Chapter 85 - The Uninvited Guests
'...JJJJJJJiiiiiinnnnnn...'
'...' Jin said feeling his eyes open wide.
Lifting his head, he was about to search for his glasses when something was in front of him. Looking at the mirror that was the size of a bedroom window, there was a figure. It was mimicking his position while staring back at him. Its face was in a cruel grin with crimson eyes boring at him. In staring at the person, it looked like his double.
'...you rang?' it asked.
'...?' the sophomore answered. Patting around for his glasses while not taking his eyes off the individual, his glasses were nowhere around.
'...yes...I have some questions...'
'...QuEsTiOnS...mAy...HaVe...AnSwErS...'
'When did you manifest?...or am I just going crazy?' the male teen asked sitting up straight.
Seeing the figure lean forward, its head came out of the mirror. In front of his face, Jin could see that it was a clone of him. Hearing it give airy chuckles, it pulled the rest of its body through. Instead of climbing out on limbs, it floated out with a hooded cloak surrounding it. Like the one's that his game character had, the outwear seemed to move on its own.
'...manifest...manifest...' the figure repeated. It hovered in the air before slowly going down to the ground. Jin turned toward the person and got off the chair. Both were standing a couple of feet apart.
'...did you derive from when I selected the "Son of a Reaper" trait in the E.D.E. realm or from when I was split into two in Pandora's Box?'
'...heeeeeheeeeee...yes...and no...' it chuckled then seemed to grin wider after speaking.
'...yes and no...to the questions respectively...or just in general?'
'the...latter'
'...' Jin sighed out loud from frustration.
'...great...that means I am just going crazy.'
'...you are a Breaker...you broke the normal bounds of mortals in other realm...you created...anomaly.'
'...anomaly...you mean...you are the anomaly...that I somehow created,' the male teen spoke trying to understand. Seeing it nod, the answer did not explain much.
'...okay...simple question...how are you in my head?'
'...never left...never entered...'
'...' he said with a deadpan expression. Moving both his hands, he started rubbing his temples.
'...so...I created you in my head...as a fail safe or something?'
'...no...'
'...kay...next question...what do you want?'
'...aaaaahhhhh...yyyyeeeeessss...' it hissed like a Grim Reaper from the game. Its cloak seemed to free float more and made itself appear larger.
'...what I want...I will receive...in due time...'
'Which is what exactly?'
'...travel back...to the other realm...and...continue as the Breaker.'
'...' Jin reacted with blinking a couple of times. 'You know there is no way in hell I'm going back in there.'
'YoU sAy ThAt...b...u...t...i...t...w...i...l...l...b...e...y...o...u...r...e...s...c...a...p...e...' the clone spoke never dropping its manical expression.
'Those demons will possess me the moment I put on a head gear.'
'...if connected to the creators' mecha...our fate is sealed...if connected with a helmet alone...our fate...changes...'
'...my head gear is at the local Gamco building...there isn't a way to go in there and get it back without causing suspicion.'
'The means to...will arrive soon...' the individual said. Turning toward the mirror, it hovered toward it. Entering, a ripple effect took place. In a matter of moments, the entire wall was rippling.
'When the time comes...SLEEP IS WRONG!' it bellowed at him with a high pitch squeal.
"...!?" Jin woke up with a start. Feeling his forearms being slightly numb, he lifted his head. Reaching for his glasses, he grabbed them and put them on.
'...that was weird...' he thought then froze.
The mirror had fallen forward and was face down. Staring at it for a couple of seconds, he slowly stood up. Side stepping a little bit, he looked for a tool. Finding a long necked flathead, he positioned it to get underneath the mirror. Pressing his lips together, he slowly move the mirror up and back. Once he saw the face of it, he calmed down.
'...must be my imagination...' the male teen thought. Placing the mirror back to be faced down, he put the long tool away. Leaving the garage, he headed back to the house. Pulling out his phone, he saw that an hour went by. Oddly, there was no messages.
'...wait...Selbith didn't take her cell phone,' he pondered.
Going up the steps, he opened the front door. Seeing no one in the living room, he crossed it to the guest room. Opening the door and looking on the night stand, Ami's phone was still there. A sense of relief came over him. It was as if he was free to be by himself and alone. Exiting and closing the door, he took a deep breath in and out. Feeling somewhat more alive, he adjusted his glasses.
Thinking about the dream and the rather encrypted messaging his other self was saying, he assumed that nighttime would be when something would occur. The aspect of it wanting him to go back into the game world, he thought that was folly. But instead of what Mr. Adam wanted in saving players, his pseudo being wanted him to continue as the breaker. Not too sure how he was going to accomplish that, he shrugged his shoulders. He was in no hurry to become a prisoner once putting the head gear on.
Deciding on what to do, he went to his room. Once he entered and closed the door, he stared at the bed. Shaking his head from the memory that took place, he looked for the recent book he was reading. Finding it, he took it and left his room. Going down stairs to the living room, he headed for the study room.
Poking his head inside, he saw his father napping on the desk with his head down. Walking alongside the back wall as quietly as possible, he reached the door. Able to unlock the door silently, he opened the sliding glass door. Stepping outside and closing the door quietly, he looked at the field in front of him. Feeling calm from the sight, he walked toward one of the large rocks that up to his mid-thigh. Sitting down on it, he opened the book to where the bookmark was.
From time to time while reading, Jin would pause. Scanning around himself, the coast was clear. After an hour went by, he closed the book. Standing up, he turned around and headed back into the house. Reaching the sliding glass door, he looked inside.
Seeing no one in the room, he slid open the door. After entering, he turned around. While closing the door, he stared out in the field again. There was no one out there except the vegetation. Despite visually seeing no one, his gut told him otherwise.
'...no...I'm just over paranoid from actually being alone for a change,' he thought.
Locking the door, he heard the TV was on. Getting closer to the living room, he heard his mother talking. Remebering that she talks with her friend over the weekend, he entered the room. Quietly going around behind the couch toward the stairs, he hadn't been detected. Going up and toward his room, he opened his door.
Entering and leaving the door open, he placed his book on the nightstand. About to think of something to do, his eyes wondered to the window. Blinking and still thinking he was just overly paranoid, he headed toward it. Standing adjacent to it so he was not directly in view, he slowly peered at the outside.
Seeing an elevated view point from the ground level, there didn't appear to be much of a difference. About to look away, there was someone that came into view. Looking with one eye to keep a slim profile, he watched the individual. Appearing like the one of the field workers that come to tend the field, the person was not working in a specific spot. Instead, the figure gave the appearance that he was spraying.
'...wait a minute...' Jin thought staring hard at the individual. '...the workers don't spray for weeds...nor do they spray for growth. The field guys use a tractor when the weeds get tall.'
Not caring if he was being paranoid, the aspect that there was only one worker out there was even more suspicious. Backing away from the window slowly, he tried to figure what he should do. Deciding he should watch him, he went to the other side of the window. Peering again, he saw that the worker was slowly heading toward the house. The closer he got, Jin saw that there was nothing coming out of the sprayer.
"..." the male teen responded with narrowing his eyes.
Deciding to change positions, he left his room. Opening and closing his door quietly, his mother was still on the phone with the TV on. Going down the stairs, he walked around the back of the couch. Heading for the study room, he entered it. Moving to the wall adjacent to the room's door, he could see out of the sliding glass door.
The lone individual in field was continuing to fake spray. At the same time, the person kept getting closer. Moving quickly to be out of sight, the sophomore stood against the wall that was next to the sliding door entrance. Waiting and listening, the sound of heavy footsteps slowly was heard. When the steps stopped, the person was standing in front of the door. A shadow could be seen from the glass.
"...!" Jin reacted by stiffing up.
The person tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside. Hearing the person stop, there was sounds of things moving around. Taking a risk, he peered quickly at the sliding glass door. The field worker was facing the other way and had taken off the spray harness. Not getting a good feeling of just waiting and watching, he looked around the room for something.
Going to the closet at the other end, he made sure that no one was looking at him. The person outside and his mother never turned to his direction. Getting to the closet, he opened it up and looked inside. Not finding much, there was an old hooded cloak in the corner. Gather that and closing the door, he headed toward the desk.
Looking in each of the drawers, he found some odds and ends. Finding something and staring at it, it got the male teen to think about an idea. Closing the drawers, he put everything on. Feeling ready, he sneaked to the sliding glass door. Peering outside, the unknown person was still gathering things.
Feeling that he had to take a chance, Jin stood in front of the sliding glass door. Going over what he was going to do quickly, he felt mentally set. The field worker slowly stood up and turned around with what looked like a lockpick set. He approached the door and was about to begin when a sound was heard. Listening, it sounded like muffled hissing.
"..." the man responded looking up.
Freezing in place, a dark cloaked figure was standing on the other side of the glass. Dark red eyes seemed to glow as it stared at him. Continuing to not move and stare at the silhouette, the being inside started to do something. Moving a portion of its cloak toward the glass, it began to write in crimson. While doing so, the wet letters dripped down the door.
When the figure finished, the person in field clothes felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. It wrote "DIE" then pointed at him. After a couple of seconds, the cloaked individual lowered its arm. Turning toward its right, it slowly seemed to hover out of view. Though the figure was gone, the dripping word remained.
'...come on...' Jin thought to himself pressing himself against the wall. He felt his heart beating fast and hard in his chest and head.
'...take the bait and go...'
After waiting a couple of minutes, there was movement from outside. Listening, footsteps were heard going toward the side of the house. Removing the old cloak and putting the other items away, he sneaked out of the study room. Looking into the living room, his mother had moved to the kitchen while talking on the phone. Going into the guest room, he entered quietly.
Closing the door to be left ajar, he sneaked to the viewing window. Hearing the footsteps sound faint, he peered from a corner of the window. The person in the field clothes was back at fake spraying. Walking passed the garage, he headed up the road to the neighboring house. Moving his head a little more to see things, he saw a sedan parked further down the road.
'...so...we are doing this again...' the sophomore thought frowning. Angry from assuming Adam was the one that sent kidnappers to capture him again, he thought of what he should do. Going back to the living room, he went to the bathroom to gather cleaning supplies.
'...if I tell my family...then they all will be stressed out again,' he pondered. Getting what he needed, he headed for the study room.
'...if I don't tell...then I'll risk more panic when the family discovers it.'
'...if I call Adam out...he will deny it and try to guarantee safety if I give up,' he stated in his head. Going to the glass door, he started spraying the marked up portions. After getting it saturated, he began wiping it down.
'...none of the options are good...but...I can go with the self-defense...might be the only double-edge choice with equal good and bad merit.'
After cleaning up what he marked on the sliding glass door, he stood up. Turning around and heading back into the living room, there was someone that was coming down the stairs. Seeing it was his younger brother, he looked at what time it was. Remembering that a couple hours had passed since breakfast, he felt a little hungry as well. Putting the cleaning supplies away, he washed his hands then headed for the kitchen.
Entering, his mother was making something on the counter. Gene got out the morning leftovers and selected only a couple of things from the boxes. Going to the refrigerator, he looked to see what he wanted to eat. Grabbing stuff to make a sandwich, he placed them on the table. Seeing Mrs. Ainsley turn around, she was having a chopped salad.
"All of us eating at the same time is different, but nice," Samantha commented with a smile.
"Where did dad go mom?" Gene asked after closing the leftover boxes.
"Your father has his monthly outing with the group he belongs to. It is his time to spend time with his friends," she explained then sat at the dining table. Jin went to the pantry cabinet underneath the counter and retrieved sliced bread.
"Has he been with the club a while?" the younger sibling continued.
"He has been with that club for about two years now."
"...huh...I never noticed before."
"That's because you were always playing with that VR helmet," his mother mentioned. She watched as her first son assembled his sandwich quietly.
"By the way Jin."
"Yes mom?"
"I'm going to take Gene to get supplies for a school project that he has. Alex will probably still be with his group until mid-afternoon. So we'll be gone for about an hour or two," Samantha explained.
"...okay...I can watch the house," Jin stated with a small head nod.
"Will you be okay by yourself?" she asked concerned.
"..." the sophomore replied looking up then nodded without hesitation.
The rest of the time, the three ate lunch in silence. After they were finished, the table was cleaned up. Getting the stuff they needed, Gene and Mrs. Ainsley put their shoes on. Going out the front door, the male teen waved at both. Watching from the other side of the screen door, they got into her SUV.
Hearing the car start up, it slowly backed up. Once on the neighborhood street, it traveled to the main road. Reaching it and turning left, the two heading towards the town. When Jin couldn't see the vehicle anymore, he looked to his left. The car that was down a ways was still there. Narrowing his eyes, he stepped back and closed the front door.
Locking it, he went to all the windows to check that they were locked. Seeing that all were, the only one that was never fixed was his room's window. Going to his room, he went to the window and looked at the makeshift solution. Bypassing the broken lock latch with a thin wooded block in the track, the window would only open a little before the wooden block stopped it.
Not feeling secured, he left his room. Going down to the kitchen, he looked for a knife to just have on hand. About to grab the chef's knife, he stopped. Remembering the cleaver that was in a drawer, he picked up that knife instead. Feeling the weight in his hand, it made him feel a little less anxious.
"..." Jin spoke glancing at the kitchen window.
The blinds were half closed making it hard to see out or in the house. Going toward it, he looked in the narrow slots toward outside. Seeing nothing from one corner, he made his way to the other side. Peering at the window, the sedan had moved to be at the curb in front of the house. Feeling his senses rise, he didn't see where the person was.
'...why are they trying to do this capture in daylight?' he wondered in anger and fear moving away from the window.
Quietly moving out of the kitchen, he stopped in the living room. Listening to the house, there were mild creaks heard. Suddenly, he heard rattling at the front door. Looking at it and gripping the blade that was in his hand, he slowly backed up to the kitchen. Once he was in the room, he put his back to the wall adjacent to the door frame. Waiting a little bit, the front entrance was unlocked.
Holding the blade down to do an vertical diagonal slash, he gripped it and waited. Breathing slowly and listening, the person entered the home and closed the door. Oddly, the individual looked the front door. Hearing it to be a male, he was mumbling to himself. After hearing what the person was saying, the sophomore recognized the voice. Feeling irritated for having a stalker in the house, he knew that he wasn't the target.
Listening to the man's footsteps walk away from the front door, Jin took a quick glance. Confirming who the person was, he was heading straight for the guest room. Not waiting to watch what the person was going to do, the male teen sneaked toward the man. Seeing him open the door, he slowly walked inside. Going left of the door, Jin peered in with one eye to watch the person.
Seeing the man walk to the bed, he put his hands on it and rubbed the sheets. So enthralled the individual was, he leaned his head to put his face on the bed. Hearing him take deep breathes in and out, the sophomore walked in. Standing behind the person, Jin oriented the blade edge to be facing away. Lifting the cleaver up, he waited.
After a few seconds passed, the man lifted his head from being pressed into the sheets. Only managing to get half the way up, something hard and heavy clobbered him on the back of the head. Seeing his vision blur and his balance fade, he fell to his knees. Placing his arms on the bed to support him, another hard blow to his head came. Unable to see who it was, he slipped into unconsciousness.
"Night...Dale," Jin mentioned with a frown on his face.
Placing the cleaver on the bed, the sophomore grabbed the man's feet. Dragging him out of the room, he pulled him till he reached the front door. Dropping the person's legs, the male teen headed back into the kitchen. Looking outside through the window, he didn't see anyone standing by or waiting. Going back to the living room, he looked through the pin hole.
Seeing no one in front of the door, he opened it. Sticking his head out and looking both directions, it was clear. Going back inside and grabbing the man's legs, he dragged him outside. Not caring if the person's head and upper back got banged up from going down the steps, Jin continued pulling him toward the sedan. Getting to it and checking both ways again, the coast was still clear.
Finding Dale's keys in his pocket, the male teen opened a rear side door. Lifting and pulling the unconscious man into the backseat, the man was still out cold. Tossing the keys back in the car, he closed the door. Hurrying up back to the house, he opened the front door and entered. Closing it behind him, he breathed.
Stepping away from the front door, Jin headed toward his room. Going up the stairs, his gut started to tighten. Stopping in the middle of the staircase, he listened to the house. It creaked a little in the span of a couple of minutes, but nothing to give him apprehension. Not ignoring the gut reaction, he proceeded to the second floor with caution.
Once on the next floor, he stopped. Listening again, there seemed to be something faint in the background. Going toward the wall, he glided down with his ear almost rubbing against it. Getting to his room, the noise was a little louder but not in there. Traveling to his brother's room, again it was louder but seemed further down the hallway.
Stopping in front of his parents bedroom, he put his ear to their door. The sound was coming from inside and was more audible. Hearing it being rather repetitive, something gave. Hearing something clunk on the floor made Jin's nerves flare up. Pressing his ear to the door, the sound of the window latch being unlocked came.
'Damn it,' he thought backing up.
Thinking quickly on what to do, the cleaver was too far away and would make too much noise. Going to his room as quietly as possible, he entered it. Going straight to his closet that was open, he looked for something that was buried. Finding it and only making muffled noises, he pulled out a small metal baseball bat. Moving back to his room's door that was left ajar, he listened.
The sound of something opening in the distance occurred. Getting on the other side of the door where the hinges were, he stood there and waited. Putting his ear to the wall, he could hear the footsteps of someone else on the second floor. Each step made the male teen's pulse beat a little faster. The individual stopped in front of his room and gently pushed the door open.
"..." the sophomore stated holding his breath.
Keeping a slim profile and holding the bat horizontally, he was ready to swing. Slowly, the person on the other side of the door slowly entered his room. Only walking to be a full step away from the door opening internally, he stopped. The man was a little taller than the sophomore and a bit heavier. He started to look around the room when Jin tightened up everything. His face turned into a vengeful glare and let loose just as the man spoke.
"...hey...the kid ain't-!?" the man started when he felt something hard and fast hit the backside of his head. Yelping in pain and going down to one knee, he turned to his right quick. Seeing a blurry silhouette, the figure swung down at him and contacted with the top of his head. The blow was enough to knock him out and pass out to the floor.
[...hey...you cut off] another man spoke faintly from the person's earphone. [The kid ain't in his room?]
"..." the man replied just breathing.
[...] the other continued before the communication line went dead.