Chapter 3

However freaked out Shawn might have been, he was still able to help the SBPD narrow down the search for their killer considerably. But all that was going on still left him exhausted, and so he spent the remainder of the evening at the psych office. Gus joined him soon thereafter. When he got there Shawn was finishing a call to his father who had wanted to make sure everything was all right after his whole disappearing scare.

Shawn was just putting his phone away when Gus came in. When he entered the atmosphere changed again. Gus's aura was a very dingy combination of red, green, and yellow.

"Dude, what is going on with you? First you vanish for twenty-four hours, then you won't tell me why, then you freak out at a crime scene because you're 'seeing things' yet were still able to provide enough clues to the police department that they were able to find the killer."

"They found him already?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah, they're arresting him right now, and we're not even there to see it."

Shawn sighed. "I'm sorry, man. I wanna tell you everything, but—"

"But you chose today to be the incredible jerk," Gus said sourly as he sat down behind his desk and opened his laptop.

Shawn sighed in frustration. He was racking his brain, trying to think of any other way that he could convey to Gus what happened. As he looked down at all the junk cluttered around the office, he spotted an old He-Man doll sitting next to a GIJoe action figure and a small troll doll. An idea suddenly sparked inside his head. Shawn quickly grabbed all three figurines and placed them on Gus's desk.

"Shawn, what are you doing?" Gus asked grumpily as he stared at the odd assortment of knick knacks.

"Just give me a sec," said Shawn as he picked up the He-Man action figure. He tried to use selective words to help illustrate the story, but his mouth refused to speak. So he relied mostly on hand gestures. He pointed to the doll in his hand and then pointed to himself. Then he picked up the GIJoe doll, pointed to it, and then pointed to Gus. Then he mimicked him and his friend walking down the street the other day using the two action figures.

"Okay, that's you and me walking down the street yesterday," said Gus with a furrowed brow. Shawn nodded.

Then he grabbed the troll doll and used it to mimic how Clementine had rushed past them and swiped his wallet.

"And that's the girl that stole your wallet," Gus said in realisation. "But then I lost you in the crowd... you followed her... and then you two stared at each other?" Shawn rolled his eyes and started using his hand to mime a talking person. "Oh, Okay, so you talked together. That makes sense," Gus said sarcastically.

For the next part in the story, Shawn wasn't entirely sure how to explain. So he made the troll knock He-Man unconscious.

"Woah, she knocked you out?" Gus asked, surprised and fearful for his friend. "Then what?"

"I woke up this afternoon in my apartment," said Shawn, finding his voice again.

"Why couldn't you just say that?"

Shawn opened his mouth to respond, but found his throat dry and his mind foggy. Before he realised what was happening, his vision was clouding over and all cohesive thought was blurring in his mind. Then there was a soft, gentle voice floating through his brain, telling him where to go; guiding him down the right path. All he had to do was follow it.

Gus watched as a part of Shawn's lips began to glow a soft gold and his eyes began to stare into space.

"Shawn? Are you okay?" he asked, worriedly. Shawn didn't answer.

He suddenly rose from his chair and started walking toward the front door. He grabbed his jacket, went outside and hopped onto his motorcycle. Gus followed him and watched as his friend sped down the dark street. Without a second thought, Gus jumped into his car and followed Shawn.

After a while, Shawn took a sharp right and disappeared into a roundabout. Gus parked the car and walked the rest of the way. He saw his friend disappear down an alley. So he quietly approached and then, ever so slightly, peeked around the corner. There was Shawn, standing in the middle of the alley, not moving.

"And I had such high hopes for you," came a voice that Gus didn't recognise. It sounded like a young girl. Before too long, the same girl from the other day emerged from the darkest shadows of the alleyway. "You couldn't even keep your mouth shut for one day." She sighed and folded her arms.

Gus quickly got out his phone and started recording. He needed the police department's help, and he would need evidence.

"How many did you tell?"

"One," Shawn answered.

"Where you able to tell him everything?" she continued.

"No,"

"Where you followed?"

Gus held his breath.

"Yes." Shawn's voice was so hollow, it didn't even sound like his own.

Suddenly, Clementine looked straight at Gus, who was still watching from around the corner. Gus's vision began to go blurry, until he could no longer see the girl. Then, when his vision returned, she was standing right in front of him. She reached out a hand to his forehead and he fell into a deep sleep. His phone, however, dropped to the ground, hidden in a small tuft of grass that was growing through the cracks in the pavement.

"What? Where am I?" said Shawn as he regained full consciousness. He turned around to see Clementine standing next to his best friend who was lying limply on the ground. "What did you do to him?"

"The same thing we're going to do to you," Clementine said simply.

A pair of hands reached out from the darkness and smothered his face, dragging him backward, toward the unknown. The whole world went dark.