The daily life of a ghost in Oletus manor

Chapter 10

The match against the Feaster was over before Aesop could process the meeting with the strange child.

And to be fair, he didn't really have time to think about the apparition, not with the hunter close on his tail. He couldn't afford to lose focus, he couldn't get distracted, he needed to concentrate to get away, to give the Seer some time to finish the remaining decoders.

He has been containing the hunter for quite some time, only getting chaired once by the god. Eli, bless his sweet, pure soul, would never leave a teammate behind, so he was rescued pretty quickly, getting body blocked by the Seer, which gave him just enough time to gain some distance between the annoyed hunter and himself, even managing to place a coffin down.

It was...slightly suspicious, to be honest. There were so many tentacles placed down around his rocket chair, which made rescuing seem like an almost impossible task for Aesop. So how? How did Eli do it? And without a scratch?
Was the hunter letting it happen? It looked like he was missing those hits on purpose.

Not that he was complaining, at least he had a little more time to get away.
But still. It just didn't make any sense to Aesop. Why would a hunter, who was not being friendly, go easy on a survivor? He didn't understand.

"Cipher machine primed!" letting out a relieved sigh, Aesop let the Feaster hit him with a tentacle, falling to the ground immediately, only to get back up completely healed a few seconds later, with a sudden boost of speed, getting just to the right distance from the angry hunter.

"Focus on decoding!" vaulting a window, Aesop used the boost he gained to get closer to the gate Eli was currently opening. He really, really hoped the boy will be finished with it by the time he gets there. Though he still had a coffin set up, so even if he would be caught by the Feaster he would have a chance escaping.

Fortunately, though, he didn't need to use the coffin, because the hunter gave up. He wasn't chasing him anymore, just lazily slithering behind him, with the chattering ghost following him closely. It was...strange, and confusing and... and...

There was a sudden, sharp stabbing pain in Aesop's head, as the world started to spin around him. He felt nauseous. He wanted to throw up.
He wanted out.

He didn't want to get involved in whatever was happening with those two. He didn't want to think about the child anymore.

So, desperately wanting to get out of there, to finally be able to hide away inside the safety of his room, he ran towards the exit, barely muttering a "thank you" and a "sorry" for the Seer, who was waiting for him silently right before the gate, and he left immediately, never once looking back.

He didn't even notice the worried looks that were sent after his disappearing form, nor the confused frown that appeared on his teammate's face the moment Aesop ran past him.

It didn't take long for him to reach the end of the gate, barely noticing the bright flash of white light, as he was taken back to the manor, reappearing in the lobby, sitting on the chair around the table, as if he had never truly left the place. As if he wasn't just playing the game of the damned.

Barely resisting the urge to jump out of the chair and run for his room, Aesop slowly stood up, carefully walking to the door, opening it wide with his shaking hands.

He felt like suffocating. He just couldn't breathe.

Why? Why was he having a panic attack right now? Nothing serious even happened! No one touched him, no one spoke to him that way. So why? Why was he feeling this way? God, he hated this. He loathed it, with a burning passion.

Why just why couldn't he be more normal?

He couldn't resist the urge anymore. He chose to flee, running straight for his room, praying that he wouldn't knock into anyone before he could reach his destination. He really wasn't in the mood right now, afraid of what his reaction would be if he'd be confronted by someone like the Lawyer, or worse, the Doctor. He just can't deal with the worried looks she would give him every time he had one of his episodes.