Chapter 2: Damien

After the bell sounds, I wait a moment and then go to knock on the other’s doors. I feel bad for the fear that each person has to go through in these tests. I knock a rhythmic pattern on Daisy and Millie’s room and then unlock the door.

“Time to come out,” I say.

“Why’d the alarm go off?” Millie asks.

“Just precaution,” I reply. “Apparently Grandma thought she saw a Shadow in the woods nearby. She was probably seeing things because of her dreams, you know. But wanted to make sure just in case.”

“I’m tired of staying inside,” she groans.. “And yes, Damien, I know. Optimism, look for the best in situations, but I don’t like to do that all the time. That’s all I’ve been doing for a long time. If we ever want to help anyone, we can’t do it in this house. Daisy and I shall go hunting.”

I nod, then knock and open the rooms until I get to Victor’s. Victor is my best friend, and he’s the bravest, kindest, sweetest guy you could ever meet. I’m also slightly in love with him.

I knock on the door, then open it. “Hey,” I say.

“Hey, man. So, what’s with the lockdown?”

“Grandma’s superstition.”

“Oh. Wow. Didn’t know we would need a full lockdown based on a guess.”

I shrug. “Better safe than sorry.”

He nods. “Well, at least it’s not real. I can’t even imagine how terrifying that would be.” I agree with him, then walk out of his room to go alert the others.

When I’m finished, I go back to Victor, who’s now throwing a rubber-band ball up and catching it.

I sit down next to him. “We have so many rooms,” I say. “So...many...rooms…” He laughs and stops throwing the ball. We’re both silent for a moment, then he asks something that I would never have thought anyone to ask:

“Do you miss the ones who died?”

I turn my head towards his. “What?”

“Do you miss the ones that died,” he repeats.

“Yeah. Especially my parents…”

“Oh, Damien! I’m so sorry! I forgot! I’m so stupid!” He curses under his breath multiple times.

“It’s fine, Vic. Do you miss anyone?”

He thinks for a moment, then answers. “Yeah. I miss Sara, and Jac. Did you know that Jac was my first kiss?”

I roll my eyes. “I’m your best friend. I know things about you that you don’t even know about.” I wiggle my eyebrows.

He playfully shoves me and I fake groan. “Ah, my weak body!” I say. He laughs. Then his face falls. “I...I liked Jac. A lot. I kissed him, and then he--he died in front of me.” His face crumples. “The shadow, it--it killed him. And I just stood there in shock. Damian, I killed him! I killed Jac!”

He slumps to the ground and starts sobbing. I kneel down next to him and grab his hand.

“Hey! You did not kill him! The Shadows did!” I shake him. “You did not kill Jac! Snap out of this BS!”

“I’m a murderer!” He shook himself away from me and went into his bathroom, locking the door. I stood up and pounded on it.

“Vic, let me in!” I yelled.

“No!”

“Victor! Let me in to the bathroom or I will get in there myself!”

“Leave me alone!” I heard a hiccuping noise and more sobbing. I give myself ten seconds before I take a bobby pin out of my pocket and stick it into the door handle. After some silent struggling, I hear a click and the door unlocks. Victor is standing at the sink, hands covering his face.

“Victor. You did not kill Jacques. It wasn’t your fault.” I say firmly. Vic shakes his head. “I—did it!” He hiccups. “I just—stood—there!” I turn Vic around and hug him. He stands there, stiff for a moment, then returns the hug. I squeeze him tightly, and he slowly calms down. I pull away and bite my lip, thinking of what to do. “Okay,” I say. Do you want to go do something to get your mind off of it??” He nods and holds out his hand. I grab it and walk out of his room and to the rec room. Inside there’s a foosball table and a training version of a Fae Hunt, along with some couches and books to relax and enjoy.

Victor chooses the foosball table and goes on the other side. “Thanks, Damien,” he says. Jacques’ death is obviously still on his mind. “So,” I say jokingly. “did you see any cute guys when you were last hunting?”

He laughs at that, then actually responds. “There was this one guy. He was human though, and I almost broke the Blinding Spell to go talk to him.”

My eyes widen and I laugh. “You would’ve been killed for that. If Grandma had found out...grounded for weeks!”

He nods and continues with his story. “So then he walks to the woods, pretty close to where we are, and I’m like ‘Crap! Did I do something?’ But he just kind of looked really confused, and I figured out that the Blinding Spell did something to him, probably just scrambled his thoughts for a moment. Either way, it was terrifying.” I win the game, and stick the ball in to start another.

“Nice story,” I say. “Oh, I got one! So I was doing the checkup of people’s rooms, and I found something—”

My story is interrupted by a loud siren. “Initiate Lockdown Procedure immediately. Initiate Lockdown Procedure immediately.”

I furrow my eyebrows, then realize that this is a real attack. I grab Vic’s arm and run to my room. Once we get in, I lock the door, then I am struck with a horrible realization: Daisy and Millie are still outside.

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