A/N: and Chapter 6... well here you go, this one may be a bit worse as i am trying to write a suspense scene... so yeah. I don't own this and all that jazz.
Chapter 6
We ended up at the science area before the bell and set ourselves down in the empty classroom, (the teacher wouldn't care, when he saw me he would presume I was hiding and leave it at that.) the silence passed in seconds that ticked like hours, waiting for the class to actually start, but no teacher came to the room.
Damien eventually stood, clearly bored, and walked towards the marble counter that circled the entire room, it was loitered with Bunsen burners, beakers and other such equipment, and brought a hip flask from the inside of his trench coat.
"What are you doing? Is that alcohol?" I asked as he began undoing the top of the metallic container at a snail's pace, as if he was intentionally attempting to build suspense with each mouse like squeak of the twisting metal. He gradually turned the silver cap until the lid fell off and descended to the floor below, bouncing and clanging against the light blue flooring.
"No, it's not Phillip... well, in a sense, just simply something to waste time" and with that he poured a small amount of the clear liquid within on the counter, until a sizable pool had been produced. "It's Ethanol, technically alcohol, a brilliant substance, is it not?" He said revealing a matchbox, and a match, that he promptly rubbed against the side of the box, sparking the red tip and lighting a tiny flame that he quickly let go of, allowing it to flutter down onto the pure alcohol, producing a hurricane of panic through my body. 'Oh no, oh no, what if the teacher comes in, I'll be reported and if I am... I'll be forced back into the orphanage. No, no, no, no.' I thought in panic as the fire made contact with the liquid and it instantly erupted into a miniature blaze. I was rooted to the spot, like the flame had entranced me, but it was truly a complete panic that had stuck me to the chair as if super glue was smeared onto the seat. A thousand separate scenarios trampled over each other in my mind, all of them with the worst outcome 'let no one walk in, let no one walk in, please god don't let anyone walk in' I pleaded uselessly to myself.
The flames life began to fade after a few seconds but Damien poured more of the alcohol to rejuvenate it to its' former bright orange glory. The licking flames rose, as if attempting to embrace Damien for enlonging its life, as he consistently forced it higher and higher with small drips of Ethanol. He was clearly skilled at doing this, with the almost romanticized elegance that he shook the flask to conserve as much of the substance cradled inside as possible.
Slowly, my fear of being caught finally broke and the panic grew too large "c-could you please stop?" I asked, quivering, pathetic with the fear that the teacher would enter the classroom, punish me and Damien and then the Orphanage would not be able to plead that I could fend for myself and I'd be forced to return. It may have seem a bit pedantic and clown like to worry so much about going back but I had grown accustomed to living on my own... that and the orphanage was a place that brought horrors of the worst imagination, at least to me, most of the other orphans enjoyed it there, I was just the odd one out.
He spared me a single glance as a small smile adorned his face and he began to pick up and twist the lid back onto the flask, still admiring the quickly fading flame.
"Beautiful, isn't it, like a writhing spirit, twisting and turning, attempting to reach a far away salvation" he said, trance-like, with the soft smile still on his normally straight face. I observed his object of fascination, wondering what was going through my new friends head, what was it that made this flame so… intriguing to him? Hopefully didn't try to burn the school down, I didn't take him for a pyromaniac, then again I hardly knew him. I liked the learning that school brought just the side effect of the other students was a downside, that and I wanted to be able to get a job far from the town when I had come of age and struggling through school would heighten my chances. If he was some kind of pyro, and for some reason burnt it to a crisp, which would savagely downgrade my chances, as well as that I didn't want to think ill towards Damien, he was the only person to speak to me for more than half an hour.
He stared at where the flame once was, the soft smile still there like it had been painted on, "but no salvation came" he said, if we weren't in a science lab the smell of smoke and flames would have tainted the air but it was dampened by the overpowering stench of chemicals that wafted around in the air, it wouldn't be noticed in the slightest.
"Why are you shaking?" Damien asked. I hadn't realized that he had turned to me or that I was indeed quivering, like a child who thought there was a monster under the bed. "I won't do that again then, hell, you look like you decided to run outside naked."
"It's nothing to be worried about Damien" I replied. In actuality I was terrified that I could have been caught, and I refused to go back to the orphanage, I'd rather end myself.
He left it at that and we only waited a few brief moments for the bell to go and the room was filled with reluctant, trudging students. Like all the other core subjects (the core subjects being Maths, English and Science) we had our Tutor group instead of sets split by skill and knowledge, because this school was ran by idiots and people who didn't care at all.
I was between Kyle Broflovski and Clyde Donovan, Clyde normally would have teased me but hadn't that lesson, most probably due to him being told about how Damien protected me in front of Craig (who was tightly knit in his group) and he would dare not attack when outnumbered, even if it was ME and anyone else he was faced against. He was a coward, simply put.
The lesson dragged on and on, time itself seemed to slow down so I would be stuck in the room for longer. I took notice that teacher had spent most of the lesson getting Damien prepared for the upcoming lessons (we had been doing work on bonds between particles), I sort of felt sorry for him, and anyone who had to transfer to this school, they always were bombarded with homework. I already knew what was being taught, countless hours of reading science, and other nonfiction, books in my spare time made almost every subject simple and boring. I even managed to pick up a few bits and pieces for other lessons in my countless hours of unnecessary research.
Once the final bell of the day rang through the school like a rebel's scream of freedom, my other classmates quickly rifled out of the room, me behind them and Damien trailing next to me, still bored. We walked in silence through the school until we reached the gated exit.
"Hey, are you doing anything today?" he asked stopping me in my tracks.
"No, not particularly why?"
"I guess this sounds a bit strange, but would you be ok with taking me on a tour of your 'wonderful' town? It'd be good to know the area."
I beamed him a true smile, from this one day I was certainly spending a lot of time with him, I wasn't sad about that.
"It would be my pleasure, well, follow me and I'll show you around."
"Thanks" he stated flatly and I led him outside the aged building and walked him down the cracked and snow smothered stone slab paths, describing who lived where and what all the little shops and such were about. I told him about where to avoid, about where the individual groups stay and where to head if thing go awry. Every now and then he would but in with a question or remark but he was mostly stoic and quiet through the whole expedition as I rambled on and on about the small, confined, and almost gated community.
Once or twice he asked about why I went into such intense and described detail on what areas were safe and what ones were not in which I could only reply with brief descriptions of past experiences where I had been left battered, cold and alone. Years upon years of running had taught me many things on surviving in this place, and if Damien was intent on staying with me, even though it probably wasn't safe, I knew that he would have to have an idea where to head if he was on the receiving end of Eric, Trent, Craig, Token or any of the others.
It wasn't until we had gone halfway through the silent and isolated town that Damien had pointed out the time, that I had been merrily avoiding, in favour of trying to learn about my new companion, I was pretty sure it had only been about half an hour.
"It's nice hearing you ramble on about all the nooks and crannies of this cesspool but time is running out, I mean, it's night" he said.
I looked quizzically until I realised he was indeed correct, the half moon was standing directly above us as stars shone down, thousands of miles away from the eternal black void of space. had I been so absorbed in talking that i had lost track of time? I didn't even notice the lack of people walking the streets, how? I must have been really carried away. "Oh dear me, you're right, I apologise immensely for wasting your time Damien, I'm so sorry." I rambled trailing on and on with apologies, at a thousand words a second.
I was interrupted from my panicking fit by a deep, resonating laughter that shook me from my position, as if a lightning bolt had struck me dead on.
"wh-what are you laughing at Damien?" I asked
"You Phillip, oh dear god, you" he barely said, stopping to laugh or snicker at every individual word.
I stood there, staring at him in embarrassment and confusion as he gripped his stomach to contain his outburst, although it was ineffective. The laugh was strange to see come from him, the picture he had painted for himself over the day clashed with what he had was presenting now. When I had first seen him I expected him to be silent and observant, very much unlike what he showed.
Once he recovered he looked up at me still chuckling slightly "oh, Phillip I've never seen someone worry about something so small, there's no reason to apologise about nothing." He straightened himself up and returned to his generic flat look "anyway, should we continue this tomorrow" he questioned "or we could continue today, dad shouldn't care if I get back late, he knows I can look after myself... or do you have something to do?"
I didn't even ponder on what I should do before nodding and replying.
"Well, if you're not doing anything, it wouldn't hurt to keep going on" I would likely have stayed up the entire night anyway so there was no point in going to wait at home for the sun to rise.
We continued to wander for an hour through my constant ramblings until we passed through Maple Street into the town square. My voice broke off midsentence when we finally moved into full light of the center of town. The town square was more of an oversized four way junction that housed the town hall, as well as some of the more popular community owned stores. It was strikingly dark, even for such a late time of night, every window hid their secrets under a black veil and the streetlights only cast a meager, almost useless illumination. Even the moon itself seemed dimmer, as if it was depressed by the dark. the desolation made me feel as if i was alone, isolated, even with Damien next to me I couldn't shake that feeling away. I guess it was because I was so used to venturing to this part of town that the sight of such barrenness was unusual. The wind creeped past me whispering illegible secrets in a faint tone, I could no longer feel the wind's chill, a new cold had taken its place. I couldn't place it, I felt a strange fear that I hadn't ever felt before, something completely different than what I felt when chased down streets and hallways.
Then I heard it, in a alleyway to my right… the sound of quiet footsteps, a noise that had become incredibly familiar to me. I was surprised that i had heard it myself. I turned towards the sound and only a pitch black alleyway greeted me, 'it's probably just a cat or something like that' I reasoned with myself but I knew that it wasn't that, the footstep had been too heavy to be a small animal. I don't know what it was that made me so scared, maybe the dark set of some kind of innate primal instinct that told me to run, to hide, to do anything but stand still and wait for the footstep to have come from a psychopath who would kill me without remorse. 'It's just paranoia, nothing to worry about, there's probably nothing down there, you're fine' I tried again but my self reassurance brought no calmness. In the back of my mind I could only think of horrible scenario after horrible scenario.
"Phillip, are you ok, what's wrong" Damien asked, turning me to look right at me. then I heard it again, the footsteps, they were still faint, but they were there and they were getting louder, it may have still been paranoia bread by years of expecting the worse but I refused to take the chance.
"Nothing, h-hey, um, do you think we could finish this tomorrow, I think the night is getting to me" I said, a quiver worming its way into my tone like a parasite. The movement grew closer and I spared another short glance in its direction to see the dark, foul smelling and damp open air corridor of stone, but no psychotic murder to threaten us, still covered in the blanket of night. For a few seconds the footsteps continued but there was still no one visible, the dark really must have been weighing down on me.
"Sure, fine" he said reaching into his inside coat pocket "I'll grab my key and head on home" he riffled through the inside for a few seconds before sighing with a mutter of "shit" before he looked back up, his face still straight but a faint tint of red contrasting with his snowy skin. "I might of left my key at home and dad is probably unconscious, damn it all" he continued on a small string of curses when I heard the movement once again, closer and closer it moved forward, probably just my imagination though, but worrying anyways.
'Just a precaution' I thought as I strode forward, grabbing Damien by the arm and dragging him behind me while he tried to regain his composure. I jogged from the streetlamps glow into the blind like dark, the only visible thing being the other streetlamps in front of us. "You can stay with me for the night" I stuttered, the parasitic quiver having grown fat and more prominent. 'Anything to get away from that goddamn alleyway'.
"Th-thanks" he said as he got out of my grasp and caught up with me, we kept at a steady pace, the freezing cold of the day before was nothing in comparison to the fear that had awoken to the unending darkness that looked to hug our town like a vice. "I'll pay you back somehow."
"N-no need, con-consider it a gesture of friendship" I uttered quietly, I wanted nothing but to get back home quickly. The third time in a row where I had to rush home at the end of the day for a slight comfort, I was hoping that this strange trend wouldn't persist.
He was probably completely confused as to why I was rushing home, I must have looked insane with how I was so scared of nothing. the fact that I had basically dragged him halfway to my home didn't improve matters.
We continued to jog in the darkness, it was as if no one besides us was awake in the town, every light was off and the only sound was our speedy footsteps thumping on the sidewalk drowning out the nonexistent pursuer.
It took us ten minutes to arrive, out of breath to the large apartment building. The moon shone from behind it, casting a large shadow that crept towards us as the building seemingly lead in our direction as if to flatten us like bugs. All the lights were out, like all the other buildings in the street and only our deep breath could be heard. The large construction was quite intimidating as it loomed ominously over our heads as I slowly inserted the key into the lock, pulling the door open and quickly closing it behind me as soon as Damien entered. Once it was safely closed I turned to stare at the street, only the outlines of the nearby buildings could be seen through the mist and darkness but I also saw no person and even if there was one, I was safe inside. 'Just my imagination'.
With a deep inhale I led Damien to my apartment, gave him the bed to use for the night which he took with no opposition. I offered to wash his clothes for the next day but he declined saying he would leave early to get ready at home and he fell into the covers where he drifted off into rest. I simply stayed up, I wouldn't sleep after my paranoid fear from earlier, I was tempted to make myself believe that the event in the alleyway was nothing but paranoia but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was infact someone down the murky backstreet .
The thought completely terrified me, my tormentors would normally harm me head on, I could recall only a single instance where one Eric Cartman had planned an attack towards me, but that event was something I didn't want to recount. If it was that I was correct that my paranoia was false than I could only fear for myself.
