The Other Side - A Jamilton Fanfiction

Chapter Two

Three months have passed since I first met Thomas.

Three months of absolute confusion and mystery.

We've gotten closer, as close as roommates are. So far, I genuinely sort of like him, but then again, I hardly ever see him. Most of the time he isn't in the apartment, and when he is, he's either reading or locked away in his room.

I've started to make speculations on where he goes when he isn't here. Maybe he's part of a drug cartel or he's a mass murderer. Or maybe he's a normal human who has a normal job and forgot to tell me about it. Maybe I should follow him one day, just to see where he goes.

Just out of pure curiosity.

It was an early morning in late fall when I came across my first clue that he was different in a sense I would never guess on my own.

I stumbled out of my bedroom, tired from the endless work load I had somehow managed to complete the night before. I guess that made it not endless. Unendless? Endful? Inendless—whatever. That's besides the point.

Dawn's early light streamed through the window and gave the room a faint glow. It was around six in the morning as I had to wake up early for one of my classes. I was starting to regret taking the early morning classes.

Thomas had passed out on the couch, curled up into a tiny ball. One of the many books he was invested in had fallen to the floor and laid half open, turned to a random page. A bird was resting on the windowsill outside, chirping every so often.

I'm not going to lie, he looked very peaceful. Cute, even.

I smiled and scooped down to pick the book up, planning on putting it away for him. I lifted it off the ground and inspected the cover. It was hard leather with golden symbols carved into the middle, like something you would see from a poorly budgeted movie.

I ran my fingers down the spine of the book. It was just as abnormal as the person who owned it, and I smiled at the thought.

I opened the cover and flipped to a random page, suddenly interested in its contents.

Strange symbols covered the page, symbols that I had never seen before. But to my utter shock, I knew exactly what they said.

'Somnusa is a spell that puts the victim into a sleep-like trance in which they do not dream nor think. The victim is in a total catatonic state and can see nothing but darkness. In the event that this spell should go wrong—which, contrary to popular belief, happens fairly often as it is a rather tricky spell to master—it is important to be able to use the counter spell as fast possible. Unfortunately, the counter spell in not yet known. According to the late Professor Trace Parrished, it is...'

I frowned as I read through the page, and my mouth suddenly went dry. The spells and the counter spells made enough sense I guess, if they were apart of a fantasy novel, but how could I understand what the runes said? I knew a few different languages, but I'd never seen symbols like this before.

I looked up with a start to see Thomas sitting up on the couch. His eyes were closed in what seemed like a peaceful bliss. He stretched his arms out, letting them reach into the sky. When he was done, he swung his arms to the side and turned to look up at me before stopping dead.

I followed his gaze to the book in my hands.

Silence sat heavy on both of our shoulders for a moment before Thomas suddenly stood up and thrusted out this hand as if he was ordering for the book to be handed over to him.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded, his voice adopting a tone I had never heard from him before. "The book?"

"It... it was on the floor," I said meekly. It wasn't like the other hundred some odd books weren't sitting on the bookshelves, free to be read.