Heroes

Chapter 18. Morgan?

...Morgan had been a little strange that night. Like Nate, she wasn't all that interested in her surroundings. She seemed fixated on something directly in front of her, so much so that she never actually moved her head while we were walking. Mat had to keep steering her around obstacles. This went on for a while, and I was actually surprised that no-one was trying to help her or anything. So I went up beside her and just whispered, "Morgan? Are you okay?"
I didn't get a reply. She didn't even acknowledge my presence. Her eyes didn't shift, nor break focus with whatever she was staring at. Furrowing my brow with confusion, I fell back and waited for Nate so I could talk to him.
"Hey Nate?"
"What's up, Mark?" He asked, turning his head slightly to look at me.
"Does Morgan seem...off to you?"
"Off? How do you mean?"
"Like, she hasn't stopped staring ahead of her for almost half an hour now. I don't even know what she's looking at. Do you have any idea?"
Nate didn't answer straight away. He seemed to be studying the way ahead of him and I thought, for just a second, that the same thing happened to him. But he looked back down at me.
"Don't worry about her, Mark. She zones out from time to time, it's nothing to be concerned about. She'll come to her senses soon, I guarantee it."
I smiled up at him, grateful that he was telling the truth and not lying to me like I suspected he would.
If only I'd listened to my suspicions. If only I'd noticed what he was doing, how he was playing us all from the start. If I had noticed, Morgan might still be okay. Instead she's b̴̜͈̼͗͆ͦ̄̾҉̷͏ṷ̡̜͚̻͙̩̦͓̥̜͚ͫ̊̈̿͋̓̈̄͌̐ͬͩͦ̂͑̐̐́͝r̡͍ͩ̇̔͌̆͒̔̓ͦ͋̌͗͘̕͝͞͞͞҉́͜i̶̢̛̪̩̼̬̥̖̰̥̰̺̍̈́̔ͦ̿ͬ͑̊ͫ̑̌̉͑̌̓͛̚̚͞ė̜̠̠̉ͯͫ̚͏̶̡̢͢͢͟ḑ̳̘ͯ̌ͥ̓̅͊̒ͮͧ͌̿̿ͫͩͭ̅͢͡ ̬̠̖͙̳͓͚̝̖̟̘͉̼̦͡҉̸̷̨̨̕͘͟͟͠͠͠͏̀͢͡s̶̨̧̡̢̼̫͓̤̠͕̼̟͓̦͚̩̲͚̗͕̗̀̒̃̐̑͋̓̑ͪ̾͘͘͘͟͞͝i͈͉̼̼̯͉̥͙̻̥͇̥͈͐̽ͩ̆͑̉͟͡҉̶̴̴̶̷̢̨̡̡́͟͡x̨̤̫̠̳̩̳͖̙͔̗̑̄̈̈͋̓͑̆͌͏̴̶̴̵̧͘͠͞ ̶̴̴̢̡̢͔̝̟͔̭̞̼̥̙̥̜͖͔̩͖̭̰̈͐̄̐̉̐̄̍̃ͥ̏͗̑̒ͯ́̕͢͢͟͟͟͞͠͝͠͝f̸̡͇̼̺͎͙͝҉̶̸̸̨̛̀͘͘͟͟͟͠͝͞e͇ͬͦ͊͗ͅȩ̵̴̡̧̼̺͉͖̻̭̝̰̜͓̯̼̖͕͍̗̝̺͒ͨ͌͌̎̈́̃̈̌̌̄̈̀̕͘͟͜͜͠͝͡ͅṭ̛̼̪̬̖͖̋ͭ̄͆̎̉̎̓ͮ͌̏ͤ̇̿̽̊̋͒̔̚҉̵̷̵̶̧̨̢́͞͡͞҉ ̼̝̘͙̜͙̲̜͖͕̬̼̳̠̰͒ͅ͏̢͞͏̴̧́͟͢͜͡͡͏̵̵͝u̵̳͍̤̣͔̬̝̤͍̞̰̜̫̣̳͛ͅͅ͏̴̶̛̀̕͜͟͢͟͞͞͞͡҉̡n̳͈̹̹̱͚͓͙̼̹̹̳̖̘̮̻͔͈͚̞̉̓͗͌̂̎̑̿̑̽͆̌̎ͯ̌͏ḑ̗̺͕̥̝̙̙̗̜̆ͩ̔̆̾̀ͭ̆͋̉͗̒̽ͩ͋ͩ͂́̚͡͠͏̷͜ḙ̵̸̵̡͙̪͉̭̝͎̱ͩ͐̽ͮ̆͋͒ͧͯ̿ͫ̐̅͊͛̍̚̕͜͢͝͏r̲͍̪̞̊ͦ̾̆͊̈́͆̈̃̎̚ͅ͏̴͢͢҉̷̨͡

Sorry, a raindrop just landed on the page and smudged the writing. I'm not sure if you can read what I just wrote. Never mind, I'll have to rewrite it later. What was I saying? Oh right, how Nate's the biggest liar  I've ever had the sorrow of meeting. You know, I thought he'd be the good guy. I thought he'd be the hero who was gonna save us all. But all he did was doom us. All he did was condemn us to wander this Earth for all eternity!
But I'm getting side tracked. I do this way too much. You're gonna have to tell me when it gets annoying so I can focus on delivering this story to you. Now, I just want you to picture something for me. Imagine a serene, peaceful high street, with cherry blossom trees waving in the slight breeze, sun beaming brightly over the roofs of quaint little cottages. Sounds nice, right? Sounds like an ideal place to live, doesn't it? Now imagine the exact opposite of that. That's where we found ourselves when we turned the corner of the street and came into Archery Close.
Two rows of tightly packed terraced houses with black bricks set on either side of a narrow, lamp-less road. There were literally no lights to be seen, anywhere. I looked at Mat, who returned my look and summoned a fireball, which he held in his hand to illuminate our way. We slowly began to walk down the road, keeping wary eyes about us so we weren't sprung upon by anyone or anything. At last, after what seemed like an hour, we reached the end of the road, only to realise...it was a dead end. The anger I felt raged inside me for a second, before I suppressed it and made to turn around. But when I faced the way we'd just come, the feeling of fear surged up through me when I saw that there, in the middle of the street, was...