The Other Side - A Jamilton Fanfiction

Chapter Eight

Warning: Kinda graphic and borderline horror at one point?

~•~

"This is ridiculous," I muttered under my breath. "Fucking ridiculous." I flung my bag onto the ground, and it hit the wooden floor with a dull thud. I decided to try once more. "Thomas!"

Like the last seven dozen times, silence answered my call.

And in that moment of absolute silence, I made up my mind. I was going to find Thomas, and I was going to figure out where he disappeared to every day. And then he was going to be sorry for leaving me alone in this stupid fucking dorm room.

I was a hundred percent satisfied with the plan I had just concocted in about fifteen seconds. There was only one problem with it.

I had no clue where it was Thomas went.

Well, I guess we'll just have to burn that bridge when we get to it. And at least I knew he always headed to the forest and went off the trail.

So I had a rough idea and an outline of a plan. Perfect.

I turned and left the apartment without another word and trooped down to the streets below. I made my way down the sidewalk and to the park where the forest laid just beyond, turning the plan over and over in my mind and rehearsing what I was going to say when I found him.

The park was quiet, and the forest beyond that was devoid of any signs of life. No birds whistled in the trees, no squirrels kicked up leaves on the ground. It was silent almost to a point where it had become creepy. The only sound echoing through the woods was that of the gravel crunching underneath my feet.

Now came the hard part.

I stopped near a fork in the path and tried to remember the last time I had followed Thomas before being so rudely interrupted.

"Thomas!" I called, cupping my hands over my mouth to project louder. My voice rung out into the silence of the afternoon. "Thooooomaaaaaas! C'mon! It's gonna rain soon!"

I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but the absolute lack of an answer still bothered me.

"Where are you, Jefferson?" I asked underneath my breath. Then, I raised my voice and called out once more. "THOOOOMAAAS!"

And, as an answer to my call, the leaves of a tree far above me rustled, and the only sign of life in the forest peeked its head out before taking to the sky and landing on a fallen branch to my side.

To my surprise, I recognized the damn thing.

"Oh, fuck. You're... you're one of Thomas' friends, aren't you? Belletra or something?"

The bird dipped its head in response, as if it was nodding. It spread its wings and flew up into my face too quickly for me to react and landed on the top of my head.

"This is not where you belong," I said. "Off."

Belletra didn't respond.

I'm losing my fucking mind.

"Well, winged demon, do you know where I can find Thomas?"

The bird suddenly shot up into the air and took off into the forest ahead. I watched it disappear into the foliage, then, I watched as it reappeared and returned to me, looking put out.

"You want me to follow you?"

The bird seemed, simply enough, annoyed by my lack of understanding. Annoyed to the point where it let out a horrible screech.

"Alright! Alright! I'm following you!"

I chased after the bird as it swooped underneath the canopy of the forest, getting thoroughly whipped in the face by the branches and vines that did not want to leave me alone. The creature slowed its pace when it realized I was having trouble keeping up with it, and it seemed extremely annoyed by this.