Chapter 31 Signs

"What happened?" Iris asked with concern filled eyes as I gaped at the white canvas once more.

"I think…" I started, having thought about it well. "I know where my powers are."

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The fourth floor seemed vacant. Cheryl could hear voices echoing in the distance. The dorm rooms were all aligned neatly along the walls. The doors were lit up like porch lights, bright under the white bulbs at every few intervals. She noticed Rosa still followed her for some reason. It was a strange school. People were quite persistent.

"That guy in black," Cheryl suddenly stopped to look at her, "You seemed to know him pretty well."

"Let's just say he's not a very friendly person. Especially not one you'd want to hang out with."

The door beside them read '127F'. Cheryl inserted her keys and it clicked open with ease.

"He did return my phone so maybe he's not as bad as you think," she murmured.

To which Rosa immediately reacted, grabbing her hand to stop her from entering. She leaned closer with a grave look in her eyes.

"Look, I've known him for years. Just stay away from him. He is nothing but trouble."

Had it been anyone else, it may have come off as a threat. Either way, Rosa just looked distressed. She gave Cheryl's hand a light squeeze before letting go. Her voice may have been a bit too insistent.

"Well… it's late. Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow in the auditorium," she said, backing away slowly, "The principal will be giving his early speech. It's in your schedule."

Cheryl just gave her a slight nod before entering her room and quickly closing the door behind her. She breathed out as she leaned her back against the door, sinking down to the floor. She'd just entered the school and she was already mentally exhausted. Slanting rays of sunlight infiltrated the room from behind the curtains at the far end, driving away the darkness only slightly.

Cheryl groped the wall and a series of main lights triggered on. It was the result of Ricky's training. He'd been teaching her how to use her powers in a less… destructive manner. There was a single bed next to the window with a small table beside it. An empty cupboard sat in one corner, its door slightly ajar. For a second there, she thought she caught something shift, slithering further into the cupboard. Cheryl eyed it for a few seconds until she felt a kick from behind.

She quickly took off the straps, unloading the heavy burden as she dragged the suitcase in front of her. Something wobbled, struggling from the inside.

"You could've just stayed home…" she murmured to it, unzipping the main compartment. The lid flew open as something dark jumped out in alarm. Cheryl felt the weight over her head as it landed, clutching the roots of her hair.

"Get off," she said, swiping at it with her hand. It simply skipped up and back onto the same spot, hissing at something.

There was a sudden thud as the cupboard door slammed shut. Cheryl's eyes snapped towards it, followed by another hiss from the Catter over her head. She slowly rose to her feet, feeling the creature dig its claws deeper into her skull. Her heart raced as she covered the distance, reaching out to grab the knob. It felt stuck for a second before it sprung open, blowing air into her face.

Dust clouds followed, making her cough as she stared at an empty cupboard. She breathed out. There were no shadows in sight. The Catter quickly jumped off, climbing to the top of the cupboard, and settled itself there.

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Deep within the forest of Darkwood, a fire set ablaze. Cold winds turned hot, tainted with ashes dancing about in the air. Shadows retreated further in, stepping away from the burning territory. Meryl watched wide eyed at the flames that wiggled in front of her, as if taunting her.

She screamed and threw herself at it, hands first, feeling it scorch at her skin. Her vision tinted red. Her eyes burned behind the sockets. She could feel the pressure rising inside her body. Someone pulled her out just in time, directing her onto the dirt filled ground. She felt her back hit the cold dirt underneath. The flames eventually died out.

Something buzzed in her pocket. She pulled out her phone with darkened, ash filled hands. Ricky's name appeared and she immediately put it down, breathing out deeply.

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I wandered the halls in search of her once more. Stray shadows watched me silently before slipping away. Did they not acknowledge me as their king? I followed them. More appeared from out of the corners of the walls, seeping in like water. None of their eyes held the blue color that signified their acceptance to their master. I wasn't sure there were any eyes. These were broken blobs of darkness, irregular in shape or form.

They seemed to guard a particular area of the building. Around the second floor, through an alley so thin it could barely fit a person. A single door lay at the end of the path that widened up a bit towards the end. I could see the miasma seeping out from under it. I decided to retreat for now.

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The next day, being the official first day of summer school, all students were rushed towards the auditorium. Cheryl followed along blindly, not caring where she ended up. She blended into the crowd with ease as they marched down the stairs. The bright lights of the corridor hit her in the eyes, making her squint ahead.

The night had gone by in a blur of haste. Every so often she would hear the Catter knocking something over in the room as if chasing after something. Eventually she gave up on sleep. It was why she walked like a zombie in the middle of the day.

The auditorium was somewhere around the second floor. It was a large hall with rows and rows of seats, half of which were already occupied by students. There was a thin carpeted path dividing the chairs along the middle. It led towards a large stage with a podium and a microphone on top. Bright spot lights revealed a middle aged man behind the podium. He wore a sleeveless brown sweater over a neatly pressed white shirt. He had strands of gray in his hair and eyes that noticed everything going on around the room.

"I request you all to quickly be seated," he announced.

Cheryl looked around hopelessly. All the chairs seemed to fill up fast.

"There sure are a lot of students…" she wondered out loud.

"There you are," she heard Rosa from behind. The girl walked up to her. Before Cheryl could say something, the girl tugged at her sweater, pulling her towards a pair of empty seats.

"It's easy to get lost the first time. I'm glad you made it," she said, settling herself on the empty chair. Cheryl sat down beside her, feeling a bit uneasy being surrounded by so many people. She clutched her phone tightly in her hands.

"You seem nervous," Rosa spoke up once again. "You're Ricky's sister, am I right?"

Cheryl glanced at the familiar name.

"I was told you were homeschooled your whole life so you might be intimidated by the crowd of students," Rosa told her.

"Is that so…?" Cheryl responded, wondering what other lies Ricky had mentioned on her behalf.

"I volunteered to help you out. I actually go to this school apart from the summer program. A lot of the kids do, which is why everyone pretty much knows each other."

Cheryl wasn't listening to half of it. She heard a hiss from under her seat and her shoulders stiffened all of a sudden. She bent down, pretending to tie her shoes and almost gasped at the pair of blue eyes staring back at her from under the seat.

"Everything alright?" Rosa asked, eyebrows rising.

"Yeah. Fine," Cheryl responded in a breathy manner, quickly straightening her posture. She could feel it clawing at her ankle as if trying to get her attention. She kicked its hand away. It hissed again and retreated back into the shadows. She wanted to chase after it but the principal began to speak.

He started off talking about the school activities that students would do over the summer. His figure looked so small from where Cheryl sat. Her eyes glanced around for signs of the missing Catter. Instead she caught sight of something odd around the principal's feet. His shadow; it wasn't moving.

He stood under the bright light, making gestures with his hands as he spoke, yet his shadow remained still. Around the bottom of the stage, in the corner, luminous blue eyes lit up. Cheryl could almost feel it hissing at him. The principal paused for a second before continuing, ignoring the sounds. There were kids hooting in the background, drowning out all other noise.

Cheryl rose from her seat. Rosa's questioning gaze penetrated the back of her head as she inched her way out of that row. She found herself standing in the middle of an empty path. People stared, distracted for a second. A wave of anxiety washed over her as the Catter inched closer to the principal's feet. Cheryl quickly blended herself into the set of chairs to the right. The kids moved their feet as she clumsily made her way through.

When she looked up again, the Catter was already on the move, crawling up to the stage towards the podium. Cheryl gasped, heart pounding hard. Not having enough time to ponder, she felt the energy bolt out of her. All lights over the stage shattered with a bang. Someone pulled her back onto an empty seat. She sat down with a thump, hearing warning bells inside her head.

There were screams as shattered glass scattered all over the stage, followed by murmurs.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" someone whispered from beside her.

She turned her head to see the entire row getting up to leave. She could hear teachers trying to escort the students out of the hall. One person remained beside her.

"I thought that rules freak might have told you to stay away. Why're you here?" he asked.

"Are you the guy from yesterday? The one who returned my phone?" Cheryl asked him, without answering his question.

"You really shouldn't be talking to me. Let me tell you this, you stay away from me, you stay away from trouble."

"What trouble?" Cheryl retorted.

She heard him exhale loudly on purpose. Her eyes automatically went back to the darkened stage. The principal was gone, and so was the blue eyed Catter.

"The name's Dan, by the way," the boy told her, casually folding his arms behind his head. "Strange how the lights just burst like that…"

Cheryl glanced at that remark, jumping to her feet in a hurry. The hall was almost empty by now, with most of the students gone. She swiftly made her way out through the back, gripping her phone tightly in one hand. Her heart still hammered at the thought of what she had just done. Worried eyes scanned the empty corridors. A feeling of panic flushed down her throat as she gulped.

She pulled up her phone and quickly punched in the number.

"Cheryl?" Ricky picked up after five rings. From his voice, it sounded as if he'd been sleeping. She checked the time on her phone. It was eleven in the morning.

"Did you stay up late last night?" she asked, forgetting her concerns for a moment. There was a pause before he answered.

"What about you? How's your first day?" He dodged the question.

"It's going okay… Has there been any change with Dixon? Maybe his powers came back?"

"No," he yawned. "Everything's exactly as you left it. Why?"

"I see… No reason. I've gotta go now. Bye."

The call ended.

Ricky stared at his phone for about a minute. He tapped back to the number of outgoing missed calls with Meryl's name. He sighed and lay back down on his unkempt bed. His room was a mess, clothes lying around everywhere depicting his state of mind.

"I was going to ask her out…" he whispered to himself, closing his eyes once more, letting the phone slide from his fingers.

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Cheryl slipped her phone back into her pocket. She had this uneasy feeling that she was being watched. She turned around in the empty corridor just in time to catch a shadow slither into a thin alley. A frown creased her forehead as she trod towards it. It was a thin space barely enough to squeeze a person through. Something glimmered on the other side, like a faint dot of light, twinkling in the darkness.

"What is that…?" she wondered out a whisper, peering intensely into the thin, dark space. "If it's not you, then who else is going around using shadows?"

Footsteps approached from behind, barely audible over the sudden pounding of her heart. She pursed her lips into a thin line, turning around so fast it made the other person jump. Rosa held a hand over her heart to calm herself, feeling slightly embarrassed from the fright.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a whisper, quickly glancing around as if to make sure no one was watching.

"Why do you care? And why're you following me?" Cheryl replied impatiently, stepping away from the alley.

"Don't talk to me like that. Especially after I was so nice to you," Rosa replied, sounding a bit hurt.

Cheryl rolled her eyes and waited to listen to whatever she had to say.

"Look, since you're new here, I'll let you off with a warning. You don't get up from your seat in the middle of a speech. It is a sign of disrespect towards the speaker."

Rosa stopped to notice how uninterested Cheryl looked at that moment with her shoulders slumped in an exasperated manner.

"Now come on. Don't just stand there," she said, taking her hand as she marched towards the staircase.

"Why can't we just stand there?" Cheryl commented in a low voice, following after.

"Y-you just can't. It's a rule," Rosa said, glancing back worriedly at the alley as if scared of something. A light breeze touched her ankles. She shivered slightly, moving quickly up the stairs.

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"It almost attacked me," I could hear a man complain.

"I see. I'll make sure something like that does not repeat itself," the reply came from a girl.

"That new girl… she knew something. The way she acted…."

"I'll see to it that no one finds out."

I discovered that I could now hear things wherever my shadow traveled. The voices echoed loud and clear inside the white room. I sat still, wondering what to do next.

"They're talking about Cheryl, aren't they?" Iris asked.

I nodded.

"What if they try to hurt her?"

"I don't know who 'they' are. There's a lot I still need to figure out," I told her.

Iris pursed her lips as she backed away and disappeared off into the fog somewhere.

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This time when she slept, for some reason, the nightmares were neverending. It was like the blue Catter had been a dream catcher of some sort. Without it, darkness loomed in its full form. Cheryl shivered as her breath fogged up in the air in front of her. It felt like she was dreaming but she wasn't exactly sure. She blanketed her arms around her, feeling the cold pinch her bare skin as she strolled an empty hall.

Something ran up to her, crawling around her feet. It slithered uncontrollably as its four black limbs melted onto the ground. It let out an agonizing screech, as if the creature was calling for help. She watched it evaporate into a thick, dark miasma. She took a step back, clapping her hands to her mouth as the gas floated towards her.

Drops of liquid dripped down to the floor as she stumbled away from it. The gas quickly condensed, all the liquid converging at a single point on the floor. It then solidified into a four limbed creature. She could make out a gooey mouth rise up from the liquid. It had no eyes, just a blind creature stumbling around.

It let out a helpless squeal.

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I watched her twist and turn in her sleep that night. I stood next to the empty cupboard. I noticed she still hadn't unpacked her things, possibly in hopes of me waking up early. I tiptoed up to her bed and kneeled down quietly beside her. My hand reached to move the hair out of her face. I gently stroked the side of her forehead, wiping the beads of sweat.

I could already see the shadows retreating in my presence. Without the Catter that I'd left for her protection, they seemed to be oddly attracted towards her. I was unable to control them like the regular shadows. It meant that I was helpless in a situation where I couldn't get to her in time.

A faint pulling sensation occurred at the back of my head.

"Not yet…" I whispered, already feeling myself drift away. A second later, I was back in the white room. I punched the floor out of frustration.