Superstitious

Chapter Five

Vince woke to the sound of Russell's shouts. At first he panicked, thinking that something had gotten him. When he learned that wasn't the case, all of his worry immediately turned to annoyance. He tried to fall back asleep, but Russell wouldn't shut up. Besides, why was he suddenly interested in Vince's sexual preference. That was when a thought popped into his head.

"No way," he thought. "Could Russell be gay?"

He had to test his theory out. Russell seemed to get flustered at the suggestion, making it hard for Vince to decide. He thought he might've gone a little overboard when Russell left to go to the bathroom. He waited a good ten minutes in the darkness for Russell's return. Finally, he decided to go check on him. For all Vince knew, he was wandering around the house completely lost. He got up and headed for the door, but was given quite a shock when he tripped on something. Upon further inspection, Vince realized that, in his rush to leave, Russell had forgotten to grab his flashlight.

"That idiot," he thought as he switched it on.

Suddenly, he heard a loud thud in the hallway.

"That can't be good," he thought. 

Vince threw open the door and rushed down the narrow hallway. The first thing he saw was Russell on the ground and his phone on the floor. 

"What? Is he having a seizure?" he thought.

That was when he saw it. It was only for a brief second. In fact, so brief that he thought he might've been seeing things. After all, monsters didn't exist. Right? Yet, there it had been. It was a tall, scrawny figure with long arms and bony hands. It wore a thin, black cloak and its face was as white as paper. He might not have even believed it was there if Russell wasn't on the ground gasping for air. In addition to Russell's traumatized state, thin, red lines that ran along his neck marked the beginning of painful bruises. Not ready to accept what had happened, Vince took one look at Russell's terrified face and said, "Whoa dude! What happened?" He could hear the panic in Russell's voice as he insisted that he had tripped. Vince helped him up off the ground. On their way back, Vince couldn't help but notice how troubled Russell looked. On top of that, Russell looked really pale and could barely walk in a straight line. 

"Yo. Winter. You don't look so good. You sure you're okay?" Vince asked.

Russell mumbled something about "just being tired" before he completely collapsed. Not knowing what else to do, Vince yelled for Charles and Tyrone. They rushed up the stairs almost immediately. 

"Help me carry him into the room!" Vince yelled.

As Charles helped Vince carry him to the other room, Tyrone was drilling him with questions.

"I'm not even sure what happened," Vince replied.

"Looks like we can only hope to get answers out of Russell when he wakes up," remarked Charles.

"Yeah," Vince said with a troubled expression.

Vince sat there with Tyrone and Charles until sunrise. Finally, Russell woke up. At first he tried to sit up, but Charles pushed him back down. Since Russell was finally awake, Vince decided that now would be as good a time as any to ask the question that had been plaguing him all night. 

"What really happened last night?"

"What are you talking about?" Russell asked. 

This made Vince mad. After everything that had just happened, was Russell seriously trying to brush off the whole incident?

"Don't play dumb with me, Russell!" he angrily shouted.

"Whoa! Vince! Chill out and give the guy a moment," said Tyrone.