Seven Days

Chapter Eleven: The Icy Fire That Ignited In Our Eyes

(this chapter has no beta reading as im tired so there will be lots of errors!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...)

Nothing. John felt nothing. He was a blank canvas. He stood up slowly. His gaze piercing into the things around him.

Arlo was gone.

John immediately pressed onto the group chat FaceTime call. Sweat was dripping down from John's face.

He...was just right there! Next to me..

John looked down and raised his hands.

Isn't this all... my fault?

The FaceTime call started abruptly, "Huh? John why did you start a call?" Remi asked through the phone speaker.

The raven clenched his fists, "Arlo..isn't here."

Silence filled the trees. Only the slight breeze of the wind could be heard.

John lifted up his phone camera to meet his face nervously, "B-but he must be..right?" John smiled widely, "He must be, you see his presence somewhere else, right Isen?"

The phone screen displayed a quiet Isen scratching his head, "N-no.."

It was like a landslide had hit John in the back. He was sinking and sinking down a sea..he was trembling more than when he actually fell down that lake days ago. When Arlo was there to save him days ago.

John's hands were shaking, and so was his phone. They were shaking so much it looked like static to the other high schoolers.

"You're joking right? You're just joking right?" John laughed loudly, "Oh, is this to scare me for the test of courage? That really was scary you know, y'all are really smart, you all should be actors in a horror movie."

The raven erupted in laughter, getting louder by the second, "Bahahahaha...AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Tears fell down his face, "This is all a prank, huh?" John was reassuring himself, but he knew that nothing was alright. He could tell from their faces. All their faces. Isen's eyes were wide with nervous sweat. Blyke's face portrayed pure horror. Remi looked worried and was turning her head in many directions to face the others. Seraphina meanwhile was blank. How could this have happened?

John looked down frowning and ended the group call. He dropped to his knees, letting his phone fall away from his side. Water was slipping out of his eyes. He couldn't stop.

Arlo...where are you?

John's face leaned toward the grass.

"S̴̘̤͍̜̗̪̞͓̺̳̞̞͎͐̄́̊̈̄͒̃͑̏̎̀͘ä̷̢̡̤̥͉̜̯͚͂͘͜v̴͖͖͕͔͈̓̋̕ȩ̷̡͉̠̰͉͙͊̀̀̊͝ ̵̨̳̹̝̖̙͚̘̼̝̖̓̍͂͝ͅm̶̡̧̫̠̰̩̗̥͎͌ę̷̢̢̬̹̯̞̝̙͔̠̩̋̈͒͑̑̊͛͗̽̎̄̈́̏̕̚"

The raven clutched his hands on his chest.

I said I was going to protect him...

so how could this happen?

John pounded the grassy floor with his hands, Damn!

Memories of the place him and Arlo shared together were flowing into his mind and disappearing slowly, like a spiderweb slowly getting ripped strand by strand.