Hey everybody. Look, I didn't take a huge two month wait to finish up the next chapter, yay. Still probably could have gotten it out a bit faster, but hopefully you all aren't too mad at me for taking a while. Anyway, how about we just get on with the chapter, shall we?
Chapter 27
Selim was right about dinner once he got back to the house. Mr. Al was just setting two plates down on the table when he walked in. He'd quickly turned around to smile at the boy, saying it was just about to go out and try to call him. Selim simply smiled back and nodded, placing the bag of candy down on a table next to the front door before heading to eat.
Sitting down at the table, the black haired child started eating without a word, hoping that Mr. Alphonse wouldn't take that as a sign that anything was wrong or something like that. They were going to do more alchemy lessons after dinner, and that should probably last up until he had to go to bed, which would be good. After that it was just two more days, and then he would be going back home. He couldn't say he was particularly excited about that, but it wouldn't do any good to try to get out of it.
The two of them finished their food rather quickly, having actually talked a bit when Alphonse asked him what he'd done in town and if he'd bought anything. Selim told him about the candy still out on the table, and tried to hand him back the bit of money he still had left over. The blond just shook his head, giving it back and telling him to keep it incase something ever came up. Selim smiled and nodded, putting it back in his pocket for now.
The alchemy lesson went much faster than Selim had wanted it too, once again finding a bit of comfort in distracting himself with the difficult science. Or at least, the black haired child felt that it had gone fast, although in reality it was nearly eleven o'clock by the time the two finally stopped.
"Oh gosh, I didn't realize how late it was already. You'd best be getting to bed, your mother'll kill me if she knew I let you stay up this late," Alphonse said, adding the last part on jokingly. With a slightly forced smile Selim nodded, pushing himself off of his stool and starting towards the door. Before he reached it though, he turned back around .
"We can practice more tomorrow, right Mr. Al?" he asked, slightly relieved with the small smile and nod the blond gave him.
"Of course, now go get some sleep," he answered, and Selim nodded once again before leaving the room for good, quickly making his way to his own and shutting his door behind him.
Once alone the child sighed, changing into his pajamas before curling up in his bed. Just two more days. He didn't know what was going to happen once he got back home. All he knew was that it was scaring him, and he didn't have anyone to turn to anymore. Who in the world was he supposed to trust after all this?
Not Mr. Alphonse, no matter how much he wanted to. His mother was in the same boat. There was no way either of them couldn't have known about this. He didn't trust Mr. Edwards before all of this started, so he was way out of the question. He didn't have any actual friends he could turn to…
Hesitantly he thought of Ethan. The boy had seemed pretty nice, after all, and he did like him. It wouldn't matter once he went home though anyway, since he lived all the way out here. He was grounded until after Selim left too (something the black haired boy couldn't help but think was probably, if not just a tiny bit, intentional) so it wasn't like he'd be getting a chance to see him either way.
He really was alone in this.
Closing his eyes, he pulled the blanket up farther around him. He couldn't let himself think about it now. So what if he was alone? Even if he was being watched now, it wasn't like they could keep up with that forever. Once he grew up, he could go far away and never have to worry about anyone finding out about his strange powers or whatever horrible things he may have done in the past.
That was so far away though… The child quickly shook his head. He couldn't get like that. He could just take it one day at a time, and he'd be alright.
Opening his eyes again, Selim looked at the still lit lamp on his bedside table. Mr. Alphonse might get suspicious if he continued to sleep with it on. Hesitantly, he reached over and switched off the light, fear instantly engulfing him with the blackness that followed.
Selim tried to tell himself over and over again that it wasn't that bad. There was nothing in this darkness that could hurt him. That fearsome black shadow from his dreams was him, after all. For some reason though, that didn't comfort him in the least.
Rolling over in his bed, Selim squeezed his eyes shut tight once again. He just needed to go to sleep. The morning would come much faster then, and he'd be able to stop thinking about all of this again. It was next to impossible to distract himself when the entire world seemed to have turned off with his light.
It still took nearly an hour before the black haired boy was able to fall into a light sleep. Even still, it did nothing to keep his mind out of those tormented thoughts.
He was in a clear, white space. Spinning around, a huge stone door stood floating in front of him. Selim could barely make out what was carved into the stone before his body was spun around against his will once again, swirls and words and something that might have looked like those shadows with terrifying eyes and teeth from his dreams, but he couldn't be sure.
When his eyes focused once again, they were on a strange, featureless being. The only thing distinguishable that Selim could make out was a large, toothy grin on its face. The creature laughed, before starting to speak. Selim couldn't hear what it was saying though, but knew that it had to be something terrifying from the way his body tensed, a cold dread running through him despite having no idea what was going on.
The child wanted to cry out when something from behind grabbed at him, dragging him towards the giant door behind him, but his body seemed to still be in shock from whatever it was that the strange being had said. W-what had happened?
Before he was fully inside the door though, whoever it was in control of his body seemed to have bought himself under control from his fear, setting his face into a glare at the white being. Anger was starting to bubble up inside him as he did, but he didn't say anything, and Selim still felt the terror inside of him underneath it all. Even still, he continued to stare at the figure without flinching, all the way until the huge doors slammed shut in front of him.
Selim's eyes shot open almost the second the doors has closed, the young boy shaking from the fear still deep within him. W-why was he so scared, though? That wasn't nearly as scary as some of his dreams! It wasn't like any of his other dreams either. It was almost as if his brain hadn't finished it, leaving the background and figure blank. Even with the strange and sometimes magical seeming happening in his other dreams, they were never anything like that.
Curling up tighter, none of that seemed to matter. He was still terrified. What had that white thing said to him to make him so scared? Why did it even matter if he hadn't even heard it? If this was like his other dreams, did that mean that had happened as well? Why wasn't there anything there then, if there was nothing around them except for that terrible door?
Where in the world had he been?
Taking a deep breath, the child pushed himself into a sitting position as he tried to get back under control. Even if it really had happened, there wasn't any reason to get so terrified. He'd managed to live through whatever it'd been after all. As long as he was still alive, he would be fine.
Glancing towards his window, he could just see the first grey streaks in the eastern sky signaling the slow start of the day. Sighing, he drew his knees up to his chest and tried to think of what he could do. Chances are he wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep, and Mr. Alphonse wouldn't be up for another few hours.
The black haired child remembered the candy he'd bought earlier, still sitting on the table by the front door. He'd forgotten to grab it when he'd went to his room after Mr. Al ended their alchemy lesson. Pushing himself out of the bed, he quietly tiptoed his way down the dark hallway.
A small bit of light was shining into the living room through the windows, just enough that he could make out the small bag still sitting by the door. Walking over, he grabbed it and turned to start back to his room. He didn't know how much candy would help him, but he was kind of hungry, and there was no reason to waste it.
Before he managed to leave the room though, something shining was caught in the corner of his eye. Turning towards it, Selim saw it was just the pictures Mr. Al had set on his side tables reflecting the early morning light. Frowning slightly, he decided to walk over and look at them.
He could barely see them in the low light, but he didn't want to turn on a lamp and possibly alert Mr. Alphonse to the fact that he was awake. Just like the first day he was here, he noticed the way the blond man seemed to disappear at a certain time, right when whoever it was that wore the armor showed up. Whoever it was, he must have been pretty close to them, having been around and appeared in the photos as much as he did. Mr. Al wouldn't even tell him his name though.
And in the dreams, he spoke with the caring man's voice. It was younger sounding than Selim was used to, but still his all the same. He was much too huge to actually be him though, so that didn't make any sense. Of course, a lot of things in his dreams didn't right make sense in his dreams.
Glaring at the pictures slightly, Selim sighed before turning back to his room for real this time. Closing his door behind him, the black haired child sat on his bed before opening the bag and popping a piece of sugar candy into his mouth. It didn't cheer him up nearly as much as he hoped it would though, his mind already locked back on things he desperately wished he could ignore.
No matter how much he thought and tried to work through all of this, he couldn't figure out. It didn't seem like there was any one, simple answer that could explain everything. Scoffing slightly, he threw another piece into his mouth, the last one having dissolved already. Of course there wasn't a simple answer, how could any of this be simple?
That dream he'd just had only seemed to make things even more confusing. He couldn't think of how in the world somewhere like that, and something like that could exist. Maybe he'd just had a normal, if very strange, dream, from the stress of everything? As much as he wished that was the case, he highly doubted it.
About an hour later, Selim had found he'd finished the small bag of candy and his head hurt from trying to figure out what was really going on. He was also extremely thirsty now, is mouth dry and slightly sticky from all of the sugar. Waiting a moment, he listened for any that someone might be up. Hearing none, he quickly went out of the room and to the kitchen, poring himself a drink and taking it back to his room without any incidents.
Sipping his drink, Selim waiting in his bed for the morning to get started. He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts anymore. Even having to act and try to deceive Mr. Alphonse was better than not being able to escape his mind. To constantly be slipping into thoughts that the people who he'd thought he could trust, who'd been taking care of him his entire life, had been lying to him this whole time.
Shaking his head, he growled at himself. He was doing it again, no matter how much he was trying to stop. He just wanted a distraction, but even though the sun was up now, it probably wouldn't be another hour before anyone else was awake.
For the third time that morning, he got out of bed. Grabbing his water, he didn't even glance at the stuffed armor still leaning against the far wall where he'd thrown it the other night. Walking out of his room, this time he made his way into Mr. Alphonse study, shutting the door behind him and turning the light on this time.
Placing his water down, he started over to the shelf and grabbed the first book on alchemy he could find. It wasn't the one they'd been working out of, and it certainly didn't look like it was for beginners. Sitting down in Mr. Al's chair, the child pulled his knees up and opened the book in front of him. He didn't care if it was too hard, it'd be better this way. Beginning to struggle through the material, he tried to work it out with the little bit of knowledge that Mr. Alphonse had already taught him.
He just needed a distraction.
Hooray, more dreams, and Selim only has a few more days left before he has to go home again. Wonder if he'll find out anything else new in that time. Haha, hopefully he does, or else I'd probably get complaints that the story's moving too slowly again.
Well, I hope that you all liked the chapter, and as always, thanks for reading and please review.
