Family Don't End With Blood /Destiel//Sabriel//Michifer

Suffocating Shadows

2am.  Balthazar woke up to the sound of Castiel's screams.

~~

It was cold and lonely, darkened shadows cloaking the building and twisting into menacing shapes. 

Cas shivered as he stood facing his school.  He didn't want to go in, he really didn't, but he couldn't stay out here either.  He'd feel safer inside.

The door to the front entrance swung open easily; Cas was sure it was supposed to be locked.  Still, he stepped inside and eased the door slowly shut, not wanting to make a sound.  The building was normally filled with noise throughout the day: now it was eerily quiet.

Treading carefully, Cas followed his feet through to the canteen.  His shoes squeaked a little each time they made contact with the polished floor. He flinched at the sound.

The canteen was empty and, though Cas hadn't expected anything else, it still felt odd.  There wasn't a soul in sight.  Not even at their group table. 

The chair made a horrible screeching sound as Cas dragged it back from the table and sat himself down; the echoes of the noise filled the room and danced around the walls, eventually becoming lost in the shadows.

The shadows that were moving. 

Cas sat up straighter and started around him. 

The shadows were still.

He breathed a sigh of relief.  He'd imagined it.  It was his mind playing tricks on him.  He just needed to sleep. 

Lowering his head to the table, Cas folded his arms as if to make a pillow.  He rested his head and closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep.  Drowsiness was claiming him. 

A sharp gust of cold air made him snap his eyes open.

The space around him was still. 

Cas squinted at the shadows, trying to see every corner of the room.  The temperature seemed to have returned to normal: but he was on guard.  He still felt uneasy.

Then the shadows began to move again. 

It took Cas a while to notice, suddenly catching movement out of the corner of his eye.  He turned to stare at the table in front of him, where a large shadow, seemingly belonging to a person, was now being cast. 

There were no people in the room. 

No one except Cas, whose own shadow was lying safely behind him. 

This shadow had no owner: no person attached.

Cas stared at the thing in horror.  He wanted to scream, but there was no point.  No one was here to hear him.  Briefly, he wondered whether the shadow could see him or whether, if he stayed quiet, it might just leave him alone and return to the darkness from whence it came.

He tried to get up, to quietly raise himself out of the chair, but his body wouldn't respond.  Cas screwed his eyes shut and silently screamed at his limbs to work.  He could hear his breathing becoming faster and hated that it was the only sound amongst the stillness.

He opened his eyes.  The shadow had gone. 

Cas felt even worse. 

That thing, what ever it was, was hiding.  It hadn't gone, it could still see him, he knew it.  Cas himself out of the chair and stood facing the darkness.