Shadowveil - The Forgotten

Chapter 10: The Barefaced Witness

Patrick had blacked out upon entering his childhood classroom. He got up to a rude awakening as his body ached all over from having been out cold on the hard floor. He got back on his feet and supported himself on a school bench to wait for his blood pressure to stabilize. Checking his surroundings, he was overwhelmed by a feeling far different, but nonetheless abnormal, from the chest pain he'd felt before. His body grew lighter and he felt a strange sense of vertigo. Not soon after, the gray, dusty world around him started to shed its husk as the surroundings suddenly showed signs of decay. The surreal phenomenon was very similar to what had happened in the diner before, but this time the experience wasn't as chaotic. The wailing siren that had brought him down to his knees before was still audible but had a more mellow and distant sound to it this time. The classroom wallpaper began to fall apart and the blue floor turned into tiles of stone and iron.

Even though the sounds were more bearable this time around, the visions of the changes occurring around Patrick were more than enough to scar him for life. Time seemed to slow down as the teacher's desk changed into some kind of black coffin and the windows transformed into prison-like shutters. Large fans from behind the side walls suddenly tore through the plaster and sent out a storm of dust and dried putty across the room. An orange light shone through between the spinning fans, steeping the classroom in a mysterious atmosphere.

Patrick heard the shuffling sounds of something moving in the ominous casket at the front of the twisted room. Within a few seconds, a soaking wet hand from the inside slowly grabbed its edge. The same black substance that had trickled down the walls in the Fish-n-Chips Diner now started flowing down the classroom walls from holes around the sides of the ceiling.

*

Patrick felt a deep sense of dejection and oppression overcome him when the world had fully transformed. Before he knew it, another hand grabbed the edge of the coffin as a sound from behind caught his attention. He threw a glance over his shoulder and saw a figure emerging into the orange light from the darkness beyond. In the unsteady radiance he saw Greg Marnus standing there with bloodshot eyes. Not long after, high cleric Charles Friedman also entered the room, seemingly dragging someone behind him. As soon as he came closer he threw down the person to the floor. It was Samantha.

"What the hell is going on here?!" he exclaimed worriedly. "Sam! Are you all right?" She looked at him through tired eyes. There was a swelling on her head doubtlessly caused by blunt trauma. Streams of blood trickled down her forehead and Patrick clearly heard her strained, heavy breathing. "You motherfuckers hurt her!" The two men looked at him scornfully. The cleric had a smug grin on his lips. Without responding, he went to close the door to the disturbing hallways of the otherworldly version of the Ashley Connor School and locked it tightly. He then returned to the front of the black coffin, transfixed on the black hand grasping its upper rim.

"Hey, hey. Look at me," Patrick repeated anxiously and grabbed Samantha's head. "Are you okay?"

"Heh, do I look okay to you?" she replied with a shaky voice. "I'm hanging in there though."

"Did you come after me anyway?" Patrick asked with a slight smile.

"Umm, yeah. But I didn't get very far until the whole world suddenly got all messed up. I've never seen anything like it. Bad things happened after that weird fog set in. I met a woman who helped me, but she had to escape. Then that damned priest or whatever and his followers found me."

"I'm so sorry I got you dragged into this shit," Patrick apologized remorsefully.

"Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have let you go off on your own either so it's my fault too."

"Oh..." Patrick's voice started to break as he caressed Samantha's cheek. "I'm such a jerk for leaving you here all those years ago."

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut the hell up!!" Greg suddenly yelled and furiously grabbed Patrick's shoulders. His wandering, panic-filled eyes gazed into Patrick's and he didn't know if he should be more afraid of whatever lurked inside the casket or of Greg's violent outburst.