"You des…ve …a …int at wh… ening… here…"
The voice faded in and out as the person spoke. Despite not being able to hear properly, their voice was like high-quality silk.
A flash of white appeared, followed by a cool sensation. Sleep promptly took over as the sensation disappeared.
***
—Pat. Pat. Pat.
A quiet pattering sound echoed in the cramped room. As the sound reached his ears, Emmet stirred in his sleep before waking up and checking his surroundings.
His gaze glossed over the other 5 younger children sleeping on the mat, making sure they were ok.
Once he made sure of this, he seemed to almost go back to sleep, but was interrupted by more pattering.
Pat. Pat. Pat.
A frown made its way onto Emmet's face as she stood up to check where the sound was coming from.
He checked the room they were in before going to the 'kitchen' to check there.
After a few moments, he exited the kitchen, seemingly finding nothing.
—Pat. Pat. Pat—
The patting sound started again, this time in the direction of the front door.
Emmet walked past the others, stepping over them carefully so as not to accidentally step on them.
—Creeeeeak!
An almost deafening creak came from the door as Emmet pulled it open.
—Squeak!
When the door was completely pulled open, it revealed an abnormally large rat that had stopped, seemingly to clean itself.
Emmet froze in place as he witnessed the rat.
A moment later, the rat took notice of emmet and planted all four of its feet on the ground and began growling at him. Its fur stood on end, and its eyes turned red, making it look much more menacing.
Emmet's frozen expression turned into one of pure horror, and he tried to quickly close the door, but he was too late; the rat was already lunging at him.
***
—Clack. Clack. Clack
A dark-cloaked figure walked down the dark street with an unconscious Emmet, both covered in a viscous red liquid.
The liquid dissolved from them into white sparks of light, illuminating their path at the same time.
The figure eventually reached a carriage after a while of walking. The figure placed Emmet onto one of the seats of the carriage before entering the carriage themselves. The figure glanced back in a specific direction before closing the door.
At the same time, the world became blurry and uncertain, wobbling like liquid, and fading away into darkness.
***
Aries's eyes shot open, and he pushed himself up, sitting upright.
'What was that?'
He rubbed his forehead in confusion.
'A dream? No, a vision.'
He tapped his forehead and closed his eyes.
'Why can't I remember what it was about?'
Aries tried his best to remember what the vision was, but to no avail. He could only tell that it had something to do with Emmet and not the specifics.
—Sigh.
'This can wait, I need to get ready first.'
***
—A while later
Aries ran into Nina while walking to class as usual. The two exchanged greetings and headed to class together.
As they entered the class, they both spoke.
"Good mor—"
They both cut themselves short, stunned to see that the room was empty. The two looked at a specific seat, then looked at each other.
"Maybe he's running late?"
Aries simply shrugged, not having the answer.
'Is he really just late? I had a bad feeling.'
Nina was the first to move. Taking the absence as just lateness, she simply walked forward and sat in her seat as if nothing was wrong. Even so, she was obviously worrying, despite her attempts to hide it.
Aries followed suit, even though he had a bad feeling; there was zero evidence to back it up, so he had no reason to act on it.
He sat in his seat and silently waited.
After a while, Noel and Alice noticed the missing individual, but came to the same conclusion as Nina.
The other students came in, and this time, no one took notice of the empty seat. Among them was Roanna, who wore a dark expression, and as she noticed the empty seat, it grew darker.
Taking a seat beside Aries, she turned to him, troubled.
"Hey—"
Clap!
"Good morning, class!"
She was interrupted by the teacher. Since she came later than usual, so she had no time to talk with him.
"I'll tell you later."
Aries nodded in response.
He and Nina had been staring at the door, as if waiting for someone to show up, the frown on their face growing the more time passed. In the end, he didn't show.
"Alright! Time for attendance. Alice!"
"Here!"
"Amoy!"
"Here!"
"Aries!"
"Here"
"Antony!'
"..."
"Antony?"
"..."
"Absent then."
.
.
.
.
"Batson!"
"..."
"Still sick?"
.
.
.
.
"Emmet!"
"..."
"Oh, right! His parent told me he wouldn't be here today."
Alice, Aries, and Nina each stiffened and glared at the teacher who didn't seem to notice. These three were the closest to Emmet, so they knew that he was an orphan. How in the world would an orphan's parent tell the teacher anything?
'That bad feeling… I think I'll look more into it.'
***
—At lunch
Aries and Roanna both sat quietly as they ate. Emmet's absence could be felt at the table. Roanna was unusually gloomy, even when her brother was brought up, and Aries, while you wouldn't be able to tell by his ever-smiling face, the aura around him was dark and heavy.
Emmet not being here, especially with his well-being being unknown, made their food less than enjoyable.
Once they finished eating, Roanna turned to Aries, hoping to say what she wanted to before.
"Um, Aries?"
He turned to her.
"Hmm?"
She fidgeted with her fingers, hesitating for a moment.
"I think I know what happened to Emmet?"
Aries's smile froze.
"What?"
Roanna nodded.
"I know this may sound like I'm joking, but I'm not."
She took a breath before continuing.
"I had a dream last night…"
She recounted the dream she had. The dream was the same one Aries had and forgot. The more he heard Roanna speak, the more the dream resurfaced.
Once she finished speaking, she held her head down.
"You must think I'm crazy, huh?"
"No…"
She looked up at him.
"What?"
"I think you're right."
"Why?"
"Because I had the same dream."
Her eyes widened.
"Then!— Ehm, ehm. Then what do we do?"
Aries put on a bright smile and stroked Roanna's hair.
"Don't worry about it…"
His eyes became snake-like as shadows shaded them.
"I'll handle it."