The Thing in the Woods [Phayu x Rain] (Love in the Air)

Chapter 4

There was a thing in the woods that was no longer asleep.

There was a thing in the woods that was waiting.

It groaned and moaned and gurgled a sigh as its roots stretched just a little further. Its reach was growing stronger with every day.

“IT IS T-T-TIME,” it whispered, “NOBODY CAN S-S-STOP US-S-S.”

The breathy voice echoed through the space it had been banished to many, many years ago.

Roots pulsed through the darkness. They stretched again, never staying still, always slithering, always craving.

“THEY ARE N-N-NEAR. MORG CAN FEEL IT-T-T. COME CLOSER, SO MORG CAN F-F-FEED ON YOUR DELICIOUS FEAR.”

There was a thing in the woods that was hungry.

~

Rain stabbed the meat on his plate with his fork repeatedly. He was irritated and fully aware that he shouldn’t let his feelings out on his lunch, but he couldn’t help himself.

“Rain, what did your lunch do to you?” Sky asked him with raised eyebrows.

Rain groaned, letting his head hit the table, “Sky? What am I supposed to do?”

Sky didn’t say anything for a while, so Rain glanced up to see what his friend was doing. Sky was sitting quietly with his arms crossed, looking at Rain pointedly.

“Why are you staring at me?” Rain asked in trepidation.

Sky answered easily enough, “You have been acting weird ever since the weekend.”

Had Rain been that obvious? Oh no! “Sky! What does it mean when somebody tells you to ‘be ready for what is coming’?”

“Is somebody bullying you?” Sky sounded worried.

‘Yes,’ Rain thought, just not in the way Sky meant.

“Yes, no, oh, I don’t know!” Rain whined.

His head shot up when he heard cat-calls coming from the senior’s table in the middle of the room. Some freshmen had approached the group timidly. A young girl stood right in front of Phayu. She held out a letter or something similar to him.

Phayu just sat there, smirking, self-satisfied, as his friends clapped him on his back. He leant towards the girl and whispered something in her ear. The poor thing blushed up to her roots. She looked a little taken aback but nodded nonetheless. Then she turned and almost ran off, her friends in tow giggling like a cackle of birds.

“Really?” Rain could hear her friend saying when they passed his table, “He said that? Oh, he’s so dreamy.”

Rain shook his head. Every lunch was the same. Students of all ages flocked around the group’s table, flirting with Phayu, Prapai, or both.

Rain was confused, “Sky, what is wrong with these people? Don’t they understand that Phayu is a jerk? I mean, look at him,” he gestured, “He looks like Mr Smarm-alarm, all self-righteous and smug. It makes me want to gag.”

“And here I thought you had a crush on Ple,” Sky replied.

“I am not! Why would you think that?” Rain yells.

Why did Sky look at him like this? Wait, why did it sound like he didn’t actually talk about Ple? Who else could he be talking about?

When he looked around himself and saw the students around him staring, Rain realised he might have been a bit too loud. Ah, crap! He bowed his head in shame.