Dawn Hollow

XXVII

It had been a long week since the dance. Nothing had calmed down, only proving to get crazier. Rumors started spreading in the news and what followed was conspiracies. Many started believing it was a publicity stunt to add the poor town back to the map. Others were convinced that it was a hoax from the start and fought back against the police and SWAT members that were beginning to go door-to-door conducting interviews.

That might have been the scariest news he had gotten since waking up the week prior. The fact that SWAT was on his literal snake tail. It added to one of the few reasons the curtains were drawn. Kane never seemed to tear his eyes away from them. He was glued to the window panes like moths to hot fires. Though it never occurred to his troubled mind, it seemed he never relaxed anymore; the forest boy was always on edge. His eyes were blackened around the lower lids yet wide, lips cracked, and hair astray.

Everyone was worried about how little sleep anyone had seen him get. However, no one was more concerned than PJ. He had taken a lot of time to try and lull the poor boy to sleep every night but to no avail. It often made him wonder if this was the behavior Kane exhibited while being treated by Dr. Marston. The lying awake, pacing around, and unblinking. It had to be some sort of triggered response. The thought only became secure to PJ when Kane began mumbling to himself about patients and tests.

But today was a new day that came with no further changes. The plan was the same. Play the same board games and watch the same movies until the nightmare is behind them. By the last stroke of 10 in the morning, Erica and Joseph had finally woken up and proceeded down the hallway. Melinda poured them piping hot cups of tea from her fresh batch in the kitchen, putting them on the counter that they quickly grabbed before joining the rest of the group in the living room at the TV. They sat next to Noah on the couch while PJ and Kane held close on the floor with Melinda scooting around to her chair with Sock jumping on her instantly.

"Have we gotten any news yet?" Erica questioned groggily.

"They said the school was canceled for another week. All searches for the 'monster' have turned up negative, and PJ's dad granted another $4,000 to The Animal Virus Project earlier this morning," Noah reported drinking causally on the mug of tea in his hands.

"Oh god! That's... that's not good," Joseph slowed to speech when his eyes caught PJ's hand tightening in the grasp of Kane's, tensions built high in that corner of the room. "How are you feeling about that, PJ?"

"Definitely not great," He admitted with a matter-of-fact ricochet in his throat. "I'm just having a hard time seeing why he's so willing to sneak in grants and loans to the man that killed his daughter. It's just not right!"

"Well, of course, it's not. We all know that. But all we can do now is wait out the storm until maybe we can get close enough to talk to him."

"What's waiting out good for, though?!" Noah interjected aggressively, "As long as Kane's still here, they're never going to stop looking for him and the 'giant snake.' They're chasing phantoms at this rate!"

"Perhaps we are taking a more cowardly approach, but we're all still here! You know that those in defiance right now are getting arrested, right?"

"I'm well aware, but for now, sneaking out of here to try and fight this might be our better option of changing whatever is going on out there! Staying in here gives us zero chance!"

"Staying here gives us a 100% survival rate!"

"But I don't want to survive anymore," Kane muttered, hooking the attention of the group. "All I've ever done is survive. Fight for my life and barely make it by. And I'm done with that now. I don't want to survive. I want to live!"