124 Walking in the Shadows

I have been truly blind to the world around me.

And yet, even after noticing that after a long time... I was trying to ignore it. Deny it. Just because I disagreed with it. Just because... Just because I didn't want to see it.

But my last encounter with Melis had shattered this blurry layer in my life into a million pieces.

I looked at her, walking next to me towards the school. Although she knew it was hopeless, she was going to do what she thought was necessary.

I normally wouldn't let her, but thinking of it... All this time, I was the wrong one. And this time... I actually wanted to trust her judgement. Maybe if she went away, her mother's connection to our world would end, ultimately freeing people of the evil influence.

"Hey." Melis called me out with a low voice. My thoughts wandered away into the distance, between the trees, to never return.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Duck."

"..."

Melis suddenly jumped towards me and pushed me away from my chest. I fell down, and Melis landed on my chest. This was good enough to trigger my fight or flight responses, but I was already in a disadvantage in every possible way.

Luckily, that stressful moment didn't last long. Apparently, my reactions were just a bit too slow; after I fell, a beam of light illuminated the school's enterance, and disappeared.

"Shh!" Melis gestured me to stay silent.

There was someone in the school. Or possibly, more than one person.

I softly pushed Melis aside. Realising the awkward position we were in, she got embarrassed and moved away herself.

"Sorry, teacher." she whispered.

We both got up to take a look inside the building through the windows. I spotted a black humanoid silhouette roaming around the cafeteria.

"What is going on here?" Melis asked.

"I don't know." I said. "Do you think that, maybe, just maybe, your mother..."

"No!" Melis accidentally raised her voice.

"Shh!" I shut her up.

"She doesn't occupy physical space." she continued with her softer voice.

"Wait, I might actually have an idea." I said.

"What is it?" Melis got curious.

"Recently, some teachers were getting suspicious about some late night activity in the school building. Last night they had picked me and another teacher to look after the building."

"During the night?" she said with a questioning tone.

"During the night." I answered.

"So, you think they may just be some teachers patrolling the building?" Melis completed my thought.

"Yeah, that's what I think." I said. "And if they see us, we will be in a big trouble."

"If they figure anything out, THEY will be in big trouble." Melis said.

"I don't like your tone, young lady." I said. "Your... mother, and this entire ritual of yours had ideals. We don't touch innocent people."

"You still don't understand how it works, do you, teacher?" Melis asked. "Or you don't want to understand because it sounds too... unorthodox."

"HEY, YOU THERE!" That voice came from somewhere inside the building. I knew that sound. One of the math teachers, named Cihan, was shouting from the window. Judging by his words, we were spotted, but not identified yet.

"Come on." I whispered to Melis. "We have been discovered. Time to run!"

I started running towards the denser parts of the woodland near the school. Melis started following me. Hopefully, before the teacher could make it out of the building, we would be long gone.

I ran between the trees and found a suitable place to hide. I jumped behind a bush between some trees and covered my whole body. Just then, I noticed Melis was no longer with me.

"Melis!" I whispered and looked around, but couldn't see her. She was probably about to do something crazy, but I didn't know what I could do about it. I chose to remain stealthy and observe the events behind the trees.

Not long after, Cihan came out of the building, waving a flashlight around. He seemed angry.

"I swear, I will kill you when I find you two!" he shouted, and started walking around the building.

After he got a little far away from the enterance, I decided that I could try to get into the school unnoticed. But before I made a run for it, another teacher came out of the building. A biology teacher, named Adnan. He looked over to where Cihan went.

"Did you catch them?" he asked.

"God damn, no." Cihan answered. "But when I do..."

"IF!" Adnan interrupted. "IF you do..."

"IF I do..." Cihan continued. "They will be begging for mercy. Damaging school property like this is not a light crime! They have been messing with us for many days now!"

Adnan slowly walked towards Cihan.

"After seeing you like that, I don't think they will be coming back anyway." he said, probably trying to calm Cihan down and cheer him up a little.

"Ugh. Why don't we have security cameras to begin with!?" Cihan kept yelling.

"Oh, but we DO have security cameras..." Adnan said. After that, they both lowered their voices to a level I couldn't hear from that distance; but the conversation kept going for quite some time.

The teachers were talking to each other outside, and this was my chance. I silently got out of the woodland, carefully made my way to the enterance; and while they weren't looking my way, I managed to sneak into the building.

I walked to the end of the hallway and started going upstairs. Suddenly, I felt something grab my neck tightly and squeeze it.

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"I... hagh... khhk..."

The immense force suddenly disappeared. Whatever it was squeezing my neck released me.

"Oh." this was Melis' voice. "It was you. You made it."

She came to my view from behind.

"What was that for?" I said, coughing and trying to breathe in.

"You could at least notify me when coming by." she said.

"Like hell I could." I said. "What? Do you want me to call you out when there are people out there actively searching for us? I didn't even know where you were!"

"Well..." she said. "Fair enough, I guess."

"Honey, I'm home!" I said mockingly.

"Okay, fine, alright, I get it..." Melis said. "Sorry I couldn't think of that."

I heard the main enterance door opening.

"Damn it!" I whispered. "They are coming back!"