The Promised Neverland

The Thing In The Halls

I was reading my book, waiting for mother to say that it was time for bed. I got up and I put the book down and I went to go use the bathroom, when I saw it. It was this... thing I didn't get a good look at it because it spotted me and it darted into Ace's room. I panicked, and I ran towards mothers room and I knocked on it. "Come in." Mother said and I walked into her room. "Mother, I saw something in the halls, I didn't get a good look at it... it went in-into Ace's room." I told her. "Ah, ok. I will go check it out. Why don't you get ready for bed, Sam?" Mother said in a calming tone and she smiled her calming smile. "Ok, mother." I say and I go back to my room, mother following close behind me. "Night mother." I say, "Night, Sam." Mother said as she walked into Ace's room to check on him. I walk over to my bed and I get under the covers and I fall asleep.

In the morning, I was woken up by mother. "Good morning, Sam." She said, "Morning mother." I say sleepy. "Thank you for telling me about the thing you saw last night." Mother says as she stands up helping me out of bed. "Mother... is Ace going to be ok?" I ask kinda worried about my brother. "Yes, he will be fine. He's sleeping right now, and he's getting better sooner than expected." Mother says, patting me on the shoulder. "Get ready for breakfast, ok?" Mother says as she leaves. I get ready to go downstairs when I decide to check up on Norman. "Hey, Norman.. Are you awake?" I ask. Norman comes out of the room and he bumps into me "oof" Norman says then he looks at me. "Oh, hey Sam." He says. "Hi" I say. "Children! Breakfast is ready!" Mother calls. "Let's go Sam" Norman says and starts walking to the dining room, and I follow. I sat down next to Emma. "Morning, Sam." Emma says. "Morning, Emma." I say. "Children, I hope you all know that Ace will not be joining us-" Mother starts, then she looks at the stairs. "Ace.... Why are you out of bed? You are not well." Mother says. "I came down to eat.... I need food, Mother.." Ace says quietly, keeping his head down. "Well.. come by me and I'll help you get your food." Mother says. "Why can't he eat with us, Mother?" I ask. "He is not well, Sam. He's going through something... something worse than last month.." Mother says. "If you wanna know so bad.... It's just... I get sicker than a dog once a month and I can't control my anger or hunger..." Ace says. "Ace, you could've told me that you had gotten hungry last night and I would've brought you food.." Mother says. "I was... but I found three mice running around, and so I ate them.. Then I ran back to my room..." Ace says walking over to mother. "Ok...." Mother says helping Ace get his food, Ace looked kinda like he was gonna throw up. "Ace, would you like some help getting back up to your room?" Mother asks. "No I-" Ace starts, then he cuts himself off, "Yeah... I probably do need help so I don't fall..." Ace says. Mother looks at me "Sam, would you be a dear and help your brother up the stairs?" Mother asks me, "Sure mother" I say and I got up and walked over to Ace. "Hey, Sam." Ace said putting one of his arms on my shoulder after we started walking to the stairs. "Hi Ace.. sorry you're not feeling well.." I say, "It's not your fault... I need to learn how to control it... Last night, you saw me... and I saw you.. Sorry if I scared ya" Ace says as we get up the stairs and closer to his room. "It's alright.. You just startled me.." I say. "Ah... Well... " Ace says as he takes his arm off of my shoulder and he uses the wall to keep his balance. "You probably don't want to see my room right now... " Ace says, slightly opening his door and slipping in. "Sorry... for everything... Sorry I won't be able to help you this week..." Ace says before he shuts the door. I could hear the crunching of bones as I started walking back to the dining room and I thought to myself "What is Ace hiding? It can't be that bad... Right?". As I walk down the stairs I hear something- or someone- fall and I run back up the stairs and I run into Ace room to see what fell but when I open the door.... What I saw couldn't match the fear that I felt when Ace; or what I thought was Ace turned to look at me. "What... are you doing here?" It asked me. "I-I came to check on Ace.." I say scared. "Hmmm..... Ace?" It asked me then it realized who I was. "S-Sam... you need to leave.. You can't be here.. Mother won't like it." It said, "Wh-who are you?" I ask. "It's me.... Ace" Ace said looking down. "You don't look like him..." I say stepping inside, closing the door behind me. "Are... are you ok?" I ask Ace. "Well... no.. this is the only time I've really turned into this... monster." Ace says. "D-Don't say that!" I say running up to Ace and hugging him tightly. "But it's true." Ace says. "Just because you are different, doesn't make you a monster!" I say. Then mother came in, I didn't think she'd pull me away, but she did. "You shouldn't be near him, Sam." Mother says walking up to Ace and putting something on him. "Mother, he wasn't doing anything to me... he just needs to not be lonely! Just... Please let me stay with him in the mornings!" I pleaded. "I'll consider it." Mother says walking away from Ace who's asleep again. "But for now, come back down stairs." Mother says helping me up and following me down stairs and helping us kids get food.