The Forest Fic pt. II (COMPLETED)

Chapter Six

Night falls with gravity, the pale light of a full moon shining down on the silent streets below. A crisp breeze whispers through the aching trees, calling names of those now forgotten. Again, two figures walk together, their hands linked and their silhouettes making stark contrast against the washed-out payment. They round a corner, one leading the other, seeming as if they had walked those streets many times before. Then suddenly, the two figures abruptly come to a halt as soon as they see the house.

Blue-black: everywhere, everything. It radiates from the house, causing the cool night air to feel almost electric. A mix of dread, fear, and the saltiness of tears hangs heavy around the two figures, held in place by some invisible force. It's awful, it's terrible. It's everything Josh thought he had said goodbye to, forever.

The silence is broken as a hand tugs on his and a familiar voice whispers, "We can't just stay in place forever."

Josh finds calm in Tyler's voice, the calm he needs to keep him together, to keep him from simply just falling apart. "Alright," he whispers back, and the two make progress onward.

Although completely unaware of it, they both find solace in each other's voices. Josh's is like magenta and cobalt accented with red, with traces of neon behind his words. But it's not vibrant or harsh like florescent lighting. Instead it's low and gradient, kind of like the sound of pencil on paper.

Tyler's voice is more like the color of poppies and the crunching of graham crackers, but with a tinge of something almost like vinyl around the edges. Even when he's sad, he speaks in these bright colors. It's like when late summer just begins to turn into fall.

As they focus on each step they take, one hundred becomes fifty, fifty becomes twenty-five, twenty-five becomes ten. At long last, they find themselves standing on the abandoned porch step. The dead lawn is overgrown with weeds, a few upstairs windows on the second-story are boarded up. It's evident that no one has lived there in quite a while, yet the blue-black feeling still remains.

It's so real, so indescribably close. Josh feels the adrenaline coursing through his nonexistent veins. He feels something he can't quite place- kind of like exhilaration mixed with fear- as he finds that his breath is hollow and shaky. The feeling is black, but not blue-black. There's another color, possibly something like caution-tape yellow. It's electrifying, and though it's mostly concentrated inside Josh, some of it rubs off on Tyler.

"You're nervous," Tyler realizes.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Josh replies, a noticeable shake in his voice.

"It's bad... Isn't it?" the other boy asks quietly.

"Let's just go in," Josh brushes off the question. "I can't stand waiting out here any longer in anticipation of this all."

"The door's locked. How do we get in?"

"The same way we got here."

-

They find themselves inside the house, with no recollection of how they came to be there. Somehow, they just are. Yet they don't question it because they're immediately distracted by how much stronger the tension is now, compared to how it was outside. It hits the two boys like a brick wall, unforgiving and impassable. All their previous thoughts are long forgotten and instead replaced with something foreign and vaguely terrifying.

Josh nearly buckles under its weight, feeling oddly weak. His weightlessness is heavy, the walls seem to close in. He wonders if it's possible for him to pass out, considering he's not really alive anymore.

The house seemingly lies in wait as the air hangs still, heavy with the dust of a place that's been left untouched for years. They stand in a good-sized entryway, a tapestry rug beneath their feet and an old-fashioned chandelier above their heads, hanging from a cracked white plaster ceiling. It's so quiet and dark, the only light source being some moonlight shining in through a window from another room, which Josh knows as the kitchen.

He still remembers everything like it was yesterday. Every little detail is the same, just older now.

"It's been years. I don't know why I'm surprised that this house is empty. I don't know what I expected at all," Josh whispers, his head swimming as his surroundings seem to drain all his energy from him.

"I... We don't have to do this, if you don't want to. This is..." Tyler trails off, not exactly sure what he's trying to say.

"No. I need this, I need this more than anything. I've been putting it off for far too long, but you know what, Tyler? It's- it's gonna be okay. I know it," Josh manages a small smile as he reaches for the other boy's hand.

"Okay, I think you're right. We're gonna be just fine."

They head up a creaky wooden staircase, leaving their whispered conversation behind. They don't particularly know why they were whispering, somehow they just sense that the house doesn't want to be disturbed. It likes staying quiet.

As they reach the to of the staircase, Tyler and Josh deep the blue-blackness growing even stronger, if that's possible. This feeling of dread sits in the pit of their stomachs, yet they know they're just overreacting and they really shouldn't feel this way. Although there is a reason to, it's not actually valid. To their minds, at least. Nothing will happen, it's just them getting anxious.

They then walk down a dark, foreboding hallway with very little light. Shadows seem to dance in the corners of places too dim to see. The wood paneling lining the walls is old, the long rug covering the scuffed up floor is filled with dust. The entire house has seen better days. Better days that are now long forgotten because all that remains is the blue-black feeling. It intensifies with each step the two spirits take as the hallway seems to stretch out endlessly before them.

But it all begins to reach a climax as soon as they lay eyes on the door.

~

Hey frens, my phone got taken away but I got it back sooner than expected so here's a new update! So sorry for the wait; there was just nothing I could do. Thank you everyone for all the support! Wowow guys you have no idea how much I love you all like srsly I mean that