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Chapter 2

Tay sat up in his bed sometime in the middle of the night. He stared straight ahead for a few minutes before methodically getting up and walking out of his room, down the hallway and further down the grand staircase. A shadow rushed past him but he did not pay it attention. He stood in the same spot in the foyer he had on the first night after the blond boy had stormed off. The door to the basement ever so slowly creaked open.

Tay felt something calling to him, although no words were audible. He made his way down into the darkness of the basement, staring beyond nothingness. Somehow he knew where he was going. Somehow he found a hatch in the floor and opened it, dropping into the crawl space under the house. He crawled through the mould and the dirt and vermin droppings for a short time until he came to the balled up sleeping body of Violet.

"Violet"

She looked peaceful as she slept but the atmosphere changed as Tay realised she was not breathing. In a panic he lunged forward and shook Vi's shoulder.

"Violet! Wake up!"

Right before his eyes, Vi's face changed. Her head tilted back, her eyes rolled up into her head causing her mouth to gape open. Tay watched the young girl's skin flake off as she disintegrated, her eyeballs shrivelling up before disappearing into the cavernous sockets of her skull. Her hair fell out. Flesh fell from her fingers and all the while screams of pain, hopeless sobbing, and a baby's laugh echoed around Tay. He could hear his heart in his ears as the skull of Violet opened its jaw and screamed in his face.

Tay woke with a start, bolt up right in his bed. He was covered in sweat and his t-shirt clung to him. He threw the covers off and stumbled to the floor, all the while struggling to breath. He was frightened and he hunched over trying to concentrate on steadying his breathing.

"Are you okay, Tay?" he suddenly noticed Vi leaning back in his office chair with her feet propped up on his desk. She was reading one of his course books and hadn't looked up. Her voice was soft and showed no concern to the quivering mess Tay found himself to be.

He shakily stood up, leaning hard on the edge of the bed and lunged forward, snatching his book from Violet's hands. She gasped and looked up at him, mouth dropped open, a look of accusation across her face.

"Tay, what are you-"

"What are YOU doing here?!" Tay barked over her. Violet was affronted.

"I thought you were awake. You were talking, after all!" She defended herself. Tay suddenly marched past her and opened his door.

"You can't keep coming in here, Vi." His face and his tone were stern as he motioned her into the hallway. Every other night she seemed to, almost as if out of nowhere, pop up. She acted like she was supposed to be there and it was starting to get on Tay's nerves.

She rolled her eyes as she sauntered past him. "You just don't get it, do you?" Her condescending tone prickled Tay further.

"Stop coming into my room." He barked as he slammed the door in her face. He rubbed his eyes and ran his hands firmly across his temples and through his hair as he sank down onto the floor. Why was Vi always in his head? Always around him at home? He'd never seen her on campus… Tay shook the tangent thoughts out of his head. He got up and padded back over to his bed, hoping he wouldn't be awoken in the same way.