WebNovels

Chapter 7 - Chapter 6 : Table

Entering his house, Hayel wondered about the girl Hannah and the creature that appeared last night.

'Hannah had her head cut off, the creature… it asked me if I wanted something and before that it said the head… did the creature kill the girl?'

Slowly walking towards the table to put the jar down, Hayel shivered. If it did kill the girl, why didn't it do anything to him?

'My whole life is getting messier and messier… creepier more precisely…'

Hayel got himself a cup and poured the alcohol inside, taking a little sip he grimaced. The alcohol is strong. It's not a good taste.

Either way, he drinks the whole cup. Finally he remembers that Layla didn't ask him about his ability, neither did she come here like she said she will. Maybe she is busy, or maybe she will come later.

Hayel starts feeling a bit dizzy. It seems like the cup he drank is taking effect.

He also won't go sleep, it's not a good idea. He needs to go to work in the afternoon and after drinking, he might not wake up for it. He does start feeling a bit bored though. There is nothing for him to do.

He is also tired, maybe he shouldn't have drunk. It would have been a better idea to just go sleep.

He decides to clean a bit. He gets up and takes the broom from the left corner of the house near the front door. Humming to himself, he sweeps the floors. He takes the jar off the table and puts it underneath his bed and finally he takes the cup and washes it.

Satisfied with himself, he sits down again, feeling the effect of alcohol getting stronger. In that moment, he hears a knock on his front door.

He gets up and opens it, it's Layla. It seems she does have time to bother him.

"Hey." she says and comes in.

Sitting down on the table, she gives him a weird look. The look makes Hayel a bit nervous.

And he is right to be nervous, because the next thing she says is "You drank again, right?"

"…"

"Oh seriusly? God you are unbelivable!" She groans and puts her hands on the sides of her face.

For some reason, Hayel finds it funny and starts laughing a bit.

"Now you are laughing? You know what, sure become a drunkard, it's not like I can stop you!"

Hayel sits down across from her, feeling a bit bad that he betrayed her trust. Suprisingly, she reacted better than he thought she would.

"Sorry, and well, I don't havee tha money to be a drunkra- drunkard.. like you said."

She looks at him up and down and scoffs "Sure thing buddy. Anyway, what about your abilites huh. Did you get them tested?"

"No."

"Okay… well what do they do?"

Hayel tells her about his ability, leaving out the creatures appearence.

Layla comments "Well, that might not be everything there is to it. Anyway, you should go get them tested. Also, will you go learn how to fight then?"

Hayel thinks about it and says "Yeahh I will go learn how to fight. If I become a soldier I will earn more so…"

Layla sighs "Yeah you will, they will also kick you out if they find out you are a drunkard."

"It's allowed for soldiers to drink you know."

"Yeah but not if you are drinking all day every day."

Hayel looks at her and laughs "I won't become a drunkard."

"You wish."

Awkward silence descends, and Layla is looking at him a bit sternly.

"How will you go to work while drunk? The owner will kill you."

"I still have some time until work. I will sober up until then."

"I sure hope so, I will leave you to die if you get fired over this." Layla says monotonely.

"I won't get fired because I won't be drunk when I go to work."

"Yeah, yeah I get it. Anyway I'm leaving, and be careful at night, I don't know what or who killed Hannah but it's not sure that nothing will happen again." Layla finally says and gets up.

As she is walking towards the door, Hayel says to her "Okay, you be careful too."

She doesn't answer or look at him as she leaves, it seems like she is angry about the fact that he drank. It would have made him feel a bit guiltier about it if he was more sober.

'The girls killer… if it was that monster, how will they catch it? I never saw it with my own eyes, well my eyesight is still not that good… but still, how will they catch something they cannot get close to? …Did I invite that thing here? Oh god… No! Maybe I didn't. Maybe that creature is the same one that pulled my leg. That night I didn't do anything with my powers, so that thing didn't come because of it…'

Hayel sighs. It's not like he can do anything about it though. That makes him feel a bit better, because it's not something he should wreck his mind about, but the fact that he cannot do anything also makes him uneasy. What if that thing eventually decides to kill him? Not only the small creature, what about the big one in the forest? That is even more concerning.

He should probably tell someone about it though. At least if something does happen people will know what it might be. But what can they do about it? Hayel knows there are powerful people in The Order, but does any one of them have the powers to counter it? He doesn't know.

Hayel gets up, he should probably make himself something to eat.

While cooking, he accidentally cuts himself while cutting a carrot. He should stop zoning out, but not sleeping for two days and then drinking is not exactly helping him.

After eating, it's time for him to go to work again. It took him longer to cook than usually, so it's already time. The only good thing is that he is more sober now, he wasn't exactly sure if he would be when he was talking to Layla, but it's not like he would tell her that.

He leaves the house, wondering if there is a chance that he would be sleeping tonight. But even if nothing happens, he is not sure he would be able to fall asleep. After all, no matter how tired he is, he doesn't know if he would be able to calm his nerves.

While walking to work, through work and after while walking home, he doesn't hear anything about what happened to the girl Hannah. It seems that The Order doesn't wish for it to be heard in the city. But It's not like people from the city really care about people from the village, so it's also not that suprising. But someone losing their head, it would still make rumors even inside the city. Granted, inside the village some people still haven't heard what exactly happened. But they will, except if The Order decides to take Joseph out.

They probably won't though, so people will find out. So, will The Order still try to keep it away as much as possible from the people of the city? Time will only tell.

The night has fallen, and the path Hayel is walking through is dark. He is not far away from his house, so it won't take him long to go home.

And while at night it's usually quite, this time there is an eerie feeling lingering. Hayel is not sure if it's because he is a coward so he feels that way, or if something really is wrong.

Either way it makes him feel even more scared, so he increases his pace. He should really go learn how to fight. At least it would give him a bit more reassurance.

Finally, he makes it to his house. He walks towards the table and lights up the candles. Again, the orange glow doesn't chase away the feeling of eerieness even inside his house. The flames dance and it makes the lightning inside the house flicker a bit.

Maybe he should have moved in with Layla like she asked him to 2 years ago. It doesn't feel nice to be alone these past few nights.

He walks towards the his bedroom to change his clothes, but while standing in front of the door, he senses something on the other side.

On the floor, something round is there. A heavy feeling whashes over Hayel. He stops and stares at the door not daring to open it. His heart starts beating faster and a dreadful thought enters his mind.

He stands there, and then quickly opens it. And there, on the floor something round is standing there. He takes a step closer slowly and slightly bends over to take a closer look.

It's a head.

But looking at it a bit longer, he realizes it's a head of a scarecrow. It's made out of, he guesses, light brown cloths, and it's two small eyes peek out weirdly. He feels relieved that it's not a real head, but this thing is very creepy as well. At this point he already knows what might have brought it here and it makes him uneasy. Also it probably thinks it's funny, it's playing a joke on him.

It somehow knows what his powers are, deliberately putting this thing behind the doors so that he would think it's a real head. It's not funny to Hayel though.

He doesn't touch it and steps over it towards his broken cabinet. He changes his clothes and walks out of the bedroom. He won't sleep tonight again it seems.

But as he walks out of the bedroom, his worst nightmare from a few minutes ago comes true.

On the table, next to the candles, a head of a girl rests there. No eyes, the head has no eyes. Dry blood is all over it and there are a few bald patches on it's hair. It looks like it has been ripped out.

Hayel stumbles back in his bedroom, falling over the scarecrows head. His heart is beating fast, and he is hyperventilating. He feels lightheaded and nauseous. He bends over to the side and violently throws up.

The image of Hannah's head lingers in his mind.

It's disgusting. It's horrifying.

And it's inside his house, on his table, brought by something that's been scaring him out of his mind for the past few days.

More Chapters