We were back on the road and everything felt kinda awkward, I guess it was the first time I asked bianca out on a date and we're alone.
"So, how do you feel?," bianca asked with her fingers laced with mine.
"I… I feel great, look, am planning on having a great evening and I want our first date to go well. So… am not gonna let anyone or anything ruin the evening," I said.
"Wow, our first date?," she laughed.
"Yeah, well unless… unless you don't want it to be?," I asked.
" No… it's no problem, I bet the night's gonna go as planned," she said.
"Yeah well I hope so," I said as I raised her hand gently and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
" yeah, well— look out!" Bianca screamed, her voice sharp.
I didn't even see what it was— just a blur of movement in the road and the sound of my own heartbeats slamming in my ears. My hands jerked the wheel without thinking.
The tires screeched, the car swerved, and for a second, I thought we were done for. But somehow— somehow— I wrestled it back under control. The car skidded sideways, then straightened, and I managed to pull us over and park, my hear was pounding and I was breathing hard.
Bianca and I got out, but… nothing. No one. Just empty road.
" what the hell was that," I asked, my heart still waiting to fly out of my chest.
" I don't know, I… I swear I saw someone," bianca said.
"Yeah, I know, I believe you, but where the hell did it go?," I asked.
Jeremy and stephany had gotten down from the car and with Jeremy's face reading out— Are you crazy dude.
" Dude, what the hell… what's wrong with you?," Jeremy asked.
"We saw something, but now… we don't see it anymore," I said.
" well maybe it was an animal crossing the road?," Jeremy said.
" Yeah, I guess so," I said but there was a hint of doubt in my voice.
"Yeah well… if we don't get out we could get there late," Jeremy said.
" yeah let's go," Stephany said.
But for a reason bianca was oddly silence but I didn't really focus on that, I guess she was just scared.
Heading back to the car, then came a sound—metal shrieking, tires dragging across asphalt— and I looked up just in time to see Jeremy's car lift off the ground. Not roll. Not crash. Lift. Like some invisible hand had yanked it up by the bumper and flung it like a toy, the car heading towards us.
"Get out of the way!" I screamed, my voice tearing out of me before I even realized I was shouting.
We dove, landing on each side of the road. Metal roared overhead, the wind from it slapping my face as Jeremy's car crashed down just feet from where we'd been standing seconds ago.
"What the hell was that?," Jeremy asked, his voice shaking.
" I don't know," I said.
"We have to get out of here," bianca said her voice filled with fear.
It was at that moment that I could feel it, I could feel that aura getting stronger and closer, I felt it before I saw anything— a pressure in the air, like the atmosphere itself had shifted.
Heavy.charged.
Something was coming.
Its presence pushed against my skin, crawling up my spine, thick with power. An aura. Strong.
Unmistakably. And it was getting closer. I haven't felt like this before.
" Come on dude, we have to get out of here," Jeremy yelled.
"Yeah, come on," Stephany said.
" It's coming, it's coming for us," I said, all frozen at the moment.
" Dude, are you…," Jeremy said, he was interrupted by a voice.
"Miles morgan, I told you I'll come for you, give me the book," the voice oozed out of the darkness— deep, guttural, laced with something ancient and wrong. It didn't echo; it lingered, like it wanted to crawl inside my head and stay there.
It sounded like stone grinding against stone, soaked in shadow, whispering through smoke. Every word felt loud and too quiet at the same time, like it came from everywhere and nowhere.
It wasn't just a voice. It was a presence. And it didn't belong to this world.
There it was emerging from the dark, carry this dark aura that left me all frozen and shaking, but he was just a man, I thought.
When we saw it—whatever it was—my stomach dropped. My legs locked for half a second, just long enough to register that something was very wrong. The instinct took over.
"Run," I screamed. "Run!".
That moment without anymore time wasted I stood up held bianca's hand and picked her up so we could run and so did Jeremy do thesame to stephany.
But the girls wore high hills so it was difficult to run, we weren't able to run that far,until he raised his hands—and the earth moved. Rocks shot into the air, then slammed back down like the ground itself was breathing, wild and angry.
We had to take cover to avoid getting smashed and look like bugs that get crushed—we ran into the woods and laid down with our tummy. I was checking the area to see if I would see him, but I didn't.
"Why can't your crazy be crazy," Jeremy said, finding it hard to breathe—like the fear was stealing the air from him.
"We're gonna…we're…we're gonna die," bianca said, her face was already showing she was terrified.
I had to find a way to calm them down. I don't know why I was handling this better than them—maybe cause I kinda saw this coming.
"No we're not, nobody is gonna die,ok?," I said, running my fingers through her hair, soothing her with the slow steady motion.
"Well, if you don't want us to die we have to get out of here before that guy finds us," Stephany said, still trying to catch her breath and also remain calm.
"Yeah, your right," I said.
I scanned the woods for a place we could run to but It's no use, I couldn't find. I just had to trust my instincts.
"First of all, you guys need to get rid of those hills, then we run," I said.
Then we heard the voice getting close,
"Miles morgan, give me what I want," the voice said.
The rocks of the earth flew up into the skies only to hit the ground again.
"Go…go," I yelled.
We ran deeper into the woods but I could feel it at our back, still chasing, still wants what it talked about, still wanted to kill us. I couldn't make it that easy though.
Then we hit a solid wall—it must be a dead end, but that's not possible.
"Dude, what do we do now," Jeremy said.
"Let's go the other way, come on hurry up," I said.
But it was just useless, the more we ran , we couldn't outrun the walls. We had to stop and find a way out.
"Where did all these walls come from," Stephany asked.
"Oh shit," I said.
"What's wrong…what…why did you say that," Jeremy said, trying to sound casual, but his tone cracked around the edges.
" It's the one creating these walls, it wants to trap us," I said.
We heard snarls—it found us. But it didn't take the form of a monster, it took a form of a man.
"No where to run to anymore, miles morgan," he said, snarling my name.
"Who are you and what do you want?," I asked.
"Am just a messenger," he said.
"Well I don't have what your looking for," I said my voice filled with confidence.
"Liar, give me the book,miles morgan," he yelled.
Stumping the ground, he pulled me close without grabbing my arm, it was like the ground did it for him. He grabbed me by the neck the moment I arrived close to him. Pressure crushed my windpipe—hot, panicked air scraped my lungs, and everything started to blur.
"If you don't give me what I want, I will kill your friends and make you watch, give me what I want," he said, a smile on his face, his eyes turned bloody red.
I forced the words out, each one scraping against my throat.
"I-I don't…know what…your talking about," I croaked, every word a fight.
I don't think that was the answer he was looking for. He threw me on the ground, raised his hands and the rocks where closing in on Stephany, Jeremy and Bianca.
What if I lost them? Bianca, Jeremy, Stephany—gone. The thought crept in like a shadow I couldn't shake. My chest tightened. I couldn't imagine a world without their voices, their laughters. Without them.