Phoenix Drop University- Softmore Year

14: Halloween Ball (Part 3)

Somehow, by some miracle, Travis has gotten Katelyn to dance with him, they spin, and he dips her, much to her surprise, and raises her up right next to his face.

"Katelyn~ Hehe, open your eyes." She has closed her eyes, expecting him to screw up and bang their heads together, he didn't, and now she's holding him tightly, their bodies too close to see their outline.

"T-Travis!! Your too close-" He doesn't back away, but his gaze pierces her soul and her breath is drawn out of her.

"I'll back away when you tell me why you're so distant, I could understand it before, I crossed your boundaries. But... this time it's different, and I want to know why." His happy go lucky, playful demeanor is gone, replaced with a slow, serious voice that seems foreign on him.

"Travis I- It's not that simple, My parents, my Mom, expects so much of me, My Dad is oblivious, he means well but... my siblings take up a lot of his time. I guess what I'm trying to say is-"

"Is you don't know how to show affection. Because you were never really given it." Travis finishes for her, a sad smile on his face.

"Well, hehe! We're in the same boat I guess, just opposite... My Dad, he's really busy all the time with his company. And I've never seen my mother... So I try to make up for that I suppose." Katelyn, betraying herself and everything she'd ever known, wraps her arms around his neck.

"Sorry, I know I'm not the best at... being a girlfriend." She says, face red and hot, looking down at the floor.

"That's not what I'm asking for..." He tips her chin up to face him and slowly leans in...

"Travis!" Someone yells and they both jump, Katelyn immediately pushing him away and crossing her arms.

Aaron makes his way towards them, breaking through the crowd in front of him.

Travis sighs "Now I know how you feel Aaron. What's up." Aaron takes Travis's shoulders and makes eye contact, Travis immediately feels a pang of dread.

"What's going on?" Travis asks, grabbing Katelyn's wrist in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

"You two need to get out of here, you know that sickness that was going around last year, well, it's back, and it's worse."

"What?! I thought the Headmaster took care of that." Katelyn exclaims, her eyes bright with fear.

"We did, or we thought we did, Travis, I need to to stick to Katelyn like glue."

Travis and Katelyn look at each other and nod, Travis weaving his hand into hers.

"Yeah, Alright. Come on Katelyn, let's go." They battle through the crowd, leaving a wake  quickly consumed by the ever moving crowd.

Aaron finds Aphmau again, going back and grabbing her hand, once he got her somewhere safe, he would find the creature himself.

"Aph, I'm going to take you to Grey's dorm, I don't have much time to explain, but you are not safe." He tries to drag her out of the Great Hall, but gets resistance.

"Why? What's going on?" The look on her face speak volumes, and Aaron cups her cheek in his hands.

"Drake, I think he's coming back, all of these disappearances, the weird things I've been hearing." Aphmau's face goes white, she almost falls on him with her weak, and now shaky legs.

"What...? You told me you took care of it."

"I did, but he's like a weed. He's hard to get rid of." Aaron says, looking at her with desperate eyes, and she nods, and Aaron quite suddenly falls to the ground.

He's surrounded completely in suffocating blackness, he can't breath, ink flows from his mouth like a waterfall, he hears Aphmau's yells but he can't move.

Images of people swarm and materialize in front of him, A young Spanish boy playing in a field with friends. A red-headed baby, saying Mommy for the first time.

And himself, his entire life until this point playing in front of him, his negligent parents, his bully of a sister, Gene, and the Shadow Knights, then Aphmau.

How they met, how Gene pushed him, how they became quick friends. And how they fell in love.

"I will end all of it, Everything you love, Everything you have, you can avoid it, give up your life to me, and I will leave her be."

Reality swarmed into his vision, laying on the floor, Aphmau knelt beside him, tears streaming down her face.

She see's him moving and her eyes light up like fireflies, wrapping him in a warm, tight embrace.

         I need to keep you safe, no matter what.