The Hope You Give Me (Ereri)

Chapter 15

*Warning* This chapter is going to be.... different. It will have horror material in it.

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-Eren's Pov-


Soon after I seemingly drifted off to sleep, I awoke to a persistent tapping noise. Confused and a bit dreary, I sat up and looked around the room. Everything appeared to be in the right place, and there was nothing that could cause the persistent tapping I was currently hearing. Clearing away the fogginess of sleep from my eyes, I started to become aware that the noise was coming from the bedroom door.

Looking at the clock presently hanging on the opposite wall of where I am, I realize that the time is 12:00 am precisely. A bit weirded out, I got out of bed and stretched. After loosening my taut muscles, I then groggily shuffled to the door, expecting to find Armin or my butler Brahms. But as I got closer to the door, the tapping quickly escalated to knocking, then to quicker knocking, then to bangs. Stopping in my tracks, I then slowly inched myself towards the door.

Grabbing the door knob, I then began to twist, readying myself for a potential attack. But as I quickly swung the door open, the banging stopped. Confused once again, I stepped out into the hallway and looked around.

There was nobody there.

A bit freaked out, I backed away into my room and closed the door. But as I turned around, I stopped in my tracks.

There was a silhouette of a boy standing behind the window curtains near my bed.

Terrified of how a stranger could have possibly made their way into my room without me knowing, I stood there. Then, without so much as a warning, the mysterious boy began whispering.

Slowly backing up towards the door, I made sure I never looked away from the whispering boy. Fearing that he may do something. As I was watching him, I realized something. Starting from the silhouette of his head and traveling downward, I saw a pair of familiar shiny black shoes.

Gasping in horror, my legs began to shake. And before I knew it, my lips began to form a name that I haven’t spoken in years.

“Lucas?”

The whispering ceased. Then, the silhouette began moving forward while mumbling a single sentence. Terrified, but not having heard what was said, I managed to shakily ask a question.

“W-what was that?”

The boy stopped in his tracks. Now, only half of him was covered with the curtain.

In a soft, familiar voice, the boy spoke a singular word.

“Why”

I was now practically on the floor due to the severe shaking of my legs and the terror I felt. But even so, I managed to speak.

“Why what?” I spoke shakily. The boy spoke.

“Why did you let this happen to me”

Tears quickly made themselves present in my eyes.

“I’m so sorry Lucas” I said, choking on my words.

“Why” He spoke again, stepping once.

“I’m so sorry” I choked out, now starting to hold back a sob.

“Why.” The boy I now recognized as Lucas spoke once again, stepping towards me once more. The curtain now covering the middle of his torso and above.

“I-I’m..” I began.

“Why” Now stepping even closer.

I began to speak again but was cut off by him speaking the same word again. Then again. Then again. And as he chanted the same word over and over again, he began walking. Each foot moved with the rhythm of his chanting. But just before the curtain would fall off of his head, he stopped.

In a deep, unfamiliar, scratchy voice, he spoke once more.

“ሠዘሃ”

Staring in horror, I began to realize that this thing was not Lucas. Lucas was long gone. And this thing was certainly not the sweet boy that he remembered.

Inching my hand up the door towards the door knob, the figure began twitching. The twitching soon turned into full on convulsions until I made contact with the knob. As soon as the cold metal made contact with my skin, the figure ceased its movements. Quickly looking over to the door knob, which had my hand securely holding onto it, I began twisting it slowly. But as I went to look at the figure again, it was not there.

Thinking that I was momentarily safe, I looked back at the progress I made with the door knob. But before I could turn it all the way, I stopped.

A drop of red liquid fell onto my pajama sleeve from the ceiling. Looking up slowly, I was met with a sight that I thought I would never see again.

The thing impersonating a horror of my past was contorted like a ragdoll on the ceiling. It’s limbs were bent at a 90-degree angle backwards from how they are supposed to bend. It’s feet and hands were stationed securely on the ceiling like a human spider, but it’s torso was facing me, and so was its head. But what terrified me the most was its face. Half of it was bashed in. Just as I remembered that one day in fall. The day everything changed. The day that has haunted me for years.

But before I could even let out a noise, it dropped.

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Sorry, this chapter was a bit short, I was stupid for not creating the plot before creating this novel. So far, this book has been a "go with the flow" type of thing. But I have been working on the plot, and I have decided that it will have horror elements inside of it. So you can expect more chapters with these types of things in them. I'm a horror addict as much as I am a caffeine addict unfortunately.

Stay tuned for the next chapter~