Attached [Rewritten Version]

23. Crowded

Friday, October 21st, 2016

For several days, Sid had been focused on nothing but research on Thomason's second daughter. He knew she was real, and he felt like he needed to find her, figure out what happened to her. The annoying part was that ever since he pulled new information out of thin air—and being convinced he was right—his energy was fluctuating a lot. One moment he was fine, the other he was exhausted and out of breath, like the weight of the world was pressing on his chest, constricting his breathing. It didn't even matter whether or not Annika or Angela was nearby. The entity was in his near surroundings non-stop, and it seemed like it was affected by them less each time he noticed it.

He did discuss the feelings with his friends, only for them to be more scared and nervous around him, and Angela to inform him later that day even she felt like it was crowded whenever Sid was in the room. As if her and the entity weren't the only ones any longer. She now also refused to visit his dreams, keeping an eye out on him while he slept but never accompanying him for longer than a few minutes. For starters, she felt like it was inviting the entity to come closer, and secondly, the entity was continuously pulling him into horrific nightmares that traumatized her to a point she no longer wanted to be in his dreams.

It was horrible, truly, because he started feeling lonelier each day. Nobody else was affected. Not Edward, who basically ditched them the second they befriended Cory, and not Davy, who was doing his best to help with research, though it felt endless.

Both had been in those woods with him, so why was he bothered by the entity, and not them, at all?

It was on Friday, after an unfruitful evening of research into Jessabelle Conrad, that his limits were reached. It felt like they were stuck in every way possible. Jessabelle had been out of town for a few years, before she indeed returned. But that's basically all there was to find about her.

To make matter worse, as soon as he closed his eyes, he felt like his chest was imploding from the sheer pressure, making it harder to fall asleep. And whenever he did manage to fall asleep, his dreams consisted of the most contradicting events. One moment, he was watching a man walk through the forest, finding another guy dead, the next, it was said guy shooting the other man, the entity closing in, surrounding him, taking his breath away. He had spent for what felt like days and days on end wading through water with no end in sight. Water that smelled like rotting flesh and looked almost as black as the entity itself.

And then Angela would manage to wake him up, because he was panicking all over again. That night, however, it wasn't Angela, it was his parents, who woke him up while he was scratching his throat in a desperate attempt to get some air in.

His mother was holding him, rocking him back and forth, whispering sweet little nothings into his air, while Angela was watching his father, who was frantically looking around the room right before his eyes settles on Sid. He looked scared.

Had he seen something?

"Siddey, you need to tell us what's going on. What happened in the forest that night?" His mother asked, begging him to open up to them. She needed an explanation for his behavior, for his nightmares. "Please talk to us. I promise you, we won't be mad, and we won't lock you away."

"I..." Sid started, but soon swallowed the rest of the words in as he made eye contact with his father. The fear in his eyes scared him more than the entity in itself. His father was never really scared of anything. This, on the other hand? His son, in trouble, was fearing him deeply. "Weird shit happened, mom," he spoke in a whisper, defeated and no longer able to keep things a secret. At this point, maybe being locked away would be a good thing. Maybe he'd be safe there.

Then again, he knew damn well Angela had previously followed Cory during his entire stay too.

"Shit happened?" his dad repeated after him, waiting for him to continue, "could you elaborate? Are we talking ghost-like shit?"

Sid frowned at the casualness of his question, "yes. Ghost-like shit," he repeated his choice of words, "I know this sounds crazy, I do. But some sort of entity followed us in the forest, and it's still following me now. It gives me nightmares and it's always, sorta in my peripheral vision. You have to believe me bec—"

"I'm calling the guys, and I'm calling the coven. I told you we should've done something years ago. Now its after our son, for fucks sake." His dad called out in anger, stomping out of the room to fetch his phone, "this will end, now."

Sid looked at his mother in confusion, while she sent him a sad smile. "We believe you, because we know the paranormal world is very much real. We know something is in those woods, but since it was safely locked away, we focused on more pressing matters."

"What?"

She shook her head, telling him there was no time for his questions in that moment. "Honey, tell me how you managed to keep it from actually possessing you. What did you guys do?"

"Uh, well..." Sid glanced at Angela, who was intruiged by everything his mother was telling, "another ghost followed us out and she's been keeping it away from me. Though she says Annika does the same to some extend."

"Of course. Girls always mature sooner than boys, so it's no surprise she's already shielding you to some extent."

"Shielding?"

"Sid?" his mother spoke softly, glancing at the door before she looked at him again, "have you ever wondered how you heal so fast whenever you injure yourself?"

"I mean, a little."

"You were not supposed to find out until you're eighteen, live a normal childhood. But seeing the circumstances... It's because you are an Angel. Your father is too. You are developing powers to heal yourself and others."

"I'm.. what?"

"Told you," Angela said with a victorious smirk on her face. "You're weird."

"An Angel. Your powers stem from Archangel Raphael and as long as he shall live, you will have those powers."

"You told him." His father sounded tired, "we should tell him everything, in detail. He needs to know what happened, what we know and what we've tried. They'll have to grow up a little faster, but it's for the best. So, you better sit down and listen, son. It's going to be a lot to take in."