A Spirit Between Us (bxb)

Chapter 25 - Where it started.

He couldn't figure it out. No matter how hard he tried, the spirit's cryptic gestures haunted his every thought. What was it trying to tell him?

Archie sat slumped in his history class the next day, his mind far from the droning voice of the teacher at the front of the room. The question ate at him, relentless and unyielding. His final exams loomed like a dark cloud, but he knew there was no point. He wasn't passing. Not when his focus was split between deciphering ghostly riddles and worrying about Finn.

He sat in his usual seat at the front of the classroom, a spot that guaranteed the least interaction with his peers. But today, something was different. Instead of sitting alone, like he always did, someone had taken the seat beside him.

The sharp, rhythmic click click click of a pen tapping against the desk pierced his thoughts. He turned his head slightly to get a good glare at her.

Ever since the spirit's cryptic gestures yesterday, she had been glued to his side like a particularly chatty shadow. Not that Archie was thrilled about it. Her presence was drawing attention. Way too much attention. He could feel the weight of curious stares boring into the back of his neck, students whispering behind their hands, wondering why she was sitting with him. Lyla, the kind of girl who always had people around her, suddenly spending time with the resident outcast.

Archie grit his teeth as she tapped her pen again. "Can you stop that?" he muttered under his breath.

"Sorry." she replied, not sounding sorry at all. She twirled the pen between her fingers instead, her gaze flicking around the room, deliberately ignoring the whispers.

He knew why she was here. She was scared. She didn't want to face her usual crowd because her usual crowd included Finn, or rather, what was left of him. Archie couldn't blame her for wanting distance. Finn's behavior had grown increasingly erratic, the Mimic's grip tightening with each passing day.

Despite his annoyance, It wasn't as if Lyla was entirely useless. She'd told him something important that morning, a small sliver of information that clawed at his chest like an invisible hand. Finn had broken down to her a few days ago, on the day he'd skipped school. He'd poured his heart out, a rare, vulnerable moment from someone who was always so strong, so composed.

"He said he felt like he was losing himself," Lyla had whispered, her voice trembling as she recounted the memory. "Like something was taking over and there was nothing he could do to stop it."

Archie couldn't shake those words from his head. The image of Finn, his Finn, suffering silently, ripped through him. Finn had always been a beacon of strength, but now he was a shadow of himself, consumed by something neither of them could fully comprehend.

Archie clenched his fists under the desk, his knuckles white. Finn was the most important person in his life. And yet, in all their time together, Archie had never told him. Not really. Not in the way Finn deserved to hear it.

Regret twisted in his gut like a knife. He should have said it. He should have told Finn how much he mattered before it came to this.

But now, it might already be too late.

"Don't you think the way she looks at him is weird?" Lyla's soft whisper cut through the monotonous hum of the classroom, instantly snagging Archie's attention.

"What?" He didn't bother picking up on subtle cues or reading between the lines; that wasn't his style. He preferred directness, so he turned to her with a blunt question, his tone flat.

Lyla tilted her head slightly, gesturing toward their teacher, Mrs. Rosery, with a quick nod.

Archie followed her gaze. Mrs. Rosery looked the same as she always did. Her grey-streaked hair was haphazardly pinned out of her face, strands escaping to curl at her temples. Her thick glasses magnified her eyes, making her appear perpetually wide-eyed, though her dull, droning voice suggested she was anything but engaged in the subject she was teaching. Today, it was yet another lecture on the Renaissance and Reformation, the words slipping past her lips as though she'd recited them a thousand times before.