Theodore POV

I couldn't fall asleep. Not after seeing that.

After Simon left, I decided to look at my room for the night. The bathroom was in order; the toilet flushed and water came out of the sink. Grimy stuff came out of the shower, so I told myself I'd skip the bath until I got home. The bed was creaky and stunk like rusty metal. But there was a problem; the carpet did too. Especially on the dark stain.

My curiosity got the better of me and I ended up following the dark stain around the bed, but my blood went cold as I saw what was behind it. A rotting corpse lie there, saturated in the dark stuff I soon realized was blood. I turned, fell to my knees, and threw up. I vomited until every last thing was out of my stomach, and I even began dry heaving when there was nothing left.

I couldn't fall asleep. Not after seeing that.

There was no way to get away from the stench of neither the dead body nor the blood which soaked the carpet. I was scarred for life. I ended up staying awake all night, leaning wide-eyed against the main door. I watched the sun eventually creep into the small crack in the boards over the window and sighed. Simon should be back soon, I thought. Just as I thought that, I heard cracking sounds coming from the bathroom. I walked in there and looked behind the toilet where I watched Simon leave the day before. Sure enough, I saw the bright halo appear, and soon, my older brother stood before me.

I ran up to him and squeezed him tightly, sobbing into his shirt. He was a bit surprised as he said, "Theo? What's the matter?" I hiccupped as I tried to calm down. Flashes of the dead body ran through my brain and I pulled away from Simon before opening the toilet and dry heaving into it. When I turned around, my eyes all watery, I saw Simon's eyes were huge. "What happened?" He asked nervously.

I couldn't speak, so I just pointed behind the bed. He looked over but when he saw the blood on the floor leading back there, he refrained from walking over. Instead, he pulled me into a tight hug and stroked my hair. But, unlike when I would have nightmares, the vision didn't fizzle away. I became distracted, but I still saw it clearly. "Shh," Simon soothed. "You're okay, Theo. Dave and Alvin are outside right now. We're here to get you out. Can you follow me?"

I nodded, wiping my eyes. Simon led me to the hole in the wall, but before I could do anything, I heard the main door's locks begin to unlock. Simon gasped and grabbed my hand as he led me to the door just in time. "Be a good boy," he reminded me, and I forcibly smiled at the door, waiting for the man. Simon stood behind me, holding my shoulders.

The door opened and the man came in. He did a double-take when he saw me standing right there, smiling at him. I said nothing, and neither did the man. Instead, he pointed out the door. My feet were frozen to the spot. Simon pushed me gently so the man wouldn't shove me. I began walking and the man led me down the stairs, to the kitchen. I obediently walked in and stopped dead at the sight. A light was on in here, so I could see better than in my room. There were knives and large forks and such littering the counter, each covered with blood. My stomach churned, but because there was nothing in it, I didn't throw up. I felt Simon's hands become tighter on my shoulder at the sight. I could tell he was remembering about the knife which took his life.

The man spoke for the first time. "You've been a really good boy," he smiled. But his smile quickly left, leaving a seething scowl in its place. "I hate boys like that. It just makes me want to hurt them all the more so they can show who they really are, and not some kiss-up child."

I paled and my mouth went dry. I swallowed hard, trying to get my mouth moist again, but it didn't work. The man grabbed a large, butchering knife and advanced on me. Simon turned me around and pushed me out of the way, just in time. I stumbled to the ground, but Simon helped me up, grabbing my hand and running upstairs, the man right on our heels. I was so scared. My heart pounded right out of my chest. Had Simon not been there, what would have happened? I was too afraid to think about it. Where was Simon taking me? There was no place to hide. Simon burst in the room next to the one I stayed in the night before, closed the door, locked it quickly, and pulled me with him. There was a hole in the wall he led me to. "This is where the bathroom hole in the other room leads to," he told me quickly. "But there's a bit of wall in between. If you stay here, in the wall between the two rooms, he'll never find you. And if he does, he's too big to fit, so you'll be able to slip through to the other room before he can get you," Simon told me, pushing me through.

It was a tight fit for me, with my big tummy, but I was able to fit snugly. Simon then stepped away and sat in a corner. I figured he wanted his glow to not be seen. I heard the door to my room open loudly. "Where are you, you little creep?" The man shouted angrily. I trembled. "I'll find you sooner or later, and when I do, you'll be sorry!" I heard him walk around in the room, searching all the small spaces. When he came in the bathroom, I curled closer into myself, trying to become smaller.

He got so close to the toilet, I could see his mud-stained shoes. I held my breath. Waiting. He leaned down and looked behind the toilet. I closed my eyes so he couldn't see the shine in them nor the tears of fear running down my cheeks. I felt and smelled his tobacco breath. I made no movement and waited. I felt his eyes on me a couple times, but then it was gone.

"I know you're down here," I heard him say. His voice was right next to my ear. I peeked and saw his hand reaching out. This is it, I realized, tensing.

Just then, a loud crash was heard downstairs, followed by a grunt. The man pulled his hand back and ran downstairs quickly, cursing. I let out my breath raggedly when I heard him reach the bottom of the stairs.

When my heart stopped racing, I slowly, cautiously peeked over the left wall I was hidden behind, to see if Simon was as relieved as I was because the guy left. But to my surprise, I didn't see my angelic brother. I frowned and leaned further out, trying to see if he hid himself somewhere else. But just then, I heard steps coming back up the stairs. I gasped and curled back into my hiding spot again.

I closed my eyes tightly when I saw the shadow; I didn't want him to see me. The steps entered the room Simon was in earlier, and I felt the floor vibrate with every step until the vibrations were right next to me. I held my breath, hoping another crash downstairs would send the man away. I tensed when I heard his knees land next to the small hole. I carefully cracked one eye to see what he was doing, and I saw the hand reaching right for me again. When it touched my shoulder, I screamed and tried to pull away into the other room. But he grabbed my ankle and pulled me back. I flailed and kicked with all my might, but he had a tight grip. He pulled me back towards him and clamped a hand over my mouth. I tried biting him, but his hand was domed so I couldn't. I felt him pull me against his chest, and I pushed with all my might, my shouts muffled by his hand.

"Theodore! Calm down! It's me, Simon! Shh," I was startled by his voice. I stopped yelling and squirming and opened my eyes. When I looked at him, sure enough, he was Simon, halo and all. He released me and I turned and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"No need to be. I didn't think I would scare you so badly; I thought you saw me coming up the stairs. It's my fault," Simon cooed, stroking my head soothingly.

"I did see you on the stairs," I told him. "But I thought you were the man." Simon nodded understandingly.

"I pulled out some of the pans in his kitchen and threw them on the floor, so it would make it seem like you were hiding down there. I'm glad he fell for it. But he might get angry and come back, so we need to get you out of here before he does." Simon explained quickly, trying to help me out of the hiding spot so we could escape.

But we were too late. The man stormed up the stairs, and I was halfway out of the hole. Simon gasped and tried pushing me back in, but the man saw me before he could. "Hey!" The man yelled as he ran to me. Simon ran, tackled him, and tried wrestling with him, but the man was in a blind fury and just kept swatting at the invisible force on him as he reached for me. I tried squeezing in the hole to get to the other room, but I was stuck. Panic overtook me as I tried desperately to get into my room. But it wasn't working; I was too chubby to be able to squeeze in so easily.

I felt him grab my arm and drag me out. I knew it wasn't Simon because the hand was much rougher and bigger, and didn't care if it broke my small arm as it lifted me right off the ground. Tears blinded me as I sobbed loudly for Dave. In my panic, I vaguely saw Simon, lying motionless, his light dulled, on the dark carpet. This just made me sob more as the man dragged me away.