"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."

~Henry David Thoreau

Nine

When Will opened his eyes, he was surprised to find himself on the floor next to his bed. His first thought was that he should probably clean under there at some point, but the thought that immediately followed was just how he got down here without waking up. The fall on his hard floor should have jolted him awake, but he felt oddly refreshed. It felt like some of the best sleep he ever got.

Slivers of light peeked through the cracks of his curtain and illuminated the room just enough for his eyes to need on adjustment. Will got to his feet and leaned over his bed to push the curtain aside. Like yesterday, it was a gloomy day but there was a dense fog this morning as well. It was like the rains had just stopped a few minutes before Will had woken up.

Despite the refreshed feeling he had this morning, his mind immediately ran through a dozen different thoughts. There was concern about his confrontation with Rory. His roommate was a self-righteous prick, made even worse by the fact that he was self-aware and perhaps thought it was a virtue. Still, Rory wasn't above making a lot of noise and pointing the finger at Will for anything he could if it meant protecting his own reputation. He also thought of Dawn, which was a much more pleasant encounter. There hadn't been much time for courtship in Will's tenure at Clearview. The string of girls that came to his house to drink and do whatever it is they need to forget about the school week; they were comforting enough. They didn't ask too many questions, and most of them got the hint when he didn't look them in the eye the next time they passed each other on campus. Maybe it was time he had a little companionship, he thought to himself.

KNOCK. KNOCK KNOCK.

Will curiously turned to his door. He had déjà vu from the other day when John woke him up to let him know the cops were downstairs. It was unusual for him to feel nervous in any situation; being nervous meant that he wasn't in control of his emotions. He exhaled and grabbed a dark gray hoodie, putting it on while walking towards the steps to the second level. A dozen scenarios ran through his head, including Rory being stupid and confronting him about what was said a few days ago.

Will reached for the knob, giving it a twist and pulling, but it didn't budge. He pulled again, but nothing happened.

"Whoever is holding the door knob, quit fucking around. It's too early."

There was no response from the other side. After a few more seconds, Will grabbed the doorknob and yanked twice as hard as he had before. The door flung open at him, causing him to stumble backwards and winding up in a sitting position on the second step. He silently cursed at himself and started to stand but froze about halfway up.

The rather bare walls of his house's second floor hallway were not five feet in front of him as it should have been. Instead, his attic door opened to the outside. It wasn't the outside of his house though; not like looking through the front or back door. Just like his dream he had a previous night, fog was shrouding the area, so he could only see maybe twenty feet in front of him, but it was enough clarity for him to recognize the Clearview campus. He was looking out from the view of one of the dormitories. Which one, he had no idea. That probably wasn't too important.

Will turned around to see if he was still in his room, and he was. Everything was there as it normally would be. He took a breath and closed his eyes, opening them when he turned back to step through the threshold. He knew it to be a dream, and he was curious to see what would happen.

A dozen thoughts were racing around his mind as he began to cut through the fog. Why was he having these dreams? He never had them before, nor had he ever really dreamed that much period. Not ones that he could realize he was dreaming in the middle of said dream especially. He recognized that he was in front of Warren Hall. He'd been through the area the other day after that girl Nicole Baldwin died. Was there any significance as to why he was here? Why was he always the only one around, and why was there always dense fog surrounding him? Maybe if he paid more attention in psychology class he would've known the answer, if they covered subconscious weather patterns.

Most importantly though, was the underlying feeling of dread. The last time he had a dream like this, something lashed out at him. He didn't know what. It seemed vaguely human, and even though it was just a dream, he was back here. There was a new importance as he looked around the desolate campus, letting out a sigh before cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Hello?!"

Will shouted, despite feeling the inevitability that he was not going to get an answer. He would try to make a point to include some women, or at least a hot dog stand next time. Maybe he could go to the library and find a book about dream control.

clang…thud…thud

It was faint, however a sound caught Will's attention. In a world devoid of sound where the air just hung in place and not even the breeze blew in from time to time, it was practically deafening. Whatever the source, it was coming from the direction of the quad. He figured there was some importance, and that was the start that Will needed to figure out what was going on.

The walk through the campus was again, a lonely one. Just like the other night, the buildings all seemed normal on the outside. Everything was spot on, down to the last detail, like the slightly askew 'T' in the word 'Theater' above that building's set of four glass doors. Scaffolds hung from a few of the older buildings that were having brick replacements and repair done. If William had closed his eyes and thought about it, he wouldn't have been able to bring up every single small detail, but here it was in his subconscious. He took a slight detour to peer inside the lobby of the theater, and Will found that everything was where it should have been inside as well, except devoid of life of course. But there was life somewhere, and he was getting closer to the discovery.

Clang…Thud…Thud. Clang…Thud…Thud.

Will took the path next to the theater that ran adjacent to the Hart Canal, which was simply a five-foot-wide creek that ran from east to west through the campus. He assumed that someone named Hart had been important in the campus or region's history, although why it was referred to as a canal escaped all logic. The path was obscured from the quad by trees, shrouding the path in permanent shade, even on the sunniest days. It was strange. The fog didn't seem to be as dense along the path. He could almost see where the path merged into a larger one that led directly to the quad area. Also strange was the outside wall of the theater. It was one of the newer buildings on campus, therefore not made of brick, but rather was concrete and white in color. So why was he imagining that the walls were gray?

Further down the path, he noticed writing on the wall. Upon closer inspection, it was red spray paint, and it read, "Speak. I am the Crimson One." Will felt as though he had heard that before. Was that something from a book back home? He couldn't remember hearing about a Crimson One, although he had read a lot of what they would call 'scripture' and couldn't remember everything. Not since he had been gone for so long at least.

Clang….Thud…Thud.

The noise snapped Will out of it and he continued down the path. Finally, he was out of the shade, but back in the fog. A figure started to take shape as he drew closer. At first, he thought it was the large fountain that was usually horribly littered, but the figure was moving. Closer still, he saw that it was a person.

It was a kid; a kid who couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old. He had a small aluminum baseball bat and kept hitting a baseball against the wall of the old administrative building. Will watched as the kid smacked the ball with not much power, and the ball scrape down the wall to the ground. The kid jogged to get the ball, ran back to the same spot and did this all over again. What was this kid doing here? Will started to approach but stepped on some uneven payment and stumbled a few steps, catching the kid's attention.

There was a moment where the two locked eyes and Will wondered if the kid was going to run away, or worse, try to attack him with the bat. It didn't make logical sense, but this place was not for logic. To Will's surprise though, the kid just turned back around and hit the ball against the wall. His presence didn't seem to bother him. Unfortunately, now Will was bothered by that thought. Immediately he wondered if he was dreaming about his younger self, but this kid's hair was way too dark.

"Do you want to throw me the ball? I'm bored tossing it to myself."

The kid's comments threw Will out of whatever slight trance he had been in. He found himself nodding and heading over to where the ball lay from the last time the kid hit it. Will scooped it up and turned to the kid, already in his batting stance.

"You here by yourself?" Will asked, tossing the ball at the kid, however it landed about two feet too short. The kid bent down to pick it up and throw it back at Will, who caught it one-handed.

"At least you can catch." The kid remarked, beckoning Will to come closer.

Will stood his ground and threw the ball again, this time about as perfect a strike as he was going to throw. The kid swung and missed, and the ball skittered down the sidewalk with the kid jogging after it. Will took the opportunity to look around the area for others, but there was nobody. It was just the two of them in this strange, fog campus. The kid came back to his spot and threw the ball back.

"Why don't you bat against the wall? This way you don't have to chase the ball if you miss again." Will asked.

"I won't miss again," the kid replied, "besides, I'm trying to hit my spot."

"What spot?" Will asked, turning to examine the wall. There were no markings, just a few imperfections that probably weren't caused by the baseball.

"Just throw the ball."

Will stared at the kid incredulously. Here he was, seemingly alone and he was mouthing off to the only other person here. An adult no less, who could have taken that bat away at any time and done who knows what. Nevertheless, Will stepped forward and threw the ball, putting a little extra on the throw. The kid reared back and swung, smacking the ball about ten feet to the left of Will's head and slamming into the brick wall behind him. Will couldn't help but wince and shade a bit right as he watched the ball, then looked back at the kid with a nod.

"Nice hit. What's your name kid?" Will asked.

Before the kid could respond, the two heard a wailing sound from the distance, coming from the direction of town. The sound grew louder and louder by the second, reminding Will of an air raid siren that he had seen from a video in his American History class. The wailing grew louder and louder, causing Will to put his fingers in his ears. His attention was drawn downward as his elbow was yanked.

"C'mon, they're coming! We gotta get inside!"

"Who's coming? Inside?!" Will asked, not realizing that by his second question he was now shouting.

The kid broke out into a sprint as Will stared at the direction of town. He covered his ears again and would have moved if he didn't see that the fog was starting to shift in the distance. It wasn't just that the fog was moving away to clear up the area, but it was literally splitting in half, as if it was getting out of something's way. Even with his ears covered, the wail of the siren was too much and had invaded his brain as a form of white noise that he couldn't shake. He couldn't tell if he was shouting out in pain, but it felt like he was. The pressure it was putting on his head was too much for him to bear, and he dropped down to one knee and slammed his eyes shut. The last thing he saw was the fog dissipating before his eyes, to make way for suffocating darkness.