Cobweb Head

n i n e t e e n

I woke up in the early morning, when the dorm was dim and I could still feel the cold air from when I'd been outside with Leo.

For a moment all I did was stare up at the ceiling, thinking about the night before. Chills dug deep under my skin; my face felt hot. Something warm swelled inside my chest, and I felt my forehead with the back of my hand. Perhaps I had a fever. I had to stand in order to shake away the lingering feeling and make my way to the bathroom.

I'd grown used to the pressing heat that came with the phobias, the numbed noises barely a dull ache against my skull. I'd been sleeping better than I had the first few weeks here.

I washed my face groggily, looking up to see droplets cling to my pale eyelashes. I wiped my face over with my shirt after taking a drink of tap water.

My footsteps sounded softly against the floorboards as I walked back into the room, and barely took notice at first when I saw Leo's bed empty. With a head stuffed with what felt like cobwebs, I blinked a few times.

Definitely empty.

He must've gone down to the archives.

I crawled back into bed and drew the blanket to my cheek, nestling my face into the fabric. After a few long moments, with nothing but worry nagging at my chest, I dropped my legs over the edge of the bed and wrestled on an old sweater.

Maybe the fifth hunt was tonight and he'd decided not to tell me? He would've said if he was going to the archives again.

I was being paranoid.

But what if he was in trouble?

After pulling on a pair of shorts and leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind me, I started walking down the dark halls. I cosied up to the wide turtleneck, all the while cursing to myself. I hated worrisome thoughts, especially when they had me walking around the school at four in the morning.

I looked around every corner before turning down another corridor and snuck a glance through every window. I could see the girls' dorm wing from where I stood and was immediately reminded of my fight with Effie. I winced – I still needed to apologise for that.

I came up near the balcony again, wondering if Leo had grown restless or homesick, but found nothing there. I placed a hand over the old stone railing and looked down at the Lacrosse field, the forest's edge, the dining hall. Everything was still – everything was quiet.

My sleep schedule was going to be off for the next week. See what I was doing for the guy? I didn't even like him.

Did I like him?

I turned away with a delayed breath, which fogged, and pulled the sweater tighter around myself. And then something moved in front of me.

It was nothing but an echo, one of the shadows that'd been following me since I'd gotten here. It'd become easier to resist the urges that came with them.

But it was different this time, its movements were more distinct, and the inky wires that twisted beneath the mass of smoke looked more like spider legs. It was chittering madly.

I thought back to what Leo had said about them; they're only dangerous if they grow strong enough, build on more fear. This one wasn't looking too much like an echo anymore.

I took an uneasy step back – the thing was blocking the door back inside. It chattered hungrily, and one of its wiry legs stretched out further, embedding a cracked hole into the stone balcony. Black blood dripped from the limb.

I felt it then, the rash tugging at my chest. What did it want from me?

As it drew forward, and I took another step away, my back touched the railing behind me. It's clicking rang louder, grating against the ears. I barely had time to think when it jumped out at me.

I stumbled back -- its wiry legs clung to my head, ripping at my hair and coating it with the black ink. It clicked and chittered eagerly.

Whirling around, I fell to the ground and ripped the thing away. My hands struck bones as I reached through the smoke, and I had to bite down the urge to gag. The tar was strewn over my hair, dripping down onto my cheeks and tracing the curve of my jaw. I felt sick.

When I tore it away, with a wrinkled nose and twisting insides, the thing clung to my grip. Its wires curled up my arms as I sat up, slithering across the skin. Its chattering slowed.

I tilted my head at it – It'd calmed, and its grasp on me was loose. I shook it from my skin hastily and yelped as it clung for a moment longer. It skidded across the grey concrete, which I took as my chance to run for the door.

I hurried down the halls, soaked hair plastered across my forehead as I furiously wiped my hands across my sweater. And then I spotted Leo, heading back into the dorm.

You had to be kidding me.

He jumped when he saw me. "What happened to you? Why are you awake?"

"Where were you?" I shrugged off his questions.

"I was testing out some of my new tea brews – ever since I started doing the hunts my sleep schedule has gone a little weird." He raised his eyebrows. "What happened to you?"

"The echo, it came back. It was bigger this time." I grumbled.

He looked down in thought, the room key clasped in his hand. "Must've been feeding off of your fear, it freaked you out a couple of times." He cocked his head to the side. "Why were you out in the first place?"

I rolled my eyes with a groan. "You were just gone, I got nervous." I glowered at him as he flashed a grin. "There are crazy nightmare people walking around, what was I supposed to do?"

He frowned. "What?"

I sighed wearily. "Just open the damn door."

He unlocked the door, and the moment I went back into the dorm I shrugged the sweater off, recoiling, and ran into the shower. I shivered the whole time while washing up. It was strange how being attacked at night by the echo of a nightmare had become something normal.

Nightmare gunk. Ew.

I wrapped myself in a towel, and Leo laughed at me as I walked out, a second towel pulled over my head. I'd wrestled on a new pair of shorts in the bathroom. "You look like a human burrito."

I grunted at him as I pulled on an oversized shirt. "That stuff is disgusting, I nearly hurled. Again."

He frowned at me again. "You hurled?"

I looked up at him as I buried myself back into the blankets strewn across my bed. "That's what I needed to talk to you about."

He sent me another puzzled look, and I told him everything.