Farrow house outdid it's own reputation daily.
As did it's occupants. Adam, could always be angrier. Zero could fade again with an incredible quietness and Kasper could die again and again and again in his head and always wake to another breath. One more than he thought he had in him. Always outdoing, always undoing. Again and again and again.
There weren't many kids who would ever want to hang out with anyone from the Farrow House, or parents that would let them. Lest they catch some communicable disease; or a lesser demonic entity ferry their souls away in exchange for something as cold and unfeeling as the pack of creatures mocking a family that took shelter in the rot. Now that would be torment. Kasper thought of himself as fairly clean in comparison to the rest of its occupants. He didn't have demons, at least, the kind that could do real harm. His were the quiet, malignant sort. That's all there was when it came to things not meant to exist.
Blood dribbled from his nose.
The cold quickly snapped up the warmth brought on by his pounding heart.
Run. Rabbit, run.
His ear rang into a quiet nothing on one side of his head. One of his eyes clouded red. Blood made everything glow in impossible ways. It did so now.
I hate you.
Kasper's bike pitched beneath him. Left, right, and right again. Eating up the distance. Tears stung at the cut on his cheek.
I hate you.
Faster.
Go.
His lungs pulled at the air and his fingers froze against the metal they held. The biting wind cut through his clothes and his body pitched like a sail in a storm. He could see the lighthouse.
Save me.
Sanctuary.
Turning over, he threw down his bike, and banged on the garage door as hard as he could. Everyone only ever wanted to help, but they all made it worse, their well-meaning advice often cut deeper than their silence. His eyes shifted down the street and he leaned into the siding. "Zak-" He muttered. "Come on." His senseless pounding slowed.
Moments later the side door threw itself open and Zak rushed out. "Who's there!" He shouted in as threatening a way as one could while standing outside in nothing but boxers, holding a crowbar. He spun about pointing the weapon out into the dark with a blunt clinging desperately between his teeth. "Kas?!?"
Kasper slunk back. Away from the light that crawled out of the doorway.
Zak set down the bar and walked over slowly. "What are you doing out here? What time is it?"
"I don't know." Kasper took a step back. "Stop."
Zak tucked his arms into a folded pretzel across his bare chest and stood there quietly.
"Stop."
Somehow Zak always seemed to know. He never needed to be told. "Kas." He just knew in ways words didn't have to tell. "Look at me."
"I can't." His eyes never left the ground.
"I'll wait."
"I'm sorry." Kasper shuffled forward when his breathing leveled. He wasn't sure he knew what he was sorry for. He was just sorry. He looked to Zak and watched his face contort.
"God." Zak's arms unfolded. "Did he follow you?" He looked out across the empty road.
"No."
Zak placed a hand on Kasper's shoulder. "Go inside, I'll get your bike." He studied the distance somewhere behind him. "Go."
YOU ARE READING
The Eden Projects (EDITING)
General Fiction"This story has no hero." Set in the distant future, where the government has been overthrown, and a new world power has risen, known only by the Moniker "ARK Corporation." We follow Kasper as he fights to survive in a nightmare where wrong is made...
