• Absolute •

][ XXIX ][

I backed away from Rachel, trying to look around and see for a shadow, a clue that 'someone' was behind this.

"What's going on?" Rachel breathed out, her voice holding fear and confusion. She clutched the front of the sweater she had given me, pulling me closer to her.

"I don't know. But I think I might." I replied, looking behind my shoulder, and around her room. I was shielding her from the rest of her room, so if anything was to happen, I'd be there to protect her.

"Rachel! Baby, are you okay?" We heard her mom yell from downstairs. Rachel shouted back a reply, but her doorknob turned and someone tried to push their way inside anyway.

"Ray - what the hell!?" Her brother's voice came through the crack. "Move!"

"Wh - why? You're scared of the dark?" She questioned, trying to make time for me to go hide somewhere in her room. She pointed toward her bed and I immediately ran towards it, jumping over the top of it and falling onto the floor beside it. When I was out of sight, Rachel opened her door for her brother.

"What the heck, Jason -" She said but stopped short and went eerily quiet after. I wondered what was going on, what she was seeing that made her so silent. Just as I was about to poke my head up and look, I heard her bedroom door shut as she walked out with her brother.

I stood up and walked around her bed, cautiously opening her door and staring out into the dark hallway. I could hear a voice on the floor below: Rachel's mothers. But, not hers. I walked back inside her bedroom and went to her window, having a suspicion as to where she could have gone. I looked out, past the branches of the tree that grew outside, and beyond, to where I could see the side of the shed. The door was open.

Knowing it would be almost impossible for me to sneak out with her brother and mother being downstairs, I slid the window up, and clutched the windowsill, crawling out the window. I hung there, my body pressed against the rough bricks as I breathed, listening. When I heard the crash of nails and steel buckets falling in the shed, I let go and fell to the hard ground.

The impact caused my legs to give out underneath my body weight. I had to breath deeply to stop myself from going unconscious. When the world stopped tilting and the black spots started receding, I got to my sore, wobbly feet and ran to the shed. I stopped just short of the doorway and began to stealthily slip inside, without wanting to scare Rachel - if she was just checking on something inside - or the intruder who had possibly lured Rachel inside. Maybe it was that stupid demon again.

I rounded the door, peering inside from where I now stood, on the threshold. Nothing. Nothing but the paint cans on the floor, their vibrant colours leaking all over the wooden floor, creating art unintentionally.

Taking one step inside, I hesitated suddenly. Among the paint cans and paint, was a slumped body on the ground, which I couldn't see before. I walked over to it, knowing it couldn't be Rachel - it was too big and. . .blonde. When I reached the unconscious person, I crouched down and grabbed his shoulder, knowing who it was already, but needing the confirmation. But before I could turn him around, I heard a noise from the shadows.

Looking around from where I crouched beside Lorin - because I felt bad for him suddenly - I peered into the darkness for whoever had done this to him. Of course I could still care less about him, and I still disliked him a lot, but that didn't mean I would let that demon woman - who was the one responsible, I'm guessing - run around, free. Plus, I didn't know where Rachel was, so she could also be in harms way.

When I heard a nail drop from the shelf beside unconscious Lorin and me, I snapped my head, ready to throw a punch, hit, maybe even kill the demon. But, it wasn't her. Standing in the shadows, clutching a paint bucket in her small hands, with a stricken look on her face, was Rachel.

"Rachel -?" I questioned buy got cut off as she ran to me, throwing herself in my arms.

"I - I - I. . ." She stuttered, her voice being muffled into the sweater.

"What? What is it? Did you see her?" I questioned, turning away from Lorin, but not leaving his side. I had to protect him too wether the thought didn't appeal much to me.

"Saw. . .her?" Rachel asked, lifting her head from my shoulder and looking at me. There was a streak of purple paint across her face, and little spots of it dotting her hair.

"The demon? The same one we were talking about earlier." I told her but she shook her head 'no'.

"It wasn't her - I didn't see her." She replied. "I - I came into the shed because my brother was to lazy to get the giant flashlight, when I was a shadow. A big shadow. So, the first thing I did was smack it with a paint bucket."

"Well. . .that shadow seemed to be Lorin." I replied, smiling broadly inside.

"No - it couldn't have been." Rachel said, looking down at her hands which were now entangled with each other rather than the fabric of the sweater. "The shadow - it - he tries to grab me. He tried to pull his hand over my mouth and drag me away."

I stared at Rachel, suddenly feeling. . .alone. She looked up at me with her wide eyes. "That's when I smacked him."

"That's. . .good." I replied, distractedly. My mind was somewhere else. Somewhere where I could feel the eyes of someone unknown on us. I turned my head and saw that Lorin was still lying on his face, breathing deeply.

"What?" Rachel questioned, sounding disappointed despite the situation. "What is it?" She asked, realizing - I suppose - that something else, something bigger - was wrong.

"Someone else is here besides you, me and Lorin." I replied, bending my head to whisper in her ear while I looked over her head, into the shadows for whoever lurked there.

"Who do you think?" A new voice spoke from where I stared. "Who might it be?Who is tormenting you?" The voice moved to a new spot with each questioned the intruder asked.

"Get the fu -" Rachel began, angrily as she stood up. But I held her down, shaking my head as she looked up at me in protest. The voice laughed and suddenly, from behind us, someone emerged in the doorway of the shed. Rachel and I both turned our heads, trying to make out who this new person was.

The figure stepped out of the shadows he was concealed in, chuckling lowly underneath his breath. My breath caught in my throat, and I heard Rachel gasp. I still felt somewhat shocked even though I had known the entire time.

It was Lorin.

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Wait a sec - wasn't Lorin unconscious on the ground? Why is Lorin evil?

Are you guys surprised? >;)