Compulsion

Perry looked at the girl for a moment, he was puzzling over why she may have need of a book written in braille. "Stupid!!! Perry you disappoint me so much sometimes" He thought to himself and giggled slightly at himself. "Gimme a sec and I'll take a look for you." He winced a little at his use of the word 'look' and almost smacked himself with the book he had in his hand. He giggled at himself when he realised he was holding the book she had requested, beneath the braille was the title typed in black italics, the font he couldn't recognise. "Silly me I was holding it already." He said awkwardly to the girl, he felt more and more stupid with every new word.


Perry stretched out his hand to touch her left elbow lightly and then lifted her hand to the book in his own left hand. "There you go, what a coincidence that I should be holding the book when you asked for it." He said after making sure she had a firm hold of the book, "I don't mean to be rude but does the librarian always wear such a heavy perfume?" He asked her, he had noticed that their were certain parts of the library tht hung heavy with the smell of the woman's perfume.
 
Cian raised an eyebrow, hadn't he told her just a moment ago that his reputation didnt allow for such idle chitchat? "well, as i just said... I've got a reputation problem, so if anyone talks to me, its girls asking for help." he gave a defeated shrug. "as far as what i believe, i saw it with my own eyes, and i can guarantee im not going back to those woods. no way i want to get eaten by whatever was out there." he folded his arms across his chest with a slight shiver. what ever it was, it wasn't worth the risk to see it again.


Elri chuckled slightly at his behavior. "For as young as you sound i figure you must be pretty smart if you dont come to this school." she flinched slightly when he touched her elbow, "I'm perfectly capable of reaching for the book without your help." she said, however not harshly. she smiled a bit when he mentioned the librarians perfume. "unfortunately, she lets the stink permeate every nook and cranny of this library, its hard to escape, especially with a nose like mine. she ran her thumb over the small bumps on the old book. "ah, ive waited too long for this," she directed her pale blue eyes at the book as much as she could. "War of the Worlds, a SciFi classic" a content smile graced her lips, "thank you"
 
He sighed at his own stupidity, for a person so intelligent he could do some incredibly stupid things sometimes but he had very little experience in conversing with other people let alone someone who suffers from blindness no matter how acute. "Sorry, bare with me, I can be a bit dumb sometimes." He said, scratching the back of his head and looking at the ground his pale eyes filled with confusion. "Anyway, I guess I should get back to returning these books to their sections, maybe I'll see you around sometime, we could think of a way to get rid of that awful perfume she wears." He chuckled slightly fairing her good bye, he still had quite the large mound of books to return.


The school library was nice but it didn't have that comfortable air that the town library did, most of the books here at the school were text books and encyclopedias, the fiction area was small and obviously targeted t the students with a whole section filled with kids chapter books. Very few of these books sported a hero or heroine who fought against some great opposition and of course have a romance that conflicted with their mission. He shrugged, this place didn't have him to fill the bookshelves with quality fantasy and sci-fi novels though he did tend to stay away from books like Twilight and Fallen, those books were picked by his father who was hopelessly in love with Bella. "You're too old for her dad." He'd say while his dad read one of the series. "Hey! Edward's at least 90-something years older, by those standards I'm a spring chicken." He'd reply.
 
Becca starting huffing a little. She started to fall behind a little, but she wasn't going to give up. She felt better running. It was why she did so well in track and field. In the back of her mind, she was happy that Quinn wasn't on the team. She felt bad about that. He would do good, but Becca like being able to do a sport and not have to compete with him. Besides they had soccer together.


Becca closed her eyes, trying to breathe normally. She remembered as a kid having races with Quinn. One time they ran too fast, too far and she almost passed out. Becca had improved since then. Finn had also been there. By time he caught up, Becca was back on her feet. She didn't tell him what happened and neither did Quinn. Better not to worry him.


They finally reached the field and Becca let out a sigh stopping. "You win...again. Going to gloat," she half-teased.


----


Finn looked up from his locker to Axel coming towards him. He nodded as a response at first. Axel had been there, hadn't he? Finn couldn't remember everyone who had been in the woods that night. There was so much going on and then what happened.


"Finnley," he finally said. "My full name is Finnley, not Finnegan." He didn't know why he said it. It was a stupid thing to say, but it was what had came out of his mouth.


----


Bailey looked up from her phone when Hilary mentioned telling her father. She was surprised. She didn't think anyone would have told someone. She just had this bad feeling about it and even bringing it up made her want to just shut it all out. Bailey wished she was dealing with it better.


"I doubt anyone would believe us really. I mean there are a few who still hold onto the legend, but not many." Bailey really didn't even know about it until they looked it up. Everyone knew really. It was one of the things that everyone in town knew, but few went into details about it.


When Hilary asked if "he" had contacted her, her phone went off to say she had a message. "Um...."


 
Axel grinned, slapping Finn on the back hard as if they were the best of chums and not random strangers that hardly interacted at all. 'Right, Right, Finley. Becca's kid brother right? How are you anyway? How you holding up?' He asked, leaning a little closer. 'Seen anything more creepy since halloween? I mean, it was just a prank right? Right? You saw it too, didn't you? I can't quite remember due to being half drunk and all, but there's been rumours you know? kids talk. You'd understand what i mean, right?' He looked at him almost pleadingly even while his tone remained light and slightly over-smoothed. 'you were there weren't you? I just need to know I'm not crazy..' He spoke these last words in a low tone, pursing his lips a little and raising his eyebrows at Finn while he waited for his response. God how bad things could turn, but he needed to know. He half expected the kid to run around the schooll telling everyone that Axel believed in ancient spirits that fed on humans. Still, he'd made the decision to try and ask someone about it, and he pegged Finn as the kind of guy to keep his mouth shut.


~


Hilary shrugged. 'There's still a chance. My grandmother strongly beleives in the spirits.. She's the reason I'm such a firm believer.. but if I were to tell her what we saw..' The brunette trailed off, biting her lip and adjusting her glasses as they slid down her nose. 'Dad had her sent to a psychiatrist when the first disappearances began and she started talking regularly of the spirits.. If i brought it up he might get annoyed at me for encouraging her..' She sighed, taking the glasses off again to clean the lenses and then replacing them on the bridge of her nose. At the sound of Bailey's phone beeping, Hilary frowned. 'If he asks you to meet him alone again i swear to god I'll chain him to a tree in the forest.' She warned. 'you could have died Bailey.'
 
Carlton wasn't sure if he believed that, but he was willing to give Mason the benefit of the doubt. After all he didn't know him.


"Sounds awesome. I hope you do well. You got mad talent. That is clear for anyone to see."Carlton gave Mason a wide smile. "I am Carlton. It's nice to meet you Mason. I think I've seen you around school actually. I am glad to finally meet you though. I like meeting people."


Carlton pointed at the sketchpad. "So do you draw often?"


Laura frowned at her cousin. She was happy that Natalie had stopped for her. Sometimes she just kept walking. She remembered from when her parents were together how her father would talk about Natalie and how she had an attitude. Her mother even talked about it a few times.


Laura wasn't entirely sure if she believed it as a kid, but meeting her when she moved, she found that Natalie was troublesome. She was blunt and aggressive and Laura had to nearly lock them in a room to get her to talk to her. It made Laura kind of sad. She had wanted to make friends here and she always thought a cousin would be an easy one. Now they were on okay terms.


"I do not. You just say that because you never wear any."
 
Mason turned a very gentle shade of rose pink, a smile twitching the corners of his mouth just a little. 'Thanks.. It's not my best work, nor my usual style... Something's missing, but I can't figure out what..' He frowned at the paper, getting ready to tear the page out with a sigh. 'I don't even know why I drew it.' It was more a mutter to himself than to Carlton. He stopped his hand just before he tore the sheet out of the spiral bound pad, slowing to smudge the shading over the leaves of the trees, adding depth to their shadowy effect, biting his bottom lip a little. Sighing he shook his head again and then answered Carlton's question. 'I dont consider myself an artist or anything, but I tend to draw a fair bit. It helps my escape from the chaos that is my life, you know?' Realising Carlton wouldnt understand he added. 'I'm the middle of five kids.' As if that ought to explain everything.
 
"Gloat? What is there to gloat about?" Quinn's eye's sparkled as he put his hand under his chin and looked into the sky. "I am just a god walking on this earth. Gloating of my perfect body and incredible athleticism would be pointless." The voice he used was that of an old timely hero making a proclamation. He started to chuckle a moment after saying it. He wrapped his arm around Rebecca and brought her close to him as he clenched his other hand in a fist in front of them. "There is no reason to be upset my rival. You lost to me which is an admirable feat that you can even challenge me." He dropped his arm as he gently squeezed her shoulder with the arm wrapped around her. "Come on we have got some drills to do." He let out a small smile as he said this. As they came in view of the other members Quinn dropped the arm that had so comfortably been around Rebecca and waved to his teammates. "I'm going on ahead." Almost whispering it to Rebecca as he savored the last moment they could be with just each other for the day. He ran on ahead and began his daily routine of pushing the soccer club through a hellish morning practice.
 
Becca shook her head at him. She sometimes wonder why she bothered to put up with Quinn, but her slight irritation at him gloating went away and she just smiled and shook her head. She didn't try to push him away when he wrapped his arm around her.


"Uh-huh. Well I guess I should be lucky to consider myself your rival then," she said in a dry tone, but she was smiling at him. Their rivalry was harmless after all. No hard feelings for a long time.


Becca found she frowned a bit when he dropped his arm from her and stood there for a bit. Her mind when from Quinn back to Finn for a moment. She glanced at the tall building nearby. She hoped he had made it and was okay. Maybe she should be more forceful with her questioning? Becca just wanted things to be okay.


She then took off after Quinn, ready to begin practice.


----


Finn nodded. He was use to being called Becca's brother. They were twins after all and it wasn't hard for people to connect them all the time. It happened less in high school than before, but Finn doubted he (or Becca) would especial the comparison until they both left for college and were by themselves.


"We're twins," he said, not sure why. "But she is older." When Axel asked if he had seen anything creepy since he started to feel awful again. He turned his head towards the door and almost felt himself talk an involuntarily step towards it."Not unless you count creepy dreams."


Finn looked back at Axel, biting his lower lip. He didn't know him well. He saw him with Bailey who he had talked to a few times in the library. She always took out interesting books. But he had been there in the woods that night and Finn felt a sort of allyship with him and the others.


"I saw it too. I see it most nights in my dreams. I was sober and-" Finn's voice cracked and he looked down. "If you're crazy, then so am I."


----


Bailey felt herself pique up at the mention of Hilary's grandmother. She knew about her, but she had never met the woman yet. Bailey had wanted to. She sounded interesting. But if she believed in the spirit, well it was all more reason to go and meet her.


"We need to talk to her. She could help."


Help with what, Bailey wasn't sure. But she would feel better if they did. She frowned again when Hilary voiced her disapproval.


"Come on. He didn't force me into the woods with him. I went willingly." Bailey felt it was pointless to try and defend Axel though. Hilary had her mind set about him. She looked down at the message and showed it to her friend. "See? He a harmless question. That's all."
 
Axel let out a sigh of relief. 'Thank god, i thought I must've been nuts or something. He flashed him a grin and slapped him on the back again. 'Thanks Finnigan! You've been a great help to setting my nerves down. I'll see ya around.' He said, grinning and walking away. As he left, the grin faded. He pulled out his ohone and let out a slightly disappointed sound. No reply. Maybe he'd annoyed her. Maybe she was with Hilary. That made a little more sense to him he supposed. Or she just might not want to talk to him. Could he really blame her? She could have gotten killed because of him and a stupid dare. Sighing he put the phone back in his pocket and headed towards class. Maybe he could actually concentrate today.


~


Hilary frowned. 'Gran's in the home... Dad would kill me if he found out why we were going to visit her.. I don't want to make him mad..' She bit her lip, looking out the window and shuddering as they approached the woods. She couldn't see the spot where it all happened from there but it did nothing to ease her nerves. She adjusted her glasses again and the frown deepened when Bailey showed her the text. 'Just because he asked how you are doesn't mean it's a harmless question. You know what that boy did to you. He's a lying, conniving, devious little... I can't even think of a word to describe him properly. But he sucks okay, he just sucks. I just want you to be careful.' She suddenly hugged Bailey, holding her tightly. 'I'm sorry if I seem overbearing. You're my best friend.. If i don't look out for you I'd have no purpose but to read comics and outsmart dimwitted idiots.'
 
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