And His Jacket Smelled of Cigarettes

26 · Morals

     The night dragged on, but there was still no sign of Donn. I read through Jereth's journal again without skipping pages this time, and found something peculiar.

     Throughout the journal, a large oak tree was constantly mentioned, and he admitted to writing his entries under its shade at times. As I flipped through farther, there was a sketch of the massive tree, with a single leaf taped onto the page. I slowly touched my fingertips to the paper, closing my eyes.

     An image flashed into my mind, and I was there, in an open field, with the same tree from the drawing standing in front of me; everything was sparkling with a surreal, dreamlike glow. A boy with blonde hair was seated under the tree, and he looked up, his eyes fixing on me before he smiled sadly.

     A heavy, aching feeling filled my chest when I was suddenly back in the room, almost instantaneously collapsing as I came to. A weakness had spread throughout my body, and I struggled to sit upright. My breathing was erratic, and it felt like I couldn't take in enough air to even my breaths. It almost felt like I had been underwater for several minutes... or had I stopped breathing all together? The most important question, though: what the hell was that? I tried touching the page again, but nothing happened. A bang from the living room followed by the slam of the front door made me jump, and I set the journal down, moving over to my door.

     "Donn?" I called, not opening the door right away. There was no reply, and my stomach knotted up. "Are you out there?"

     As if in response, a loud thump echoed from the other room, sounding similarly to someone dropping a rather large object onto the ground. I thought I had heard a groan, but the house became quiet again. I creaked my door open and peaked out, trying to see into the living room. As my eyes adjusted to the darkess, a shadow appeared, and seemed to be crouched in front of something. Opening my door a little wider, I called out.

     "Donn? I-Is that--" The figure seemed to stop what it was doing and lift its head up, so I shut my mouth. Something didn't feel right. The figure stood up slowly, cracking its neck once it was all the way up. I saw it turn around and start walking in my direction, so I closed my door and immediately pressed my body against it. It only locked from the outside! A knock on the door made me yelp in surprise.

     "Open the door, doll." Donn's voice spoke, and I felt a slight tinge of relief. My gut was still telling me something was off, so I decided to question Donn before opening the door.

     "H-how come you... didn't answer me?"

     "I don't wanna have to force myself in there." Donn's voice became deeper and split into two, before suddenly snapping back to normal again. Whatever was outside that door, it wasn't Donn.

     "I-I'm okay. I was... getting tired, anyway. I think I'm gonna sleep--"

     "Open the fucking door."

     I pressed my body as hard as I could against the door, praying it wouldn't budge. "G-go away!"

     "I'm not going to say it again."

     "I'm not opening the fucking door!"

     "You little bitch! I'll rip every bone in your body out of your goddamn throat!" The voice had exploded into a rage, and a fist crashed through the door above my head, which then reached down and grabbed me by my ponytail, pulling hard.

     "Let... go! L-Let go of me!" I screamed, yanking my head away. The hand was still holding a chunk of my hair as I collapsed backwards onto the ground, letting out a grunt of pain. A demonic scream came from outside the door before the monster came crashing in, sending wood pieces flying everywhere.