The Morning Star

Chapter II "Awakening"

The sounds of heavy breaths started silencing the cruel laughter of his sins, all he could hear then, was the desperate sound of his lungs collapsing in and expanding out rapidly to the pressure of the air intake. Slowly his eyes faded to black reducing his vision to none as his body felt weaker and weaker, he collapsed to the ground. Nothing but the sounds of his deep breaths, and the feeling of his wrecked nerves, tingling his entire numb body. Slowly again, he opened his eyes to the view of the pillow next to him. "A dream..." He said to himself, trying to comfort his mind that was still stuck on the border between dreams and reality. "Ray." A voice faddiley whispered in the back of his head, but the teen didn't respond taking it to be his ill mind still stuck back in his nightmare. "Ray." The voice called again, this time louder, more audible, and more attention-demanding. Just like a child being jump-scared, Ray jumped off his posture looking back to the pillow that was still drenched with his tears. Emptiness. Nothing but emptiness and a pillow. He took one last deep breath to calm his senses and surrendered to the facts in hand, "It was all in my mind again." His thoughts told him as he clutched his head with both hands curling into a ball. "But... it felt so real, the sensation, the voice again. Everything felt so real." His mind took the lead, trying to analyze the situation, but soon enough Ray gave in to fatigue and fell back to sleep, crouched in a fetus position away from his still drenched pillow.

The morning finally came after a never ending night. Having awoke feeling just as unrested Ray forced himself out of bed and into the bathroom, he washed his face and tried shaking off the theories his mind was still forming to try to explain last night. Keeping a routine morning, Ray ate his breakfast with his mother and prepared himself, exiting the house early for fresh air before his school bus arrived. "Ray." A voice called from behind him as the teen could feel a hand falling down on his shoulder. Scared, he turned around breathless and spooked, pushing the hand away from him.

"What's the matter with you!"
"Oh, morning Dale."
"The heck man you almost broke my arm."
"I'm sorry, it's been a rough night."
"You do look off, never mind that, did you finish the English weekend homework?"

Ray sighed and shook his head with a no before the two moved on to wait the school bus. Dale was a longtime friend of Ray. The two spent what seemed like an eternity together since they were kids, and as usual Dale would go on and talk about random stuff nonstop from the wait, till the bus ride, and finally till they got to class.

During classes and on breaks, Ray tried his best to finish the English homework he'd forgotten about, but the sensation never left him in peace. The feeling of being watched, of big scary eyes staring in the back of his head. He thought it was normal as he was smuggling a homework assignment during different classes fully knowing he'd be punished if caught, that was until his mind slowly started drifting away again. The voice of the teacher fading away along with the noises of the whispers students share to spend time. All that was left of this time was the voice of his pen scratching the paper's surface. Ray's vision blurred out, but his hand kept writing, when he was suddenly taken away to what seemed to be a dark alley. All alone. He looked around but couldn't find anyone else, just the empty alley surrounded by the flocks of tall, dim, lifeless buildings. "Ray... Ray... Ray..." The voice kept repeating itself from nowhere while the teen frantically looked left and right, looking for the source, the feeling of numbness and tingling hovered through his entire body once more right till he felt the hand being placed on his shoulder.

"Ray... are you alright?" The teacher said as Ray snapped out of his daydream. Everyone in class had their eyes fixed on him with utter shock and fear. Looking back down at the table, he saw the pen in his hand, but the homework paper was nowhere to be found, instead there was a desk filled with a pen carving, but none of the words made sense nor were readable. His hand with the pen still in his grip was shivering along with his body. The teen looked up at the worried eyes of the teacher and shook his head saying "I didn't have much sleep last night; I must've been daydreaming or something." The teacher hardly believed his excuse and was about to talk before Ray excused himself to the bathroom and walked away. "This is all wrong... what's happening to me." He asked himself as he washed his face and looked back at the mirror that reflected a fearful soul.