Surviving High School With My Imaginary Fiend (Ziall AU)

Chapter Two

     "I know you're here. You can't hide," his raspy voice emanated darkly. I didn't know whether it was literally spoken or not. I just knew that from underneath the bed I could hear all of his words clearly.

My surroundings were misty, like a fog machine had been left turned on and unattended. It wasn't suffocating like smog though, but it was definitely starting to freak me out. There was nowhere to turn to, because I was trapped. The only thing I figured I should be doing was to hold my breath and keep quiet.

          "I already know your secret."

"You're not the only one who can hear thoughts," he stated. Strangely, along with his presence came the cold. And I would've never believed it if not for a chilly sensation rolling down my spine straight to the coccyx. Even the air I breathed out was starting to turn out visible.

          "I can feel how scared you are right now... I like it."

He continued stalking. My hands stuck to the floorboard as the room temperature dropped, and my fingers felt numb. Even my own body warmth couldn't keep up anymore. It was until I was too late that I began to realize that this was probably his whole plan. I was going to be petrified in my own fear. Frozen.

Who was he?

My alarm clock went off and my eyes shot open. Morning again. Except, the blinds were still closed, so darkness completely washed over my peripheral vision, to the point where I really thought I was blind. I couldn't believe Tuesday came so soon; My body was already rejecting the fact that school was going to take up most of its sleeping time.

I climbed out of bed, but the moment I set foot onto the wooden boarded floors, I cringed from the cold. Cold, wooden floors? It felt like Déjà vu again. I stood still, awaiting something crazy to happen. It never came. Whatever. Almost all my dreams were like that; they seem extremely familiar to me at first, like I'm about to repeat something I know happens, but then it never happens.

I rubbed my eyes and headed straight for the bathroom to get ready.

I really didn't want to go back to school.

~*~ 

"Can anybody please tell me, what is the capital of Germany?" Mr. Hull asked, sitting on top of an absent kid's desk. Albert I think.

"Anyone?" Berlin, he answered in his head. No wait, it was more of a mental scream to me. It's Berlin, you dumbass motherf—

"Berlin," I blurted.

"Thank you," Mr. Hull huffed, sounding quite relieved and giving a good long look at me. "Niall." I nodded slowly, slightly fascinated by how much a person can differ between the mind and reality. I swear, there are so many people on earth who are bipolar like that. Someone could be talking to you like your their best friend, but really, they're hoping you fall off a cliff and get eaten by a school of man eating sharks. Scary. I know.

This was my World Studies teacher – speaking of which, wasn't Liam supposed to be here? I looked around. I frowned when I couldn't see him anywhere. Maybe he was absent?

"Okay, due by the end of the period, come up and get a worksheet class. I'll allow partners," the teacher informed, returning to his desk lazily. I groaned internally, believing that's all I'll ever be doing all day. Actually, that would be an understatement. It could be for the rest of my life.

          "Hey umm, Niall? Do you wanna work together?" A guy suddenly came up and asked. Josh. He had short brown hair, looked pretty fit, and seemed friendly. "I mean, I don't really understand any of this. Could you help? I'm Josh by the way," he restated straightforwardly. I kept my eye on him for a little bit longer, and noticed no negative nor deep thoughts. Maybe a little nervous one that he didn't want to fail the class. What a nice change. Someone wasn't thinking of porn for once.

"Uh, alright. I'll get the paper," I stated, about to get up when he interrupted. "Actually, I have it here." His actions were quick and surprisingly easy to reciprocate. "Oh...great." I grinned, "Let me see it for a second?" He shrugged and handed it over to me, no questions asked. But, I only needed to touch it just once and all thirty answers would rush through my head like electricity. Through my eyes, I already saw words filling themselves into the blank lines.

So, does he get it? 

His face was puzzled, but I knew what he meant already. "Oh. It's easy," I simply said, putting the sheet flat down on my desk. "You don't need the book or anything?" Josh pointed out, "You barely even looked at the first problem." Right. I didn't...oops.

"Well, I skimmed," I told him, taking out a pen. "Besides, we know the first one is Berlin," I said, giving him a second glance. He nodded in agreement. "Then, the second one is 1939," I went on, writing the answers as I spoke, "Three is Adolf Hitler, and Allied Powers, Battle of the Coral Sea, Battle of Stalingrad, Blitz—"

"Hold on a second... You know all the answers already?" Josh asked, confused. "I know. You learned it before in middle school, I bet," he reassured himself. I raised an eyebrow amused, but I went along with it. Then, I realized Josh was like that. He wasn't exactly school material, but he tried his best. I even found out that he was a rather sporty person.

I try not to touch people too much and get all into their personal lives, but it's inevitable. Our hands brushed for a mere second, and his whole life broadcasted like a reality TV show.

"We actually have three other classes together," Josh stated. I blinked, "We do?" For the first time, someone's words managed to surprise me, because even I didn't know that. Honestly, I wouldn't have because I didn't pay any attention to anything on the first day. Let alone the similar faces of people in my classes. "Yeah, if you count lunch."

That was cool. Where had he been all my life?

I didn't hold back with Josh. We had been talking for a while now and neither of us had been shy about speaking. I was a bit disappointed when I figured Liam wasn't in school today, but it went fine relievingly. It turns out Josh and I were going through pretty much the same social life: his other friends all went to other high schools. And unfortunately, he didn't get accepted to any of them.

Fortunately for me, I think I found my new best friend.

I'm such a lazy-ass writer now. This book will probably go up to four hundred chapters at this rate.