The Mimic: ✨Novel Edition✨

Chapter I(I)

A/N: This chapter contains descriptions of death(a dead body), blood, and slight violence. Please click off if any of these topics may aggravate you. 

MUD CLUNG TO Yasu's shoes as he crossed through the sticky fields. The weather was so much more different than it had been in the day- sunny, bright, without a cloud in the sky. Now it was showering bullets, soaking his coat. Regret knocked on his brain for not bringing an umbrella.

Sighing, Yasu crossed onto the gray concrete of his old high school. A few minutes ago, they had sent in a panic-stricken call. It was difficult to determine whether it was a prank, but his group of friends was rather notorious for causing trouble, especially when they wanted to "disrupt his placid face".

The main entrance was locked, the jiggling of the doorknob a mockery as the rain continued behind him. Yasu turned to look for the back door, not noticing the light stain of bright, fresh blood on the other doorknob hiding in the darkness. The second entry swung open with ease, and he stepped inside, wiping droplets off his dark brown locks.

When he turned on his flashlight, Yasu had at least expected some form of water on the ground, or maybe dampness from the day's events if the rain hadn't gotten in. Instead of the smell of pool chemicals, cerise footprints trailed from the entrance to the gym, where they disappeared behind closed doors. The smell of iron immediately attacked his nostrils as he stepped in, meaning that it was fresh.

Yasu bent down to examine the footprints, his own blood drumming in his ears. They looked and smelled much too real to be a prank, and the size of the footprints was abnormal, yet shaped like a human's.

They could've used the blood of an animal, his rational mind tried to overtake his hesitance, manipulating it as one of the most well-made stunts he'd experienced yet. I should probably follow the footsteps.

The prints trailed all the way to the gym and went to the right, continuing outside where the pool sat. Instead of chlorine, a putrid scent that reeked of decay attacked his nostrils. Yasu wrinkled up his nose in disgust as he continued his trail, the smell becoming stronger with each step.

He stopped in front of the shed, where the scent was strongest. Pinching his nose, Yasu opened the door with a click and stepped inside, though he immediately regretted it.

Several swollen trash bags sat on the corners of the shed, swarmed with flies. Posters and candles decorated the inside in place of maintenance tools, surrounding a lone key.

A key? Yasu plucked it from the ground, examining it with his flashlight. It looks like the one that unlocks outside the gym. Guess I'll have to head back.

Upon reentering the gym, he was greeted by an abnormal cluster of vines. They tangled together in a thick bush and spanned taller than he was. Yasu experimentally tugged at one of the branches, and it proved to be real.

They better clean this up when the prank is over...

A memory played in his head- blurred faces laughing and throwing insults at his demeanor while he stood unwavering. People mocked him, refusing to accept him onto their team and even going as far as to gang up on him and beat him down. Yasu tried to shake the memories out of his head, seeing them every time he closed his eyes.

When he finally stumbled outside of the gym, he was greeted with an atypically large sakura tree. It was beautiful, but he hadn't seen it when he was in high school about a year ago. As he approached the trunk, a drawing of a Japanese yokai came into view. The paper looked aged and yellow, the ink dry and barely standing, even without rain.