"You saw me."
"Yeah... I did."
"Were you scared?"
"No." I was, why did I lie? I was terrified, trembling.
"Can't you look at me?"
"I don't want to."
What was this voice? I didn't recognize it, all I could see was the black in front of me, and my own legs.
I felt the hand grab me by my chin, forcing my head to the side. I stared into the jet black missing eyes, but I did recognize the curly brown hair.
"It was real, it happened. And I died!"
I shot up with a sharp gasp, looking down at myself to see I was still in my gray jacket I zipped up, and I was on the sidewalk I collapsed on.
A dream... It was just a dream. Thank God.
"Hey, kid, do you got any cigarettes on ya'?"
I looked over, seeing a homeless man a few feet away from me, sitting on the same sidewalk as me. I can't remember if he was here earlier, the moment I stopped I passed out.
"No."
"I didn't wanna check you while you were sleeping and someone think was touchin' ya," he laughed.
I gave him a disgusted look, quickly getting to my feet before walking away, back to my house.
I didn't bring my phone with me, God knows what time it is. I have school tomorrow, but should I really go? I doubt it'll matter, they probably won't teach much.
As Lucas said, everyone's in mourning over the dead kid.
I slowly slowed down, that's right... The dead kid.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
The memories of touching his eyes flew back into my head as I started to stumble, for some reason I felt my vision fading into black spots. I grabbed the fence beside me, slumping down onto the sidewalk.
I need to get my head straight. My chest hurts so bad, it hasn't stopped if I'm being entirely honest. It just hurts a bit more when I think about his face, or his name, anything about him.
Suffocation. I'm suffocating, I can't breathe. It's just getting tighter, I can clearly hear myself inhaling and exhaling harshly but I can't... I can't feel myself breathing.
Wait... Why am I the one freaking out?
After several moments I finally let out a heavy sigh that seemed to cure everything, I could inhale and exhale normally again.
But still, that weight remained. Like a permanent paranoia eating at my lungs, or maybe my heart. The only difference was the fact I could consciously feel it.
Let me think about this logically. I just saw Jaxon Walker's real dead body, his eyes missing, his heart missing, two large black holes taking them.
He died on a Wednesday night in Butchers Forest, and the police are calling it a suicide.
Now I know with absolute certainty, that was not suicide. If I wasn't desperate before, I am now.
What killed Jaxon Walker?
~
By the time I reached my house the sky started to turn a light shade of gray, no indication of the sun. I never see the sun in Witchfield.
Walking up my gray steps slowly, I stopped when I saw the rolled up newspaper. I picked it up for mom, opening it as I reached for the door handle, but I stopped.
