The Drawing Board

Teaser #2 (Afraid of the Dark - 2)

IMPORTANT NOTE: All teasers are not finished chapters. At the very least, they will show the concept of an upcoming plot point in the story, or a fraction of a full chapter. Please note that the teaser chapters may not appear at all or may not appear in this form when the story is released.

This is a teaser for an upcoming book, called "Afraid of the Dark". The numbers for the "REDACTED" names align with those from the previous teaser. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask them in the comments! Enjoy!

- Red

[REDACTED_3] crumpled towards the floor as if every single bone in his body had suddenly disappeared. There was a disturbingly loud crack as his head collided with the ground beneath him, which resounded throughout the room before everything faded into silence. [REDACTED_1] stared at him in horror as fear began to drag him into a panic, the likes of which he had never once before felt. [REDACTED_3]'s light bluish-green eyes were still open, slightly obscured by his now messy dark hazel hair, but it was almost as if they were hollow. Empty glass orbs that looked at nothing, and yet at the same time they seemed to stare so deeply into [REDACTED_1]'s soul as if they were begging for help. [REDACTED_3] did not move. He did not speak. [REDACTED_1] couldn't even tell if he was breathing.

[REDACTED_1] pushed himself away from the chair with what felt like immense effort, his jaw painfully hanging open on loose - or perhaps even broken - hinges. In a stumbled step, he fell to [REDACTED_3]'s side and gripped onto his younger friend's shoulders, shaking them desperately in an attempt to get some sort of response. Any response would be adequate, as long as it wasn't silence. But so far, that was all he was getting.

The light clinking of glass shards momentarily caught his attention, and [REDACTED_1] looked up and over to where the now unconscious [REDACTED_SIDE_CHARECTER] laid, to see [REDACTED_2] staring at him with a smirk on his face and the broken neck of the unknown bottle gripped in his bloodied right hand. Rationality was beyond [REDACTED_1] anymore, for pure unbridled emotions were fuelling his every choice. Rage, fear, despair, and guilt were all there, but the one which he felt most now was confusion. How had things got to this point? How was any of this possible? He didn't understand. But there was one burning question which he needed answers to, even if he didn't want to hear the truth.

"Why!?" he screamed at [REDACTED_1], although the word was barely cohesive as pain shot through his head at the movement of his broken jaw. However, [REDACTED_2] seemed understand without any problem, the smirk on his face spreading to a wide grin that looked too unnatural to be on anyone normal person's face. He took a slow, methodical step away from [REDACTED_SIDE_CHARECTER] and towards [REDACTED_1].

"Why? Well, I thought that would be obvious to you by now," he said slyly, proceeding his slow stalk forward one taunting step at a time. [REDACTED_1] did not move from [REDACTED_3]'s side, still holding onto him with shaking hands. [REDACTED_2] came to a halt a few feet away from the sorrowful pair, momentarily surveying younger man's unmoving body before locking eyes with the older man. "But seems as you simply can not see what's in front of you, I'll make it blatantly obvious."

[REDACTED_2] pointed the sharpest edges of the glass towards himself and began to raise it towards his throat. His face was dead pan as he did so, unmoving green eyes staring emotionlessly at the American man before him. [REDACTED_1] didn't realise what was happening, at least not at first. But when [REDACTED_2] held the glass against his neck, it all began to click together in [REDACTED_1]'s head. He waved his hands wildly in a 'stop' motion while making some sort of pleading noise from deep inside of him, unable to move his mouth to form the words he wanted. But [REDACTED_2] did not hesitate to continue. He began to push the glass into his neck and drag it along his skin, all while not showing a single sign if discomfort or regret. Within a few seconds, he was finished, and threw the now bloodied glass to the ground, causing it to shatter into multiple pieces.

"Do you understand now?" [REDACTED_2] asked, his voice unwavering and cold. Blood rushed out from his newly opened cut in a horrific river or red, staining his shirt and seeping into his skin, dripping in thick crimson globules to the floor with loud splats as it began to pool around [REDACTED_2]'s feet. There was a part of [REDACTED_1] that did understand what was happening, but he refused to believe it. The reality he faced was so unbelievable, it was almost as if he was living in fiction. But the rules and ideas that he had held about what could and couldn't be real were crumbling before him, blinding evidence breaking them down ruthlessly with each passing moment.

[REDACTED_1] shook his head slowly, looking down towards the floor as his body seized up with fear. "You aren't him," he murmured, once again struggling to form the words correctly.

"Glad you figured that much out," [REDACTED_2] said mockingly. "But now you have to answer one more question, and I think you already know the answer." He took a few more steps forward, treading bloody footprints across the carpet, before kneeling down in front of [REDACTED_1] and lifting his chin up so that their eyes once again met. Severe pain raced through [REDACTED_1]'s head as his jaw was forced to close, his eyes tearing up and blurring as it did. [REDACTED_2] leant in close, so close that [REDACTED_1] could feel his breath against his face.

"Who am I?"