Crawl From Hell

2

   October 16

Lucas

The Cambion school loomed over my head. There was lightning and rain, darkness and wind, and the eery feeling that I was not alone. The stormy air left a chill around me, but that wasn't what was sending that god awful chill down my spine. 

There wasn't anyone around like there usually was. Every time I had visited the school, there were people of all ages everywhere. Their dark uniforms and shining pins always differentiated them from us, but they always made us feel so welcomed. I had desperately wanted one of the younger kids to drag me into one of their games, or one of the adults to jokingly spar with me and call me their trainee, but there was nothing. I felt so alone. 

The candles that lined the walkways and the stone walls had burned out or were washed out from the rain and wind. Either way, it was dark and creepy. I couldn't move to light the candles or search for someone who would know what was going on, or leave considering I didn't feel welcomed at that point. I was stuck as if I had been cemented to the dirt underneath me. Another odd thing since there wasn't enough mud to keep me from moving. 

"LUCASSSSSSS."

I felt like I would vomit as something hissed around me. The fear of whatever it was had made me weak. I wanted to curl in on myself and protect myself, but all I could do was stand there with shaky hands and await for something bad to happen. 

Another lightning strike. This time it didn't fade away into the darkness of the sky, but instead it stretched wider and brightened the sky. I watched as the light bloomed from the huge crack of lightning in the sky. Words seemed to trickle around me as I stared up at the sky. 

"Be not afraid, Son." 

I returned to reality as the teacher slammed a book onto my desk in perfect time with the sound of the storm. I wiped my face as he walked back up the whiteboard and began to ramble on about whatever the lesson was. 

"Be not afraid, Son." The words kept ringing throughout my head as I looked outside to see a storm rolling in. 

"How are you feeling?" I asked as Andy's body shook with a hard cough. 

I wasn't feeling good either. My stomach was killing me and my head was throbbing. My whole body felt numb and weak at the same time, but Andy concerned me far more than myself. She never got sick and I would get over this bug. 

"Dre." Anixa rubbed Andy's back with sympathy. 

"I'm okay." Andy choked out and tried to clear her throat. 

"Are you sure?" Adam asked as he pushed his open water bottle toward her so she could drink. 

She began to say something but her own coughing stopped her. She quickly covered her face, so she could contain her germs, but when she pulled her arm away a long blood swipe, originating from her nose, had smeared across her pale face. 

"Oh god." Anixa said with a tiny gasp as she jumped up and tried to tend to Andy. 

"So much for study group." Adam grumbled as he moved to Andy's side and helped pull her hair out of her face while Anixa held a napkin to her nose. 

"Let me get you a damp towel." I stood up and rushed to the unisex bathroom that was in the library. 

The room was dimly lit by a 'scientifically proven' calming, fluorescent blue tinted light. The bathroom was big, and rather fancy, especially for school standards. There were posters beside the mirror with Trans pride flags and inspiring quotes, but a lovely calligraphy note surrounded by pastel flowers was stuck onto the mirror. 

"You are safe here." I read out loud and smiled to myself. 

I remembered back in sophomore year when the LGBT+ club that I was apart of had chosen that bathroom to decorate as it was the biggest and the nicest bathroom. There was a huge supply of tampons in one of the drawers and a bunch of sticky notes reminding people to fix their binders and drink some water. There was also makeup wipes, makeup pamphlets that had tips on how to look more feminine passing, and a list of the cheapest and best makeup for different skin types. On the sink, there was an LGBT+ helpline number written in permanent marker. 

I grabbed a paper towel from the towel dispenser and ran it under some cool water. I squeezed off the excess and looked in the mirror for a second. My vision became cloudy as I stared back at myself. 

I wasn't anything too attractive, at least I thought, but at that moment I looked like a complete mess. My black hair was matted to my unusually pale face by sweat. I had bags under my eyes that made them look even more vibrant, but they were somehow still sickly dim. The striking blue of my eyes began to blur as my vision clouded. 

I could hear the distant rumble of the storm and what sounded like the soft vocals of a woman humming. The room brightened and seemed almost white as I heard the distant whisper growing louder with the storm. 

"Be not afraid, Son." 

Her voice is so soft and alluring. She feels so warm, like home.

"Lucas!" Adam flung the door open.

I was startled back into reality to see the paper towel was just mush in my hands. I quickly threw it in the small trash can as Adam came closer to me. His hands pressed to my shoulders as he looked me over with concern.

"Snap out of it, Man." Adam said softly. "Andy and Anixa are leaving." 

"Oh." I frowned as shame bubbled inside of me. 

I was too busy daydreaming in a bathroom to help my best friend in a time of need. Although, she was with Anixa I still felt terrible, but I knew she would be well taken care of. 

"It was only thirty second-"

"Try ten minutes." Adam said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just zoned out." 

"Come on." Adam pulled me out of the bathroom by my arm. 

The air outside was freezing cold. It had been around seventy degrees outside, earlier in the day, but it had suddenly dropped. The weather being that bipolar was certainly terrifying. I hurried into my house and dropped my bag to the floor in relief to get away from the outside world. I was alone, thankfully, and all of the lights were off. 

I had felt the familiar scratchiness in my throat that begged me to cough, but I suppressed it as I moved to the bathroom. My head was killing me and I needed to splash my face with cold water. 

The second I reached the bathroom, I broke down in a coughing fit. I carefully gripped the side of the sink to steady myself as my body became weak and began to drop to the floor. I held myself up and turned on the water with shaking hands. My vision was blurry and began to darken around the edges. I could feel my nose running, but I was more concerned with getting my vision under control. 

I peered up at my face and frantically blinked passed the pain from the lights being unnaturally bright and having horrendously blurry eyesight, but I still couldn't see much. I quickly cupped some water in my free hand and splashed my face. I watched the water run down the drain, but it had specs of red running though with it. I blinked my vision clear enough so that I could look at myself in the mirror and for a split second I could see watery blood running from my nose. 

The world spun and dipped as I fell to the floor. I took deep breaths and laid on my stomach. My vision was getting increasingly dark, but I tried to focus on my hands to keep myself from passing out. 

"Be not afraid, Son."