price. But now he had someone new in his life. Billy Harris. He would love him, protect him and defend him to the end. He had no need for his magic blanket anymore...he wasn't a child anymore.

Matty feels a tear of sadness roll down his cheek as he breathes in the unique scent the blanket possesses. That smell that comforted him for so many nights. He looks at Billy and nods slightly, as he wraps his fingers around his blanket. "After three..." he says under his breath. "One... two... three!"

Matty suddenly chucks the lighter towards Billy as he drops the blanket into the bucket. Billy quickly sparks up the lighter and drops it into the bucket. The flames ignite instantly as the blanket begins to burn. The screech is horrendous as both Matty and Billy put their hands to their ears, with Billy dropping the knife, as the blanket thrashes about in the flames.

After around 5 minutes, the sound dies down and all that seems to be left are orange flames.

Matty heads to the shed to retrieve a spade, before digging up a patch of damp earth to drop in the bucket. The flames cease. "Do you think that's the end?" Billy says apprehensively.

"I think so." Matty says. "But just to be sure, I'm going to bury it." he adds, creating a larger hole where he had just taken the earth from. He carefully lets the bucket's contents drop into the ground and hurriedly covers it up. He then stops momentarily, looking at the freshly dug ground.

Billy now approaches Matty, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer "You alright?" He wonders.

"Yeah." Matty says with a sigh. "I guess I'm all grown up now."