The Darkness Within us All

Chapter 14: The Waters Darkness Again?

It took Aiden a moment before he realized I was looking at something behind him and not just spacing out.

"What are you-" he trailed off, following my gaze over his shoulder to the open window.

I think he noticed what I was looking at because he fell silent. Aiden's hand slid off the table falling limp at his side. He barely took a step back, but I noticed it. Because I was looking over his shoulder, not because I was watching him or anything.

"What on earth?" He hesitated, "what is that?"

I stepped up next to him, no longer affected by being near him, at least not at a time like this. All of my focus was on what Aiden referred to, the window on the side of the classroom.

The window was left wide open to let a breeze in the stuffy classroom. Seeing it was the middle of winter, it was a cloudy day out. But neither of us were looking at the weather, we were more concerned about the black liquid that was dripping from outside into the shiny tile floor.

I stared at it puzzled. We were on the first story, what could be dripping into the window? There was no sign of a source, it just seemed to be dripping into the room from the window seal.

Aiden's question still hung unanswered in the air. I neither wanted to know what it is nor make a guess of what it is. I was afraid of what it was, and my guess is not what I wanted it to be either. So I chose to let myself pretend I didn't know and kept my mouth shut.

Curiosity got the best of Aiden, as he slowly kept towards it. He had the same questions I did, "where is it coming from?"

He seemed to be afraid of it. I half laughed at myself, a big tough guy like him afraid of a little liquid. But here I was letting him scope it out while I stayed back and watched. Heck, I was afraid of it too. But I had a better reason to be afraid and was more than willing to let him go check it out.

The closer he got the more concerned I got. Not because I cared about him, but because he's human too. And I don't want to see anything traumatic today.

He was a few feet from it now, "That doesn't even make sense," though I couldn't see his face, I'm sure it was twisted with confusion.

As if the mystical source of the liquid was insulted from his comment, the trickle sped up, and it began to drizzle faster. It formed a puddle on the floor that spread. It took its sweet time, slowly growing. It didn't intimidate Aiden at all, he stared at it like a child watching a top spin. But my instincts kicked in, and I hopped on top of the nearest chair.

Aiden barely got out a laugh, "is this a prank?" He looked around the room, not noticing that I had gotten onto higher grounds, "because this is pretty good."

His laughter stopped when the air in the room changed. The clouds outside, that were already grey and gloomy, had turned black. Everything seemed to have shifted slightly, not in a good way. I could feel the fear inside me double, and was tempted to get even higher, but stayed put.

My eyes grew as the puddle on the floor did. It spread, consuming everything that it touched. The trickle became a drizzle, which became a pour. Soon enough the liquid was pouring into the room like a... Like a... Like a tub.

That's when it clicked inside me, "Aiden, get off the ground."

He looked back at me confused, for the first time noticing I was standing on a chair. I'm sure I looked like a fool. Like a little girl whose worst nightmare was in the same room as her. Which in fact, it was.

He had taken his eyes off the liquid and put his full attention on me. His eyes filled with sympathy, "Gracie, its ok," he thought I was being silly. Like I was just some scared girl. Does he think I'm crazy? Adding that to the list of things that I don't like about him. But this isn't the time for this, someone could really get hurt.