𝐏ʜᴀɴᴛᴏᴍs || ᵗʸˡᵉʳ ʰᵉʳⁿᵃⁿᵈᵉᶻ ˣ ᶠ ! ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ ⁽ˢˡⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵒᶜ⁾ || ˢᵇᵍ

(𝐒𝟏) 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟏𝟔

𝟏ˢᵗ 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖.

𝐈 wince and try not to thrash around as Ben applies some rubbing alcohol on my neck. I shut my eyes tightly as i feel my body shake from the pain of the rubbing alcohol. I heard a smash that sounded like glass.

I then heard Aiden cheerfully shout. "Aye, look! Another weapon!" "Hey watch it! You should've done that in the bathroom, now there's glass everywhere!" Tyler yelled at Aiden. "I-i'll go get the broom.." Logan says as he stutters slightly.

I look around the room, only for me to slightly yelp as Ben continued to clean my wound on my neck. I dig my nails into my palm as i try not to make any loud sound.

Ben looked at me with worry. I feel Ashlyn put her hand on my shoulder she gently squeezes it to try and comfort me. I smile at her gratefully. Aiden comes up to us and starts a conversation with Ashlyn.

"Y'know i never took you for the leader type." He tells Ashlyn. "...I'm not, but my parents are." "Your parents?" Aiden asks her, she nods her head. "Yeah, they're both from the military." "Ah I get it, you're used to being told what to do in a situation like this." Ashlyn deadpans. "Well, not in a situation like 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬—.."

"Then do you also know self defense?" Aiden asks her. "I've took a few kick-boxing classes." Ashlyn responds.

Aiden hums in acknowledgment. "What about you (Your name)? We all saw how you kicked that things ass! Where'd you learn that?" I wince quietly as i feel Ben start adding bandages onto my wound.

"..Like Ashlyn.. except i am still doing kick-boxing to this day.." He smiles at me. "How long you've been doing it for?" "..four years.." Aiden smiles curiously at me.

"Why'd you start doing kick-boxing at a young age?" I tense up and stay quiet. "..I'll tell you another time.." I mumble to him quietly.

I put my hand on my neck near my now bandaged wound and rub it slightly. I feel it and my eyes soften as i try to look at the bandage. "Wow.. you're good at bandaging." I tell Ben as i move my neck around.

"Haha, yeah, he's used to patching me up." Aiden tells me. I look at him confused as he said that.

"Y'know stuff like, Skateboard tricks, rock climbing, hiking, jumping off high places, stuff like that!" Aiden tells me and i sweatdrop at the information.

Ashlyn than stands up and she grabs a leg from the chair. "How many of these do we have?" She asks the twins who work on taking the legs of the chairs off. "um, eight including the ones we're taking off right now." Taylor tells her. Ashlyn seems to be in thought as she stares at the chair leg.

"It's been quiet for a while.. so you think the monsters are gone now..?" Taylor ask Ashlyn. I sweatdrop as i could still feel the eerily presence outside.

Ashlyn then responds. "They're still outside the door.. I can hear them but.. not in a normal way.." I furrow my brows in confusion as everyone else does. Logan speaks up. "What do you mean??"

"..Remember when i said i had sensitive ears?" She asks us, i nod my head. "Ohh that's right! So you hear them moving outside of something?" Aiden asks her. "Sort of, they make certain noises.. which i don't think you guys can hear.." Ashlyn tells us.

"Can you get to the point?" Tyler butts in as he looks at her with an annoyed expression. "The thing is, because of how loud everything is to me, i hear.. phantom noises as a side effect. Sounds that aren't really there.. In the Sorrel Weed house i thought i was hearing phantom noises but.. when i saw the monster.. i thought it was some sort of hallucination. That was until it tried to grab ahold of me." Ashlyn explains to us.

Tyler then scoffs. "A hallucination? A hallucination that almost grabbed you, and would've injured you if it weren't for (Your name)? A hallucination that we all saw with our own eyes? And you say it wasn't real?"

"Well you thought it was a prank and-.." Aiden starts to say before Ashlyn speaks up. "-No never mind. It doesn't matter right now. What i'm getting at is that, i can hear and locate them when you guys can't." She tells us as she sighs.

I decided to speak up. "Well.. um, i can feel their presence.. they give off an eerie kind of presence.." I tell them quietly as i fiddle with my hands.

Ashlyn looks over at me. "Why are you telling us this just now?" "Well-.. i didn't really think it was much would be important to mention. Plus, considering Tyler's temper i didn't want him to start shouting again." I tell her.

She only sighs in response.

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Word count; 818
April 12ᵗʰ, 2024
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EDIT;
Word count; 845
June 18ᵗʰ, 2024

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