Finding Darkness

Chapter 17

Part 3

~Yuma Tsukumo~

I've never met anyone like Astral. Innocent. Caring. Easily persuaded. He's always willing to help even in the worst of times. Take now for instance. Though I seriously think that he should stay in the house and rest, he doesn't want to. He's really not himself anymore.

When we reach the house, Astral stops. "What is it?" I ask.

"Nothing. I just feel like something terrible will happen tonight." He runs his transparent hand over the bandage that covers his open wound. The wound he won't let me see anymore.

Cathy, who now stops when she sees that we've fallen behind, looks over to us. "Something terrible?" she asks. Her bell tinkles as she walks over. "Like what?"

Astral shakes his head, unable to meet her eyes after what he said that day. "I...I do not know. I only feel it."

"Well, you'd better get going, Cat. You've told us how much your mom worries when you're late," I warn. "Besides, the sight of that dead body must have really freaked you out." Cathy, who has never seen a corpse before, was really freaked when she saw the unrecognizable body, of which Astral confirmed as Maria, the woman who first called us when this started.

Cat nods, looking like she might puke. "Yeah, okay. I guess I'll have to get used to this at some point, right?" She makes her way home, her bell ringing all the way.

Astral suddenly grabs my wristband. "Let's go inside. I am not feeling well."

I nod. "Okay." I walk to the door and open it with Astral in tow.

Once inside, Astral goes upstairs to the study. He hasn't been feeling well for the past few days. As a result, he's been spending most of the time either in the study or the room he's staying in. He still insists on helping with the investigation though. Actually, he still does better than me, even in this ill state. Pretty sad of me, huh?

I follow him up to the study. There, I hand him the notes we took at the crime scene. He sets it on the desk, and we both study it.

"It is Black Mist, I can tell," he mutters. Astral's been talking arbitrarily about "Black Mist" for some time now, and he insists that it was the same guy who gave him that wound. He won't tell me anything about him, though. Everytime I ask, he starts trembling and can't even talk. I wonder why.

"So this guy you're talking about is capable of doing this?" I ask, eyeing him carefully. 

"Yes," Astral whispers, his hand running  across the bandage again. "I can tell he is capable of such things."

Suddenly, Astral leans against the desk, clearly in pain. These outbursts have been coming and going ever since he got that scar. They always pass quickly, though. 

He starts convulsing, shaking violently. This has never happened before. Panicking, I make a move to grab him, but my hand, being made out of flesh, passes right through. Astral's breathing gets rapid, as if his respiratory system (if he even has one) isn't working before collapsing.

I quickly look for something, anything, to pick him up with. I rush out of the door and into my room. I snatch the blanket there and race back to the study.

While I get there, Astral has calmed down a bit, but his breathing is still unnaturally quick. I carefully wrap the blanket around his slender body and pick him up. I carry him to his room. You know, for someone who looks about the same age as me, which is to say thirteen, he's surprisingly light.

When I enter his room, I set him down on the bed. Astral stirrs a bit, but he doesn't wake up. He mutters something about darkness and evil, but I don't pay much attention to it. I tip-toe out of the room and silently close the door behind me. 

I walk quickly back to the study. What could have caused that reaction? It must be something in his blood (if he even has blood), but what?

I stop suddenly. What if I do a blood test? Would that help me at least figure out his condition? It's worth a shot. 

I make my way back to the room, creak the door open, and peek in. Astral's condition hasn't changed. I creep closer and inspect the bandage. Stained black just like always. I carefully ease Astral up so I can remove the heavily-applied bandage. As I unwind it, I get a strange feeling of foreboding. What it is though I can't say. 

With the bandage finally unwound, I can see why Astral has kept his grotesque wound hidden from me the morning he put the cloth back on.