Thanatophobia (H2OVanoss)

Chapter 15

His chest heaved as he stared at the unconscious person on the floor in front of him. He couldn't believe himself, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. He needed to call the guys.

  He set up an urgent Skype call and waited until everyone was there before speaking.

"I...I found Jonathan."

"How? Where? Is he alright?!?"

Luke had the loudest of the exclamations and his voice was shakier than Evan had ever heard it.

"I don't know what to say. He was just in my house. But something's not right..."

"What do you mean?"

"He was like a different person, it was uncanny. He didn't know who I was, and he was like the opposite of Jon."

"Where is he now?"

"I knocked him out. I didn't know what to do..."

He put his head in his hands. They couldn't understand unless they had witnessed it. It was horrible. The rest of the group seemed to almost read his mind and senses his distress.

  They had heard Evan say Jonathan was different, but how could he be so drastically different that it caused their friend this much pain?

  Brock was the first to try and figure it out.

  "Ev, when you said he was different, what do you mean?"

There was a pause, and Evan began speaking in a tired voice, slightly muffled because he had yet to raise his head from his hands.

"He was crazy, almost sadistic...he pinned me to the wall and put his face really close, and when he laughed I thought he was gonna murder me...Honestly I thought something was possessing him."

The previously unusual situation had become even more confusing and mysterious in seconds. Possessing people? This wasn't a book, it was real life. These kinds of things don't happen in real life. People don't go missing, people don't randomly show up places, it just doesn't happen. At least, not this way.

They made YouTube videos and played video games. Never was something like this supposed to appear on its own. Was it some sort of joke? A prank? What if Jonathan had some sort of mental illness, like amnesia?

"Luke, do you think he could've had some sort of concussion or something? Has he ever acted this way before?"

Luke thought about it, thought about the time Jonathan had fallen from that tree, thought about him playing the piano, thought about all the things that made Jon his little brother.

"Never. Jonathan would never act like this. He's too innocent. I don't know what's going on, or why it's happening, but we need to do something about it."

  The others immediately agreed, matching the determination that glowed like fire in Luke's oaken eyes. Once again, they made a plan.

  Evan would keep them updated, being careful when Jonathan woke up. If he acted the same way, he would restrain him. Otherwise they would adapt as well as they could.

They would plan to meet once again, which was ironically not that far from when they last met up. Unlike the fun time at the beach house, this would be a time of finding solutions.

  They would protect Jonathan as though he were their own kin. They were too far in to back out now, even though no one would ever abandon him.

Now, they would wait for Jonathan to wake up, and once he did they would start the cycle that would change everything they once thought and believed. Of course, they would never know until it was too late...