The 12th Day Of Christmas (Gray)
Sevyn's vision was blurry as he struggled to wake up, feeling the unexpected warmth of a dog's tongue brushing against his lips.
"Ugh, that's disgusting!" came Raze's voice from a distance, mixed with muffled laughter. When Sevyn's eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw Midnight practically sitting on top of him, licking Sevyn's face.
Raze aimed his phone at the scene; a large, stupid grin spread across his face.
"You're kidding!" Sevyn shouted, leaping up in bed.
Midnight yelped and leaped off the bed, tail wagging like he just accomplished something amazing.
Sevyn wiped his mouth with the corner of a pillow, which also served as a spit guard while he said, "Ugh, I am so disgusted right now."
Raze, ever the prankster, caught the whole thing on video for the world to see.
"Give me that!" Sevyn shouted, lunging at him, reaching for the phone. The two of them began to wrestle, tumbling over one another as Raze tried to keep his phone out of reach.
"Alright, alright! I quit!" Raze bellowed, laughing but obviously winded. Sevyn had him in a chokehold, not relenting."Delete that video," Sevyn growled, squeezing tighter.
"It'll delete it--!" Raze protested with a gasp before Sevyn finally released him, sending Raze crashing to the floor with a heavy thud.
"Serves you right," Sevyn muttered, dusting himself off. Raze groaned from the floor, still clutching his phone protectively but with a stupid smile still on his face.
"You boys alright in there?" a sleepy voice called from outside the room. Both Sevyn and Raze froze before quickly replying in unison, "Yes, ma'am!"
As the sound of retreating footsteps died away, Sevyn threw Raze a scowl. "You woke Mom up," he muttered, frustration evident in his voice.
"What? You're the one who attacked me!" Raze protested throwing his hands up.
Sevyn let out a heavy sigh and began to massage his temples as an uncomfortable silence fell between them. At last he spoke, his voice dry and unimpressed. "Get out of my room."
Raze blinked and shrugged. "Fine," he muttered, making for the door. Just as he reached the hall, he called over his shoulder, "The bus'll be here in 20 minutes." Not waiting for any response, he closed the door behind him.
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Sevyn straightened his tie as he stepped out the door, brushing lint and stray fibers from his blazer's lapel. Raze stood waiting near the curb, shifting impatiently as he watched his brother lock the door behind him before joining him at the bus stop.
"Ah, shit," Raze muttered, "Today's a B day, huh? I totally forgot to do Mrs. Vermont's work." He turned to Sevyn with a hopeful grin. "Maybe I could copy off your--"
"No," Sevyn cut in flatly, not even sparing his brother a glance. "Do your own work for once,"
"Come on, man!" Raze said, exasperated.
"Besides," Sevyn said, "I turned mines in the same day she assigned it."
"Bro, what?" Raze blinked, shocked. "She handed that out at the end of class! How the hell did you do it so fast?"
"I stayed after class and did it during lunch. I mean, it was only ten problems."
Raze groaned. "Dude, who actually stays after class for that?"
Before Sevyn could respond, a voice called out from behind them. "Mrs. Vermont, the history teacher, right?"
Both brothers turned in near-perfect sync to see a boy approaching the bus stop. He had a lean, wiry frame, his casual posture offset by an easy smile. His backpack looked well-used, and he pulled out a slightly crumpled packet as he walked closer.
"You can copy off mine if you want," the boy said, holding the paper out to Raze.
Raze eyed him warily. "Uh… who are you?"
The boy grinned as Sevyn's head suddenly throbbed, a sharp ache shooting through his temples. The familiar pain from the night before returned with a vengeance, and Sevyn instinctively reached up to cradle his head.
"My name is Nick," the boy said cheerfully. Then, with an almost teasing lilt, he added, "But everyone calls me Santa."
The throbbing in Sevyn's head intensified as Nick—or Santa—spoke. Sevyn winced, his vision briefly swimming.
"You okay?" Santa asked, his warm smile faltering slightly as he glanced at Sevyn.
".Yeah, I'm fine," Sevyn muttered, lowering his hand and straightening up.
Santa turned his attention back to the bus stop. "This is the right place, yeah? I've been walking to school all week. Could really use a break." He chuckled lightly.
"You've been walking?" Raze asked, incredulous. "Dude, it's like 12 degrees out here, walking to and from Sydria every day is kind of crazy."
"Tell me about it," Santa said with a laugh. "Guess I just needed to stretch my legs. for two days straight."
Raze looked at him as if he'd just admitted to being an alien, while Sevyn remained silent, the lingering pain in his head. Something about this felt oddly out of place, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
The sound of an approaching bus broke the awkward silence.
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The bus was filled with noise and chatter as Sevyn sat at the back, between Raze, who was sitting by the window, and himself. Raze was busy copying the homework Santa had given him earlier, while Sevyn, on the other hand, was quiet, lost within his thoughts as he doodled in his notebook.
He tried to draw the woman he saw in his dreams, he grew aggravated as he tried to remember the features of her face, although he couldn't, everything was a blur. The sheet in front of him held a rough outline of her shape; still, every time he tried to focus on her face, his mind hit a brick wall.
Who was she? Sevyn thought, staring at the unfinished drawing. His reverie was broken as he raised his head, unintentionally catching Santa's stare across the aisle.
Santa immediately averted his attention, his fingers quickly typing on his phone as if something important were happening there. Sevyn, rather bemused and a little upset, turned back to Raze, who had just about completed the copying of the work.
"You finished?" Sevyn asked, more to distract himself than out of real interest.
"Almost," Raze replied, groaning. "These damn word problems are gonna be the death of me. I swear."
Sevyn casually perused his notebook, his gaze resting upon the sketch of the circle he had created the previous evening. Merely observing it provoked a disconcerting sensation in his stomach, an unexpected surge of nausea. He had never previously encountered motion sickness; thus, the reason for its onset at this moment remained unclear.
"Something doesn't feel right," Sevyn said under his breath.
"What?" Raze asked, looking over at him.
"Nothing," Sevyn replied quickly.
Raze shrugged and leaned over Sevyn to hand Santa the homework packet across the aisle. Santa took it with a small nod, but Sevyn barely noticed--cared, rather, his focus was shifted to the front of the bus.
"Hey… when did we get a new bus driver?" Sevyn asked, his voice low as he stared at the buses interior mirror at the front.
In the mirror, he saw the driver—a man dressed in crisp white, wearing a mask that covered his mouth. On his cap was the small but unmistakable ouroboros logo. The driver's gaze scanned the bus, lingering on each student as though he were sizing them up.
"Oh," Raze said, following Sevyn's line of sight. "I didn't notice. That guy… I'm not sure."
"I heard Orpheum started sponsoring this school recently," Santa noted, overhearing their conversation. "He must be the new driver they got assigned."
"Why would they do that?" Sevyn asked, the aching in his head persists but he tries to ignore it.
Santa shrugged. "Could be anything, really. Maybe the old driver wasn't running this route fast enough or something."
"Wait—so Mr. Tony got fired?" Raze asked, visibly distressed. "No way! Mr. Tony was chill as hell."
"Pretty sure Mr. Tony hated you," Sevyn said.
"Huh? Nah, me and Mr. Tony were best friends!"
Sevyn raised a eyebrow. "Right. I remember you kept getting up and walking to the front of the bus to stand next to him while he drove, showing him memes on your phone while he yelled at you to sit down. Isn't that the whole reason the bus gate was installed? So no one could get to the front without him unlocking it?"
Raze scratched his head sheepishly as Santa chuckled quietly. "Well, still," Raze said, recovering. "Mr. Tony was way better than this milkman-dressed weirdo."
As the bus pulled into the driveway of Sydria Academy, the students began gathering their bags and standing up, shuffling toward the front gate as the bus slowed to a stop. The driver opened the gate, allowing them to get off one by one.
"Good morning, Mr. Milkman!" Raze said with exaggerated cheer as he stepped up to the driver. "My name's Raze. Don't know if I told you that before, but it's a real pleasure to meet you!" He extended his hand toward the man.
The bus driver didn't respond. His crinkled eyes behind the mask locked onto Raze with an icy, cold stare that seemed to pierce through him.
"Uh, heh, don't mind him!" Sevyn interjected, quickly shoving Raze out the door. He shot the driver an awkward smile before following his brother outside.
Santa was right behind them, the last one to leave the bus, slowly walking down the aisle towards the front. He fixed his eyes on the driver and for a moment, the two stared at each other in silence, the air between them was filled with tension. Then an unnerving, faint smile came from Santa as he stepped off the bus.
The driver watched him go before reaching for his radio. Twisting the dial, he spoke into the receiver in a low, clipped tone.
"Bus 19. One just got off. White hair, 5'11" to 6'0", pale skin. Be on lookout."
He closed the bus doors with a hiss, the sound slicing through the growing silence as the students filed into the school.
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Sydria Academy, Massachusetts, USA
December 12th, 2024
Sevyn and Raze moved down the through the school, the hallway crowding with students heading to their first-period classes.
Sevyn's eyes strayed away, taking in the subtle yet increasingly evident presence of Orpheum's influence: security guards in all white, searching and checking students' bags at times, other times standing outside classrooms, motionless, as kids moved in and out. It felt suffocating, like even the walls were being commanded.
"Sev, can you stop zoning out for a second? You look like a robot," Raze called, nudging his brother with his elbow.
"Sorry, it's just…," Sevyn said, but Raze cut him off.
"You still weirded out by the whole Orpheum thing?" Raze asked; Sevyn was silent for a moment, looking away.
"It's not just that, Raze," Sevyn whispered. "It's that Santa guy…"
"What about him?" Raze asked, an eyebrow rising.
"It's like every time I even look at him, my head starts to hurt," Sevyn revealed.
"Ohh, I get it," Raze's nodded, knowingly. "I get a headache every time I look at you too, it's probably the white hair. He's got white hair, right? But like, whiter. Yours is like that grey-silver thing, like an old man's—his is unnaturally white, like snow."
Sevyn blinked, taken aback. "What? That's... what?"
"Just saying," Raze said, shrugging his shoulders, "It's probably just some weird vibe you're picking up."
Sevyn's face went remote. "Look, everything's just been feeling. off lately. Like something's not right. I just got this gut feeling, you know? But I can't put my finger on it. It's making everything feel. confusing."
"Hm," Raze nodded. "Sounds like you're experiencing some severe derealization. I read about this on social media. You should start a podcast about it!"
"A podcast? For what?" Sevyn asked, genuinely confused.
"For the clout, duh," Raze grinned. "Maybe you can come up with some kind of catchphrase that blows up, and next thing you know, you're singing on stage with some famous music artist for literally no reason!"
Sevyn sighed. "Yeah, sure."
The two brothers continued to walk, the strange unease still hanging in the air. As they reached a intersection, they split off to go to their separate classes. Sevyn's mind still buzzed with thoughts he couldn't make sense of, fixing his hair as he walked into the art room. Raze began digging through his backpack, checking for his video game controllers while he headed toward the computer lab.