Hell [Sequel]

2 - Hauntings

[Akhet]

The room was bright with golden sunlight, but silent as dead night. Dust floated through the air, slightly pushed along by the gentle breeze from the broken window that happened to occupy a small section of the wall. Without stirring, the small yellow form of Aiko glowed softly, her sleeping face peaceful in dreamless sleep.

I sat near the bed, a chair in the room set by the wall close enough to the bed so I could see her clearly. I had my own room, of course, and felt comfortable sleeping there as I pleased. However ever since what happened to her, I've taken up remaining by her bedside, awake through the day as she slept. We don't feel fatigue here unless under certain circumstances, so it's easy to stay alert while the rest of the house is silent in slumber.

I'd brought a book with me, as I tend to do. I wasn't one for sitting and doing nothing, so my eyes followed the labyrinth of elaborate, descriptive words on the page. It was an old collection of stories, the cover of it too worn to read properly, and it contained many stories of the horror genre, among others. I'd seen my own share of horrors for myself, so it was less intimidating to read about for me.

I'd just begun a new segment of the book when suddenly the room's temperature seemed to drop. Immediately I was aware of this, however after a few moments I shrugged the odd difference off. No reason this wouldn't be normal, were my thoughts. Spirits tended to be cold-based, the air of Limbo always varying shades of freezing that felt like a cool autumn day for us.

But it was almost... unsettling, how cold it was. Like a violent blizzard had suddenly struck, the frozen wind plastering the frigid snow to my back. My tail twitched, and I shivered, gently dog-earring the page I was on and setting the old book down on the chair as I stood. Aiko was still sound asleep, not stirring in the slightest.

I scanned the room, tail quietly swaying warily. Something was definitely off. A chill ran down my spine, the air I breathed cold mercury down my throat. I wished at that moment I could call out to whoever was there, whoever was stalking me with this frigid foreboding and find out who it was. But alas I could not - my muteness would never leave me.

A gleeful, almost childlike laugh echoed distantly around the room. I jumped, my eyes turning to Aiko. She was asleep. It wasn't her. It sounds so familiar, though...

The laugh grew in volume, a gradual crescendo until that laugh was nails piercing through my skull. A sound like nails on a chalkboard, and I gritted my teeth at the awful sound.

No, no, no, that's not possible. Not her. Not her. Not her.

"Hello, Akhet!"

My lungs compressed on themselves, the breath knocked from my chest in shock. My eyes widened, each of my limbs freezing in place.

No.

"Not even gonna look at me? That's a bit rude, now, isn't it?"

I suddenly found a magenta string tight around my neck, my breath cut short as it closed my windpipe. A cold hand brushed my scalp as fingers ran through my hair, gentle and hard and unnerving. I felt freezing breath against my ear as she said,

"What, cat got your tongue?"

I tried to inhale a gasp, but my breathing was still cut by the string, tight around my neck. She chuckled darkly.

"Oh, right. A bit quiet, you are. I remember. In fact..."

Finally she walked in front of me, a harsh magenta slit piercing my retinas as she smiled a sharp-toothed grin.

"I remember everything."

A flick of her wrist, and the string around my neck yanked me to the wall, the ritualistic following swiftly and pinning me there aggressively. Blind panic filled my senses, my mind racing as she stared into my eyes.

Nononononono, no not this again, no please-

"You don't look too happy to see me," she tilted her head, a disappointed facade masking her glee.

That's because I'm not, I thought, even knowing she couldn't hear me.

A flick of her tail and I was on the ground, head spinning as my skull cracked against the floor. The floor? Where was it? I had felt it, my head throbbed because of it, but all feeling was gone and I found myself plummeting into a dark, dark abyss. Her smile cut through the growing darkness above me, sadistic and filled with immense pleasure as she watched me fall.

I tried to flap my wings, tried to get up in the air, but a sharp pain and suddenly my wings were shredded and bloody and fire on my back. I let out a silent scream of agony, which was replied by a childish, echoing laugh that sent me into a shivering ball in the empty void.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling...

-=+=-

[Praxus]

Childlike panic brought my eyes open.

Aiko's worried gaze met me as I awoke. She was shaking me aggressively, repeating my name with the adolescent slur she always spoke with. Startled, I blinked.

"O-oh- Hi, Aiko, what's, uh... what's wrong?" I managed to mumble the words through my groggy mask of sleep. My tail tightened around Xyan's tail, who was still in a disturbed sleep at the time, to which the response was a surprised jump, followed by his own mutters of confusion.

"S-something's wrong wif Akhet," the child frowned. "She's asleep and she won't wake up."

"Wha... okay, I'm coming." The mention of Akhet sleeping in any form was enough to get me worried - she hasn't slept once since what happened to Aiko. Xyan, surprisingly, got up before I could, though I was quick to stand up and follow Aiko and Xyan down the hall to her own room.

Akhet was, indeed, asleep. But not naturally. She was curled into a ball, her breaths quick and shallow with her wings cocooned around her body. And she was trembling, trembling in terror.

Immediately I raced to her side, kneeling down and gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Immediately her body jerked, wide, frightened eyes staring at me as her back hit the bed Aiko had slept in. Akhet's gaze darted around the room, taking in everything within the span of a few seconds before she returned her vision to me. We stared at each other for a moment in surprise, concern, and fear before Akhet finally calmed down enough, pressing her hand to her chest as she exhaled unsteadily.

"A-are you okay?" I asked softly.

Akhet took multiple deep breaths before shakily replying.

"I-it's her..."

I was profoundly confused at the statement. "Her? Who?"

It clicked in my mind as she finally said,

"It's Angel. She's back."

-=+=-

WE GOT A NAME FOR PINK WOMAN >:D

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