"Hell," said Tyler, "It's 9:29, they'll be coming in a minute." The boys surveyed their dorm and decided it was enough. They all sat on the floor, as they usually did when they were bored. Jake and Tyler started arguing whether football was better than rugby- Tyler was opting for rugby whilst Jake was all for football. Kian had got his book out again and was lying on his front reading it whilst Alec was sat with his sketch book open, drawing a picture of Kian with his favourite pencil that he carried everywhere with him. "When are we gonna get to see inside your sketchbook, Alec?" Asked Jake (he and Tyler had settled for agreeing to disagree on this particular argument). Alec shot him a look and replied, "You lot don't get to see my drawings." With that, he closed his book, shoved his pencil behind his ear and stalked over to his bed, where he put the sketchbook under his pillow. "But, Alec," Tyler dragged out his name into a long wine, "Most of your drawings are of us anyway."
"Or are they of Fallon?" Asked Kian with suggestive wink. This got them both the dirtiest looks Alec could muster and a stifled snigger from Jake.
A knock on the door startled them all and the four boys got up, ready for their dorm inspection. Fletcher and Pritchard walked in, nodding at the boys. They surveyed the dorms with their clipboards open, ready to write down anything they found unsatisfactory. Kian knew that this dorm inspection was much more important than usual because Pritchard was holding a dust collector. Dust was what they called the residue that was left behind after a Walk and the colour depended on the Walkers charm and the person who had been Walked. A dust collector was a small black box with lots of flashing lights around the edge and a screen in the middle, showing the dust and then analysing it. Pritchard, gave a muffled cry and began to back out of the room. He grabbed Fletcher's arm and pulled him with him.
The four boys didn't move, they all looked at each other trying to work out what had happened. Had Pritchard seen something on the dust collector? Kian thought. But he dismissed the idea immediately, none of his friends would have Walked without permission. And that, for one, he was right about.
After half an hour, Fletcher and Pritchard still hadn't come back so the boys decided that they had passed the dorm inspection. All of them where still edgy and it didn't take long until a full blown argument had started. "You complete dick, give me back my sketchbook now," yelled Alec, trying to jump Tyler who had gotten a hold of the precious book. Tyler just sidestepped him and opened the book. He was smiling as he looked at the first few images and then stopped dead. The happy expression of self pleasure slid off his face like water. The room was silent as they watched him, no one daring to breath. The sketchbook slid out of Tyler's limp hands and landed with a thud on the floor. It was open on the page that Tyler had been looking at. And that's when Kian saw why Tyler had stopped and stared. And why Alec hadn't wanted them to see his drawings. There was a picture of Kian, but not one that had been drawn from sight, one that had been drawn from the imagination. There was a picture of Kian in a pool of blood, a look of sheer terror and agony in his eyes.
Slowly, Kian turned to look at Alec who was also staring at the picture. The black haired boy looked around at his dorm mates and, seeing the looks they were giving him, walked to the door and left.
They didn't say anything for a while; just sat in silence, all thinking about the same thing. "Holy hell," whispered Tyler after what seemed like hours but was in fact only a matter of minutes. Kian looked up from the floor, and they could all see the fear on his face. Not anger, not horror, not sadness, just sheer terror that clouded all his senses. What the hell did this mean? "I'm going to go talk to him," proclaimed Tyler, standing up. Tyler had always been closest to Alec in a way that Kian had always been closest with Jake- who was still sitting with his head in his hands, unmoving.
After Tyler ha d been gone at least five minutes, Jake lifted his head to look at Kian who was staring at the blank wall opposite him. "You okay mate?" He asked. Kian didn't move for a while but then he slowly turned to look Jake in the eye. "I honestly don't know." He whispered. "I mean, what the hell was that all about?" He continued, getting louder and louder at each word. "Why the hell would he draw that? Why was it so realistic? Did he want that to happen? Does he want me to die with a look of complete terror on my face? What is up with him?" Yelled Kian looking like he was going to murder something. In the end, he settled for lobbing the book lying open next to him at the wall. His breathing was heavy, laboured by his anger. "I'm going for a walk," he said, walking out the door and slamming it shut behind him.