Revenant

Chapter Fifteen

Heartbeat. He could hear his heartbeat thundering in his ears.

Shut up, shut up, shut up, he thought, clutching his hands against his ears as he rocked back and forward in the corner incessantly.

Damien could barely remember the last time he had slept. He assumed it to be two or three weeks ago, as the bags under his eyes felt as big as burlap sacks. He had given up on pacing the room, which he had usually done on these sleepless night, but whenever he stood, he teetered from exhaustion.

But he was determined to ignore rest for as long as possible. It was a time where death could strike at any minute- where Stephen would finally find him.

The muffled sound of the television blared from downstairs as it had done nearly non-stop this week, did nothing to lull him into a false normality. Damien sneered as he imagined Mark sitting indulgently on the sofa, remote in one hand and a foaming, open beer held in another.

For once in a long time, he actually envied his older sibling. Maybe it was really true about ignorance being bliss. Right now, he would have willingly given anything to be ignorant again.

His bedroom was so brightly lit it caused his eyes to ache, but had been comforted in his own self-created belief that light warded evil spirits and ghosts off, the underside of the door and every discernable crack lined with dish clothes he had rummaged from the kitchen to prevent anything getting in or out.

But Damien was really fighting a losing battle. His arms ached from his awkward kneeling position, legs settling into the comfort of the carpet. He begged himself- no, prayed, not to succumb or not to burst the bubble that he had so painstakingly crafted around himself.

His jumbling thoughts were washed over by a cold comfort as his eyes slowly began to close, slumping to the ground as his brittle limbs finally gave out.

When after three attempted calls and Damien still did not pick up, it was obvious that there was something wrong. Aaron, with a weary exhale, snapped his phone shut and turned to an anxious Jamie.

"He's not picking up." he breathed, face poised on his knuckles in such a way that it reminded the other boy of 'The Thinker' sculpture.

The two had been trying to contact their friend zealously after the conversation of the previous day through any kind of communication-phones, visits, which had all been ignored or rebuffed at the other end with the overuse of a certain four letter word.

Jamie's features contorted with a shock that would have almost been comical if the situation had been less serious.

"What?" he exclaimed, "But this is the third time today that he's-"

"Second time." corrected Aaron.

Jamie scowled over at his friend, secretly envious of his seeming serenity of the situation. He furrowed his own eyebrows, deep in unsettled thought.

"We have to take matters into our own hands." he cited, "Get your coat- we'll run."

Damien had entered an equally unrested world through his dreams. In reality, he was beginning to shift forward on the floor, murmuring in his own fitful slumber.

Everything was strange- not normal. The world seemed to have adopted a red tint through his eyes, blurring between clear and translucent. It felt as if he was underwater,the sounds of the world he knew so well suddenly muffled out, half jumbled phrases and distorted words echoing in his ears, the backgrounds in the corner of his vision blackened to shadow.

He realised he was lying on the ground, now much harder than he had previously remembered it as. A glance around confirmed that this was in fact, a classroom. While trying to work out how he suddenly found himself at school, his face was roughly grabbed and thrust upwards by a hand to the sound of grotesquely distorted jeers.