Hello Neighbor: Hidden Shadows: Unofficial AFK Book

CHAPTER 5

   I wake up in a familiar room, covered with drawings, paper, and mold. I sit up, looking down do see my legs covered in scratches, blood, and scars. I look back up to the door. I try it, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't work, like it always doesn't. I sit down next to the door, slamming my head against the wall in the process.

   "Nicky?"

   I hear a voice call my name.

   "Nicky, are you there?"

   "Who's there!?" I scream. "Go away!"

   It goes silent for a second, then I see a figure among the walls. "Nicholas," the thing says. I start backing away to a corner. "What are you? What do you want from me?" I cry. 

   "I want to play a game, Nicky," the thing says, re-arranging it's self to the figure of Mya Peterson. "What's wrong Nicky? Don't you like to play hide and seek?" she says, getting closer. I've completely cornered myself, with my arms folded around my head, and my legs to my chest.

   "It's okay, Nicky. I'm your friend."

   "No, you're not. Get away from me!"

   It gets closer to me, laying a hand on the side of my face, while I'm sitting in the same place, panicking like a wildfire. "You'll be okay Nicky. You can trust me."

   "I said, GET AWAY!"

   I physically jump on my back, with my eyes widened, breathing hard. My vision transitions to a blank wall. My eyes start pooling with tears, still panicking, until I realize that it was just a dream.  My breathing gradually slows down, while my face relaxes, but still hurting. I sit up, observing the environment. I jump out of my parent's bed, looking out the window, blinding my eyesight halfway. I see the sun peaking within the trees, birds flying, which feels very unusual to me for some reason. I look behind me, down the long hallway, with something in my head telling me to leave this room. 

   I head downstairs, finding Mom at the stove, and Dad being nowhere to be found. I head further down, with mom turning behind her, looking back at be. "Good morning, Nicholas," she says. "Morning," I reply with no emotion. "Your dad's out to the store, he'll be back soon."

   I nod. I walk over to the kitchen, scattering my hands across the racks of the fridge, but then coming to a conclusion that I really wasn't interested in eating or drinking anything. Without luck of anything peaking my interest, I sit down at the kitchen table, planting my head into my arms. 

   "Did you sleep well last night?" Mom asks. My mind starts arguing with itself on either I should tell her about the nightmare I just woke up from, me staring at a bedframe all night, or my new fear of sleeping.

   "I slept fine," I say, which was an obvious lie. She nods back surprisingly, with me expecting her to berate me over lying. But then I forget what everything is supposed to be okay now. I think they would be great actors for that matter.

    Mom places a plate in front of me, making me lift my head up. "You don't look like you slept that well," Mom says. My heart starts racing again, like she's onto me about lying. 

   "I-I did," I panic, trying to hide my fear, rapidly moving my eyes back and forth. She then lets me off with a slight nod again, turning back to the stove. "How'd you sleep?" I nervously ask, picking up my fork off of the table. 

   "Better," she says, letting out a sigh afterwards. The sits in the chair in front of me. She gives me a concerning look, which make my eyebrows change my expression a few times. I've barely taken a bite out of my eggs, and Mom for some reason can't take her eyes off of me.

   She lets out a sigh. "Nicholas, I might as well tell you now."

   I immediately glare into her eyes. "What?" I say in a fearful tone.

   "I'm sorry, but we still have to go to the police station. Police orders," she continues. I feel like I'm about to lose my mind again. This can't be happening. It can't. It won't.

   "Are we really doing this again? Do you remember what happened last time with the police?" I snap.

   "Nicholas, listen to me," she interrupts. I somehow managed to calm myself down, watching her serious glare into my eyes. "They're just going to ask you a few questions, just to clear things up. You aren't in trouble."

   I only feel somewhat relieved, but I feel like that feeling from that missing posters incident is coming back to me. I don't reply, but I look down at the table worryingly. She slides her fingers under my chin, lifting my head back to her.

   "Your dad and I will be with you the whole time. I promise," she says in an oddly soft tone. I only nod, really because I'm too scared to talk, or maybe I don't have anything to say. "Tomorrow morning at 9:00 A.M., okay?"

   I nod.

   The door swings open with a tall figure struggling at the door with a load of bags. "Honey, do you need any help?" Mom asks presumably dad, with a hidden giggle behind her voice.

   "No, I'm fine hon-honey," Dad struggles. He eventually makes it to the table, with nearly everything falling off of the table. Dad looks over the bags to see my face slightly grinning at him.

   "Narf, you're up," he says, ruffling up my hair in the process. "Hey Narf, do you mind helping me put these up?"

  "Okay," I reply.

   "No, Nicholas I'll do it. You can finish eating, okay?" Mom says.

   I nod.

   Mom and Dad share an odd look with each other.

   "You did tell him, right?"

   "Yes, I did."

   I'm assuming they are referencing my police station visit tomorrow, so I ignore their conversation, and continue to finish my food, in which I do almost instantly. I guess I was hungrier than I really thought.

   I head back upstairs to use the bathroom, which I am instead drawn to the mirror in the bathroom than my thoughts of doing my business. I stare into the mirror, seeing a 13 year old boy, covered in scars, and imprisoning unwanted thoughts behind the stressed face of his. I blink unnaturally harder, trying to make sure that I'm not hallucinating again.

   I see the same thing.

   I finally close the door, hoping that I won't see the same thing again in the mirror. Right as I finish, I hear voices downstairs, now coming upstairs. It... sounds like people are calling my name. I think. I wash my hands, hesitating to open the door. Although I don't like being locked in rooms. I finally open the door, being met with two faces rushing past it.

   "Nicholas."

   I stare in confusion.

   "Wh-What are you doing?"

   "I'm... using the bathroom."

   They both for some reason give me another worried look, as if I committed some type of crime or something. "What's going on?" I ask confused.

   "It's... nothing," Mom says, embarrassingly turning back down the hall. I only stand there for a few more seconds, then turning back to the mirror.