Morgan let out a sigh, Din knew exactly how to push his buttons and he knew that Din wasn't going to let this go.
“All right,” He said pointing. “You take the left stairway and I’ll take the right.”
Din smiled victoriously and hurried to get into starting position. “Ok,” Morgan counted. “On your marks…get set…”
The blond didn't even wait for the ‘go’ mark, he took off up the stairs like a speeding bullet and in seconds he was gone from Morgan’s sight.
Morgan yawned, he didn't even try to catch up to Din, he decided to let the kid have his fun while he stretched his limbs, lazily making his way in the opposite direction towards the stairway that led to his and Casey’s dorm room.
Usually they separated the boys and the girls' rooms in the summer school but the twins insisted on being placed in the same room and after a hissy fit from Casey the student dean caved.
Morgan rubbed his eyes; he didn't realize how tired he really was from all that messing around with Din half the day but that’s what you get when you spend most of your time sneaking around the castle, he was glad he did it but he couldn't wait to get to his soft bed. Morgan grinned to himself, he could not wait see the look on their friends faces when he and Din told them the following morning about their discovery; he expected it to be absolutely priceless. He even considered bringing with him a camera.
‘Casey is probably already snoring; I should get to bed too and make the morning come faster.’
He thought to himself.
‘Maybe I can have some more fun with her…see how she likes waking up with some ice in her shirt or some water on her head…’ He laughed a bit too loudly and hurried to cover his mouth, it would be such a waste to get caught by one of the teachers now when he had come this far to getting away with his harmless fun.
He hurried up the stairs and down the hall undetected when suddenly; the sound of whispers behind him brought Morgan to a sudden halt.
‘Who was up so late and talking in the middle of the hall?’ Morgan asked himself, dreading of the night guard as he piped from behind the corner he was standing at, he just had to see who was as dump as he and Din were. Morgan narrowed his eyes, leaning over the edge of the corner to see better into the darkness, he could detect some dark figures and then…
Morgan’s breath caught in his throat as his eyes got used to the darkness and he finally saw clearly who it was, what it was that was talking and he couldn't believe it.
’please let this be a dream…A nightmare...’ Morgan silently pleaded as he examined the two tall hooded figures, standing there, talking, with their filler like hands caressing the neck of a strangely familiar girl.
Morgan staid in the dark, petrified in horror as their whisperers carried in the silence to him, but it wasn't any language that he ever heard off, still he imagined they were talking to each other and to the girl before them and she did not seem afraid either cuss the dark figures were gesturing at her with their robe covered filler hands and she was nodding, agreeing, to what, he couldn't understand.
Morgan yelped in shock as one of the figures leaned closer to the girl, its hooded face unmasked as the hood slid from its deformed features.
‘No, I must be seeing things! I did not just see that!’ Morgan argued with himself, completely forgetting about his immediate need to remain hidden and he suddenly noticed the eerie silence as the figures turned to where he was, snarling. It had just dawned on him, they heard him yelping.
“Shit! They saw me!” Morgan screamed, getting even more attention than he bargained for. He tried to run but it was too late for him, he could practically feel the beings, those monsters as they chased after him.
“No! Not him! Not Morgan!”
A female voice shouted as Morgan stumbled down the hall, he couldn't even turn to understand why that girl he did not remember was so worried that he would not be harmed. He didn't know how it happened but suddenly the dark figures were right behind him, their filler like hands grabbing at the exposed skin of his right arm and then ,when he thought that he could actually out run them his path was blocked by darkness as he saw another being waiting for him in the end of the hall.
“Shit! No!”
He screamed ,the smell of the foul breath of the monsters ravishing on his neck and as he looked up and his lungs nearly burst at the scream that escaped him as the filler like hands grabbed his neck to silence his terror and mercilessly push him down the stairs from which he came.
“No…" The silent whisper and then he was falling, those muffled voices, the screams of pain he knew were his own and the girl’s voice screaming his name.
Morgan closed his eyes feeling every ache as his head hit almost every step while his body was uncontrollably falling.
“AGGHHH!” His agony ceased, finally, after what felt like hours in slow motion he landed on the hard floor below the staircase, moaning in agonizing pain.
“Help…” He moaned, too stunned to move, too disoriented to try and crawl away.
“He won’t be a problem.”
He half heard a devilish hiss as he felt something cold and bonny nudge at his side,
’Oh please,’ He begged, his eyes closed. ‘Please, let it not be those feelers.’
Morgan tried to move but he couldn't, he felt warm liquid around him and salt in his mouth, he forced himself to raise his weak arm from the floor, it was covered in red and he realized that it was his own warm blood he was lying in, pooling beneath him as he drowned in darkens, drifting further away from it all.
“Morgan, I’m so sorry.” He heard the girl cry out, her face, so familiar hovering momentarily over him before she was pushed away by the beasts.
“Casey…Help…”
He whispered ignoring the pleading girl as she past next to him, lead back up the stairs by the monsters and then his eyes closed and he sank into the abyss, his sister’s name on his paling lips.
Chapter three: Revelations
“MORGAN!”
Casey sprung upward in her bed, sweating like mad, her brother’s scream still echoing in her ears and the sheets like snakes wrapped all around her trebling body.
‘Was it a bad dream that woke me? What a terrible nightmare…’ She wasn't sure about what was real or not at that moment but she knew for a fact that she heard Morgan screaming, 'Why would he do that? Just to scare her? What a jerk.'
Casey glanced at Morgan’s bed, she gulped loudly, and the bed was still empty. ‘He must be having lots of fun with Din. ‘Casey reasoned, trying to reassure herself.
Casey looked up at the clock, the glowing red figures blinked in the dark, it was way past midnight.
“Where could he be?” Casey whispered to one in particular. “Could something happen to him…? No…it was just a bad dream…Go back to sleep, he’ll be here in the morning…” She promised herself, laying back down and burying her head in the pillow.
She lay silently in her bed, an uneasy feeling taking over her entire body.
“It’s nothing.” she promised herself. “I just wish that Morgan was back already…then I will stop worrying.”
She whispered into her pillow, closing her tired eyes and letting herself drift into tormented sleep.
-It's weird how things happen, even when you don’t expect it a perfectly good morning can become the worse day of your life.-
The howls of the ambulance and the shouts of the police officers filed the not so long ago silent halls of the summer school, reaching all the way up to the student’s dorms.
Colin, who until that point was having a most pleasant dream about him not being there at the moment, lifted his head off his pillow, lazily opening his eyes to see what the entire racket was about.
"What the fuck is that?" He asked himself, actually expecting an answer. “Would anyone please stop that noise? People are trying to sleep here…” He growled, flipping himself over and crashing head first onto the cold floor.
"Fuck…ahh...Crap…oww…"
He mutter
ed incoherently; trying to mentally decide if he should even try to get up from the floor or just continue his sleep where he fell.
Toby, his roommate, who laid in the bed across from Colin’s by the door opened his eyes as well, looking at his friend that still sat on the floor, a stupid sleepy grin painted on his face.
"Dude…"
Toby glanced at the clock that hung on the wall above his head.
"Oh man…Colin, It's fucking five in the morning…and as much as I like to see you suffer, it’s just too god damn early for this shit, even for me. “
He yawned. “Couldn't you like fall out of bed in six’ish? We got no fucking classes until ten."
Colin growled, reaching over his head to his pillow and then angrily throwing in across the room at his laughing friend.
“I did not fall out of bed on purpose you moron.” He huffed as he pulled himself onto his feet, making his way to the door.
“Then why were you on the floor?” Toby smirked.
“I fell.”
“Point." Toby laughed.
“Not my fault!” Colin snapped, looking at the door.
"Can't you hear that?" He asked Toby who looked at him, puzzled, he, too, glancing at the door.
"Hear what?" Colin shook his head and opened the door letting the sirens from below get a couple of notches louder as the howling drifted into the room.
Toby growled and covered his ears, but none the less he nodded.
"That I can hear. Fuck, what’s going on down there?” He asked, pulling himself up from his bed to a half sitting position supported by his elbows.
Colin shrugged, grabbing his shirt from the floor, where he let it fall the night before
"I don't know, let's go find out, it might be interesting."
“It might be trouble.”
“Yeah.” Colin smiled. “Like I said, interesting.” Toby growled.
“You are spending way too much time with Din, you know that?”
“Yes,” Colin looked at his friend who was still half laid on the bed. “Now will you please get up? You are missing all the fun.”
It took Toby a few moments to get up and put his pants on, and then stable himself enough to get to the door but ones he did both boys went out of their room and down the hall, eager to see what the source of the noise was.
"Toby! Colin! I was just on my way to wake you guys up!" Both boys turned to the sound of their names being shouted and none other than Din came running towards them, half dressed in loose training pants just like Toby was.
"What's going on? Did you hear that awful racket?" He asked all excited about the new interesting event that happened to occur not so far from their dormitory.
“Oh, you mean, it’s not because you got into some sort of trouble?” Colin asked him, half joking, looking down at the bottom floor from the stairs balcony they were standing on.
Din shook his head, smiling brightly.
"Not this time guys, I know as much as you do."
He said, looking down past the suits and the medical staff, trying to get a glance of the source off all the excitement.
"Look…" Din whispered, pointing at the medics who had just lifted a metal gurney off the floor, carrying it away, allowing them to see ,if only, just for a moment the young looking pale hand that stuck from under the bloodied sheet that covered his or her body.
“Shit…was that a student?” Toby half whispered, he hoped whoever it was, he wasn't dead, he never seen a dead body before and he did not want to see one now.
"Someone must have gotten hurt." Colin whispered beside him. “You think he was murdered?”
Toby huffed. “What?! Are you an idiot!? Who would murder someone in a summer school?! You watch way too many movies man!”
They didn't have time to ponder on the idea cuss exactly at that moment they heard Mrs. Kafka scream their names from down the stairs.
"Colin! Toby! And Din! Get your butt's back upstairs and into your beds right now!"
She screamed, steam almost blowing out of her earlobes and her nostrils flaring.
Din ignored her screams and looked down the stairs, gasping in shock at the sight under them.
"Colin!" He pulled Colin's arm, turning him away from the hag, pointing at the red little puddles that littered almost every step on the way down.
"Is that…is that blood?" He asked disgusted, he did not want to step in someone’s remains to get down to the cafeteria, his stomach began rumbling insistently.
Colin nodded, he too, shocked. “I think it is…shit, did someone fell down the stairs, fuck, sorry, but what a moron would do that?”
“Boys!!! Get back to your rooms!” Mr. Kafka screamed ones again, turning from them to go over to a devastated looking woman who stood a few feet away.
"Guys?" Toby whispered, ignoring Kafka’s orders. "Guys, look.“ He gestured at the crying women. “Isn't that Morgan's and Casey's mom?” He asked, his voice trembles with fear, he knew what that meant but he didn't want to think about it, he hoped he was wrong.
Din and Colin too looked at the woman talking now to the cops, held in the arms of a strong looking man.
"Yes, yes it is! Fuck! What is she doing here?! You don't think…" Din paused, his stomach dropping. He suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. He glanced at the others, and then at the puddles of blood still covering the staircase. “You don’t think…”
"One of the twins got hurt!" They all said together.
“No!” Din whispered in horror. ”Fuck! No!”
"What did I just tell you?!" They didn't notice that Mr. Kafka had left the grieving couple and climbed up the stairs to personally kick their asses back to their bedrooms.
"I thought that I told you to get back to your dorm rooms immediately!" She screamed, already pushing Toby in the other direction, for an old woman, she really had some fierce strength in her.
Din ignored her, turning to his friends.
"Go back to your room,” He said, and for some reason his eyes were already wet, he was sure he knew something that they didn't. “Get back to your rooms, get dressed and then meet me in the lunch room. I'll go talk to Mrs. Tepes and get to the bottom of this. I think I know what’s going on, I have to go try and fix this."
“What? What are you talking about?” Colin asked, half looking at Kafka who was still pushing Toby away.
Din looked at them. “Just go, please.” Colin and Toby nodded and with one final glance at the bottom of the stairs they ran back to where they came from with Ms. Kafka screaming at Din to get back up when she saw to her horror him using his friend’s escape to run down the steps.
---
The morning came a little too quickly that day to Morgan's opinion. He woke up in his bed with a slight headache and absolutely no memory of how he got there.
The last thing he remembered was saying good night to Din and then going upstairs, how he entered his room or how he ended up lying on his back in his bed, staring at the ceiling was way beyond him.
‘I am never smoking pot with Din again’. He decided, smiling to himself knowing that he would break that vow as soon as he gets the chance.
Morgan stretched in his bed ,dragging himself up and out, letting his feet touch the expectedly cold floor and lifting his head up to look at the clock besides Casey bed.
'Six thirty am, way too early.'
He thought to himself. ’Hmm…the floor is not cold…’ He looked down. ‘I guess it means that it’s already summer.’ He stretched again, this time sitting back down on the bed. ‘Maybe I should go back to sleep?’ He cracked his head to the side, he felt weird, out of place.
'Why don't I feel tired?'
Morgan wondered, glancing at Casey's empty bed. ‘What the…” He got up from the bed and walked over to his sister’s.
'Well, that never happened before…She woke up before I did and didn't even try to wake me up.' His thoughts ran amok. ‘Casey never got up before he did, and what was with that made up bed? It looked like no one had slept
in it that night, that wasn't possible, was it?’
“What’s going on here?”
Morgan asked himself, noticing that he was still dressed in the same clothes he had worn the night before, and weirder yet, standing on the other side of the room now, looking at Casey’s obviously moved bed.
‘Did she do that?’ Morgan shook his head and again looked down at himself. 'Must have forgotten to change them last night before I crashed.' He figured rubbing his head, yes, it was a very confusing morning.
'Crashed…That doesn’t sound good…Well; better go to the lunch room if I'm already awake. I'm not that hungry but maybe Casey is there…'
Morgan thought as he walked to the door, momentarily wandering why it was on the wrong side of the bedroom and then he walked out, leaving the closed door, closed as it was, untouched, without a single noise to indicate that someone had gone through it or even tried to open it at all.
“Morgan?” Casey woke up once again, lifting her head from the pillow, she could almost swear that someone was standing over her, someone was whispering over her head but then he walked away but when she looked around the room she saw that she was alone, she was sure of that.
“Casey…” Came the whisper from the door.
“Morgan?” Casey snapped her head at that direction but there was no one there by the closed door.
"Morgan…?" Casey looked at her brother's bed which hadn't been slept in, still made as the house keeping left it the day before; Morgan didn't come back last night.
"Something…Something is wrong…"
Casey whispered, realizing that her twin was in fact missing. “Din…” She jumped out of the bed and stumbled up to the door. “I have to find him.” She didn't know that after she left she was the one that was being searched for, searched by her grieving mother, bearing the most terrible news.
---
"What is going on here?"
Casey asked herself, quickly getting down the steps. She didn't even bother to put her make up on, the one thing no one but Morgan saw her without as she ran out of her room and down the stairs Morgan had fell from.
The blood that was there that morning had been already cleaned away so Casey still didn't know anything that could have tipped her off to her brother’s misfortune and last night’s events.
Winds Of The Apocalypse Page 5
