READ THE WARNING

Chapter sixteen

!TW!~Brief mentioning of death, brief mentioning of a coma, brief mentioning of depression, mentioning of su!cide

Days and weeks blurred together. Alex was never sure how long it had been since the night he thought Marina died.

According to Shawn and Marina, Alex had started skipping work, but Alex had no recollection of those days. He went to work whenever he remembered...had he somehow been forgetting?

He had definitely been forgetting to set his alarm in the morning. He kept waking up in the middle of the day, or even the next night. Caroline said she'd given up on trying to wake him up because he just wouldn't.

Something very concerning was that Caroline told him he'd been asleep for three days straight. He didn't know how, he'd never slept for more than a few hours at a time, but all of a sudden he was sleeping through entire days along with forgetting entire days.

Marina asked if he might've been going through depression, but Alex had been through depression before, it didn't affect his memory, and if anything, he slept less when he was depressed.

One morning Alex was really freaked out when he woke up inside his closet, just laying on the floor. Caroline said she didn't think he'd been sleep-walking, but she couldn't be sure.

"You okay?"

Alex jumped and looked at his closet, where Damien was sitting, leaning against the door. Sarah was sitting beside him, rocking back and forth and laughing, like always.

"I'm...yeah." Alex nodded a bit. He'd just woke up about an hour ago and wasn't sure if he was meant to go in at work or not today. He'd texted Shawn asking about it, but Shawn hadn't replied.

"You're really letting shit get to your head." Said Damien.

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are. All you've been thinking about recently has been him, the being who visits your closet. You're letting him get in your head, and that's exactly what he wants."

"How do I...not?!"

Sarah slowly stood up. She'd stopped laughing, but she still smiled. She walked to Alex and hugged him. "You know, he's keeping you alive for a reason." She told him.

"Why? Why does he keep me around if he's just gonna torture me?"

Sarah drew back. Her smile held more sadness than he'd been able to notice before. "I wish there was something I could tell you."

"Do you know how sick I am of that sentence?!" Alex could feel himself starting to cry. "I think I'd rather die at this point than have to keep living and giving him what he wants."

Sarah wrapped her arms back around him and Damien walked over, hugging them both as well, which was unusual for him. "You're not giving him what he wants." He whispered to Alex. "Not if you keep fighting him. You can make it through this, don't let him drive you to do something you'll regret."

After a minute, the three pulled away from each other.

"He's finding your weaknesses. Don't let him." Said Sarah. 

Alex nodded and sat back down on his bed as Sarah and Damien disappeared into his closet again. Alex sensed someone else watching him, but it didn't scare him. He'd realised over time that he could normally tell who was watching him just because he got a different sensation depending on who was watching him. He was pretty sure Erebus was watching him right now.

Alex's phone started ringing. He looked and it was Shawn.

"Hey, what's up?" Asked Alex, into the phone.