Chapter Four of an untitled project

Same as the previous chapters

Chapter 4

Matt and Ryan walked the same path through the school since they had the same homeroom. They were making the final turn into the hallway of their homeroom classroom when Matt felt a hand grab his arm and pull him back. “Hey,” Matt said. He grabbed the hand on his arm and threw it off. “Morning you two. A bit late today.” A tall, built guy stood in front of Matt with a sadistic smile on his face. Matt looked at him and realized who it was. “What do you want, Roy?”

            Roy was a school bully, and Matt was his number one kid to pick on. He enjoyed picking on Matt because he knew what buttons to press and they always worked. Matt has tried to physically take care of him, but Roy was constantly lifting weights at the high school’s gym and he supposedly boxed in the city. All Matt did was run, not for a team, just for himself. So, needless to say, Matt was no match for Roy. Ever since the last attempt of making Roy shut up by use of physical force and failing, Matt has avoided confrontations with him. This didn’t stop Roy from continuously hounding Matt for fun.

            “Hey, Patterson. Heard you were doing something to a girl out by the football field. I don’t know if I believe it or not because I coulda sworn you were gay.” Matt sighed and said, “First of all it’s none of your business what I do. We weren’t doing anything that concerns you.”  And lastly, I’m not gay. Sorry to disappoint you.” He couldn’t help but say something back to Roy on today of all days. “Back talking today, huh? That’s great!” Roy said and clapped his hands. “I was starting to get a little bored, with all the things I do to you and not getting a reaction, but finally, today, I get something. And you know what’s even better? I know why.” He grinned.

            Matt gritted his teeth and hoped Roy didn’t push what he was getting at, or else he might have to try to do something about it. “C’mon, Roy. Don’t. Not today.” Ryan said. Roy looked at Ryan and said, “Stay out of this. Besides, it’s not my fault this guy makes it so easy.” Matt turned his back and walked away to his homeroom class. Ryan joined him. “Tomorrow’s your birthday, right? How old you going to be? Whatever. Just one more year without a mother!” Roy called out to Matt.

Matt heard this when he was halfway down the hallway. A biting rage built up inside him and he made up his mind. He let his bag fall to the floor and turned around.

He started to run at Roy with all he had in him, when he felt an incredible pressure in his chest. Bum-bum. It pulsed and sounded like a heartbeat. He felt like he was going to vomit, he spit onto the floor.

Bum-bum

The pulse came again, harder and louder this time. He hugged his chest and fell to his knees.

BUM-BUM

As he was bent forward a little, the pulse came again harder and louder. He screamed and hit his head on the floor as he fell forward. Matt felt as if his chest was going to burst open. He wanted the pain to stop. If he was about to die, just let it happen. If death meant being released from this pain he would gladly accept it.

“Matt! Matt, look at me! It’s alright, you’re going to be alright.” Ryan said unconvincingly. Matt heard a muffled tone that sounded like someone talking, but didn’t understand it or even know it was Ryan talking.

BUM-BUM.

 He did not have time to think about who it was as the pulse came again. This time Matt could feel it in every part of his body, it was as if he was being pumped full of something and he was going to explode at any second. His vision went blurry and he fell onto his side. In front of him was the outline of what looked like his friend in front of windows, which were penetrated by bright light from the sun. The figure turned its head and got up, looking at another figure that had come into his field of vision. The first figure was pushed to the ground and didn’t move. The new figure  knelt down in front of him.

The pulsing had stopped, but his heart was beating extremely fast and his whole body felt like it was on fire and frozen at the same time. He just wanted it to be over as he felt himself being pushed over and was now facing the ceiling. A blurry face came into view and looked to be interested in something on Matt’s face. “There you are,” Roy said. “I’ll call this a success.” Roy stood up, pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and dialed some numbers. He walked away and started talking on his phone. Matt could barely make out what he said, “It’s me… care of it…begun. Inform the others…” Matt blacked out.

 

*                       *                       *

 

            Matt opened his eyes and saw nothing but white around him. He was squinting a bit before he could actually keep his eyes open completely. He looked around and blinked deliberately to make sure he wasn’t just seeing things. He was in a place that was surrounded by white nothingness. The pain in his chest and the pain in the rest of his body was gone. He felt no painful repercussions anywhere. Feeling his head where he had hit the floor with it, he felt no bruise or pain. He came to the conclusion that he was dreaming, so he started walking. He walked and walked and walked. Since everything in every direction was the same, he didn’t know if he was actually moving anywhere. After an hour, he was getting bored. He decided to walk in a different direction. He turned around and intended to walk, but he just stood there.

            Not too far away from where he was, there was something in the distance. He trekked across the vast whiteness to the object. He heard what sounded like  a baby crying when he was a few steps away. When he closed the distance between what he realized was a bunch of bundled up blankets, the crying had stopped. The blankets were extremely dark black, a total opposite of the surrounding area Matt was in. He reached down and heard the crying baby again, which caused him to recoil his hand and back away. Matt was sure there was a baby covered in the dark blankets. He got down and searched through the blankets. They were rough and rather uncomfortable to the touch. He unfolded the blankets one by one. He was starting with the next one when he noticed something strange about the first cloth. The blanket  was fading away. The blanket slowly went from solid to semi-transparent. It was barely distinguishable before it completely vanished.

            Matt stared at the area where the blanket had disappeared for a while before he continued unfolding the blankets. Every time he unfolded a blanket, it would do the same as the first. The crying was getting louder now, too, and the crying didn’t seem to just be coming from the bundle anymore, it seemed to dominate the entirety of the white zone. it was if there were invisible loud speakers everywhere.

The bundle of blankets seemed to be endless.. After ten minutes, the crying had stopped, but Matt was still unfolding blankets. He undid the corner of another blanket and he saw the foot and leg of a newborn. He hurriedly undid the other folds to reveal a baby child. The final blanket did not fade and disappear like the others, instead it remained under the baby.

            The baby was laying on its back, naked and asleep. “A boy, huh,” Matt said. “What’s this?” On the baby boy’s abnormally pale skin, Matt noticed something in the middle of its chest. Matt put his face closer to get a better look. It looked like a symbol. It was bright white, similar to the surrounding environment. Matt figured he wouldn’t have noticed the symbol if it wasn’t for the dark background that was the blanket the baby was on. He had to squint to see the symbol because it was so small. The indentation on the baby’s chest was three, thin rings close together, and if the center of each ring were connected, they would create a triangle. These three rings were encompassed by a bigger, fatter circle. The symbol was as big as the fingernail of his pinky. Matt didn’t know what to make of it, so he just leaned back and just knelt there next to the sleeping baby. “Well, what now?” Matt said.

The baby started to stir after what seemed like hours. Matt was laying down on his back next to the baby, his head resting on his hands. He was startled to hear something other than his own self make a sound. He got up onto his knees and looked over at the baby squirming in the spot it had been in since Matt had found him. The baby raised his small, chubby hands to rub his eyes. Afterwards, he started to slowly open his eyes. The baby’s eyes were pitch black. They were like little black marbles inside his eye sockets. A small, white circle appeared in both eyes. “Are those you’re… pupils?” Matt asked. The baby looked in the direction of the voice and saw Matt. He looked right at Matt and didn’t direct his attention anywhere else. “Um, I’m Matt. What’s your name little guy?” Matt asked as he playfully squeezed the baby’s cheek. The baby merely looked down at his hand and back to Matt without giving any expression. He just stared at Matt. “Yeah, I didn’t expect anything.” Matt scratched his own head and looked around at his surroundings “Do you know where we are? This place isn’t ordinary. I have to be dreaming. What you think?” Matt looked down at the baby; it was still staring at him. “This would be a great place to go to if I wanted some alone time.”

Matt looked at the symbol on the baby’s chest. “What’s a baby doing with a tattoo, anyway? Guess I have some awkward dreams. Sorry about that.” Matt chuckled. The baby stared. “You have to be cold little guy. Let’s get you covered up.”

Matt grabbed the bottom of the blanket and covered up the baby’s embarrassment region first and next its right side. He was grabbing the last flap of the blanket to finish the job when he felt the baby’s little hand grasp his finger. “Hey, I don’t mean any harm. You need to stay warm.” Matt said. Suddenly, from everywhere on the baby’s left arm slithered out long, thin, black tentacles. “What the hell?” Matt mumbled as he tried to jerk his finger free, but he couldn’t release his finger from the baby’s grip. The tentacles began to slither around his hand, encasing it within what felt like nothing. However, his hand felt like it was being tightly squeezed. The little appendages made their way up Matt’s arm. he tried to brush them off, but couldn’t. “Hey, stop it!” Matt yelled. “What are you doing?!” The tentacles had taken over his arm and shoulder. The tentacles picked up their pace as they broke off in different directions. The pain grew more intense as the tentacles gained ground on his body. His other arm, his stomach and his legs were completely taken over. He was paralyzed. All he could do is move his neck and breath.

Matt looked down at the baby. It was smiling sadistically. He looked to be enjoying what he was doing, whatever it was. The pain was incredibly unbearable to Matt. His eyes had become covered by the tentacles, so he couldn’t see a thing. If this was a dream, he wished to wake up from it. He screamed at the heavens..

He was in darkness for a few seconds when he heard a scream, which became more vivid when he felt the tentacles release from his body, taking all the pain with them. He could move and he didn’t waste attempting to rub off nothing. The tentacles had completely vanished, but he continued rubbing for his own state of mind. The baby was screaming and flailing about in agony. Matt got up. He watched what was happening to the baby while keeping a short distance.

The tattoo on the baby’s chest glowed brightly. The baby rose and floated into the air and came to a stop five feet off the ground. It was writhing in what looked to Matt like pain. Matt watched as he saw three sets of tiny chains of white protrude out of the baby’s body, from the smaller circles of the symbol on its chest. The chains were a lot faster than the tentacles that Matt had experienced. The chains covered the entirety of the child in a matter of seconds. The baby was lowered back to its original resting position, and the blanket it was on wrapped itself around the child. The solid white ground rose around the baby in the shape of a box, slightly bigger than the area the blanket had taken up. Matt stepped up to the box in time to see the baby one more time before the box was sealed. The box slowly sunk back into the ground until the floor was flat again.

Matt gave a couple taps with his foot on the ground where the box had disappeared. It felt and sounded like every other part of the ground. The environment around him began to get brighter. Matt shut his eyes as all around him got brighter and brighter. He felt like he was laying down and being shaken. “Stop it,” Matt mumbled. Again, he felt the shaking. “Leave me alone.” A loud slap sounded as he felt something slap the side of his face. “OW!” Matt yelled and rubbed his cheek. He opened his eyes and saw a ceiling, a grey ceiling. He sat up and noticed he was on a bed in the school’s infirmary. Next to him was Ryan, who was holding an ice pack to the side of his own head. A startled Mrs. Ward, the school nurse, came rushing to Matt’s side. “What are you doing, Mr. Parker?” She asked. “He was starting to stir, so I helped him wake up.” Ryan said.

“By slapping him?” Mrs. Ward said a little angry.

Ryan shrugged, “His face said ‘wake me up’ so I did. He doesn’t mind. Do you buddy?”

Matt was too busy rubbing his head where he had hit it on the floor. Apparently he had  been dreaming. “I, uh, what happened? What time is it?” Matt asked.

“It’s a little after twelve in the afternoon, Mr. Patterson. Now, if what Mr. Parker here told me is accurate I’d say you experienced a heart attack. It says here you are sixteen,” She was holding a manila folder with some papers in it. “It’s rare, but possible for a child of your age. Have you ever experienced anything like this before? Such as the chest pains.”

“No, I can’t say I have, Mrs. Ward. I feel fine now, though.”

“Be that as it may. I’d still like to call your parents and talk to them. I have your father’s number here. I’ll give him a call right now. You just lay and rest for a while longer.”

“He’s actually in a meeting today so you might not be able-“

“Well, I think he will be more interested in his son than in his meeting, dear boy.” She walked back to her desk and called his father.

“You feeling ok?” Ryan asked.

“Yea, I’m just a little bit shocked is all. I had the craziest dream. It felt so real.” Matt said.

“What’s with you and dreams, dude?”

“I don’t know. Maybe there really is something wrong with me.”

“Yea, most likely. Anyway, you can tell me about it later. Just rest some more.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Matt said as he laid back down. He was worried if he fell asleep he would have the same dream. It was way too real to make him want to experience it again, so he just lay there and waited to see what the nurse would say after she had talked with his dad.

 

*                       *                       *

 

Paul was in a restaurant, a pretty fancy one, with company when his phone went off, “Excuse me,” Paul said to the other recipient at the table. He removed his phone from his belt to look at who it was calling him. “I should take this. It’s my son’s school.”

He got up from his chair and answered the call, “Hello? This is Mr. Patterson.” He said as he walked to the entrance hall of the restaurant. “Mrs. Ward, yes, how may I help you… No he hasn’t, why… What, is he ok… Good, good… OK, yes I will come by to pick him up… We have someone we can see about it, yes, thank you… Alright I’ll head over now, thank you Mrs. Ward…” He returned the phone to his belt and stood there for a while in thought. After a minute had passed, he walked back to the table and sat down. He folded his  hands and said, “It appears they have made contact sooner than we expected.”

The girl with the white hair, who appeared to only be wearing just a grey hoody, sitting at the other side of the table, continued eating away at her sundae. “I’m going to go pick him up. I can drop you off at Alan’s, so you can pick up your items, then you can meet back at my house.”

“Sounds good,” Angel said, tossing her spoon into the empty bowl. “By the way, you wouldn’t happen to know when the others are coming, would you?”

“I know that by the end of the night everyone is supposed to rendezvous at my place. But, you know who is part of the group, so I have no idea about him.”

“Aww, don’t talk so meanly about Blazey. He is a nice guy if you give him a chance.”

“I gave him plenty. Alright, lets head out.” Paul said as he got up. He took some money from his wallet and threw it on the table and began walking out.

“Ok, Paully.” Angel said. She got up from her chair and adjusted the hoody she had on and followed Paul out of the restaurant.

They both got into Paul’s car and buckled in. “Maybe on the way you can tell me how you ended up with just those clothes when you came here.” Paul said.

“I didn’t have this when I got here. I got it from Matt. He is so cute, Paul.” Angel said.

“ A love connection already, huh?” Paul said as he started the car and pulled out.

Angel giggled and said, “I don’t know, maybe.”

“Do what you want just make sure you don’t lose focus. Oh, and by the way, call me by my acquired name. It’s been years since I could use it and I think now is the best time to start it up again.”

“Ok. What should I call you?”

“Call me Glacier.” He said, smiling.

Author's Note

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